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DAY 1: A Waiting Word… A Willing Church?
Missions Conference 2010 Devotional | View the Entire Devotional Series
Did you know that their are 6.8 Billion people alive today who call Earth home? That’s 6,800,000,000 people! Sociologists have said that we’ve been in the midst of a population explosion over the last 30+ years. When the Beatles were the most popular band on the planet in the 1960s, there were about 3.5 billion people on Earth. The world’s population has DOUBLED in the last 40-50 years!
Think about that for a second, 6.8 BILLION people.
Maybe this would be a better way to think of our world: 6,800,000,000 souls.
Let’s try to put that 6.8 billion number into perspective. When Jesus walked the earth, it’s estimated that the earth’s total population would have been in the 200 million to 300 million range. That’s less than the population of the United States alone today.
Go get a penny. Seriously, go ahead, I’ll wait…
Got it? Now, hold that penny in your hand, maybe trace it on a piece of paper, or just look at it while you consider this… If you were to find a school bus, and fill it with pennies, you’d have about 2/3 of the U.S. population in pennies. 5-6 school busses filled to the brim with pennies would be about 1 billion pennies. To equal the total number of souls on our planet, you’d have to fill nearly 40 school busses with pennies. Think about that the next time you drive past the school bus barn. That’s a lot of people!
This week as we consider God’s mandate to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ, keep that huge, daunting number in the forefront of your mind.
READ ROMANS 3:23
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God – Romans 3:23
You don’t need me to tell you that the vast majority of those 6.8 billion souls are in great need. The amount of injustice, pain, suffering, and need in our world is staggering. Sin is at the root of all of it, tainting all of what God originally created and called good. The only hope is God rescuing us through his son, Jesus. And there are literally billions of people waiting for that rescue.
Journaling Questions
- When you consider the mass numbers of people on our planet, what do you think about? How does it affect your view of God? How does it affect your view of the Gospel?
- Does it affect your thinking to consider it as 6,800,000,000 souls vs. 6.8 billion people? How so?
- What is a specific dream you would have for our church, for your family, or for you individually this week as we consider the need to bring the gospel to billions of people waiting to hear? Maybe as you close, you’d spend some time praying or journalling about this to the Lord.