Secularisation - Dechristianisation - Domination - Pastor Rob Urban

Welcome to Logan City Christian Church podcast where we bring God's Word to you weekly.

We pray that what you hear will bring clarity to your situation and open doors in your life.

Enjoy the message.

I knew that there was another step to take and I didn't know what it was.

When I went to this conference, God showed me what it is.

I say that to say this, I want to thank you both for I'm sure there'd be hard days that

you've been through and faced mountains that seemed impossible to pass but Jesus got you

through because you didn't give up.

I just see the depth of your ministry, it's something I haven't seen before and I'm very

very grateful and I know this church is going to benefit out of it with the missions program

in a very big way.

I just can't get into it all now but I want to let you know it was life changing, absolutely

life changing.

And the scripture says to give honor where honor is due and I believe it's a time now

to just say Jeff and Betty, we honor you, we thank you and it's just wonderful, just

wonderful.

Why don't we just appreciate them and acknowledge those who serve the Lord.

I mean there are many of you here this morning that have given probably equal sacrifice,

if not more maybe I don't know but there's so many of us in the mission fields and in

ministry that have paid the price and are still paying the price but the fruit is evident

and it's just so worth it, amen.

Welcome everyone this morning and everyone watching online, good morning.

And we'd just like to acknowledge the deaf community and the interpreters for what they

do, it's just an amazing work, amen.

And not forgetting the tech crew and everybody else, just a wonderful, wonderful thing that

happens that goes on that we don't see every Sunday what goes on during the week.

Praise be to God.

You know what, Chantelle said that the devil's a loser and she was being polite because you

ever been, you know remember at school how many of you guys, maybe girls, used to get

into a bit of a, you know what I'm speaking about, you don't have to put your hand up,

I don't need an extra altar call at the end of the meeting.

But how many of us notice that there are bullies everywhere you go?

Big mouth, very rarely have they got any oomph behind the mouth and they just keep people

intimidated and fear and control them.

You know the devil's exactly the same.

But the problem is for the devil is that we serve a big God.

He is huge, he's enormous and there's nothing that our God can't do.

And our God is awesome.

It's like God's always steps ahead of the devil, in fact he's always been ahead of the

devil and somehow for some reason the devil thinks that he's still going to win in the

end.

We got news for him, we've read the last chapter of the book, he does not win but he tries.

So I believe part of the message today is to encourage us even though there's a bully,

the devil that tries to intimidate, manipulate, control, I mean he's the father of narcissists

but we serve an awesome God and our focus should be on our awesome God not on that puny

little bully that tries to influence us in the name of Jesus.

So that was a bit of a waiver to introduce the title of the message this morning.

And I probably should have had a drink of water to be able to say this but here it goes,

many of you know that in Omi a long time I get a little bit tongue twisted with big words.

But here they go.

Secularization, de-Christianization, leading to domination.

I mean somehow the devil thinks he's going to beat this.

He's not.

Secularization, de-Christianization and domination.

And so just briefly we see over the years, it's been for centuries, that the devil has

tried so hard to remove the very presence and the core of Christ and Christian values

throughout society and it seems that no matter what he tries it's like a bush that gets pruned

back and it just grows back even more and produces more fruit.

That's the Christian church.

The Christian church is amazing.

And so bringing in secular ideologies to influence the world in general, I do believe at times

that it's aimed to try and secularize the Christian mindset of Christians but I do not

think it's working.

And so the de-Christianization to remove and to cancel out anything Christian, we are seeing

this happening today.

We've been seeing it happening for many years.

But we've noticed that it's accelerating at such a speed now like we've never seen before

and the end game is domination.

So as terrible as that may seem, let me read to you what the Word of God says about that

from Matthew chapter 16 verse 18 through to 19 and I'm going to explain it a little bit

Matthew 16:18

more later.

But this is what the Word of God says with the devil's plans, secularization, de-Christianization,

leading to domination.

This is what Jesus said.

And He said, and I say to you that you are Peter and on this rock I will build my church

and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

Now the scripture doesn't say that the gates of Hades will not try.

The gates of Hades have always come against the Christian church but Jesus said that the

church that I build, the one that I build, yes the gates of Hades are going to come and

try and prevail against this work but He said it will not work.

It will not work.

It will not prevail against it.

So really there are two things that I take out and that one is the devil's going to try.

Second one is that God wins.

So we've always got to maintain that mindset that we are on the winning team and there

may be times that you might be feeling that thinking, I don't feel like I'm on the winning

team at the moment.

Let me assure you, you are on the winning team but just check where your thoughts are.

Check where our mind is, where it's wandering to.

But Jesus didn't say that on this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hades will

not prevail against it.

He also said not only that but I'm going to give you something.

He said I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.

An authority and whatever you, us, whatever we bind on earth will be bound in heaven.

Whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

So you know we're looking at this mission that the devil has had against humanity, against

Christianity, secularization, de-Christianization in hope to dominate but the problem is that

he never counted on that the church that Jesus built, it says that the gates of Hades won't

prevail against it but he also said and gave to the church a power and an authority to

overpower the works of the devil.

He said I'll give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.

An authority of heaven.

And he says whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven.

Whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

In other words whatever is decreed unlawful in heaven we have authority here on earth

to decree it to be unlawful here on earth.

And whatever things are lawful in heaven we have the authority to decree it to be lawful

here on earth.

And so this incredible authority has been given to the church to rule and reign regardless

of what the newspaper is telling you today regardless of the latest election results

or whatever it might be that God is always on the throne.

God is always ahead of time and he's on time.

God, nothing takes God by surprise and so therefore he is the one that our focus is

on that God is in control.

The devil didn't count on the church receiving this incredible authority.

Now I ask a question when is the last time that you or I have used these keys of the

kingdom this authority to declare to decree to pray to speak out hang on a minute these

things that are going on now that is not lawful in heaven.

So as a saint of God a child of the living God I decree I speak it in the name of Jesus

that that be disallowed here and build the atmosphere of the spirit of God around your

family in your life in your workplace in your ministry wherever it may be.

Speak speak allow that authority that's been given to us be be released from their mouth

and to speak it out into the atmosphere because it's a powerful thing.

And it's the last time that we've loosed the power of heaven or the authority what is right

in heaven to say you know this is what I speak over my family this is what I decree over

my family those things that are happening or things that are trying to come in and overtake

I declare it not lawful because in heaven that's not how it is.

So as a child of the living God we have authority to say hang on a minute hang on a minute I

am not allowing that to come into my family into my home I'm not allowing that to whatever

your sphere of life in life where you may be struggling in at any given time.

Use the authority that Christ has given us it's powerful it's extremely powerful praise

God and if that doesn't bring a smile on your dial I don't think much will because you've

been given keys to the kingdom of God let's use them church they're powerful they are

very very powerful very powerful so no matter what the plan of the devil is really makes

no difference to the economy of God or the vision of God or the direction of God makes

no difference.

So let's stay focused on the winning team that we are on the winning team now I'm going

to say something here that I'm going to come back to I'm going to go around a different

way and come back to this statement the devil's mission involves the upcoming generations

our children our grandchildren and we need to pray for them pray for the children pray

for your children pray for your grandchildren lift them up pray that their sweet innocent

little souls be connected with Christ and remain with Christ we build an atmosphere

of Christ around about them in the home and wherever it may be now I know that it's impossible

to wrap them in cotton wool all of their lives and there's a time that they need to experience

for themselves and to experience life for themselves but there's a time that we have

now is to train them and equip them isn't it amazing that I heard a preacher speak one

day he said it was really incredible he said that he was going on a mission trip and he's

packing everything he needed for that mission trip everything and he's got a he goes often

he's got a list of everything and he just packs it all and then he goes and as he wheeled

his suitcase to the car he said isn't that amazing you know exactly what you need to

do to equip yourself for a mission trip or a journey but he said in this case he said

but your children you're not equipping them you're not preparing them for their journey

and apparently on the plane where he was going the Lord spoke to him and he said to him he

said you know this is your priority 101 you equip your children equip your family invest

into them and I know in ministry one of the easiest things we can do is be busy and busy

doing so many things and at times run the risk of neglecting the ones that love us the

most and that is our family and we need to be very careful with that and if anyone ever

finds a bulletproof method that works every single time can you let me know because it's

difficult it's very difficult but I thank God that when you hear stories like this we

take it on board and we take it home and think this is something that I need to be aware

of because the devil's mission involves the upcoming generations every smart leader every

king of a kingdom you know even in any leader you think of every successful leader took

exceptional interest in the young people and the ones that they saw that were in prams

or you know little toddlers or whatever they knew that this is their opportunity to train

them in the kingdom principles so when they are older that they maintain the vision of

that kingdom than the principles of that kingdom but unfortunately the enemy knows about that

principle as well but it doesn't matter because we are aware of his devices amen so I'm going

to come back to this a bit later so how does the enemy accomplish this how does he do this

I would be wrong to conclude that the enemy or the devil's strategy is spiritual only

that is not the truth I believe it's a lot more than that I believe it's it is spiritual

but it's more than a spiritual attack against humanity I believe the spiritual assignment

has been accomplished I guess by influencing political structures and we are seeing that

happening today very much so political structures the governments there's nothing new under

the sun and one John chapter 5 verse 19 it says we know that word says we know that we

John 5:19

are of God and the whole world lies under the sway or the influence of the wicked one

and so we know that the anti-christ spirit one John speaks a lot about the anti-christ

spirit and he said that this anti-christ spirit has been around a long time and we know that

today that influence has grown throughout society it's also grown through the structure

of governance as well in countries and nations around the world we should not be surprised

by this it's been prophesied that this is how it's going to be and so you know we as

Christians need to keep our focus on what we are called to do today and to prepare for

tomorrow so that influence the sway of the wicked one the evil one is everywhere no matter

where you go it's like gravity I can go over to China and the gravity is going to be the

same there as is here I could go to Africa it's going to be the same go to El Salvador

it's going to be the same and it's just like that influence of the wicked one it's everywhere

it's global but the good news is so is Jesus so is the church of Jesus Christ it's global

it's a global movement and it's changing the world every day every day the world is changing

for the better in the in the influences that the Christian church has and so here it is

to erase Christianity from society it's not the devil's endgame that's his beginning

so he wants to remove all opposition so he comes to an open door with no security no

firewall and just walk straight in and do what he wants to do however as I said before

that is not going to happen that is not going to happen so long as Jesus is alive which

he's alive forevermore and is the king of kings and lord of lords the head of the church

that is never going to happen let me read second Thessalonians these are really encouraging

scriptures that it's reminding me and hopefully reminding us all that we are on the winning

team that Christianity is still to this day the fastest growing strongest growing lack

of a better word religion on the face of the earth it still is second Thessalonians chapter

2 Thessalonians 2:5

2 verse 5 through to 7 I believe this will encourage you this morning the word of God

says do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things and now you

know what is restraining that he may be revealed in his own time so in other words it's speaking

about the antichrist the the the ungodly move that's coming in the end but something's

restraining hang on to that word restraining he says and then now you know what is restraining

that he may be revealed in his own time verse 7 for the mystery of lawlessness is already

at work listen to this only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way

now that's been commonly interpreted as the Holy Spirit will be taken away when Jesus

comes to take away the church but I do not believe that is what this scripture is meaning

here if you carefully study this the this scripture here for the mystery of lawlessness

is already at work only he is to he's here he that now restrains will do so till he is

taken out the way two different people two different altogether so the first word he

grammatically is masculine meaning a personal figure a person so he the personal figure

who now restrains and so somebody is restraining will do so until he and there's a different

he grammatically it's speaking about a governmental organization which relates directly to the

Christian church so it's speaking here that there is somebody that is restraining and

I believe what this is clearly indicating here that here is the Holy Spirit working

through the Christian church restraining evil but when the the the Christian church is taken

away that's when the floodgate will open to me it is so abundantly clear what this means

so what's the good take out of this it means that the Christian church is doing an incredible

job now the problem might may seem is like but we're seeing the world getting darker

and things are getting worse and yes that is right but when you line up and put in the

scales the balances as to how things are getting darker and how the Christian church is growing

I think you would be surprised God still has his hand on people God still loves people

the Christian church is moving in might and in power and moving and it's God-given authority

and making changes in nations around the world this day even as I am speaking it's not taking

away from the fact that there is so much injustice in this world there is so much evil in this

world we see it you just need to turn on your television or read the newspaper and you will

you'll know what I'm saying is true but why don't we read this book the good book the

word of God the word with it that gives us so much enlightenment and hope and strength

and direction in our life that there we see that God will never fail God always is in

control God doesn't sit down and call the angels together and saying oh man we need

to have a board meeting the the devil's out maneuvered me he his strategies were better

than mine and now I've got to play catch-up what can we do there is never a crisis meeting

in heaven God's always ahead of anything that happens nothing takes God by surprise amen

he is in control he is awesome but the church here is saying that this Antichrist movement

is being restrained to this moment it may not look like it but it is the people that

are left behind that when the church is gone are going to see oh the church was holding

all this back we won't be here we'll be gone but the ones that are left behind are going

to notice it so the term secularization can actually refer to two different structures

which may or may not coincide the first form of secular secular secular secularization

I told you I get a bit of a knot in my tongue is based on the legal and constitutional concept

the autonomy of the political sphere leading either to separation of state from religious

institutions or to the political takeover of the religious sphere so what that means

is is that we're seeing and it's been happening for years nothing new under the sun that there's

been this separation of church and and government where it never used to be but it is now but

then now there's the government taking over the church wanting to take take over the church

as Jesus said I'm not going to work not the church that I built the gates of Hades are

going to come and it's going to push but it won't prevail against it and that's good

news that is excellent news and so with an increasing secular society and removal of

Christian values the door is would be normally open with the absence of any opposition for

the devil just to walk through and to dominate but there's one thing he wasn't counting

on that was the church the church of Jesus Christ the second form of secularization is

sociological sociological in nature it denotes the decline I've just got these studies things

that I've put together quite some time ago it denotes the decline in religious observance

and the disappearance of religion as the focus of social and cultural life this is what is

called de-Christianization remove it get it out so people start thinking of other things

than Christ amen but it's not working it's not working again Jesus said on this rock

I'll build my church the gates of Hades not going to work not going to happen be encouraged

church whenever you read bad news or sad news or a bad report of what supposedly is being

structured against the church in a in a legal manner or whatever it might be just do what

God does just laugh at it and pray and know that God is up to something good you know

I remember I caught myself out one day I don't know if it was Bill or someone was around

home we were watching a war movie and this war movie it's a true story about anyway I

won't go there and the the soldiers were in their trenches and it's night time and they've

got all their their rifles they're laying down and you know over the trench they're

waiting and the enemy is coming toward them running and I'm sitting there going shoot

them and they're waiting and the guy's saying wait for it wait for it they get closer and

closer and I'm like wait for it wait for it wait for it don't you hate that he likes

waiting for things I need to pray for you later I think it was the only hand that went

up in the church and so wait for it and you know and then they do they wait for it then

he says fire and then boom it was the the maximum effect with the resources that they

had and I believe is what God's doing he knows that we see parent injustices that are taking

place and it's like surely the church can do more surely the spiritual leaders can surely

we can do more but there are times that God and his wisdom he's going wait for it wait

for it now there's still plenty going on wait for it just wait for it I believe with all

my heart there are going to be when it gets the darkest pockets of fire of revival start

out in various places on the earth and I believe God's saying wait for it wait for it wait

for it it's coming it's coming we need to be praying for a move of the spirit in this

land like never ever before because in that way no one's injured everybody will experience

the goodness of God everybody it's up to them whether they choose to follow or not they

all will experience it praise the Lord you see it's known it doesn't make any difference

who is leading our country our nation whether it's a Christian or non-Christian I mean it's

better to have a Christian Christian leadership absolutely but regardless who our spiritual

leaders are or pastor of a church or of a nation we all bear the same responsibility

and that is of maintaining Christian values in our own lives in our own families we can't

expect the government to do everything for us like I think a big mistake that happened

that I think we can learn from when Scott Morrison was our prime minister that I think

in some cases the Christian church leaned back on its recliner thinking it's all good

now our prime ministers are born-again Christians going to do everything that we should be doing

and I think that happened a bit and so we can't we can't do that I mean I would not

like to have that that position it would be difficult be hard and and so we all have that

same responsibility regardless what's going on over the fence across from your yard or

whatever is going on primarily we have the responsibility of maintaining godliness godly

structure in our family that is our responsibility regardless of how hard things are around and

what laws are being passed that working that try to work against Christianity you look

at it the early Christian church it was birthed in a time where there was such a cruel government

the Roman government they were just so so cruel absolutely cruel and their religious

organization that was already established was was not good so they really had no government

to lean on and no established religious order to lean on and so it apparently seemed like

they didn't have much but they had more than all the others put together because they had

faith in Jesus Christ and him alone and it was through there that through all the persecution

they grew through with all the persecution that came against the Christian church the

Christian church prospered why was that it was simply because their faith was not in

a government institution it wasn't in handouts it wasn't in any of those things primarily

their faith was locked in on God they had nothing else but they had more than they probably

ever realized Christ their hope of glory and I feel that this is a place where for me personally

where I tend to want to keep coming back to it says I hang in a minute I'm going down

this path and doing this and that but let's just stop let's get back to the to the reason

why we do what we do the reason why and it's important so so important and so the church

prospered under persecution I believe the Christian church today is going to prosper

more the persecution comes and believe me according to scripture I believe it's going

to come and it's just God's empowered us so there we go I just so now let's get to I mentioned

the beginning in the beginning of the message the devil's mission involves the upcoming

generations our children our grandchildren and so evangelism Christianity is not the

only organization if you like that is evangelizing the enemy evangelizes he evangelizes through

TV social media through various different ways it's just everywhere it's just the

young people that I pray for them pray for the young people pray for the children pray

for parents with children it would not be easy today to be raising a family and maintaining

godly Christian morals in the family it wouldn't be easy but it is possible to see the devil

has these people in his target in his sights because he knows the children of today are

his leaders tomorrow if he can get hold of them but we're telling him no you're not

getting our kids you're not getting our kids it's not going to happen so if there ever

there was a time where secularization is trying to de-Christianize and dominate Australia

it is now but don't be worried about it because greater is he that is in us than he that is

of the world you know the Bible speaks about the signs and times before the return of Christ

and this Antichrist movement is going to get stronger it's going to gain a little bit more

momentum but it doesn't matter because it can never overcome an overwhelm an awesome

mighty God that we serve the church of Jesus Christ is powerful the Bible teaches us this

is exactly how the world will be in the end times and it shouldn't be a surprise to us

so what do we do what do we do this is what we do Proverbs 22 6 train up a child in the

way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it these are the things that

if we're not already doing it young families parents train up your child in the way that

they should go and if they happen to wander off they'll come back to it they will come

back to it you see I look at how many school teachers do we have here angels not all Ryan's

a school teacher in Christian teachers need to be prayed for because you guys are on a

front line that's at a whole different level all together pray for them in fact Brian is

in a Christian school and some of what I've heard he's created such a beautiful atmosphere

of God in the classroom and I think back boy I wished I had an environment like that to

start with in school and maybe I wouldn't have lasted long in there I don't know but

it would have been good to try anyway and so here it is to train them it's intentional

to train their children to say hey look we're going to do this husbands and wives come together

in agreement to say we're going to train up their children in the way that they should

go they're going to go out into this world at some stage the time is now like the missionary

packing his suitcase for his journey we've got to help them pack their suitcase for their

journey to prepare them for life because when they grow up and they go that's it you're

just relying on what you've invested into them to get them through and I just I know

one thing is for sure I heard it said at the conference the other day that it's it's not

about it's it's more than teaching people about God it's about teaching people how to

know God that's the difference so we can have all the knowledge of God and maybe not make

as great an impact as we would have hoped but when somebody experiences the presence

of God and knows God from experience I think that is a major heads up for any person especially

children another scripture Deuteronomy chapter 11 verse 18 to 21 therefore you shall lay

Deuteronomy 11:18–21

up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul and bind them as a sign on your

hand that they shall be as frontlets between your eyes this is speaking to parents and

then it says you shall teach them to your children speaking them speaking of them when

you sit in your house when you walk by the way when you lie down when you rise up and

you shall write them on the doorpost of your house and on your gates that your days and

the days of your children may be multiplied in the land of which the Lord swore to your

fathers to give them like the days of the heavens above the earth I don't know if there's

any need to expand on that I think that scripture speaks very clearly for itself Psalm chapter

Psalms 78:5–6

78 verse 5 to 6 for he established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel which

he commanded our fathers that they should make them known to their children verse 6

that the generation to come might know them the children would be born sorry the children

who would be born that they may arise and declare them to their children so it's speaking

about the generations to come and as I said every great leader understands the importance

of children that they hold the keys to our future everything that we've ever invested

into worked for planted sown built we would hope that our children the next generations

would add to and build upon what we have done see children don't make up a hundred percent

of our population but they are a hundred percent of our future we have today to develop the

people for tomorrow so we can be so focused on this secularization decristianization and

domination which is the devil's plan let's not ignore that it is a devil's plan but so

what big deal we have been given an incredible authority an awesome responsibility to invest

into this generation so they too like us will see what the devil's doing and not dictate

to them to change their way of living but to live for God to live for him you know I

am seeing that Christianity just blown away like I said life changing this conference

global development group to see more missionaries I know a lot of missionaries but I met missionaries

I've never met before in my life and had no idea what the mission fields are alive be

encouraged I don't think you're hearing me the mission fields are alive they're buzzing

there are missionaries out all over the world giving of their lives and sacrificing the

creature comforts of the home and going out and making a difference everywhere they go

they're transforming nations communities how good is that so when we think and hear about

the bad news on TV and this you know secularization decristianization and this domination yeah

it's happening but big deal Christ is taking the planet Christ is ruling this world Christ

is using people and missionaries and empowering and placing them and making a difference wherever

they go in the name of Jesus we are seeing a record of well from what I was told 12 months

ago record numbers of church plants across the world that the kingdom of God is growing

in each church that is planted is getting converts and so that the kingdom of God is

growing it's exciting so please church don't be bogged down with what is going on yes it's

concerning and we cannot ignore it but know this that the kingdom of God is moving forward

very well thank you very much there's a conference coming up Kathleen can you put up your hand

just over there yeah Kathleen is it alright if I ask them to get you the details there's

a conference coming up that is quite it's in fact it's pertinent to what I'm speaking

about that these guys I've already had a bit of a peek in behind the curtain as to what's

going on and it is going to be amazing great speakers all that sort of thing and it's eye

opening as to what's going on so I really would encourage each and every one of us to

see if we can look down that road but I want to finish by doing this I'd like to pray for

every single person you know with family we most of us I'm sure would have grandchildren

at least or great-grandchildren or children I want to pray for this I don't even know

what to call it I feel it but I can't get a word to it it's like this like a warrior

not worrying like a warrior a fighter sort of thing I'm going to stand in the gap the

young people of this nation and I believe that you know one can put a thousand to fly

to the scripture says to put ten thousand to fly we can really do this and see the value

these young people see that they get that great values of Christ established in their

hearts now would be a big bonus for them and for society so if you can think of your children

or maybe you don't have it and you've got neighbors with them or family extended family

let's pray father in the name of Jesus we thank you Lord that you have given us the

keys of the kingdom and today we intentionally use them and we pray for the young people

of this nation of Australia and in fact from right around the world we pray in the name

of Jesus father that they be covered covered with your precious blood that there would

be your angelic presence round about them and got them rather we pray Lord God that

you would bring or raise godly parents around about them and if they don't have parents

a godly influence to be ministering to them father we pray Lord God for such a knowledge

and an experiential knowledge of you almighty God in their lives father we lift up all the

children of this world to you father we ask that there would be such a move of God a move

of your spirit to touch the hearts of all the young people as well everybody else but

father I pray for the parents Lord to realize the hour we live in and to know that it's

high time to invest invest the values of Christ into my children and so father I pray these

things in the name of Jesus and we all said amen amen God bless you guys God bless you

hallelujah if there's anybody that needs prayer for anything please don't hesitate to come

out love to pray for you and remember tea and coffee in the back room and yeah enjoy

that but just remember I'm not downplaying that there are problems in this world and

this slackness that you know that goes I'm not ignoring that I see it as much as you

do but I'm acknowledging the greater one that lives in us that is doing quite a lot more

than we probably do realize amen thank you for joining us we pray God's richest blessing

on your life if you haven't already make sure to join us on Facebook Instagram and YouTube

you can also find us at Logan City Christian Church dot com see you next week