Post by StationAdministration on Apr 9, 2006 14:24:47 GMT
Some people have said that this sermon is a clear indicator of the Latter Rain and Kingdom Now influences on the movement.
Jim Laffoon (with Rice Broocks)
“To Reach and To Rule”
Morning Star International/Every Nation Churches and Ministries
2004 World Conference: Every Leader – Every Church – Every Nation
July 15, 2004
Conference audio and video available for sale from http://www.everynation.org; www.everynationstore.com
Note: original recording is © Every Nation Productions, 2004. This is a transcription from the original recording.
[Recording begins at the end of the opening prayer.] Realizing it’s rotten because it’s overripe to be picked. Come now and help us, amen.
I want to share a word with you tonight which I’m going to entitle, “To Reach and To Rule.” Who will possess the nations of the earth? The issue facing us tonight is not, “Will the nations of the earth be possessed?” For possessed they will be. There is only one issue facing us tonight, is “Who will possess them?” Who will possess the nations of the earth? What entity, what ideology, what force will possess the nations of the earth in such a way that they become the inheritance they give to their children?
I want to divide this message into three very simple parts. I want to look for a moment at our place and time, at a very simple plan we find in the book of Psalms, then I’ll picture it. In Isaiah 62 it says the nations are going to see our light, the kings are going to see it. I’m convinced that God has bestowed a new name upon us. Every Nation. Every Nation Ministries and Churches. The issue of the hour is not, “Has God bestowed a new name on us?” The issue of the hour is, “Will we live up to that name?” In reality, what does it really mean? Every Nation what? What will we do in every nation of the earth? What will we settle for? What is it that God has called us together as a people for? It says in this passage in Isaiah that God bestows on them a new name and latent in this name is the promise of authority. There’ll be a crown of splendor. A scepter. Diadem. In the hands of God. But how does this happen? What is God after? What is on the heart of God? Look with me in Psalm chapter 2, as we come into the essence of what I hear the Lord saying. In Psalms 2 if you remember, later in Acts chapter 4, when the church is being persecuted, they’re trying to wipe them out as they’re spreading through Jerusalem, all of a sudden Peter stands up under the anointing, when they’re facing persecution, and uses this passage to illustrate God’s sovereign hand in the death of His son. God’s hand in what seemed like a dark moment. Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gathered together against the Lord and against His anointed one and says, let us break his values, let us shatter his standards, we will live any way we desire. We will have same sex marriage. We will cast prayer from our schools. We will rule this planet with ideologies that violate his very nature. This God is not going to chain us down. This God is not going to hold us down. And although it says these boasts are empty in this passage, when you look at our world you wonder, how empty they are. Much of our planet dwells in darkness. Ideologies hostile to God rule. Our campuses are places where faith and righteousness seem to be destroyed. Political systems, whether they be Communist, whatever they might be, seem to be anti-God in many places. Yet God says they’re vain. God says they’re empty. God says, “I have a plan to establish my power on this planet.” Peter stood under the anointing of the Spirit of God. He stood under the power of God, looking back at the crucifixion of Christ, seemingly the darkest moment of his life, Christ dead, disciples scattered. And he said, “even then God was at work with a plan.” Even in the thickest darkness, even when it seemed all was gone, even when it seemed all we hoped for and longed for was shattered, every dream we had was smashed, even then God’s mighty hand was moving, and it was only darkest at the dawn of a new era.
It goes on to say in this Psalm, “The one enthroned in heaven laughs.” I’m here to tell you today that God looks down from heaven, as much as He hates sin, He has a plan for the earth. He looks down at every movie mogul. He looks down at every empty educator. He looks down at EVERYONE stealing the values of our children, and says, “You’ve got to be kidding if you think you’ll thwart my plan on the earth. I have a plan you don’t understand! I have a plan for every campus! Every school! Every specter of society! Every region of the world! I have a plan! And though it’s so dark you cannot see it, my plan is going to win.”
He who sits enthroned in the heavens laughs, he scoffs at them, then he rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath with this saying. You see, the thing that terrifies the enemy tonight is not that God rules in heaven. He has conceded that. The thing that terrifies hell tonight, that terrifies the enemy tonight, is not the fact that God is on the throne in heaven. Because the thing I’m going to tell you tonight, that’s going to terrify the enemy is, “I have installed my king on Zion, and that I have a plan to rule the earth like I rule heaven. That I have a plan to come down into every area of society and establish my kingship! Establish my lordship!” The thing that terrifies the enemy is not some mass meeting with people crying, coming forward with no change in their life! The thing that terrifies the enemy is that there could be a place on this planet where the kingdom of God comes on the earth like it is in heaven. The thing that terrifies the enemy, that there could be a people, there could be a place where God’s rule is expressed on the earth. He goes on to say, now watch this, because I’m building here, “When I’ve installed my king on Zion, when I have done that, then you can ask of me. When this begins to happen, when I’ve installed my king, then you can ask me and I’ll make the nations your inheritance.” When you begin to experience this kind of rule, the thing you’ll give your children is the opportunity to have nations. When I’ve installed my king – and this is not some one thousand year reign promise, I don’t know what your millennial view is, it doesn’t matter – I’m not waiting for some millennial though, I believe one in my own theology, I believe NOW we can experience some of this.
“When I’ve installed my king, ask of me, I’ll give you nations, not only that, I’ll make the ends of the earth your possession. You will rule them with an iron scepter. Because if you ask of me, not only will I give you nations, I’ll begin to give you real rule and real authority.” I’m utterly convinced, as I stand here tonight, that God has raised up this family in the earth to reach “every nation in our generation.” But the ultimate purpose of God is not for us to reach every nation, it is to raise up a generation long after my generation is gone who because they have reached nations can begin to rule nations! [audience cheers] Have you ever wondered why the church has spent two thousand years reaching the same nations OVER and OVER and OVER again? It’s because we’ve only set a goal of reaching them and not understanding what it is to rule them, and one generation reaches them, and never transfers the burden of rule to the next generation, and we reached them over and over and over in a cycle! I’m here to tell you, the generation of Phil [Bonasso] and Rice and Steve [Murrell], our generation, will plant a church capable of reaching that nation, in every nation, but your generation, twenty-five and under, thirty and under, God wants to install something, God wants to do something, where we not only begin to reach nations, we literally begin to possess them.
Now, it’s interesting, as you look at this passage, we know from the book of Acts that David wrote this psalm. Peter says, “from the mouth of your servant, David.” And everything in this passage is dependent on verse 6. What does this verse 6 mean? God is saying, listen, your plans aren’t going to come forth, in fact, I am going to install my king on Zion. And when I do, then you’ll begin to reel. Then you’ll begin to rule. In order to understand this psalm, we’ll turn there together, you have to turn to the book of 2 Samuel, chapter 5. For this is not merely a prophetic psalm, this is a real event in the life of David. And in 2 Samuel 5 beginning in verse 6, we find a powerful story with a parallel in our own generation. Four hundred years before David they had conquered almost all of the Promised Land. But the most strategic hill in the Promised Land was Zion. And that hill was called, “The fortress of Zion.” For four hundred years it had resisted conquest. It seemingly was impregnable. And the Jebuzites owned it, and as long as they had that strategic place in the Promised Land, they could control much of what happened. For four hundred years, it had resisted God’s people. No one could take it. No one could affect it. They had the rest of the land, but one strategic strongpoint was binding them. In fact, as you look at this passage in 2 Samuel, the inhabitants of this city had been there so long that they had a statement, they said this, “Even blind men and lame men can defend this city.” And when David became king, he knew that even though he had the hearts of millions, he knew that even though he had a lot of territory, if he did not break this strategic strongpoint, the nation would never really be his. And he came up and began to besiege this stronghold. And they looked down from the walls and laughed and said, “You may have all the people, you may have all the land, but you’ll never get this. We could be blind and lame but it’s impossible for you to get it.”
David said this: “The only way into this stronghold is through the sewer. Is through the waterworks. There has got to be some man, some group, some where, so well trained, so well disciplined, so under authority, that they can swim up through the sewer, without being defiled, without being contaminated, they can come up in the waterworks and open the gates to let the rest of us in!”
Jim Laffoon (with Rice Broocks)
“To Reach and To Rule”
Morning Star International/Every Nation Churches and Ministries
2004 World Conference: Every Leader – Every Church – Every Nation
July 15, 2004
Conference audio and video available for sale from http://www.everynation.org; www.everynationstore.com
Note: original recording is © Every Nation Productions, 2004. This is a transcription from the original recording.
[Recording begins at the end of the opening prayer.] Realizing it’s rotten because it’s overripe to be picked. Come now and help us, amen.
I want to share a word with you tonight which I’m going to entitle, “To Reach and To Rule.” Who will possess the nations of the earth? The issue facing us tonight is not, “Will the nations of the earth be possessed?” For possessed they will be. There is only one issue facing us tonight, is “Who will possess them?” Who will possess the nations of the earth? What entity, what ideology, what force will possess the nations of the earth in such a way that they become the inheritance they give to their children?
I want to divide this message into three very simple parts. I want to look for a moment at our place and time, at a very simple plan we find in the book of Psalms, then I’ll picture it. In Isaiah 62 it says the nations are going to see our light, the kings are going to see it. I’m convinced that God has bestowed a new name upon us. Every Nation. Every Nation Ministries and Churches. The issue of the hour is not, “Has God bestowed a new name on us?” The issue of the hour is, “Will we live up to that name?” In reality, what does it really mean? Every Nation what? What will we do in every nation of the earth? What will we settle for? What is it that God has called us together as a people for? It says in this passage in Isaiah that God bestows on them a new name and latent in this name is the promise of authority. There’ll be a crown of splendor. A scepter. Diadem. In the hands of God. But how does this happen? What is God after? What is on the heart of God? Look with me in Psalm chapter 2, as we come into the essence of what I hear the Lord saying. In Psalms 2 if you remember, later in Acts chapter 4, when the church is being persecuted, they’re trying to wipe them out as they’re spreading through Jerusalem, all of a sudden Peter stands up under the anointing, when they’re facing persecution, and uses this passage to illustrate God’s sovereign hand in the death of His son. God’s hand in what seemed like a dark moment. Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gathered together against the Lord and against His anointed one and says, let us break his values, let us shatter his standards, we will live any way we desire. We will have same sex marriage. We will cast prayer from our schools. We will rule this planet with ideologies that violate his very nature. This God is not going to chain us down. This God is not going to hold us down. And although it says these boasts are empty in this passage, when you look at our world you wonder, how empty they are. Much of our planet dwells in darkness. Ideologies hostile to God rule. Our campuses are places where faith and righteousness seem to be destroyed. Political systems, whether they be Communist, whatever they might be, seem to be anti-God in many places. Yet God says they’re vain. God says they’re empty. God says, “I have a plan to establish my power on this planet.” Peter stood under the anointing of the Spirit of God. He stood under the power of God, looking back at the crucifixion of Christ, seemingly the darkest moment of his life, Christ dead, disciples scattered. And he said, “even then God was at work with a plan.” Even in the thickest darkness, even when it seemed all was gone, even when it seemed all we hoped for and longed for was shattered, every dream we had was smashed, even then God’s mighty hand was moving, and it was only darkest at the dawn of a new era.
It goes on to say in this Psalm, “The one enthroned in heaven laughs.” I’m here to tell you today that God looks down from heaven, as much as He hates sin, He has a plan for the earth. He looks down at every movie mogul. He looks down at every empty educator. He looks down at EVERYONE stealing the values of our children, and says, “You’ve got to be kidding if you think you’ll thwart my plan on the earth. I have a plan you don’t understand! I have a plan for every campus! Every school! Every specter of society! Every region of the world! I have a plan! And though it’s so dark you cannot see it, my plan is going to win.”
He who sits enthroned in the heavens laughs, he scoffs at them, then he rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath with this saying. You see, the thing that terrifies the enemy tonight is not that God rules in heaven. He has conceded that. The thing that terrifies hell tonight, that terrifies the enemy tonight, is not the fact that God is on the throne in heaven. Because the thing I’m going to tell you tonight, that’s going to terrify the enemy is, “I have installed my king on Zion, and that I have a plan to rule the earth like I rule heaven. That I have a plan to come down into every area of society and establish my kingship! Establish my lordship!” The thing that terrifies the enemy is not some mass meeting with people crying, coming forward with no change in their life! The thing that terrifies the enemy is that there could be a place on this planet where the kingdom of God comes on the earth like it is in heaven. The thing that terrifies the enemy, that there could be a people, there could be a place where God’s rule is expressed on the earth. He goes on to say, now watch this, because I’m building here, “When I’ve installed my king on Zion, when I have done that, then you can ask of me. When this begins to happen, when I’ve installed my king, then you can ask me and I’ll make the nations your inheritance.” When you begin to experience this kind of rule, the thing you’ll give your children is the opportunity to have nations. When I’ve installed my king – and this is not some one thousand year reign promise, I don’t know what your millennial view is, it doesn’t matter – I’m not waiting for some millennial though, I believe one in my own theology, I believe NOW we can experience some of this.
“When I’ve installed my king, ask of me, I’ll give you nations, not only that, I’ll make the ends of the earth your possession. You will rule them with an iron scepter. Because if you ask of me, not only will I give you nations, I’ll begin to give you real rule and real authority.” I’m utterly convinced, as I stand here tonight, that God has raised up this family in the earth to reach “every nation in our generation.” But the ultimate purpose of God is not for us to reach every nation, it is to raise up a generation long after my generation is gone who because they have reached nations can begin to rule nations! [audience cheers] Have you ever wondered why the church has spent two thousand years reaching the same nations OVER and OVER and OVER again? It’s because we’ve only set a goal of reaching them and not understanding what it is to rule them, and one generation reaches them, and never transfers the burden of rule to the next generation, and we reached them over and over and over in a cycle! I’m here to tell you, the generation of Phil [Bonasso] and Rice and Steve [Murrell], our generation, will plant a church capable of reaching that nation, in every nation, but your generation, twenty-five and under, thirty and under, God wants to install something, God wants to do something, where we not only begin to reach nations, we literally begin to possess them.
Now, it’s interesting, as you look at this passage, we know from the book of Acts that David wrote this psalm. Peter says, “from the mouth of your servant, David.” And everything in this passage is dependent on verse 6. What does this verse 6 mean? God is saying, listen, your plans aren’t going to come forth, in fact, I am going to install my king on Zion. And when I do, then you’ll begin to reel. Then you’ll begin to rule. In order to understand this psalm, we’ll turn there together, you have to turn to the book of 2 Samuel, chapter 5. For this is not merely a prophetic psalm, this is a real event in the life of David. And in 2 Samuel 5 beginning in verse 6, we find a powerful story with a parallel in our own generation. Four hundred years before David they had conquered almost all of the Promised Land. But the most strategic hill in the Promised Land was Zion. And that hill was called, “The fortress of Zion.” For four hundred years it had resisted conquest. It seemingly was impregnable. And the Jebuzites owned it, and as long as they had that strategic place in the Promised Land, they could control much of what happened. For four hundred years, it had resisted God’s people. No one could take it. No one could affect it. They had the rest of the land, but one strategic strongpoint was binding them. In fact, as you look at this passage in 2 Samuel, the inhabitants of this city had been there so long that they had a statement, they said this, “Even blind men and lame men can defend this city.” And when David became king, he knew that even though he had the hearts of millions, he knew that even though he had a lot of territory, if he did not break this strategic strongpoint, the nation would never really be his. And he came up and began to besiege this stronghold. And they looked down from the walls and laughed and said, “You may have all the people, you may have all the land, but you’ll never get this. We could be blind and lame but it’s impossible for you to get it.”
David said this: “The only way into this stronghold is through the sewer. Is through the waterworks. There has got to be some man, some group, some where, so well trained, so well disciplined, so under authority, that they can swim up through the sewer, without being defiled, without being contaminated, they can come up in the waterworks and open the gates to let the rest of us in!”