Hebrews 11:6(NKJV) 6But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
As we began this week, we tied together the statement by Paul in 2 Corinthians 1:20 with various promises the bible says God has made to us. Paul says all the promises of God are yes and amen to those who are “in Christ Jesus.” This simply means that the answer God gives to any Christian who asks for anything promised in the bible is always yes. However, we have also been looking at our responsibility to the city. Does the bible contain promises concerning the city as well? I believe it does.
We have defined our “city” as the geographical area for which we have been given responsibility. God has spoken to us about a fifty mile radius centering in Greene, New York. For you the city may be the city in which you live or part of that city. If you live in a rural area as we do, you may find that your “city” encompasses a number of towns, villages or small cities. Whatever area God shows a church as the area and the people they must preach the gospel to is their city.
God loves you as an individual and he fills his Word with promises that apply to your personal needs. However, Christianity is not just about our personal needs. Jesus sent us into the world with a mission.
Matthew 28:19-20(NKJV) 19Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
The first place God calls us to to fill this commission is our city. From there he calls us to our region, our country and the world. Nevertheless, it all must begin with our city. We must take our city for the Gospel. That means we must preach the gospel to it until all who can be saved are saved. Once they receive Jesus, we must teach them to be his disciples. This assignment will not end until Jesus comes back to the earth.
Most Christians know about this assignment. They know they should do more to fulfill the great commission. Some Christians and churches try to fulfill it. They go out to the community, they speak to people at work or school or wherever they may encounter unsaved people in their daily life. They may offer to pray for people and even lay hands on the sick they encounter. Sometimes they have success and even great success. I find that more often than not they try for a time, become discouraged and quit. Christians often feel condemned because they have failed to fulfill the great commission to preach the Gospel to their city.
I know that many of us simply are too frightened and intimidated to reach out to the city. Others simply do not care enough about the city or the commission to obey it. They are so caught up in their own lives that they simply do not make the effort to reach out to those who are on their way to an eternity separated from God. Still others are dealing with such sever trials they do not feel they can reach out to anyone else. All of these conditions are real. Some are understandable and some are just disobedience, but I believe there is an element lacking that will help us overcome them all.
Over the last number of weeks I have come to realize that everything God does in us or through us is based on promise. We know that the personal promises of God unlock the power of the divine nature to meet our needs. (2 Peter 1:3-4) If we want to see the divine nature to heal our body released, we must find healing promises, meditate upon them, pray them and believe them. If we do so consistently and faithfully, we physical healing will result. The same is true of promises concerning finances, emotional wellbeing and success in any area of life. If we do not access the promises of God, we will never consistently see the power of God in our personal circumstances.
When it comes to taking our city for the Gospel, we often think all we need is to work harder or be more bold and willing to speak out. We do need those things, but if we just do them in the flesh, we will never take our city. As leaders, we sometimes get so frustrated with the people in church that we can tend to try to drive them to reach out to the lost. We chide them and even shout at them trying to get them motivated. We may be tempted to condemn the congregation for their lack of response.
Another approach to motivate the people in a local church for evanelism is to look to all kinds of programs and plans. Indeed, God will give us plans, strategies and programs, but if we think they are the answer to taking our city, we will usually be disappointed. Inviting evangelists to come to our church to hold meetings or train the people in witnessing techniques is a good thing to do and can help, but long experience convinces me that none of these things in themselves will produce a long term change in the results of our evangelistic efforts.
One element is required for success in any spiritual endeavor. Without it, it is impossible to please God and if we do not please God, we will never take our city for him. Without this one thing, we will never have the power we need to overcome the forces of darkness that bind our city. Without this force functioning in our minds and hearts we may go through the motions of fulfilling the great commission, but we will never succeed. We may get some results with plans, training or evangelists who come to preach for us, but it will not last. What is the one thing we must have to be successful in taking our city for God?
We read what we need in today’s verse. We must have faith if we are going to take the city. How can this faith come to us? Will it come because we work harder to preach the gospel? Will it come if the leaders push the people to preach the gospel? Will this faith come by criticism or condemnation? Will faith come with the latest and greatest program or even because a great minister of the Gospel comes to our city. I do not believe any of these things produce lasting faith. The bible is clear as to where faith comes from.
Romans 10:17(NKJV) 17So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Faith comes from the Word of God. More specifically, faith for anything we want to see manifested in our personal life comes from faith in a specific promise of God. Faith for healing comes from healing promises. Faith for prosperity comes from prosperity promises. Faith for peace, joy, relationships or any other thing we need comes from meditating in and believing promises from the Word of God in those areas. Why do we think it will be different when it comes to taking our city for the Lord?
Condemning ourselves for not witnessing may get us to try, but it will not produce results. We need to repent of not caring or being lazy. We need to confront the disappointments of the past where these things are concerned. All of that is true. However, what we really need to do is find what God has promised us concerning taking the city, meditate on those promises, confess them with our mouths and do whatever else we must until they produce faith for the city in our hearts. Then we must act on that faith. When we do, we will see results like never before.
God has given us some powerful promises concerning our city. If we want to have the power to win the lost in the city, we must build those promises into our lives. I believe that is the most important area in which we need to be motivated. We are going to look at some of these promises and let faith for our city rise in our hearts until we see the power of God move, the lost won to Christ and disciples for the kingdom growing strong in our churches.
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