Friendship with God Sermon Week 4

Miraculous Movements

SIGNS AND WONDERS

City Team, and our partner organizations continue to refine what we are learning from one another's experiences and from biblical understandings of how disciple making and church planting most effectively happen.

As you have read, the Discovery Bible Study process leading to obedience-based disciples is a centerpiece of this process. In 2008, about three years into our ministry efforts in Africa, much data and many leaders' observations, plus hundreds of stories, had come in, and we began to see some trends, Additional data and in-depth interviews from late 2010 until mid-2011 confirmed and clarified our preliminary conclusions.

The reports indicated that, depending on the region, minimum of 50 percent (in the most extreme and violent Muslim areas) and a maximum of 70 percent of all the new churches planted among Muslims happened in part because of signs and wonders (typically miracles of healing and deliverance) that accelerated and facilitated the process of disciple making. Sometimes, the divine interventions have unexpectedly happened the first day that pioneer teams entered a community; often, during the first weeks of a Discovery Bible Study; sometimes just before baptisms; and sometimes not at all.

The clear conclusion for the workers in the field, regardless of their theological backgrounds or assumptions, is that God is moving dramatically and creatively to display His love and glory among Muslim peoples today. But the miracles that accelerate the disciple-making process don't happen in a vacuum. They are a result of intercessors and of pioneer missionaries who are prepared to spend a lot of time engaging people, finding people of peace, and then investing additional weeks or months coaching leaders of Discovery Bible Studies. Disciple making is a time-consuming process of relationships. Miracles, of course, are not a replacement for people in the field working consistently and putting in the time, prayer, and effort needed to make disciples, but they are a jet-propelled boost for the process when they happen.

A compelling example of God overriding our strategies and accelerating the process of engaging Muslims with the gospel is the story of Desta, told here in his own words.

I had been a church planter for some years when I received training in how to make disciples the way Jesus did. We really did not know how it might work, but we wanted to try and see. My friend Samuel-a very smart guy, had planned to go with me to a certain Muslim village. In my strategy, I had taken a map and made a note for my team to

avoid one community because it was too harshly Islamic and a very dangerous place for Christians.

So Samuel and I headed out on my motorcycle to our distant destination. We had been riding all day, very hot and uncomfortable, and we were looking forward to getting there because, besides being tired, we were riding through some areas that are hostile to Christians -the very town that I had warned others to avoid at all costs, in fact.

And that was when the motorcycle broke down. I started to groan. "Why should I have a motorcycle breakdown?" I said out loud, to nobody. Samuel wasn't listening anyway. "You can't even ask someone from this village for water, because they are Muslims. They will see me coming and think they will defile themselves just by speaking to me. So why?" I guess I was speaking to God, but it didn't feel much like prayer.

So I tried to use my own ideas to fix the bike. I tried to start it by pushing it. Then I had Samuel ask people nearby, but there was no mechanic in the village and it was getting

late. We stood there, thinking what to do. It was too far to walk, pushing the bike. We were out of ideas. And that's when we heard the loud crying. It was more like wailing, actually. Many people were moaning in the village nearby.

It was getting dark now, and the sound made goose bumps on my arms. But I felt like something was telling me to go and find out what was happening. Samuel asked someone who was walking past, and he said that the chief's wife had died that afternoon. It was too late to bury her; they would do that in the morning. But now they were wailing for her. A voice kept telling me, "Go up and see what is happening here." So I told Samuel, "Wait here. I'm going to find out what it's all about." I still felt frightened. "Or you can come with me," I added.

So we went together into the village, feeling very nervous and confused. I didn't even speak their dialect, though Samuel understood it. But my conscience kept

saying, "Go and see; don't stand back." So we obeyed and went.

All the men in the village, they moved into our way as we walked in, because they wanted to do their ceremonies and wanted us to leave. But I kept walking, pushing my way through, and Samuel was behind me. Then I saw the corpse, and something told me to start praying. I had never done this before, praying for a dead person. I've prayed for the sick, but never for those already dead. But something was battling within myself. I couldn't see any urgency to pray for this woman; she was already dead!

Then Samuel pulled my sleeve. "They are making announcements," he said in my ear. "They are calling the village back together. They want to get on with the

ceremonies. We should leave, now!" By then, I was really struggling. "If I pray and nothing happens," I wondered. "how can we get out of this place? What will they do to us?" But something kept saying, "Go and pray."

The urgency was so strong on me that I had to obey, so I told the people that I wanted to pray for the chief's dead wife. They made some comments, but I couldn't understand them anyway, so I just went up to the body and started to pray.

It was a loud and violent prayer! God filled me with extraordinary strength to pray, and continue praying.

So I prayed, I prayed, I prayed! People around me were commenting, but I just kept praying. I prayed very loud for one hour. I called her by name, asking God to send her back to her people. I called upon the name of Jesus; I asked Him to revive the life of this person as He did when He was on earth. I prayed for an hour and a half.

And then I started to feel warmth in her hand. Then I started to feel a heartbeat. So I continued praying and praying and the crowd started to get angry. “Let’s remove this man,” someone said. "He is wasting our time. others pushed in and said, "No! Let him continue. It is Allah who has sent him."

And then, the woman opened her eyes. Everybody started shouting; the women screamed. "She has opened her eyes! She has opened her eyes!" The mourners stopped wailing; even the women stopped crying. I could hardly stand up because everybody was pushing against me, trying to see the dead woman coming back alive.

But I kept praying. She has opened her eyes! The mourners stopped wailing;

even the women stopped crying. I could hardly stand up because everybody was pushing against me, trying to see the dead woman coming back alive. But I kept praying.

Then she sat up and asked, "May I have some water?" She sat there and asked for water! What could we do? Someone ran up with a bottle, and we gave her water! Then everyone stopped making noise; it became very quiet. Everyone was speechless, watching the dead woman drinking. Then the crowd moved back, and everyone stopped staring at the chief's wife. Now they were staring at me! "These people are wonderful men," someone shouted. "They have raised the dead!" And the Spirit of God told me, "Tell them who Jesus is." I said, "Chief, elders of this village, I thank you all for thinking that we are great men. That is very nice. But I want you to know something: the greatness that you are seeing is not because of us. We are just ordinary people. But there is a man named Jesus.

And then I told them the truth about God's free gift of salvation, and I prayed for them.

And when I finished praying, I was thinking about leaving. Quickly. I was thinking, "What if this is not permanent? Maybe she will die again! If she just dies again, then.." But

the people would not let us leave; they compelled us; they said, “Oh, no! You are not leaving!" Maybe they were thinking the same thing. So they helped her walk to her house and she got into bed because she was very weak and tired. Then they brought

sleeping mats for us, and they put us in the next room beside the chief's bedroom, and that is where we spent the night.

We spent the night there, but we did not sleep much there. What would happen in the morning? But the next morning, she was still alive! And she is still alive to this day. So in the morning, the chief came to us and said, "I want to thank God for you. I am a born Muslim, and I am not going to renounce that faith. But from today, by God's grace, I

believe your Jesus!" This was a little confusing, but then he continued. "Listen," he said, "there has been a law here that nothing like Christianity, like the name of Jesus- nobody can say it, nobody can even hear it. But because your Jesus has raised this woman, my wife-because he has raised her from being dead, today I am lifting the ban. Anyone in this village who wants to become a Christian can become a Christian! This woman whom you have raised . . . her children whoever! Anyone who wants to can become a Christian."

Then he pointed to a wide building down the road. "That is a community school," he said, "If you want to start praying there, you can start coming there and praying for our people. And the Spirit of God spoke to me again. "It was I who stopped you from leaving this place," He said. "And the reason for that is for you to have a time of prayer." So I asked the chief to gather the people of the village, but he didn't have to do much; everyone was already there to see if his wife was still alive,

We stood out in front, and Samuel called, "We want to pray for everybody. If you are sick, if you have any problems, come to the community school, and we will pray for you."

Many people came there, and we prayed for them, praying for many different needs, Then I told them about Jesus again, and Samuel translated, and at the end of that day seventy-six people gave their lives to Jesus: men, women, and children,

And that is how the church was planted in that community,