Hello there, friend. Today’s a very special day for us at Radical. We’re celebrating Secret Church 25 tonight! For almost two decades, we’ve gathered with tens of thousands of believers around the world to dive into God’s Word and support God’s people in the hardest-to-reach places. This year, David’s taken on a great challenge: He’s guiding us through the entire book of Matthew in 6 hours—that’s a 28 chapter race, for those wondering!

Keep reading for a little preview of what we’ll be seeing tonight.

🗓️ Let’s number our days.

31,379

The last time I had the pure joy of sitting with my Uncle John in this world, that was the number he told me. It was how many days he’d been alive. A few weeks ago, I had the honor of preaching at his funeral. He had gone to be with the Lord on Day 31,447.

My Uncle John was wise to number his days. The Bible says so. “Teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12). According to God, it is wise to live today in light of what will matter most on your last day. Which, after all, could be any day.

That leads me to think about this day when, Lord willing, thousands of people will gather from places around the world for Secret Church. We’re planning to dive into the book of Matthew and discover the answer to this question: How do I make my life count? Or maybe another way to put that question might be: How do I make my days count?

For those of you who are participating in Secret Church, I don’t want to give away Matthew’s answer to that question just yet. But I do want to say that the answer points to the entire reason why Radical exists.

Because all of our days are indeed numbered. Our time in this world is short. Sure, over 31,000 days may sound like a lot of time, but in the grand scheme of eternity, it’s miniscule. In the words of James 4:14, “What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.”

But just imagine for a moment what can happen in this mist! Think about your own life. I am guessing that for most people who are reading this right now, you have placed your faith in Jesus, the eternal Word of God made flesh, who came to this world to die for your sins and rise from the dead so that you now have everlasting life. Think about the day when your heart was revolutionized by His grace, and realize that 10 trillion years from now you’ll be reaping the reward of that one day! It’s pretty breathtaking to consider, isn’t it?

Now let’s take this to another level and think about your life in relation to others. Consider this: today, you can share about Jesus with someone else. It could be a family member or friend, a co-worker or classmate, an acquaintance or someone you “just so happen” to interact with on this day. You have good news that you can share with them that will completely change the next 10 trillion years of their life and beyond! How incredible is that?

So how do we make our days count? We follow Jesus and make Him known (I’m starting to give away Matthew’s answer that we’ll see in Secret Church, but I promise you, it will be much better to hear it from his Spirit-inspired mouth!). We make today count by experiencing life to the fullest in fellowship with the Author of life, and by spreading His love to people around us and people around the world in ways that will transform their lives for all of eternity. What a way to live for what lasts forever!

Moreover, we live like this with urgency not just because our days are numbered, but also because their days are numbered.

None of us are guaranteed tomorrow, and neither are the people around us or people around the world. Over 3 billion unreached people in the world today only have a relative few days left to hear the gospel for the first time so that they can be saved from everlasting suffering. God has entrusted a few days to each of us to play our part in reaching them, and I want to urge us based on God’s Word to spend every one of them following Jesus and making Him known in our neighborhoods and all nations.

I’m on Day 17,064. What about you?

By God’s Spirit in us and God’s grace through us, let’s number our days and make them count for what matters forever. 

📍 Attention Worthy

• Secret Church 25 is tonight. For 6 hours straight, we’ll study the life of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew to discover what a life that counts looks like—and how to pursue it. Our latest Hard to Reach series will also premiere tonight! You don’t want to miss a minute of this special gathering. Register now.