1. Bringing Back the King.
2. Nation in Focus: Brazil.
3. 30-Day Prayer for Ramadan

In the 1990s the famous song ‘The King is coming” was sung enthusiastically looking towards the dawn of the new millennium with anticipation of the Lord’s imminent return. However, 30 years later we are still here, with a different tune of ‘waiting’ for a ‘rescue mission’ to be freed from the discomfort and harasment of ever increasing evil and troubles of the current state of world.
However, Peter wrote in the 1^st century to the Church from a contrasting attitude describing a different ‘rescue mission’ which God has in mind to save the lost; so that ‘none should perish’

“The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”

2 Peter 3:9

It seems that our waiting and His delaying are not compatible – causing more disappointment as we wait. However, Peter does not speak of a passive waiting, but goes on to emphasize on ‘hastening the coming’ which implies a proactive role on our part in fulfilling His Mission.

“Looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God…” (vs 12)

“Why Say Nothing about Bringing the King Back?“

In 2 Samuel 19, we read how David had become the King over all Israel, but his son Absalom’s rebellion caused the King to go in to exile. However, after Absalom was defeated, David was still waiting on the other side of Jordan to return to Jerusalem and the Israelites asked the question:
 “Why do you say nothing about bringing the king back?” (vs.10).

Today much is said about Satan’s rebellion and very little is said in Churches about ‘bringing back the King’. Yet, Peter’s encouragement on ‘hastening the coming’ means that taking the Gospel to every person is directly linked to the King’s return.

Amidst all this, the people of Judah and Israel quarreled with each other about how they should bring the king back. It is ironical that the Church for years have been arguing on  ‘pre – mid – post millennial’ views of HIs return instead of fulfilling the Great Commission to hasten the King’s return.

“The Last to Bring back the King!”

David himself asked the elders of Judah: ‘Why should you be the last to bring the king back? (vs 11)
a. How do we hasten the coming of the King?

In Matthew 24:14, Jesus gave us the certain and specific way how to hasten the end:

“And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.”

The word ‘nations’ mentioned here are not countries but the ‘Ethne’ in Greek. These are the 17,000 Ethno-linguistic groups or People Groups, “who share common language, religion, ethnicity, residence, occupation, class or caste, situation, etc., or combinations of these.”

Most of you who are reading this belong to a ‘Reached People Group’ with adequate numbers and resources to evangelize your own People Group without outside (cross-cultural) assistance.

However, the ‘Unreached People Groups’ (UPGs) are “a people group within which there is no indigenous community of believing Christians able to evangelize their own people group.”

b. How many Ethne are to be reached?
Over 5,000 UPGs who are considered unreached. The total population of these are around 3 billion People!

How can we reach them?

• First, we need to mobilize the Church worldwide to pray for these groups so that the Lord will raise up laborers to go as Missionaries to them.  Matthew 9:39.
• Secondly, we must send missionaries to preach the gospel so that they be converted to Christ.
• Thirdly we must translate the Bible to their language so that they can be discipled to worship and relate God in their own language.
• Fourthly, Churches must be planted and sufficient number of workers trained who in turn can plant Churches among their own people.
• Finally, they must have leaders with the vision to train and develop pastors and other workers to multiply the above efforts.

Sadly, most churches today ‘say nothing about bringing the King back’ because Missions and Unreached People Groups are the least spoken topic in churches.

Look at the following facts:

• 80% of the Christians worldwide have no idea or understanding about the Unreached People groups. (Ask your Church this Sunday)
• Only 1 of every 209,086 Christians goes as a missionary to the Unreached.
• There are 54,000 Evangelical Christians for every one unreached people group.
• Out of every $100 given to Missions, only 0.7 cents go to reaching the UPGs.
• Evangelical Christians could provide all of the funds needed to plant a church in each of the 7,400 unreached people groups with only 0.03% of their income.
• The Church has roughly 3,000 times the financial resources and 9,000 times the manpower needed to finish the Great Commission.
• If every evangelical gave 10% of their income to Missions we could easily support 2 million new missionaries.

Let us join in Prayer for great awareness and commitment to Reach the Unreached People Groups in the World.
See Below Prayer Resources on UPGs.

Nation in Focus for Prayer: Brazil.

We join with the Operation World to pray for the great nation of Brazil this week.
Brazil has the 6^th largest population in the world with 214 million people.
Brazil’s Evangelicals grew from 2 million in 1960 to an estimated 55 million in 2020. They are one of the largest evangelical populations in the world, and very strong in prayer meetings and movements.
They also represent the largest Pentecostal Church and the Brazilian Assemblies of God and 
Foursquare, as an example, are the largest churches in their world networks in Brazil.

Large gatherings, women’s networks, youth movements, and events like the March for Jesus, all bring masses together to pray and celebrate Jesus. Praise God for Brazilian prayer warriors!
Brazil is a spiritually open country, for good and for ill, and is probably more Spiritist than Catholic in underlying worldview. Although “non-religion” is actually the fastest-growing faith group, few of that category would be hardcore atheists. Most follow Afro-Brazilian cults (such as Candomblé, Macumba, Umbanda) derived from African animism and witchcraft, but “high Spiritism” (Kardecism) is more popular among whites.

Pray For:

• Poverty still affects tens of millions. A significant proportion of city-dwellers still live in poverty-stricken, crime-ridden favelas, and the education and health care sectors are in serious need of improvement. The poor, especially street children and indigenous peoples, often suffer terrible discrimination and exploitation. Debt slavery affects up to 250,000 people (the official number is 25,000), especially in the Amazon. 
• Crime is a serious problem – so much so that a populist right-wing President was elected at least in part on the back of a campaign promising to be tougher on crime and to prioritize the safety of ordinary Brazilians. Brazil is the world’s second-highest consumer of illicit drugs and has the world’s highest rate of firearm homicides. Nearly 170 people a day were murdered in Brazil in 2016; a rate that appears to keep climbing. The police response has been brutally heavy-handed and rife with corruption, and the nation’s prisons are notoriously overcrowded and violent. Unprecedented breakthrough, spiritual and social, is needed to turn this around.
• The indigenous Amerindians have endured centuries of prejudice, oppression, massacre and exploitation, which continue to this day by encroaching woodcutters, gold prospectors and ranchers. Their unique cultures are disintegrating through despair, disease, substance abuse and suicide. Six million indigenous people in AD 1500 now number a mere 700,000, with many reduced to small bands in inaccessible areas. The large majority of these tribal groups now number less than 1,000 people. Fully 70% of Brazil’s unevangelized peoples live in the Amazon basin.

Brazil has become a leading mission-sending nation with great emphasis on the unevangelized and on church planting. Brazillians’ faith, enthusiasm, adaptability and talents (football, music, dancing) open many doors, but poor preparation and support can undermine all these.

Pray that Assemblies of God in Brazil which has over 100,000 Churches will truly make an impact among unreached peoples. Pray that God would call Brazilians to the least reached peoples of 
the world, and that the Brazilian church will respond to the call to send them.

For more Prayer Points: Click Here.

Pray for the Moslem World: RAMADAN PRAYER GUIDE

We join in praying for moslem people for 30 days as they fast and pray beginning on 18th March during the Ramadan Fast.

The 110 Cities Prayer Initiative has provided a prayer guide to pray for 30 Cities where large populations of Moslem people live.
It is also available in French, Portuguese, Spanish, German, Korean, Hindi, Indonesian, and Chinese. Please share this resources with your intercessors.
CLICK HERE to Download the 30 DAYS OF PRAYER GUIDE by 110 Cities.com
Thank You.

• Resources on Unreached People Groups:
• Watch a 2 Minute Video explaining UPGS.
• The Meaning of Ethne in Matthew 28:19.
• Joshua Project Articles on UPGs.
• Unreached People Groups Lists.
• Download the Mobile App: Unreached of the Day to pray daily for UPGS