Sermon

Light makes darkness obvious

Heartland Church Weekly Message

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  1. But Satan himself strains and struggles under great

  2. limitations. One of the strengths of this

  3. house is worship. It just is.

  4. You do the priestly so well, and the priestly always goes 1st and

  5. then the kingly. Judah always went first into

  6. battle. And when Judah went first they

  7. paved the way for victory in battle.

  8. The priestly always happens before the kingly.

  9. And as Pastor Dave said about authority, authority is in the

  10. that part of who God says we are by identity as both priests and

  11. kings unto Him. And not to preach on authority,

  12. but just as to give you a little encouragement, we all through

  13. Jesus blood and name have a first level general, general

  14. authority in his name through his blood.

  15. Amen. And then there there are other

  16. layers of authority. I like to call the next layer

  17. authority by assignment or authority by mission.

  18. There's a Bible word metron, which means measured out place

  19. or metered out place. Literally it means this.

  20. So when God gives you something to do for Him, He will measure

  21. out a jurisdictional level of authority from where you are now

  22. to where you complete that assignment.

  23. And that is another layer of authority, and it's operational

  24. authority. So we have a general authority

  25. that we all have in Jesus through His name and by his

  26. blood, Amen. But we also all walk in

  27. assignments from the Lord. All of us are men and women on a

  28. mission, and he gives us operational authority or

  29. jurisdictional authority that extends all the way to the

  30. completion of your assignment and mission.

  31. That's very important to understand that there's a

  32. military term that is said in the Pentagon.

  33. From what I'm told there is that there's a concept in military

  34. called inherited authority. An inherited authority simply

  35. means this, that if you are a captain in one of the branches

  36. of service, let's say in the Army and and you work at the

  37. Pentagon for let's say a four-star general, and that

  38. four-star general sends you down the hall to deliver some

  39. classified information to another general.

  40. Then when you leave that office of the general you work for, you

  41. then operate under what's called an inherited authority of that

  42. general's 4 four-star rank until you finish delivering those

  43. papers and come back and report that that your task was

  44. completed. And then you go back into, if

  45. you're a captain, back to the captain rank.

  46. So there's a technical part that anyone that is sent by a

  47. superior officer is operating under an inherited authority of

  48. the one who sent you. And then in Matthew 28, Jesus

  49. said all authority has been given unto me in heaven and in

  50. earth. So he was making a declaration

  51. that he had been given all authority in all realms of

  52. existence. And then he said, therefore you

  53. go and disciple the nations. And so there is a perfect

  54. picture of inherited authority that comes from Jesus.

  55. It's never ours by ownership, but we have been loaned that

  56. operational authority to to more than conquer darkness and to

  57. complete the mission of the Lord.

  58. Amen. But I believe that this house

  59. has been marked by the Lord for the things that are the most

  60. important to him, and worship is one of those.

  61. The church at Antioch came together and the first thing

  62. they did when they met was they ministered unto the Lord.

  63. You know that. And then it says as they

  64. ministered under the Lord, that's the, that's the priestly,

  65. that's the worship, that's praise and even intercession

  66. falls in there. It said.

  67. Then the Holy Spirit spoke and then the Holy Spirit sent out

  68. Saul and Barnabas to the missions that they went out to

  69. do, and they were sent by the Holy Spirit.

  70. So everything begins with the priestly and culminates and

  71. climaxes at the completion of missions in the kingly.

  72. But I heard the Lord say about you, is this He said there would

  73. be worship that is now emerging out of this house that will

  74. break the spiritual sound barriers because there are sound

  75. barriers that block the fullness of what God really wants to

  76. release through you and me and worship and in praise.

  77. I believe we're doing the best we can out of a heart after God.

  78. But I think there are some limitations to regions and

  79. territories and things and places that often try to limit

  80. the full release of the worship God is worthy of through his.

  81. People but he said you here are going to break the spiritual

  82. sound barriers. That will also create the Sonic

  83. boom because that's what happens when an aircraft breaks the

  84. sound barrier. Usually there's a Sonic boom to

  85. follow, right? We've all been around those, I'm

  86. sure. And in the pictures on the walls

  87. of your house vibrate from the the boom of the Sonic boom.

  88. But I believe God is releasing. From.

  89. Your worship that is breaking the sound barrier to create the

  90. Sonic boom in the deep places of darkness that are the real true

  91. core structures of the of enemy evil things in the world, both

  92. locally and clear across around the world.

  93. Amen. So you're you're destined to

  94. break the spiritual sound barriers.

  95. You're also destined to exceed the spiritual light spectrum.

  96. Jesus is going to use this house to bring light into the darkest

  97. places of the world. Amen.

  98. I like the story of 1 missionary who spent his entire life taking

  99. the gospel of Jesus into some of the darkest and the most

  100. difficult regions of Africa, eventually dying on that mission

  101. field, showing honor to that missionary they had come to love

  102. so dearly. The African tribesmen of that

  103. territory buried the missionary in the jungle at the spot that

  104. he came and preached the gospel for the first time.

  105. They placed a cross at the head of his grave and then they

  106. placed a small plaque beside the cross and hear the words that

  107. the Africans inscribed upon that plaque.

  108. They said when he came there was no light, when he left there was

  109. no darkness. And I think that should be said

  110. of all of us, that when God sends us on a mission under His

  111. inherited authority, he doesn't just give you his authority to

  112. take the gospel as a message, but also to bring even nations

  113. into the discipline, because that's what he said.

  114. He said to disciple the nations. There's an inference to bring

  115. discipline to nations and bring them out of incorrect places

  116. into an alignment pleasing to the Lord.

  117. Amen. So I hope that would be your

  118. testimony, that wherever God sends you, you may not have

  119. found a lot of light there, but when you left that assignment

  120. and completed it, you didn't have much darkness there, if any

  121. at all. Amen.

  122. Isaiah 60 says arise and shine, for your light has come, and the

  123. glory of the Lord has risen upon you.

  124. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and even a deep

  125. darkness shall cover the people. Do you believe we're living in

  126. such a time when it seems so? But the Lord will arise over you

  127. and His glory will be seen upon you.

  128. And then I love what verse 3 says.

  129. The Gentiles, that is, the unbeliever, shall come to your

  130. light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.

  131. We're living in the days of the sharpening contrast between

  132. darkness and light. I know of no other time in my

  133. lifetime where evil seems to be apparently conspicuously evil

  134. and light and righteousness is obviously right and righteous

  135. and the Lord is drawing the contrast.

  136. You know, as a as a kid, I remember when we got our first

  137. televisions set, you know, it wasn't the big string, big

  138. screen TV's we have today. It was a big block of wood and

  139. it had this big tube and you had to turn the the TV on by

  140. twisting this knob that powered it up.

  141. But it took like 5 minutes for it to warm up before a picture

  142. ever came on the screen, right? And, and I remember the

  143. excitement of when my dad would turn on the TV and we would see

  144. this little flicker of light on the street.

  145. You know it's black and white TV, right?

  146. Nobody even thought about color TV in that time.

  147. And then the little black, the, the little white dot just kind

  148. of filled out the screen and it was like a mess.

  149. And then finally, you know, if you move the antenna around and

  150. put some aluminum foil on the antenna, how many of you ever

  151. been there and done that? And you finally get in the best

  152. signal you can from the antenna and the aluminum foil and it's

  153. still not real clear. It's black and white and kind of

  154. fuzzy. And then there was a, there was

  155. a knob on the TV called contrast and you could turn up the

  156. contrast that sharpened the dark tones and the light tones so

  157. that you got a clear picture. We're living in an hour when God

  158. is turning up the contrast to obviously show us the

  159. differences between dark and light.

  160. Amen. And kings are coming to the

  161. brightness of our rising in the sharpening of contrast.

  162. The clarity of difference between evil and good is

  163. sharpening. And kings that are hungry for

  164. learning how to govern righteously are coming to that

  165. light. I've never had more government

  166. officials and presidents come and ask to be trained how to

  167. rule and govern righteously in their realms of authority.

  168. And it's wonderful to watch. And it's a fulfillment of the

  169. Isaiah prophecy. But I believe kings are also

  170. coming to the light, not to be trained because they don't want

  171. to be trained, but they're coming to the light because

  172. God's bringing them into judgment.

  173. The evil kings of the earth are being brought to the light to

  174. expose themselves and they're they're horrible evil deeds that

  175. are that they've been doing. So we're living in the hour when

  176. kings are coming either with hearts open to the Lord to be

  177. trained and taught, or they're being pulled into the light and

  178. their darkness is being exposed. Amen.

  179. Now we know that God is omnipotent, that is, that is, He

  180. is all powerful. He is omniscient.

  181. That means he knows everything. And he is also omnipresent.

  182. That means He's everywhere, all at one time.

  183. But did you know that Satan has none of those characteristics?

  184. He has none of those qualities. He is not omnipotent, He is not

  185. all powerful, He is certainly not all knowing, and he is

  186. certainly not everywhere all at the same time.

  187. Now he has his generals and his principalities that are

  188. scattered around everywhere. But Satan himself strains and

  189. struggles under great limitations.

  190. Amen. And you know, somebody said to

  191. me the other day, boy, it just seems like the devil's getting

  192. stronger. But you know what I said to

  193. them? I said that's impossible because

  194. his power levels were set. He cannot get more powerful

  195. because he is not omnipotent. And omnipotence is not a

  196. characteristic that Satan enjoys.

  197. So his. His.

  198. Powers are greatly limited and he cannot get strength by power.

  199. They're fixed. But what it feels like sometimes

  200. is when darkness is being exposed by the light of God,

  201. darkness becomes more reactionary by the exposure

  202. itself. And when darkness reacts, it

  203. looks like that it might be getting stronger, but it's not.

  204. It's just becoming more reactionary because it begins to

  205. UN destable at the exposure of light.

  206. So a lot of good things are happening around the world.

  207. Amen. But I believe this house has a

  208. has a powerful, powerful assignment from the Lord.

  209. And a big bulk of your assignment is worship and

  210. intercession. You're going to break the sound

  211. barriers, you're going to exceed the light spectrum limitations.

  212. Most of you know about Hubble telescope.

  213. When NASA sent up Hubble many years ago, the mission of Hubble

  214. was ultimately to find the end of the universe, the edge, the

  215. outer limits of the universe. But Hubble could not see far

  216. enough to see the edge. So they set up James Webb

  217. telescope with much higher technology and better optics

  218. than Hubble. And James Webb is sending back

  219. some new batches of photographs of looking at the farthest

  220. reaching edge of the universe. And there's a couple of things

  221. that is puzzling the scientific community is what they thought

  222. was just going to taper off into nothingness is actually they're

  223. seeing new galaxies being created because when God said

  224. let there be light, he set creation into motion.

  225. And His word, just like the words that you speak, are

  226. vibrating when you speak. Them.

  227. They never stop. Can you imagine God's word never

  228. stopping And it has the power of creative energy to create.

  229. And so science through James Webb Telescope is discovering

  230. some fascinating facts that they can see new galaxies unfolding.

  231. And the further out you look, science has believed the dimmer

  232. light is the further out you look.

  233. And they're finding that light from these stars and galaxies is

  234. getting brighter the farther out James Webb Telescope sees, which

  235. is by itself a miracle. But we serve the God of light.

  236. Light exposes darkness. And when darkness gets exposed,

  237. it becomes reactionary. Amen.

  238. You know, in Texas. We have these snakes where I

  239. live called copperheads, and copperheads are everywhere in

  240. East Texas, where the Piney woods part of Texas, we call it

  241. the pretty part of Texas, East Texas, But copperheads are

  242. everywhere. And we used to have a lot of

  243. trouble with these copperheads coming to try to get inside our

  244. house. And we would get very near to

  245. almost step on some of these copperheads.

  246. Then they're very aggressive. They're not like some snakes

  247. that'll try to get away from you.

  248. They will come after you. They're very offensive.

  249. And my wife had had enough of that and she just started to

  250. pray. So God, I want you to put a

  251. boundary around our property. We have one acre of land we live

  252. on. And she started to pray that God

  253. would put a spiritual boundary. And we've not had a copperhead

  254. since then. So she's got faith for that.

  255. You know, she's really got more faith than I do.

  256. She's got a faith that when she goes to the shopping mall, she

  257. believes her parking places at the front door of the mall.

  258. And when I'm with her, I'm so I'm saying to her, honey, don't

  259. bother God with a parking spot up front.

  260. I said, besides, we probably need to walk.

  261. We need the exercise. And lo and behold, the Lord will

  262. give us a parking spot right up at the entrance of the mall.

  263. So she's got faith for parking spots at the mall and keeping

  264. Copperheads off of our property. But that's what darkness does.

  265. It reacts. It actually comes after you.

  266. It moves into an aggressive, offensive posture when you're

  267. exposing it. But read that the way it is.

  268. Read that as a positive and not a negative.

  269. Some of you are feeling the push back of darkness and it's

  270. causing you to even question maybe your assignment or what

  271. you're believing for. See that as a positive,

  272. guaranteed evidence that you're on the right track, doing the

  273. right thing. If you're getting a reaction

  274. from darkness, that's a good sign.

  275. Amen. Amen.

  276. Daniel chapter 2 verse 20 through 22.

    Daniel 2:20–22

  277. Daniel chapter 2 verse 20 through 22 Daniel.

    Daniel 2:20–22

  278. Daniel answered and said, blessed be the name of God

  279. forever and ever. I like that because he begins

  280. with worship and praise for wisdom and might are his.

  281. Now watch what he says in verse 21.

  282. He says he changes times and seasons.

  283. So Daniel recognized that God is a God who's first of all worthy

  284. of worship, worthy of praise. And then he declares that God is

  285. the one who changes times and seasons and removes kings and

  286. raises up kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and

  287. knowledge to those who have understanding, and he reveals

  288. deep and secret things. He knows what is in the

  289. darkness, and light dwells with him.

  290. We're serving a God who commands in his first the winds and the

  291. ways of everything, and he even owns and sees what is in

  292. darkness. Last year I was struck by a

  293. contrast between darkness and light at the US Capitol building

  294. in Washington, DC I was there for an evening to speak to a

  295. group of US Congressmen and we were in the Rayburn Room of the

  296. Capitol. And when I was standing at the

  297. podium to speak to this group of members of Congress, I was

  298. struck by the contrast because behind me was a full length

  299. original painting of George Washington.

  300. So within a a three or four feet was were the feet of George

  301. Washington. And then as I looked out the

  302. Rayburn room, I could see in the corridor the the door of Hakeem

  303. Jeffries office building or office array.

  304. Hakeem Jeffries is the Minority Leader, Democrat leader, and and

  305. I was struck by the contrast of being right at the foot of

  306. George Washington, which reminded me of our history as a

  307. nation and yet seeing the darkness represented there as

  308. well. But I love the fact that God is

  309. changing times and seasons and removing kings and raising kings

  310. up. I'm going to tell you dark evil

  311. kings are lining up to be removed.

  312. They're standing in a sequential order of removal, not by the

  313. United States government, but by the king of all kings, Amen.

  314. And we're going to see more kings, dark kings, removed,

  315. especially in the next couple of months.

  316. Amen. Well, Daniel said it would

  317. happen. He changes times.

  318. I don't know about you, but it just feels like time is speeding

  319. up to me. I don't know if I'm just getting

  320. older, but it just seems like yesterday we were celebrating

  321. Christmas and the New year and here we are just pushing toward

  322. the end of the month of February and spring is right around the

  323. corner. What is happening to time?

  324. Is it possible that God, who is enthroned in the eternity of

  325. heaven, that is not bound by time or space?

  326. Is it possible God is speeding things up?

  327. He said he would hasten his word to perform it.

  328. That means he he wants to do his word.

  329. He wants to do what he's promised, maybe earlier and

  330. certainly never later. Then I thought about the wedding

  331. at Cana that in John chapter 2, we won't take time to read

    John 2 chapter mention

  332. through it, but you know the story well, when Jesus and his

  333. disciples and even Jesus mother Mary were invited to a very

  334. important wedding. Obviously it was some someone

  335. wealthy and they had, they had set up a beautiful wedding and

  336. during the wedding there at Cana, something terrible

  337. happened. The worst thing that could ever

  338. happen at a wedding was they ran out of wine.

  339. And in that culture and in that time period and that part of the

  340. world, that was a crisis. And Mary, mother of Jesus,

  341. overheard the servants who discovered that the the wine had

  342. replenished, went to the master of the wedding feast to tell

  343. him, we're out of wine. And what does Mary do?

  344. Mary walks right over to Jesus and says, son, they've run out

  345. of wine. They've run out of wine and

  346. Jesus. Almost sounded disrespectful,

  347. but I think he was speaking out of the strength of knowing what

  348. heaven's plans and timing were. When he said woman, what does

  349. that have to do with me? My time has not yet come.

  350. He knew that if he did a miracle to meet the need of that wedding

  351. feast, that his identity would surely be exposed as to who he

  352. was. And it wasn't yet on Heaven's

  353. schedule for that to happen. And so he says to Mama Mary,

  354. It's not my time. And Mary didn't try to argue

  355. with him. She just walked over a few feet

  356. to those servants and she says whatever he says for you to do,

  357. do it right. And then he said to them, fill

  358. the water pots full of water. By the way, that wasn't clean

  359. water. That was kind of dirty water

  360. because those water pots were there for purification and

  361. washing, ceremonial washing of the Jews.

  362. So it wasn't clean water. He said fill them all the way to

  363. the top with water. And you know the rest of the

  364. story. He turned that dirty water

  365. miraculously into not just not just cheap wine, but the best

  366. wine anyone had ever tasted. The point is this, he changed

  367. his mind and when he changed his mind, he changed time itself.

  368. He literally at the persuasion of his.

  369. Mother. He moved Heaven's plans and

  370. timetable forward and did a miracle that exposed and

  371. identified who he was before it was on the schedule.

  372. For that to happen, and that's what we do in intercessory

  373. prayer, we come into the place of making petition to the King

  374. of all kings and to our Heavenly Father.

  375. We come and ask God to change his mind.

  376. Think of all the times God's changed his mind.

  377. When Moses and Abraham and others came and made an appeal

  378. to heaven and it changed the mind of God to do something that

  379. he wasn't planning to do. You had the power of persuasion.

  380. I think we do that when we step into the place of prayer.

  381. We're asking God to change his mind.

  382. And when he changes his mind, sometimes he changes time

  383. itself. So he was moving time forward to

  384. do something earlier than had been planned.

  385. He also might have been moving time out because he changed the

  386. water into not just ordinary cheap wine, but he changed it

  387. into the best wine, which was wine with age.

  388. So I just wonder if God was just messing with earthly time,

  389. turning the dial up and turning it back.

  390. Daniel said he would. He's the God who changes times

  391. and seasons and removes kings and raises kings up.

  392. So there are evil dark kings in the world lined, lined up,

  393. waiting their turn to be removed.

  394. And that's a good thing. Amen.

  395. Now I'm going to shift gears a little bit here with you and

  396. talk about the Middle East for just a few minutes.

  397. I want to give you a briefing on what God is doing in the Middle

  398. East, specifically with Israel and Iran, and I'd like to take

  399. you on a little scriptural journey here for a minute.

  400. First of all, in Psalm 74, Psalm 74, verses 18 through 20, now

    Psalms 74:18–20

  401. before we read that God has a protection plan for Israel and

  402. He has a redemptive plan for Iran.

  403. He has a protective plan for Israel and He has a redemptive

  404. plan for Iran. So there are evil kings and

  405. there are evil systems that are warring against Israel, against

  406. God's people, against America, against you and me.

  407. We are the enemy of an old ancient Persian principality

  408. that is in a hierarchical, structured place in what is

  409. modern Iran or ancient Persia. God has a protection plan for

  410. Israel. He will protect Israel at all

  411. cost. And.

  412. When I began working with Israel and helping them on some of

  413. their security matters years ago, he spoke to me and he said,

  414. I want to get this very clear to you as you begin what I have you

  415. to do for Israel, to bless Israel and to keep them safe.

  416. He said I will protect them at all costs.

  417. And the reason I do is because of the covenant I have with

  418. Israel. The covenant that God made with

  419. Abraham is the reason we should bless Israel and the reason we

  420. should pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

  421. We should have respect to the covenant that God made.

  422. But he went on and just said I will protect them because of my

  423. covenant. And he said, if I have to, I'm

  424. going to rain on the Iranians, I'm going to rock the Iraqis,

  425. I'm going to sear the Syrians, and if I have to, I'm going to

  426. roast a Turkey. I never had God speak that to me

  427. in prayer ever. And I wrote it down.

  428. It was just kind of stunning and almost shocking because God was

  429. just matter of factly saying, here's how it's going to be.

  430. I'm going to protect Israel because I have a covenant with

  431. them, not because they do everything righteous.

  432. Because guess what? We got a whole Bible of Old

  433. Testament history where Israel was wicked more than anyone else

  434. and disobeyed God and rebelled against God more than any other

  435. people. We got a biblical history of the

  436. disobedience of Israel. But that doesn't mean we don't

  437. bless them. We bless them because of the

  438. covenant that God will never break with them.

  439. Amen. Now, I don't believe in

  440. replacement theology. I don't believe the church

  441. replaces Israel. I believe through the blood of

  442. Jesus, you and I are grafted into that family.

  443. We become God's people too, the cause of the blood of Jesus

  444. sacrifice, Amen. So let's get that straight.

  445. I don't know where you stand on that, but that's my theology.

  446. I was brought up in a denomination that strongly

  447. believed in replacement theology, that the church just

  448. outright straight up replaces Israel.

  449. I don't think so. I think Israel still has a very

  450. prominent special place in God's heart because of the covenant.

  451. Amen. So God has a protection plan for

  452. Israel. He has a redemptive plan for

  453. Iran. Here the problem, I called him

  454. the three H problem of the Middle East.

  455. Number one is Hamas. Hamas #2 is Hezbollah #3 are the

  456. hoodies. So you have the Hamas primarily

  457. in Iran, you have Hezbollah primarily in Lebanon, you have

  458. the hoodies primarily operating out of Yemen.

  459. But all three of those HS are spread out throughout the entire

  460. Middle East. So God's God's going to deal

  461. with those 3HS. Those hierarchies of evil are

  462. satanic, They are demonic. They are not just another form

  463. of government. They are of a structure of dark

  464. evil that hates God and hates anyone who serves the Lord and

  465. God's dealing with those 3 entities.

  466. Look at Psalm 74 and I want to show you a little bit of what I

  467. mean regarding Hamas verse 18. Remember this, and by the way,

  468. this is a prayer of Asaph, but it sounds like an imprecatory

  469. prayer of David. It's a prayer of God being asked

  470. to judge his enemies. So he says, remember this, he's

  471. telling God remember this, that the enemy has reproached, O

  472. Lord, and that a foolish people has blasphemed your name.

  473. So looking at the Hebrew meanings here, when it says a

  474. foolish people, it is literally referring to a Pagan and godless

  475. people. And the word blasphemy literally

  476. means to be openly defiant and disrespectful to the Lord.

  477. So there is an amazing thing that Asaph does He's.

  478. Calling God into remembrance. God's not this old forgetful man

  479. that sometimes forgets things that we need to remind him of.

  480. But you know what? Sometimes it's a, it's good for

  481. us to call out to God and bring him to remembrance of the things

  482. that he already wants to do. He didn't forget any of them.

  483. But I think sometimes it's us that need to be reminded that

  484. we're bringing God into remembrance, but we're really

  485. remembering ourself and it brings our faith into a level

  486. that God is pleased with. All right then verse 19.

  487. Oh, do not deliver the life of your turtle dove to the wild

  488. beast. The word turtle dove, there is a

  489. reference to Israel. Do not forget the life of your

  490. poor forever. Another direct reference to

  491. Israel. So he's asking God to recognize

  492. and remember what darkness and what the enemy is up to, but

  493. he's also asking God to bless and protect Israel.

  494. And then he ends verse 19 by saying, and have respect to the

  495. covenant, the covenant. It's all about the covenant.

  496. That's why we should bless Israel.

  497. We're blessing Israel, but beyond Israel itself, we're

  498. blessing the covenant that God made with Israel.

  499. Amen. So Asaph is actually asking God

  500. not just to remember what the enemy's doing, but to remember

  501. and respect his own covenant that he has with Israel.

  502. Verse 20 says for the dark places of the earth.

  503. The dark places of the earth are full of the haunts of cruelty.

  504. Some of your translations may say violence, very important

  505. verse because the word cruelty or violence there is literally

  506. the Hebrew word Hamas. It is the exact word Hamas.

  507. So in that day that Asaph prayed this prayer, he was praying

  508. against an enemy force. That is today operational in the

  509. nation of Iran. And in fact the first part of

  510. verse 20 says for the dark places of the earth, this is

  511. where he's saying Hamas is. And in the Hebrew, it means the

  512. very underground tunnels and caverns underneath the ground,

  513. which is primarily where Hamas operates, not only Hamas but

  514. Hezbollah and. And some other terrorist

  515. organizations. Their primary place of

  516. transportation of weapons and soldiers is in deep underground

  517. tunnels. Some of those are 40 feet

  518. beneath the surface of the desert, and others are as deep

  519. as 100 feet underneath. Some are only a few feet wide

  520. enough for one man in his gear and equipment as weapons to get

  521. through the tunnel. Others are 10 feet wide that you

  522. can drive it's small military vehicles, vehicles through.

  523. But isn't that amazing? This is where a lot of military

  524. operations are going on right now.

  525. And being formulated and planned is to do a final blow to these

  526. tunnels and underground passages of Hamas, because in doing so,

  527. we cut off their activities, their supply lines, and all of

  528. their ability to position themselves strategically against

  529. Israel and even our own folks. All right, so that's a little

  530. bit of something to give an insight of how God has set a

  531. plan to to do something to stop the darkness.

  532. God, we sang about it today. Did you notice everything we

  533. were singing in worship had to do with God dealing with

  534. breaking darkness? It's a win, win.

  535. It's a win for God and a win for you and me.

  536. And I think Israel will win. Amen.

  537. All right, then one other verse or maybe two more.

  538. Jeremiah chapter 49. Jeremiah chapter 49, and verses

    Jeremiah 49 chapter mention Jeremiah 49 chapter mention

  539. 34 through about 39. One morning recently I woke up

  540. out of a dead sleep and I woke up shouting Elam, Elam, Elam.

  541. I think I literally woke myself up shouting Elam, Elam Elam and

  542. Sherry. My wife said what is?

  543. Who is Elam? I was like calling unto

  544. something. I didn't even know what it was.

  545. Well, here's what Elam is. Verse 34, the word of the Lord

  546. that came to Jeremiah, the prophet against Elam in the

  547. beginning of the reign of Zedekiah, the king of Judah

  548. saying thus says the Lord of hosts, behold, I will break the

  549. bow of Elam, the foremost of their might.

  550. So what is Elam? Elam in that time period was

  551. what was a sliver or a little portion of modern Iraq today,

  552. but primarily it was a portion of Iran, mostly Iran.

  553. So Elam is modern Iran, and God's talking about dealing with

  554. and breaking the bow of Elam. That's a weapon system.

  555. In fact, he says even the foremost of their might, you

  556. know what that is? That is nuclear weapons, so Elam

  557. is modern Iran and what is the big to do?

  558. It's all about stopping the nuclear weapons development of

  559. Iran, which is tagged and purpose to destroy the whole

  560. nation of Israel. Just to bring you into

  561. remembrance, in June of last year, AUS military operation

  562. under the code name Operation Midnight Hammer, where our

  563. aircrafts, some of our most advanced aircraft carried about

  564. a dozen GBU Dash 57 massive ordnance deep penetration bomb

  565. bunker Busters. We call them unnoticed,

  566. undetected right into the heart of Iran and at three different

  567. target locations, which represented some of the most

  568. advanced portions of the nuclear weapons development program of

  569. Iran. Our guys dropped, surgically

  570. struck those facilities, dropping some of those GBU Dash

  571. 57 bombs down a four foot wide ventilation shaft that came up

  572. out of those deep bunkers up to the surface of the desert.

  573. Try that when you're trying to avoid enemy anti aircraft

  574. batteries. And it was a great success, but

  575. it did not destroy the entire weapons program.

  576. But it set Iran back significantly in their pursuit

  577. of nuclear weapons. Well, God said to Jeremiah, this

  578. is my plan. I'm going to break the bow of

  579. Elam. I'm going to destroy and break

  580. the foremost of their might. That's nuclear weapons.

  581. Amen. God cares about it.

  582. Did you know in 2009 I literally taught the Israelis how to use

  583. the. Power of prayer.

  584. To defeat inbound enemy missiles.

  585. And they'll never admit it, but there are people in in Israel

  586. today that deploy that as part of their missile defense system.

  587. Because I showed them that if you knew what the enemy was

  588. about to send your way, you could do something in prayer to

  589. pray against the guidance system module, which is the most

  590. sensitive part of a guided missile.

  591. And I said, you could literally cause a disturbance and create a

  592. catastrophic failure in the guidance system module of an

  593. inbound enemy missile. And you know what?

  594. They listened to me, they took notes.

  595. I was there teaching on this in Israel when they were being

  596. bombarded by thousands of Katusha rockets out of the West

  597. Bank and out of out of the Gaza Strip.

  598. And there was a couple there. And that's one of those sessions

  599. that I was teaching this on. And I just said, it's a, when

  600. you pray, you pray with the target in mind, right?

  601. If you have a financial need, you're asking God to meet a

  602. financial need, right? God answers specifically when we

  603. what pray specifically. I learned that in Sunday school.

  604. God likes it for us to tell Him what our target list is and then

  605. He answers accordingly. So I said, what is the

  606. difference between praying for a healing for somebody or praying

  607. against a Katusha rocket or enemy inbound missile?

  608. Because God can change that situation just like He can heal

  609. someone of cancer. It's really easy.

  610. So a couple that were there that headed up what's called the

  611. House of Pre House of Peace in Jerusalem, a couple that have

  612. been there leading, that's Gwyn Shaw's ministry, for those that

  613. may know. They're in that, that one

  614. session. I'm teaching them how to combat

  615. enemy missiles. They're taking notes because

  616. everybody's spending more time in the bomb shelters in

  617. Jerusalem than up above ground because we were getting hit,

  618. bombarded. I was, I was staying in a secure

  619. location, but not right next to my pillow.

  620. I had a gas mask every night because of the threat of the

  621. chemical weapons of Hezbollah. So Jean and Mary Ann, the, the,

  622. the couple I'm talking about, they went home that on that

  623. Friday afternoon and went to their home.

  624. It was located on the outskirts of Jerusalem and the, the, the

  625. bomb sirens went off and everybody's supposed to go to

  626. the bomb shelters in Jerusalem. Instead they went up onto the

  627. flat roof house that they lived in.

  628. All the roofs over there are usually flat and, and they they

  629. look toward the Gaza and they could see not the missiles, but

  630. they could see the white smoke contrails of two Fodger 5

  631. Iranian made missiles being fired toward Jerusalem.

  632. They saw them in the distance, but they could tell they were on

  633. a parallel trajectory to Israel from the Gaza and they knew they

  634. had a matter of seconds to pray. They threw their hands up and

  635. they just said we command failure and confusion in the

  636. guidance system module of these two missiles.

  637. And they didn't even yet have a chance to say Amen.

  638. And those two parallel missiles side by side parted ways.

  639. One went the other one way, the other the opposite, and both

  640. nose down into the ground and exploded in an unpopulated area

  641. just outside of Jerusalem. I believe they used the power of

  642. interruptive intercession to save Jerusalem.

  643. Later I found out through the Pentagon, because anytime

  644. anybody shoots a missile anywhere on the planet, we know

  645. all about it. We know it before they shoot.

  646. We know what it is. We know that all the technical

  647. data, if it's guided, unguided, etcetera.

  648. So I checked in with the Pentagon and I found out those

  649. were two Fazer 5 Iranian made guided missiles and they were

  650. considered what we call tactical nuclear small charge.

  651. Not like a strategic nuclear like an ICBM missile that

  652. carries A nuke, but these have these for small tactical nukes.

  653. Enough explosive in both of the warheads of those two missiles,

  654. one was designated for Jerusalem, the other was going

  655. to go right on past to Tel Aviv, enough to destroy entirely the

  656. two cities of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

  657. But for that couple that believed, you see, because they

  658. know the word of God, God promises to protect Israel.

  659. God has a protection plan for Israel.

  660. Amen. And it's part of what Jeremiah

  661. talked about, Amen. So here in a nutshell, as I

  662. close this today is what I believe God is going to do and

  663. is doing and as we speak He's doing right now by the way, He

  664. is going to destroy the three HS that have breathed out the most

  665. terrifying and violent threats against the United States and

  666. against Israel, Hamas, Hezbollah and the hoodies.

  667. Now listen, Ezekiel says, God said in Ezekiel, I take no

  668. pleasure in the death of even the wicked, but he goes on and

  669. he says, therefore repent and live because even when God is is

  670. releasing judgment, he also has a redemptive plan of his mercy

  671. connected with the judgment. And if you don't believe that,

  672. think about your own life. I think about my life that even

  673. in God's kindness and mercy, sometimes he's had to bring

  674. judgment to my front door. But with it has always been a

  675. component of mercy, that if I would turn away from wickedness,

  676. I would receive the redemptive power of his mercy.

  677. So God has a plan even for the wicked, but he says if they

  678. don't repent, he says I'm going to bring death to their door.

  679. So my thought and my belief of everything I'm looking at on the

  680. landscape of what's happening in the Middle East, God is going to

  681. further destroy the hierarchy of evil, of radicalized Islamic

  682. terrorism being perpetrated primarily through Hamas,

  683. Hezbollah and the hoodies. But he's going to redeem the

  684. Persian people of Iran. God is not going to destroy the

  685. nation of Iran. Now listen, there are folks, let

  686. me just say, there are some people in government that would

  687. like to see Iran destroyed. But I don't think that's God's

  688. plan. I don't think it's his will.

  689. I don't think it's his way. He's going to destroy the the

  690. foremost weapons of Islam, but he's going to redeem and save

  691. the people of Iran. He is.

  692. But, and we're seeing it happen to this day, more people are

  693. coming to Jesus in Iran than anywhere else in the world, even

  694. more than in China. China has held the record for

  695. the most hour to hour, day-to-day salvations of people

  696. coming to Jesus right in China. But Iran has just has just run

  697. right past China. They hold the world's record for

  698. the most people coming to know Jesus.

  699. It's incredible. So I believe we have the

  700. evidence that God is going to redeem and restore the Persian

  701. people. He's going to destroy the

  702. hierarchy of evil of Islam, including the Iranian

  703. Revolutionary Guard Corps, which is the military might and the

  704. real core evil that drives what is happening in the the the

  705. destruction and killing of over 30,000 Iranian protesters

  706. against their government. And that's probably going to end

  707. up being a conservative figure. God's going to take out these

  708. kings and they're just standing in line waiting their turn.

  709. But God's got a redemptive plan. He's got a protective plan for

  710. Israel and he's got a redemptive plan for the people of Iran.

  711. Think about the Persian the the Persian people in the history of

  712. the Persian people when it was. King Darius and King Cyrus and

  713. other Persian Pagan kings that even did the will of God and

  714. rebuilt Jerusalem, paid for it out of their own treasuries and

  715. in those days were a friend to Israel.

  716. It was only beginning really after 1979 when the Shah of Iran

  717. was disposed and and radical Islam came into power.

  718. The Persians loved Israel, Mordecai and Esther.

  719. Esther was Jewish by birth, but she was Persian by nationality

  720. and culture. And Mordecai said, don't tell

  721. these Persian officials that you're Jewish.

  722. So he gave her a her name, Esther, her Persian name.

  723. And it was Esther and Mordecai that were given the ring of

  724. authority over the entire Kingdom of Persia.

  725. They exposed Haman, who was out to destroy the Jewish people.

  726. I'm telling you, Mordecai and Esther today are still counted

  727. as heroes in Iran, and school children are still required to

  728. read the book of Esther in Iran because they are counted as

  729. heroes. There was a day there is a

  730. righteous thread that runs through ancient Persia that is

  731. righteous. And I believe God is going to

  732. pull that thread of righteousness and pull out the

  733. harvest from Iran, which he's doing now.

  734. But he's going to destroy these wicked systems that are killing

  735. the innocent people. Oh, God's got a redemptive plan.

  736. So when you pray for Israel, pray for Iran, pray for the

  737. harvest in Iran Church, get ready.

  738. Some of you are going to go to Iran.

  739. Some of you are going to be sent there to steward the harvest of

  740. souls. What are they going to do?

  741. Who's going to go and train them?

  742. I can't go over there. They won't.

  743. Washington won't let me go. But you can go if you have a

  744. heart for the Persian people and even if you have a heart for

  745. Israel. I believe God's going to do

  746. this. We're not in the Ezekiel 38 time

  747. period yet. In Ezekiel 38, it talks about

  748. all nations rising against Israel.

  749. That is the end of the very end. I think we're probably around

  750. Ezekiel 36, maybe 37, but I believe the day is coming when

  751. God is going to cause Iran to be a bright shining light to the

  752. world and maybe even a good friend of Israel.

  753. In fact in that same chapter of Jeremiah chapter 49, this is

    Jeremiah 49 chapter mention

  754. amazing what God said in verse 38 after he does all of this to

  755. deal with the hierarchy of evil of that ancient principality of

  756. Persian structure, that anti God Antichrist system.

  757. In verse 38 he declares I will set my throne in Elam.

  758. It's the only place I found in scripture besides Jerusalem

  759. where God said he would set his throne in Iran.

  760. How is that possible? Because I believe God is so

  761. going to so thoroughly deal with the three HS, the real threats

  762. against God in his Kingdom and his people, that he will have a

  763. presence in Iran. It will be so rich and so real

  764. and so powerful. And, and to think about this,

  765. think about all the souls getting saved in Iran right now.

  766. What are they doing? They're worshipping first thing

  767. they do. They're going to be worshippers

  768. of Messiah Yeshua and they. Are and what are they doing?

  769. They're doing what the Bible says, that God is enthroned upon

  770. the praises of his people. Israel.

  771. When we worshiped this morning, we were creating a throne for

  772. God to sit into. In fact, the Hebrew says for the

  773. word enthroned there, it literally means to be seated

  774. deep into a throne. When we worship, we create a

  775. throne. Listen, the the, the body of

  776. Christ is expanding and Iran is coming into the Kingdom.

  777. They're coming to know Jesus and they're worshiping and by

  778. worshiping they're creating a throne.

  779. Any lamb and God is going to rule from that throne.

  780. We're in an hour. When God is doing the most

  781. unusual things in the most unexpected places, and it's just

  782. like God to do that of all places, to set up his throne and

  783. do something incredibly powerful and righteous would be Iran.

  784. Are you kidding me? But I think God loves to do what

  785. everybody says he couldn't do or wouldn't do in some ways just to

  786. prove us wrong. I've heard a lot of talk about

  787. your neighboring state of Illinois.

  788. Oh, it just, it's so dark there. Chicago, Springfield, so dark.

  789. And, and listen, just because people call it that has got

  790. God's attention. And he's going to turn the

  791. states of Illinois and Iowa right around.

  792. Watch it. He's going to do the most

  793. phenomenal things in these two states that are divided by the

  794. great Mississippi River. He's going to do what everybody

  795. said could not happen and you're going to be a part of it here in

  796. Iowa. The other day I was in Moline,

  797. IL, and they put me in a hotel right on the Mississippi.

  798. So out of my window I could see the the great waters of the

  799. Mississippi River. And I had an open vision.

  800. And I'm not a prophet, so might want to judge this and take it

  801. for what it's worth. But I had a prophetic vision and

  802. I saw the waters of the Mississippi stop and reverse and

  803. flow the other direction. And I said, Lord, what does that

  804. mean? Because I thought the only thing

  805. that could cause that would be some kind of seismic event in

  806. the natural right. He said no, this is, he said

  807. this is a spiritual signal to you that everything in Iowa and

  808. Illinois is about to have a turn around and flow the right

  809. direction. So I speak that to you today.

  810. But the Lord is going to set up his throne.

  811. He is setting it up in Iran. He is.

  812. Do you know that 10 to 15% of the Muslim population of Iran

  813. even go to mosque? Do you know that?

  814. You see, we have this concept that all these Muslims, they're

  815. all just so powerful and plentiful that they're just

  816. packing into the mosque to worship Allah, to read the

  817. Quran? No, not so.

  818. They've abandoned most of the mosque.

  819. Hundreds and hundreds of mosques are boarded up, closed up,

  820. because no one was showing up. Do you know that 10 to 15% of

  821. the population of Iran even go to mosque?

  822. The Muslims, the Christians that are coming to know Jesus, are

  823. now opening up some of those mosques and having worship to

  824. Jesus in those mosques, not in Tehran, but in outlying areas

  825. throughout Iran. In the smaller town areas,

  826. they're literally taking possession of mosque where Allah

  827. and Muhammad and the Quran were worshipped and adored, and now

  828. Jesus is being enthroned there. Amen.

  829. So we need to pray and pray for the protective plan of God for

  830. Israel, but we also need to pray for the redemptive plan for

  831. Iran. Do you feel it?

  832. Does anybody sense that? You know, I, I'm here because

  833. I'm, I, I bring what I believe the Lord says to bring.

  834. And that's what I, I believe. He wants to cast vision today

  835. that we, we shift our thinking that we want to see Iran

  836. destroyed. No, we don't.

  837. We want to see the precious Persian people of Iran redeemed

  838. and brought into the Kingdom of God.

  839. Amen. And as we pray for the peace of

  840. Jerusalem and the blessing of Israel, you should continue to

  841. do that. I do it every day.

  842. I pray for a blessing on Israel. But when I pray for a blessing

  843. in my blessing, I'm praying and asking God for for Israel

  844. contains justice and judgment and correction.

  845. The Bible says God disciplines the Son He loves.

  846. He does that for us, doesn't He? The discipline of the Lord is a

  847. sign and evidence of His love for you.

  848. Well, why doesn't he do that for nations?

  849. I believe he's going to discipline Israel and bring

  850. Israel into a knowledge of the Lord Jesus.

  851. Remember this, Islam is an Antichrist system, an ungodly,

  852. unholy, false religious system, Islam, and they believe in the

  853. implementation of Sharia law. And I promise you, there's a

  854. plan for implementation right here.

  855. Hey, thanks for watching. At Heartland Church, we love to

  856. worship the Lord and we love His Word.

  857. In fact, if you could jump on and subscribe to our YouTube

  858. channel, you could make sure that you don't miss any of the

  859. services. We'd love to have you join us

  860. live or in person every week. See you next time.