22 Jun LOVE = REACH Day 11
Acts 1:8
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere–in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
This verse is one of my favorite scriptures in the Bible. This scripture doesn’t not say you will receive power if the Holy Spirit comes upon you, it says when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. The purpose of the Holy Spirit is to give you supernatural power. Is that power for you? Should you bottle it up for you and your family? Absolutely not, He gives us this power so we can share it with others. In fact, God gives the church specific instructions about how to reach people.
The majority of the ministry of Christ took place a few miles from His home. He never preached in Asia, or for that matter even other parts of Europe. The instruction he gave us was to first work on Jerusalem. What is Jerusalem? Jerusalem is your city. The church first has the responsibility to reach our city. If we can’t have an impact our own city we have no business worrying about other places. Jesus modeled this by turning Jerusalem upside down.
The next instruction was to expand to Judea. Judea meant impacting a region. When I think of Judea I see multiple churches established in our area. I believe the church should be constantly reproducing itself. From day 1, I believe Lake Hills Church will start developing pastors who will birth churches in our region. Nothing wrong with video, but I want a live body there loving on people, helping us reach beyond the walls of a single church and into neighborhoods across Central Florida and beyond.
Jesus’s model then expanded to Samaria. Our Samaria is this great nation of America. Yes, our nation has issues. However, every time I see tragedy strike we as Americans, we as the church, respond with love and kindness that is unprecedented. I have always believed Jesus is the one and only true hope for our nation…for any nation. Jesus always works through the local church. Our role in helping America will come in the form of planting churches. We may never meet many of the pastors who we support, but I know this is the best investment a church can ever make. I believe church plating is a true representation of the Book of Acts.
The ends of the earth part of Jesus’s instructions excite me as much as the local church. I love the people of this world. I love hearing the way God moves around the globe. I love the spirit of a pioneer. I get excited about doing something for the first time. I get excited about going to a new place. I get excited about the thought of reaching people in other nations. When someone from a different country joins Lake Hills I do a little victory dance. I want to pastor a church that loves the world, a church that loves people from every ethnic background.
How do we get to a place where we are impacting the world? We start by reaching those in our house, in our neighborhood, and in our city. My prayer for you today is that the Holy Spirit will breathe fresh vision on each of us, that He will give us unique ways to reach people we encounter each and every day. Amen.