The Advancing Church Part 3 by Pastor Philip Olubakin: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

Text: the scepter and the gates of hell

Genesis 49:10 — the scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come. Matthew 16:18-19 — I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

The gates of hell will not prevail against God's body, not against our churches, not against our people. Lord, raise national leaders from the body of Christ. Let saviors arise from Zion.

An advancing church must take back specific gates

Many believers are not aware of how serious and critical the enemy's encroachment is. The easiest thing to do is simply point at the enemy and call for spiritual warfare, but there are real, practical gates the church must deliberately advance toward and occupy.

Gate one: digital and social media

Matthew 16:19 — whatever you bind on earth is bound in heaven.

The average person now spends six to eight hours daily on digital platforms, and this is where worldviews are shaped, identities are formed, and ideologies spread. Algorithms create echo chambers that reinforce deception, and the enemy has flooded the space with disinformation and anti-God propaganda.

2 Corinthians 10:5 — casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity.

• The church must deliberately raise up digital missionaries: content creators, apologists, and tech innovators who flood the internet with truth.
• Believers must be equipped to reason and argue for the gospel, not retreat when challenged, because it is the truth, not love alone, that sets people free.
• Sound and powerful ministries that refuse publicity, believing they should stay hidden and "let God do it," leave a whole generation unreached. A candle is not lit to be put under a bushel.
• Matthew 24:14 — this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world; there is no better way to do that right now than through the virtual public square of digital and social media.

Gate two: educational systems

The educational system has become a primary center for secular humanism, gender confusion, moral relativism, and anti-Christian worldviews, from kindergarten through postgraduate study, shaping the next generation of leaders.

• Public school curricula are largely controlled by the government, and parents cannot fully control what their children are taught there.
• Concern was raised over low national entrance-exam cutoff marks for teacher training colleges and universities, and what that means for the quality of a generation raised on such a foundation.
• The church must deliberately raise Christian educators, administrators, school board members, university professors, and student missionaries, and establish faith-based schools.
• University campus fellowships used to be strong pipelines of faith formation, but many pastors drew students away from those fellowships into their own churches, weakening a mission field.
• Every nation touched by true revival has historically also been transformed in its civilization, medicine, and development.

Gate three: government and political leadership

Laws and policies are increasingly being passed against the church, a subject covered more fully in an earlier service.

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Gate four: family and marriage

The family is the foundational institution of society, established by God before the church, before the state, before any other institution.

• The enemy has launched an assault on the family through rising divorce, gender confusion, sexual immorality, and fatherlessness, along with technology that allows people to have children outside the covenant of marriage.
• God's design from creation is a man and a woman raising a family together; even the conception of Jesus was arranged by God to take place within a marriage.
• Satan did not move against Adam until Eve was given to him. He knew a godly home, joined together, would raise up a weapon for God in the next generation.

Psalm 127:3-5

Children are a heritage of the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man, so are children of one's youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them.

• A couple that has only two children has not multiplied, only replaced themselves. Historically, no culture has revived itself with a fertility rate under two children per family; several Western nations are now near 1.3.
• Ministers who claim to be "too busy" for marriage and children while investing all their time in other people's children were challenged directly: a family is where true spiritual character is tested, because a pulpit can hide flaws that a household cannot.
• Delaying marriage and children was called a satanic strategy working against the church's future strength and influence.