Beloved brethren, friends, visitors, young people, and fellow believers watching this program around the world. I greet you in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

The theme for this Conference is “Go Ye Into All the World.” That is the commission to everybody. Christ’s last words to His disciples were, “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world” (Matthew 28:20). “Go ye therefore and teach all nations” (v. 19).

This commission is also reconfirmed in the Spirit of Prophecy, “Go to the farthest bounds of the habitable globe, and know that wherever you go My presence will attend you.”1

This is a promise of God, and this promise we must claim.

Some time ago, there was a ship sailing in the ocean heading toward Brazil. Suddenly this ship experienced a problem causing those aboard to run out of drinking water. They did not know what to do - there was no land in sight. In distress, they sent out an Emergency message, S.O.S. - “Save our souls.”

A nearby ship received the message and answered back, “Where are you located?”

The distressed shipmen told the latitude and longitude of their location.

The answer came back again, “Be happy. Drop the bucket. Draw the water. Drink and fill.”

“What? With the salty ocean water?”

“You are in a place of good, sweet drinking water.”

The inhabitants of the ship did not know they were in a place where there was plenty of good drinking water. They needed a message from outside.

Similarly today, souls who are sinking in sin do not realize their situation. They give the Macedonian cry, when the water of life is right within their reach.

“Evangelistic work, opening the Scriptures to others, warning men and women of what is coming upon the world is to occupy more and still more of the time of God’s servants.”2

So, going and reaching is our real work. God says, “Go.” God says, “Reach.” And what do you do when you reach them?

We are told, “God’s people must spread over all the world, planting the standard of truth in the dark places of the earth and doing their utmost to destroy Satan’s kingdom.”3

What then is their mission? To reach, to teach, to plant the standard, dispel the darkness, and build up the kingdom of Christ. This is our mission.

“The Lord designs that the presentation of this message shall be the highest, greatest work carried on in the world at this time.”4

So this is our highest aim, our highest object.

I remember hearing about an incident that took place in 1867. There was an old missionary that had spent a great part of his life in India. His name was Dr. Duff. He was from Scotland - he was a Scottish missionary. Because of working hard for a long time in India, he got a little bit sick. He grew old, so they brought him back to Scotland. There was a conference like this one we are having in a place called Edinburgh. The old missionary asked his people if he could attend the conference, and he expressed his desire to address the congregation. His request was granted and he began to speak powerfully before the congregation. Suddenly, he fainted. They took him out, and a few minutes later he recovered and told the people, “Take me back. I am not finished. I must speak!”

They answered, “Look, pastor, you cannot. You will die!”

“Even if I die, I would wish to do this - and I want to finish my work!”

They were surprised, but they brought the aged missionary back to the hall. The entire congregation stood on their feet, with tears in their eyes. They were amazed at the power the Lord had given to this missionary. Then he came to the front - and in his faint and feeble voice he spoke.

The trembling voice of this veteran soldier for Christ declared, “Fathers and mothers of Scotland, is it true that you have no more children to send to India for the Lord’s service? When Queen Victoria would require volunteers for her army, you would freely send your young men without a question. You would not consider about health, you would not consider about the weather, you would not consider life or death. But when the King of kings would say, “Why not your child?” you don’t send one. . . . “If that is so . . . take me back to India! I will preach on the bank of Ganges. Let this old man’s voice echo in Himalaya. Let this old man rest in peace until the Lord’s voice is heard in that land.”

Brethren, that was a powerful message. Thousands stood up. Many missionaries went. Although very few Christians are there, Christianity has nonetheless reached that remote land.

We need missionaries, we need ministers, we need soldiers for Christ, we need ambassadors for the King of kings. The need for evangelistic workers is the need of the hour today.

“The harvest is great.”5

“Ambassadors for Christ are needed today.”6 How many do we need?

“A hundred workers are needed where we have one now.”7

“The world needs today what it needed nineteen hundred years ago - a revelation of Christ. A great work of reform is demanded, and it is only through the grace of Christ that the work of restoration, physical, mental, and spiritual, can be accomplished.

“Christ’s method alone will give true success in reaching the people. The Saviour mingled with men as one who desired their good. He showed His sympathy for them, ministered to their needs, and won their confidence. Then He bade them, ‘Follow Me.’”8

Christ came to preach the good tidings, to bind the broken heart, to proclaim liberty to the captives, to open the prison to them that are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. (See Luke 4:18, 19.)

My brethren, Jesus came to seek that which was lost. He brought good tidings. We have before us a great work. What is that work? The closing work of giving the gospel - God’s last warning message to the sinful world.

“We have before us a great work, the closing work of giving God’s last warning message to a sinful world. But what have we done to give this message? Look, I beg of you, at the many, many places that have never yet been even entered. Look at our workers treading over and over the same ground, while around them is a neglected world, lying in wickedness and corruption - a world as yet unwarned.”9

Do you remember the experience mentioned in the writings of the Spirit of Prophecy about the American businessman? He said that he worked for the Lord 24 hours a day. When questioned how he could do that - when did he sleep then - he explained, “When I sleep, my men work in China.”

My brethren and sisters, “Go!” Or if you cannot go, then “Send!” Go or send. This is our commission. It is our mission. If it stops, the church ceases to exist. Mission is the heartbeat of the church. If the heart stops beating, we stop living. Can you imagine that? We must have a living church of active Christians.

“Every believer by baptism not only publicly declares himself as a follower of Jesus Christ, but also pledges himself to work with Him for the salvation of man. Not only ambassadors - we are coworkers together with Christ. Therefore mission is the hallmark of every Christian and it is the test of his faith.”10

What are the challenges affecting us today? Every generation has a different challenge. Today’s challenges are: Population, transportation, communication, knowledge expansion, research in the world’s religions, thousands of new religions, urbanization, secularization, social, economical and political gaps, as well as ongoing revolutionary change in every culture. Does this affect other religious standard?

The servant of the Lord says, “Yes, it does.” So then what do we have to do? We need to make provision to face the various challenges and overcome them.

The number of people in this world who have never heard about Christ is 8-10 times greater than in the time of the apostle Paul. Barely 20% of the world’s population today is Christian. In just 10 years from now, this will reduce to 15%. What - is it going to be reduced? Yes, at the rate at which this is going, it will happen. So, we need to get into action.

Suppose you would go to the airport. You stand there for about an hour and find that no airplane is taking off or landing. What would be your thought? There obviously must be a problem.

You go to the train station. You stand for hours. No train comes. No train goes out. No passenger goes past. What would be your thought? Something is wrong.

Can this be the same thing? We are the church. We do not see people coming in or going out to preach the gospel. Something is wrong. There is a problem. We must have an active church, bringing in and sending out, fulfilling the great commission.

The gospel commission is God’s idea. Jesus said that His mission was to seek and save that which was lost. Luke 19:10. And again He says, “As the Father has sent me, so send I you” (John 20:21).

My brethren, if Jesus has left us with this commission, we should not tarry. We should not sit back and twiddle our thumbs.

There are many changes taking place even in our church today. Just 80 years ago, the church started with just a small group of people in Europe. Now today, it is spread all over the world in 120 countries. We have members on every continent. Can we just sit back and relax and say, wonderful, the Lord has done great things? Can we just sit back and rest? No, my brethren, we still have to go and reach the unreached areas.

There are other problems. Even where progress is visible, there is also some inventory to be taken. What is the situation?

1. Increasing apparently worldliness.

2. Changing role of the laity

3. Social reform taking place all over the world.

4. Spiritual decay.

These are the things that affect people all over the world. In spite of all these things, the Lord has made provision to reach new countries. Yet when we open new areas, we seem to run out of missionaries. Bro. Jaksic has been pleading with us for the last 8 years to send one missionary to Mongolia. We don’t find one. We were making an appeal to send one missionary to Albania. We couldn’t find any. The work of the Lord is opening so much in the continent of Africa.

We see new places and we need missionaries to fill these places, brethren.

We should have a decided position before we leave this place: How we will provide for these people?

We should be united in action so that we can accomplish the goal.

Mission is the work of the Holy Spirit - it is not the mission of a man. As a church, we cannot be guided by some geographical, organizational or ecclesiastical institution, nor by the business principles developed by the Ford Motor Company or by Microsoft. Rather we must be guided by principle - by the Holy Spirit. We should devise the plan and that plan is, “Go or send.” Reach the unreached. Save the lost.

In the Spanish language they have one phrase that I like: “Siempre listo.” Always ready - ready for service, ready for sacrifice. This should be our mission, brethren. We need to have a critical self-investigation to determine what will be our course of action.

We cannot witness unless we have a personal experience with Christ. And let us all work unitedly - united with one another, united with Christ. Then we can get into action!

In conclusion, I just want to tell you about an incident in Brazil:

It was a Saturday. There was an army officer. He took his wife and two of his children to the zoo in Brasilia. It was a good day - there were many people there with their families and children. Near a little enclosure, many were observing a fresh water seal (sea lion). Everyone was watching. And as they were watching, one little baby slipped out of the hands of the mother and slid straight down into the enclosure. A mother seal became furious because she herself had a new baby. So she came to attack the human baby. No one knew what to do. But the army officer had not a second thought - he did not delay. He quickly handed his own child to his wife and immediately jumped into the enclosure to rescue the baby. The mother seal was so furious that she viciously attacked the officer. Although he was able to save the baby, he left his wife a widow and his two small children orphans in his heroic action to save the baby. He died as a brave soldier.

Brethren and sisters, when we are in action, we do not think of the consequences. What is your decision today? Are we ready to be united as a people, as colaborers with Christ that we can finish the task so that Jesus can declare, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant”? If you reduce that powerful declaration into just two words in today’s language, it would be: Mission accomplished! Mission possible!

Action is necessary. Make a decision today: “I will go, or I will send. I will be ready for action!”

I want to thank the Lord today that He has given us this desire. The victory is ours.