Let My People Go!

2021 JULY 4TH BRING YOUR NEIGHBOR DAY

“Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what the LORD says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me.” Exodus 8:1 NIV84

In the days of Moses, God saw the suffering of His people. God was hurting and wanted to save them from their bondage. While they were technically Moses’ people, they were not really “his” people because he didn’t care that they were suffering – enough to take action to save them. certainly, the palace life had made him “overfed and unconcerned” (Ezekiel 16:49).

Eventually Moses hesitantly agreed to go and help. He was scared. But he finally cared. He bellowed those words to Pharaoh and let those people go. Moses cared until the people got scared. Like all of us, Moses struggled with his identity and his Love for those who were suffering because their suffering and fears made them complain, rebel, and caused them to be highly reactive. Because Moses struggled with his identity, his love for the people and their suffering, the people struggled with their identity, trusting the Lord’s Commands and plans – as well as their love for both the Lord and His chosen leader.

The people struggled to trust both Moses and the Lord because they lived in reaction to their circumstances and their fears. Their lack of faith made them rebel against the very commands, which were designed to save them from their suffering. In Moses’ reaction to the rebellion, “My People” became “these people.” Then they all beat each other up for 40 years, trying to take a journey that should take about 40 days.

The Lord wished His people would have the heart to trust Him and obey His commands to fight the battles He laid out before them. He desired to give them victories and to bless them with the land that He promised them – a land flowing with milk and honey. But they just did not care enough about the blessing to overcome their fears.

Because the Israelites refused to let go of their fears, God decided to make their fears come true (Numbers 14:26-38) and let them die for their unfaithfulness. As a statement for all time, God let Caleb, Joshua and the children into the Promised Land.

Over the millennia, the Lord has sought after children who would love His lost children who are suffering…enough to live the life Jesus lived. He still desires for Himself a people who will go throughout the nations, into the cities, and cry over their hurt, then cry, “Let my people go!” Today decide to be His Child – a Disciple of Jesus! With this year’s theme – The Year of Mountain Moving Faith, the DC Church Leadership has set before the Lord the following Prayer Goals for the remainder of 2021:

“Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.” 1 Timothy 4:15-16 – With the daunting challenge to reach all nations in this generation, comes the realization that we will only be able to accomplish this “seemingly impossible feat” if we too learn to pray as Jesus’ disciples learned from Him. After all, it’s been 2,000 years since the world was last evangelized in a generation – and this was only accomplished by the Spirit working through the Apostles’ prayers! Therefore, our first goal is to call every disciple to refocus on their personal relationship with God, to have no negative feelings towards any other disciple, and to make definitive progress, which can be seen by our brothers and sisters and the world!

“Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field.’” Matthew 9:37-38 – As we have begun planning the planting of the Dover, DE church (Our First Operation Freedom Church Planting!), we have a tremendous opportunity to bring everyone to maturity in Christ, which includes being “fruitful.” (Luke 8:14-15) We will continue to work on the retention of our precious new disciples through the accountability of Follow-up Studies, New Christian Orientations, and D-groups at Midweek Services. Our goal is to ask the Lord to send out the workers to grow our Bible Talks and to expand our geographic presence in DC by sending in December eight of those workers to Dover, DE – while raising up new leader to keep evangelizing and growing DC!

“I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.” 1 Corinthians 9:22-23 – Becoming “all things to all men” requires we use our gifts to relate to people and to make a deliberate effort to win those who are not like us. We have a goal to radically change the racial diversity of the DC Church with “Project Lighthouse”!

“I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe you have received it, and it will be yours.” Mark 11:23-24 – For many young and newly-restored disciples, giving their weekly pledge regularly and raising a Special Missions Contribution can pose a “mountain of problems.” Yet Jesus promises; if we believe and pray as if we have already received what we need for God’s purposes, God will give it to us! Our financial goals this year are to increase our pledges to $12,000/week, to ensure that our local needs are met.

“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but he beat his breast and said, ‘God, have MERCY on me, a sinner.’” Luke 18:13 – As the benevolent arm of the SoldOut Movement, the impact of MERCYworldwide now extends to all six populated continents of the world! This year, the DC Church will participate in our movement’s global events of the Day of MERCY in July and the MERCY Christmas Toy Drive in December! Our movement has over a decade of partnering with the Red Cross for blood drives. We have a goal to find similar local partners for MERCYWorldwide here in DC!

“If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.  This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples…I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other.” John 15:7-8,16-17 – True Disciples of Jesus have the purpose of living the life Jesus lived, thus having the mission of making Disciples of Jesus and evangelizing the world. In the early days of our movement, we had a vision to “radicalize” all of our churches through the building of powerful Bible Talks. Our 5th goal is that every disciple love God and each other enough to “show themselves” to be a disciple by making at least one disciple by the end of 2021.

“Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church… forever and ever! Amen!” Ephesians 3:20-21 – Our last challenge is for every DCICC member to have at least one personal prayer goal that is “immeasurably more than [anything] we imagine.” This may include being on a mission team, being selected for ICCM (International College Of Christian Ministry), becoming a Bible Talk Leader, being selected as a Shepherding or Deacon Couple, or even the conversion or restoration of someone close to you.

When kneeling and tearful disciples cry out to God, the humility of our prayers prompt our Father in Heaven to unleash His Spirit and His angels to even “move mountains!” Let us all embrace The Year Of Mountain Moving Faith.

Ron Harding