Taking The Land
2/19/06
These days we are living in
are challenging, yet filled with tremendous opportunities!
I agree with Bill Hybels
pastor of Willow Creek Community Church--“the church has an utterly unique
mission to fulfill on planet Earth, and that the future of our society depends,
largely, on whether or not church leaders understand that mission and mobilize
their congregations accordingly.”
I believe that the local
church is the hope of the world.
No other organization on
earth is like the church. Nothing even comes close.
Mat. 16:13 When Jesus came to
the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the
Son of Man is?”
14They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say
Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
15“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
16Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of
the living God.”
17Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah,
for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. 18And
I
tell you that you are Peter,
and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not
overcome it. 19I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever
you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will
be loosed in heaven.”
(Message Bible) When Jesus
arrived in the villages of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “What are
people saying about who the Son of Man is?”
They replied, “Some think he
is John the Baptizer, some say Elijah, some Jeremiah or one of the other
prophets.”
He pressed them, “And how
about you? Who do you say I am?”
Simon Peter said, “You’re the
Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus came back, “God bless
you, Simon, son of Jonah! You didn’t get that answer out of books or from
teachers. My Father in heaven, God himself, let you in on this secret of who I
really am. And now I’m going to tell you who you are, really are. You are Peter,
a rock. This is the rock on which I will put together my church, a church so
expansive with energy that not even the gates of hell will be able to keep it
out.
“And that’s not all. You will
have complete and free access to God’s kingdom, keys to open any and every
door: no more barriers between heaven and earth, earth and heaven. A yes on
earth is yes in heaven. A no on earth is no in heaven.”
Eph. 3:7 I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s
grace given me through the working of his power. 8Although I am less than the least of all God’s people, this
grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of
Christ, 9and to make plain to
everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept
hidden in God, who created all things. 10His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold
wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the
heavenly realms, 11according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in
Christ Jesus our Lord. 12In him and
through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.
Take the Land!
Gen 15:7 He also said to
him, "I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give
you this land to take possession of it."
Deut 1:8 See, I have
given you this land. Go in and take possession of the land that the LORD swore
he would give to your fathers—to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—and to their
descendants after them."
Jos 18:3 So Joshua said
to the Israelites: "How long will you wait before you begin to take
possession of the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, has given you?
Satan always has a
counterfeit of the real thing.
More than 1,000 Muslims
gathered yesterday for a rally and prayer session across the street from the
Danish Consulate in Manhattan, protesting cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad that
have set off a series of violent demonstrations around the world since their
first publication in Denmark.
Newspapers across Europe have
reprinted cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad to show support for a Danish paper
whose cartoons have sparked Muslim outrage.
Seven publications in France,
Germany, the Netherlands, Italy and Spain all carried some of the drawings.
The cartoons include drawings
of Muhammad wearing a headdress shaped like a bomb, while another shows him
saying that paradise was running short of virgins for suicide bombers.
Satan wants to put in the
minds of people that Christians are the same way!
Coming up in our March issue
of our church newsletter will be an article written by Michael Medved, which I
think you will really appreciate.
I’m going to use part of it
here.
Let’s contrast the behavior
of the Muslims to that of genuine Christians.
On the morning of August 11,
1988, more than 25,000 people gathered at Universal City, California, in the
largest protest ever mounted against the release of a motion picture.
The huge crowd assembled from
every direction, filling all streets and sidewalks surrounding the legendary
"Black Tower" that housed the corporate command center of the vast
conglomerate, MCA/Universal. The demonstrators carried hand-lettered signs
proclaiming "Please Show Respect for My God," "The Lie Costs
$6.50; the Truth Is Free," and "Father, Forgive Them."
An acquaintance who worked at
Universal at the time recalled the nervousness that prevailed throughout the
day inside the company's main office building. "That was one time it was
really scary to be in the Black Tower," she said. "There were just so
many of them! When you looked down, fifteen stories down, they were everywhere.
The crowd seemed to go on for miles. We felt like we were trapped. A guy down
the hall said it was like the Russian Revolution, and we were in the Winter
Palace. My boss kept expecting them to charge—to break down the doors and to
trash the building. He thought they were going to try and kill people. We had
extra security all day because everybody was expecting a fight."
The huge crowd failed to live
up to these dramatic expectations; despite the feelings of hurt and rage that
many of the demonstrators expressed to members of the press, the police reported
no incidents of either violence or vandalism. The protesters assembled in order
to show their passionate opposition to the next day's scheduled release of
Martin Scorsese's "The Last Temptation of Christ," not to
exact vengeance from the studio that produced it. They sang a few hymns,
cheered for more than a dozen occasionally emotional speakers, and then
peaceably dispersed. By midafternoon the terrified honchos in the Black Tower
breathed a collective sigh of relief and returned to their business—without
making any serious attempt to come to terms with the significance of what had
just occurred outside their windows.
To take the land means to
fill the land with righteous influence!
Henry Blackaby writes in his
book “Spiritual Leadership” “The Israelites clamored for a leader who would
lead them by worldly principles. God gave them one, and the results were
disastrous. What went wrong? The problem was the Israelite’s assumption that
spiritual concerns, such as righteous living and obedience to God, belonged in
the religious realm while the practical issues of doing battle with enemies,
strengthening the economy, and unifying the country were secular matters. They
forgot that God himself had won their military victories, brought them prosperity,
and created their nation. He was as active on the battlefield as he was in the
worship service. When the Israelites
separated spiritual concerns from political and economic issues, their nation
was brought to its knees. Scripture indicates that it is a mistake to separate
the spiritual world from the secular world.
Our forefathers were not
religious nuts! They made decisions
based on God’s principles.
I mentioned earlier that
Satan always has a counterfeit....
At least five Midwestern
states are considering legislation to ban protests at funerals in response to
demonstrations by the Rev. Fred Phelps and members of his Topeka, Kan.-based
Westboro Baptist Church, who have been protesting at funerals of Iraq war
casualties because they say the deaths are God's punishment for U.S. tolerance
toward gays.
Though the soldiers were not
gay, the protesters say the deaths, as well as Hurricane Katrina, recent mining
disasters and other tragedies are God's signs of displeasure. They also
protested at the memorial service for the 12 West Virginia miners who died in
the Sago Mine.
When people like this stand
up and speak, the true people of God want to go hide! And that’s the last thing we should do! Oswald Chambers addresses the issue of doing nothing.........
Oswald Chambers “When it
comes to taking the initiative, we have to take the first step as though there
were no God. There is no point in waiting for God to help us—He will not. But
once we arise, immediately we find He is there. Whenever God gives us His
inspiration, suddenly taking the initiative becomes a moral issue—a matter of
obedience. Then we must act to be obedient and not continue to lie down doing
nothing.”
As someone in my office said
this week "I believe in separation of church and state – the state needs
to stay out of the church but not the church out of the state."
The Illinois Federation For
Right To Life has written the following........
“Only two viable candidates
for Governor in the Illinois Primary hold a strong position on the government's
role in protecting and advancing the cause of life in Illinois. Both Bill Brady
and Jim Oberweis. The remaining
candidates for Governor are not pro-life.”
On the Democratic side,
neither Governor Rod Blagojevich nor his opponent Edwin Eisendrath supports the
cause of life. Rod Blagojevich is
the most pro-abortion governor the state has ever had, constantly advancing the
agenda of Planned Parenthood, NARAL, and NOW.
Bill Brady (R)
State Senator, Developer, GOP Activist
Ron Gidwitz (R)
Businessman, Philanthropist, Ex-State Board of Education Chair
Andy Martin (R)
Legal Activist, Frequent Candidate
Jim Oberweis (R)
Securities Firm Exec., Dairy Company Owner, '02/'04 US Senate
Candidate
Judy Baar Topinka (R)
State Treasurer, Ex-State Senator, Ex-State Rep.,Ex-State GOP Chair
Here is something else we ask
you to please do...
If you are online, contact
afa.net “American Family Association” and start receiving their action alerts.
The Senate is going to vote
on Homosexual Marriage Ban in early June. They were going to vote on this in early
March but it has been postponed.
March 25, our next trip to
the abortion clinic in Granite City--please join us!