October 21, 2024–Pastor Bill’s Reading Plan

October 21     Romans 15
Paul was a man continually on a mission.  He also wants to go to places that have never heard the Gospel. He has made it his ambition to preach to people who have never heard of Jesus.  This does not mean he gives up on the established churches.  The letters he wrote to the churches are proof that he cared deeply for the places where the church had been established and wanted to encourage their growth.  But, he was not satisfied to simply rest in the place where the church was planted but instead, he wanted to keep going with the message to new places.  He encourages the Romans to pray for him and by their prayers join him on his mission to reach the lost.  
Even though we send missionaries there is still much work to do.  A lot of missionary effort is in places where there is already a Gospel presence.  The Alliance is working to send more missionaries to unreached peoples of the world.  
This statistic helps us understand the continually need for the Gospel to brough to new places:
According to Joshua Project, there are approximately 17,446 unique people groups in the world with 7,391 of them considered unreached (over 42% of the world's population)! The vast majority (85%) of these least reached groups exist in the 10/40 window and less than 3% of missionary work is done among these people.
We need to pray for more people like Paul who have an ambition to take the Gospel to places where the Gospel is unknown to people.  We also need to take care of our own community and make sure the Gospel continue is spread and that the church serves the LORD faithfully in our own neighborhood.