Introduction
I am coming to the end of a long, very demanding travel schedule. This is the final week of the stretch and I will be on the road the entire week. To help me out, I have asked some of our favorite Give Him 15 guests to write posts. They are outstanding. Today’s post by my friend, Greg Hood, is a very encouraging message on The Victorious Church. Enjoy.
The Victorious Church
Hello and welcome to Give Him 15. I am Greg Hood. I am honored to be filling in for my friend Dutch today. The title of today’s post is “The Victorious Church.”
There is some confusion regarding the assignment of the Church. Many think our only job is to witness, save the lost, and get them into heaven. Let’s plunder hell and populate heaven—great idea, but not complete.
Yeshua never assigned us only to offer people heaven. That was not His goal. We are to bring people into the Kingdom of God. I know what you’re thinking. Isn’t the Kingdom of God in heaven? Well, yes and no. Actually, our destiny is not in heaven; our destiny is in the Kingdom of God on earth.
Matthew 6:10 makes this very clear. It reads, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” (NKJV)
We are assigned to the earth to expand the Kingdom of God. Now, let me clarify. When you die, you go to heaven if you’re born again. But it’s a short stay. We will return with Yeshua to a new heaven and a new earth.
Yeshua did not promise us a religion; He promised us a Kingdom. We need to distinguish between religion and Yeshua. We must learn to discern:
What is God? What is not God?
What is His will? What is not His will.
What is His assignment? What is not His assignment?
Bringing the Kingdom of God to earth is Yeshua’s assignment.
The enemy wants to stop our momentum. Yet the enemy’s resistance will not catch us off guard if we position ourselves and prepare for the enemy’s retaliation as we take ground. That’s why Paul said in Ephesians 6: “and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand firm therefore.” Then he lists what we need to do so.
As the Ekklesia, we must be aware of the counterattack of the enemy. Fights are rarely easy. Most are lengthy struggles. As we are wrestling with the enemy for territory, we must expect pushback when we fight.
Just as Yeshua has a body—the Church—so does the enemy. Have you ever thought about that? The enemy has an Ekklesia working in the earth on his behalf to produce the will of the Kingdom of Darkness. Fortunately, the enemy’s governmental structure has been defeated through the death, burial, and resurrection of King Yeshua, and the arrival of the Holy Spirit to earth to take up residence in us.
We are the most dangerous force on the planet. Conversely, we are the least significant when we are off the planet. Why? Because we were not created to operate in the unseen realm alone, even though we have authority in the unseen realm, we must operate from the seen realm. That’s where our authority resides.
Ephesians 2:6 says, “God raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”
When we operate from the seen realm, we can pull things from the unseen realm into the seen realm that need to be here. But it takes effort. This is not like going to Wal-Mart and filling our buggies. We have to understand: We’re in a fight. This is not a Church social or a Sunday School picnic. The goal is not our comfort. It’s a fight for our lives. It’s a fight for the nation.
When Jesus was choosing disciples, some would-be disciples proclaimed: “Hey, we’re willing to follow you.” Jesus replied with a sobering reality regarding the fight in which he was engaged. “Birds have nests, foxes have holes, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head” (Matthew 8:20).
Sadly, the modern-day Church is lethargic, weak, and complacent. It sees its goal as coexisting on the enemy’s territory rather than turning that kingdom into the Kingdom of God. Set this mentality before you: We are in a war. Not only can we win this fight, but we have already won this fight. We have to walk it out. The fight is fixed! Why? Because we’re more than conquerors, Jesus won. Jesus, conquered. Romans 8:37 (NKJV) says, “Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” What does it mean to be more than a conqueror?
Let me tell you a story! There is a great Filipino boxer named Manny Pacquiao. The only reason Joan and I owned a TV in the early days of our marriage was so she could watch him box. Manny trained in Big Bear, California, where he ran every day, no matter the weather: rain, wind, or snow, he ran and sweated and shadow-boxed. His sparing partners were matched to resemble his upcoming opponents, and he insisted that they fight realistically. The results were cuts and bruises, just like a real contest.
When each fight came, he entered the ring fully prepared to defeat his opponent. Most of the time, he won (unless they cheated, according to my wife, Joan). When the referee raised Manny’s hand, he was a conqueror.
Now, the story continues. Most people don’t know what happened when he left the ring. Yes, he was a conqueror, but he encountered “she who was more than the conqueror.” Her name is Jinkee, his wife. Why is she more than a conqueror? Even though Manny won the fight and got the prize money, she got to spend it. She never ran, never bled, never bruised, never had to get up early, never had to watch her diet. Yet they shared the prize of the fight. This is the meaning of Romans 8:37.
There is no division between the conqueror and the “more than the conqueror.” They are married. They are one. They are together for life. What’s his…is hers. And what’s hers is hers. Yeah. Something like that. Everything Manny won, they shared. The same thing applies to the Church. Jesus won the fight, but He shares the prize with us.
Now, modern Christianity says that the gospel is all about the individual—our personal relationship with King Yeshua. Yes, we must be born again individually, but Yeshua did not die solely for the individual. He died for the corporate body as well, which He created to legislate on earth in His name. Our salvation and our walk with God are not just about you or me. It’s about us…all of us. As the Ekklesia, we must shift from individual Christianity to a corporate Ekklesia.
It’s not the ministry’s responsibility to preach “Seven Ways To A Better You.” Of course, if you need seven ways, or seventy-seven ways, God will get those to you. But it will always be to build you for the kingdom.
In Ekklesia gatherings, our assignment is to look past our personal lives and come together to execute rule and authority. As we read in Psalms 149:9, “To execute on them the written judgment—This honor have all His saints. Praise the Lord!” We are the legislative body of the kingdom of God on earth. We are the Ekklesia of the Father. We are His victorious Church!
Pray with me:
Father, we thank You for making us more than conquerors through Yeshua’s death, burial, and resurrection. We ask that You would empower us by the help of Holy Spirit to make a greater shift into our victorious position to legislate on behalf of Your government, the Kingdom of God.
Our decree:
We decree that the Church, the Ekklesia across the nation, is becoming more aware of the battle at hand for our country and that the Church, His Ekklesia, is causing the kingdoms of this world to become the kingdom of our God and His Christ.
Most of today’s post came from my new book Ancient Evils, Present-Day Manifestations, Volume 1- The Rise of the Ekklesia. You can find this book at GregHood.org.
Thank you for joining me today.
Click on the link below to watch the full video.