Urban Church Planting | Lecture 3 : BC309-UCP-20260820

All right, good morning everyone. Uh welcome to those who are joining us online. Let's pray and we will begin with our sessions for today. Let's pray. Father, we thank you once again for this wonderful opportunity to come together and to sit at your feet and to learn from your word. So God, we pray that even as we learn that Lord, you will bring insight. You'll bring clarity. You'll bring direction into our hearts. Oh God, that as we learn, may your word just do its work, oh God, in our lives, God. We commit this lectures into your hands. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Okay. So last class uh we looked at Holy Spirit, our leader, right? in in terms of our dependence in terms of everything that we do. The Holy Spirit is our leader. Uh we labor and and we also look at the aspect of how we labor but God gives the increase. Right? Uh and even as we are laboring, remember we are laboring for eternal fruit. Meaning we're not doing only, you know, we're not doing it for recognition from people. Even the smallest works, we're not doing it for recognition for people. But we are doing it because we will all gather eternal fruit because we're doing it for God's kingdom. Right? Uh then we also looked at 1 Corinthians chapter 3 where Paul is talking about the judgment seat of Christ and he says you know our works will be tested by fire. Uh and he brings out these three aspects gold, silver and precious stones, wood, hay and stubble and he will test our works by fire. Right? So whatever God has commissioned us to do, we do it faithfully and we'll be tested for the works that we are doing. Right? Then we looked at also how uh you know we require wisdom when it comes to taking a city. When we say taking a city doesn't mean uh you know what what we imply here is we want to make an impact in the city and for that we need to walk in wisdom, right? And we learn a lot more in the natural dynamics, right? We look at how practically we start a church practically, how do we uh launch? There are different phases. We look at that later. But let's move to chapter three. Okay, we've done chapter three as well, right? We we looked at definition and objectives of church planting. Uh you know, self-sustaining in leadership, self-sustaining financially, self-sustaining in community. Now remember these take time. We talked about that, right? These take time. It's not going to happen overnight. You plant a church, it may take two years, it may take five years. It may happen within a year. But the point is the vision is one day this church should have a a a good strong leadership, should be financially stable and also must have community. Okay. Uh let's move to chapter four. God's heart for cities. Now when it comes to church planting, the first thing you and I must have is a heart for people and a heart for city, a burden. Because if we try to do something without a burden, what will happen? We lose interest. Yes or no? We lose interest. Why? Because there's no burden inside. And we look at one of the classic examples is that of Neahhemiah. He had this deep burden to build the walls of Jerusalem and repair the gates. So the first thing that happens is Nehemiah's brother comes to uh from Jerusalem comes to uh meet Neahhemiah and says and Nemiah's first question is how is the city of your fathers meaning how is the city of Jerusalem doing and Nemiah's brother says the land is in ruins the walls are broken the gates are burnt we have nothing there the moment He heard that there was a burden in his heart and that burden stayed on for more than 5 months. Now remember when you read the word you must understand the word right. It's not like he had a burden. Next day he went to the king and said king please give me grant me all. No no no no no. For five months that burden was in his heart. He's serving the king. He was a cup bearer. He's serving the king. One day the king saw I'm I'm seeing that past few months there's no smile on your face. Something's wrong with you. What's happening Nemiah? That gave him an opportunity to share with the king. But you see what happens with the burden. Even you know it's like God told Neahhemiah you know Nemiah is asking the Persian king my enemies destroyed Jerusalem and burned the gates down. Now what I'm asking you is you give me the permission to build a wall. Two give me the letters so that other kingdoms don't come and trouble me. Three give me people. Four, give me material, why give me leave so that I can go and do it. All these things he's asking the king and the Persian king is saying, imagine if you are the king, I said, why should I do all this for you? For Jerusalem? Yes or no? Why should I do it for Jerusalem? You you find your own way. Your work here is to make sure that everything is fine. You're a cup bearer. do your work here. Why are you worried about Jerusalem? But that was not his response. The Bible says, "Because the gracious hand of God was upon me, the king granted all my requests." Right? Now, what's the point? When you and I have a burden for people for cities, the gracious hand of God will be upon us. Even you know what's interesting is Nehemiah, you know what his job was? The job of a cup bearer, it is to taste the king's food and to ensure that the food is good and there's no problem with the food and then the king has the food. Now think of this. The Persian king has a Jewish man to test the his as a confidant. Meaning I test I know Nehemiah. He will do what is right. What if there's poison in the food? All Nehemiah knows. So it teaches us so many lessons. Number one, we must have a heart for city. God identifies himself with a city. When you look at all through the Old Testament, he identifies people also as nations, right? When you look at Revelations, he talks about Babylon. He talks about Israel. When you look at the Old Testament, he talks about uh Jacob being Israel, right? Uh and all these things, God identifies himself with a city. Let's read Matthew 5:35. Matthew 5:35. If you have your books or if your Bibles with you, just move to Matthew chapter 5:35. This is the biatitudes, the sermon on the mount. nor by the earth for it is his foottool. Nor by the Jerusalem for it is the city of the great king. >> Nor by Jerusalem for is the city of the great king. Now you and I know the significance of of Jerusalem, right? We know that when Jesus comes back, he's going to come back to Jerusalem. All of that is there. But Jesus is identifying himself with a city. So what happens in a city is seen by God. The way God performs his miracles, the way God reveals himself is different in different places. Right? Now look at this. In this room, we have people from North India. We have people from South India. two different cultures, right? You have a North India has a completely different culture to South India. But how God identifies with certain cities in North India may be different to how he identifies himself here down in South India. When I say identify, what does it mean? How what is happening in that city? Right? So for example the city of Vanasi right now it's a it's a big city right there's so much happening there and the way God is working there is different to the city of Bangalore here the works are different ministry is different his hand is moving in a different kind of way there his hand is moving in a different way but God knows what's happening in each city each city right now for example north India he knows that he knows there is a lot of persecution he knows the challenges he knows what's happening but he also knows how he can stretch out his hand in that city how he's going to bring people to himself who he's going to use how he's going to use them how is he going to allow certain persecutions to happen how he's going to through the persecution build a church. You know, history proves that more the church is persecuted, more the church has grown. It's historical proof. Think of Nero, right? The Roman uh ruler. And after him, many others who came by. They they persecuted Christians. They killed Christians. But we still see that the church was growing. Nobody abandoned the faith. So what happens in each city is seen by God. Each city. Now when you say city, you can also break it down to towns and villages. Look at that. We're just taking a broader picture. Each city, each nation, God knows what's happening. Look at the example of Sodom and Gomorrah. We see that you know God was God says to Abraham, listen, even as you're doing what you're doing, I'm I promised you a promised land. I'm going to make you a father of many nations. But there's one problem. There's a city called Sodom and another smaller city called Gomorrah. And these two cities are living in sin. Now think of this. Why do you think God came up with this? Open to Genesis 18. Why do you think God came up with this? God had many other things to do. No, God could have said, "Okay, forget about Sodom and Gomorrah. What we'll do is uh Abraham, you make sure that you do these things. make sure that you know I will use you. I'll make you a kingdom. But why was God interested in Sodom and Gomorrah? Read ma Genesis 18:20 and 21. And the Lord said, "Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave, I will go down now and see whether they are whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to me. >> And if not, I will know." >> Yeah. Now, think of this. Okay. Abraham, God has already given him a covenant. He said, "I'm going to make you a father to many nations." So he's telling Abraham, you know, you will be the one and all his, it looks like all the attention is on Abraham and what God is going to do through Abraham. But not so cuz God is saying all of a sudden here after Genesis 18, you know, he has the three visitors. All of a sudden God reveals to Abraham saying there's a city Sodom and Gomorrah. They are living in sin. What is happening? people who are there in that city who are living righteously their cries have come up to me that's powerful right there's so much of sin Sodom and Gomorrah so much of immorality idolatry they have they have you know profane the name of God but there are some of them who are righteous whose cry has come up to me now what does it teach us even in the midst of all the things that God is doing. It's not like God is ignoring other cities or he's ignoring other things. No, just because something's good, some things are very good happening in a certain city doesn't mean he's ignoring other cities. Example, something powerful is happening in you know the in our heart of our city of our nation Delhi example, right? And there's lot of ministry and ministry is thriving. And we are here sitting, you know, in another small city in North India saying, "God, what is happening here? Have you forgotten us?" No, he has not. Cuz he he he knows what's happening in each city. He has a plan. He has a way. But here's the thing. He needs people. He needs people. And here in for Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham is pleading with God. And he's saying, "God, I know you have made a plan to destroy these cities, the city of Sodorum. You want to destroy it, but listen, God, have mercy upon them. You're a God who loves them." And we know that whole interaction, right? If if I find, you know, I don't know the numbers. If I find 50 righteous people, right, then from 50, it said, "Okay, if I find 45 righteous people at least, okay, I will do I will I will save it." Okay, what about the sake of 40 people? Then God says, "Okay, even if 40 people are righteous, I will not destroy it." Right? What if only 30 people? Again, God says, "Okay, I will not destroy it." What about the sake of 20 people? I will not destroy it. Then he goes on, he says, "What about the sake of 10 people? I will not destroy it." He answer Then when the Lord had finished speaking with Abraham, he left and Abraham returned home. But the sad thing is we see that later on not even 10 righteous people were there. We see that Sodom and Gomorrah was eventually destroyed. But do we see the end of that city? Later on we see that there is this Sodom and Gomorrah is still around. Right? So what does it teach us? God is interested in cities. He's in control of what is happening in the cities that we are in. When we look at the example of Nineveh, Jonah chapter 1, we all know the story of Nineveh. Jonah. Okay. What what is the story of Jonah? God God says, "Jonah, I have chosen you. You'll be a prophet." And what does God tell him? God says to him, "Go to Nineveh." What does he do? He goes to Tarsus. He goes completely the opposite direction. Let's read Jonah chapter 1 verse 1 and two. Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amiti, saying, "Arise, go to Ninve, that great city, and cry cry out against it, for their wickedness has come upon come before me." >> Now look at this. God has chosen Jonah as a prophet. Now Jonah's happy. Now we don't know the backstory. It starts off with this, but probably Jonah's busy doing ministry as a prophet. He's enjoying himself. for me doing ministry. All of a sudden, God is saying, "Okay, Jonah, get up. I have a different plan for you. Go to the great city Nineveh." Nine is the capital of Syria, right? It's a capital of Syria. Now, N Syria was a people who brought a lot of afflictions and turmoil on Israel, right? They have destroyed, you know, Israel. They have taken them captive. They have you know caused a lot of destruction. They have been uh very know hard on the people of Israel. Now God is saying Jonah go to that city and preach. Now Jonah's upset. Jonah is saying out of all the places why do you want me to go to Nino? Those are the those are our enemies. You send me to some other place. Send me some area. Send me send me to uh any other place. Right? Why are you sending me to anyway? No, I'm not going there. Right now, what is in Jonah's mind? It's like first of all, these people are our enemies. Now, I'll go and preach the gospel there. I'll preach the message of God. They will ask for repentance and they will repent and God will forgive them. But they don't deserve forgiveness because they are so evil. They have they have you know suppressed our nation of Israel for so many years right and already they're living in such unimaginable sin let them let them be what they are forget them but God doesn't do that he says Jonah get up in a way and he goes and then we know that there was a great ministry that came out finally he of course we know the story he went the other way God had his way of bringing him back bringing back Jonah uh tune in a way. But what is the outcome? Many lives were touched. Many people turned to God at that time. So cities, yes, God also, you know, he he looks at us individually on a personal level. He ministers to us. But God is also interested in cities. He's interested in nations. He's he's a God who's also looking from above. He's not just looking personally, individually, but he's also looking on a bigger scale. How can my people take this entire city for the kingdom of God? Right? And maybe he's looking at us and he's saying, "I'm going to choose some of them. They're going to take the city for God. They're going to make an impact for the city." Right? Now, we may think, "I'll set a small church. I may do a little ministry here." But he God may have another plan. He's saying I want this person to take the entire city. Meaning every sphere of influence in that city, every mountain he that he's going to climb, every place he goes, I will be with him. I will make sure he makes an impact in that city. Right? So question sorry we let's go here. Uh then we see in Luke chapter 19, Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem. Now this is one of the two instances where Jesus wept. Where else did Jesus weep as mentioned in the scriptures? Where else did Jesus weep? Sorry. >> During his crucifixion before his >> uh no Jesus didn't weep there. Death of Lazarus. >> Yes. Shortest verse in the Bible. Jesus wept. Right. This is the other place where he wept. One, he wept over death. Two, he's weeping over a city. M Luke chapter 19 verse 41 through 44. Let's read that. Now as it drew near, he saw the city and wept over it, saying, "If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make you make for your peace, but now they are hidden from your eyes. For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embarkment around you, surround you and close you in in on every side and level you and your children with within you to ground to the ground and they will not leave you in one stone upon another because you did not know the time of your visitation. >> Now what is the context here? Jesus is coming into Jerusalem by now. It's almost almost 3 years his ministry. He's famous. So Jesus tells his disciples, he wanted to fulfill a prophecy. You go, go to this place. You'll find a colt tied up. You uh hold that bring that colt. Tell the owner we, you know, we need this colt because the master has come. So the disciples go bring the colt. Jesus sits on it. And we all know the story, right? They bring palms and they say, "Hosana in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord." And all of that. And then as he's coming in to the city, he looks at the city of Jerusalem. And something happens to him, right? He he he's coming in as king, but he's looking at the city and he begins to weep. And he says, "If you had if you even if you even you had only known on this day what would bring you peace, but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in every side. They will dash you to the ground and you and your children uh within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another because you did not recognize the time of God's coming to you. Now here we see that later on the Romans came and destroyed the temple. So during Jesus's time they were rebuilding the second temple, right? Who built the first temple? Solomon. So during Jesus's time, why were they meeting at Solomon's colony? because the temple was being rebuilt. That's why Jesus will you know the disciples came and they saw the temple say wow what a structure and Jesus says you destroy this temple I will rebuild it in 3 days they got offended right so this is the second temple that's being rebuilt now Jesus is looking at the temple and he's saying this temple will be completely destroyed not even one stone upon another it'll be flat on the ground and he's burdened for the city and what is going to happen to the And we see that it it happened later on. I think it's 8090 odd that the Roman generals came destroy the temple totally on the ground completely destroyed. And we see that Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem. God's hand is involved in the establishing of nations and in places of dwellings. God's hand is involved. Right? Question. Why did why did Jesus sweep over the city of Jerusalem? Because he knew what is going to happen to this city. But he also knew the significance of this city. But he's saying here he's beginning he's saying if you even know if you only understand the importance of this city then you you know your eyes if your eyes can open up to what the city is and what I have planned for the city right but his heart is burdened for what is going to happen next. So why is it important for us to have God's heart for our city? Why is it important? Let's look at a few pointers here. We must be interested in the well-being of our city and pray for our city. Remember, without a burden, you cannot do anything. Without a passion for souls, you cannot step into ministry. Ministry is not for the light-hearted. Right now, we feel so, you know, sometimes they feel ministry is the most easiest thing to do. You get in, you know, you go preach a couple of sermons, you come on YouTube, you come on all of these social media channels, and then everyone look at you and they say, "Nice dress and nice suit and all those things and life's easy." No, no, no, no, no, no. Ministry, that's not what ministry is. Ministry is about people. Ministry is about building people. It's about recognizing the gifts and talents and people and building people up to a place of maturity. Right? So I if we do not have a heart for cities and for people don't step into ministry because we may be doing some if we don't have a heart one thing is you get a heart for people or don't step into ministry because if you step into ministry because it's easy because you know first of all it's not easy but because you feel that you know this is something I want to do everyone are doing it I want to do it wrong intention wrong motives You will burn out if you carry God everywhere. I mean, sorry. If if if you spend time in God's presence, God's presence will carry you everywhere. Otherwise, you are trying to carry God and you will get tired. You cannot carry God. It's a big thing to do. Let God carry you. We must be interested in the well-being of our city and pray for our city. We look at Jeremiah 29 and Jeremiah. Everyone know the context in Jeremiah. Jeremiah 29. >> Yes. >> What's the context? >> Yes. Okay. So what is what is Israel? Which part of Israel? So the nation of Israel is divided into two another northern kingdom and the southern kingdom. The southern kingdom is called Jerusalem. The northern kingdom is called Israel. Right? So here Jeremiah is prophesying to the northern kingdom. What's he saying? He's saying, "Listen, there's going to be um an attack. The Babylon the is it the Babylonians? Yes. They're going to come and they're going to destroy your city." So Jeremiah is the only prophet who's who prophesied before, during, and after the fall of Jerusalem. So what does he say here? Jeremiah 29 verse 7 and 8. Read that please. >> And seek peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive. And prayed pray to the Lord for it. For in its peace you will have peace. >> For thus says the Lord of host, the God of Israel. Do not let your prophets and your divers who are in your midst deceive you. Now listen to your dreams which you cause to be dream. Look at what God is telling the speaking through the prophet Jeremiah. Firstly, the Babylonians through King Nebuchadnezzar, they're coming and they're destroying Jerusalem. Take people captive, takes them to Babylon. Now, God is telling the prophet, tell the people wherever they are, whether they're in Babylon, Israel, or any of Persia, whichever nation you are in, pray for the well-being of your city. So that in the prosperity of that city will bring your prosperity. Now think of this. Why what would you and I do? Why should I pray for Babylon? I pray for myself. I won't pray for Babylon. But you see God even though God allowed the Babylonians to come and take the city of Jerusalem captive and you know take them under siege. Still God is saying don't be grumbling, don't be murmuring. You're in that city now. You're in Babylon. Pray for that city. Pray that that city becomes blessed. Pray that out of that city many people will turn to me. Right? And and look at God. He's not he's not a God who's saying okay you know since you're there you keep praying for Jerusalem. No he says pray for that city because in their prosperity will be your prosperity. Right? God looks for intercessors for the city. Let's look at Isaiah 59:14 and 14-6. When God has a plan for a city, he looks for people within that city. Right? Isaiah 59. Again, a very similar approach. Isaiah 59 is the Assyrians have taken Jerusalem captive, right? Let's read 14 15 and 16. >> Justice is turned back and righteousness stands a far off. For truth is fallen in the street and equiquity cannot enter. So truth fails and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. >> Yeah. Then Ezekiel 22:29-31 Yes. Read Ezekiel 22:29-31. >> The people of the land have caused operations, committed robbery, and mistreated the poor and needy, >> and they wrongfully oppressed the stranger. So I sought for a man among them who who would make a wall and stand in the gap before me on behalf of the land that I should not destroyed but I found no one. >> Yeah. So here in both instances we see that God is looking for people within the city. Right? uh later on even in Isaiah he says uh you know uh who can I send who can I send to uh to go and minister to this people of Babylon and God says Isaiah says God here I am send me I'm ready everywhere God is looking for people who are available to answer the call and to go minister right so God is looking for intercessors in this city he's looking for people who who will put a burden, right? When he puts that burden, will he walk with that burden? Is he willing to make the sacrifice to make an impact for that city? Right? Look at church history. Look at the things that God has done. You've got David Livingston here, right? David Livingston, read these stories. He had such a passion for Africa. God put it in him at a young age. He went to Africa. He left Scotland. He was, you know, easy easy life, right? A city life, city man, well- learned. He was a genius, right? Left that city, went into the jungles of Africa. He was blinded in one eye. A tiger almost killed him. A lion, sorry, a lion almost killed him. He was living with all kinds of diseases and plagues. He almost lost his life. He lost his wife. He lost his couple of children along the way. But the whole time he says, "God has called me to Africa." And he spent all most of his life in Africa. After 5 years of doing ministry in Africa, he comes back home. His wife couldn't recognize him. Who is this man? What happened to him? because of the toughness, the difficult places that he went and ministered deep in the jungles of Africa. But after 5 years, he came home and then he stayed for a couple of years. Then he told his wife, "No, I can't stay here. God is calling me back there. I have to go back. That's my home." When God puts a burden in our heart, doesn't mean there's no challenges. He gives us the grace to go through those challenges. Look at Hudson Taylor. He went to China, did great ministry there. What about um our very own you know William Carry who came to our nation of India. Why you know even now in villages there are certain you know basic needs are not there. Imagine during those times coming to India what kind of nation India would have been. He can't come and connect the mic and start preaching. Now all that is not there. He had to come. He had to learn the language, understand the language, speak it, then minister to people. It's not an easy task. Started a printing press. Why? A burden in their heart. Adoni Ram Judson again came to Burma, came to India. Why would they do that? Because God is looking for people who he can put a burden. But with the burden comes an anointing. With the burden comes a a huge task and along the way it's very easy to give up. But remember if God has called you, he will fulfill the purpose. He gives us the grace. Right? And we're not saying God you know do something like how you did for David Living saying take us into the jungles of Africa. Take us into you know. No, we're not saying that. We're saying if God is putting a burden in your heart for a certain city, you have to take it up. You know what the problem is? You know why we don't want to carry the burden? It's too heavy. Say God, I don't think I'm able to do it. True. God knows that. Says, I know you can't do it, but I will give you the grace to do it. On your own strength, you cannot. Impossible. But if I am with you and I'm calling you, I will sustain you. Look at the great Apostle Paul at 50. He launches on his first missionary journey. And see the ministry he did about 15 years going missionary journey 1, 2, 3, and four, making an impact on cities, planting churches, right? How did he do it? The burden. He could have said, "Okay, now I've written some books. I saw the Lord Jesus you know I seen him face to face I spoke to him we have a good relationship if everything if I pass away if I die now I'll go be with the Lord so let's relax now never just a burden every time who can I minister to right how can I bless be make an impact on this city or that city wherever he went he made an impact God reveals his plans for the city to his prophets In the Old Testament, we see Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel. Daniel is a perfect example. God revealed his plans to Daniel. He said to Daniel, "Daniel, he gave the dream to the king, a pagan king, but he revealed the dream through Daniel." God is amazing. No, why would he could have given the dream to Daniel and said, "Daniel, now you interpret the dream." But that was not so. He gave the dream to a pagan and said Daniel go now you interpret the dream. This is what's going to happen. You are the head Babylonian kingdom. Uh the out of out from there will come the Mes and the Persians and will come the uh uh Roman Empire and then will come another empire which will come later on. Right? God is revealing what kingdoms are going to come next. Sometimes God reveals what happens in a city. Right? Look at Joseph. Joseph is in Egypt, right? The Pharaoh has a dream. Nobody knows how to reveal it. Joseph is brought in. He says, "Listen, seven years of famine, seven years, 7 years of abundance, seven years of famine. This is what you do." God revealed it to Joseph. And there are many other instances where God revealed what he's going to do in cities. Right? Amos chapter 3 verse 3 7 and 8 we we know this it's a very very common verse Amos chapter 3 go ahead read that Amos chapter 3 verse 3 and then 7 and Can two walk together unless they are agreed. Verse 7 to8. Surely the Lord God does nothing unless he reveals his secret to his servant. The prophets El a lion has wrote who will not fear. The Lord God has spoken who can but prophesy. uh very clearly God is speaking through the prophet Amos saying can two walk together unless they have agreed to do so he follows it up verse 7 he says surely the sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants are you a servant of God are you a child of God if you and I pray for a city can he reveal certain things in your city yes think of this you're going back to your cities, your towns, saying, "God, you know, bless this city, bless this town, give me some strategies, give me some ideas. How do I minister in this place?" Do you think God cannot give you ideas? Can he give you ideas or no? He can give you strategies through the Holy Spirit. This is just the Old Testament. God remains the same even now. He's saying, "I will give you ideas. I'll give you strategies. I'll give you certain plans." And he he empowers us. God also gives us the ability to think and plan and to strategize. Some of them work, some of them may not work. Right? For example, when I was in Mangalore, many things we tried. Some of them worked, some of them didn't work. Just because it didn't work doesn't mean that we have failed. No, God is teaching us through that. And our dependence on God becomes even more say God okay we tried this it didn't work is there another thing we can try is there another option God you speak to me give us ideas give us strategies right one of the things that we did was we realized you know one day I was praying and I was thinking God how do we make an impact in this city all of a sudden I just thought about you know when we were in Mangalore I thought about colleges the word colleges came I didn't know that you know Mangalore has colleges and All of those things, right? But the word colleges kept bursting inside me. Colleges, college said, "Okay, colleges. What do we do with colleges? What can we do?" You know, we we don't know anyone. We we can't just go and reach out to people there. Even when we try it, they you know, college students, right? They'll take it, they'll throw it away. Uh but this whole thing of youth and colleges was burning inside. How do we minister to them? And God gave us strategies. God gave us ideas, right? Uh some ideas worked, some ideas didn't work. But eventually lot of students started coming to church and they were genuinely s seeking God, genuinely wanting to know about God. Many of them were going through many many challenges because they're away from home and we became a place of comfort for them. There were times in church we would tell the youth go home. They'll be sitting in the church only. He said, "Go no pastor, we'll stay here. We'll do something here." Because they found so much comfort. So when God is to know God's heart, the only possible way is when we know God's heart, God is willing to reveal his heart to us. The question is, do you want to do make an impact for God's kingdom? That's the question we must ask ourself. If yes, buckle up. Meaning, be ready to take on challenges. Be ready to face the things that is going to come your way. Yeah, it's not going to be easy. Be ready. There are going to be oppositions. There are going to be people who will hate you, people who will ridicule you, people will try to suppress you, people will maybe, you know, even to Jesus, his own brother said, "This guy is out of his mind." Why have you come here? Go from here. Go to the feast. Don't come here. There will be oppositions. The question is, are you going to stand strong? Right? God is much bigger than the city. Nothing is too hard for him. Don't get overwhelmed by the size, the complexity or the depravity of the city. Oh, this is a big city. How can we take on the city of Bangalore? Such a big city. So many people now it's just increasing more and more. Millions of people in our city, this city Bangalore, millions of people, people are coming from all parts of India, all parts of other countries, they're coming to our and sometimes we may think, "Oh, God, how do we do this? How can we take on this city?" And we become overwhelmed or we look at the complexity of the city. Oh, you know, there are people from different languages. Some of them understand Hindi, some of them understanding English, some of them and there's so much of you know complexity meaning you know the youth are doing something the teen are doing something the middle-aged people are doing something it's all a mix so complex god how can I minister to these people and sometimes we feel the depravity of the city there's no god where sometimes we look all the other things other than our god is growing sin is growing doing more and more and more. You know, recently uh somebody came up to me and uh a parent said their teen who's I think 12 13 years old is addicted to gaming and uh he doesn't want to go to school. He's addicted to certain things on the internet and very sad. 12 years old 12 years old what were we doing? At least I I was playing cycle outside. I didn't know all these things but I was happy to fall in the cycle, get up, ride it again. That's all we knew. Go play football, go play cycle, come back home, study, go write your exam, sleep, that's it, right? Life is so simple. But it's not so now, right? Life's not simple now. the children have all you know I drop my kids to school and I see these small kids they're coming with the they're talking on the phone as if they're going for some business meeting you know they're entering the school gate so what is happening here they're talking on the phone and these are all like I don't know iPhone and all these you know as if they have some big meeting they're going into school right and my son is saying see all the kids have phone I said if they all have it, doesn't mean you should have. But look at the generation that we're living in, right? Do they have access to internet? Yes. Can they download anything, watch anything? Yes. Maybe during class they can't use in the breaks times they'll use. I'm talking about 12, 13 year old kids. Right? You see what's happening the even at 12 13 exposure the depravity of the city is going right sin has become a common thing and sometimes you become so overwhelmed say God how can I make an impact in the city when things are going worse don't be afraid one soul at a time remember you can make an impact if God has called you for it and don't be overwhelmed. Even if it's 50 people in your church, those 50 can reach out to 5,000. You never know. You never know what impact. Only thing is you must have the burden and start what God is calling you to start. Of course, with wisdom, we'll talk about all that later. But not giving up on just because no, it's too big a task. Don't look at how big it is. Look at how big your God is. Look at the power of the Holy Spirit that is stronger than all these other things that are working in a city. Right? We must pray. We must get God's heart for our city. We must learn to see people in the city as God sees them. God sees them. Yes, they are sinners, but God loves them. Does God love you? Does he love the criminal sitting in the jail right now? Sometimes we say, "God, what? It's not fair." But that's the God. You can be sitting in Bible college doing theology, all of that. God loves you. But there's a criminal in the jail who's there for life sentence. God loves them also. He doesn't love the sin, but he loves them. Only difference, he's going to put a burden on you to go make an impact on them, but he loves them. We must be moved with compassion for people in our city and we must pray for our city. Ask this question to yourself. When was the last time you were moved with compassion for people? When was the last time you looked at something and said, "God, I wish or you know you you got this burden and saying, "God, I I want to make an impact. I want to uh you know, maybe you saw something while going to church, right? you saw something on the street or you saw and then you your your heart was burdened or was it just something that okay it's their wish let them do sometimes God puts those burdens in your heart don't throw away those burdens don't ignore them stay on it say God because those burdens can birth something new yes or no right if you get this book called uh uh the cross and the switch plate by David Wilkin Listen, read that book. How God uses this young man comes from village from a you know from the towns uh in the US of course and he comes to the city New York. New York was filled with gangsters and drug addicts and uh sin. But this one man came, slept in his car, started a ministry there, right? Which is now known uh which is a world uh outreach right now. Right. read his book. One man, he made an impact through him. The gangs were closed and drug addiction people got help. He started a retreat center what rehabilitation center and many drug addicts turned their life to Christ. They became full-time ministers of God. One person, he can do it then, he can do it now. Right? Okay. We'll take a break. We'll come back and we'll continue.