God Chooses Whom He Chooses

I was reading in 1 Chronicles earlier this evening. While I doubt any of you are saying, “Oh, yes, one of my favorite books!” I did find some nuggets buried among all the genealogy. :)

In 1 Chronicles 5 we have the history of the sons of Reuben. The first thing that caught my attention in this passage was in the first two verses.

“1 Now the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel (for he was the firstborn, but because he defiled his father's bed, his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph the son of Israel; so that he is not enrolled in the genealogy according to the birthright. 2 Though Judah prevailed over his brothers, and from him came the leader, yet the birthright belonged to Joseph).” 1 Chronicles 5:1-2 (emphasis added)

To understand this, we need to refer back to Genesis 35:22 and Genesis 49:4.

“22 It came about while Israel was dwelling in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father's concubine, and Israel heard of it.” Genesis 35:22

“4 'Uncontrolled as water, you shall not have preeminence,
Because you went up to your father's bed;
Then you defiled it--he went up to my couch.'” Genesis 49:4

We do not know what led up to Reuben, Israel’s (Jacob’s) first-born son having a relationship with Bilhah. Bilhah was Rachel’s maid and one of Israel’s two concubines. Since Rachel was having difficulty in conceiving while her sister was freely producing sons for their husband, Rachel had “given” her maid to her husband as a concubine, just as Sarah had given her maid, Hagar, to her husband, Abraham, when she believed she would never be able to provide him with a child. Bilhah bore two sons to Israel, Dan & Naphtali.

Whatever the events leading up to the act, the sin was committed. “Israel heard of it” and the Holy Spirit saw that it was recorded in Scripture. That one sinful act, dishonoring both his father and Bilhah, cost Reuben his “preeminence” – the rights bestowed on the first-born son.

We sometimes seem to believe that God doesn’t really care about what we do day to day – or that in His “grace” He will overlook our sin. Not so!

There have been too many times over the past few years of the secret deeds done by men of God in places of “preeminence” being brought to the light for all to see and know. As with Reuben, these things always exact a price – whatever “preeminence” the individual had, it is stripped from them.

There have been many sensing and expressing that there is more exposure to come. God is intent on having a pure Bride for His Son. The five-fold ministry is specifically tasked with assisting in bringing Her to maturity. Those within the five-fold ministry, and particularly those in key (or preeminent) leadership positions, who are themselves living impure lives need to hear and heed this warning. Get it straight – or know that the time is coming when it will be exposed.

But there is another point here that is also interesting to me.

When Reuben lost the privilege of the first-born birthright, it did not simply pass to the second-born son, Simeon. Instead, it passed to the sons of Joseph, which means the grandsons of Israel.

We know that both Israel and God favored, Joseph. We know that Israel favored him because he was the first born of Israel’s first love, Rachel. But we do not know why God favored him – any more than we know why God favored David over his brothers or why God “highly favored” Mary above all other women to be the mother of His Son.

Have you ever looked at someone that God has obviously “favored” (anointed in a special way, caused to be favored by both believers and non-believers, placed in a key position, etc.) and wondered, “why did God pick them?” (Be honest! I have – and I’m pretty sure at least most of you have as well. :)

I’ve learned over the years to simply take a step back and realize that God is Sovereign. He gets to choose whom He wants to choose.

He chose Abram while he was in a heathen land to send out of that land to a land he knew nothing about, including not even knowing where it was, promising to give it to him. He chose Isaac over Ishmael. He chose Joseph to be the deliverer of not only his family but the nations of the world at that time. He chose Moses over Aaron to be the deliverer of His people. He chose Saul, the son of Kish, from the smallest family of the smallest tribe in Israel to be the first king. Then, when Saul lost the favor of God due to direct sin (there’s that theme again – God will judge sin in His leaders), God’s favor was passed to David, the youngest of the sons of Jesse. And the list goes on …

Lest we think this was simply an “Old Covenant thing,” let’s take a look in the New Testament. Jesus chose the 12 to be His disciples. (He even chose Judas knowing what he would do in the end.) Out of them, He chose three – Peter, James & John – to be His inner circle and get special times with Him that the others did not. Yet, when it came time to establish the church in its early days, it was James (the brother of Jesus, not the disciple/apostle) that was selected by God to head the council of elders in Jerusalem. And we can’t forget Saul, turned Paul. God picked one of the worst human enemies of the early church to become one of His greatest ambassadors.

Yes, God chooses whom He chooses.

He sometimes even chooses the unrighteous and gives them favor and preeminence to do His tasks for Him. That's a teaching for another day ...

Responding to the Storm

I received an email this evening from the Lance Learning Group. In it, Lance Wallnau stated:

"Recently the Lord showed me how the Ark that delivered Noah rose higher toward heaven as the floods came upon the earth. In the end, when the floods receded the Ark was resting at the TOP of the mountain. I want you to ride this season of national shaking so that you get closer to heaven as the waters rise and end up at the top of your mountain!"

Take a moment and Selah!

Sometimes what seems like adversity when it comes towards us (or we are in the middle of it!), is really meant to be the vehicle to carry us to a destination.

On Eagles Wings

As I "thought on these things," I was reminded of how the eagle, instead of fighting against the storm, flies into it. The eagle allows the winds of the storm to cause it to be lifted up, higher and higher. Rather than fighting the winds of adversity, it causes those very winds to work on its behalf to lift it up.

Isaiah 40:31 tells us,

"Yet those who wait for the LORD
Will gain new strength;
They will mount up with wings like eagles,
They will run and not get tired,
They will walk and not become weary."

The literal translation of the middle line is, "They will lift up their wings to catch the wind as the eagles do."

The key is, of course, waiting for LORD to gain the new strength that He has for us.

The literal translation of the first two lines is "But waiters for Yahweh will renew power." The word translated "waiters" is the Hebrew word "naar" and it comes from a root meaning "to bind together" and carries the connotation of expectation. It can be translated as "tarry" or "patiently wait" with an implication of gathering or doing so together. (Think of tarrying in the Jerusalem until they were endued with power.)

Unfortunately, we all too often keep trying to run in our own strength - and wonder why the wind keeps driving us backwards!

God Meant It For Good

Another story that comes to mind is that of Joseph. His brothers had captured him and sold him into slavery. But, look at "the rest of the story." Joseph became second in command in Egypt, his entire extended family had all been moved to Goshen, and his father had blessed his sons and died. Now his brothers were sweating. Joseph had treated them kindly while their father was alive, but surely he was "just biding his time" until he could deal with them as they had dealt with him.

Joseph's brothers send him a message saying that their father had left a message for him before he died, asking that he would forgive his brothers for what they had done. Come on, now. If that message had been from Jacob, he would have delivered it to Joseph himself! Good try, guys!

But the beauty of the passage is Joseph's response to the message. The second half of Genesis 50:17 tells us that, "Joseph wept when they spoke to him."

What a picture of true forgiveness. What an example of being able to see "the bigger picture."

Let's finish the story. (Genesis 50:18-21, emphasis added.)

"Then his brothers also came and fell down before him and said, 'Behold, we are your servants.' But Joseph said to them, 'Do not be afraid, for am I in God's place? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive. So therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones.' So he comforted them and spoke kindly to them."

Joseph had come to realize that the wind of adversity, the very bitter experience that he was forced to endure going from the favored son to a slave at the hands of his own brothers, had been the vehicle to get him to where he needed to be for his dreams to be fulfilled. He realized that in the midst of things seeming to go "from bad to worse," God had manuevered him into position "in order to bring about this present result."

I like the phrase used here: "God meant it for good."

We often quote Romans 8:28 when we are going through a difficult time. "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." (emphasis added) It is truth ... and I quote it, too!

But the connotation in Genesis 50:20 is different. "God meant it for good."

In Romans 8, God "causes" something that was not a good experience to somehow bring benefit to us. In Genesis 50, God "meant" the result from the beginning.

The same word is used to reference the brothers' intentions and God's intentions. ("As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.") In both cases, it is the Hebrew word "chashab" which comes from a root word that means "to weave" or "to fabricate." The connotation is that you have a purposeful plan, you plot or contrive to do something.

God had a plan that He was weaving from the very start. He was planning to get Joseph where he needed to be - in Egypt! Why? "In order to bring about this present result."

But the story doesn't even end there.

Joseph's destiny - foretold in part in the dreams he had as a youth - wasn't just about him.

Joseph was in Egypt, the one nation that had plenty of food in a time of "world-wide" famine. (Read that: "world-wide crisis.") They had that food because of Joseph's leadership. His leadership ability (including foreknowledge of the famine and what to do about it) was developed in Joseph's faithfulness and obedience to his faithful God through all the years of slavery and prison. Joseph continued to maintain a right relationship with God and view of God's faithfulness when it "looked like" God had forgotten him! (That's a whole other lesson there!)

The result was that Joseph not only saved himself and his immediate family, but he was able to provide for his entire extended family. ("I will provide for you and your little ones.")

But wait ... it's even bigger than that.

God wove together a plan for Joseph's life that was "meant" to save not only Joseph, his immediate family, and all of his extended family, but it was also "meant"by God "to preserve many people alive."

When Joseph as a young man dreamed of the sheaves bowing and of the sun, moon and stars bowing, little did he realize what was truly in store for him. I am sure he did not consider ruling beside an Egyptian Pharoah. Nor did he have any idea of the price he would pay before getting there.

What Will We Do?

Will we let the flood waters carry us higher?

Will we use the winds of adversity to go up higher?

Will we spend timing "waiting for" the Lord, so that we can be renewed with power?

Will we maintain our relationship with God through the difficult times in such a way that we have His answer to the crisis when "the best and brightest" in the land do not?

Will we realize that "it's not all about us" - that there's a bigger picture and a lot more at stake?

Will we be ready with an answer when asked?

Will we give God the glory?

Report from USAA - Day 2, Evening Session - Dennis Peacocke

Dennis Peacocke said his message was taken from the story of Ezra and Nehemiah which gives us the story of the restoration of a nation. Whatever reformation is going to happen in this nation must begin in the Body of Christ first. It has to begin with a flourishing, powerful, spiritual church. Then, out from that, reformation is a possibility. His message was a wake-up call to understand that Reformation is not “a walk in the park.”

His premise and conclustion was that “Reformation requires the assent and the buy-in of the unchurched as well as the churched.”

We have been the masters of “whooping the devil” – inside our church building. But we must understand this premise. It means our language must change. We must learn to speak “fish” [if we are to be fishermen.] We must learn to speak the world’s language. [Or, as Lance Wallnau puts it, we must go to Pharaoh thinking Hebrew (with our Biblical worldview) but speaking Egyptian (his language).]

We must even begin now to take care of what we say in our churches. If we really become relevant, the media will begin to dig in the archives of what we have said. He noted that there were some powerful voices present. He asked them to “please consider that whatever you are going to be saying from now on, know that the world is going to be listening.” He warned that “if you are unwilling to go down that road because you believe it to be compromise, realize that your part in reformation will be on a very private level.” Because, Reformation requires – in a pluralistic society, in the context of democracy – it requires the buy-in of the unchurched.

We are NOT going to take over. That is what the world is most afraid of. He stated that he is afraid of a church taking over that is a king, but is not a priest. He noted that his statement may shock people, but that he is grateful that we have not had more church leaders in politics, because he knows what they would have said. He has worked in nations at senior levels, with presidents, where presidents have set back the clock of the kingdom for a decade or more.

We are entering another ballgame. We can have revival doing what we are doing. We cannot have reformation doing what we have been doing.

Newspapers are the bait sheet of the fish. He exhorted us that if we can’t preach from newspapers, we will not be a voice in the reformation. (We need to be relevant to our generation, our culture.)

I Tim 3:16 – “We are the pillar and ground of truth.” The pillar and ground of spiritual truth? Yes. The pillar and ground of economic truth? Yes. The pillar and ground of epistemology (the science of how you learn)? Yes. The pillar and ground of environmental truth? Yes. There is nothing to imply that his verse applies only to the religious and spiritual activity of people. But, we have not been raised to believe beyond that.

The crisis we are in within the Church is that we have limited our understanding of truth to truth relative to religious activities. If we don’t get delivered from that and get a holistic, Christian worldview – which is comprehensive and includes all that man is and all that man does – we are not ready or prepared for reformation. Reformation is built on the assumption that God’s Church really is the pillar and ground of truth for nations, for all that man is and all that man does.

Rev 22: 1-2 – After the great white throne judgment, after all of sin has been judged and dealt with, we have an anomaly here.

“Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.”

Why would we engage in reformation if it is only a temporal thing, if heaven is going to be some ethereal thing where all we do is worship and float around on clouds, and none of the things that bring us life here will transfer there? The word of God says nations are an eternal, geo-political phenomenon. The nations exist eternally. Psalms 2:8 – “Ask of Me for nations as thy inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.” Nations are going to exist in heaven. Nations are going to exist on the new earth. We are going to remain an ethnic, geo-political people.

What was interesting to him in this passage is that after sin is dealt with, the nations still require healing. Why, when sin is gone, will the nations still require healing? In God, the process we engage changes us. Even if we don’t achieve everything we want to, the process will transform a church. [Here, he paused to let these statements penetrate those with ears to hear.]

The Great Commission: “Because the Father gave Me the nations, all authority in the heavenly realm and on the earth is given to me. Go, therefore...”

If the Master fought the enemy in the Word, we have no other choice. It was the Word and only the Word that was He used. We need to do the same. We have had too low of view of the enemy. Dennis gave him no praise, but noted that he is a master (he is very, very good) at what he does. The higher the level at which you play (engage the enemy) the deeper your visal roots must be in the Word of God.

We have “tip-toed through the daisies” in the Church. We have “cast out devils that are bothering us” in the Church. The seven mountains will not be taken by the seven dwarves! What part of that don’t we understand?! We will run into powers, principalities and forces that don’t even know our name. (As in, “Jesus I know. Paul is becoming known. But who the heck are you?”) [We need to gain the strength for our assignment – and not try to take on an assignment that is not ours.]

If we get into reformation, we are moving from sand lot, maybe high school, football into the NFL. Dennis was an all-star, high school football player. A funny thing happened when he got to college. Then he played against a couple of NFL players. They brought him to a new level of reality!

If we are going to engage in reformation, we are going against demonic principalities that play at a different level. We need to understand that. We are going to have to be r-o-o-t-e-d in the Scripture at a different level.

He has taught martial arts for almost 40 years, so he is a trained warrior. One of the things you have to know is where you can be hit and where you can’t be hit. If you get hit certain places, it’s game over – and you have to know that. We are going to have to become morally, sexually bullet-proof. If you think you can have a secret life and engage in reformation, do us all a favor and don’t go out to battle. [We do not need an Ai experience!] If you’ve got a problem with alcohol, you can’t play. If you’ve got a problem with pornography, you can’t play. If you’ve got something going on the side, you can’t play. If you’re cheating on your taxes, you can’t play. If you want to get into the reformation game where everybody’s “big” and everybody’s “tough,” then don’t even think about it. They will roll you up and take a bunch of us with you.

We have to get clear on who owns the earth. “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.” The Dominion Mandate – the world did it! We preached it (or at least we have lately); they did it. We are running into 400 years of secular momentum. It’s been that long since we had a kingdom-based church. The enemy forces are not going to simply give it back to us because we are coming in the name of Jesus. It is going to be disputed territory. We actually turned the world over to the devil and the antichrist (spirit) thinking we were doing God a favor. It would be different if we have fought inch by inch and were eventually pushed back. But, we gave it away because it was too much responsibility.

We need to assess reality before we start down this trail.

Who is lawfully given the stewardship of the earth? The Church.

We could go through Matthew 13 and talk about the wheat and the tares. Jesus says that the root structures of the wicked and the righteous are so intertwined that if He pulls out one it will kill the other. They have to be allowed to grow together until the time of harvest – until the kingdom of God has obtained full maturity and the kingdom of darkness has gained full maturity. They are co-existing for a witness.

Real players don’t ask the coach to take them out of the game. Real players would rather die than leave the field. The only reason you come out of the game is that your play is hurting your team.

Does the Word of God apply to all men or only the believers? Jesus said that “man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” Paul addressed it in 1 Timothy. God has one standard for the world – His Word. Every human being and every nation is judged and blessed according to the degree that they align themselves and their policies with the Word of God.

We are not very good at translating the Word of God into “fish” language, let alone applying it to any of the seven mountains. We are going to have to learn a whole level of communication that we haven’t learned. We are going to have to learn things like epistemology (how you learn). We’re going to have to learn how to say things without quoting Bible verses. The bird is not taken if the snare is seen (Proverbs).

We are going to have to become masters of jujitsu. Jujitsu takes the force that someone gives you and bends it where you want it to go. Jesus took the woman at the well for a ride. She wanted to talk religion; He wanted to talk reality. We are going to have to come to the place in our conversation skills that when we hear key words that unsaved people say to us, our internal conversation is, “Thank you, very much, I was hoping for that word, let me lead you …” [and lead the conversation to kingdom principles but in “fish” language]. Then, when they ask “How do you know all this stuff?” we can tell them. We need to be “ready to give an answer” when the question is asked.

Ecclesia was a political organization. An ecclesia was the town-governing body in the Greek city-states, starting about 600 BC. It eventually spread to the entire Mediterranean basin. In Acts 19, the riot at Ephesus was declared an illegal ecclesia. An ecclesia makes decrees in the spirit out of its lawful authority. The reformation is going to be fueled by another level of prophetic prayer than the one we are on right now. Dennis is working at his church to gather every “citizen” (every committed believer, everyone there by 1 Cor 12:8, placed there by the Holy Spirit, who know that is where they have been called to worship and be a part of government of God) and make decrees for where they have authority, which begins in our cities. If you want to change a nation, you do it one community at a time.

The church has to learn to speak the language of the fish. (Matt 4:19) We are going to have to go to the root issues. (Matt 3:10) When Jesus comes, He will not deal with symptoms. What we get on the news is just another report on the leaves and the twigs. We need to deal with the root structures.

You want to take seven mountains? You better get a deep shovel and a hard pick ax to start digging down in each one of those jurisdictions. What are the root issues that are driving that thing where it is? And what are we going to do to combat it? You can’t beat something with nothing.

“Until you can preach with as much authority out of the LA Times as you can out of the Bible, you should shut up.” We have to understand the Biblical roots of the fishing report. Our forefathers preached out of the newspapers. In the 1600-1700s the sermons were extrapolating Biblical principles into daily situations and issues of the nation -- and they were printed in the Monday paper, especially in New England. If you will go back and read some of these, you will realize how “dumbed-down” we are in the Church today [with respect to issues affecting our society].

The Kingdom of God has to have a three-pronged unity.

(1) The realm of spiritual authority in the supernatural. We are not going to have a reformation without signs, wonders and miracles. (The problem is that we [“us” and the signs and wonders camp] aren’t working together.)

(2) Methodology of God-centered discipleship. The biggest problem in the Church is that we are not making disciples. We are making believers. A believer is not a disciple. A disciple is a disciplined learner. We thought we got baptized in the Holy Ghost to have fun and speak in tongues. The Charismatic Renewal does not even qualify as a revival, historically. It did not even affect the whole Church, much less the culture. There has never been so much spiritual activity on the one hand and the surrounding culture moving in the opposite direction at the same time. We will not have a reformation without a small army of disciples. It is going to take disciplined learners.

If you think praying into those seven mountains by itself is going to “take” anything but energy, you are sadly mistaken. You will be dealing of the crème de la crème – the smartest people in the world at the top of those mountains. God is going to have to give us supernatural power and wisdom to seize what they have. Is it available? Yes. But, first the natural, then the spiritual. Until you have done your homework in the natural, do not expect God to give you supernatural wisdom.

Now that’s a hard word for God’s people to hear; but you said you wanted reformation. It is going to require hard work. The Holy Spirit anoints us to do hard work.

(3) Discipling nations. You have the realm of the supernatural. You have the methodology of producing disciples. And you have discipling nations. Go and do what? Make disciples of nations. That’s what reformation is …

Reformation is turning a nation into a discipling project. Do it in a way that first deals with their fears and objections about what we want. We not only don’t want to take over, we clearly understand we can’t take over. And even if we wanted to take over, God would not allow it. His preeminent principle in the New Testament is choice. Anybody (Church or not Church) who employs coercion fights against God. God always allows choice. “Whosoever will.”
Capitalism works because it is aligned with choice. Anything aligned with choice will work. Anything not aligned with choice, God, Himself, will resist, even if it is in His people. Jesus doesn’t take prisoners. We become prisoners of our own revelation. He will not break a bruised reed or quench smoldering wick.

If we are going to have reformation, we have to bring these three spheres of the kingdom together. The “supernatural folks” are going off in one direction. They will never see the kingdom in its fullness until we go in together with a full orb unity. We messed up discipleship when we tried it. We have to learn to do it right. We must join with the nation-changers. There’s not many of them yet, but the number is growing. We have to work together. If we are going to have the blessing of God, we need the supernatural dimension, we need the methodology of training disciples for the reformation, and we need the nation-changers – men and women called to change nations. Men and women that are called to write letters to the editors that are so powerful they begin to sway everyone that is reading them. They begin to ask, “Who are these people? Where are they getting this?”

Economics:

Economics is the engine of dominion. With the exception of living things, everything that exists is the product of economics. The world understands that; the Church doesn’t. (We call economics carnal!)

As an economist, he projected that we may have 3 to 4 years and limp our way out to some degree from where we are. The real slam will happen in 4 to 6 years when the demographics of the baby boomers hits retirement age. Then God is going to say to this nation, “you didn’t want to deal with abortion as a spiritual issue, now I’m going to serve it up to you economically, and I’ll get your attention. You took somewhere between 45 and 60 million wage earners out of the demographics and leverage of the retirement that you now want. You took hundreds of billions of dollars of tax revenue and you said, ‘hey, it’s a woman’s right to treat the baby just like the white slave owners treated the Negroes.’” He pointed out that we still have slavery “alive and well” in this nation. With noted sarcasm, he went on to say “This fetus is my property.” He concluded, “I thought we resolved that in Civil War that one human being couldn’t own another human being, but apparently this nation did not resolve that.”

Now we begin to understand that you can’t separate spirit from matter and you can’t separate morality and ethics from the ability to prosper. They are inextricably tied together. When you put all the debt and currency that is being monetized right now together … The biggest issue we have right now is for God to prepare us an ark for that day. He projected that when that day comes, we will not line up in bread lines like we did in the 30s, because we don’t have the same moral infrastructure that we did then. We need to get some very specific strategies on a local community level as to how we can become an ark for this world. We will have an opportunity to demonstrate how we really feel about the poor.

How far will we get into reformation before that time? He indicated that he didn’t know. The problem with the truth is that once you see it, you have nowhere else to go.

He then began to speak to Dutch Sheets. He indicated that he had been “scoping him out” to see if he was serious about this. Dennis is 66 and indicated that he didn’t have time “to waste bullets.” He then addressed the congregation and said, “this guy [Dutch] has got it. It wouldn’t matter if it didn’t work; he’s stuck. I heard his spirit.”

Then he asked how many of us were “stuck?” How many understood that God loves unsaved people? How many understood that God loves nations? That God wants the sun and the rain to fall on the just and the unjust alike? That God wants to raise up a witness of the kingdom of God in power and life – and then the end shall come? And if we don’t push the ball where it needs to go, we are trying to build our children and grandchildren to push it. And we are not demanding from Jesus the outcome, but rather asking for the privilege of putting our hands to the task.
It’s a great day to do business with God. It’s a great day to get rid of besetting sins. It’s a great day to get into a training routine with God.

What is your part of the fight? You need to know that so that you can bring your contribution to the war.

In closing, Dennis introduced Strategic Christian Services at http://discerningthetimes.com/. This is a site to analyze public policy from Biblical principles using secular language.

Dutch Sheets added that we cannot just waltz out there and take over. We have work to do. There’s a reason that the slogan says “Reformation in our lifetime.” We have a lot of work to do.

Report from USAA - Day 2, Session 4 - Mark Pfeifer

NOTE: These are my notes from the sessions. They are sometimes just bullet points or summary statements. If you want more information or clarification on something, please contact me.

According to Mark Pfeifer, the key to USAA is to be able to break things down geographically – not just within the nation, but within the states. The anointing of new wineskins is going to happen regionally. It’s not going to be about national leaders anymore. Many here [at the conference] who don’t have reserved seats [aren’t the guest speakers or state coordinators] are the ones that have remained faithful to God whom God has anointed and is about to raise up to take their territory. We need to define our call by our territory [the territory to which we are assigned].


The Need for A Territorial Vision

In Matt 16:18-19 we see that the Church belongs to Jesus and He is building it. The gates of hell will not prevail against the church He builds. He builds the church – and gives us the keys to the kingdom. We have it backwards. We work at building the church and expect Jesus to build the kingdom. We should be expanding the kingdom and letting Him build the church.

Authority without responsibility is dangerous. Responsibility without authority is frustrating. God is expanding our sphere [of authority & responsibility].

Mark illustrated his point using three concentric circles. Beginning in the inner circle and moving outward, we have 1) our sphere of authority, 2) our sphere of influence and 3) our sphere of concern. According to Mark, we should not worry about the things that concern us that we cannot do anything about. We should spend 90% of our time in our sphere of authority, 8-9% of our time in our sphere of influence, and only 1-2% of our time in areas that simply concern us but over which we have no control or influence. He said God is going to begin to give us responsibility over things that we previously could only influence. He is also going to give us influence over things where we previously only had concern. He is expanding our borders.

One of the biggest hindrances to the kingdom of God in this hour is pastors believing that they have been called by God to a local church when they have been called to a territory. In scripture, we have no example of someone being called to a local church – they were called to cities or regions.

The pastors / church leaders must begin to realize that they are there to equip the people to go out into the mountain to which they are called and take the kingdom there – instead of trying to figure out where they can be plugged in to help fulfill the pastor/apostle’s dream (within the ministry of that leader).

We need to realize that having “a Holy Ghost time” every Sunday morning does not translate into Transformation of a territory. [We can get “drunk in the Spirit” and laugh and roll around on the floor and all of that; but none of that will transform our territory – unless it somehow changes us to go and and take the kingdom of God to our world.]

We have churches full of fans rather than disciples. We cannot blame the sheep for that condition. The pastors have to return to preaching the real word of the Lord instead of something to bring people in. We need to focus on sending people out rather than luring them in. We need to replace Attendance boards [the boards we used to hang in the front of the church reporting the previous Sunday’s attendance numbers] with Sending boards [how many people are currently “sent out” to take the kingdom message to the world].

If we are going to take our territories, we need to learn to work with other churches. We need the Nazarene and the Methodists and the other churches to begin to get this. We will not take our territory without them. When we start trying to take a territory, we realize that we need other churches in that territory to work with. We need to value people for what they do for the territory.

The definition of success should no longer be “how many are you running [in your church]” but “what is the condition of your territory?” Has the crime rate dropped? Has the drug rate gone down? What are the measureable changes that you are seeing in society in your territory?

If we begin to adopt that mindset, here are a few changes in the way we would think:

• We would have to work together with other churches instead of keeping to ourselves.
• We would appreciate and cheer on other churches and pastors knowing that they have key people in their congregations who are needed to bring change into the territory.
• We would value people by what they add to the territory not just by what they do at church on Sundays.
• We would preach for commitment rather than convenience because we now that while convenience may attract a crowd, commitment changes a territory.
• We would raise the bar instead of lowering the bar because we know that true success is determined by the increase of the Kingdom of God in the territory not necessarily the increase of our attendance numbers.
• We would focus on sending people out rather than luring people in.
• We would cater to the Holy Spirit who empowers people to make a difference rather than catering to people who pad our stats.
• We would confront sin rather than tolerate it.
• We would become warfare oriented instead of entertainment oriented.
• We would fear God more than people.
• We would be men and women of God in the Kingdom instead of politicians in the church.
• We would win souls instead of stealing sheep.
• We would concern ourselves with kingdom issues instead of stylistic issues.

The main change in our understanding needs to be that we have not been called to a church, but to a territory.

Report from USAA - Day 2, Session 3 - Tim Sheets

NOTE: These are my notes from the sessions. They are sometimes just bullet points or summary statements. If you want more information or clarification on something, please contact me.

Tim Sheets started by saying that “Everyone has a God ordained purpose.” It is vitally important that we understand it. Myles Munroe says that “the greatest tragedy in life isn’t death; it’s life without purpose.”

Tim's message centered around the fact that instead of expecting everyone "who loves God" to leave the secular world and move to the "religion mountain," we (as 5-fold ministers) need to be helping them identify the purpose God has for them, for their life, and then equipping them to fulfill it.

Tim provided the following statistics:
- 65% of our grandparents’ generation were actively involved in the Church.
- 35% of our parents’ generation were actively involved in the Church.
- 15% of our generation are actively involved in the Church.
Unless something changes …
- 4% of the next generation will be actively involved in the Church.

Christians stayed on the Religion mountain preoccupied with Christ’s coming instead of occupying until He comes. … We need to think occupation instead of evacuation.

God wrote your thesis before you were ever born; He had intents and purposes for you being born when and where you were. He gave you everything you need to accomplish your destiny – gifts, talents, and abilities. He then wrote your calling on your thesis.

Calling: a divine invitation to vocation or employment AND a divine invitation to ministry or service to the Body of Christ.

Jesus was born in a marketplace house. God wanted Him to have a marketplace mindset. His parables were marketplace examples: master builder, winemaker, farming – sowing & reaping, finding treasures, ranching, management & labor, family business, hostile takeover, observation & research before starting a business, venture capital in high risk investments, etc. The gospel is designed to work in the marketplace culture.

We need to embed the next generation on each of the mountains – trained in the skills they need in the natural [for their calling or vocation] and in the ways of the kingdom to help take that mountain for God. Remember, the 6% “Ruling Elite” control the mountain and the other 94% on it [and all the others that are influenced or affected by it].

Strategy
Tim had been praying for a strategy for Ohio. What he feels God gave him is a plan for each local church to work to send (at least) one young champion into each of the mountains. The concept of being called in spheres other than the church needs to be taught. Callings need to be identified. Young people need to be groomed [educated and equipped] to go into the sphere in which God is calling them.

If each of the 50 states raised up “just” 50,000 over the next 10 years, that would be 2.5 million young warriors on the mountains. Tim’s ministry has developed curriculum at all levels, starting with preschool, to teach the concepts of taking the mountains to all ages. (These are available for purchase from his ministry.)

Report from USAA - Day 2, Session 2 - Len Munsil

NOTE: These are my notes from the speakers sessions. They are sometimes just bullet points or summary statements. If you want more information or clarification on something, please contact me.

Len Munsil (attorney & professor of political science) felt the bias against Christians in the public arena early. At 20, as the editor of the school paper at Arizona State University, he wrote an article about homosexuality and the need for help for homosexuals. He also refused to publish the meeting notices for the gay & lesbian groups in the paper. He had 100 people picketing outside his office, with full media coverage. He continued to promote a conservative view both in the paper and in the very liberal school of law at ASU. He was one of four professed Christians in his law class of around 450.

Len says America is collectively suffering from amnesia of our heritage. Pres. John Q. Adams said that the Revolution had combined the bonds of government and Christianity. That was the worldview of our forefathers. We have lost that view!

The structure of our government is found in scripture – Isa 33:22. There we have the Judge (judicial branch), Lawgiver (legislative branch), and King (executive branch).

Chief Justice Joseph Story (served 1811 – 1845) was considered the leading authority on constitutional law for over a century. Books he wrote were used to teach constitutional law until the mid-20th century. His view of “separation of church and state” was that “Christianity should receive encouragement from the states.” Now, the course on constitutional law in most law schools focuses on case studies rather than on the actual constitution. Many constitutional law classes never require the students to actually read the constitution itself – only the briefs of arguments about it.

According to Len, we need to get past the lie that “You can’t legislate morality.” The law sets the moral line for a society. The Civil Rights movement was ignited by a Christian pastor to change laws that perverted morality. [Things that had been considered “acceptable” by society no longer were. The law cannot change men’s hearts, but it can (to some extent) change their behavior. At a minimum, it establishes what is “acceptable” behavior within the society.] Bad policy hurts people – for example, policies that allow abortion, pornography, or slavery.

God’s Purpose for Government:
· Keep peace and order
· Provide police force & national security
· Protect of human life (widows, orphans, weak)
· Provide justice without regard to race, gender, or wealth
· Collect taxes to provide for these limited functions
NOT
· Take care of the poor
· Redistribution of wealth
· Provide for retirement
· Provide all health care
· … and lots of other things they now do.

Religious left has concern for the poor & social justice – which is our responsibility, not the government’s. Religious right only engaged out of frustration (and sometimes anger) and were too harsh. We must realize that our political opponents are not enemies to be vanquished. They are hurting people. We oppose their policies and beliefs – not them. We are inexperienced in the legislative process.

Our responsibility:
· Resurgence in governmental prayer
· Increasing pro-life sentiment
· Growing interest in government & law among young Christians
· Growth in Christian colleges and worldview institutions

Footnote:
What’s happening in Arizona (where Len is engaged with others bringing transformation to their state):
In Arizona, they did a 21-day fast. Out of that, they declared a solemn assembly for 9/11/02 at the state capitol. To their surprise, 1000 people showed up. Arizona was in draught. As they cried out for their state during the solemn assembly it began to rain. The draught was broken. It was a turning point in Arizona. For the first time, Arizona now has a prolife governor and a prolife legislature.

About the USAA Conference

I will continue to post my notes from the USAA conference, but it will take me a little while to get them all out there. :-) There was some excellent teaching. However, I wanted to go ahead a post my overall take on the conference in general.

The messages were all great and they covered a breadth of topics and perspectives. Remember that the slogan for USAA is "Awakening in Our Day - Reformation in Our Lifetime." Hence, there was emphasis on both. We have to have the awakening for people to understand the need for reformation (as well as the belief that it really could happen).

However, the thing that impacted me, personally, the most was not the messages from the "known" ministers that were there, but hearing from some of the younger generation and those who are ministering to the youth of today. The intensity of these young people astounded me. And their cry was so different from our past generations.

The thing that we heard repeatedly from those in their 20s and early 30s was "teach us the way ... point us in the right direction" but also "allow us to do our part." Dutch Sheets shared how Rick Pino (one of Dutch's spiritual sons and an awesome worship leader if you have not heard him) said to him one day, "Put me on your shoulders, so I can see where to run." Selah!

The cry of his heart being, "I value the foundation you have established. I want to build on that. I want you to speak into my life and make sure I'm heading in a right direction." But, also, "I want to run the race set before me - for my generation to do our part and build with you."

Dutch challenged him to write a song about that. Here are the words to chorus:

Put us on your shoulders
So we can see where to run
We need each other
To get the job done

One of these young lions who spoke titled his message "Synergy versus Succession." That was their cry. They are not looking for succession - passing of the baton (get out of our way and let us clean up the mess you've created) but rather synergy - let us grab hold of the baton and run with you so we can learn what you know and learn how to run well. There was a deep cry for true spiritual fathers (and mothers).

I am sitting here with tears streaming down my face as I once again feel the impact of their heart for the God, their willingness to submit to discipleship, and God's heart for them and pleasure with seeing the generations begin to work together. God is a God of generations - Abraham, Isaac & Jacob.

The question is, will we father (mother) them? As one speaker asked, are we willing to be "inconvenienced" and, "at times, almost annoyed" by them? Will we let them hang out at our house, ride in our car, just be with us whenever & whereever they want to? Will we answer the phone when they call - or txt - multiple times a day? Will we truly let them into our hearts - as though they really were our (natural) sons and daughters who are allowed to do those things?

Will we see Malachi 4:6?

"He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse."