back in 1975 there were some key leaders that had dreams and the Lord began to speak to their heart and this is where we get this whole idea and understanding in the term seven mountains of culture there's other terms out there as well the seven Gates of society I like to use seven spheres of society and so back in 1975 Dr Bill brigh nor and Cunningham uh they they got together and they compared some notes in terms of what the Lord's been speaking to them and they found out that the Lord has been was giving them strategy on how to reach Society on how to bring the gospel to people in the world so to speak and then not too long after that there was another person by the name of Francis schaer who came out and he started sharing about how to influence society and Francis schaer was one he was a theologian and he had these table talks and discipleship and so forth and and so the Lord began to to speak to a number of different people and as we fast forward into today there's a lot of people carrying this message and so again I like to speak um and talk about this from a seven spheres perspective rather than a mountain although it's it's all preference and uh just really semantics at this point but let's go over the seven mountains of culture or seven spheres of society before we really jump into some of the strategy and how to reach our community how to reach our city and so the first sphere that I like to talk about is the sphere of religion and so we know that every society has some type of belief in a superior being or beings um you know in the west we have a certain religion and belief system and in the East a lot of the religions tend to be polytheistic in other words they believe in many gods or outright really idolatrous such as Hinduism and Buddhism but these religions are thousands of years old they go back way you know just into history and its generational um you know in in much of the sense and nonetheless you know they continue to thrive today thousands of years later you know and the West Christianity and Catholicism are predominant religious views but postmodern views are continuing to increase and are being accepted in our generation today and the concept of God is really not as embraced as it used to be uh you know and then we could even say that it's being rejected and this is also true throughout Europe but you know all you know all that to say there is a generation that God is raising up I believe today when they're called The Generation Z and they're likening this generation back to the generation of the 50s because Generation Z who are the late teens early 20s um you know beyond the Millennials are are they've they've grown up into you know through a broken system and we're seeing a lot of these statistics and research study today stating that the Gen Z are going back to Family Values going back to belief systems and their faith and so so we're seeing this Dynamic and we're seeing this Progressive nature even between the generations you know really uh you know converging and we're seeing different thoughts and different uh age groups really emerging in their own set um you know almost like a subset culture in themselves but the Christian church is described in the Greek language as the eklesia and it literally you translate it means governing body or the legislative body and although we don't condone theocracies you know this translation suggests that the church should have great influence in all the other spheres that make up society and so with the plethora of categorized religions around the world world I believe it's the church's responsibility to reach the loss with the love of God with the love of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and expand the kingdom in ministerial efforts nationally internationally within every sphere and so as the Lord's been speaking to me he's been saying one of the first things that we need to do is really reset the table of the Lord that we need to come into hearing what holy spirit is saying for us today for us to see the Gospel of Jesus Christ The Gospel of the Kingdom Advanced into every sphere of society and that's the uh that's the sphere of religion the second sphere is family you know in any functional Society the family is really the the foundation it's the building block of all community and so as the family goes so goes society and history tells us that when the family values and the family morale and a family system breaks down Society uh breaks down soon after so throughout the Bible we find familiar examples that portray how we how we're to live our lives today and that God desires men women and children within a family context to be United as one in his love you know the Bible talks about how our God he's our heavenly father he's our father you know Romans 8 14- 17 you know specifically states that and it says for all who are being led by the spirit of God these are the sons of God for you've not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again but you have receive the spirit of adoption as Sons by which we cry out ABA father in then verse 16 it goes on says the spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God and if children heirs also HS of God and fellow heirs with Christ if indeed we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him and this becomes the Bedrock of our relationship with God that he is our father and we are sons of God regardless of gender you know even in the prayer The Lord's Prayer or the disciples prayer he says this is how you should pray our father and so we see this whole context of the kingdom is family and so the families of the United States have been under constant and prolonged attack we know that along with many other nations today and so one of the Epic uh social ills of society today is fatherlessness you know we see divorce at a rate of 50% you know in the different Arenas and the good news is regardless of what most people say marriages divorce rate in the church is less than that which is out outside the church but at the same time there's a lot of abuse there's there's pornography there's sexual abuse and there's you know a redefining of marriage that goes against the word of God and again we we love these ones of different uh preferences when it comes to it but we know we need to stand on the truth in terms of what the Bible says that family is you know and we have other negative influences that's brought really great dysfunction to family life you know God is calling fathers and mothers both spiritual and biological to bring order to the chaos that the enemy is Unleashed against the families you know throughout the world and he wants to bring healing to marriages and relationships and he he's really calling us from a Malachi 456 mandate that the hearts of the fathers be turned to the children and the children to the fathers in order to maintain a moral Foundation that the land would be healed because without it Malachi talks about how the land is cursed and so we want to see this and we want to see a legacy for the CH for our children in the future to stand upon so that we would see Society we would see our culture transformed to to be elevated that we would leave just a place of thriving Society you know for the generations to come and so that's the family sphere but then the third sphere is education so we reset the table of religion table of the Lord then we re reset the table of family and now with education and I believe that these three that we're talking about are the three primary that needs to be reset and then the all the other spheres will follow after but it's a table of Education the sphere of Education or the sphere of learning you know at one time the education system in America specifically you know Unapologetic gentically with boldness Incorporated the word of God they Incorporated prayer to God you know the god of the Bible you know and biblical values in every aspect of school life was permeated it was really uh within the fabric of Education was the word of God and so when when those that came from Europe to America you know they were fleeing from the persecution from the King and from the queen they established themselves and history tells us immediately they set a house in order for worship they set a house for family and they set a house for education and the education purpose from this place of setting the house of God in the house of family or I call it the table of the Lord and the table of family was for them to establish an education system not just for their own families not just for their Church to teach the Bible but it was educational system that would be a blessing to all of society and that was the heartbeat of this and so not coincidentally this system produced a people that produced the most powerful and prosperous Nation on the Earth today you know and I'm not saying that the United States is better but we see how we've been a good Samaritan to the world because of the foundation that was laid now the children of our nation are really inundated with liberal ideologies uh and more than liberalism I would say humanism humanistic ideologies atheistic teaching and post-modern principles in our Public Schools uh in most you know in almost all of our universities including many Christian institutions today and so to Simply put they're being indoctrinated with often false bias and anti-biblical which I would called Antichrist information and teachings so read introduction of biblical truth in Bible Centric Christ Centric values is key to Renewal and restoring uh and seeing Restoration in our nation and the nations of the earth when it comes to the educational system and so I believe that we have a responsibility to educate our own children what the truth is not dependent on the systems of this world but yet the gospel of the kingdom is to influence Ence the world of education so that we would see thriving and healing communities for our children to grow up in and the fourth sphere is government you know Proverbs 14:34 it it really talks about how righteousness exalts a nation Nation but sin is a reproach to any people so often times as examplified in the scripture in the Old Testament a nation's moral standards dependent on on those exhibited by its leaders you know predominantly really you know within government while each individual is responsible for their own sins their own behaviors and actions the fact is true that people are greatly influenced by those morals or lack of morals that are adopted by popular teachers or leaders today so the progressive movements in the agendas today empowered by well-known men and women especially within the different spheres we see the Arts of entertainment and media in different spheres have made significant contribution whether positive or negative in the political Arena over the past several decades So within that we have groups that are very unfriendly to the faith community unfriendly to the foundation that we sit and live by which is the Bible you know related to God or Christianity or any any religion uh for that matter you know that that government and Educational Systems because of that are being misapplied and misinterpreted when it comes to living life out for example the application of separation between church and state and I'm not going to go into all the details there but the original purpose of the separation of church and state wasn't to keep the church out of the political Affairs but it was actually for the political Affairs to stay out of the operations and determining what the church believes it was to really protect the religious uh you know belief system where the state doesn't come and force a belief system Upon A group of people and so we need to see a shift in this arena in order to preserve you know the Christian Heritage in the Nations you know that were and especially in our n the nation I live in in America that was founded upon in fact we need to continue to see freedom of religion you know um as a human right and a constitution for us to believe what We Believe by our choosing not from a geopolitical Arena but from a place of Freedom that we get to choose uh you know the the spiritual government that we choose to live under and for us we know that the spiritual government the kingdom of God you know will well you know it Reigns over all the other kingdoms where the Bible says in Revelation that the kingdoms of the world world will become the kingdoms of our God and so the goal is to put in place righteous you know government leaders that positively affect all aspects of government and when I say righteous I'm not talking about Christian leaders you know I've worked with Christian leaders who have gone into Pol the world of politics or in government and have become very unrighteous in heart in terms of the way they lead they've been defiled they've compromised and all these things so I'm not talking about a Christian leader what I what I'm proposing is we need righteous leaders that govern rightly and so that's the sphere of government and then we have the media sphere and the media Mountain the sphere of media includes news uh print any print Source uh radio uh television news stations newspaper internet is probably the primary source of media today you know uh op EDS opinion sites blogs you know these are all different forms of media and we see throughout every generation there was a new form of media that actually came forth you know back in the 19 uh you know in the teens and 20s it was through the radio wave that you know really came forth and then uh you know the print media the generation before that and then we went to television and now it's the social media in our generation and so the media has the potential power really to sway popular opinion uh it it it disseminates information on current issues based upon its reporting based upon the reporter and and we know that not all media is is not truthful it's not based on facts but it's those who step into the world of media who has the voice of power and we know in 2008 you know when it comes to the elections there was this you know when it comes to elections when it comes to when it comes to anything in terms of swaying a generation you know the the media is powerful in playing a vital role in swaying people one way or another you know and so in regards to Media there's there has to be a rise in in us as Believers you know influencing the the the source and the news that are coming forth which is needed a message of Hope you know however to bring transformation to this sphere we who are gifted and called to this type of work we need to be willing to report righteously uncomp uncompromisingly truthfully even within not just within the Christian uh you know uh uh publicity or Christian market so to speak but outside of the faith realm into a global Marketplace when it comes to this and so we need to be ones who continue to trumpet our voice we need to use social media we need to use these platforms to trumpet the kingdom of God and the message of the Kingdom the sixth sphere is arts and entertainment and in this sphere we find some of the most influential forces that are actually shaping our culture today music film making television even when it comes to cooking now and we know that that International Language you know the two major International languages that no matter what boundaries you cross speak the same language which is music and food and that's all wrapped up with an art to entertainment you know social media is also can be part of that you know we see now television series we see movies now really being promoted through social media as the main way of uh dissemination and marketing and the performing Hearts Drive the cultural taste the values and standards of a Nation citizens particular to our young people and it really is this it's a battle for the soul of our young people for us to see a soul of a Nation you know come into righteousness we need to win the hearts uh and battle for the soul of the young people our children and so when it comes there's a heavy resilience on the strong sexual appeal of sex drugs alcohol uh you know whatever feels good you know just enticing an entire generation it's the Arts and entertainment industries that really it's become the primary source of influencers today they're the major voices today perhaps even greater than government and politics and so the body of Christ we as Christ followers we need powerful righteous men and women who are not afraid to take their god-given talents and and in this area of performance uh you know in these Arenas and really step into this place globally with the spirit of Excellence you know and so we need to be ready to further God's purposes while impacting those who are lost in darkness and would not otherwise be interested in any kind of Christian or Godly Message In traditional forms and so when it comes to arts and entertainment when it comes to Performance you know we need to understand and maybe perhaps we as Christians we need to even change some of our language and we need to stop saying it's not about performance but perhaps we need to say it's about performance but it's about performing to the one perhaps it's time for us to actually embrace some of these elements where where we affirm and confirm the gifts of performance on people and obviously we want to do it with the right heart we want to do it with humility it's not about building uh our own reputation or our own uh you know sense of face but we use that to display the glory of God with excellence in these Arenas and the seventh sphere and final sphere I want to talk about is business it's literally the ability to create wealth through Innovation Enterprise creativity and effort and it's really a god-given gift and it's what he's placed upon us as God's people and it really is a un unversal impulse and so when it comes to the markets and economic systems that emerge whenever people are free to pursue buying and selling become the lifeblood of a Nation it's free enterprise and we know how the enemy has really swooped in uh and and really has has has tainted this this whole world of prosperity and and we know there's a lot of darkness in there and you know I've heard people in the finance industry say there's not a tra uh or when it comes to a $20 bill there's not a there's not one $20 bill that wouldn't have a trace um of cocaine on it and so we we hear things like that but we could take what the enemy's use for evil we could take that bring Redemption to it reclaim it and really be a blessing to the nations of the Earth this includes anything from farms to small businesses to large corporations but we need to carry the heartbeat of God where money doesn't control us but we control the money that we're not possessed by materials but we are people of God that possess materials to further the kingdom and of course this realm again as we talked about is really prone to corruption through idolatry greed and covetousness you know and in response we need to embrace the responsibility to train up people who are called into the marketplace to manage businesses to build businesses to create wealth and provide leadership with integrity and honesty where we become a sign to the world that's what uh Deuteronomy 88:18 says that he's given us the power to create wealth and then Isaiah 88:18 says that we are a sign as God's people to the Nations and what other sign can we be to the Nations as being a people who innovate who create who who are blessed you know and we already are blessed in our relationship with God but where we have the resource ources and we have uh we have the finances to literally shift Nations to bless entire people groups to break the system of poverty and we believe it's the Lord's will to make his people prosperous because of that and it's his desire for his church to use its wealth to finance the work of the Kingdom expansion to impact all these different spheres and so to Simply put we could say that the purpose of the business Sphere for us Believers is to have Prosperity with a purpose to advancing the kingdom of God so these are the different spheres but not only is it important for us to understand this different spheres we also need to understand the heart behind the application of how we live this whole seven spheres of society out and how we're to engage with Society in a rightful way in God's way but you know what in this at this moment I would encourage you which sphere or which spheres p uh you know perhaps there's a primary one and a secondary is God calling you into or has God called you into and do you have the right heart behind how you're applying this whole message in the seven spheres of society and expanding the kingdom of God so I want you identify what spheres you belong to right now