How many of you want to be in control of everything you do? I think if we honestly look at ourselves we would admit that is the case. We all have this drive, this inborn desire to want to control. Just walk downstairs and spend some time in the nursery. Every child there has a desire to be in control. They want to accumulate every toy that is there, even if their hands are already full. They all want the biggest pile, and if another child wants something they have in their pile, even if they are not using it, they scream, “MINE!” In fact, if you want them to play with something and they are not, you just start playing with it and see how fast they react and reach over grabbing it from your hands so they can play with it. MINE!
This accumulation relates to the drive we have for power, a drive to control, which is not necessarily wrong. It can become unhealthy when it gets perverted from its original intent however. But realize tonight, we were created by God to be a Warrior Race. We sing the song, Mighty Warrior, dressed for battle, so what do warriors do? They win battles so they can have control. Isn’t that true? Now, how do they win battles? Well, by being more powerful than their opponent. Each side has a commander. Now if you are a Christian, your commander is Jesus Christ, and if you have read the last chapter of the book you discover we win when we fight for Him. I don’t know about you, but it is important to be on the winning side, and on Jesus side we know we have victory.
But why do we have to fight? It is because we have a destiny. 2 Timothy 2:11,12 says, Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with Him, we will also live with Him; if we endure, we will also reign with Him. From this I can conclude, if we endure, if we stay the course and don’t lose faith, than our destiny is to reign and rule with Jesus Christ.
So how do we fulfill our destiny, our calling? How many of you would like to have Jesus come to you, place a crown on your head, and then say, “Look out at Seattle, it’s yours to reign and rule over.” There is an interesting passage in Genesis 1:28 which says,
God blessed them and said to them: Be fruitful and increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it. This was right after the creation of man and woman. How are we to subdue the earth? Webster’s Dictionary says the word subdue means to conqueror, to bring into subjection, to overpower by superior force, to overcome.
Why do we have people today who do not believe in the Christian message? Why is it when Jesus defeated Lucifer on the Cross, or even before than when he rebelled in heaven, that God did not sent him to destruction at that time? It was so we could fulfill our destiny, it was so we could develop into our potential. We have not been called to be wimpy Christians but valiant warriors. Are you ready to subdue Seattle and the surrounding communities?
For the most part, I see Christians who are just living, just getting by, just existing and have not developed into their full potential. Like babies who have never learned to walk, never coming into the understanding there are greater things in life outside of where they crawl. People, don’t settle for mediocrity in your Christian life, reach out and attain to your potential, be a warrior of Jesus Christ.
Say this with me, I have a place to God and people to bless.
In Matthew 10:34, Jesus said He came to earth to bring a sword to subdue the enemy, to call us to a new kingdom and then He went out and defeated the devil on the Cross. As a believer in Christ, it is our duty to execute Jesus written judgement on Satan and those who are in subjection to him.
Psalm 149:5-9 states, Let the saints rejoice in His honor (Now who are the saints? We are if we believe in Jesus Christ). And sing for joy on their beds. May the praise of God be in their mouths and a double-edged sword in their hands, to inflict vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples, to bind their kings with fetters, their nobles with shackles of iron, to carry out the sentence written against them. This is the glory of all his saints. Praise the Lord.
Are you executing judgment when Satan comes against you? In a war, there is the shedding of blood, and this war is no different, Jesus shed his last drop of blood on the Cross, and while His blood flowed, the enemy was singing, and dancing, they were celebrating, they were rejoicing that they had crucified Jesus on the Cross. But they soon discovered you cannot keep a good guy down, and in the midst of their celebration, Satan was defeated.
Before you were born, Satan has been about trying to destroy you. Through illegal abortion, and legalized killing he has been at work. Now that you are alive and kicking he is at work to destroy your witness and you in the process. It is time that we rise up and respond, it is time that we attack back, it is time for warriors to arise in this period of history. Lets talk about how Satan is at work to destroy you today.
1. Satan wants you to get angry. We wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers in spiritual places. We are to hate sin, not people. Sinners do what they know how to do, and we should not get angry at them, but we should get mad at the devil who has them held captive…it is time to resolve that we are going to take back the people, to take back the land which Satan has stolen, so we can reign and rule, so that we can set the captives free by executive order. Are you ready?
Eternal life is more than just heaven with harps and clouds to ride upon. It is fulfilling the destiny which God has given to us for our lives. Are you with me?
In Genesis 37 we read the biographical sketch of Joseph. Here is a guy with a destiny who becomes side-tracked in his purpose. Satan tried to use his brothers to destroy him. They sold him into slavery and we would have thought that to be the end of the story, but it wasn’t. They took the multi-colored coat he was wearing, tore it up, poured animal blood on it, took it back to his father Joseph, and said wild animals ate our brother Joseph for lunch.
Lets look at this from Joseph’s side. If you had been sold into slavery by your family, by brothers, wouldn’t you feel angry, rejected? Wouldn’t you be a bit hurt to have been treated this way by your flesh and blood? Satan uses hurt and rejection, anger, to destroy people’s destiny, and he usually does it through other people. With Joseph out of the way, the brothers could go about their lives doing their own thing.
Satan wants you to get angry, this is his first weapon of attack against your destiny. This is what he sought to do with Joseph…through rejection, through hurt, he sought to fan the flame of anger. But Joseph did not get angry and plan one of Satan failed. So this brought to light the second means, Satan’s second phase of destruction.
2. To get your mind on other things. In Genesis 39, Joseph has been sold to Potifer’s house as a slave. He is described in verses 6, 7 this way, Now Joseph was well built and handsome and after a while his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, ‘Come to bed with me!’ Well, this could certainly take your mind off your destiny. For Joseph the seduction comes as the bosses wife gets all warm and fuzzy, enticing him with nice words trying to entrap him into a false relationship. Although sex is a big temptation brought by Satan, it is not the only means he uses to get your mind off your destiny. It could be your career, your finances, your possessions…but for Joseph, Satan used sex which good designed for good, and distorted it for evil, making a good thing ugly.
Satan is not creative, only God and humans have creative abilities, and our are granted by God. We have the ability to pro-create, Satan cannot, so is it any wonder he attacks at our creative ability, our sexuality. That is behind abortions. Satan trying to get people to give up their ability to pro-create.
Let’s talk about this for a moment…it’s important. When are born, what is the first thing they say…usually, it’s a boy or it’s a girl. Psalm 11:3 When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do? Today the foundation is getting messed up. Society tells us we don’t know who we are, heterosexual, homosexual, bi-sexual, transsexual, unisex, lesbian, we might be this or that, who knows society tells us, just do your own thing, try it and see if it fits you, because everything is okay. I’m okay, you are okay, and they are teaching this stuff to our children in school.
The reason this is all happening is because Satan is destroying the foundation of sexuality in our society. He did it in Rome when the New Testament was being written, he is doing it in our day. In Roman times, the emperors sat around gorging themselves on food, vomiting it so they could eat again. They invited men into their bed chambers to have sex with, and finally brought down the glory days of Rome, the Pax Romana, because of their continued perversions. This brings us to another of Satan’s means to side-track you…
3. False accusations. Joseph was falsely accused by Potifer’s wife, yet he did not get angry, he did not let distractions keep him from his destiny, but he stood by his principles which lead him to 13 years in prison. Even there he did not let things fester. He became a model prisoner, helping out, yet what good was it doing him? You might even ask, what good does it do me to be a Christian while everyone else is running around having fun and I am missing out. For 13 years Joseph was locked away. During this time, the Pharaoh’s cupbearer and baker are thrown in jail, and they have a dream which Joseph correctly interprets for them. In chapter 40, when the cupbearer is released and goes back to work for Pharaoh, he forgets Joseph. But for 13 years in prison, Joseph did not forget his destiny, that God had a plan for him. Right now you might not be moving into your destiny, things might not be so great around you right now, you might even feel like God has passed you by. He has not! God is still on the throne, even if you have not gotten to the place where you feel you are reigning and ruling in His name.
In Genesis 50:20, Joseph’s destiny comes to pass. The cupbearer remembers Joseph and tells the Pharaoh who is trying to figure out a dream. As a result of Joseph moving into his destiny, his brothers come to Egypt in need of grain because a famine has hit their land. There they meet their brother. Taken from his father, sold into slavery, 13 years in prison on false charges, only to rise to second in command, second only to Pharaoh in Egypt, not even an Egyptian. When the brothers come, the potential for Joseph’s anger to rise up still exists. Now he is in a position to retaliate against their unjust actions when he is younger…to reclaim some of the lost time by punishing them, but in Genesis 50:20 Joseph says this to them, You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.
To save a generation, to win a city for Christ, are you willing to be broken? Are you willing to stand up for the principles of God when the world is telling you, when your peers are telling you, when your own family may be telling you, to do otherwise? Looking at the life of Joseph, it should be a blueprint for us to follow, a testimony for what God is willing to do in the lives of His people who will surrender to Him. Your past testimony, what Satan intended for evil, what he wanted to use for your destruction, can rise up as a testimony for your destiny. What Satan intended to sidetrack your Christian walk, can be used by God for His glory and His kingdom enabling you to reign and rule.
You need to be ready for battle, O mighty warrior.
As the worship team comes, you might be here tonight and have allowed anger to come between yourself and others…Jesus is here to heal.
You might have been distracted from your destiny…Jesus is here to restore your journey.
You might be here tonight having been falsely accused, well Jesus will stand in the gap, elevating you against the destruction and lifting you to your destiny.
Tonight, God is here to meet you at the altar and I believe there is going to be a mighty sovereign move of God in lives tonight…sidetracked Christians…getting on track…reigning and ruling…fulfilling your destiny…it is time for a rebirth…
