Day 1: Exposing Our Problem

When I broke my hip playing racquetball with my sons, I was grateful the ambulance arrived quickly. I’ve never felt such awful pain in my life. (Some mothers say a broken hip rivals the pain of childbirth. I wouldn’t know!)

But there is something far more painful than a broken hip. It is the eternal torment of an eternal hell. Go ahead — it’s okay to think about it.

Worldwide, Christianity is shrinking as a percentage of the total population. The world keeps growing while the church holds steady. If we are serious about emptying hell, we must think differently.

I was speaking recently with one of our National Directors, and he offered a sobering assessment: “The urgency for evangelism is gone in the key pastors of their country.” They no longer preach about it. They don’t equip their people, and they rarely share their own faith outside the church.

Many have simply forgotten or set aside the biblical teaching on hell. Reading what Scripture says about hell should ignite an urgent response in every believer.

But for most of us, it simply doesn’t.

Perhaps we don’t fully believe what the Bible teaches about hell. Or we’re quietly hoping God has a Plan B He hasn’t revealed yet. So we convince ourselves there is no real urgency. After all, we rarely hear about hell from our pulpits or friends.

But Jesus spoke about hell more than He spoke about heaven, maybe His disciples should take that seriously too.

Scripture tells us hell will be eternal, full of torment, and a complete separation from the only true, good, just, holy, and loving God. Forever.

If we truly believed in hell, we would be intentional about telling our friends and neighbors. Every serious follower of Jesus must invite the Holy Spirit to fill their heart with His truth about eternity. We have to address the elephant in the room.

When eternity begins to grip our hearts, something changes.

We are no longer passengers on a cruise ship. We become workers on a rescue ship.

When urgency takes hold, our priorities shift. We make time for what we once were too busy to address. Our compassion can no longer be watered down.

So we must act. Now.