That None Should Perish

Ed Silvoso

Description

Ed Silvoso weaves together the solid biblical basis and practical outworking of how to reach entire cities for Christ. He presents a working model for reaching each city through his own personal battle scars and triumphant victories. Every believer will be challenged and equipped for leading seekers into the kingdom of God.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• Prayer in Christianity
• History of religions
• Christianity

Informations

• Publié par: Baker Publishing Group
• Date de parution: 18 avril 1995
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781441268754
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Praise for “That None Should Perish”
This may be one of the most important books to be written in this last decade of the twentieth century. It will convict and encourage you. It will stir you to faith and action. It will bring you to your knees. Above all, it will give you the missing keys to unlock the demonic prison doors of sin and misbelief which holds millions of city dwellers in bondage till today.
Dr. Ed Murphy, author of The Handbook for Spiritual Warfare
Ed Silvoso makes the incredible credible. Can whole cities be evangelized? Yes! Is prayer really capable of bringing this to pass? Yes! Are there practical steps that anyone can take to defeat Dark Powers and set the captives in your neighborhood free? You bet! This book sounds the call to seize the moment. It gives you reason to hope!
David Bryant Founder and President Concerts of Prayer International

by Ed Silvoso
Published by Chosen Books 11400 Hampshire Avenue South Bloomington, Minnesota 55438 chosenbooks.com
Chosen Books is a division of Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids, Michigan. www.bakerpublishinggroup.com
Chosen edition published 2014
ISBN 978-1-4412-6875-4
Previously published by Regal Books
Ebook edition originally created 2011
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means-for example, electronic, photocopy, recording-without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
Scripture taken from the New American Standard Bible , © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
The following Bible versions are also used:
KJV—King James Version .
Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version ®. NIV ®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.
This book is also available in Spanish (1-56063-849-4) and Portuguese (1-56063-850-8). Published by Editorial Unilit, Miami, FL.
Dedicated to my number one team— Ruth, loving and devoted wife and our daughters Karina, loyal helper and confidante Marilyn, wise counselor and enabler Evelyn, faithful intercessor and encourager Jesica, close friend and partner
Contents
Foreword C. Peter Wagner
Introduction
Section I: The Principles
1. Can We Reach a City for Christ?
Cities are central to God’s redemptive strategy. The Great Commission begins with a city—Jerusalem—and culminates when another city—the new Jerusalem—becomes God’s eternal dwelling with His people. In order to fulfill the Great Commission, we must reach every city on earth with the gospel.
2. Prayer Evangelism
Prayer is the most tangible trace of eternity in the human heart. Intercessory prayer on behalf of the felt needs of the lost is the best way to open their eyes to the light of the gospel.
3. The Battleground Is the Heavenly Places
In order to take the gospel to every creature, the Church is called to engage the forces of evil. The battleground is the heavenly places. This is where the battle for our cities is won or lost.
4. Strongholds: What They Are and How to Pull Them Down
Spiritual strongholds are Satan’s secret weapon. It is through the surreptitious use of strongholds that Satan controls the behavior of the Church. They must be identified and destroyed in order to regain control of the heavenlies.
5. Praying with Authority
The believer is a deputy of the Court of Calvary assigned to enforce the judgment awarded to Jesus: the salvation of the lost. The believer is to use this delegated authority mainly in prayer.
Section II: The Strategy
6. Establishing God’s Perimeter
By identifying and organizing the faithful remnant, a “beachhead”—or perimeter—of godliness is established on the edge of the vast spiritual darkness that engulfs the city. This perimeter provides a tangible setting in which the kingdom of God comes.
7. Securing the Perimeter
Establishing God’s perimeter in the midst of Satan’s domain is a very sensitive operation. It is not enough to simply set up a perimeter; it must also be secured.
8. Expanding God’s Perimeter
God uses the faithful remnant to establish a model. With that model in place, now others whose hearts God has been preparing must gradually be brought inside the perimeter to build up the expeditionary force that eventually will launch the attack on the forces holding the city in spiritual darkness.
9. Infiltrating Satan’s Perimeter
Satan’s perimeter is best infiltrated by “parachuting behind his lines” and establishing thousands of prayer cells (lighthouses) to cover the entire city, block by block.
10. Destroying Satan’s Perimeter
Now that the Church is in force inside Satan’s territory, it must sound the trumpet to signal the beginning of an all-out attack on the enemy for the purpose of bringing down the walls that keep the unsaved captive.
11. Establishing God’s Perimeter Where Satan’s Used to Be
Unless spiritual warfare results in solid, tangible conversions, and those conversions are incorporated into churches, nothing of consequence has happened. We have limited ourselves to a “spiritual parade.”
12. How Far Can You See?
The Great Commission began with a city: Jerusalem—the city where the disciples resided. God’s strategy to take your city for Christ begins with you and other members of the faithful remnant as you all move forward in unified prayer.
Appendices
Appendix 1
Six Steps for Reaching a City for Christ
Appendix 2
Preparing an Atmosphere for Effective Evangelism
Appendix 3
“It’s God’s Time for YOU!” Prototype
Foreword
T HE WORD IS BECOMING CLEARER AND CLEARER . T HE H OLY S PIRIT is saying to the churches: Take the cities for God, and bring them into My Kingdom .
I believe that the primary target for God’s spiritual armies in the 1990s is the cities of the world, not that other evangelistic targets are passé or unimportant. We must continue our aggressive efforts to evangelize nations and people groups and individuals and religions and rural populations, reaching unsaved souls wherever they may be found. But let’s be clear: Nothing is more important in our day than reaching our cities.
I am not alone in this conviction. Many other Christian leaders around the world are also hearing the trumpet call for the cities. Research, publications and training focused on urban populations is exploding as never before. Pastors, missionaries, teachers and other Christian workers are responding in large numbers to God’s call to the cities.
But what is the best way to evangelize a city?
Ed Silvoso, in my opinion, has the most viable and strategic answer to this question. Ed thoroughly understands the traditional methodologies for urban evangelism that we have been applying and refining over the years. His strategy makes full use of citywide crusades, friendship evangelism, door-to-door witnessing, open-air preaching, films, literature distribution, humanitarian aid, community development and whatever other way has been devised to communicate the gospel.
However, not only Ed Silvoso, but, numerous other Christian workers who have been called to the cities in general are saying to each other: “The methods we have been developing are excellent. We have a solid, biblical theology of evangelism. Why, then, are we not seeing more fruit and fruit that remains?”
Over many years, this question has been burning in the heart and soul of Ed Silvoso. His passion has been to provide an answer that will not be just an interesting theory or a robust exhortation, but also a practical way forward that will bring our urban evangelistic efforts more in line with what we have always hoped they would be and what we clearly know is God’s will. God’s will is that none should perish , the biblical phrase from 2 Peter 3:9, which Ed is using as the title of this book.
That None Should Perish is the first book that weaves into the warp and woof of a plan for urban evangelism two primary elements that have been largely missing from similar plans. One is a methodological component, and the other is a spiritual component.
The methodological component is saturation church planting . I frequently say that the most effective evangelistic methodology under heaven is planting new churches. This is not just a personal opinion or an application of what we see in the book of Acts, but it is also a scientific fact. Extensive research in evangelism and missiology has confirmed its validity beyond any doubt. As you will see in this book, multiplying new churches is a central feature of Silvoso’s design.
The spiritual component is what many of us have been calling strategic-level spiritual warfare . Ed Silvoso recognizes that because it is primarily the god of this age who blinds people’s minds against the gospel (see 2 Cor. 4:3,4), the real battle for our cities is a spiritual battle. As the war in the heavenlies is won through truth encounters and power encounters and allegiance encounters mediated by the Holy Spirit and based on Jesus’ death on the cross, much of what has been obstructing the communication of the gospel to the unsaved in the past will be removed.
Spiritual warfare is essential if we desire to see more fruit, and church planting is essential if that fruit is to remain.
That None Should Perish will show you clearly and concisely how both can be done for the glory of God.
C. Peter Wagner Fuller Theological Seminary Pasadena, California
Introduction
W HEN OUR L ORD SENT H IS PERSONAL MESSAGES TO THE SEVEN churches in Asia Minor through His servant John, He closed each message with the admonition to hear what the Holy Spirit was saying to the churches. That exhortation is still valid today. Each gene