Give Me This Mountain

Josh 14:12  Now therefore, give me this mountain.

It is crucial to discern the mountains upon which we live and work; only then can we develop a strategy to take those mountains. Eg: You may be a stay at home mother who is also a School governor and part of a Local Church. Here we have 3 mountains: 1) The Family Mountain   2) The Education Mountain   3) The Religious Mountain.

Let’s look at the Family Mountain. This includes your family and neighbourhood. Today many Christians do not know the name of the family next door. Here is a good place to start; asking God to give you opportunities to connect with them.

Our strategy is 3 fold: 1) Pray for them   2) Develop relationships with them   3) Live a Kingdom life amongst them; this includes sharing a non-religious Gospel. Society has rejected Christianity because of political correctness and a religious Christianity that does not ring true. So let’s adopt the mantra of Scripture Prov 11:30  The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, And he who wins souls is wise.  (NKJV)

This scripture teaches that if we live righteously we’ll produce fruit on our tree that unbelievers find attractive and want to eat. It teaches also to be wise in the methods we use to share the Gospel. Assailing our next door neighbour with the Gospel at every opportunity is not being wise in the head; they will be repelled at such behaviour and label us wacky and avoid our company.

The wise approach is to ask the Holy Spirit to teach us the right way and time, not to preach but to share the Gospel (void of judgement and punishment) of the grace and love of God. People are desperate for hope and peace of mind. They are looking for integrity and authenticity not by doing everything correctly but by being real. They need what we have to give.

Meditation point: “Father, teach me how to live out a non-religious Kingdom lifestyle”.

Offended by Chris

John 3:16-17 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. (NIV)

When we speak about taking the Gospel of the Kingdom of God to the 7M’s – Gospel is what it should be; Gospel means good news,  the good news of God’s love and forgiveness of sins. 2 Cor 5:19 God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. I say this because the Church many times has not taken the love of God to the nations, it’s taken the judgement of God to the nations.

We do not live in a dispensation of judgement but in the dispensation of grace. The last 2000 yrs have been the dispensation of grace. Why is this? It’s because God took out the judgement against sin upon His Son Jesus Christ on the cross  and that judgement was for all sin past, present and future. This now releases the Church to proclaim the good news of God’s love. Instead we have mixed judgement with grace; we tell people they are going to hell if they don’t repent, when there is a national disaster such as the bombing of the twin towers or hurricane Katrina, Christian leaders proclaim that God is visiting America with His judgement because the nation has turned away from God.

We now have a God who gets angry if we don’t do as He says, a God who is stern and rigid, a God who invokes fear and  a God that turns people away from the Gospel. We cannot proclaim a God who loves with one hand and a God who judges with the other hand. It confuses the message. Yes – there is a hell to shun but it’s the love of God that attracts and wins people’s hearts.

Let’s determine we are going to invade our mountains with God’s love and grace because our Gospel is a Gospel of good news.

Meditation point: Do I live the Gospel of good news or am I only preaching a Gospel of good news which is empty of grace and love.

The Local Church

Matt 16:18-19 I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church and I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of heaven. (NIV)
Here we see Jesus connecting the Church and the Kingdom together. The connection is there because the Church is the agent for the release of the Kingdom. Therefore if the Kingdom is to cover the earth it can only be achieved if we have strong Local Churches.

The model of the Local Church has become so weakened that many Christians only view it as a place to attend. They don’t understand that God has placed there His authority, truth and protection, therefore if we are going to take our mountains we need the support of the Local Church.

Satan will seek to knock us off our mountain; he knows that once we establish a Kingdom bulkhead, his influence will wain, therefore he attacks with pressure, difficulties and problems to either curtail our effectiveness or force us to give up.

Step forward the Local Church : It’s here where we’ll find accountable relationships, prayer support, teaching, faith and vision. Without such support our Kingdom rule and reign will lack penetration and influence but with it there is nothing we cannot conquer. Each Christian has been innately equipped by God to be a champion who can fight and win; the Local Church will empower us to be such a champion.

Meditation point: Do I have accountable relationships in my Local Church?

The Holiness movement of the 19th Cent was a genuine movement of God but their teaching on holiness of life and witness tended to an extreme separation from the world; thus when we align this teaching with the 7MM we see the Church on the Religion mountain slowly withdraw and isolate itself from the remaining 6 mountains; and we have left unbelievers to shape and influence culture and society.

We can also add to this the end times teaching that Jesus 2nd return is almost upon us to catch us up out of a world in chaos hence there’s no need to change culture or society. We’ve taken the Kingdom as far as we can therefore we’ll leave the world behind to get on with it’s business.

Jesus did not tell us to cut ourselves off from the world neither did He tell us to sit around doing nothing until He comes. No. He thrust His disciples into the world. Matt 28:19-20 Therefore GO and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. (NIV)

Making disciples of all nations is to live out the life of Christ in word and deed. Therefore our lifestyle is creating an atmosphere that changes our surroundings making them conducive to people accepting the message of Christ. Our mandate is to invade the mountains not withdraw from them. To take the transforming power of God’s Kingdom to people who are lost without God.

Meditation point: Have I withdrawn myself from society for the sake of an easy life?

The Temptation of Christ

Matt 4:8-9 The Devil took him on the peak of a huge mountain. He gestured expansively, pointing out all the earth’s kingdoms, how glorious they all were.  Then he said, “They’re yours — lock, stock, and barrel. Just go down on your knees and worship me, and they’re yours.”  (TMB)

In this story the devil doesn’t say,”If you worship me I’ll give you reign over the earth’s Kingdom” (singular). He says,”If you worship me I’ll give you reign over the earth’s kingdoms” (plural). Kingdoms in scripture are symbolised as mountains, therefore we can apply the 7MM to this story. The 7 mountains of Family, Religion, Education, Media, Government/Politics, Performing Arts/Entertainment/Sports, Business/Finance are all the Kingdoms of this world.

We are not advocating total dominion over these mountains. We are helping people discover which mountain/s God has called them to; they are then to take the Kingdom rule and reign to whichever level God has placed them on these mountains. Some will be at the bottom, some in the middle and some at the top but wherever our place is we can influence the whole mountain.

Ownership of the 7MM requires us to look outward and challenges us to live a Christian lifestyle 24/7. No longer can we separate out our Church life from our life in the world. The Hebrew world view embraced the sacred and the secular as one thus all of life was lived in service and worship to God. But when the Greeks came along they changed this view and separated the secular and the sacred hence it gave rise to the mindset that says we worship and serve God in Church but adopt a worldly lifestyle in the secular.

Today God is calling us back to the Hebrew worldview; we are to worship and serve God in the way we eat, sleep, dress, speak, work, rest. This all inclusive way of living will become a witness to the mountain/s of the Kingdom reign of God.Eg – do we adopt a modern style of dress that suits the mountain/s we live on. If we’ve taken the extreme view of separation from the world, you can be sure our fashion sense will reflect an out of touch out of date lifestyle that people will not find attractive. We don’t have to spend huge amounts of money in order to dress fashionable. We can ask someone to give us advice on how best to dress.

We have to jettison the view that says,” It’s not the way we dress it’s if our hearts are right before God”. No! We can have both because both are just as important to God when it comes to advertising the Kingdom.

Meditation point: “Father, have I become old fashioned and out of step with the modern world”.

King/Priest

1 Peter 2:9  But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood (King/Priests), a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. (NIV)

At the cross Jesus joined together the two ministries of King and Priest. Throughout it’s history the Church has reversed the order of King/Priest to Priest/King thus emphasizing the Priestly aspect of prayer, intercession and worship whilst ignoring the Kingly side of our call. The Holy Spirit is now restoring this order by releasing revelation on the Christian as King. Why is this? because when Christ returns as King, He will be looking for a Kingdom to rule over.

A King’s anointing emphasizes our authority, power, glory and rule, but in order to reign like a King we have to know we are a King. Without this knowledge we will live a defeated lifestyle, we’ll see ourselves as unworthy and weak, we’ll lack the joy of the Lord which is integral to Kingship.

Heb 1:8-9 “Your Kingdom, O God, will last forever and ever;  You love right and hate wrong; so God, even your God, has poured out more gladness (joy) upon you than on anyone else.”  (TLB)

We need a revelation from God’s Word that we are a King. Only revelation changes our mindset and gives us faith to live it out. It will change our speech, the way we see ourselves; when we fail, instead of descending into hopelessness and negativity, we will pick ourselves up and move on because we are a King.

Confessing God’s Word will affirm Kingship within us. Confession: I am a King seated in heavenly places in Christ and I co-rule with Him over His Kingdom. I am crowned with glory and honour and I reign in righteousness over life because the Father has chosen me to be the agent for the release of Christ’s Kingdom upon the earth.  (Eph 1:6 Rom 8:17  Ps 8:5  Rom 5:17  Mt 16:18,19.)

Meditation point: Rom 5:17  How much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life (Kingship) through the one man, Jesus Christ.  (NIV)