Neil Armstrong

• Courage - Could have died
• Sacrifice - Left family behind
• Excellence - Precision in planning
• Effort - Years of work
• Conquest - First human foot on the moon

Human history - Taking Over

• Nations fought nations
  • For control - food, water, ports, wealth
  • For deities - my god is better than your god
  • For freedom
  • FOR THEIR COUNTRY - Putting the flag in the ground was a great symbol of victory 

God’s idea

• He is reclaiming the earth for Christ. Nation by nation, mountain by mountain, the world is becoming the rule of Christ. 

• Revelation 11:15 (NLT) — 15 Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices shouting in heaven: “The world has now become the Kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever.” 

Conquest of Ephesus

• Paul came from Corinth, and was traveling back to Syria
• He stopped in Ephesus, and God put it on his heart.
• Acts 19 is the story of his successful mission there. 
• Men filled with the Holy Spirit
• Taught for 2 years
• Demonstrated signs and wonders
• People burned magic books
• Great outcry and culture shift took place
• He had to leave

That’s what we want to see in our cities!

1. Conquest has a message
   1. Paul had a big mouth! He talked everywhere he went. 
      1. His strategy was to talk! 
      2. He would go to the synagogues
      3. He would go to the town squares
   2. St. Francis of Assisi - Preach the gospel at all times, and if necessary use words… Pretty, but he didn’t say it. 
      1. He did go to lavish parties and preach and make everyone feel uncomfortable
      2. He was pictured with birds because he even preached the gospel to the birds. 
   3. Paul’s message
      1. Resurrection is possible
      2. Redemption has come
      3. Repentance is necessary
      4. Return is imminent 
      5. Acts 20:21 (NLT) I have had one message for Jews and Greeks alike--the necessity of repenting from sin and turning to God, and of having faith in our Lord Jesus.
      6. Romans 1:16 (NLT) For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes--the Jew first and also the Gentile.
   4. Conversation after conversation, dialogue after dialogue. 
   5. You must open your mouth!! 
   6. WE MUST SPEAK INTO OUR WORLD. 
2. Conquest has a manifestation
   1. God never intended the gospel to work alone.
   2. Paul had handkerchiefs taken from his body and laid on the sick. 
   3. We should fully expect God to work with us in signs and wonders.
   4. 1 Corinthians 2:4–5 (NASB95) — 4 and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.
   5. First the natural, then the spiritual.
      1. We should manifest the power of the gospel with natural things, and supernatural things
3. Conquest has a mountain
   1. They burned their books, and culture turned. 
   2. You must be ready for the spiritual tug-of-war! 
   3. God is reclaiming all territories for His Son. We are the announcers of that truth. It will anger the spiritual powers that be. 
   4. The mountains are spiritual rulers
      1. Matthew 28:18 (NLT) — 18 Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth
   5. The mountains are human reasoning
      1. 2 Corinthians 10:4–5 (NLT) — 4 We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. 5 We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ.

Go back to Neil Armstrong picture...

• I want you to see yourself in this picture.
• The Astronaut represents you
• The moon represents your mission field
• The flag represents your mission