Grace and Christian Values

We have been talking about restoration. By that I mean restoration to God's agenda, which is your destiny. Unfortunately a lot of churches miss this. They get so caught up in the healing and restoration process that they make the process of healing the "goal." But that is not the real goal, that is just a means to the real goal, which is doing what God created you to do.

Many churches simply want to help people get their heads above water, to keep them from drowning. They want to help people survive until tomorrow, to get through the week. And so, a lot of our recovery, healing, inner healing, and all the stuff that we do is to simply give people enough to survive so that they can get to square one.

But, there is life beyond recovery -- there is a destiny. God just doesn't get you to square one so you can keep your head above water, so you can now just wade. He wants you to swim; He wants you to fly. God wants to bring you to new heights.

God has been working in my own church through a process, step by step. We had managed to get ourselves into a real mess where we could not agree on anything, could not get along with each other, and needed to go through an arbitration process. As God began to turn us inward, began to turn us outward, began to bring ministries of healing, God began to add to us what we needed -- step by step -- in order to launch a revolution. He is creating a people who simply will invade the different arenas in which God has called them to invade.

Let me tell you what God is doing today in our church and in many others. There is a shift that is going on in the church and there is a reformation that is in process today. It is a reformation by which the church suddenly begins to think in terms of countries, not just a local church. We begin to think in terms of nations and people groups. You can see that there are now certain countries that have been turned back to the kingdom of God.

Have you seen the Transformation videos? They were very popular in the churches a couple of years ago. The second film in the series documented what God did in the country of Uganda. That was not an accidental thing. That was an intentional thing. It all began when the president was talking about the AIDS epidemic, because thirty per cent of the country had AIDS. Many of the women had AIDS. It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that after a few years, you're not going to have any children. You are going to become a weak nation and all the other stronger nations around you are going to invade you, take you over.

They come out of this whole process with Idi Amin, a process that is anti- God and anti-church. Islam was coming into the country because the previous leader basically had turned it over to Islam. The new president spoke to the church saying, "Now what are you going to do with this? What can you do?" They said "Well, we're going to help you. We are going to bring godly principles into the nation, like get married, be faithful, abstain from sex until you do get married." In a matter of four to five years they had reduced that rate down from thirty percent to five percent.

All of a sudden the president of that country, because of what he did that time, by taking the staff and saying, "I break the oath of these predecessors who had given it to Islam and I give it to Jesus Christ and to Christianity," (the video actually showed the president making that declaration), the AIDS crisis was actually turned around.

The church in that country had previously given up and the enemy moved in and took over the territory. But when the church invaded the enemy's stronghold and took back the territory, things changed. That is what God wants His church to be doing today. He wants us to penetrate the different systems that we'd previously abandoned to the devil. These systems have become corrupted, but we can change them by penetration. That means takeover.

Let me give you a statistic for the USA. Out of the first 180-200 schools that were established in this country, 90% of them were formed for the purpose of biblical instruction -- e.g., they were formed to train pastors.

The first president of Princeton (Princeton and Harvard are probably the peak academically now in our country) was Jonathon Edwards. Do you know who Jonathon Edwards was? He was a revivalist. Princeton and Harvard were initially set up to train revivalists. They were set up to train and release evangelists. Then there came a period of time when liberalism began to creep into them. Intsead of raising up a standard and kicking these out, we became appalled and upset and abandoned them. We turned them over and started something new.

Anytime the church vacates what is rightfully hers, the enemy comes there and takes it. Look at all the different systems that basically control our world and mold the minds of people: government, media, education. God wants them for His kingdom and to promote His values. These systems shape and mold and determine our nation's values, and God wants them back. That is why you will find Christians who are starting to move in and penetrate them and take them back for the kingdom.

Many Christians do not understand their Christian heritage and foundation of their nation. Since I am from the USA, I am going to talk a little about my nation's Christian heritage. Most American believers today don't even know that they have this heritage, but their nation does have a Christian foundation. The Capitol building has paintings in it depicting scenes of things that God did. There are Bible scenes in these paintings, and some of them have the cross in them. You find prayer. You find statues of pastors right there in the capitol building, there on the rotunda. You go through the hallways and you've got an evangelist right there. (Some of the presidents were evangelists.) The Supreme Court has the Ten Commandments on the outside and inside of the building. They are written on the outside. On the inside, those are Roman numerals are not the Bill of Rights; they are Roman numerals speaking of the Ten Commandments.

You know what has happened with that heritage in the United States? Christianity has abdicated; we've given it away. God is now calling us to penetrate these systems and to take them back for His kingdom.

That is why God is sending Christians who have a passion for the kingdom to the business world. That is why He's sending them into public office. That is why He's sending them into the media. He is doing so as to gain favor in those areas. He wants these territories back -- anywhere that Christianity has given it up, the enemy has taken it, controlled it, set up their own order of high priests. This happened simply because the church just let it go.

When we talk about destiny, we are talking dreaming big. We are not just talking about "what can we do to build a house?" We are talking about how to penetrate a world. How can we change a nation? How can we change a city? How can we change a state? There are certain countries where Christians took over and righteousness rules the land. Do you think that is God's intention? I think so. God is doing this all over the world. He is doing something in Almolonga, Central America. Something is going on today in Fiji. There is something going on in Argentina. We are talking nations here.

We need to think big, to think outside the box. When we talk about destiny, we say, destiny is not just dreaming up my biggest dream from God but it is finding God's dream for me. It will be something that you discover. It will fit how God made you, how God shaped you. It will be unique. It will be your unique, ultimate contribution that you have for the overall plan of God. However, I will tell you this. It will be much bigger than you think. It will engage all your passions. It will intersect every area of your life. It will come out of the values that God has put in you.

As you experience life's ups and downs, know that God is building Himself into your life. He is building character and He is building stability. He is instilling values in you. Those values are going to sustain you as begin to walk into some areas of your destiny. God has called you to penetrate the realms that you are involved in, whether in your neighborhood, your school, your business, whatever realms or spheres of influence. God may even move you to the next level because as you are faithful in that little bit there, God will move then you to the next. It is simply about invading; it is about advancing the kingdom of God.

There is purpose in the restoration of people's lives, because those lives are being restored so they can fulfill their destinies. God has a purpose and an objective in each destiny, and that objective is to advance His kingdom.

God is raising up a set of mighty warriors to do so. He has given us a heartbeat to take territory in the spirit and to take it in the natural. We are not going to just stand by when God gives a word. When the enemy steals it and it does not look like it's coming to pass, you don't sit back and say "Okay, maybe it's not supposed to be." No! say, "I got a word from the Lord, and I'm going to hang on to this thing, and I'm going to push ahead regardless of what it takes. I'm going to push, push, push because God gave me the word of the Lord. Even though I don't see it and even though it doesn't look like it's going to happen, I'm going to go ahead, and push ahead, and push ahead because God gave me the word. I'm going to act upon the word that God gave me, not by what I see in the circumstances around me. I'm just going on and I'm going to push and push and push."

God is calling all of you to be part of the army. If you belong to Him, then He has already drafted you into His army.

Now remember the process. The first thing you have to embrace is that God does have a plan. God does have a purpose for your life. He does have a destiny set out before you, and he will hold you accountable for that. But, what does it take to get you restored to do that? There is life after restoration. There is life after recovery. There is a destiny to be fulfilled. You need to begin thinking in terms of that, not just getting your head above water, not just surviving the next day.

For some of you, I know that surviving is where you're at. Some of you cannot even think about that, because it's like "I'm too overwhelmed with the day. I can't even think about that." That is okay because that's where you are. I understand that. But, I want to speak into your spirit to say that there is more. I want that to rise up in your spirit, that even though on the outside, you say, "Ah, I just want to make it through today." God wants to speak into your heart, "There's more. There is more. There's more!"