Notes on
Becoming An Issachar Generation-1
I Chronicles 12:32 from Issachar, men who understood the times and knew what Israel should do
God is raising up a generation of Issachars- people who understand the times we are living in and know what God’s people are to do.
Acts 2:14-21 Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: …this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: “‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
On the day of Pentecost, we entered into a new age on this planet: the age of the church, where God has poured out His Spirit on humanity to make a difference on this planet by demonstrating God’s power and pointing people back to God.
Matthew 20:18-20 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Jesus has commanded us to occupy the planet until He returns.
Luke 19:13 And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come.
If we don’t occupy the chair that God has asked us to occupy, Satan will slide into our seat and take control of it.
The focus of the Jesus movement turned to the coming of Christ and it became the frenzy of the church in the 70s and 80s.
That generation gave up their training, education, and opportunity to work at inventions and technology-all the things that would have turned them into culture shapers.
U.S. Supreme Court 1892:
Our laws and our institutions must necessarily be based upon and embody the teachings of the Redeemer of mankind. It is impossible that it should be otherwise; and in this sense and to this extent our civilization and our institutions are emphatically Christian.
U.S. Supreme Court 1931:
We are a Christian people…according to one another the equal right of religious freedom, and acknowledge with reverence the duty of obedience to the will of God.
U.S. Supreme Court 1963:
Secularism is unconstitutional…preferring those who do not believe over those who do believe…It is the duty of government to deter no-belief religions…Facilities of government cannot offend religious principles…
"Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence on Thee, and we beg Thy blessings upon us, our parents, our teachers, and our country."
In 1929, the market crashed to just 11% of its previous value sparking the Great Depression which lasted 12 years.
In 2001, when the dot-com bubble burst and 9/11 happened, the NASDAQ plummeted 76%.
When banks failed in 2008 during the sub-prime mortgage crisis, the DOW lost 54% of its value.
The Holy Spirit has been tasked with an important job: letting us know what is going to happen so we can be prepared and ready.
John 16:13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.
2 Timothy 3:1-5 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power.
God in this passage is raising His voice and trying to get our attention to something that must be understood.
The second thing we have to understand is that God is not trying to scare us, but prepare us so that we will know what to do in these times.
God’s goal for us is to:
1) Shine as lights in a world growing ever darker.
2) Build a hedge of protection around our families.
3) Teach our children and grandchildren the Word of God so that while they live in this world, they will not be of this world or be negatively impacted by it.
4) Stay unaffected by the changing moral landscape in society around us.
5) Become influencers of our culture-like it says in Revelation 11:15 “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord
God spoke to us through the Apostle Paul to highlight what the world culture would look like at the very end of the last days so that we could prepare to live differently and fulfill God’s plan for the planet during those very wicked days.
Matthew 24:3-8 What will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.
In the last days before the return of Jesus, Jesus tells us world event signposts of that last generation: wars, rumors of wars, famines, pestilences, and earthquakes.
Men will become utterly self-centred, greedy for money, full of big words. They will be proud and contemptuous, without any regard for what their parents taught them. They will be utterly lacking in gratitude, purity and normal human affections. They will be men of unscrupulous speech and have no control of themselves. They will be passionate and unprincipled, treacherous, self-willed and conceited, loving all the time what gives them pleasure instead of loving God. They will maintain a facade of “religion”, but their conduct will deny its validity.
Here is something you must know: the church in the last of the last days will be the strongest and most victorious church that has ever existed.
Ephesians 5:27 Jesus did this in order to present the church to himself in brilliant splendor, without a single spot or blemish or anything of the kind – that it might be holy and without blame.
Isaiah 60:1-5 Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. “Lift up your eyes and look about you: All assemble and come to you; your sons come from afar, and your daughters are carried on the hip. Then you will look and be radiant, your heart will throb and swell with joy; the wealth on the seas will be brought to you, to you the riches of the nations will come.
Lift up your eyes and look about you: All assemble and come to you; your sons come from afar, and your daughters are carried on the hip. Then you will look and be radiant, your heart will throb and swell with joy;
Revelation 3:20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in.
