The Under 20 Generation

Imagine being born and raised in a quarrelsome neighborhood. One where the people clearly and directly oppose God and stand up to leadership. They say men of God are fake and ultimately they reject Godly authority in their lives.

This must be the situation the young people of Israel found themselves in. Their elders wrangled with the Lord until the Lord had no option but to disinherit them. They were cast out of the blessing. It’s so cold outside the blessing; never go there, not even for a brief visit.

They went to wars, but they were routed and defeated – outside the blessing.

They created internal strife, and God sent a plague, in a moment in time, 14000 people were killed by the anger of God (Number 16)…

Now think of these under 20s, tagging along. Being fed the poison of propaganda. Imagine how much more their parents would be complaining and murmuring in their own homes, if the word says, after the plague, the people complained and said Moses had caused innocent people to die, how much more would they have spoken in the privacy of their homes (Numbers 16)…

God took a decision to immediately start a process of elimination, until they were all to be finished.

Now think about this Under 20 generation. As they grew up, all they knew was that God was unfaithful, God had failed his people, God had killed his people in the wilderness. Their parents would never openly admit that it was they who had failed God instead, never!

I believe the only profession and skill they learned besides complaining was being undertakers. Think of it, 3million people were to die in a space of 40 years. This means on average 206 people were to be buried everyday…

Who did the burying, the under 20 Generation!

Now you think you have had a difficult childhood or life! Look at these kids, they did nothing wrong but they were in wilderness, suffering. On the surface it would seem that these kids had nothing going for them…

Allow me to show you that although it looked like they had nothing good going their way, they infact had everything they needed; a prophetic word from the Lord and  3 Covenant promises from the Lord.

He said through Moses:

Say unto them, [As truly as] I live, saith the LORD, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you: Your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness…

But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised. Numbers 14:28-31

The LORD God of your fathers make you a thousand times so many more as ye [are], and bless you, as he hath promised you! Deut 1:11

They had a word of promise from God and we know that God watches over his word to perform it (Jeremiah 1:12).

 

May I speak to the church now…

What is your background, what is your situation, what are the circumstances of your life? Do you sometimes feel like you are a home grown, unpaid undertaker yourself? Have you had to bury everyone that matters to you? God still has a destiny appointment for you and according to His word it is a good plan (Jer 29:11) .

You may have been born where there is absolutely no family, or no love, or no hope, or no whatever. On the surface it may look like there is nothing good that can come out of your life. Here is the great news God is here and His word is all you need. His word is a sure foundation (Heb 11:3). 

A few steps, which worked for the Under 20 Gen in Israel

1. Take Heed
1. Pay attention to the word of God
2. Prepare to do the word at all times
3. Disregard every other message from anywhere or anyone else

Remember the word says  Joshua 1:8, Psalm 1 and John 6:63

2. Remember

This speaks about speaking to yourself and reminding yourself what the lord has done in your life but also what He has promised to do. … (See how Moses reminded them of the promise in Deut 31)

Malachai 3:16,17 & 1Cor 14:26 and Heb 10:25 Show why it’s important to attend church, so that you can be taught the word but also so that you can remind others and be reminded of the word.

3. Internalize that you are great and you belong to greatness

Make the word a part of you!

Deut 4:7,8,9(a)

We are so great because we have a great God

We are so great because this great God is so near to us

We are so great because we have great statutes or life instructions. Our life has come with a manual…

Success is therefore guaranteed, failure is a choice.

Our greatness is not of our might and power but it is of The God we serve, therefore get to know His word and meditate upon it and do what it says.

4. Remember that there is always help

Deut 4:29-31

If you get into the Promised Land and sin, and depart from God, bad things will befall you, but if you repent and come back, he will accept you and change your story.

-          Its not God who took you down there! It’s either yourself or the devil. But it is God who will take you out, and you aint coming out empty handed…

Therefore keep in mind that there is always recourse. 1John 1:9 and Heb 4:16

Your God is merciful

There is thus hope, there is support in the kingdom! 

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We Are Well Able (Part II)

Hail mighty men and women of God, trust you have had a good week thus far, and are excited to be getting deeper into our teachings on how we are well able to be victorious. 

Anyone who is ever going to entertain hopes of victory must introspect and realize that he or she will need power or strength to do so. Victory is simply defined as conquest, triumph, win or success. All these words suggest a process of overcoming an opposing force that is determined to undermine or defeat you. The opposite of victory is defeat; which describes a position of being vanquished.

However, we suggested in our post last week that ‘we are well able’ to win, ‘we are more than conquerors’, ‘we can do all things…’ But someone may then ask and say, “what informs these positions or what is the power than you win by.”

God attempted to respond to that issue to the children of Israel.

Deut 9:1-3 Hear, O Israel: Thou [art] to pass over Jordan this day, to go in to possess nations greater and mightier than thyself, cities great and fenced up to heaven,… Understand therefore this day, that the LORD thy God [is] he which goeth over before thee; [as] a consuming fire he shall destroy them, and he shall bring them down before thy face: so shalt thou drive them out, and destroy them quickly, as the LORD hath said unto thee

Well, good offer if you ask me. God was essentially saying to Israel, all you need to do is show up. I will do the rest. I will fight for you. I will rout, vanquish and overcome enemies on your behalf…

let us study three words, which confirm our ability to do great and mighty exploits.

i.               Yakol: (Numbers 13:30)

To be enabled, whether physically, morally, constitutionally or because of external authority

In Numbers 13:30-33, Caleb and Joshua emphasize and remonstrate against the whole of Israel family, insisting that the nation must proceed because they are well able. The word ‘able’ here shows that their confidence was not only in their physical ability but more so in the ability of God in them.

I would like to stress the point here that you have moral and scriptural rights to prevail, to overcome, to prosper. There is nothing holy about failure. It is totally moral to increase, to grow in your life and succeed in all things that you do

.

After 430 years of slavery in Egypt, it was time for God’s people to possess possessions, to prosper and be a respectable nation too. it’s time for you too, to increase. To prosper and be well., I believe there is more than adequate moral grounds to claim your portion in the success that the God promised.

The word tells us of the daughters of Zelophehad, who were disenfranchised by existing laws of the time that forbad  ladies from inheriting anything even from their fathers. But they stood up and on moral grounds approached Moses and claimed their rights. Moses like a just man of God, took their case to the Lord who in turn said, "The daughters of Zelophehad speak right: thou shalt surely give them a possession of an inheritance among their father's brethren; and thou shalt cause the inheritance of their father to pass unto them. (Numbers 27:7)."

(Note the action they took, They stood up and they claimed their rights)

See what happens when you take a stand against an issue that is morally wrong? Being morally correct is great strength and power. That is why righteousness is so much strength. With a firm conviction of your moral grounds, you can achieve so much more.

Lets move onto the next word

ii.              Exousia (Matthew 28:18)

The word for “power” used by Jesus here is the Greek word, Exousia. The word has several meanings, but here we will outline just two below.

a.     Delegated power or authority

    When we go to Matthew 28:18, Jesus on the Great Commission reiterates that all power is given unto Him, but he thus transfers the same to the church. This becomes, conferred/delegated authority that gives us a right to act/operate. The church has been authorized (given the right to) to act to the fullest extent of faith. This means that we have the right to act, behave like Jesus here on earth

b.     Weight: 

     Exousia speaks of the full weight or might of heaven behind us. God has sent the church out to minister and to prevail. To back this up, he has attached the full weight of heaven. The full resources of heaven, the full glory of heaven backs up any individual who goes out on a kingdom assignment.

In Matthew 10:1 Jesus releases the disciples to minister. He arms them with the full weight of heaven. In other words, he assures them that in the face of the toughest challenges of life, in the face of devils and demons, they have the backing of heaven.

Think of it like this every police officer may not have the physical strength to arrest a criminal, however because he has the backing of the government he has the full weight of the  the government he represents. He can issue arrests based on the understanding of what government power backs him.

Understand child of God that there is unstoppable power of heaven backing you up. God has granted us authority to represent his kingdom on earth. Therefore you are well able… (selah, allow that  to sink in for a moment).

and last word we will look at

iii.            Dunamis/power (Acts1:8)

This speaks of supernatural ability to perform supernatural or miraculous deeds. This speaks of divine enablement to do what cannot naturally be done. This word is more common than others. It appears 120 times in the New Testament.

Dunamis is the sheer brute force of the kingdom. Every government has an arsenal, a treasure house of weaponry. This is used to defend against attack as well as take over enemy territory. The kingdom of God is not any different. Should there be a force that wants to impose itself against the will of the kingdom, the kingdom reserves the right to defend itself (think about that for a moment).

James and John gave us a sneak preview into this power in Luke 9:54 They asked  “Shall we call down fire from above to consume these…?”

And the response of Jesus was even more telling. He quickly forbade them. This was teaching us about love, but also it showed us these guys knew they had the ability to do so.

The dunamis power as well as the exousia and yakol are not a preserve of the church pastor or the deacons. They are yours too, the power that Jesus referred to resides on the inside of you. You can vanquish sickness and disease, you cast out demons, by the same power. You are propelled to victory in every area of your life by the same power.

God has blessed the church with, burden removing and yoke destroying power. It is available for our daily use. (Isaiah 10:27)

See you and I have been empowered (we are not waiting for it, it’s a done deal) and are well able to be victorious.

Let me end here today but I trust that you are getting excited as you learn why you are well able to be victorious, if you have any questions then get in touch with us on our details below

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Till Thursday “Go out and dominate, for you are well able”

Pst Mk