"People Went Out to Him": A Powerful Church-Planting Principle of the Kingdom

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"People went out to him." [Matthew 3.5]

Two features of John's ministry was "Preparing the way for the Lord," and making "straight paths for him."

It's all for the Lord and paths for him.

When you work for the Kingdom (when everything is done only for the King), among things that will happen to you is, people come to you to hear something they don't really want to hear.

Look at some of the things John told them:

1. When he saw religious leaders of the time: "You brood of snakes!” he exclaimed. “Who warned you to flee God’s coming wrath? Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God.

2, To those confident with their religion: "Don’t just say to each other, ‘We’re safe, for we are descendants of Abraham.’ That means nothing, for I tell you, God can create children of Abraham from these very stones."

3. To everyone else: "Every tree that does not produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into the fire."
“He is a voice shouting in the wilderness,‘Prepare the way for the Lord’s coming! Clear the road for him!’”
What a lot of churches prepare these days is not the way for the Lord but the way for their denominations.

Anyway, notwithstanding such judgmental preaching by John, people still went out to him.  

How do you know you're really working for the Kingdom of God (and not just for men's church)? How do you know you're really part of building Jesus' glorious church, which is without spot or wrinkle or any other blemish? Here are hints from John's ministry:

1. People pursue you. You don't pursue them. It doesn't matter how many, as long as the principle is there, which is, you don't pursue people. Jesus never did that. It's not how many but how faithful. Remember, we are preparing the way for the Lord and making straight paths for him--because he's after a glorious church. Not just any kind of church. 

2. Your ministry prepares a way for the Lord. The Lord won't walk on wretched and worldly ways. The Lord won't walk on paths built by worldly standards. 

3. You preach hard about holiness and yet people pursue you. You don't preach tame sermons that are carefully tailored never to offend people. You don't preach to be liked (so people would attend your services). You preach to please God and prepare a way for him and make straight paths for him.

We should share the Gospel with everyone--as many as possible--while at the same time, we never pursue them. That's genuine building God's Kingdom on earth.

In my case, no one pursued me for 2 years. It was getting so frustrating, but I needed to stick to Jesus' Kingdom principles. After prayers and faithfulness to God's Word, God finally sent me people who went out to me and continues to do so--because they want the Jesus Christ they see in me.

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