10/40 Window

I have had several people ask what the 10/40 window is since I posted the survey on the Chaordic Zone. The last person asked, "What is located outside the 10/40 Window." The answer to that question, using the graphic, would be everything you see outside of the box. 

Obviously, the religious groups marked on the map are only areas of concentration and those religious groups are not confined to those areas. I am sure that goes without saying but there is one in every crowd. 

The core of the unreached of our world live inside the 10/40 window and it extends from West Africa to East Asia, from ten degrees north to forty degrees north of the equator. Incredibly, 97% of the people in the least evangelized countries live in the 10/40 Window. 

• Thee 10/40 Window consist of two thirds of the world’s 6 billion plus population
  
• Just a little over 1% of the church's missions finances are used to reach this population. This means about 99% of the missions funds are used to reach one third of the world’s population! May God help us refocus our outreach!
• Persecution of the Christian believer is common throughout the 10/40 window.
• Being a Christian in these countries could mean imprisonment or death.

 Now that you know exactly what we are talking about be sure to vote in the missions poll located in the right margin of the blog.

Don't Let Yourself Be Hammanized!

Sin can bring a disgusting flavor to a conversation. We have all had it happen. Typically you are listening intently and then you hear something that doesn’t ring true. Your spirit just doesn’t accept what is being conveyed in the conversation or that is what happens when you are fortunate; on the other side of the coin you get “hammanized”.

“Hammanization” is when you are led down a conversational path that leaves out the true intent of the one delivering the message. Actually the entire intent of the conversation is to get you where they want you to be without them having to reveal their true motives. Typically in this process the “hammanizer” will develop a story that will be accepting to the person being “hammanized” because the real motive would obviously be self serving.

Let’s take the Biblical example from where I have drawn the terms, “hammanized”, “hammanization” and “hammanizer”.  You won’t find them in your dictionary but after reading this passage you will be much more cautious as a listener.

Esther 3:8 (NASB95) Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom; their laws are different from those of all other people and they do not observe the king’s laws, so it is not in the king’s interest to let them remain.

Haman’s message was one the King wanted to hear and Hamman knew just how to send it. He appealed to King Ahasuerus’ ego. There is other methods people use fairness, justice, principle, safety, morality, patriotism but the one Hamman chose was ego and it was an effective choice.

Haman's real agenda was to exterminate the Jews. King Ahasuerus fell for his story hook, line and sinker. Haman was an Agagite (Esther 3:1) and as an Agagite he had been taught to hate the Jews and Mordecai enflamed every ounce of hatred in Haman’s body (Esther 3:2).

The Agagites were named after King Agag and Amalekite who was spared by King Saul apart from God’s direction. Samuel put King Agag to death later (1Samuel 15:33). The story of how the Jews were supposed to exterminate the Amalekites had been passed down from generation to generation and fueled a hatred towards the Jews.

There is often a Hamman who wants you to hear their distorted message so you can accomplish the deed they don’t have the courage to state. Always be careful when someone makes a passionate appeal to one of your passions or your ego. It could be an attempt to see you “Hammanized”.

Esther only has ten chapters. I encourage you to take the time to read the entire book. 

C.T. Studd

The great evangelist C. T. Studd said, “Some wish to live within the sound of church or chapel bell; I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell.” - C. T. Studd.

After reading this quote you are probably interested in wanting to know more about Mr. Studd. Can you imagine going through life with a name like Mr. Studd? 

His devotion was amazing. C.T. Studd has always been one of my heroes along with Jim Elliot. Enjoy the collection of information listed about his life from a variety of sources.

Elizabeth Elliot in her book, Passion and Purity, 1984, p. 43, shares this about C.T. Studd.

The first date Jim (Elliot) asked me for was to a missionary meeting at Moody Church in Chicago, late in April. Not surprising that he would choose an event like this rather than a concert or dinner out. The speaker was one of the daughters of the famous missionary to Africa C.T. Studd. She told of her father’s last hours. He lay on his cot, gazing around the little hut and at his few possessions. “I wish I had something to leave to each of you,” he said to the handful of people present, “but I gave it all to Jesus long ago.” ^[1]

C. T. Studd wrote from Cambridge in 1883: “I had known about Jesus dying for me, but I had never understood that, if He had died for me, then I didn’t belong to myself. Redemption means buying back, so that if I belong to Him, either I had to be a thief, and keep what wasn’t mine, or else I had to give up everything to God. When I came to see that Jesus had died for me, it didn’t seem hard to give up all for Him.” Studd also said, “If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him.”^[2]

 

At the age of 16 C. T. Studd was already an expert cricket player and at 19 was made captain of his team at Eton, England. Soon he became a world-famous sports personality. But the Lord had different plans for him, for while attending Cambridge University he heard Moody preach and was wondrously converted. He soon dedicated his life and his inherited wealth to Christ and spent hours seeking to convert his teammates. Sensing God’s leading to full-time service, he offered himself to Hudson Taylor for missionary work in China.

While in that foreign country, he inherited a sum of money equivalent today to half a million dollars. In 24 hours he gave the entire inheritance away, investing it in the things of the Lord. Later he was forced to go back to England, for his health was failing and his wife was an invalid. But God called him again—this time to the heart of Africa. He was informed that if he went, he would not live long. His only answer was that he had been looking for a chance to die for Jesus. “Faithful unto death,” he accepted God’s call and labored until the Savior took him Home. ^[3]

 

The famous missionary C. T. Studd once traveled to China on a ship whose captain was an embittered opponent of Christianity and who often studied the Bible for the sole reason of arguing with the missionaries who frequently sailed on his ship. When he learned that Studd was aboard his ship, the captain lit into him. But instead of arguing with him, Studd put his arm around the captain and said, “But my friend, I have a peace that passeth all understanding and joy that nothing can take away.”

The captain finally replied, “You’re a lucky dog,” and walked away. Before the end of the voyage, he became a rejoicing believer in Jesus Christ.^[4]

 

One man who had this gift was C. T. Studd. His biography contains a beautiful story. His father was extremely wealthy. He was to inherit a substantial amount of money—several hundred thousand dollars. This took place in the 1880s, and at that time it amounted to more than £29,000. The following is what the biography says:

“So far as he could judge, his inheritance was £29,000. But in order to leave margin for error, he decided to start by giving £25,000. One memorable day, January 13, 1887, he sent off four cheques of £5,000 each, and five of £l,000. As cooly and deliberately as a business man invests in some ‘gilt-edged’ securities, as being both safe and yielding good interest, so C. T. invested in the Bank of Heaven. This was no fool’s plunge on his part. It was his public testimony before God and man that he believed God’s Word to be the surest thing on earth, and that the hundredfold interest which God has promised in this life, not to speak of the next, is an actual reality for those who believe it and act on it.

“He sent £5,000 to Mr. Moody, expressing the hope that he would be able to start some Gospel work at Tirhoot in North India, where his father had made his fortune. Moody hoped to carry this out, but was unable to, and instead used the money to start the famous Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, writing, ‘I will do the next best thing and open a Training School with it, from which men and women will go to all parts of the world to evangelize.‘^[5]

English missionary to China, India, and Africa

Son of a wealthy plantation owner who had been converted under D. L. Moody, Studd was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he won fame as an all–England cricketer. Influenced by his father, he volunteered for missionary service; and as one of the “Cambridge Seven,” he helped to lay the foundation of the Student Volunteer Movement, with its special interest in recruiting college students as foreign missionaries. In 1885 Studd sailed for China under the auspices of the China Inland Mission. Giving away the fortune he had inherited, he sought to live in native Chinese fashion. In 1900 he went to India, where he served as minister of the Union Church of Ootacamund in southern India. Ill health compelled him to give up this work in 1906; but in 1910, contrary to medical advice, he sailed for central Africa, where he labored until his death. In 1912 he founded the Heart of Africa Mission, which later became the Worldwide Evangelization Crusade, taking as its watchword “the evangelization of every part of the unevangelized world in the shortest possible time.”^[6]

 

---

^[1]10,000 Sermon Illustrations, electronic ed. (Dallas: Biblical Studies Press, 2000).

^[2]10,000 Sermon Illustrations, electronic ed. (Dallas: Biblical Studies Press, 2000).

^[3]Paul Lee Tan, Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations : A Treasury of Illustrations, Anecdotes, Facts and Quotations for Pastors, Teachers and Christian Workers (Garland TX: Bible Communications, 1996, c1979).

^[4]Robert J. Morgan, Nelson's Complete Book of Stories, Illustrations, and Quotes, electronic ed. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2000), 499.

^[5]John MacArthur, Spiritual Gifts, Includes Index. (Chicago: Moody Press, 1983).

^[6]J. D. Douglas, Philip Wesley Comfort and Donald Mitchell, Who's Who in Christian History, Illustrated Lining Papers. (Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House, 1997, c1992).

To the extent that you did it to one of the least of these

Tricia and I often go down to the pool at our apartment complex and talk. We cover everything from family to food, Bible to baseball and politics to pets. You name it and we might be talking about it but this morning it was pets. She was telling me about visiting the re-pet store with her sister. (The same sister, Bobbie Jo, that now has the pet turtle that killed my phone).  Their mother not allowing them to have pets has forever warped them but each of them is now in pet recovery and has a dog.

On their outing together they stopped by the Re-pet store. The Re-pet store is a humane society type place trying to save dogs and cats from their death at the pound. Tricia was describing the visit to me. Entering the store there is a large sign that reads, “When you come into our house please be ready to love one of us. We cannot have one of our friends from the dog pound come here if you do not take one of us home with you.”

Each dog also has a sign on their cage. This is Charlie. Fleas have eaten his ears. Grape size ticks have fallen off his body. This ole boy has had a hard life but he is starting to recover. He is starting to come over in the morning and allow us to pat his head. He will be a great companion to you.

My name is Freddie and my family could not afford me but at least they had enough sense to give me up. I would love to go home with you.

My name is Doris and I have been terribly mistreated. Fleas were so bad at my home I lost part of my ear but I have now been cleaned up and would make a great pet. I am very loving and will make a great friend.

I was thinking church might be a lot easier if visitors came in with signs around their necks.

Hi I’m Bob and my wife died of cancer and I don’t have any friends. Would you be willing to get to know me?

My name is Allen and I lost my job and I am scared I might lose my home. We are having trouble making ends meet. Would you be willing to talk to me and offer me some encouragement?

My kids are making poor decisions and I have no idea what to do. I am here this morning to pray for them but I am not sure where to begin. Would you be willing to help me?

My life has been made up of one poor decision after another. I desperately need to make some changes and I am taking the first step this morning by going to church. I am out of my element and very uncomfortable. Would someone please ask me to sit with them?

Truth is people entering our church have all kinds of needs and it is important that we take the time to get to know them. Jesus has given us the wonderful opportunity of demonstrating his love; unfortunately people do not come in wearing signs but they do come in carrying burdens. Jesus loves each one of them and wants to have a relationship with them. Wouldn’t it be great if our life was a billboard that read, "Don’t hesitate to ask me anything, I am a sinner saved by grace.  I would love to have you sit with me so I can introduce you to others that understand your situation perfectly. Sit with me this morning so we can learn together. I don’t know what your journey has been but I would love to spend some time with you and get to know you better."

Jesus had some instructions on this topic in Matthew 25:35-40.