ORLANDO — Pastor Tony Evans has warned Christians living in a "modern-day Babylon" that if they fail to consistently live out biblical principles before a watching world, true transformation will never happen, affecting generations to come.
Evans, a bestselling author and founder of the Urban Alternative, told those gathered at the annual Kingdom Advisors conference that "you and I are living in a postmodern age" where Christian principles are no longer valued.
"We're living in Babylon right now," Evans said. "But [God] says, 'You can benefit Babylon if you will bring my world view and infiltrate it through my people in the culture,' which is precisely what you are doing. You are seeking to bring God's worldview into the culture so that it begins to spread through the businesses, through the families, through the ministries, in order to affect and infect the society."
Currently, everyone is looking to politics to fix society, the pastor said, but transformation begins within the body of Christ: "God is not going to skip the church house to fix the White House," he declared.
"Until God's people begin to understand, implement, and apply God's principles, whether it's finance, whether it's family, whether it's race, whether it's culture, until God's people get consistent in applying God's principles before the watching world, we will not see the kind of transformation that we need to see in the areas that we pray about," he emphasized.
"Until it becomes the practice of the church, it will not infiltrate into the needs of the culture," he continued. "While a lot of us are waiting on God, it's actually God is waiting on us."
Christians are called to cover culture with their "covenant worldview," Evans said, explaining that how we live now is "critical," because it will affect generations to come.
"If Jesus comes tomorrow, we don't have to worry about this, but if Jesus doesn't come back for another 200 years, you better worry about this, because this is your children and your grandchildren and your great-grandchildren," he said. "They're going to grow up in some kind of world and the way it is headed now because our influence has been dulled is a tragedy."
Today's world needs "Kingdom advisors who are Kingdom-minded," the pastor said - and God will use such individuals as a conduit to bless the family, the church, and finally, the world.
"Make the pagan place you live, Babylon, a better place to live," he advised. "Plant vineyards, build houses, establish marriages, and you will see the wellbeing of the city."
"We will have a lot to say about the direction of this nation," Evans said. "We will have a lot to say about the success of our society or failure thereof by how many Kingdom disciples, Kingdom citizens we develop, and until that begins to happen by Kingdom advisors in every area of life, we will not see the power of God rain down like God wants it to rain down."
"His covenant," the pastor said, "is the only vehicle He uses for into rain down."
"What I'm saying to you is that as Kingdom advisors, you're trying to change the whole trajectory, not only of economics, but of a worldview so that people begin to see this worldview begin to be expressed and expose to them to bring all of life under God, to bring all of life under divine rule, and to bring all of life under the covering," he said.
Evans pointed out that in the Old Testament, David - a shepherd boy - was able to slay the giant Goliath with just a sling and a stone because he was covered by God's blessing.
"We got a giant of a problem in our culture, we've got a giant of a problem in our society," the pastor admitted. "But if we're being Davids and we are covered, we can handle Goliaths because they are not covered."
"When we begin to orient our mentality that way, we can begin to see the transformation that our country is desperately in need of and desperately calling for, even though they don't know it," he concluded.
The Kingdom Advisors Conference was held February 20-22 in Orlando, Florida. Other speakers included Andy Crouch, Bob Goff, J.D. Grear, and more, with music from CCM artist Steven Curtis Chapman.
