Good News for Asheville
“Then Jonah began to go through the city one day’s walk; and he cried out and said, “Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown.”
Jonah 3:4
I love our city. I love the beauty of the mountains. I love the friendly, open, artsy nature of the culture. I love Asheville.
I believe God loves Asheville too. I think that God looks down on our city and sees our Kingdom potential as a city of refuge. I can imagine He sees a merciful city, a place for the broken, the wounded and the forsaken to find healing, wholeness and a home. I believe He sees this as a city where people can find Him, not just His creation.
I also believe God sees the sin of our city. At times our city reflects a modern day Ninevah. Like that sinful city of old, Asheville is a town where God could say, “Their wickedness has come up before me.” (Jonah 1:2). In our town, it seems that many people celebrate and flaunt wickedness and sin as if it were right and good.
God has been looking down upon the sin and wickedness of this planet for thousands of years. Asheville is no different from many cities in our world. There are many places where it seems that sin has been welcomed and celebrated. Asheville, though, is our town. It’s the city we are called to love and serve. We are called to pray for the welfare of Asheville.
I believe good (welfare) will come to Asheville through the GOOD NEWS of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In God’s great plan, he made it possible for sins to be forgiven, and cities to be transformed. He made a way for wickedness to be changed into righteousness.
God has given us the greatest gift in all of creation: the opportunity to be transformed, to be reborn, and to become His children. Through His gospel, He has made it possible for us to look and act like Him, to be conformed to His image. We can become children of the one True God! (see John 1:12).
The pathway to this incredible reality is through the gospel. Through the gospel, we can be different by the power of the Holy Spirit. Through the gospel, we can receive new and cleansed hearts. By the gospel, families, communities and cities can be redeemed, restored and healed.
Oh, I love the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ! It is the power of God unto salvation for all who believe. My life has been forever changed by the power of that Good News.
God simply asks us to believe and put our complete trust in Jesus as our Redeemer and King. He asks us to become servants and subjects to His kingdom rule, and He will begin the work of transforming us from the kingdom of darkness into His kingdom of light.
When the king of Ninevah heard of Jonah’s prophetic warning for his city to change or be overthrown in 40 days, he acted immediately. He called his wicked city to repent. In a breathtaking moment of corporate repentance and mercy, the whole city heard Jonah’s “gospel” message to repent and turn to the God of heaven, and THEY RESPONDED!
Please pray with me that our city and our hearts would have the same softness and obedient response to the Good News to “Repent and believe the gospel.” Mark 1:15. The same transforming power that God offered to Ninevah and to the people of Jesus’ day is available to us today. Our job is to hear the gospel and respond in faith and repentance. He does the changing, the healing, and the restoring.
There is hope for every heart and hope for every city. There is hope for every family and every church. God is no respecter of persons. He offers His GOOD NEWS to everyone. May we receive and share this wonderful GOOD NEWS!