THEME: WINNING EUROPE FOR CHRIST 

PREAMBLE 

Praise the Lord! 

In our presentation this morning on WINNING EUROPE FOR CHRIST, we observed that 

i. Winning nations for Christ implies the spiritual take-over of nations for possession, reign, and rule by Jesus Christ. 

ii. The mission will by definition involve battles in the spiritual realms against spirits, powers, political powers, and lords of nations at all the gates of the nations. 

iii. In the end, it will demand political and social action for the transformation and the re-building of the nations in the spirit, truth, and knowledge of God, all under Jesus Christ the Son, Saviour, Redeemer, and Messiah upon whom the Father has bestowed all authority and power regarding His Kingdom order on earth.

 

Our description of the above process of reconciling, delivering, winning, redeeming, and establishing nations and peoples under Christ and God Kingdom order on earth in simple terms, is making the Kingdom of God a social reality in the nations. That is to say, winning nations for Christ ends up in breaking the Satan-man dictated world order, transforming it and translating the ideals of the Kingdom of God into social reality. This has been the commission, vision, and mission of the Ghana Evangelical Society (a branch of Enoch Missions), which has been engaged with reconciling, delivering, redeeming, rebuilding, and establishing Ghana as a nation and a people in God Kingdom order—as a Christian nation, Beulah Land, God Kingdom Glory state and the Star of Africa. The mission has been declared as ACCOMPLISHED by the Lord.  

Ghana now stands as a chosen nation: sought out, redeemed, married, and made holy unto God, and established in Christ (Messianic) Kingdom order. The Society is still engaged in battles as Watchman over the chosen and redeemed nation while awaiting the election of a David to take over the reins of government and help complete the transformation and reconstruction of Ghana in the knowledge and hand of God as well as the transfer of the kingdoms of the country unto God and Christ. That will make the Kingdom of God a social reality in the country.  

We are confident that this is not only possible, but it will also soon come to pass. Amen! When this becomes a reality, as it would, the Church will have cause to believe and pursue KINGDOM BUILDING—not in spiritual terms alone, but also in real practical terms. It will help bring understanding to the practical realities of the transfer and translation of peoples and nations from the kingdom of Satan and man to the Kingdom of God and His Christ.  

In that case, the Kingdom of God will be translated from the hearts of men into life and become the basis of conduct and society. The Kingdom of God will constitute a National Identity just as nations are described today as capitalist or democratic, socialist or communist, Islamic, Hinduist, Buddhist, or other. The Ghana experience tells me that it is possible to win nations for Christ and establish them in God Kingdom order on earth. To put it another way, the Kingdom of God is here with us. The Church has spiritual, moral, and social responsibility to build and make the Kingdom of God real in the nations. 

 

INTRODUCTION 

Beloved, essentially, the Kingdom of God pertains to God’s dominion, reign, and rule in heaven and on earth—in our context in the affairs of peoples and nations. It is this realm of God’s dominion, reign, and rule in the spirit that the Church has been mandated and given charge first to reconcile nations and bring them into peace with God, and to win, re-build, and establish them in the Kingdom of God, and second to order, translate, and transform into practical terms the kingdom political and social order in nations and the world for that matter. 

It is the building, establishing, and translating the Kingdom of God from the realms of the spirit into practical social terms that we want to discuss under the topic: THE KINGDOM IS HERE. Our aim in doing so, is not so much to define or explain ‘kingdom building’ in nations as to survey the field of spiritual and social transformation in the transfer of faith in the power of Satan and man to faith in the power of God and the life, light, and way of God (Isaiah 42: 6-9; Acts 26: 18; Isaiah 2: 1-5). 

 

KINGDOM BUILDING, KINGDOM ADVANCEMENT 

It may be remembered in this connection that the main and primary message the Lord Jesus Christ preached Himself is about the Kingdom of Heaven. His main message was: “Repent: for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4: 17). In this regard, the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5, 6 and 7) have been described as a sermon for the promulgation of the Kingdom of God on earth. The sermon gives a clear picture of the practical living and social dimensions of the Kingdom of God. He concluded the matter by declaring: “But seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Matthew 6: 33 KJV) 

That is to say, the physical, mental, emotional, economic, material, and social concerns which constitute the prime and sole concern of paganism and the Satan-man kingdom order will be taken care of any way when the Kingdom of God and His righteousness is established. Thus, it can be said that when Jesus declared the ‘Kingdom is at hand,’ He could see in His spirit, mind, and eyes—remember, yesterday, today, and tomorrow are the same before Him, His soon coming victory and conquest of Satan and man and the overthrow of the Satan-man kingdom order of darkness and death and the ultimate transfer of the kingdoms of the world to Him. Some scriptures depict the process of take-over and transfer of kingdoms as follows: Isaiah 62: 10; 61: 1-6; 1st Corinthians 15: 24-28; 2nd Corinthians 10: 5-6; Ephesians 1: 10. 

We can see from the scriptures that Christ has power to take-over the kingdoms of the world. Hence, He taught the Church to pray for the process and day of fulfillment (Matthew 6: 9-13, 33). Thus, the Church has not only the mandate and power to proclaim the Gospel of the Kingdom, (Matthew 24: 14). The Church also has authority and power to build and advance the Kingdom of God by taking-over, transforming, and transferring the kingdoms of the world to Jesus Christ. 

Let us consider these Scriptures briefly: 

a. Matthew 16: 18-19. The mandate and authority to knock at the gates of hell. 

b. Luke 10: 18-19. The battle theatre – Satan fallen predicted 

c. Matthew 6: 9-10, 13. The building process, Divine authority, direction, unction, and presence. 

 

In the above three realms of kingdom building and Kingdom advancement, the intention is ultimately to establish Christ’s take-over, dominion, reign, and rule of the nations. The critical question we need to settle here is the special position and standing of Jesus Christ following His conquest and victory over sin, Satan, and death. His resurrection and elevation with a crown and a name above every name settles any dispute as to His right, authority and power in the affairs of spirits and powers, political authority, social and cultural order of nations and peoples. That is to say, His authority and power for the dominion, reign, and rule over all spirits, all powers, all wisdom, knowledge, and all reality in this world and the world to come is full proof of His stature as Spirit and Power, as God, King, Lord, and Governor over the nations (Ephesians 1: 19-23). 

 

THE KINGDOM IS HERE 

We can conclude from the above that THE KINGDOM of GOD IS HERE with us. God has set in motion the reconciliation of the world with Himself through Christ. He has established peace, righteousness, and joy everlasting in the worship of Him through Jesus Christ the Son sent, the victorious One, Saviour, Redeemer, and the Prince of Peace. Christ is fully qualified to order and establish His government and everlasting kingdom of peace, righteousness, justice, judgement, and joy, yes, peace on earth and goodwill towards men (Isaiah 9: 6-7; Luke 2: 14). The Spirit of the Lord signifies this by declaring: “But unto the Son He saith, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of Thy kingdom.” (Hebrews 1: 8 KJV)  

From the foregoing, we can declare that THE KINGDOM IS HERE. Christ’s dominion, reign, and rule of the earth has begun. Let us conclude the matter by indicating that from church mission point of view what is now taking place is; 

a. The Declaration of Christ’s victory and the subjecting of all authority and power, all dominion, kingdoms, and thrones unto obedience at the feet of Jesus Christ, the King of Glory. 2nd Corinthians 10:5 (This is an area of deep battles – Kingdom Battles). 

b. The gathering of all creation so delivered unto Christ. Ephesians 1:10 (The deliverance and redemption of creation). 

c. The proclamation of the gospel of the kingdom followed by social action for the transformation of customs, culture, and social order and transfer of allegiance from powers and demonic and human systems to Christ through observance and honor of the Word of God. (Luke 4: 18-19; Isaiah 61: 1-6). The prime goal here is the worship of God, and establishment of social righteousness, justice, and liberty. 

 

A DECLARATION OF WAR 

Now, the Kingdom message, Kingdom building, and the connected social transformation to make the Kingdom a social reality is, to say the least, A DECLARATION OF WAR. This is so because there is first, the re-assertion of God’s ownership of creation and standing as Creator and hence, His right of dominion, reign, and rule over His creation. 

Second, there is the proclamation of Christ’s victory over sin, death, and Satan. He has overthrown the spirits and powers behind sin, death, and rule on earth. He demands right of honor as the victorious One, Saviour, Deliverer, Redeemer, Lord, God, and King. Both involve contention with the existing reigning and ruling powers with dominion over territories, peoples, and all. The inherent spiritual and social transformation is warfare—Kingdom Violence that is. This is a reality. It often leads to deep contention, sometimes death of apostles, prophets, and warriors, not to talk of persecution, religious wars, and all. 

Many Christian leaders and ministers always avoid engaging in the inevitable tension and kingdom battles for fear of persecution, loss of favor before men, and death. Yet, there is no gainsaying that Christ has won victory, conquered the powers, and now has authority and power over the heavens as well as the earth. And that, the Church has been specifically mandated and commanded to proclaim, pursue, build, and establish the Kingdom of God and His Christ on earth. 

 

KINGDOM MISSION REALITIES 

Let us examine briefly the Kingdom mission realities. There are three major aspects of the Church kingdom mission: – 

i. The proclamation of the gospel of the Kingdom 

ii. Building and establishing the Kingdom 

iii. Engagement in the Kingdom battles 

 

A. THE PROCLAMATION OF THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM (MATTHEW 24: 14)

Please note that, the proclamation of the Gospel of the Kingdom is no more than declaring Christ’s Victory, Plans, Government, Reign, Rule, and Kingdom on earth to whosoever, to whatever, to wherever, sent. The Kingdom message today is ‘THE KINGDOM HAS COME’. Christ has won victory and dominion over all spirits and powers. The message to all is this; “You are free, come out of the bondage, captivity and dominion of Satan and men. The Son has come to set you free. Believe, Rejoice, Crossover!” The other side of the coin is, “Satan, get thee hence. Jesus the King is here.” 

Believing, agreeing, and submission to Christ establishes one in Truth, Victory, Liberty, and the Kingdom of God.  e.g. for the individual it requires no more than surrendering your life to Christ i.e. rejecting first the rule of your own life and second, rejecting obeisance to all powers other than Christ. It also means total yielding of oneself (yourself)—Heart, Mind, Spirit, Body, and Soul to Jesus Christ. Christ must reign and rule in your heart. The Kingdom must be established in your heart, mind, and soul. There can be no two masters, no idols etc. The same applies to households, villages, towns, cities, peoples, tribes, nations, continents, and the world. Moses declared; O ISRAEL, THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE GOD! 

 

B. BUILDING AND ESTABLISHING THE KINGDOM

Essentially, this is a matter of spiritual and social transformation after the Knowledge of God and His Christ. Jesus has come to order and establish His Government and Everlasting Kingdom on earth—in nations and among and for peoples (Isaiah 9: 6-7). The Christ (Messianic) Kingdom Order as we put it, is established through the Power of the Word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit in full recognition and honor of Jesus Christ. Essentially, the objective here is establishing God’s reign and rule in the affairs of peoples, nations, and the world. There are two sides: – The Spiritual side and the Social side. 

God is Spirit, Christ is Spirit. The Reign and Rule of God and Christ are basically in the Spirit. Christ will order and establish both. But Christ has right and duty to order a new social order. This is the responsibility and mission task of the church. This is the basis of social transformation. (The word of God and the prophetic voice of God is critical to social transformation). 

 

C. ENGAGEMENTIN THE KINGDOM BATTLES 

Building and Establishing the Kingdom inevitably involves battles, to unseat principalities and powers and take-over and transfer kingdoms, dominions, and thrones (cf Matthew 4: 8-11; Luke 10: 18-20; Matthew 16: 18-19). Beloved, the proclamation, building, and establishing the Kingdom at any level involves battles, warfare that is. Men, peoples, tribes, and nations need definite decision to save themselves from what I call the ‘Satan-man alliance’ and kingdom order of the world.  

It is in this connection that even the Church has herself fallen prey to the deception and subtlety of Satan. The Gospel of ease and comfort—No Cross, No Suffering. The Gospel of Human Dominion of the earth packaged as Kingdom Message—humanistic interpretation, deception, and seduction of Satan. They ‘began in the spirit and are ending in the flesh.’ 

 

CONCLUSION 

THE KINGDOM IS HERE. CHRIST HAS WON THE VICTORY. Hallelujah!  

The Church has been equipped and empowered to proclaim, declare, liberate, and establish freedom and liberty, build, and crown Jesus Christ as God, King, Lord, and Governor of the nations. His government, reign and rule has begun. From individuals to households through communities, towns, and cities to tribes and nations—THE KINGDOM IS HERE for all who may. For the nations and the earth to be fully taken over there is bound to be battles and warfare of varying degrees. 

In all these things, the Church is and can be more than conquerors in “casting out spirits and casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (2nd Corinthians 10:5). The end of the story is clearly in view. Christ reign and rule have begun and is growing from shore to shore. The Church Kingdom Mission is in progress. Soon, all things shall be gathered unto Christ who in the end will hand over everything to the Father. “The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever.” (Rev. 11: 15). 

 

Come let us go on board THE ARK and REDEMPTION MISSION MACHINE. The Kingdoms of Europe will become the Kingdom of God and Christ. Hallelujah!