20/20 VISION FOR WORLD EVANGELISM Wesley died in 1791, in his eighty-seventh year.
Wesley died in 1791, in his eighty-seventh year. As he lay dying, with his friends gathered around him, Wesley
The Bible tells us that "Where there is no vision, the people perish." Vision entails the ability to see clearly. We
all understand the term 20/20 vision, the ability to see clearly the letters on a chart. But I think that this
passage speaks of another kind of vision--a challenge to the work of God in world-wide evangelism. This task
is of tremendous importance.
I read, for instance, of the day of Pentecost. In Acts 2:17, it speaks of the kind of vision that God placed on my
heart when I was three years old, and later reinforced as I was in my room in a remote village in India, the
vision that I could wish every man and every woman and every boy and girl who is saved and who knows the
Lord Jesus Christ could have.
In this passage we read, "And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon
all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your
old men shall dream dreams."
Now that is the kind of vision that I am talking about. God said the work of the Spirit shall be that "your young
men shall see visions." Paul spoke of visions. He said in Acts 26:19, "I was not disobedient unto the heavenly
vision." It is the "heavenly vision," seeing things God wants us to see, that I am tremendously interested in. "I
was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision."
I once taught a lesson on “How to reverse the aging process.” I am sure most of us wish we were back in our
youth again. The scripture in Acts paints for us an interesting picture. While young men see life as many
challenges to be fulfilled, old men are satisfied to dream about challenges already fulfilled. I think that it is
possible to align your spiritual age to your chronological age. Someone has said that you are only as old as
you feel. I add that you are only as old as your vision. It is clear to doctors that one’s attitude and mental state
can affect how one feels and one’s health. A person who has unfulfilled goals, that is to say a fresh vision, is
more apt to continue in health than a person who feels as if he has already accomplished his life’s work, and
all that is left is to die!
There is no age limit on good vision. One translation of Deuteronomy reads, “Moses was 120 years old when
he died. His eyesight never became poor, and he never lost his physical strength.” Further, scripture promises
in Psalm 92:14, “Even when they are old, they still bear fruit. They are always healthy and fresh. “We can
contravene the laws of nature by keeping a fresh vision of the harvest fields, and exploring new ways to fulfill
this vision by enlarging and expanding our prayer life, and by seeking to increase our support of world
evangelism.
We are surely witnessing a critical time in our nation’s history and seeing the unfolding of dangerous world
events. Our nation faces bankruptcy, and the world faces Islamic terrorism. Much of that which our nation’s
founders and our own parents stood for is quickly eroding away right before our startled eyes. I fear that our
days of unhindered chances to reach the world with the message of the saving grace of Jesus Christ are
numbered. Christians have fallen into the trap of hoarding wealth that could be used to reach the world for
Jesus. Our Lord was clear about the use of money. “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where
moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven,
where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is,
there your heart will be also.
I ask you, where is your heart? Is it on earth, or heaven? Someone I know, who was very rich but rather
miserly, died recently. How much did this person leave behind? Everything! This person left behind millions,
but probably will stand penniless on the Day of Judgment.
Perhaps there was no greater visionary than the founder of Methodism, John Wesley. He travelled generally
on horseback, preaching two or three times each day. It was recorded that he rode 250,000 miles, gave away
his family inheritance of 30,000 pounds (about $46,000, a huge fortune in his day, when a blacksmith earned
just 60 cents a day), and preached more than 40,000 sermons.
grasped their hands and said repeatedly, "Farewell, farewell." At the end, he said "The best of all is, God is with
us", lifted his arms and raised his feeble voice again, repeating the words, "The best of all is, God is with us.”
Because of his charitable nature he died poor, leaving as the result of his life's work 135,000 members and
541 itinerant preachers under the name "Methodist". It has been said that when John Wesley was carried to
his grave, he left behind him a good library of books, a well-worn clergyman's gown, and the Methodist
Church.
What will you leave behind when you are carried to your grave? Will your property and hard-earned money
go to your heirs to enjoy and probably squander? Now is the time to set your house in order, and alter your
priorities according to God’s Word. An old preacher friend of mine, a man of unquestioned piety and spiritu-
ality, said the he had invested his treasure in the safest place in the universe, the “First Bank if the New Jerusa-
lem.” Another holiness-preacher friend said,
Do you giving while you’re living,
Then you’re knowing where it’s going.
Forty years ago, during the time in which I spent several years I crisscrossing this nation holding revival
meeting, I spent a summer preaching and singing in Wesleyan holiness camp meetings. It was customary
during those 10-day camps to reserve one day for missionaries to speak and take pledges for their mission-
ary work. One of the missionaries with whom I worked in several different camp meetings that summer was
Rev. Victor Glenn, who served as director of Evangelistic Faith Missions. In 1905, his parents, Lewis and Viola
Glenn, boarded a steamship in New York City and set sail for Egypt, the land where God had called them. I
read that when one of their children died, Lewis requested permission of the town officials to bury their child
in the local cemetery. But because it was a Muslim burying place, the authorities would not allow a Christian
burial there. So Lewis had to go to the edge of town, where desert and city met, and dig a hole in the Sahara,
where his child could be buried. When Victor’s parents were promoted to Glory, Brother Glenn took over as
head of the Mission.
In each of the services, as Brother Glenn poured out his heart with touching stories of the dedication of the
pioneer missionaries in Egypt, and of the tremendous need to spread the gospel in that and other nations, I
would make a pledge to support the missionaries. In one of the last camp meetings of the summer in
August, I remember Brother Glenn coming up to me before the missionary service and saying, “Joe, we have
been together this summer in several services, and I noticed that in every service, you made a pledge of
almost as much as the camp meeting gave you as a stipend for ministering. Please do not give any more. You
have a young family to support on a small salary. Let others pledge during this meeting today. “
I am trying to remember a missionary song which we sang in those meetings. Many of the old holiness songs
were never published, and we would learn them from other singers. I had a small loose-leaf notebook in
which I kept the words of many of those songs. Some were handwritten, and others I typed using my old
Remington portable typewriter. Here are some of the words of one of those songs which I try to recall after
not singing it since being in those camp meetings:
Lord, give me a vision, Oh help me to see
The needs all around me, Souls crying for Thee.
Lord, make me a blessing, As onward I go,
By telling the story, That others might know.
Lord, give me a vision, Of fields that are white,
Lost souls we must gather, E’er cometh the night.
Dark shadows are gathering, And some souls will be lost;
Some neighbor or brother, How awful the cost.
Now it is 40 years later. It has been an honor for me to have visited and ministered in over 65 countries, the
last 15 years in Asia. While the sum of my assets might categorize me as a very poor man, I feel rich in my soul.
And did I tell you about my Father? He is rich in houses and lands; He holdeth the wealth of the world in His
hands. Of rubies and diamonds, of silver and gold, His coffers are full, He has riches untold.
I’M A CHILD OF THE KING
What better time than now, a time of unprecedented bank failures and disastrous economy, to safely invest
in God’s missionary work. Some of you are already in your sixties, seventies, or eighties. Perhaps your vision
has grown dim and your heart cold. I pray that the Lord will renew your spiritual eyesight, give you a fresh,
new, and enlarged vision, and reignite the fire of the Holy Spirit in your heart. May our Lord make these the
most fruitful years of your entire life! –Johannes Maas