EMERGING TRENDS IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD TODAY
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OUTLINE
1.SPIRITUALLY HUNGRY SOULS IN NON-CHRISTIAN RELIGIONS
2.SIMPLE AND EFFECTIVE MINISTERS FUNCTIONING INDEPENDENTLY
3.DESPERATE NEED FOR HOLINESS AND EXEMPLARY LIVES AMONG CHRISTIANS
4.NEED FOR UNITY AND PARTNERSHIP AMONG MINISTRIES
5.WISDOM IN SOUL WINNING METHODS
THE MESSAGE
1.SPIRITUALLY HUNGRY SOULS IN NON-CHRISTIAN RELIGIONS
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There are many people today who are like Cornelius in Acts 10 . They
do not know the name of Jesus .They do not belong to the religion
called Christianity . They belong to other religions . But like
Cornelius they are so hungry for God and their hearts are crying out
to God constantly and like Cornelius they have a heart and a burden
for those in need and pain and are reaching out to them . And just as
the prayers and alms of Cornelius reached the throne of God as a
memorial , the prayers and the alms of these millions of hungry souls
who belong to other religions have reached God . And the time is ripe
for a supernatural visitation of God to reveal Himself to these
millions of souls in non-christian religions.
And just as God had to remove the traditional barriers in the heart of
Peter before he would be willing to reach Cornelius , the church today
needs a major transformation in their attitudes towards the people of
other religions . Many traditional attitudes which are hindering the
church from reaching out to the lost must be shed even though it may
be a painful process .
And we know that many apostles got upset with Peter for going to the
house of Cornelius as they did not realise that it was the Spirit of
God who had led Peter to the house of Cornelius . Today the Church
and especially it’s leaders need a divine discernment to recognise the
leading of the Holy Spirit in reaching the lost in new and
non-traditional ways. The Church should be a source of inspiration
instead of being a barrier and a road block to those who are raised up
by God in these days to reach the lost in novel ways.
2.SIMPLE AND EFFECTIVE MINISTERS FUNCTIONING INDEPENDENTLY
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There is an incident during the ministry of Jesus when His disciples
saw a man casting out devils in the name of Jesus . And the disciples
forbid him because he was not following after them . But Jesus told
them not to do so because he who is not against them is indeed for
them.
Today there are so many hungry people who cry out to God to use them
as His instruments and God answers their cry and begins to use them
wonderfully. They are simple , ordinary people whose faith is simple
and childlike without being complicated and confused by various church
divisions and dogmas. These people are rising up and doing great
things for God within their sphere of influence and making a real
difference in the lives of people and bringing multitudes to the
knowledge of Jesus Christ through their simple child-like faith.
Therefore there is a great need for the church and its leaders not to
forbid these servants of God or force them to come under their control
. These simple messengers are very effective in their respective
ministries and they would lose their effectiveness if the church
stifles their creativity and imposes it’s dogmas and jurisdiction over
them . The church should have a large heart to love these ministers
and encourage them in every way and allow them to function with
freedom and independence.
3.DESPERATE NEED FOR HOLINESS AND EXEMPLARY LIVES AMONG CHRISTIANS
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There is a great need for Christians to be living examples of Christ .
Today millions of non-christians are hearing through television and
other mass media , the message of the power of Christ to transform
lives . They are told that Christ would transform them into saints and
deliver them from their sins. Unfortunately after hearing these
wonderful promises they look around for proof and find that the
christians they meet are no better than them .Instead these christians
are just as sinful as them. And thus they are not convinced that
Christ is the saviour. The sinful lives of people who call themselves
Christians is a major hindrance to the salvation of the world .Mahatma
Gandhi is reported to have stated that if all the Christians in India
would live like Christ then the whole nation of India would have
become christian. The church desperately needs a deep work of
sanctification which would make an impact before the unbeleivers and
cause them to seek Christ.
4.NEED FOR UNITY AND PARTNERSHIP AMONG MINISTRIES
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There is a great need for unity and partnership within the church. As
the scriptures say ’ One shall chase a thousand and two shall put ten
thousand to flight ’ . Too much time and effort have been wasted by the
church to fight it’s internal battles which is a major hindrance to
the evangelisation of the world. Sometimes there is a competitive war
between various ministries in the same mission field which is a sad
testimony before the unbeleivers. The church needs a willingness to
come together and share its wealth of experiences and strategies and
resources with each other which would certainly multiply its
effectiveness in the evangelisation of the world. This would require
sacrifice and unselfishness on the part of the church leaders and a genuine burden for the Kingdom of
God and a deep love for the brethren. When such a unity of heart and
mind is found in the church , the Kingdom of God would progess rapidly
in this world.
5.WISDOM IN SOUL WINNING METHODS
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There is a verse in the book of Proverbs which says that ’He that
winneth souls is wise ’ . Today there is a desperate need for the
church to examine it’s soul winning strategies and methods so that
it’s resources are not wasted in methods of evangelism that do not
produce fruit and do not result in the salvation of the people .
For example in India there are instances where millions of dollars
have been spent to organise mass crusades for the purpose of
evangelism . Millions of dollars have been spent to advertise the
meetings . Massive efforts are made to mobilise the crowds to attend
the meetings which cost a lot of money . Unfortunately a large
portion of the crowds that gather are usually from the churches and
only a small part of the audience are truly unbeleivers . However
the organisers would claim that the meetings were a great success .
But compared to the amount of money spent , the results would sadly be
very little in terms of the people who actually received salvation through these meetings and go on to live as disciples of Christ .
In fact the Gospel message would have reached millions of unbeleivers
and non-christians if the same money had been spent in publishing a
simple Gospel message in the same media and full page newspaper
advertisements that were used to advertise the meetings. And sometimes
unfortunately the massive advertisements for the meetings only provoke
the anti-christian forces and they force the authorities to impose
restictions on the message that could be preached in these meetings .
And a result even after spending millions of dollars , the evangelist
is not allowed to preach the message of salvation and cannot call
upon the people to accept and follow Christ . Instead a very diluted
message is proclaimed promising the power of Christ to help them with
their daily problems. There is no mention of the cross or repentance
or heaven or hell or salvation through Jesus Christ . Thus ends the
massive Gospel crusade and there are very little results to show for
the efforts and money spent.
This is just one example where the church should become wise in
winning souls and find ways and means to utilise it’s resources to the
maximum effectiveness .The future belongs to the unsung heros of the
church who quietly and effectively keep winning souls and make a real
difference in the lives of people making Jesus real to them . They
minister without fanfare and publicity and are able to make rapid
inroads into the kingdom of darkness and rescue the prisoners inside.
The church to-day needs to empower and educate the ordinary laymen and
release them as trained warriors into the battlefield . This is the
mighty army that would destroy the Kingdom of Satan and establish the
Kingdom of God before Christ returns. Amen.
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