Perry LaHaie with Frontiers says, “We want to see viral movements of the Gospel among every Muslim people group by 2025 and beyond. One of the ways we do that, of course, is by recruiting, training, and sending workers into Muslim people groups.”

The heart of Frontiers’ mission is inviting all Muslim peoples to follow Jesus with love and respect. They focus on areas with the highest concentration of unengaged Muslim people groups.

(Photo courtesy of Frontiers USA)

With every Muslim people group that gains a Gospel witness and sees Church growth, the Great Commission advances.

“In Matthew 24:14, Jesus says, ‘This gospel of the kingdom will be preached…as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.’” LaHaie says, “It kind of blows my mind that in some way, shape, or form that as we bring the Gospel to the people who have never heard — Muslim people groups — we’re somehow speeding the day of Jesus’s return.

“The Bible promises in Revelation 7, we see this huge throng of people from every tribe tongue, people, and nation gathered worshiping the Lamb. That’s going to happen. That is God’s promise. So we’re moving toward that day.”

Right now, in the thick of the Advent season, Christians around the world are reflecting on Jesus’s first coming — over 2,000 years ago as a baby born fully-God and fully-man to be a sacrifice for our salvation.

(Photo courtesy of Frontiers USA)

LaHaie says as we ponder Christ’s first coming, it’s the perfect time to also pray for and look toward His second coming someday.

“I’m just longing for the day when Jesus will come and make everything right again, and some [people] from every Muslim people group, every people group in the world [are] worshiping the Lamb.”

Inspired by these reflections, LaHaie recently released a new song just in time for the Advent season called “O Come, O Come Emmanuel (How Long).”

LaHaie’s song is a reimagining of “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” with the lyrics transitioning from Christ’s first coming to looking towards His second coming.

The added bridge sings:

How long until you come again,

bring evil’s final end

and justice finally wins?

How long till Heaven comes to stay

and all nations have been saved;

when not yet will be no more?

How long? How long, Emmanuel?

LaHaie says, “It’s a prayer for the Gospel to come to all the people groups of the world — the Muslim people groups and Buddhist and Hindu and so on, and that Jesus will come again. He will wipe away every tear and sorrow and pain and suffering and even death itself. It’s a prayer for the new Heavens and the new Earth and for all of us to be gathered there.”

(Photo courtesy of Frontiers USA)

You can listen to the song and watch the music video below. As you do, LaHaie hopes you are moved to respond and get involved in what God is doing in the world.

“If you can feel God’s heartbeat for every people group, every tribe and tongue and nation to be gathered around the throne one day, making a gift to Frontiers is one way to bring about that day because that’s what we’re all about.”

Click here to give to Frontiers!

Also, if you feel the Holy Spirit stirring your heart for the Muslim world, LaHaie encourages you to go! “Our short-term trips are posted at our website, frontiersusa.org. This is a really cool ramp into what it might be like to work long-term in the Muslim world, but even if you don’t do that, it will change your life to go.”

And, of course, pray. Ask God to stir spiritual revival among unreached, unengaged people groups, including Muslims. Pray for the Church to rise up and spread the name of Jesus to the ends of the earth as we wait for His second coming.

Header photo courtesy of Amaury Gutierrez via Unsplash.

On January 25^th, the world worried again as the Science and Security Board for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved the Doomsday Clock forward 30 seconds. As a symbol of humanity’s end, the clock sends the message that people need to slow the coming of end times. Some suggest that governments halt nuclear activity or take larger steps to mitigate climate change, but are those actions enough?

The climax of history

While working toward peace is good, Christians see the clock a little differently. Ron Hutchcraft, president of Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, explains, “These folks have been looking at this since the 1950’s and they’re in essence saying this is as dangerous as it’s ever been. Of course, the clock that really matters we can’t see, and that’s God’s clock. That’s the one that really counts. And we know that God’s clock is counting down each day to the climax of human history. It’s counting down to the personal return of Jesus Christ, King Jesus, to this earth. And we don’t know how close that is.”

Hutchcraft observes that our conflict-ridden world is becoming more and more like the world Jesus described when he talked about his return. For Christian ministries and individual followers of Christ, that means the same thing: Christ’s second coming is near and people need to hear the Gospel.

Patient, seeking repentance

2 Peter 3:9 says, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead, he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”

Crowds (Courtesy of Chris Amelung on Flickr https://goo.gl/pAEui1)

Hutchcraft notes that the “everyone” in 2 Peter poses a big job for the Church. With over 7.5 billion people on the earth, Christians need to be in tune with the urgency of the Gospel before the return of Christ.

The Doomsday Clock may not be the motivation, but the Gospel should be.

He goes on, “Every generation of Christians is responsible for their generation of lost people. Except we’ve got the biggest job any Christians have ever had. Which means obviously we’d all be fully engaged with the best of our passions, and the best of our energies, and the best of our money in the work of getting the Gospel to people right? Or not? Is that right? And if it’s ever been important to live for what matters forever, it’s now, in moments like these.”

Work while you can

Hutchcraft believes the first place we start is with our hearts. Do we see the urgency of the Gospel as real?

“I wonder when we stand before our Savior and we… [see] only eternity ahead of us and all the Earth stuff gone, will we be saying, ‘I could have done more’? The time to be saying that is now, looking at the time we are living in and perhaps the time on God’s clock. The size of the task of 7.5 billion ‘ones’, and not one of them God wants to perish. Are we doing all we could do or could we be doing more?”

The time is now

Hutchcraft notes that every tool, ability, and gift we have should be captured for the Gospel. Is the message of salvation being spread in the places people go most often, their phones? Are we praying daily for those who need Christ? Are we seeking ways to use our gifts to draw people to the Lord?

Or are we wasting time, setting ourselves up to ask if we could’ve done more?

Here are three ways you can live with Christ’s return in mind every day:

1. Pray today that God opens your eyes to the urgency of the Gospel. Ask that He works through your unique abilities to spread His word.
2. Challenge your church to regularly ask if, as a whole body, you are doing everything you can to expand the kingdom of God in your community.
3. Support the work of those around the world who are bringing the Gospel to unreached peoples both financially and through prayer.

To get involved with Ron Hutchcraft Ministries and help spread God’s Word around the world, go here.