The Clash of the Cultures part

12
Pastor Kerry Wilson
 The Clash of the Cultures part 12
• 15Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven,
saying, “The kingdoms[a] of this world have become the kingdoms of our
Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!” 16 And the
twenty-four elders who sat before God on their thrones fell on their faces
and worshiped God, 17 saying:

“ We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty,

The One who is and who was and who is to come,[b]
Because You have taken Your great power and reigned.
18 The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come,
And the time of the dead, that they should be judged,
And that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints,
And those who fear Your name, small and great,
And should destroy those who destroy the earth.”
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• During the course of this series it has been our
intention to both define culture, and to contrast that
culture with the kingdom culture. Culture has been
identified in it’s most basic form as a set of ideas and
behaviors that are acquired by people as members of a
society. Language became an issue in defining cultures
because without the ability to communicate the same
set of sounds (forms and meanings)that produce words
we could never join together in any single act for the
good of that society. We know that linguistics has been
a problem since the tower of Babel, and that cultures,
even evil ones possess great power when the goals of
that culture become defined by a single action.
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• Material culture speaks of what this society has
made of God’s creation and how we use them. The way
that people organize themselves to carry out collective
tasks, whether political, economic or spiritual.
• Our verse in Revelation indicates the clash of these two
cultures, this earth or this world is the colliding place
for Satan, who is the prince of this world and Christ,
who is the coming King to establish His kingdom.
• These two are very different, they are diametrically
opposed to one another. This is the imperative of us
being awakened to what is coming.
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• We are born into the culture of heaven when we are
born again and embrace the finished work of Jesus
Christ. It has taken us some time to change, adapt and
refuse what this system has to offer, however the first
thing that we must realize is that there is a coming
collision and you that are here know the Victor.

• Colossians 2:15 (New King James Version)

• 15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made
a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.
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• As we have read the book of Revelation, which
was not written or revealed until some 40 years
after the ascension, we come to understand that
the organized forces of Satan were in existence at
the time of the fall. They were only partially
revealed to the people of God before and until
the promise of the seed of Woman was fulfilled.
• (Genesis 3:15)This seed would bruise the head
and impact satanic power until the showdown at
Calvary, which is what Colossians 2:15 speaks of.
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• From that time forward there is a collision course
predetermined when all that Satan has done to
destroy, deceive and alter the eternal plan of God will
come to nothing.
• These organized forces of Satan have installed an
alternate plan for God’s creation and have brought
humanity as the facilitator of that plan. We have
created a culture that is foreign to God, we will have to
fight to change that mentality.
• We are so entrenched that even after we are born
again, the admonishment from the Word of God warns
and speaks of it’s allurement and power.
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• What was once called the “earth” is now
called the “world”.
• Let’s look at the word “World” and find the
context for our ministry today.
• First, the term “world”, translates to “kosmos”
which means a “harmonious order or
arrangement”, the second part of that
definition is a “embellishment or adornment”
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• This second definition can be best explained in
1 Peter 3: 1-3, “Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to
your own husbands: that, if any obey not the word,
they also may without the word be won by the
conversation (manner of living) of the wives; While
they behold your chaste conversation coupled with
fear. Whose adorning let it not be that outward
adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or
of putting on of apparel:
Also Revelation 21:2, “ And I John saw the holy city, new
Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven,
prepared as a bride adorned for her husband”.
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• Kosmos falls into three different main groups
in the New Testament.
• First, it is used with the sense of the material
universe, the earth or the round world.
• Acts 17:14, “ the God that made the world
and all things therein”
• Matthew 13:35, “ the foundation of the
world”
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• Mark 16: 15, “ Go ye into all the world”
• Secondly it is used “for the inhabitants of the
world”, John 1:10 “ the world knew him not”, in
John 3:16, “God so loved the world”
• An extension of this usage is found in “the whole
race of men alienated from God and hostile to
the cause of Christ. Hebrews 11:38, “whom the
world cannot worthy” and in John 14:17, “whom
the world cannot receive”, vs 27, “ not as the
world giveth , give I unto you” also in chapter
15:18 “ If the world hateth you”
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• The third usage and the definition that I want to
minister inside of is “KOSMOS” as it relates to “worldly
affairs, the whole circle of worldly goods , riches,
advantages , pleasures, which though hollow and
fleeting, stir our desires and seduce us from God.
Consequently they become obstacles in our
understanding and walk for Jesus.
• In short all of the ideologies created by Satan from the
cultural commodities that man has made. I want you to
know that the progression of man has in short been
planned by satan and his schemes from the beginning
of time.
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• Examples such as, “the things that are in the
world”, “the worlds goods”, “if he should gain
the whole world, and lose his life”,
• Not only these but the in the spiritual realm,
“the spirit of the world”, the wisdom of the
world”, “the fashion of this world”, worldly
lusts”, “the corruption that is in the world”,
the defilements of the world”, “and all that is
in the world, the lust of the flesh, …..
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• Our admonition is found in James 1:27, “ keep
himself unspotted from the world”
• From the fall of man there has been this system
of hostility toward God put in place, it is
appropriated by deceit and ignorance. The
culture of heaven is the provision for overcoming
this world. Jesus said, “ my kingdom is not of this
world” that this system cannot receive the Spirit
of truth, that friendship with this world is enmity
with God”
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• What people don’t want to hear and even
become angry about is that satan is “the prince of
this world”
• What are you saying pastor, I am telling you that
there is a plan, and unless we value and
contemplate this coming collision between the
unseen powers of the material universe, between
the deceiver and our Christ we are making a huge
mistake and become immobilized the mission of
the church.
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• I am telling you that before the Fall there was
an “earth”; and after the Fall there was a
“world”.
• I am telling you that satan is masterminding
the “world”, and that the Kingdom belongs to
Jesus, and when the Stone not made with
hands, shatters man’s proud image, the world
will become the kingdom of Jesus Christ.
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• What direction is the “kosmos” heading, it is
made up of:
• Politics , education , literature , science , art, law,
music….. Ask yourself this question, where are
these things headed, they make up the “kosmos”
in which we live.
• Ezekial 28, speaks of lucifer and how that “ by the
iniquity of his traffick and the multitude of his
iniquities” that he has defiled the sanctuaries.
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• This power and this pull in our lives can only
be broken by the Cross.
• Jesus said, “ All power is given to me in
heaven and in the earth” Matthew 28:18
• Satan doesn’t know the future of God’s plan
nor is he able to dictate your future once that
power has been broken off your life from this
system. Reference Luke 4
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• Satan has been trying to find out when Jesus
is taking over for 2000 years. This is the nature
of the battle right now, heated and violent.
• What you need to understand that this
“power” that Jesus violently took from satan,
has now been given to us. In his command to
the early church, he said, “ Tarry at Jerusalem
until you become inundated with the power
to change this culture.” (paraphrased)
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• This is why there is so much conflict inside of
the church. If you don’t grasp this concept of
the power given to you, you will be seduced
and eventually deceived by this masterminded
system.
• This power will make you an overcomer, but
you have to have “faith” in this power and
God’s gift for it to happen.
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• If the world can be and is defined by power, wealth and
sex then we must embrace God’s plan for overcoming
this system in these areas. Let’s take a look at kingdom
culture and the clash with current culture in regards to
these allurements…….
• If the value of humanity becomes diminished then the
price paid and the creation of mankind become of “no
worth”. If we are brought equivalent to the material
world, plant, and animal creation, then our function
and purpose become diminished. In the area of sex,
what is the perception of this system?
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• We have the “gender issue”
• We have the slave trade and human attrocities
• We have sexual perversion, exploitation of
woman, the reduction of men to animals.
• The culture of the kingdom gives power over this
world system in this area, both by intuition and
the Word.
• Chastity and Fidelity are in complete contrast to
this system and must be embraced in order for
the power that Jesus spoke of to be unleashed.
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• In the area of wealth or money, it truly takes
faith because this system’s economics has
such a grip on the church. Wealth is spiritual
and prospering is spiritual. We have adopted
some of this system’s mentality concerning
this item and have paid a tragic price. We are
tired of ministering on tithe and offerings. The
problem is in the power of God in people’s
lives.
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• It requires faith, and without faith it is
impossible to please God. What is the
outcome ? Miserable Christians making
everyone else miserable.
• What does the Word have to say in the area of
wealth or money. What is the solution for this
system’s allurement in this area?
• Simplicity and Generosity
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• What are we to say of the third allurement? It
is different from money or sex, because you
know when your having sex, and you know if
you have any money and what is being done
with it. In the area of “power” it becomes
much more seductive in nature.
• Power is a horrible thing when it is misplaced,
it has corrupted mankind. How are we to
handle our power?
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• It is a natural tendency of a man to love praise
and receive glory for their accomplishments.
We all love to be elevated, whether in the
spiritual or in the natural. The more elevated
that you become the more powerful you
become. How will you handle that power?
Will you control and or manipulate? Will you
become the age old sin of” making a name for
yourself”. This is a temptation you know, for
all of us.
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• Jesus answers this question for us in Mark 10:42-
45 “ but whosoever wishes to become great
among you must be your servant, and whoever
wishes to be first among you must be slave of all.
For the son of Man came not to be served but to
serve, and to give his life a ransom for many”
(paraphrased)
• One of the answers to the question of power is
you serve. When you serve your power is of very
little use.
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• Serving empowers people, and servants become
anonymous and invisible.
• In serving we lose our sense of control and
comfort by spending time in behalf of the less
powerful.
• You open up the lives of others in their creativity
and purpose when you serve.
• You want to know why people don’t serve, they
are interested in keeping the power over their
own lives and refuse to invest it in the kingdom.
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• The second cure for power is “stewardship”,
stewardship is taking what God has given us and
investing it. We become custodians of the things of
God and we invest them in others expecting a return. It
differs from service in that there is no expected return
on service, but there is in stewardship.
• We invest in the kingdom, knowing that God turned
loose in this world will bring a hundred fold of the
investment.
• Our power is to be shared, when we get in the area of
stewardship and service, we decrease but look at what
His power does in this world.
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• Isaiah 61 gives the results of the kingdom
being turned loose in this world. It challenges
us to remain separated from this system and
the future of this system into a dynamic that
remains to be seen.