Know Your Identity and Live Accordingly

Our church is called to strengthen and redouble its evangelistic efforts. I am preaching a series of sermons intended, first, to inform and educate us about the evangelistic calling. Second, to lead us to reflect on the biblical and theological content concerning why we have to evangelize. Third, to create a sense of urgency and commitment in the heart of every member of the León de Judá congregation, including its pastor as well—to create a sense of urgency and also of enthusiasm about the evangelistic calling.

And that will be part of a whole series of initiatives. A brother approached me last Sunday at the 12 o’clock service and said to me, “Pastor, it is very good that we are making people aware of the evangelistic calling, but they also need instruction and teaching,” and I told him, “Of course, brother, that is also in the plan.” We are also going to be teaching and providing training in evangelism, and we are going to be evangelizing as well. That is why you hear about the services that we are gearing toward evangelism.

And while I’m at it, let me tell you that this is not an evangelistic campaign. It is not that we are going to do this for two months and then go back to business as usual, back to normal life. No. I have told you that throughout all these years we have been devoting a certain amount of our energy to constructing buildings and renovating the physical facilities. God has now allowed us to complete these efforts—20 years of construction. We have beautiful facilities, a very good infrastructure that God has allowed us to establish, and now we want to invest the energy that has been freed up in becoming an evangelistic organism, a conquering organism for glory in the name of Jesus in the city of Boston and in this region. How many can say amen, even at 10 in the morning? Amen.

I want to kindle an evangelistic fire in you, because this is not about a little season after which we will carry on with everything else. No. I want our church now to acquire, as it were, a nature, a way of life, a governing vision concerning evangelism. We want to bring many souls to the knowledge of Jesus Christ. We want to conquer this city. At the very least, we want to prepare for the Lord the land God has given us.

God has already allowed us to do many beautiful things in that area, but I know that there is still much more we can do. And so, over the coming weeks, we are going to be talking, training, preparing the people, and becoming more aware. If we understand a believer’s reason for being, if we change our definitions and understand how Scripture views the evangelistic calling and what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ truly and authentically, what it means to be a disciple, and what God expects of you—when you receive Christ as Lord and Savior, then what? Well, you punched your card, they stamped your passport, you are going to heaven, okay—but is that all? Is the Christian life merely coming to church on Sundays, educating our children, and following the same evangelical routine every day? There is something more. What does it truly mean to be a Christian?

When the Lord enters your life, when the Holy Spirit touches you, when you acquire that new identity as a born-again woman or man, what concrete changes are supposed to take place in your life? What do you live for from that moment onward? What is the nature of your identity?

And we are going to talk a little about that, because we will see in Scripture that the Lord always viewed the Christian life from a very specific angle. And when He wanted to illustrate what a child of God, a follower of Jesus Christ, a disciple is, He used some very concrete and very specific illustrations and expressions, specifically oriented toward a certain type of activity and a certain type of movement within the earth by each believer and by the church itself.

So let us look at some of these passages. We look at Matthew chapter 5, verses 13 through 16. It says:

“…You are—the people who attend church every Sunday, the people who read the Bible and memorize many verses, the people who work in the ushers’ ministry in the churches, and those who are deacons and elders and all that sort of thing. Look at what it says—you are the salt of the earth. Say that in your spirit right now: I am the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its savor, how shall it be salted?—because it cannot be salted, since it is already salt. If the salt loses its flavor—here is another way of putting it—it is no longer good for anything…”

Understand this: if salt cannot impart flavor, if for some reason it loses its ability to do what it is meant to do, which is to combine with different things—vegetables, meats, and all that sort of thing—and impart its salty nature to them, if it does not do that… because one might think that perhaps it can do something else. You could make little figurines out of salt; you could make some very pretty cloth bags with salt inside and sell them to people. But salt was not made for that; there are many other materials that can do all of that. Salt—its function, its nature, its essence, its very identity, its reason for being, that which justifies its existence on the earth—is to impart flavor, and specifically a particular kind of flavor, to things. And if salt does not perform that function, no matter what other function it performs, it is not fulfilling its purpose. It is not acting according to its identity. And I believe that you are already beginning to see my purpose.

“…It is no longer good for anything…” If a church does not do what God has called it to be, it is good for nothing. It is simply something else. In fact, many times it is an obstacle.

“…It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men…”

Wow! That terminology—thrown out—is interesting because the Lord has used it for unfaithful servants thrown out of the house; and trampled, meaning to be trodden underfoot by men. This is interesting: if the church does not carry out its function, you know, it becomes an object of attack and contempt, and even of oppression and abuse at the hands of men. And I believe that this is part of what is happening at this time in this nation and in other parts of the world: the church has acquired a different identity; it is not performing its function; it is not living genuinely and authentically as what God has called it to be, as what Christ came to declare it should be. And then God distances Himself from it; it is not in direct contact with the benefits of the Kingdom of God, and then it is simply trampled, abused, trodden underfoot, and manipulated by men.

So one image the Lord used for the church is salt, which imparts its flavor. Another image is right beside it, in verse 14. It says:

“…You are the light of the world…” You have to say, “I am light.” Wherever light goes, it dispels the darkness and gives light. That is its nature. You turn on a light bulb and music does not come out of the bulb—no, what comes out is light; it dispels the darkness. If there is darkness, the darkness disappears, and the light prevails and asserts itself and is invasive. A light bulb is small, but it casts light all around it over an area much larger than the bulb itself, the source of the light.

“…You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill should not be hidden…” I remember that years ago I was traveling through Mexico with some friends—and we are talking about more years than I care to remember, back when I was in high school, imagine that. We took a trip through Mexico after finishing the classes we were taking in Guanajuato, Mexico, and we were traveling at night; we were going to Acapulco to preach the Gospel. It was nighttime, the night was very dark, we were traveling in a van, and we had crossed a dark, mountainous area. Suddenly we rounded a bend, and there in the distance we saw the lights of Acapulco, which was at an elevation relative to where we were. And all those shining lights could be seen—wonderful, beautiful—and that filled us with hope. We were finally getting there, because it was late and the journey had become long. And we were able to see the lights of Acapulco from a distance because it was situated on high ground.

It says here that we are the light of the world and that it is impossible for a city set on a hill to be hidden. Its nature does not allow it. “…Nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a bushel basket”—that is, you do not take a light bulb and put it under the bed. I have never seen such a setup, except perhaps under a bed in a neurotic person’s house. Lights are placed on the ceiling or on the walls because that way they cast their illumination over the entire surroundings. They are placed in open areas so that everyone can benefit from them.

A light is not lit and placed under a bushel basket, under a pillow, under a bed, “…but it is placed on the lampstand, and in this way let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven…”

That, then, is the calling. People have to see our light, and that light manifests itself in many ways. It manifests itself through our testimony, our behavior, our noble life, worthy of admiration and respect, our generosity, and also our testimony—the change that Christ brings about in our lives. When people see the life of the church, when they see its different way of living, people say, “Wow, I want to believe in Jesus Christ. I want to give my life to the Lord. I want what those people have.” But we have to shine, and we have to be salt.

Now let us turn to another substance, another essence which, by its very nature, also has a specific behavior and a specific effect. Let us go to Luke chapter 13, verses 18 through 21.

“…What is the Kingdom of God like, and to what shall I compare it?” Let us see, brothers and sisters: what is the church of Jesus Christ like? What is the Kingdom of God on earth like? What are the values and the economy of the Gospel like?

“…It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his garden; and it grew and became a large tree—it is a shrub, a plant that spreads greatly. It begins as a tiny little seed, but over time it multiplies and grows, and it can become an immense plant. It became a large tree, and the birds of the air nested in its branches…”

What a beautiful poetic image the Lord chooses: living beings finding nourishment, shelter, and rest in that gigantic tree, the mustard shrub, which springs from something extremely small. If you think about the church of Jesus Christ, with its millions of people throughout the world, which has been an invasive and decisive element in the history of humanity since the first century, it began in a small village, in Bethlehem, when that holy and wonderful child who is Jesus was born. It continued with 12 poor, insignificant disciples, none of them highly educated or prominent; a group of people around Him; godly women who accompanied Jesus Christ without any power or social voice. And from there, from that small and humble beginning, with a crucified martyr, it spread throughout the whole world until it became that powerful and decisive force which is the church of Jesus Christ. It begins as something small.

The Lord always compared the Kingdom of God to something that begins very small and becomes larger and larger, more and more powerful, more and more influential. And that is what God wants us to be wherever we go. That is what God wants this church, for the glory of the Lord, to be more and more: like the mustard seed, it begins very small, but it keeps expanding and growing until it becomes something extraordinarily invasive and powerful.

And in verse 20… so we have salt, light, and the tiny mustard seed that becomes something large and spreads, and now we are going to see a fourth substance or entity that reminds us of the nature of the church. It says here, “…Again He said, ‘To what shall I compare the Kingdom of God? It is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour until all of it—say all of it—was leavened…’”

How many of you here have ever made bread? When you make bread, the first thing you take is a tiny packet of yeast; you take the flour and a little warm water. You take the yeast and put the flour into warm water so that the yeast begins to dissolve. You know that they are organisms that begin to dissolve and start to bubble and expand. Then you take that yeast which you have dissolved in warm water and put it into the flour with a little salt, and then you mix it. You have to mix it very well, because if you put it into only a little of the flour and take the flour and merely stir it, one of the things you must make sure of is that the yeast leavens the whole batch of dough, that it spreads throughout every part of the dough. And then, once you have mixed it well and kneaded it well, you put it away for a while.

You put a little cloth over it, set it aside, and leave it for one or two hours, and what happens during that time? The yeast grows inside the dough. They are tiny air bubbles that push the dough outward. The amount of flour is the same, but the bubbles keep expanding, and then you come back a couple of hours later and see that, if the yeast was good, that dough, which was like a little ball this size, has doubled and perhaps sometimes grown even more if you leave it longer, because it has expanded. It is everywhere throughout the dough and makes it much larger. And now those tiny substances have, as it were, gained mastery over the dough, taken control of it, and that is what allows the bread not to be a cracker but bread—the little bubbles, the air. Then you take that bread… Sometimes what you do is flatten it again, and once again it rises, like the church of Jesus Christ.

You can crush it and persecute it, but once again it comes back and expands. Then it rises again because it takes on the flavor of the fermentation, together with the flour and all of that, and finally you have dough from which you can make delicious bread. Now I’m hungry. Because that is the function of yeast: to expand. That is its nature; that is what is written in its DNA.

So: salt, light, mustard seed, yeast. Understand that within us, the nature, the identity of the church, its DNA, is to expand, to exert influence, to conquer everything around it, to manifest its nature and impose that nature upon everything surrounding it.

What is our flour in the city of Boston? The city of Boston. And every one of you is a tiny grain of yeast—in your workplace, at school, at the university, in the neighborhood, in your building, in whatever club you belong to, on the train. A tiny grain of yeast enters; wherever a believer goes, a grain of yeast enters, a light bulb of the Kingdom of God enters, a mustard seed that must expand enters. That is its nature. And when a church, when a Christian community, is functioning according to its nature, it is supposed to grow; it is supposed to expand, because the life of God is within it.

Do you know what is abnormal in a church? For it not to grow. Do you know what is contrary to nature, what constitutes a disturbance of nature? For a church always to remain the same size, tiny, or to decline and die. Because the very nature of a Christian community is to expand, to grow, to be influential, and to bring others to the knowledge of Jesus Christ. That is what you have inside you.

And that is why churches die: because they stop growing, stop expanding, and suppress their true identity. That is what has always concerned me—growing and making progress. You see that the nature of the Kingdom is to advance; everything alive moves, brothers and sisters. Right now, the blood inside you is flowing continually; if it has stopped, it is because you are already on your way to the cemetery. Your heart is always beating. The cells of your body are constantly being replaced; they die and are continually replaced. Your skin cells are shed, and new cells grow to cover your skin. The world is dynamic. Atoms do not rest for a single minute. That solid chair on which you are sitting is a universe that, if you could see it, would frighten you with how dynamic it is. It is made of atoms and subatomic particles that explode, collide with one another, and re-form at a frantic pace.

Planets never stop moving around their stars, their suns. Galaxies are always expanding and moving. The universe God created is a dynamic, expanding universe, and everything that stagnates dies or smells bad. The same is true of the church: if the church does not move… That is why you always see me devising new ideas. Okay, new screens—not because I simply like activity for activity’s sake, but I… one must always be thinking of new things.

The church of Christ must keep improving, perfecting itself, refining itself, acquiring new skills, and learning to be the church of Jesus Christ. You, as a Christian, must grow, must develop, must learn new things, must become more like Christ every day. The Christian life is a dynamic life. We must keep growing and learning. How many of you grasp what I am saying? How many dare to live a dynamic, expansive life in the name of the Lord?

Because that is how it must be. And never remain where you are. Do not remain stuck with your flaws, your depression, and your limitations, saying, “Well, God made me this way; I’ve tried.” No. In the name of the Lord, go to the next level, because God made you an expansive spirit, and the church of Jesus Christ must be that way. Glory to the Lord that we came here to Boston. God has blessed us greatly, from the time we arrived here as a group of about 200 people, and God has blessed us in many ways. But it has been by His grace and because I believe that the nature of a people is to improve every day, to grow every day.

The nature of the people of God—our DNA, our inner constitution as children of God, the identity God has imparted to us, even if we do not recognize or see it—is an identity of conquest, triumph, impact, and influence. God has made you influential by nature; He has made you great and excellent.

I was reading—I remembered something—just this morning, the story of some Vietnamese children, four of them, born to Vietnamese mothers. Their mothers were prostitutes, women who worked in hotels making up sheets and beds and all of that. And there was an American millionaire named Larry Hillblom. This man, this American millionaire, traveled to South Vietnam and the Philippines and had relations with several women while he was there developing his hotels and golf courses. What happened was that several of these women conceived children by this billionaire, and in time several of the women banded together and sued Larry Hillblom, who was already here in the United States, in a paternity suit. There were several women, about ten or more, and only four of them were able to prove that, yes, their children were Larry Hillblom’s children. And each of these children—whose mothers, and perhaps they themselves, now understood their true nature, what they carried within—each inherited a fortune of $90 million for being a child of Larry Hillblom.

Why? Because they had this man’s DNA. They were not destined for poverty. They did not carry within themselves the DNA of some wretched and poor Filipino or South Vietnamese person, but the DNA of a billionaire, and their lives were transformed because they too became aware of their identity. Their mothers became aware of that identity, and the identity they carried within was actualized, becoming a fortune and a transformed life for them.

And I think that, in the same way, the world is full of children—not of Larry Hillblom, but of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The Lord has imparted a new nature to us. We are born again; we are new creatures. The old things have passed away, and behold, all things have become new. God has now truly made us in His image and likeness. He has imparted to us the identity of winners, victors, conquerors, people of influence. God has placed within us a multibillion-dollar endowment of power. The problem is that most Christians live the Christian life and die without actualizing, and sometimes without even realizing, the true identity they carry within. They do not actualize it, do not put it into practice, do not begin to exercise it, do not leaven the dough, do not take that dough containing the divine yeast and begin to work and knead it so that it starts expanding. They simply leave it sitting there, stored away.

I believe that when the church of Jesus Christ becomes aware of its true calling and of the endowment it has within it—what every Christian, every believer, has within—if Lion of Judah becomes aware of what God has made us, this is an atomic bomb, brothers and sisters. Imagine if, with… Thank God for what we have done; it is not that we are heaping dirt on our heads either. God has allowed us to do many things in this city precisely for that reason, because of our nature… But imagine if we now devoted ourselves primarily to evangelizing, expanding, growing, and drawing people in.

That is what truly frightens me when I think about this project, because what I have in mind is something great and transformative for us. And it frightens me because it means there are so many changes we must make. It is as though I decided to move to China now, forgot about living in the United States and ever returning to the United States, and had to build my life in another country, with an almost entirely new identity. That is what it means to change the course of a congregation. This frightens me almost as much as when we left Cambridge to come to Boston—the fear one felt that… This was now like Cortés leaving Spain for Mexico and cutting off the bridges behind him when he entered Mexico City, because there was no turning back. He had to keep moving forward.

Because this is going to mean a radical change in our lives, our experiences, and our activities. And I am announcing this so much that how can one turn back after binding oneself publicly in such a sweeping and deeply committed way? Because what we are talking about is something magnificent. I believe that if we have been able to do the things we have done while being only moderately evangelistic, what could we not do if we devoted ourselves to it? And by declaring this, I am putting the continuing validity, authenticity, and legitimacy of the Gospel to the test here.

Because if we do not grow and do not see a change, I would consider it a failure. But I believe that we will not fail; rather, we will prosper in the name of the Lord. Because God has made us with that nature. The Father has inseminated us, as Larry Hillblom did, with a new inner life, a new power.

Before ascending to heaven, the Lord told His disciples, “Go and make disciples of all nations.” And as you remember I told you last Sunday, He first said, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.” Why did He say that? Because He was extending that authority to the church as well. He was saying, “That authority which is in Me, I give to you, and that is why I tell you: go and make disciples of all nations.” And at the end He said, “And behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the world.”

In other words, do not be afraid; I am going with you. And that certainly was what happened. This little group of Christians, with the power of the Holy Spirit, began to change all of history, and a couple of centuries later the greatest power in all of history, Rome, fell at the feet of the Gospel. Emperor Constantine himself converted to the Gospel. Because the church is powerful. The church… there are fights, there are battles, yes; there are struggles that must be fought; there is opposition from the devil. There may be some falls and some defeats in one battle or another, but the war is ours; victory is definitely inevitable.

That is the calling of the church: to be salt, to be yeast, to be a mustard seed in the world. Salt preserves. Why did the Lord choose these images? Well, salt makes things salty; it imparts flavor. But another thing salt does is preserve food. In those days, when there were no refrigerators, salt was used to cure meat for those long sea voyages. It keeps things from deterioration and decay. Do you also know that the church, as the salt of the earth, preserves society? Salt makes it possible… Wherever the church is, brothers and sisters, there is supposed to be an element of progress and blessing for the city and for the neighborhoods where the church is located.

And certainly, to the glory of the Lord—and even according to the testimony of legislators from the city of Boston—they recognize that our coming here to this neighborhood has brought blessing and the preservation of life. God has allowed this church… I remember that this place where we are situated right now, where this building stands, was a den of thieves. It was horrible. Drugs were taken here; prostitutes practiced their trade here, in this space that is now holy, where we are praising and glorifying the name of the Lord. People were killed here in that passageway between the two buildings on Harrison and Northampton. Two prostitutes were killed just before we arrived in the first building.

And this whole area around here was literally a place where people met violent deaths. I always tell the brothers and sisters that one of the first things that happened when we began… Perhaps you know the story. When we first opened the building and began working on it, we started with volunteers from the church. One day, during the first two or three days after we began working here, the brothers were working—it was a Saturday morning or something like that—and they were beginning to tear down walls in the first building. Someone knocked at the door, which was a little door, the first glass one here on Northampton Street. They knocked, and I went over, covered in dust, and opened the door. There was a man who had been knocking, with blood running from his head all over his face. And he said to me, “Look, they just hit me over the head with a bottle; some men jumped me.” Evidently, he too was a drug addict; he was addicted to drugs—you could tell… It appears that he got into a fight with them, and they smashed a bottle over his head, and he was gushing blood.

To my shame, I confess it, brothers and sisters, do you know the first thing I thought? I did not think about the man; I thought, “I hope these people inside don’t see this man, because they’re going to lose heart and think, ‘Where has Pastor Miranda brought us? Look at the neighborhood this man has brought us to.’”

And I was looking back and listening to him, so I opened the door, closed it, and spoke with him outside the door, and we called the police, and the man was all right. But it was a very grim sight; that was the neighborhood we came to here less than 20 years ago. And the Lord has blessed this place in tremendous ways.

I always tell people that a studio apartment next to North Hampton Street is worth twice what the entire building cost us, including the 10,000 square feet where this building also stands. Because no one wanted to live in this area at that time, but God has renewed it… this is now an area where everyone wants to live, and condominiums are being built everywhere.

Because I believe that when the church… we are not the only show here; I understand that. God has used other things, and other giants have also come into the land, but this place has been transformed in a beautiful way. And wherever you go, you have to believe that God goes with you: wherever a child of God goes, the power of God goes, the salt of the Kingdom goes, the leaven of the Kingdom of God goes, its influence goes; and whatever neighborhood you are in… when you are in your neighborhood, believe that the Lord goes with you, that the Lord is with you.

I remember Sommerville, where we moved 30 years ago. It was a run-down area; it was never a bad neighborhood, but it had nothing to recommend it, simply an ordinary place. I believe that because children of God are there, including us, that area has been greatly blessed, because when you go to a place, you believe that God goes with you. God blesses neighborhoods. The glory of God is with you.

If you live in Dorchester, if you live in Mattapan, there are drugs there, there is violence, there are gangs; plant a flag of the Kingdom of God and say, “The Kingdom of God is here.” Begin to rebuke the devil in the area where you are. Pray for your block. Pray for the immediate neighborhood where you live. Pray for the building, asking God either to convert the vermin or remove them, but let there be a change. Enter with the flag of the Kingdom of God. Do not enter merely to suffer, endure pain, and put up with things; enter to conquer, enter to change the shape of the place where you are, because God goes with you.

The Kingdom of God advances; it says it does so forcefully—the Kingdom of God advances with violence. The Kingdom of God destroys everything before it and conquers it for the Kingdom of God. Every thought… Paul says that we are to bring every thought under the dominion of Jesus Christ; everything that rises against the name of Christ is something we are supposed to wage war against and change.

But I believe that a combative attitude is needed. That is why, through these sermons, I want to infect my brothers and sisters with the attitude that you are not some madman, some insect under the forces of the devil and the enemy. You are an agent of power. You are in control because you are a child of God; you have the DNA of the Son of God within you, and wherever the church enters, it enters to conquer. Because if we believe that this world is simply lost, that people are hard and resistant and do not want to hear the Gospel, then we will not have the strength we need.

You have to believe that you have power and that if this congregation truly devotes itself to proclaiming the Gospel and seeking ways to do so, God will not fail us, and we will see the glory of God established.

I could remain here for a long time talking about this subject, brothers and sisters, but I believe that the crux, the heart of this sermon, is that God has placed you here to grow. God has placed you here to conquer. There are people in your neighborhood and at your workplace whom, with the Lord’s help, you are going to bring to the knowledge of Jesus Christ by using the power of God within you.

One final biblical image comes to mind, from when the Jews, the Israelites, were about to enter the Promised Land of Canaan after 40 years in the wilderness, and God told Moses to send spies to see the land to which He had called them. And he sent 10 spies, among whom were Joshua and Caleb; you remember the story. And those two spies entered the land and examined it, and there were two elements: an element of darkness and an element of light. A positive element and a negative element. And these men examined the land, and when they returned to Moses to give him their report after spying out and exploring the land, they told Moses, “Moses, this land to which God has sent us is certainly a land that, just as God said, flows with milk and honey. It is fertile; there are entire cities that would suit us very well if we conquered them; there are immense riches. But there is a problem: it says that there are giants in that land. The people are big, the people are strong, they are warlike, and they have bronze for spears and chariots of war, while we have none of those things. Yes, it is true that there is great promise, but we cannot do it. The obstacles are too great.”

The Bible says that Joshua and Caleb, in whom God had placed a different spirit—although I believe they all had the same spirit, but some recognized it and others did not—said, “My brothers, we do not agree with this negative report you are giving. If God is with us,” they said, “we will devour those people like bread. We are going to conquer that land because God is with us.”

The 10 spies had a mentality that focused only on the negative. In their minds, the negative elements outweighed the positive ones; they were far greater, and the spies allowed themselves to become frightened. When I think about this city, I see all the obstacles that exist, and it would seem as though everything were closed off, as though it were truly difficult to have an overwhelming, conquering evangelism. Those are the giants: the youth are violent; the world is secularized; people think the church is hypocritical; the devil has hardened people’s hearts; the culture is too powerful; people do not have time for the Gospel. All those things present themselves, but I also see the power of God within us. I see the promise of God; I see that God has created us powerful; I see that we have a word of inevitable victory in our hearts and in our lives.

And like Joshua and Caleb, we have to say, “No, we will not dishonor our God; we will possess that land in the name of the Lord.” And that is why God blessed Joshua and Caleb. The Hebrews entered the Promised Land, fought many battles, and finally conquered it. Wherever there was a king who believed the Lord, Israel was great, powerful, and prosperous; where there were kings who did not believe Him, there was misfortune and disaster. And whenever the people did what they had to do, God always caused them to prosper and always blessed them.

So I encourage you in the name of the Lord. I believe that the heart of this message is: know your nature and live according to it. Recognize the endowment God has given you to evangelize, to bring others to the knowledge of Jesus Christ, to bless families, to be salt in this city, to let the wonderful flavor of the Kingdom of God be felt in every dimension of this city, in every aspect of this city’s life; to be leaven that leavens the whole batch of dough; to illuminate the darkness of crime, perversion, secularism, and rejection of God. Let us shine; let us give flavor to this city, so that people may know that there is a people who believe their God.

Bow your head in the name of the Lord, or lift your eyes to heaven, and I encourage you in the name of Jesus Christ: take off the damp, cold, shabby garb of a merely conventional evangelical, and put on the armor of the Kingdom of God; clothe yourself in the garments of a priestess. Put on the crown of a king whom God has appointed to rule.

The Bible says that God has made us a people of kings and priests, a holy nation, a people brought out of darkness into the light so that we may proclaim the virtues of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. That is what we have been called to do. We have not been called for anything else; you exist to be salt, to be leaven, to be light, to be a mustard seed.

In the name of the Lord, you are going to evangelize your family; many will come to the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Believe it right now and receive authority in the name of the Lord to conquer that hard land. Your marriage, your children—do not surrender them to the devil. You have spiritual authority; your neighborhood is blessed and sanctified. Your marriage, the Apostle Paul says, is holy because you are there; whether you are a woman or a man, you sanctify your marriage in the name of the Lord.

Wherever a child of God is, the Kingdom of Heaven prevails. Arm yourself with that identity; change your programming right now in the name of Jesus. Say, “Out with the idea that I am a victim! Out with the idea that I depend on the government or on people in order to preach the Gospel, to be light, and to be a good influence in the world!” Let the identity of a warrior enter you—the identity of a child of God, a mighty spiritual giant used by God for great things in the name of Jesus.

Father, we change the identity of this congregation in the name of Christ, in the name of Jesus. Lord, we thank You for all the things we have been able to do in Your name, for the souls who have come to the knowledge of Jesus Christ through us. But, Father, we clearly understand that we have not even scratched the surface, that You have something greater and more powerful. And now, Father, we adopt a conquering mentality in the name of the Lord, with everything that accompanies it, Father—with strength, holiness, and aggressiveness. We live and will live in the power of the Holy Spirit; we will conquer our land.

You have placed us here in Roxbury, Mattapan, Dorchester, Sound End, Jamaica Plain, Hyde Park, Sommerville, Cambridge, Revere, and Wayland. You have placed us in these places, Father, with a purpose—Quincy, with a purpose, Lord—and in the name of Jesus we embrace our identity as believers, as children of God. And, Father, we will not die, but we will live and prosper.

Thank You, Lord. We believe that this message is being embedded, injected into the identity of this people, Father, and we will see Your glory, Lord, and we will regard this as the beginning of something extraordinary and transformative, for the glory of Your name. Thank You, Lord, in the name of Jesus. And the people of God say, “Amen.”