A Five-Fold Strategy for Changing Culture, Christians Are Not The Only Losers Here
Pastor Dewey Moede
This is another excellent message from Dr. Jim Denison! I have said for years that Christians need to carry out The Great Commission! We must be a walking Bible! We must be Christ like, we must hit the streets for JESUS and love all! We must not show an unbelieving world what it wants to see, bad behaving, crazy Christians. I am blessed to travel the streets and into rural New Mexico and by the internet, radio and newspaper all over the world for JESUS! What is The Great Commission?
Yes, the Choir needs our constant encouragement, but we must reach the lost. We can no longer not be missionaries in our own country. We preach to the Choir to much.
A five-fold strategy for changing culture
Evangelical Christians are not the only losers here.
If we delegate cultural authority to an “enlightened few” who reject biblical morality, the culture is the loser. People deserve to know what God says about the issues we face. In fact, the more they ignore or reject biblical truth, the more they need to hear it.
As a result, rather than accepting the “new consensus,” we need to redouble our efforts to speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15). To this end, let’s adopt the five-fold strategy employed by the Apostle Paul, the most effective cultural missionary in history:
He wrote letters that were read across much of the Roman Empire (cf. 2 Peter 3:15–16). How can you use email, social media, media platforms, and websites to write biblical truth?
He spoke in synagogues (cf. Acts 13:5) and the lecture hall of Tyrannus in Ephesus (Acts 19:9). He addressed the Areopagus in Athens (Acts 17:19–34), kings in Caesarea (Acts 26), and Christian elders in Miletus (Acts 20:17–35). How can you use YouTube and other means to speak biblical truth?
He engaged personally with Athenians (Acts 17:16–18) and Pharisees (Acts 23:6), Gentiles (Acts 28:28–31) and Jews (Acts 18:1–5). How can you use your personal relationships to share biblical truth?
He prayed fervently for those to whom he ministered (cf. Acts 20:36; Colossians 1:9–12). How can you intercede for people to follow biblical truth?
He modeled his message by living out his faith in ways others could emulate (cf. 1 Corinthians 10:31–11:1). How can you live for Jesus so fully that others will see the relevance of biblical truth for their lives?
A paragraph we must heed today
In Paul’s last letter, he included a paragraph he could have written to our topic. I believe you and I need to read these words slowly and embrace them passionately: “Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth” (2 Timothy 2:23–25).
Where will you start today?
NOTE: Do you struggle to pray? You’re not alone.
Pew Research Center reports that 68 percent of Christians pray every day. Often, the central question that prevents us from having a vibrant prayer life is, “Why should I pray?”
After all, if God knows what we’re going to ask, why pray? If he already knows what he’s going to do, why pray? If he seems silent, why pray?
I answer these questions and many more in my newest book, The Greater Work: How Prayer Positions You to Receive All that Grace Intends to Give. Please request your book today.
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This is such an awesome message for such a time as this in America! Thank you Kathy Branzell of National Day of Prayer!
Friend —Nehemiah 1:4 “When I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days; and I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven.”
In the book of Nehemiah, we meet a man of God with a broken heart because of his broken nation. He inquired and sought information about its condition from people who had been there, seen its destruction and the people who were in “great distress” living in the shadows of its rubble. His response is a model for all of us; “I sat down and wept and mourned for days; and I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven.”
As you read through Nehemiah there are key pieces of information and inspiration that we should be following today. Nehemiah prayed, not just once but throughout the highs and lows, decisions, and distractions. He collected and made good use of his influence and resources. He inspected the trouble and rubble for himself being careful to make sure he was acting on truth and not rumor and then he rallied the people of God to come together and work together to reconstruct the walls as well as assembling them for worship and reading the Word of God.
In many ways, America is in deep need of a “Nehemiah Response.” Torn down and torn apart by this pandemic, prejudice, politics, and pain; America is in trouble! As followers of Jesus and prayer warriors in His spiritual army, our frontline, first response should be and always will be PRAYER. We should respond like Nehemiah.
Over the next 52 days the National Day of Prayer Task Force is calling for a “Nehemiah Response” across America by inserting prayer and the Word of God into the cultural conversations throughout our day. As we pray and model our lives through the lessons of the book of Nehemiah, our hope is to change the atmosphere of hopelessness, rumor, fear, division, and injustice to that of Spirit-filled assurance, Truth, courage, and united in love.
Just as Nehemiah and the Israelites reconstructed the walls in 52 days, our mission will be to build up the people of God through prayer, God’s Word and worship from Friday July 17th to Labor Day September 7th. Over these next 52 days we invite you to join us in posting a short prayer on your social media wall and/ or a Scripture verse that you are praying over America. Please keep your prayers biblical and not political or critical; we want to speak blessings and not curses over our Country; pray, not debate and divide. We are America’s intercessors, and so we must pray fervently and biblically so we do not get trapped in empty chatter and rumors. We must commit to pray soundly and strategically from the words, commands and promises of God Himself. Our prayers will fight our real enemy who seeks to steal, kill and destroy us. Lifting up the name of Jesus will cause the enemy to flee.
The second step to our “Nehemiah Response” is found in these powerfully repeated words in Nehemiah 3, “and next to him…” Every family took responsibility to rebuild a piece of the wall and together this huge feat was accomplished in 52 days. We challenge you to first take your post on the wall by posting your prayer and Scripture on your social media wall and then secondly, partner with at least two other prayer partners who are participating in our “Nehemiah Response” and pray in agreement with their prayer and share their prayer. These two steps will fill heaven as well as our cultural conversation and atmosphere with prayer and the Word of God. Recruit your friends, family, church members and neighbors to pray “next to you” as we begin the process repair the broken places with prayer and from coast-to-coast.
Let’s respond in prayer together:
Lord Jesus we come to You in need of heavenly repair; torn down and torn apart but not defeated. We commit now to put on the full armor of God each day and pray the God-glorifying, Biblical foundations of America firmly back into place. We commit to daily prayer and the posting of prayer and Your Word together, shoulder to shoulder just as the Israelites worked, watched, and worshipped as they rebuilt the wall around Jerusalem. Our piece of the wall; our lives, family, neighborhood, workplace, campus, community, and church will not be left in rubble. We battle the enemy on our knees and in the power of Your Word bringing Your blessings and honor back to America.
Kathy Branzell
President
National Day of Prayer Task Force
Upcoming Events
Nehemiah Response
Please join us, staring tomorrow, in posting a short prayer that you’re praying for America on your social media accounts. Our hope is to change the atmosphere of hopelessness, rumor, fear, division, and injustice to that of Spirit-filled assurance, Truth, courage, and unity in love.
About the National Day of Prayer
The National Day of Prayer tradition predates the founding of the United States of America, evidenced by the Continental Congress’ proclamation in 1775 setting aside a day of prayer. In 1952, Congress established an annual day of prayer and, in 1988, that law was amended, designating the National Day of Prayer as the first Thursday in May.
To learn more, or to find a National Day of Prayer event in your community, visit www.NationalDayofPrayer.org.
