“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened” (Matt. 7:7-8, NKJV).
The words of Jesus in the passage above hold the key to unlocking the blessings that the Almighty has in store for His children in a personal and corporate level. As we experience trials and tribulations in our lives, we can rest assured that we have a Heavenly Father who will give us the desires of our hearts (Ps. 37:4). It should be our joy to delight ourselves in the Lord, and then those blessings will be added unto us. These blessings will be poured out to the body of Christ when we, collectively and intentionally, depend on the Lord to build His church through the Holy Spirit. We must ask, seek, and knock!
Living out evangelism
We, at Aurora West Bilingual Church in Colorado have been blessed with God’s presence in our midst. We have seen and heard how the Lord has healed, directed and transformed people right before our own eyes; transitioning them from glory to glory! When I first came to Aurora West a year ago this March, I procured to seek the Lord through fasting and prayer for a month and I invited the whole church to join me in this endeavor. We fasted and prayed before implementing any plans or casting any vision. We finished the month of fasting and prayer with an anointing service and the whole church was anointed to be set apart for a special calling in each of their lives.
After the month passed, I was able to sit with the elders and the board to cast out a tangible vision and mission for our church. We decided that since the Lord is the One who established his church (Matt. 16:18) and the gates of hell will not prevail against it, we needed to live out our purpose: to snatch souls from Satan’s claws. So we set up a team of Bible instructors because we needed to be ready for what the Lord had prepared for our church. I told the elders, board and church family that from that moment on we were going to make altar calls every Sabbath and those who responded to the altars calls would be enrolled in a baptismal Bible study. I told my leaders and church family that we were going to have baptisms every month! Yes, you heard right, every month (they had the same reaction as you).
I learned that if we don’t invite people to meet their Lord and Savior, why would Jesus entrust us with people who are seeking a living Savior? So Aurora West Bilingual has been engaged in an evangelism lifestyle. This means that Aurora West is not defined as a church that does evangelistic campaigns–although we do and we believe in them–but Aurora West is a church that lives out evangelism! I am proud of the leadership of Aurora West and I also would like to recognize my head elder Carmen Meza who has been nothing but a blessing to the church and myself!
You know, we could give excuses why we don’t do evangelism or why we are not evangelistic. Many pastors might even agree with me, thinking we don’t have enough resources to do evangelism and many of us get stuck in rut. But I have refused to have a defeated spirit, “for God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and of sound mind” (2 Tim. 1:7). I believe that if God gives us a vision, He will give us His provision!
Spiritual Mentors
I have been privileged, honored and blessed to have the Lord place spiritual mentors in my life because I’ve made a point of asking Him to do so. One person who comes to mind is Dr. Phil Jones.
Dr. Phil Jones who retired from the Southeastern California Conference, where he served as an evangelist for 25 years, has been a personal friend and a true mentor to me. He has instilled in me the fact that I have to make altar calls or appeals every single Sabbath. To my surprise, it works! I am forever thankful and grateful to the Lord to have placed Dr. Jones in my path; my life and churches have been better because of his influence as a mentor.
Asking, seeking and knocking
At Aurora West Bilingual, we don’t own our own building. We rent a Lutheran church and we are at the mercy of their activities when it comes to use of the facilities for church life. We have to calculate very carefully how to keep our mission of snatching souls from Santa’s claws, preparing those souls for baptism, and training those souls to become disciples from getting interrupted as we navigate through our limited access and resources. We dream of having our own building where we can worship our living God, lift up Jesus, empower people through the Holy Spirit and continue to baptize souls consecutively without interruption. If you as individual or church who are reading this article feel impressed to help us reach our goal of obtaining our own building through special financial gifts, kindly email me so we can make arrangements regarding where to send your donation. I am simply asking, seeking and knocking!
In closing, the words of Jesus in Matt. 7:7 have become my marching orders; not a suggestion. I’ve learned to ask for God to grant us blessings that meet our needs and desires. I’ve learned to seek for the Holy Spirit to anoint us and equip us to bear fruits for the Kingdom. Finally, I’ve learned to knock at the throne room of heaven to enter in the presence of the Almighty God for refuge, dependence, protection, guidance, rest and adoration.
A condensed version of this article was also published in the May 2015 print edition of OUTLOOK. It was written by Robert M. Coronado, pastor of the Aurora West Bilingual Church and director of Multicultural Ministry for the Central States Conference.
