Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who dwelt in the land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulders and his name shall be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father, prince of peace.
[00:00:23] On the increase of his government and of peace, there will be no end on the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness. From this time forth and forevermore, the zeal of the Lord of host will do this. Welcome to the Gracehouse podcast. Brian Phillips here with you today we're going to be discussing the 212 goal and we're going to be praying out of Isaiah nine. Welcome.
[00:00:57] All right, before we get to Isaiah nine, I want to talk to you about the 212 goal.
[00:01:01] We worked hard to bring greater clarity to the grace ups culture and we have done it. And we want every man to engage. We want every man to actually get your family engaged.
[00:01:12] Get your family engaged in this grace ups culture. Take the 212 goal. Here's the 212 goal. It's simple.
[00:01:18] We want you to commit to the goal of reading two chapters a day of scripture. Two chapters of the Bible is not that hard. You can listen to it or read it and then spend twelve minutes in prayer. Literally, man, set a timer if you have to. It's about building the discipline. It's about engaging with God. It's that simple. Get your wife engaged in this. Get your children engaged. Use it to help you lead your family in a powerful way. Go to our app. Download our app. The only place you can find this right now is in our app and right on the main screen, right when you download the app, it'll open to the action tab. You can click call to action at the top, the 212 goal and sign it. There's also some other things you can sign up for if you want. If you want to partner with us, be a prayer warrior, if you want to be a brand and ambassador, you can do all that right there in that one tab in our app. We also have a Bible reading plan. You can click Bible at the bottom of our app and you can read your Bible right there. Every Monday, these podcasts will be coming out, these short podcasts to help inspire your week, to help you stay engaged, and to stir prayer. A lot of these episodes that we're putting out are prayer based or portions of them are. So that's it. The 212 goal. Two chapters a day, pray for twelve minutes and obviously if you spend longer than that, it's just to your benefit. But we're asking men to even get their families engaged. So please do that. Engage the 212 goal with us. It's not about perfection. It's about pursuit. It's about having a standard of going after God because the only problem we have in our lives is when we lack the presence of God. And I'm going to tell you right now, we struggle with that. We're very distracted, very busy culture and we're kind of like the church in revelation where it talks about how blind, poor, pitiful and naked we are. But we think we're awesome and we think we're closing. God's like, I don't think so.
[00:03:17] That's, that's a real thing in our culture. And so men, especially in this hour, Satan, maybe you heard my episode on the dragon. Go listen to that. The enemy is trying to destroy every person who follows Christ in the earth. The enemy hates God, hates the anointing of God hates everything about God.
[00:03:37] He comes to steal, kill, destroy. He's coming after you, guns ablazing. He wants to demolish you and your family and your children. He absolutely hates you.
[00:03:48] And you need to be aware of that. You don't need to be afraid of that. You just need to be aware of that. You need to draw near to Christ and be a man who can withstand the shaking that's coming and that is upon us right now in the nations. The Bible says that God will shake everything.
[00:04:05] He will shake everything until that which remains is that which cannot be shaken. That's what his kingdom is about. So you're going to have to get your grip strong and hold on because God is going to shake the nations and you need to remain steadfast and faithful to him. The 212 goal will serve you in that area very well. Get your children involved. I asked a couple of my daughters, I said, hey, for the next twelve days, would you want to engage this? Let's do this goal together. Let's talk about it. Let's use it as a way to rally our family together. So there you go. Let's look to Isaiah nine. I read verse two. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. I mean, we're talking about the incarnation of Christ coming into the earth. People have walked in darkness as those who dwelt in the land of deep darkness. Do you remember before walking with Christ what it was like to dwell in the land of deep darkness, to dwell in the land of deep darkness and shadows and all these things that plague us and keep us away from the life that God designed us to live in him and through him, the land of deep darkness on them. Isaiah says, a light has shone, is shining upon them. The opportunity for salvation is here. It's now. Christ came 2000 years ago. Isaiah prophesied this way before Christ. And then I skipped into verse six.
[00:05:34] For to us, a child is born, a son is given, and the government of the kingdom of God is actually on the shoulders of Christ.
[00:05:42] Christ is not going to lord his authority over us. He's not going to be like a tyrant like most of what we're used to in our society and culture here in the United States.
[00:05:57] It's not going to be us carrying the load of government. It's going to be him.
[00:06:01] He will shoulder the weight and his name is wonderful counselor. Come on, man.
[00:06:09] Where are you at in your life right now? Where are you at at Christmas time? I mean, this can be a depressing time of year for a lot of people. Maybe you're listening and you're like, yeah, I'm in that category. Maybe you're not in that category.
[00:06:22] I'm salivating over 2024. I just can't wait to get into a new year and crush new goals and really renewed goals or not anything super new. And I really want to reach this country. I want to build a team for grace ops. I want to reach this country. I need you on the prayer warrior team, man. Come on. I need you on the 212. I need you to sign the 212 goal. We built a powerful app, a great piece of technology for you. Engage and connect. We need people to spread this out in their businesses and churches, to get chapters going all across the country. This thing's built. God would not let me not build it. So help us to scale it. Help us to take it to level five and six and eight and 25 and 30. Help us out. You're part of this culture. We don't just want you in it every now and then, we want you faithfully in it. Let's go. Let's get in the grind and crush this thing. So he's for you right now if you're depressed or struggling. He's wonderful counselor. He's the mighty God. Remember, the greatest sin in our lives is unbelief. So we have to believe what Isaiah was prophesying, that Christ is actually a wonderful counselor to us. He gives us the power of the Holy Spirit. He's a mighty God. He's our everlasting father. He's our prince of peace. I'm not going to preach every element of this. And then it says, of the increase of his government and of his peace, there will be no end. Talks about being on the throne of David and how he establishes throne of David forever. So let's just pray through this. Father, we're going to start at the very end. We thank you that your zeal is kind of sealed with this little statement. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. So, Father, right now we're asking that you would fill us with zeal. Zeal for your house, zeal for your kingdom, zeal for your great name to be manifest in the earth. Father, right now, we just thank you for Isaiah nine two, that people have walked in darkness. They've seen a great light. Lord, the opportunity for salvation is here. Those who dwelt in the land of deep darkness, God, we thank you that you allowed us, if you are born anew, if you're born again, the Bible says so. Father, for me, thank you that you opened my eyes and you allowed me to find your salvation, that you came to that low place I was at and you helped me into your kingdom through repentance.
[00:08:32] Father, we just declare that over the earth right now. This word is so true and alive, more maybe than ever. I mean, it just feels like the nations are raging. Hamas and Israel are war. There is a spiritual battle happening. Every single turn that I make, every article I look at, it just feels like it's just increasing and shaking. And you get bad headlines of people, the faith, all kinds of stuff. Crazy stuff's going on, and it's like, I'm not better than anybody. I'm not even saying I'm worse than anybody. I'm just saying I want you. Father, I'm just rejoicing and in prayer right now. God, we thank you that your salvation is available to all mankind. Lord, we just declare for the people that we know who walk in deep darkness. For the people that we know. God, family members and friends and coworkers, Father, we're asking that you would use us or allow them to see the great light that's shining. This is a season of light. During this Christmas time, there's lights everywhere. May it be a reminder to us that your light shines, that your salvation shines in the earth. Lord, we thank you that your son was born. Father, we thank you that Christ was born, that you gave us a son, that his leadership and his government, his kingdom, that he'll lead us and he won't weigh us down, but he'll use us in his kingdom to advance his great name, but he'll bear the load. Lord, I don't even know what that government will look like, but I thank you for it. Thank you for the beauty and the splendor of it. Father, we just declare right now for people who need you as a wonderful counselor, which I think all of us do, we just thank you that you are a wonderful counselor to us.
[00:10:06] Lord, we declare that you're mighty in our lives. No matter what's going on, I don't care what circumstance you're up against, if it's in your health or your finances or relationships and your families. Get your eyes on God. Get your eyes off of yourself. Get your eyes on God and Declare, you are mighty. And this isn't magic.
[00:10:24] This doesn't mean it's going to fix all your problems. It's going to fix your gaze, is what it is. This is what you're fixing. Is your gaze not all your problems. You're fixing. Your gaze on the beauty and the wonder and the power of Christ.
[00:10:37] You are mighty, God. You are mighty. You do what no other can do. And we declare that we thank you that you are our everlasting father forever. And you are an amazing father to us. And that's mysterious and known. And we're going to be crashing into that more and more. We thank you that you are the prince of peace.
[00:10:59] A jewish man will come back to rule the nations, and that's you, Yeshua. We thank you that you're a prince of peace. And we thank you that at the increase of your government, the increase of peace, that will lead us all the way back to a garden of Eden state. There will be no end. We just declare that right now. Because I'm not making it up. I'm just declaring what the word says. The increase of your government and of your peace. There'll be no end. Nothing can stop it. No matter how much darkness rages against it, no matter how much the rulers of the earth hate God's anointed. It'll never end. It'll never stop. It'll always increase. It'll be established. It'll be upheld with justice and righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. So, Father, we just. We thank you for Isaiah. Thank you for these powerful words.
[00:11:44] Help it to impact our lives today. Help us to help it to impact the season in which we live. In Jesus name, amen.
