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Sermon Guide

God Comes Where’s He Wanted: Region

Sermon Recap

This week, Pastor Jon and Pastor Sam released conversation about the altar of the region, closing out our God Comes Where He's Wanted series. They talked about why it matters to recruit God to our region and how to close the gap from personal peace to getting the heart of God for the city.

A lot of times our vision for the Lord’s kingdom is really small. When we think of New York, we think about ourselves, our families, our career, and our success, and our heart is separated from God's larger heart for the city. The altar of the region is when each individual heart, home, and church comes together and collectively says, "Here in this place, we want the rule and reign of God known and felt in a manifest way."

Throughout the conversation, Pastors Jon and Sam reminded us that the spiritual realm is not neutral. There's a contest for land, a clash of kingdoms. The enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy, but Jesus came to bring life and life to the full. When you're setting up the altar of the region, you are contending for light to break in.

Our primary response to this reality is prayer. 1 Timothy 2:1-2 urges us first of all to offer prayer, intercession, thanksgiving, and supplication for all people, especially those in governing authorities. The challenging question is this: Are the leaders of our city on your daily, weekly, or monthly prayer list? God's word says that should be a first priority of prayer, not an afterthought or missing completely. Pastors Jon and Sam emphasized how the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective, and Elijah was a man just like us, but he prayed, and his prayer opened and closed heaven over a region.

The conversation ended with a call back to the opening of the series, contrasting Nazareth and Bethany. In Nazareth, they took Jesus for granted and he could not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith. In Bethany, the full power of Jesus' teaching, healing, revelation, and resurrection was given because they wanted him there. The goal is to build a Bethany culture, not a Nazareth culture. We want New York to be Bethany. We want Jesus to look at New York and say, "They love me in that city."

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

  • How are you feeling about living in New York right now? What's one thing you love about the city and one thing that's been challenging lately?

  • Ask someone to read 1 Timothy 2:1-2 out loud.

    1. What stands out to you in this passage?


    2. Why do you think Paul says to pray for leaders "first of all"? What does that tell us about God's priorities?

    1. The conversation talked about recruiting God to our region, not just finding personal peace in the city. What's the difference between those two things?

    2. Are the leaders of New York City on your prayer list? If not, what would it look like to start praying for them regularly?

    3. What's one area of brokenness in NYC that you want to see God's kingdom break into?

  • Pray for the leaders of New York City by name and for specific areas of brokenness in our city (addiction, anxiety, injustice, etc.).

    Pray that our church would have God's heart for New York and pray for each person in your group.