The Church is Expected to War

Date: 17 August 2008
Speaker: Dr. C. Peter Wagner
Venue: City Harvest Church

Warfare is part of the Church.

Matthew 10:34
“Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword.

Although Jesus is known as the Prince of Peace, but he brings along judgement because in the real world manytimes peace can only be achieved through war.

1 Samuel 15:1-3
Samuel also said to Saul, “The Lord sent me to anoint you king over His people, over Israel. Now therefore, heed the voice of the words of the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he ambushed him on the way when he came up from Egypt. Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’”

1 Samuel 15:9-11
But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were unwilling to utterly destroy them. But everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed.
Now the word of the Lord came to Samuel, saying, “I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king, for he has turned back from following Me, and has not performed My commandments.” And it grieved Samuel, and he cried out to the Lord all night.

1 Samuel 15:26
But Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you, for you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.”

Peace will not come until the war is won.

D Day; The turning point of the war. Once you have secured that point, though the war may not have ended, but you have already won the war.

The biblical framework of the war

Revelation 12:7-9
And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

Revelation 12:12
Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.”

Revelation 12:17
And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

The devil took the war from heaven down to earth. He now wages war against God's children.

What wins this war? 1) What Jesus has already done on the Cross. 2) What we say. 3) What we do about it.

The divine command to war

Going to war as a believer is not an option. And when the army goes out to war, not everyone is placed at the frontline. Some play the support role. Be placed where you are supposed to be, according to your spiritual gifts.

Get guidance from the Holy Spirit. He will speak to you individually, to your family, and to your Church.

Intercessors (open the gates of heaven) > Prophets (hears from God) > Apostles (strategise and put the body of Christ in order)

The strategic theatres of war

Ground level (deliverance ministry of casting out demons) > Occult level (deals with organised forces of darkness, magic and witchcraft) > Strategic level (deals with principalities and powers of darkness and territorial spirits)