Why did the Nations Rage? It has been on my heart to speak to this generation and help prepare them to go into the fire. We all need to know how to stand in a season where Christianity will be increasingly unappreciated. This week I shared this message at our Bible school, Summit International School of Ministry, during the student’s first chapel session of the year, and I wanted to make it available for all to hear.
i just thank god
for his great grace
which he’s given me
all of my life
and some of the things maybe that i’ve
learned over the years i’m hoping this
year to be able to impart
to many of you
uh i i would like to do a series i was
talking to pastor theresa
this morning that i’d like to do a
series on the great falling away what is
that going to look like
in our generation it’s a series of
messages called in in defiance of the
real jesus and
we’re just going to examine history
because solomon said there’s nothing new
under the sun
what has been already what is what is
going to be already has been so we’re
going to take a look at
what are the characteristics of a fallen
humanity that would cause them to
embrace an alternate jesus to the one
who is so clearly revealed in scripture
and how can we protect ourselves from
falling into the trap
of theological babbling and all of the
rest of the things that will come your
way and probably already are coming your
way
where people who have become discontent
with the real jesus have chosen to craft
an alternate one that is more palatable
to them in their fallen condition
remember the the very nature of sin
sown into humanity is the ability to
judge what is good and what is evil in
ourselves apart from what god says is
good and god says is evil and that
translates right to our viewpoint on who
god is and what god looks like
what god demands and
there are many
many will arise in the last days and
deceive many that’s what jesus said and
his words can’t be contravened
he saw he foresaw the future he knew
what was coming there will be many
who arise and say i am christ in other
words they’ll arise and they’ll say this
is what jesus christ looks like
christ is in me i am in christ and if
you listen to my voice and you follow me
you now know what jesus looks like but
they will be presenting an alternate
jesus another jesus and it’s a serious
issue this other jesus is not a a light
thing because paul the apostle said if
anyone brings to you another jesus
then the jesus we have preached to you
let him be accursed i mean so
that those are strong words those words
are inspired by the holy spirit that’s
not just an apostle in a bad mood and on
a rant writing down something in the
bible he shouldn’t have he that was
inspired by the holy spirit so this is a
serious issue
that we don’t
join the 58 who walked away from christ
and said this christ is too confusing
this christ is too hard this christ i
don’t understand this jesus and he’s
asking something of me that i find uh
personally difficult or abhorrent so i’m
walking away they didn’t walk away from
our religion uh uh guys and girls they
they just walked away from jesus
and they formed another messiah they
they were they were a nation looking for
a messiah so not rejecting the messiah
that had come
and clearly was revealing himself yet
they couldn’t hear it yet
they chose to walk away and form another
messiah and this is going to be the
besetting sin of the last days
professing church
in society of course we we know that
we’re in a day
you and i right now that the bible has
foretold
i began to preach a couple of years ago
in new york city that
we are entering a season of a whole
wholesale rebellion against the lordship
of jesus christ worldwide it’s not just
in america it’s all over the world jesus
himself warned i don’t know at what
particular point this is going to happen
but up up till up till it is completely
fulfilled it will be progressively begin
to happen in the earth you shall be
hated
of all nations
for my name’s sake and they shall
deliver you up and you shall be killed
now i mean this scripture obviously in
afghanistan today makes a lot of sense
to the believers that are there who are
preparing to die
and are hated for what they believe so
they understand this scripture we have
been
relatively
insulated from a lot of these
harder truths in america as a matter of
fact i’ve often said the church in
america has been raised on marshmallows
and now we’re being sent into war
we we have to as the apostle paul said
in acts chapter 27
when the ship was going down and all
hope was lost that they were going to be
saved apart from the word of god
it was paul who said now take some meat
so i’m going to encourage you this year
take some meat in other words take some
take the truths in god’s word that maybe
you wouldn’t be inclined to embrace or
want to digest and
the the harder truth some of them the
things that we we don’t just find it
pleasant but we find it difficult
you know we want the abundant life but
we don’t want the abundant life to lead
us to a cross you understand what i’m
saying you know so we have a tendency to
just gonna halfway into a lot of the
scriptures and say okay that and we
craft in a sense of view of what that’s
going to look like
but if we’re going to survive and if
we’re going to thrive and if we’re going
to make a difference we have to we have
to have the courage in a sense to take
in the whole council of the word of god
and not push away the hard truths and
just gravitate to what we like
and what we think god should be and what
we think our futures should look like
because let me tell it to you straight
i would do you a disservice if i didn’t
you are a generation that’s being raised
to go into the fire
you are the shadrach meshach and
abednegos of this generation it is going
to get very hot and it’s going to be
very very difficult
for all of us in the future this this
whole society is turning against christ
it’s turned dark the scales have tipped
it’s no longer popular to hold to a
biblical world view any longer on any
issue realistically
i was talking to two young boys who were
in school in canada 13 years of age both
christians on my vacation who
they
uh this their classroom now is mandatory
sessions on inclusion which just means
you see things our way we don’t see
things your way
and this this whole
thing of inclusion was talking about
uh the acceptance of uh you know
bathroom rules where boys can go to
girls bathrooms and girls to boys and
all this crazy stuff and
and these two boys they said
in the classroom we we don’t agree with
this
matter of fact they said we think this
whole thing is kind of weird but
we’re not going to be obnoxious about it
we obviously are going to be kind to all
people but we simply don’t agree with it
next thing you know these two boys are
at the principal’s office their parents
have been called and they’re on the
verge of of discipline because they have
failed to be exclusive you see there’s
no longer any discussion in the nation
it’s like with the hebrew boys you
either bend or you burn those are your
two options that are left to you but
these boys and daniel the prophet they
made a decision in their youth as you’re
going to have to make as young people of
god they decided not to defile
themselves with the king’s table what
the secular king’s table that meat which
was being given to the young people and
of of of their generation they said
we’re not going to ingest these things
and there’s a point where listen let me
let me just tell you you got to turn off
the cultural talk of this time
you just have to put away the the the
meat that’s being served on the table of
this young generation and say as as
opposed to that i’m going to get my
value system is going to come from the
word of god
the truth i’m not going to fall to this
concept of your truth and my truth there
is only one truth that truth is in the
word of god and that truth is the word
of god
i am the way
the truth and the life no man comes to
the father except through me said jesus
so i’m going to embrace the truth of god
as the only truth i’m going to embrace
it as it’s written i’m going to pray for
the grace to read
it in the manner that god can speak to
me what he wanted my heart to hear
and i’m going to yield my life for his
purpose
now all of that generation who ate the
king’s meat and all of the young people
of that time there were other people
that had a heritage a godly heritage but
most if not all bent and bowed before
the golden stature of their time this
this image of man that man always wants
to create and have all of society bend
before it and we don’t know any of their
names do we none of them but we do know
the names of the three who didn’t bend
and those who bent and bowed before the
common thought of their society they
just faded off into obscurity i don’t
know what their eternity would or would
not be
but the three who didn’t were able to
change the laws of the nation were able
to influence their society but they had
to go through the fire first you
understand it’s going to take courage to
stand it’s not going to be easy if you
hold to a biblical worldview of marriage
you might not be able to hold to a job
in the future you might have to trust
god for your provision
there’s you’re going to be threatened in
the workplace it’s going to be very very
difficult
um if if some of you go on from here
into secular professions or college
you’re going to be scorned ridicule
mocked laughed at you’re going to be
called a hater and a bigot and a divider
you’re going to be
considered
a person that is of no value to society
because you hold to
a view the view of christ you hold to
the word of god now i have a word for
you that god gave me during my vacation
for
for today and it’s beginning in psalm 2.
if you want to go there in your bible
with me in psalm
psalm 2.
so father i just want to thank you
god for your word
your word is a lamp for our feet and the
light for our path
you tell us
that the entrance of your words
gives light
and so god almighty would you would you
help us to just simply open our hearts
and open the doors of our minds not just
in this chapel but all throughout the
year god speak to us speak to us lord
lord we don’t want to be insignificant
players in this end time
battle for truth and for the souls of
men and women and children
we want to make a difference
but we recognize that without truth we
can’t our lamps won’t have oil
and we won’t be able to show people the
way to life
so give us courage today that we’re
going to need for tomorrow
give us resolve
that we’re going to embrace the real
cross the real christ
the real pathway the real truth
and the real purpose for our lives help
us lord jesus christ
and we thank you for it in your precious
name
and give me the grace lord to speak this
amen
psalm 2 why do the nations rage
and the people plot a vain thing
the kings of the earth set themselves
and the rulers take counsel together
against the lord
and against his anointed now that’s
exactly where we are living today
rulers and leaders are taking counsel
together the council the direction
they’re heading in is against christ
and against those who are called by his
name
and they’re saying let us break their
bonds in pieces and cast away their
cords from us so here’s
here’s what we are facing today we are
facing a godlessness
that has gotten into some measure it’s
never an ultimate authority because
god’s in ultimate authority but this
godlessness has gotten a hold
of many in leadership positions whether
it’s in corporations or schools or
government wherever it is
and the ultimate goal
is to take away the restrictions on
behavior that the presence of god
implies
in society in people and families and
homes
you know the word of god says that we
should not fornicate and all that means
sex outside of marriage and all
fornicators they don’t belong in the
kingdom of god the word of god calls
adultery sin a sin that that that brings
a stain that just doesn’t go away and
you know i can just go on and on the
scripture says no no thief will inherit
the kingdom of god i mean we go on they
don’t want these restrictions on their
behavior so
the result is
that they get together and say let’s
impose
a new world order
let’s impose a new value system
on this society and let’s break the
bonds that these people who say they
know god
have i’ve
placed on our society that have
restricted
our behaviors
let’s call evil good
and let’s turn around and call good evil
and this is where we’re living today
this is the day
that we are going into
now listen to god’s response to this he
who sits in the heavens
shall laugh
the lord shall hold them in derision in
other words
he
he will let them go
into confusion and who can debate but
that we are in confusion in america
today there seems to be confusion on
almost every level
in society right now there’s i don’t
think there’s any debating that
i see the hand of god
in the confusion that america has now
experienced the shame of faith that
we’re now experiencing even with the
debacle in afghanistan
he shall speak to them in his wrath and
distress them
in his deep displeasure so god’s already
on the move
and he’s already saying i’m not going to
let this prosper
yes they will raise their voice and yes
they will stand against the people of
god and yes they will try to cast away
all cords that the word of god puts on
human behavior
but god says i’m going to confuse them
i’m going to confound them and then i’m
going to start speaking to them in my
displeasure i don’t fully understand
what all of that is going to look like
but i’ll tell you one thing i would not
want to be in the position of god
speaking to me in his displeasure
he has the power to cast into elder
darkness you understand is the power to
bring a judicial blindness even on
governments
his speech cannot be contravened nobody
can stand against the word of god when
he speaks it must be done
now
the rest of this psalm speaks about
christ it speaks about god’s response to
this it speaks about a messiah so but as
the body of christ we are the
co-inheritors as it is because we sit
with him in heavenly places at the right
hand of god he is the head we are the
body so we in a sense
and i want to look at it in that context
become co-inheritors of what god speaks
that he’s going to do through his son
so let’s take a look at these verses
yet i have set my king
on my holy hill of zion so this is the
first thing
that i believe that you and i need to do
if we’re going to make a difference in
this generation i’ve already spoken
about that
in other words we are determined in our
heart there’s going to be one king in my
life
there’s going to be one voice that
speaks there’s one path there’s one
direction there’s one place i’m going to
go as christ obeyed his father
knowing he was born to die as christ
obeyed his father and even in the garden
of gethsemane even though he did not
want to do the thing he was called to do
yet in obedience to his father he said
not my will but thine yet have i set my
king upon my holy hill of zion it’s
interesting that this school used to be
called zion
in the beginning before the name was
changed to summit
and i want to challenge you
that in this year that you are here or
two years whatever your situation is
that you set
jesus
on the in the proper place in your heart
and in your life you are my king even if
you go tonight to your room and you pray
that and say jesus you are my king
you have the right to my life you
purchased me with your blood you are
truth all truth is found in you the
purpose of my life will only be found
when i begin to acknowledge you not just
as savior but as lord of my life
as lord of my life god help me to yield
the reigns of my life help me my god to
to give up my own plans and dreams and
ambitions help me not to fall into the
trap of trying to refashion you into a
god that i find suitable for my future
you have a future for me and i’ll tell
you straight out most everybody here if
not all you don’t know what that future
is none of us do
only god knows and we’ll never get to
where we need to go if he’s not the king
he has to have the right he has to have
the right to speak into our hearts we we
we go to our knees one night we or we
sit on the edge of our bed and we just
are we think we’re having just our
regular devotions and suddenly just
something from god something of heaven
drops into our soul a country a culture
a people a purpose a meaning something
you never considered before god drops it
into your soul because that is his will
for your life
i had a young actress one time come to
christ at times square church and
she was so excited she was a front row
christian she was dancing and jumping up
and down and she would come to me after
most every service and say it’s so
exciting i found god i found christ as
my savior i’ve been looking for this all
of my life and then i noticed over time
she started kind of sliding back third
row fourth row and then one sunday after
service she came to me she said god
can’t ask
he can’t possibly be asking me to do
this
i said asking you to do what she said to
give up my acting career
it’s been my dream it’s been my passion
since i was a child it’s been all i’ve
ever loved and longed for and wanted to
do and he can’t be possibly asking me to
do this tell me she said to me that he’s
not asking me to do this
i said i can’t tell you that
i can’t tell you he’s not asking you to
do that because only you know for sure
what god is asking but i can tell you
that if he is asking you to give up
something he has something better for
your life
he has something that he’s destined for
your life and and she remember the last
time i spoke to her she looked at me and
she said after i had shared this with
her she said no it can’t be
that he’s as he was willing to embrace a
jesus that would enhance her acting
career
she was not willing to embrace a jesus
that would ask her to give it up
for another reason and for another
purpose and she eventually the last time
i saw her she was at the back of the
church
then i never saw her again she just
disappeared back into
in a sense back into the ocean that she
had come from she’d found the savior but
she found a savior that
initially wasn’t asking anything of her
and when he did she backed up and backed
away and so my challenge to you this
year is is set your heart on this hill
this hill of zion which which you know
in type in a sense is calvary it’s the
cross set your heart there
we belong to him
he’s the savior he has the rights he has
the plan
he knows what will bring fulfillment not
just to us but through us for the sake
of others he knows
he knows the plan he has he knew it
before you even came to him he foreknew
you
he knew what he had destined you to do
and it’s and most often it’s way out of
the box of our thinking i can speak that
from experience most of what i’ve done
all my life i’ve never thought i could
ever do it
it was simply god as i began to seek him
the doors began to open so set your
heart
on the hill of zion
verse 7 he says i will declare the
decree
the lord has said to me you are my son
today i have begotten you i will
declare the decree this is point number
two he is my lord
but i will agree with him as to what he
speaks about me i am according to second
corinthians chapter 5 verse 21 the
righteousness of god in christ jesus
now that would be blasphemous if it
weren’t true if it weren’t written in
the bible in other words i am as clean
as god is in christ jesus so i’m not
going to
live my whole year listening to the
voice of the condemner do you understand
i am done with the condemner jesus
christ is my king his blood bought me he
has cleansed me i am as righteous as god
is through jesus christ yes i struggle
and yes i fail but every time i fall he
picks me up
he carries me forward because he has a
divine plan for my life and i am not
going to live under the voice of the
condemner i am a child of god
i belong to jesus christ heaven is my
home my name is written in the lamb’s
book of life i will rule and reign with
christ for all of eternity i will
declare the decree i will declare it
the devil can he’ll keep you under his
condemning voice all year
and you’ll become discouraged and you’ll
not grow and you’ll not be able to hear
from god because every day you’ll just
be pointing out
you only prayed for 58 minutes it wasn’t
an hour you said a nasty thing to that
person you weren’t kind you didn’t give
five dollars to you it would be all day
it will never end
but at some point we have to agree with
god i will declare the decree i am who
god says i am hallelujah to the lamb of
god
glory to god
thank god
in verse 8 he says now ask of me and i
will give you the nations for your
inheritance
and the ends of the earth
for your possession
in john chapter 16 jesus said to his own
disciples
you haven’t asked anything of me up to
this point ask now and he said and you
shall receive.
that your life might be full
you’ll have joy
you will ask you see when you when
christ is your king
and we recognize who we are in christ
we understand we have a divine
commission then we begin to ask
for the things that god has determined
to do through our lives hallelujah
and suddenly heaven begins to open and
suddenly he says ask of me and i’ll give
you the nations for your inheritance
the ends of the earth for your
possession ask of me ask to be
think bigger than you’ve thought so far
thus far in your life
don’t put limits on god kick the sides
out of that box that culture and time
and family and even your own perception
is put around you kick those kick those
sides down and say god i’m yours you
want to send me to india send me to
india
whatever you want to do through my life
god do it through my life and help me to
always go through every door ask of me
i’ll give you the nations for your
inheritance glory to god glory to god
glory to god glory doesn’t mean you’re
doesn’t mean you’re going to live in
every place in the world it means
everywhere you go there’s going to be
something of the kingdom of god born
through your life
verse 9 he says you shall break them
with a rod of iron and dash them to
pieces like a potter’s vessel in other
words god says i am going to give you
spiritual authority
everywhere you go because you know who i
am you know who you are you know the
meaning of your life you know your
purpose
in second corinthians chapter 10
and verse 4 paul says the weapons of our
warfare are not carnal but mighty in god
for pulling down
strongholds
casting down arguments and every high
thing that exalts itself against the
knowledge of god and bringing every
thought into captivity to the obedience
of christ
and being ready to punish all
disobedience when your obedience is
fulfilled
being ready
being ready to stand
being ready to go into the fire
being ready to say to any heathen king
if
if if god god can deliver me if he wants
to but even if he doesn’t i trust him
and i believe that there’s a divine
purpose to it i’m not bending my knee to
the gods of this generation but i’m
bringing the god
of this universe into this situation
and i’m going to pray
and i’m going to speak and i’m going to
stand and i’m going to believe as the
scripture says the weapons of my warfare
are not carnal but they’re mighty in god
to the pulling down of strongholds
casting down imaginations and every high
thing that exalts itself against the
knowledge of god
and those of you who know my history and
the places throughout the world that god
has sent me you know this
in my life i know this to be true
i’ve been in places of war
i’ve been in places where i shouldn’t be
i’ve been in places where the
strongholds were so deep and so powerful
but not that nothing but the presence of
god
could bring them down but i’ve lived
long enough to see this scripture
fulfilled
and it started
in just the early years of just saying
jesus
you’re my king
and i’m not interested
in the other jesus
of those who choose to take another path
those who choose they don’t like the god
of the bible
and they don’t like the demands of the
god of the bible so they try to
take this jesus apart as the
children of israel did
when they came out
of egypt and when the presence of the
lord through moses seemed to be distant
they took the spoils in the sense that
god had given them
and they fashioned a god that they could
see and a god that they could carry and
a god that they could point at a god
that they could lead and i want to tell
you humanity doesn’t change
people come to christ and are given
giftings and they take the mind he’s
given them and they now start fashioning
another jesus a jesus that doesn’t judge
a jesus that doesn’t send anybody to
hell a jesus that demands no
sanctification or holiness that you know
i could just go on and on and we’re
seeing it in our generation on steroids
now
but i’ve set my kick on my holy hill of
zion
this is where this is where it begins
you have to put a stake in the ground
it’s it’s really that simple you just i
don’t care how you do it but you put a
stake in the ground maybe you want to go
out in the field and find a branch and
stick it in the ground or just
symbolically do it but say this
this
is where you become my king
i’m going to serve the real christ
i’m going to take the pathway of the
real christ i’m going to declare who i
am through the real christ i’m going to
start asking the real christ for his
purpose and will
in my life and i’m going to believe god
for the power
to make a difference in this generation
i’m not going to bow before this golden
statue
of this time
in the theological apostasy
of this present church age
i’m going to stand and walk with jesus
and i don’t care if i’m hated
let them call me what they want to call
me they called the master of the house
beelzebub how much more them of his
household
that’s what he said
so don’t expect to be
loved but do expect
that people will be born again and come
into the kingdom of god
do expect that the weakest among us will
be filled with the holy ghost
with the evidence of speaking in other
tongues do expect that through your life
god will begin to do things that that
only he could do i’ve been there i’ve
come home and i’m just saying
you gotta know you gotta walk it you
gotta see it you gotta you gotta take
the chance you gotta go through the door
it’s really just that simple
by god’s grace
this will be that kind of a year
so father i want to thank you god
i want to thank you
for the young men and women in the
sabbatical students and
and others in this school
we are not the only game in town but god
we’re in the game
and we want to thank you that
by your presence in power we will
fulfill our calling
all of us
whatever it is you’ve called us to do
wherever you called us to go whatever
you’ve called us to be
we yield our lives afresh and anew to
you
and we simply start the day by declaring
you to be king
because if you aren’t
then all the learning in the world won’t
make any difference
you have to be
king
first
and so lord we settled it in our hearts
your king of our past our present and
our future
you bought
us with your blood
and living for you
is simply reasonable
you call it our reasonable service
so god i thank you
thank you lord jesus christ that you
will do something
here this year perhaps
deeper than it has ever been done before
if we will let you
god we thank you
in jesus name i’m going to ask the
worship team to come if you would please
and
not
i’m
i want to give you an opportunity to
respond you know for some
it might mean something to come and
kneel at this altar
for others you don’t have to
it’s a heart issue you know we can get
into postures but it means nothing if
it’s not in the heart
it’s a heart issue i i did this i was 28
i guess 26 somewhere around there
and some of you know the story and some
of you don’t but i was in a church and a
pastor preached a message that really
touched my heart and it it concluded
with a
an altar call to to give your your
future
your all your everything to god for his
purposes
and
there was an affluent church of about
700-800 people
they had all the history they had the
the christian families i didn’t come
from a christian family they
they seemed to have it all together at
least on the outside they looked good
and they had big bibles and they
acknowledge
i had a jean jacket a beard
a
royal canadian mounted police bible that
i had been given in police college
and
a bad temper
and i selfless to the core of my being
and i had so many issues in my life that
had to be worked out
i was the last person that i thought
would ever ever
ever
god would ever want
[Music]
but i was so shocked everybody stood up
and nobody moved i thought these folks
have it all together they’ve got all the
knowledge
they’ve got the they’ve got the history
they they understand the scriptures i
don’t even know what the old testament
is
but nobody moved and i found it so sad
so i thought i felt like uh isaiah in
chapter six when when he’s looking
around when the lord says who will go
for us
and
like all these created beings
if i was there i think if that thing
with six wings went somebody would
listen to him
or her or whatever it was and and and
but nothing nobody answered and then
he’s the worst he’s in the worst
condition in the whole room
and a lot of people think he’s up
jumping down here might send me and i
think it was like well
if nobody else will go i’ll go
and that’s how i felt that day and i was
sitting over here in this center road
near the back
and i just got up all by myself and i
came down and another guy came down it
was two of us out of 800
people came forward and i got on my
knees and i just started to cry and i
said god
i have nothing
to give you the little boy i remember my
prayer he said the little boy in
scripture had at least
some loaves and fishes i don’t even have
that i mean i’ve got nothing i can’t
speak publicly
i i don’t really even like people let
alone love them
[Music]
i don’t care
about people
i was just going through the list of
like like
i have nothing i just
and i remember my prayer i said but god
if you can use nothing here i am
you can have me
and it was that day i just said god
you’re my king jesus
you you
you want to use this thing you use it
[Music]
but it’s going to have to be real and
it’s going to have to be you because i
can’t do this thing i don’t know how to
do it
[Music]
you know the interesting thing is i’m
invited to speak in that church and i
have an open invitation to go back i’m
going to go back in about a month or two
and speak there
40 years later and they don’t know i was
even ever there
and i’m going to start my message by
saying it’s so good to be back here
again after having traveled the world
i’ve seen hundreds of thousands of
people come to christ
[Music]
and so
don’t let anything stop you from making
him king
nothing
don’t start looking at what you don’t
have because it doesn’t matter he
doesn’t need anything you have he
doesn’t need your strength he doesn’t
need doesn’t care about your weakness
it’s going to be all
him and you watch what god will begin to
do
hallelujah