“Oh, sing to the LORD a new song! Sing to the LORD, all the earth! Sing to the LORD, bless His name; proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day. Declare His glory among the nations [Gentiles], His wonders among all peoples” (Psalm 96:1-3).
Dear Praying Friends:
In liturgical churches (Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, Lutheran, Roman Catholic, etc.), today is celebrated as Epiphany, which refers to the revelation of Christ to the wise men, who represent the Gentiles.
From the beginning, God has planned to include members of all peoples in his covenant of salvation. As he promised to Abraham, “In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:3).
The Apostle John saw this promise fulfilled in his vision of “a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb . . . and crying out with a loud voice, saying ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sites on the throne, and to the Lamb’” (Revelation 7:9a, 10).
Today, in addition to millions in the West, there are billions of people who have never heard of Christ and will not hear the gospel until someone goes out of their own comfort zone to tell them. Among these are more than one billion Chinese, including more than 22 million in Taiwan and several million in the United States.
At the start of this new year, I ask your prayers for them, and for us as we seek to share the whole counsel of God with ethnic Chinese and to mobilize and equip others to do the same.
I have also made some preliminary decisions about writing priorities, though I need to talk to a couple of publishers.
Though I have withdrawn from the Executive Committee of the Chinese Evangelical Theological Society and won’t be presenting papers, as God leads, I plan to join some of the sessions of the annual colloquium, which starts later this morning. It’s good for my Mandarin, keeps me up to date on Chinese theology, and strengthens existing relationships.
For your prayers (Pick two or three): Please ask God to
- Help us all to praise him for his mighty and gracious work among the peoples of the earth, and to do our part in sharing the gospel with those who haven’t heard.
- Enable me to resume writing a story for the BDCC, a book review, and notes on Hebrews, and give me wisdom about writing priorities for the coming year.
“For He is coming, for He is coming to judge the earth . . . with righteousness and the peoples with His truth” (Psalm 96:13).
Yours under his good and gracious governance,
Wright