Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG)
  Europe Mainland

You Are God’s Battle Axe in Europe

                                                                                                Judges 15: 14 – 16

1. Understanding your purpose is the most important thing in life. God’s reasons for raising you in this continent as a Christian is that you are His battle axe. Samson’s purpose announced before he was born was to begin to deliver Israel for the Philistines (Judges 13:5). For John it was to be a forerunner of Christ. For Peter it was to deliver to the Jewish people (and to Gentiles) the gospel after Christ. For Christ it was to announce and inaugurate the kingdom of God on earth. For Mary it was to carry a baby for the Holy Ghost. For us it is to bring back the king to Europe Mainland (Hab 2:14) (Mt 24:14).

To accomplish will not be easy given the fact that several gods and kingdoms have established themselves in a continent where the Lord’s name was once revered and from which His good news went to the rest of the world. In particular, young people have a big role to play here. The younger generation are looking for different role models/answers to life’s problem which the secular world has not been able to provide.

2. A battle axe is a special instrument utilized to fight whenever the battle has gotten to the most critical point—requiring hand to hand combat.

3. Whenever serious problems arose in Israel and the adults have proven unable to tackle the challenge, the God of Heaven has always turned to young people. I will only touch on a few examples that most of you already know well. The main point is to demonstrate to you that God has His eyes on you for great things in this season.

Examples:

• Joshua was raised to take Israel to the promised land when all other leaders had claimed that the people of the land were giants and they could never defeat them. Joshua was filled with the Holy Ghost but was not a part of the 70 elders who ruled Israel with Moses. When Moses died, God called on young Joshua and encouraged hum to take His people and he did without fail, conquering all the giants and dispossessing them of their lands and distributing these to Israel. At the end of his life, Joshua testified—the God of Heaven had been faithful to every word. Josh 23.14.

• Samuel was called of the Lord when Eli and his sons had turned God’s house into a place for their personal enrichments and pleasure. Vision and word of God was scarce but he raised little Samuel who at having never heard of God’s voice went to Eli when he was called by God. Through Samuel, great victories were won by God’s people over their enemies even though they had no earthly king or regular army (1 Sam 7: 11-14). Israel experienced victories instead of defeat and peace instead of conflict and warfare.  The word ‘ebenezer’-  ‘up to here has the Lord helped us’ was one of the legacies of Samuel’s ministry.

•  David was raised to destroy  the great Philistine army led by the great warrior Goliath. Even Israel’s warrior king and the rest of Israel’s armies shivered when Goliath challenged the Israel and her God. David not only destroyed Goliath and routed the Philistine military but raised giant killers like himself from a rag-tag army of people who were distressed, indebted and discontented (1 Sam.22.2).

• God raised Esther to eliminate the sworn enemies of Jews at a time when most Jewish adults hid their nationalities as many currently do today. She not only preserved the Jewish race she installed her uncle in place of the one whom the enemy had raised to destroy her race and defeat God’s purpose.

•  The Lord Jesus Christ, we all know was a youth who though being God was also fully man when on earth and at age 33.5 years had established God’s kingdom on earth took away all of Satan’s weapons from him.

•  Timothy and Titus served as overseers of two crucial cities where the great apostle had established the gospel and left several vibrant churches (see 1 Tim 4.12, Titus 1.5).

•  The Lord has not changed His plans—He is still in the business of raising young people to tackle the enemy especially when the adults have failed. No wonder His word says He has perfected praise in the mouth of babies because of his enemies.

• He raised Oral Roberts, Kenneth Haggin, Billy Graham and others like them while they were still young to invest their lives in His service in order to deliver the powerful America from the idols that crippled Europe and other nations of the world.

•  All of Nigeria’s great ministers of God today in the persons of Bishop Oyedepo, Kumuyi, Adeboye and Okonkwo were raised while they were still young to deliver the great country, Nigeria from idolatry. None of these nations can be considered finished product yet.

• Similarly, he raised young Bob Gates to unleash the powers of the telecommunication that lifted our world to a new level of interconnectivity and globalisation.

• The young people of Europe are the ones that have had the greatest impact of a post- Christian society, one that has dumped christianity for all kinds of idolatry –humanism, socialism etc. What happened in Oslo July 22 happened on April 2 on a much smaller scale in the NL and there would have been similar incidents in various countries.

4. God is reaching out  to the young people to provide answers to the real challenges  we confront in Europe—which is how to bring King Jesus back to rule and reign in these nations that once revered and worshipped Him as their King and Lord; a King that had only been good and gracious to Europe. Yes, God seems determined to turn the battle for Europe over to young people.

5. The enemy fights us in EM are intelligent, efficient and stubborn demons. The Philistines got the Israelites to arrest their own leader and protector. Judges 15 v. 9-13, v. 14, Eph 6: 10-12.

6. The only and most important ally you must have is the HOLY SPIRIT. He alone can destabilize the enemy when He comes on in mightily. Note the 1^st thing that happens when the Holy Spirit comes into man’s life is to destroy every yoke (Is 10:27). Josh 23:10, v. 15. Once you have the Holy Spirit as your ally and have been set free you must look for and find anything/anyone that can become a partner in your fight against these evil forces. (Eph 6:10-12)

Friends, acquaintances, spouses, church member Ecc4: 9-10, workers etc. Job –create jobs, don’t only such to depend on socials. V.16

7. Beware never to boast of yourself when victory comes. Boast only about your God. Pride goes before fall. Compare Samson to Daniel or Joseph or Jesus. None of the latter even boasted of themselves.

Pastor Dele Olowu

July 30, 2011.