The Way Forward

Introduction

Galatians 3:3–5 KJV 1900

3 Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? 4 Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain. 5 He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?

Body

The principles we find in God’s Word are inviolate. If we adhere to them, we will prosper. If we disregard them, it will be to our peril.

If we are to succeed at all in our endeavors to live for God, we have to:

Discover what God wants us to do

Discover how God wants us to do them

We’re not here to reinvent the wheel

Adam and Eve were not expected to have right and wrong figured out. They were expected to obey.

Noah was not expected to know how to build the ark, but to follow the instructions given to him

Abram didn’t need to know where he was going, he just needed to obey the instructions he had at that time.

Moses was not expected to know how to construct the tabernacle. He simply did as he was told

God’s Design for Growth

God’s design for growth is two-fold

Prayer and fasting

Evangelism

Preaching the Gospel

God confirming His Word with signs following

Jesus’ Example of Evangelism

Matthew 4:23–25 KJV 1900

23 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. 24 And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them. 25 And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judaea, and from beyond Jordan.

He went into the synagogue to teach

He's preaching the gospel of the kingdom with authority

He casts out every unclean spirit, and He heals every one that is sick.

Immediately His fame spread

They’re bringing people to Him.

Now great multitudes of people are following Him.

Jesus Commissions the Twelve

Matthew 10:1 KJV 1900

1 And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.

The first things Jesus does, even before He sends them out to preach, is to give them power against unclean spirits, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.

Matthew 10:5–8 KJV 1900

5 These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: 6 But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. 8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.

Their preaching was to include healing the sick, cleansing the lepers, raising the dead, and casting out devils.

Before any of this, however, remember that Jesus went into the wilderness for a period of 40 days of prayer and fasting!

Before Paul could be used as he was, he went away alone into Arabia for three years

He “conferred not with flesh and blood”

He sought God!

I believe with all my heart God is calling us back to a first century witness.

Like Topeka Kansas, I believe we need to seek God until this is restored to us.

I want this to be a priority for us. That God would use each and every one of us to regularly identify and cast out devils, to heal regularly all manner of sickness and disease.

That the fame of what God is doing here would spread so great that they would bring the sick and the possessed here for healing and deliverance.

We need to follow God’s prescribed pattern.

But first, we need to follow the example of Paul, and that of Jesus Christ.

We need to dedicate ourselves for a time to prayer and fasting.

We must seek mightily the face of God for ourselves, and for our county.

Only then can we expect boldly for God to move in this manner.

Commitment

This means that we will have to commit to this

To the extent we will have to reorder our schedules, our priorities, our lives, to accomplish it

We will need to do what’s required. Pay the amount asked. Give whatever is necessary. Endure everything that comes our way.

We commit because of what’s at stake

The souls of those we love will be forever damned unless we take bold spiritual action

Our country and our freedoms will be lost unless we take bold spiritual action

The enemy will grow more and more arrogant, and take more and more land, unless the church stands up and pushes him back.

I’m not talking about ‘giving the devil a black eye’ either. I’m talking about absolute annihilation!

Because God is coming back so very soon. No one has much time left and we need to leave it all on the field.

The closer God’s second coming gets, the more urgent God becomes. This must be our first priority from now until then!

The Way Forward

To that end, I am instituting at this church under the direction of God a singular dedication to prayer and fasting into the foreseeable future. We will enter into a covenant with God to this end

Our goals are two-fold:

That we all would draw closer to God and become like Him. How?

We dedicate ourselves to “pray always”

Daily we will study God’s Word and apply it

When God tells us something, we obey.

We commit all of ourselves to God’s will

We commit everything we have and are to the accomplishment of His will in you

Pray daily against the spiritual powers of darkness that rule over La Crosse county and every city therein, and for the salvation, and the perfection, of every lost soul in this county.

We will be fasting regularly every week

We will meet every week at the church on Tuesday evenings from 7-8PM for corporate prayer along these lines.

Matthew 6:10 KJV 1900

10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

We are doing nothing less than establishing God’s kingdom here on earth.

Conclusion

Introduce to the congregation that God is ordering us to begin - We’ll institute an almost complete focus as a church on prayer and fasting

This will be the way forward. God has given us marching orders as a church.

We’ve heard the sermons, we’ve read the books, we’ve seen the news. Now it’s time to take action!

If you are willing to enter into a covenant with God to this end, please come forward.