We Have Settled For So Little

"Now whatever city or town you enter, inquire who in it is worthy, and stay there till you go out."  (Matthew 10:11)

Luke's version says, "And remain in the same house....Do not go from house to house."  There is a principle here, a strategic principle.  This is not just how to win the lost in some "door to door campaign."  This is how to take a city, influence the culture, which leads to transformation.  It begins with looking for "key" people.

Much of evangelicalism's approach to evangelism has been to get individuals "saved."  This is not outside the intent of, "Go into all the world."  If one considers the history of revivals, however, they mostly affected individuals, and added to the membership of local congregations, nothing wrong here, of course, but regional societies were little affected.  Look at New England, the "cradle" of American education.  Look at the "Bible Belt," where they taught Sunday School classes, catechized children, baptized people, held revival and camp meetings-------- and hanged black people by the thousands.  This is travesty of the first order.  Most KKK members were also members of local churches.  Throughout American history, the Gospel was preached, in many cases, the meetings were huge, but societal impact was small.  

Much was as today, churches grow, "Christian" television rakes in millions upon millions, yet all the while the American Culture "around" the churches remains largely unaffected, and is sliding more and more into the abyss.  Half of the United States have legalized same gender marriages, while national news media touts homosexuals and lesbians kissing.  If American Christendom remains as it is, this will only increase.  A year after I graduated from high school Americans stopped praying in its schools.  Two years after, Americans stopped reading the Bible in schools.  Twelve years after, Americans legalized the murder of the unborn and lost a war for the first time in its history.  None of this could have happened without an impotent religion.

"Inquire who in it is worthy," literally, "Inquire who in it has weight."  Look for "key" people in the city; look-for-leaders, I believe is a foundational principle for city-wide, national transformation.  It is true in business, in the media, in government.  Some would scoff at this and say it's not possible.  I say, "What does, 'Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,' i.e., "ethnos," mean?"  Read the Old Testament and one discovers that God is God of the nations.  He desire the nations, as well as individuals to come to Him.  From Abraham's battle to retrieve Lot to Daniel reigning as Prime Minister of the Media Persian Empire, our Lord Jesus shows that the "spread" of the Gospel starts with individuals, and leads to the transformation of nations.  All through the Bible we read of, "who in it has weight," evangelism, e.g., the Lord's "first" disciples, most of whom were small businessmen, and Matthew, a government official, the highly charged, very political, "Simon,the Zealot," the centurion of Acts 10, Lydia, "a dealer in purple cloth," and so many, many more.

Of course this is not elitism; how ridiculous the accusation.  But there is one "thing" I wish to leave with you.  Who better to be instrumental in transformation of a culture than, "who in it has weight"?

Father, in Jesus' Name, lead me to people, "who in it has weight."  Amen.

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Great article on the global intent of Arab Islamism and how it was first stopped historically:   jhs58.blogspot.com

When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

"Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2