Communities Impacted by the Gospel

Imagine a community where:

Bars close because there are no longer people that want to drink to the point of getting drunk.

Jails need to reduce their size because there are so many empty jail cells because people are no longer committing crimes leading to their arrest.

…we can leave our homes and cars unlocked because there is no fear of a burglar stealing our property.

This is exactly what happened all across Wales in 1904 through the preaching of Evan Roberts.

Mr. Roberts started preaching in 1904 and many people came to believe in Jesus and turned away from their sin.

He would pray frequently that God would give him 100,000 souls - that many would come to believe in the Gospel of Jesus Christ so that they may turn away from their sin and ecouxperience a new life in Christ.

There were so many people that came to faith through his preaching that many bars closed because they abandoned their alcoholism and instead made a decision to follow Jesus Christ.

In Acts we read about a certain Demetrius who made small shrines - as if they were a miniature model of the Temple of Artemis of the Ephesians.

She was the main goddess that the Ephesians worshipped.

However, when Paul started preaching about Jesus - something remarkable hapenned:

Hechos de los Apóstoles 19:23–26 NIV

23 About that time there arose a great disturbance about the Way. 24 A silversmith named Demetrius, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought in a lot of business for the craftsmen there. 25 He called them together, along with the workers in related trades, and said: “You know, my friends, that we receive a good income from this business. 26 And you see and hear how this fellow Paul has convinced and led astray large numbers of people here in Ephesus and in practically the whole province of Asia. He says that gods made by human hands are no gods at all.

What hapenned?

People were no longer buying the silver shrines.

People were no longer worshipping Artemis.

They turned away from a false god and instead believed in the true God revealed in the Bible.

Paul taught the people: gods made by human hands are no gods at all.

Imagine the impact that the preaching of Jesus had upon the city of Ephesus?

Romanos 1:16 NIV

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.

Paul knew that there was power in the preaching of the gospel.

The message of Jesus Christ has the power to bring change to an entire community.

We are living in very tense and dangerous times - however, our calling from God is to continue preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ because there are no politicians, no governments, no leaders on this earth that can bring real and lasting change to our community, to our nation, to our world - only Jesus can do that.