Tuesday, July 1, 2008

What are you weeping for?

I just got back from Sioux Falls, SD (some of you are asking where the heck that is) where I was speaking for my friend Steve Hickey. I had the privilege of concluding the One Prayer series at his church and really enjoyed hanging out with the folks there. These people are operating on an entirely different level than many of us in the Body of Christ. They are championing the cause of the unborn and have become a voice for those who cannot speak for themselves. Roe V. Wade is one of those 'sacrosanct' laws enacted by a travesty of justice in 1973. Steve Hickey and Church at the Gate are working to see that law overturned. On the way to this seemingly impossible feat, they are winning a number of small but significant victories. A decision from the US Court of Appeals (the second highest court in the land) just provided a major breakthrough in this ongoing spiritual battle. Steve's blog: Voices Carry will give you up to date information on this.


What I find most enthralling is how God is in the habit of hiding His greatest weapons so that He can unleash them at just the right time in a massive onslaught against the kingdom of darkness. A few years back, when I first met Steve, he told me an interesting story of how South Dakota had been inadvertently left off the Rand Mcnally atlas of the USA. People were outraged but I told Steve at the time that I believed it to be a prophetic omission. I felt that God was hiding them in obscurity until the moment that they needed to be exposed to the nation. Right now, South Dakota leads the charge for the unborn and are well on the way to ensuring that unborn children's rights are as protected as everyone elses. How poetic is that? The state that was 'forgotten' suddenly finds themselves at the forefront of one of the most epochal and significant battles in the history of our statehood.

My message on Sunday evening was titled: What are you weeping for? I know that for Steve and the people at Church at the Gate, they weep at the plight of unborn children that are being aborted daily. This is precious to the heart of God, and I'm in no doubt that, just like Jeremiah's tears, the tears of Steve and Church at the Gate, are a memorial before the Lord in heaven. So I ask you, What are you weeping for?

3 comments:

Gapper said...

Sorry to have missed you when you were here Pastor Joseph! We were in KC at Fascinate08, and checking out our daughters apartment. She'll be attending school at Forerunner School of Ministry out of ihop there starting next month. I'll be sure to drop by church this week and pick-up a CD of your message. My heart weeps for the next generation, many of whom have grown up without church, or knowing about Jesus. Pray for our children!-Blessings-TK

ST said...

I weep for the many women who are bruised, rejected and no longer believe in themselves, but in a lie, that they cannot amount to much. And the others who mask their pain in various ways.

Hope R. Clark said...

The children in the sex and slave trades. My heart hurts and I ache for them.