How many people have come to know Jesus in your church in the last 2 years?
I don’t know about the church that you go to, or the Christian circles that you mix in, but I haven’t been hearing about large numbers of people coming to put their trust in Jesus. Not in Australia. Not in the Western world.
But I want to encourage you, and tell you that something special is happening in other parts of the world.
Last night I heard the story of a couple who have been planting churches in the Middle East for many years. They shared that in Egypt:
- despite the fact that it is very difficult for people to live as Christians there; and
- despite the fact that Muslims face intense persecution and a very real threat of death when they become a Christian…
4 million people have put their trust in Jesus in the past 2 years.
4 million people! (And in China, 14,000 are coming to Christ each and every day!)
Why? How is it that so many Muslims are turning to Christ?
(The Holy Spirit and) the internet. The government and religious leaders can stop people from going to church. They can stop people from getting Bibles. But they can’t stop people from using the internet, listening to sermons, reading the Bible online. And this technology has brought the gospel into the Arab Islamic world in a way that has never been seen before. And up to the highest levels of the Islamic religious establishment, lives are being transformed by the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Praise God for the internet and the opportunities it provides for gospel proclamation. Please pray for the spread of the gospel in the Islamic world. Please pray that God would raise up workers to teach and disciple the many new believers who are turning to Christ.
