The Kingdom of God, Human Purpose & The Mission of Jesus | Amb. Elisha | The Elisha Show

To understand why the dispatchers forgot, we must understand that the territory was not merely filled with people who had lost their way.

Remember, in the previous week, the dispatchers were, were forgetting their assignment, they were forgetting their mission because another influence was working to shape their understanding of reality.

Do you remember where we stopped? And it's an influence that did not merely want their resources, it wanted their allegiance.

So for us to understand why the dispatchers forgot, we must understand that the territory was not merely filled with people who had lost their way.

The Bible describes a spiritual rebel- rebellion, a real conflict between the purposes of God and the forces that opposing Him.

The Bible calls Satan the deceiver, the tempter, the accuser, and the evil one.

Jesus described the devil as a liar and the father of all lies, Saint John 8:44.

Jesus speaks of the devil as one who does not stand in the truth, describing him as a liar.

The enemy's strategy was not always to persuade people to hate everything good.

Sometimes it was far more subtle.

He would persuade them to pursue good things for corrupt reasons, to desire wealth without justice, to desire influence without responsibility, to desire freedom without regard for others, to desire recognition without service, to desire power without accountability, to desire knowledge without wisdom, to desire religion without mercy, to desire success without asking what their success was doing to the people around them.

And slowly, a different culture began to take shape, a culture in which the strong were admired even when they crushed the weak, a culture in which the wealthy were celebrated even when their wealth depended on exploitation, a culture in which human beings were treated as instruments, competitors, customers, statistics, or obstacles, a culture in which people could be surrounded by thousands and still feel profoundly alone, a culture in which a person's public image became more important than their private character.

And the dispatchers began to adapt.

They did not always recognize that they were adapting to a rival kingdom.

They simply called it reality.

When greed become, became normal, they called it ambition.

When pride became normal, they called it confidence.

When cruelty became normal, they called it strength.

When dishonesty became normal, they called it strategy.

When exploitation became normal, they called it business.

When the pursuit of applause consumed them, they called it success.

And when they abandoned the king's ways to gain acceptance from the territory, they called it growing up.

But the scripture had already warned them, Romans 12:2, "Do not conform to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." They were following systems without asking whom those systems served.

They were becoming fluent in the language of the territory while, while becoming strangers to the culture of their homeland, and the enemy did not need every dispatcher to become openly wicked.

If he could make them forget their assignment, he could turn their gift into instruments of the very disorder they had been sent to heal The gift of communication could spread deception.

To understand why the dispatchers forgot, we must understand that the territory was not merely filled with people who had lost their way.

Remember, in the previous week, the dispatchers were, were forgetting their assignment, they were forgetting their mission because another influence was working to shape their understanding of reality.

Do you remember where we stopped? And it's an influence that did not merely want their resources, it wanted their allegiance.

So for us to understand why the dispatchers forgot, we must understand that the territory was not merely filled with people who had lost their way.

The Bible describes a spiritual rebel- rebellion, a real conflict between the purposes of God and the forces that opposing Him.

The Bible calls Satan the deceiver, the tempter, the accuser, and the evil one.

Jesus described the devil as a liar and the father of all lies, Saint John 8:44.

Jesus speaks of the devil as one who does not stand in the truth, describing him as a liar.

The enemy's strategy was not always to persuade people to hate everything good.

Sometimes it was far more subtle.

He would persuade them to pursue good things for corrupt reasons, to desire wealth without justice, to desire influence without responsibility, to desire freedom without regard for others, to desire recognition without service, to desire power without accountability, to desire knowledge without wisdom, to desire religion without mercy, to desire success without asking what their success was doing to the people around them.

And slowly, a different culture began to take shape, a culture in which the strong were admired even when they crushed the weak, a culture in which the wealthy were celebrated even when their wealth depended on exploitation, a culture in which human beings were treated as instruments, competitors, customers, statistics, or obstacles, a culture in which people could be surrounded by thousands and still feel profoundly alone, a culture in which a person's public image became more important than their private character.

And the dispatchers began to adapt.

They did not always recognize that they were adapting to a rival kingdom.

They simply called it reality.

When greed become, became normal, they called it ambition.

When pride became normal, they called it confidence.

When cruelty became normal, they called it strength.

When dishonesty became normal, they called it strategy.

When exploitation became normal, they called it business.

When the pursuit of applause consumed them, they called it success.

And when they abandoned the king's ways to gain acceptance from the territory, they called it growing up.

But the scripture had already warned them, Romans 12:2, "Do not conform to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." They were following systems without asking whom those systems served.

They were becoming fluent in the language of the territory while, while becoming strangers to the culture of their homeland, and the enemy did not need every dispatcher to become openly wicked.

If he could make them forget their assignment, he could turn their gift into instruments of the very disorder they had been sent to heal The gift of communication could spread deception.