June 2020 — pg. 31
unity in God’s house and, therefore, God’s
family. Silence is not an option. Instead, it
is the signature of complicity!
God’s intermediate plan calls for
vigilance in corporate prayer, which will
benefit inhabitants in the entire land
including God’s own people with the
peace and total well-being that result from
salvation, God’s gift to all humanity.
God’s Long-Term Plan
Finally, the word plans is expressed
through the term “the way,” which
connotes the entire Christian system but
especially the manner of salvation by
Christ. A way is understood as a procedure
or process for obtaining an objective — in
this case, specifically, a future and a hope.
“‘For I know the plans that I have for
you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare
and not for calamity to give you a future
and a hope. Then you will call upon Me
and come and pray to Me, and I will listen
to you. You will seek Me and find Me when
you search for Me with all your heart. I will
be found by you,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I
will restore your fortunes and will gather
you from all the nations and from all the
places where I have driven you,’ declares
the Lord, ‘and I will bring you back to the
place from where I sent you into exile’”
(Jeremiah 29:11–14).
When taken in their entirety, these verses
hold in view the building up of the nuclear
family as that holy family and pattern for
the church. The church is like the Ark, that
indestructible shelter prepared by God
with the ability to endure the destruction
to come. God’s people are to be vigilant in
prayer and steadfast in carefully following
His word by the protective guidance of
mature leaders.
With these in place, the system in which
God will continuously bring salvation to
humanity is ready to be installed firmly in
place. The strategy is to drive the ministry
of the church. Moreover, this strategy calls
for the worldwide expansion of the gospel
of Jesus Christ in order to establish local
churches globally. This strategy is best
carried out through an endeavor I have
come to know as “missionary enterprise.”
The missionary enterprise can only be
accomplished by the local church. There
are six distinct steps in this process. Each
works or is completely dependent on the
others, which serve to ensure the success
of this divine endeavor:
1. The continual proclamation of the
gospel of Jesus Christ in order to
draw unbelievers to a conviction
over their sins.
2. Gathering new converts into new
church communities (families) for
the purpose of further instruction
in the gospel and sound doctrine in
order to transform behavior, develop
good character and grow in wisdom.
3. Identify and train new leaders in
sound doctrine as well as commend
them to the responsibility of caring
for God’s people.
4. Return to the newly planted
churches to shepherd new believers
and further establish them in the
faith and sound doctrine.
5. Return to the mother church and
give a report on the work.
6. Repeat the entire process again
and again (Acts 2:42–47, 14:21-23;
Ephesians 2:12, 3:8–10, 4:11–14;
Titus 2:13).
The hope that God wants to instill
within His people comes as a result of
God’s family engaging in vigilant prayer
and obedient seeking of Him to bring
peace in the land. Is that what we desire
of our great God today? The Tyndale Bible
Dictionary defines hope as “an expectation
or belief in the fulfillment of something
desired.” Hope keeps in consideration
our present hurts and uncertainty over
what the future holds. Worldwide poverty,
hunger, disease, sexism, fear, hatred and
racism all create a longing for something
better. People historically have looked to
the future with a mixture of longing and
fear. Many have concluded that there is no
“false
doctrines
of racism
and white
nationalism
are a
demonic
threat to
the family of
God.”