To The Church, God's Tip Of The Spear

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And now, here's today's episode. If you could just pray with me, please. Lord, we release our faith today for the supernatural, for the bold expression of a supernatural God. That the boldness of confidence and faith becomes reality for us, in us, and that we leave behind the ordinary, the mundane, the average, the routine, and we enter into the supernatural element that the Lord Jesus is returning for, a spotless bride. That as the church, as the church, the born-again believer, corporately together, looks for and anticipates the return of the Lord and has the opportunity to hasten his return so that we partner with him, we co-labor with him in the harvest, in the move of God that he will harvest the precious fruits of the earth, that we are laborers in that harvest. Therefore, we take on this bold, supernatural mantle, unusual outcomes, divine interventions, overcoming on every side, in Jesus' name, in Jesus' name. Amen.

Amen. Well, I value anytime a demand is placed because it's interesting about human nature. Sometimes you can do things that you didn't think you could do because someone thought you could do it. And it's such an important part of the way that we parent and the way that we grandparent. I learned it through the discipleship process. When I was discipled as a new believer, I found mentors who placed a demand on me, and I did things I didn't know. I learned things that I never thought possible because someone saw the gift of God in me, saw the gift of God in you. And it's hard to say gift because there's probably gifts in you.

So when a demand is placed, up from the inside comes something of a supernatural capacity. It is. It's not natural. It's not you. It's not you didn't do it, really.

It's there really stored up waiting for the demand to be placed. And that's why I'm here today, because Carl said on Wednesday, would you come and bring the word? And I'm a pushover for coming here and being with Carl and Brenda and you.

I just love it. But it was Wednesday and just a few days later is Sunday. And I thought, I don't have a word. I haven't had time to seek the Lord. And as we ended the conversation, I said, let me pray.

I'll get back to you. And it instantly I heard that call. I did, Carl. You know, it was in there and I didn't know it was there. But the demand was placed. And so this word starts to come together and all of the elements of it. So I'm here today because the demand was placed on my life again. And I just hope it never ends. I would die.

I would rather just die than have the gift of God on the inside not released. My expectation today is that you will be unwrapped in ways you've never thought possible. And so we've named our book. We've named our podcast, Running with Horses. It's the story out of the Old Testament about how Elijah, the prophet, because the power of God came on him. He started to run when Ahab got into his chariot, which was drawn by a horse.

And he, the man, outran the animal, the horse, arrived back in the city ahead of the chariot. This is the way that God will move in this hour. This is what the church really looks like. It's not a specific church.

Like I said, it's the bride. It is the body. So this relationship of having a demand placed. This is what the Lord said. Touches the gift of God on the inside of you. And so if you're not up for that, you know, if you don't want the gift of God on the inside of you tapped, demanded, let somebody know that you're not available because it's going to happen to be part of the end time bride.

It's just got to happen because this is a supernatural element. I want to read you something and I think we have it for the overhead as well. Our message today is the tip of the spear. The tip of the spear. Well, what does that what is that? So as you read the definition, I'm going to read the definition.

Just follow with me. The tip of the spear is a slogan or motto used by a unit deemed to be the sharpest part of a larger unit. The whole spear, including the shaft, represents the total unit. The sharpest part of the spear is at the top and thus leads the way to open for the rest. The point or the tip of the spear is sharp. So it can pierce the target and open the way for the rest of the spear. So the best trained elite unit tasked with leading the way is called the tip of the spear.

One more source, one more definition. Traditionally, the term is used by military strategist, tacticians and historians to describe the sudden and overwhelming use of force, combat force to pierce an enemy's first line of defense. It's the first and most meaningful action in an offensive. So this is our topic today, the tip of the spear. I suggest to you that the church is the tip of the spear. It is the unique part of a larger unit, whatever you consider that that would be, that is trained and in a sense is elite.

It is set apart, elite set apart for this purpose to pierce the enemy and to secure the breakthrough. And I love this second definition because it uses the term sudden and overwhelming. Much of what we're hearing now and across many venues is the military aspect, the warfare aspect that is really foundational to understanding what it is that God wants from us. Boldness, confidence, willing to lead and to be a forerunner.

So we're not caught off guard by things that are sudden and overwhelming. The tip of the spear in the end time is the church. Who is the church?

The church is the corporate body of the individual born again believers. So that's just the groundwork for what the Lord is saying to us today. If you can envision a spear and the tip, maybe a javelin being thrown, whatever it takes to see. I want to tell you this example. Thank you for that overhead. We'll just wait a few minutes for that audio clip.

A thief problem exists in this elite unit. I want to tell you this story. There's something that's taking place right now in a natural habitat.

You probably are familiar. Most Americans, some people from other parts of the world are familiar with the Florida Everglades. And in the Florida Everglades, they're having this threat to the ecosystem there that exists in the form of a creature called the Burmese python. Originated in Southeast Asia, but has been brought over to this country and released into that habitat, literally into the wild. And it turns out that the Burmese python is very prolific.

The female can lay up to 100 eggs at one time. And so this creature from one introduced by someone who thought that was a cool idea, who had it as a pet, obviously, and didn't need it anymore, put it there, began to reproduce, and now we have a population of like 20,000. These creatures destroy everything.

Large mammals, fish, birds, everything that is in that habitat is being threatened. And so this is the good part of that story. The citizens in that area, the average ordinary everyday citizen, has become knowledgeable and trained, authorized and organized by the state government to become an army to hunt and extract these pythons. And there is a organized roundup that takes place annually where volunteers come and participate again. They are trained. They are elite in that sense.

They are knowledgeable. They understand what the threat is and what will happen, get this, if somebody doesn't step up. If somebody doesn't step up and face down this threat, then you have the whole area endangered. I read somewhere that even the water throughout the state of that, throughout that part of the country is affected by the Everglades. So it's important for this habitat to be protected from this intruder, this encroacher.

I had another name, this destructive force, this thief. It's called the Burmese Python, and the force that's rising up to answer that call is coming from the bottom up, bottom up, because there's a bottom up groundswell, the top down. The government is responding, and the two together agree and are authorized how to handle the threat. Keep that thought in mind, okay? If you've got that audio clip. So the Lord said this year. Hold it just a second. This is his word to me.

Could you rewind that? Let me just tell you what this is. Five years ago, five years and eight days ago, I was here with you. And the word of the Lord that day was called, was titled self-govern, self-govern.

Okay, now, thank you. So the Lord said this year, this is his word to me. He said this year in 2017, I want you to declare this word concerning government and self-governing. I want you to say in every place that you have an opportunity that if this does not shift, this nation will not shift.

You can call it an absence of prayer or an absence of righteous leaders, but you and I will give an account to the Lord. We will give an account to him for the way we govern our lives. And honestly, you know, the lazy take the lowest road, easiest way out, most routine option is not accomplishing what God has for you and for me. So when we come together as a corporate body, we are only as strong as the weakest link. So the point made here is that the government we want is strong elected leaders who represent our values. Therefore, we want our lives to reflect those values, not just sometimes, but all the time. So the call that day was to the individual to respond to the voice of the Lord saying that we have not only the privilege, but the responsibility to govern our own lives, to say to it that the values that we want manifested in our community and in our nation, those values are alive and on display in our own lives.

Not sometime once in a while, but every day. And that if we could not do that, that our national government was threatened because the national government is made up of the expression of the people that the government is called to serve and to represent. So this call from the Lord was the opportunity to reset and reconsider what those values are and what we fight for, what we die for, what was valuable and what was sort of a sideline event. So this this urging from the Lord to take responsibility to govern our lives went out to self-govern in the nation. So that keep in mind the example in the Everglades, there would be a bottom up groundswell of the people demanding righteous governance, demanding righteous leaders. And how can I demand that my leader be righteous? I can do that on the basis that my life is righteous.

I can't demand of them what I am not willing to live. So this ability that God gives to us is part of the government of God. We are the enforcers of his government.

So look where we are now, five years and eight days later, our lives have changed drastically. We have suffered an unbelievable threat relatable to the Burmese python, and we as a people may not have been able to respond suddenly to an overwhelming threat. You know, this ability to self-govern is something that God wants to. He wants our lives to influence our government, not the reverse. It's not up to a government to call the shots. We, the people call the shots. A righteous Christian nation, given that mantle from the beginning. We know that we have the authority.

Well trained, we are the elite unit. OK, so the United States Constitution, I've learned here just recently because I have said to my friends, I now realize that I sat in a high school civics class for one whole year and learned zero. I don't remember anything.

I really don't. The United States Constitution lays out for our elected government what it can and cannot do. Accordingly, everything happens.

Don't ever forget this. By the consent of the governed. We have to consent to be governed certain ways. And so, you know, that expression, people get the government they deserve.

It's true. What we place a demand on is what we will get. We're placing a demand on the gift of God inside of our government to represent us. We, the people like the natural laws in the Florida Everglades, the original divine design for the United States of America is bottom up.

It is not top down. We know because the number of biblical principles embedded in our founding documents are unbelievably obvious. Like you can't ignore it.

It's so, so obvious, for example. And this is probably the most well-known and it is the first and it's the founding principle comes straight out of the Bible. And our reference is Genesis one, twenty six through twenty eight. Before we read that. Every person is created in the image of God.

Everyone. The Bible says so. Says so right here in Genesis and the preamble of our Constitution says we hold these truths to be self evident.

That all men. That word is mankind are created equal. Endowed by their creator.

And now Genesis one, twenty six. Then God said, let us make man or mankind in our image. After our likeness and let them man have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.

So God created man in his image, in the image of God, he created him male and female. He created them and God blessed them. And God said to them, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens. And over every living thing that moves on the earth. Can you see our example here of the python taking dominion over everything that creeps?

Right. But it's because we're made in the image of God that we have this authority. Man did not give us that authority. God gave us that authority because he created us in his image by divine design. Now, stay with me here, OK, because the first consequence of being created in the image of God is that we are given the capacity of governance.

We each have the capacity of governance as individuals. God places the demand on the individual before he places a demand on this house. He places the demand on the individual that he plans to send to this house. And then God brings it together under his government, which is vested in the leadership of the house.

It's the same way in your home. You have the leadership there. God sends the children. OK, he's going to work with those individuals.

So you see, this is the design and the pattern just across the board. Therefore, the corporate government. We, the people. Becomes the expression of what takes place on an individual level. We are responsible for what's happening in our government. And we will give an account.

To the Lord. Or that. It's very sobering. It's.

Extremely simple. It's. Beyond humbling. To know that God knew me before the foundation of the world. And he put in me what he needed right now. He knew you and he put in you what he needs right now.

Not he needs like need. But part of this. Plan. To raise up.

His design and to do his will and accomplish what we know from his word. So let me say that again. Therefore.

The corporate governance, that is, we the people, becomes the expression of what takes place on the individual level. Unfortunately. That argument is deeply counter counter narrative. That's not the narrative you'll hear. That's not what's being said.

Nevertheless, it's the truth. Psalm 11 three. And for those of you who are taking notes, Psalm 11 three, you don't need to turn, but maybe make a note. If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? The church. That's us. We hear reports of the decline. Our different categories of inactivity within the church, which the Bible says is the prop and pillar, the support of the truth.

The reasons relate to the example of the Burmese python, the intruder. I just read an article and I'm just going to briefly tell you about this. I won't go into detail and I just submit it to you for consideration because it's just someone writing. It's just someone speaking. It doesn't have to be your truth.

But see what you think about this. This is Hill Hillsdale College, a very prominent, strongly Christian college. The writing in their magazine, their monthly magazine, is their monthly guest speaker. The title of the message was laying siege to the institutions, laying siege to the institutions. The author is Christopher Rufo.

Let me tell you what he said. A half century ago, that's 50 years, our institutions came under siege. He suggests that the counterculture of the 60s took place among the lower classes.

Did not work. That movement. You might remember the 60s if you were alive during that time. The counterrevolution, the sexual revolution, all of that, rebellion in the streets. But it didn't work. And so those forces that hate our nation, strongly sociologists, Marxist and socialist forces, turned toward the elites, turned their attention to infiltrate the upper class.

Okay? The upper class. And then to begin to move, and this is what they did, to infiltrate the institutions. And he goes on to say this. He's a Christian speaker speaking in a Christian college.

He says this. The influence of the socialist Marxist state began to have an effect to subdue, weaken, and therefore bring into willing participation an anti-God, anti-Christian force focused on the top, the elite, those already fitting the mold of that mentality. And they turned their attention on four American institutions as a way to infiltrate our understanding, our culture. They're after the culture. The force, this intruder, this invader, this thief is after the United States of America and is coming through the institutions to affect how you and I think and how we believe. And he named four institutions. When I read it, I had to keep reading it because it says, he said, schools, universities, media, and churches, talking about changing the culture, how the culture thinks.

So the thief, the intruder, the encroacher, not part of our native habitat or our ecosystem, not part of our American way of life, was introduced nonetheless into our midst and began at the bottom 50 years ago to affect our education, the way we think and the way that we train our teachers. So like the audio clip that we listened to, God said to us five years ago and eight days ago, five years, eight days, he said, you've got to get this. You've got to govern you. You've got to know where you are and what you believe and why. You've got to have both feet planted because you're the tip of my spear. And when an intruder comes, you need to be suddenly ready to respond with force, like thrust it back out like what's happening in Florida right now.

I mean, that's actually a great example. And so here's the question. Where are we? All of that said, where are we right now? Where are we? Where has God placed the demand?

Has there been a demand place? Sometimes it's easier to answer where you are by saying where you're not. That helps me.

If I don't know something, I say, well, where is the opposite of that? And that is actually a great measure. So this is what I think. I think we're somewhere between then or at any point of time you would like to choose the day you were born. Twenty years ago.

The day you were married, whatever, some point in time. Between there and the catching away of the church. The rapture. We're somewhere in between.

Where we are on that timeline, I don't know, I just know we're somewhere in between. And the body that Jesus is coming back for without spot or blemish is under assault. And it's coming from the outside.

And we're flat footed. For the most part, listen. This earlier point in time, whatever you want to say for reference, we're saying five years and eight days ago when this word came to this house. If it was the word of the Lord, then we respond to that. The Lord is saying he wants to heal this thing. He wants to heal you, me, us. He wants to heal our nation.

He wants to heal it through us. But we've got to volunteer to take the fight to the enemy. And that means we've got to know where we are and what's happening.

We've got to understand the enemy for who he is. Optimism is passive. Hope is not passive. Faith takes place in the heart, not the head. So move out of optimism and over into hope.

This anchored in faith that is happening in your heart. It's settled. It's not up for grabs.

It can't be pushed around. So let's reverse engineer. Just a minute here.

That's another tool I love. If you don't know where you're going, kind of start at the point you say you think might be a possibility and back in to the present. So let's look at the rapture. Let's look at the catching away of the church. And I'll just stay basic right here, just assuming that you just understand from the scripture there is a time for the catching away of the church.

OK, listen to this. Out of First Thessalonians four in your notes, just make a note. First Thessalonians four, 13 through 18. The rapture is a private event. The church will be rapture. It means the Greek word means to seize hastily, to snatch away. And the word says in a moment. And that Greek word, atomos, means infinitesimal amount of time.

Infinitesimal amount of time. We are caught up into the clouds and go to the I know you're familiar with this term to the marriage supper of the lamb, which, according to scripture. Cover seven years. At the same time on the earth for seven years, the tribulation, so the tribulation on the earth.

The marriage supper of the lamb in the presence of the Lord, same seven year period. The rapture, the catching away of the church. Jesus said it would happen suddenly. And suddenly. Every message I pick up. Every every old message I pull up just to, you know, listen to it again.

Every book I pick up. There's an emphasis on this part of our future. And Jesus said, no man knows when that will take place. Even Jesus doesn't know when that will take place. We don't know that, but we know from the signs that we are close. We know we're close to see. We're not flat footed about that. We know that Jesus is coming for me. If I am without spot or blemish. I'm a candidate to be caught up to meet him in the air.

If I meet that category, if I meet that qualification. Jesus said it would be like two things. The days of Noah. Remember what was happening? Noah was a joke.

Nobody paid any attention. But the word says on that day when God said now. Noah went into the ark and the door closed.

He says it's like another event. Like the day of Lot. At Sodom and Gomorrah. When God said, I'm judging the city. But I'm getting you out because you're righteous.

You and your family. And remember the story. God sent the angels.

An angelic messenger. He said, Lot, come now. Don't hesitate.

Don't hesitate. And there was some kind of resistance from Lot and his family. The angel took.

Y'all remember this? Took Lot by the hand. Now. And escorted Lot, his wife and the two children out. And then judgment fell on Sodom and Gomorrah.

And it says of that event. Lot was rescued, so he was not trapped. With the rest. So when the rapture occurs and we are removed, the rest of the world is trapped.

For rejecting the Lord, they're trapped in that tribulation period. So again, to answer, where are we? We're somewhere in between. That's our future. And we know our past. We know what we've just come through. We know what has taken place. So if we reverse engineer, we think rapture and evaluate where we are, you and me, we've got to look at this thing. This is where we are.

We are the tip of the spear. And it's a no holds barred. Honest to goodness, no fooling, no nonsense. Don't be silly and do not wonder what time it is or what is required of you and me. And I'm telling you what you and I do will determine what this house looks like. God has already decided what he wants. He has already in his heart generated this. It is up to us.

To evaluate where we are, where we are not and what change has to take place in order to fulfill this mission. There is a demand being placed on you and me right now, and it is painful. I am experiencing it.

I'll bet you if you're breathing air right now, you are experiencing a lot of pain because things are not what they were. Our friends aren't even what they were. We're not even with the same friends. We're not even kind of tied to the same people. Everything has shifted, you see, because the word of the Lord five years ago to us was if we do not shift. God can not shift what he wants for this nation. We must shift.

And so, as my mother used to say, you could do it my way or you can do it my way. This difficulty has removed a lot of our options. And suddenly we're ready to play. We're ready to do what is the mind and the heart of the Lord for real. Because we've lost so much anyway. We might as well in a sense.

Can you see it? Can you understand that just as the python is introduced into the Everglades, the enemy, the anti-God, anti-church lie has come into us, into the center of our fellowship. And hey, this intruder is working. The first principle I told you about from the Constitution, I hope that wasn't too boring.

I thought civics class was very boring. But for some reason now, you know, I'm just fired up. I'm just really mad. I was saying to someone the other day. Sometimes when our hair should be on fire and say, oh, no, you're not. We we languish in indecision. And that brings me to really what I want to say here.

You know what that is? The first principle that I shared with you is the fact that we're created in the image of God. God gives us our certain inalienable rights.

The second principle this throughout our founding documents is men are sinful. That's why you have to restrict them. That's why the government is restricted. Because as good intention as we think we might be.

Allowed to not be restrained. We sin. And so just as we put. Precautions in our founding documents, God has offered us this restraint is offering us.

A way to stay on the path with him. So first of all, to answer the question, how and why? Because we're ignorant. We don't know what we don't know. And we are ignorant of what it is we've been entrusted with.

And we just let that python come right on in. Now, if that if you don't think that that has happened, then you're really sound asleep. It's just like this. The root of the word ignorance is ignore. And, you know, I'm really busy.

I've got other things going on, so I'm just going to ignore this is happening. Somebody else can take care of it. It's critical because the tip of the spear cannot be uninformed. An elite military unit has to stay on 24 seven.

They have to be ready. Our lives depend on it. Secondly. You've got an assignment. You're responsible for that assignment and that assignment. Get this is the voice of authority that you speak to shift things that must change now.

Your assignment is the voice of authority to speak to shift things that must change now. Pastor Carl said earlier and let us in a confession that we would change. We said we would. Some things must change and we don't have a lot of time.

We do not. Thirdly, it's time to self-govern. The basic truth is that America has lost her vision. Of self-governance, that's why she's being governed from above and from beyond. We, the people are called to govern righteously and require the same of our government. Instead, we have allowed the government to dictate to us. To the church.

To God's house, to the bride that he's coming back for. This is way, way off point and way off design. America must recover her vision to self-govern. Last point. Remember what I said about our friends are different now, our groups are different now.

I kind of came to this conclusion overnight. God is really busting up some things. That have long been together, have long have been in place. Because the point I made about assignments, there are new assignments. There are new assignments because, see, this spear.

Is multiple spears. There are points where God is penetrating the enemy. In all of this expression of like spiritual language, you know, examples, sort of vague things we're saying. Trust me. In the spirit realm, it's wide open right now. So what is the demand being placed on you?

What is the assignment that you have? Do you know it's there? Do you care? Do you want to know it's there?

Are you ignorant? I was. I was. I said, Lord, I don't understand what's happening. I don't even understand what's going on. I can't, I can't do anything because I don't understand even what's happening. But I've learned a lot in the last two years. And my mother moved to heaven.

Last year. It for me, like for you, this has been a tumultuous time. The least we can do is learn. What God is saying.

You have an assignment. God wants you to govern your own life, get it lined up, get it in accordance with his word, and then require your elected leaders to do the same. That is the only hope. It's the only hope.

So we're somewhere in between. Freedom is God's idea. That's why he gives us a free will, a free choice.

And our nation is the same way, patterned that way. Father, we pray today that freedom will ring in our hearts. That you will take. You will take what we do not know. And you will turn it into.

The motivation and the creative force to come forth valiantly. As this design, we've seen this tip of the spear that we can pierce the enemy. And even surprise the enemy so that our children and our grandchildren and the generations that will follow will know the truth and the truth will set them free. Lord, we pray today and ask that you clarify what it is you're saying to each of us individually, because it's so unique. But oh God, just speak to us. Speak to us. Hold us accountable. Hold our feet to the fire and settle some things.

We choose the assignment that you're given us. We understand you're placing the demand. And we say yes, Lord. In Jesus' name. Amen. Thanks again, and we'll see you next time.