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“The Holy Spirit was right when he spoke to your people long ago”

Posted: August 5, 2011 in disciples life, Kingdom Teaching, Prophetic, teaching, wilderness
Tags: Bride of Christ, disciples, Doctrines, kingdom growth, Kingdom life, Kingdom teaching, radical disciples, Spirit led life, the Word, unto the Lord

Paul talked to them all day, from morning to evening, explaining everything involved in the kingdom of God, and trying to persuade them all about Jesus by pointing out what Moses and the prophets had written about him.

Some of them were persuaded by what he said, but others refused to believe a word of it. When the unbelievers got cantankerous and started bickering with each other, Paul interrupted: “I have just one more thing to say to you. The Holy Spirit sure knew what he was talking about when he addressed our ancestors through Isaiah the prophet:

Go to this people and tell them this:

“You’re going to listen with your ears,

but you won’t hear a word;

You’re going to stare with your eyes,

but you won’t see a thing.

These people are blockheads!

They stick their fingers in their ears

so they won’t have to listen;

They screw their eyes shut

so they won’t have to look,

so they won’t have to deal with me face-to-face

and let me heal them.”

“You’ve had your chance. The non-Jewish outsiders are next on the list. And believe me, they’re going to receive it with open arms!”

Paul lived for two years in his rented house. He welcomed everyone who came to visit. He urgently presented all matters of the kingdom of God. He explained everything about Jesus Christ. His door was always open. (Acts 28:27-31)

I believe the Spirit is still speaking the message today – yet in place of non-Jewish outsides, He is stating to those who are outside of the confines of the man made traditional church structure. Many in the church have been called out of the traditional church by the Spirit to come out an be separate, yet once outside they fall back into that which has been familiar to them and recreated a man-made church structure.

At first the Spirit of the Lord is weighty in His presence, then as they begin to re-establish that which is created by the imagination of men begins to take root – the Spirit slowly steps out – ever so slowly for the Lord is great in His mercy – yet as time goes on they are left with a powerless, man-made institution, totally vacant of the Lord’s presence less that which is in His earthen vessels.

The clergy type leadership gains ground, the controlling factor of mans opinions far out weigh the Spirit led power that is so special about the Bride – people who at one time had the chance to totally freed in the Spirit are left in the bondage’s of religious chains!

Praise God, for there are those who are still being feed the message of the Father daily and adhering to it. Yet, those who are still imprisoned in the throngs of religion, not necessarily the world are the ones who label these faithful servants as too radical, outsiders, trouble makers and those who practice to much theology. But the Spirit bares witness that very servants of the Most High are those who have been baptized deep in the theologies of the very doctrines that Christ our Lord taught, but for the religious and worldly , their messages are too heavy to swallow. Yea, they demand easy words, comfortable life styles – life styles which do not interfere or interrupt their daily lives. To these carnal christians, sacrifice and obedience are labeled legalistic.

The Lord is moving mightily thru out the lands of man-kind this day – He is seeking surrendered and emptied vessels in which to pour in the Flame of the Lord’s passion for His Bride and the lost of the world. In every nation He is raising up, faithful sold out disciples of the cross, who have surrendered their lives completely to the Way of the Lord. Their lives are living sacrifices unto the the daily ministry of the Lord. They are hunters and spiritual assassins seeking out stronghold’s of religion guarded by hellish principalities and pulling them down thru the power of the Spirit of Almighty God.

They are the citizens of the Kingdom of God who have grasped onto the cross and the pure unadulterated gospel message of the Lord Jesus Christ even unto death. Daily waging spiritual war even in the face of great persecution and opposition – they march on. Neither scared nor derailed by the opinions of men, they are Spiritual fueled by the Word and by the oils of the Lord’s holiness, treading upon serpents and over taking demonic strong holds for the Glory of their King Jesus Christ.

My friend, do not allow the ways of this world captivate you – do not seek the easy road, running from compromise, holding fast to the narrow road – seek and trust in the faithfulness of Holy Ghost to see you thru – when the fires of persecution get the hottest it is then you shall be able to look about and in the midst of the fire you shall see the Son of man standing with you holding a cup of fire quenching, life sustaining water from the River which runs out from under the Throne of His Father, God Almighty. Stand fast for He is your rescuer and in the end, having run the race with great spiritual endurance, you shall indeed stand face to face with your Lord with your eternal reward riding upon the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant”.

For you are a Radical Disciple of Jesus Christ!!!!!!

Indeed, we do serve an awesome God!!!!

Are you ready for ANY storm?

Posted: August 2, 2011 in disciples life, Kingdom Teaching, Prophetic, teaching, wilderness

“Therefore, everyone who hears what I say and obeys it will be like a wise person who built a house on rock. Rain poured, and floods came. Winds blew and beat against that house. But it did not collapse, because its foundation was on rock.” (Matt 7:24-25)

If there is one thing I am sure about in regard to 2011 is that if you do not fully trust God, if Jesus is not the Lord of your whole life and the Word your source of Truth, you will find that the coming year will be one in which your faith is tossed about in the approaching storms.

But you can be prepared for any storm by drawing closer to the Lord, making time getting to know Him by spending time in His Word and in prayer. If there is one thing that I am sure of, one truth that I can speak into your life today it is the truth that Jesus Christ shall get you through every one of life’s situation, He will securely guide you through any and all storms. And this happens when your life is built upon and securely anchored to the Rock of our salvation, Jesus Christ our Lord!

Friends, if Jesus is truly your Lord, 100% and if you are fully grounded in the Word then the enemy can come at you, calling the storm clouds to roll in, causing hell to throw every negative, nasty situation it can muster up at you, but you shall not be shaken or moved, for the Word gives many promises to those who have listened and believed such as one of my favorites:

The one who loves us gives us an overwhelming victory in all these difficulties. I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love which Christ Jesus our Lord shows us. We can’t be separated by death or life, by angels or rulers, by anything in the present or anything in the future, by forces or powers in the world above or in the world below, or by anything else in creation. (Romans 8:37-39)

The question today is who and what do you trust the most?

Your own abilities?
Your job?
Family & friends?
The government?
The world’s answers?

Friends, none of these things guarantee you anything and at one time or another you will find that they shall fail you in one or more ways.

You must take a stand of faith – you must be willing to fully trust God at His Word – you must be willing to

draw a line in the sand regardless of what the critics may speak about you and like Joshua proclaim –

“As for me and my house, we SHALL serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15)

You can go to church every Sunday, go to every Bible study, plaster your walls and refrigerator with all kinds of scripture yet if you are not allowing the Word to become life in you – if you are only making sure your bases are covered and do not truly believe in God and His word then the storms of this life will toss you about. You need to read the Word, let it sink into your spirit, mind and heart and allow it to become Life to you – For Jesus is the Word and He is Life!

Friends, don’t be like the unwise builder whom Jesus speaks of here:

“Everyone who hears what I say but doesn’t obey it will be like a foolish person who built a house on sand. Rain poured, and floods came. Winds blew and struck that house. It collapsed, and the result was a total disaster.” (Matt 7:26-27)

Many pastors today are proclaiming that we need not be troubled, better days are coming. False shepherd misleading the people of God who will have their day of before the king for their recklessness. I am telling you if you are not secure in your faith, if you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ then the coming storms will over take you. But today you can be prepared and this is exactly what Jesus is speaking about in regards to building your Spiritual House on that which shall stand in any storm.

Have you prepared your family?

Are you raising your children in the way of the Lord or allowing the world to raise them? Some even will allow Sunday school to be their spirit teacher – Dad’s this is your job – Mom’s if Dad is not willing to do this, then you pick up the mantle and train your kids in the way of the Lord. Don’t get me wrong, Sunday school and those who pour their hearts out to our children are great, bless them with your support and prayer – but the ultimate teacher in your children life (next to Holy Spirit) is YOU!

2011 is going to be a dreadful year for many in the church for they have not anchored themselves to the Truth. They have been setting at a table which gives them sugar and spice rather than to True, Pure Word of the Lord. They have more faith in the church and their pastor than in the Lord Himself!

The Good News today friends is Jesus and if you will look not to the things of this world for your security and instead look to the Lord Jesus Christ – You will find that your eternal life, purpose and destiny are in His hands! Then having taken hold of this Truth you shall be one who has build his house upon the Rock!

For indeed we serve an Awesome God!

Choose You This Day

Posted: July 31, 2011 in disciples life, Kingdom Teaching, Prophetic, teaching, wilderness
Tags: disciples, kingdom growth, Kingdom living, Kingdom teaching, radical christianity, radical disciples

Choose You This Day
By Ron McGatlin

I hear the Father saying:
I have brought you to this time for this time. This is the moment of the millenniums – the time of the culmination of the ends of the earth collapsing upon themselves.

Human government, society, culture, religion, and every aspect of human rule and order is corrupted and has reached its destination of total collapse and failure.

Nothing of the evil world order shall survive, and you are in danger of being overcome in this last end-time sweep of perversion and ungodly order filling the world with the anti-Christ spirit, flaunting itself in the headship of the religious church and world ruling order. All governments, economies, militaries, false religions, and societies are imploding upon their evil roots.

THIS IS THE TIME OF THE ARISING OF THE KINGOM OF HEAVEN.
My glory shines brightly from the horizon of your inner being. My power, that generated all creation, rest above and beside you awaiting release to empower the greatest holy and pure transformation ever to come upon the earth and its people.

The roar as of a lion and as thunder beyond hearing exploding in My purified holy sons and daughters is now to be released. You have come to the world for this time. The past is past and the future is now.

The glory has arisen upon you. This is the season of release. What will be done will be done in this moment. There will never be this moment again. It is now and forever that My kingdom must be poured out. The joy of the rule of My Son through my sons is, for you, now or never.

Choose today to release all that I have put within you through the power I am releasing in you.

Every gesture, every word, every roar from you shall be heard clearly in heaven and shall bring a response immediately and powerfully from heaven.

Powerful angels will respond and supplement your every move with heavenly power that cannot be resisted by any power on earth or in all creation. I have made you to be my people for this time.
Will you choose to release heaven on earth now?

Will you shout from the highest mountain the roar of the end of the work of the darkness and the fulfilling of the rule of heaven on earth?

Will you ride with me and call out the signals for the end of the foolishness of the past that will release My power to end the evil takeover of My world?

Yes, Lord God, I will ride with you!

Ron McGatlin

http://www.openheaven.com
basileia@earthlink.net

KINGDOM BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION Pt 2

Posted: July 28, 2011 in disciples life, Kingdom Teaching, Prophetic, wilderness
Tags: Bride of Christ, disciples, kingdom growth, Kingdom life, Kingdom living, Kingdom of God

KINGDOM BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION

Part 2 – Managing Kingdom Wealth

Money and wealth are viewed and managed in a very different manner in the heavenly kingdom lifestyle than in Babylon.

In Babylon, money was diligently sought after to meet needs and then to fulfill desires for more material things and social status. Whether through working at a job or owning a business, the people sought to accumulate money and the things it would buy. Seeking money or seeking to meet our own needs was never God’s perfect design.

Jesus brought forth much teaching on kingdom order because it had been lost through the ages of Babylonian-style rule. Seeking to meet our own needs and to get more stuff created a greater stress on people that God ever intended for mankind to experience. In seeking money we become the servant of money. Jesus clearly spoke God’s instruction as He explained the kingdom way. In God’s order, we seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness and things are added to us.

Mat 6:24,32-33: No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

The concept of seeking the kingdom and God’s righteousness has been very misunderstood and misapplied by most Christians. Seeking the kingdom first has been viewed largely as doing religious church-type things, which were considered holy. “Secular” type things, such as work and business were considered unholy. In the Babylonian system a false distinction has been made between holy and secular.
Secular is not the opposite of holy. Profane is the opposite of holy. Both business and church things can be holy or they can both be profane.

The kingdom of God includes all of life and all is to be holy (set apart to God). Seeking the kingdom means seeking God’s rule for all of life. And seeking His righteousness means seeking His purposes and order in all things. Righteousness is His right way of being and doing. It is being in perfect alignment with His instruction and desire. If we seek first the kingdom and righteousness, then “all these things” will be added because we will become productive and useful servants in meeting the needs of mankind and the world around us. This is not a magic or supernatural thing. It is a basic reality of natural kingdom life. Our treasure really is where our heart is.

There is contentment and excitement in serving God with our whole lives and doing things His way. Whatever our service or work happens to be, it is rewarding and easy to do with our whole hearts. Not at all like the burdensome, worrisome striving of seeking money. What we chased after and could never have enough of comes to us when we stop seeking it and start seeking the real kingdom of God and His righteous way of doing and being.

We know the Lord is our source and strength. Love motivates us to serve more, but it also causes us to be content with what we have. Our contentment does not rest in what we have, but in Who we have.

Philippians 4:11: Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content.

Hebrews 13:5: Let your conduct be without covetousness, and be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, �I will never leave you nor forsake you.�

Covetousness and self-seeking is the desire for and reaching for more than I already have. Materialism is one of the most common idols in the Babylonian system. It is important to understand that wealth and material things are not inherently evil. Money is not the root of evil. The love of money is the root of evil. Having wealth is not evil. Receiving profit is not evil. However, it is wrong to seek wealth or money rather than seeking the kingdom of God and trusting Him to meet our needs.

Matthew 6:33: �But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.�

1 Timothy 6:5-8: …useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. From such withdraw yourself. But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content.

Godliness + Contentment = Great Gain.

Godliness (God-seeking, God-serving) is righteous obedience to God, which aligns us with His universal laws and purposes. Contentment is not desiring more than I already have.

Those who seek after money can never keep or enjoy wealth.

1 Timothy 6:9-11: But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But you O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness.

James 5:1-3: Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you! Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days.

Who are the rich people that these miseries are coming upon?

�Rich� is a relative term. A brother in one of the developing nations would consider many of you reading this rich. If you ask a man with one million dollars, �Are you rich?� He would probably say, �No, I�m not rich at all,� and would point toward the man with more and say, �He�s rich.� A rich person is one who owns any amount of wealth that is not given over to God�s control for His use.

Garments that are being worn do not become moth-eaten; gold and silver coins that are being used do not corrode. Riches that are being used to meet the needs of mankind will not destroy the one who possesses them. If our lives are wholly given over to God�s control, all of our possessions will be His and will be used in His kingdom. In a very real sense, no matter how much God has placed in our possession, we have no riches. They all belong one hundred percent to God.

We do not seek wealth. We become wealthy while seeking to serve. We do not hold back any part for ourselves. However, because of our obedience, He will give us a portion as our own to enjoy. He will give us the power to eat of it and to rejoice. We must seek His direction for His goods at all times. We must not take it upon ourselves to keep some of His wealth for ourselves.

Luke 18:24b: �How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God.�

Ecclesiastes 5:10,13: He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver; nor he who loves abundance, with increase. This also is vanity. There is a severe evil which I have seen under the sun: Riches kept for their owner to his hurt.

Only the God-seeking, God-serving person can enjoy wealth.

Proverbs 10:22: The blessing of the Lord makes one rich, and He adds no sorrow with it.

Ecclesiastes 5:19: As for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, and given him power to eat of it, to receive his heritage and rejoice in his labor- this is the gift of God.

1 Timothy 6:17: Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy.

God desires for His people to possess and manage His earth with all its abundance for Him.

We must be managers of God�s goods and not owners.

God gives a portion of His creation into our hands to manage for Him. We grow in wealth as we do a good job of managing what He has given us to manage. God adds more to us as we become faithful and wise managers of the portion He has placed in our hands. If we do not manage it well, it will be removed from us and given to one who will manage it in accordance with God�s heavenly kingdom wisdom and instruction.

Luke 19:12-13,16-20,22a, 24-26: �A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return. So he called ten of his servants, delivered to them ten minas, and said to them, �Do business till I come.�

�Then came the first, saying, �Master, your mina has earned ten minas.� And he said to him, �Well done, good servant; because you were faithful in a very little, have authority over ten cities.� And the second came, saying, �Master, your mina has earned five minas.� Likewise he said to him, �You also be over five cities.�

�And another came, saying �Master, here is your mina, which I have kept put away in a handkerchief.� And the master said to him, �Out of your own mouth I will judge you, you wicked servant.� And he said to those who stood by �Take the mina from him, and give it to him who has ten minas�. But they said to him, � Master, he has ten minas.�

�For I say to you, that to everyone who has more will be given; and from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.�

Matthew 25: 14-l 5, 19-21, 24a, 25-26a, 28, 30: �For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey.

�After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them. So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, �Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.� His lord said to him, �Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.�

�Then he who had received the one talent came and said, �…and I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.� But his lord answered and said to him, �You wicked and lazy servant…� Therefore take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents. …And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.��

We are given the Master�s money to do business with until He calls for it. If we manage His money in alignment with kingdom principles, we will have a good report at our accounting time. The most profitable way to do business is according to God’s instruction and in accordance with His kingdom principles.

There are many principles to be considered and there are always balancing principles in God�s kingdom. We must seek God’s direction by the Holy Spirit. Principles are like �road signs� to assist our hearing and provide valuable understanding. But we must hear God�s direction.

One of the major principles is to use money to do good. If we put money to work creating activity (commerce, industry, etc.), which will put people to work meeting each other�s needs, then we are headed in the direction of kingdom prosperity. We will do more long-term good by this type of investing, than we would have done by giving away all the money to meet an immediate need.

What we do with the money we have is more important than how much money we receive. How we use what we have today determines what we will have tomorrow. Many of us have not understood that God gave us money to use to do business. We erroneously thought it was all for us to use for our own desires and needs. We have thrown away our financial future by increasing our lifestyle just because we had more money. We have used money to make us feel better. Babylon�s business pattern is to �get all you can, and can all you get�.

Do not serve money, but serve God with money. Do not hide it or consume it. Do not give it away if God has not said to. Use it to do kingdom business that meets needs. Seek God�s direction and further understanding of His principles about how and where to do business.

If we diligently use all God has given us to serve Him by doing business, we will be given more. It will be added to us. All that we possess should be available to be used to meet the needs of mankind, and especially those of the household of faith.

Man has three basic areas of need: those that relate to his spirit, those that relate to his soul (mind, will, and emotions), and those that relate to his body. Anything that God leads us to do with the resources He has given us to meet needs in any of these three areas is doing business. Whether it is preaching the Word, growing potatoes, or teaching physics, if it meets the needs of the brethren, it is doing business in the kingdom of God.

Ask God, How does what I do meet the needs of mankind? And what can I do better to add more value to mankind?

Start with what you have. A warm smile and an encouraging word can meet a need in a person�s soul. A prayer and a thought from the Word can meet needs of the spirit of a person. Doing that extra amount on the job with a good attitude can meet someone�s needs. Cooperating with the boss and speaking a good word about him can meet more needs than complaining and giving a bad report. Consider what you have, what is in your hand, what gifts and talents you have. Then, ask God how they may be used to meet the needs of others.

Would investing that extra $25 in someone�s kingdom business or ministry help meet their need for capital so they could meet more needs? Could contributing your talents and abilities to help a ministry or kingdom business meet needs? Could improving your own skills enable you to meet more needs?

In Babylon, people go to school to get more education so that they can get more money, so that they can have more power and more things they want. In the kingdom, we sharpen our tools by getting more education and training so that we can meet more and greater needs of others. The more skilled we are, the more we can do. The more we do, the more we will be blessed in return. The more we are blessed, the more we have to use. Love causes us to make the best we can of ourselves and of what we have.

Two dimensions of meeting needs

There is more than one dimension in meeting needs. There is both quantity and quality. You can meet a little need for a lot of people, or you can meet a great need for a few people. Manufacturing chewing gum can put a good taste in millions of people�s mouths; doing brain surgery can greatly impact a few people. The total amount of value added to mankind could be the same in either case. So, if you can�t do something big, do a whole lot of the little things that you can do, while at the same seeking to improve your skills so that you can do more.

Loving-kindness In Kingdom Business

Loving-kindness in kingdom business replaces pretended affection and pandering in Babylonian business operation. In Babylon, most customers expect to receive an offer of help or service by a businessperson. Underlying their question, “Can I help you?” is their real thought of, “Can I get some of your money?” Customers do not expect a businessperson to really care about them beyond what they can get from them. Once people learn that in the kingdom, the businessperson really cares about them, and not just about their money, they develop a whole new attitude. If they know that you really care, they will trust you with their business. Whether we are supplying a spiritual need or a physical need, love will cause us to really care about others� needs and well being. Loving-kindness cannot be faked in the kingdom of God. A phony will be spotted.

Love cares about fellow workers, including the boss. Love causes employees to feel a great sense of security and loyalty because they care about one another and know the boss cares about them and has their interest in mind. Love cares about the quality of product or service being provided. Love is the key to increased productivity, quality and efficiency.

The essence of God�s love permeates every aspect of kingdom-life. The thirteenth chapter of 1st Corinthians draws a picture of what love is. It teaches that, no matter how great our gifts or works are, they are meaningless without love. Love makes it happen and keeps it in order in the kingdom.

Love is the greatest mystery in the world. There is no other force or power in the world as great as love. Love will cause us to give up our very lives. Only after love motivates us to die to our self-focused life, can we know resurrection life. Just as Jesus gave up His life for others and was resurrected to a far greater life, we will experience a far greater life now on earth as love motivates us to selflessly serve. The Babylonian-style world cannot comprehend the value of the love of God. It is a mystery to the people of Babylon.

Keep on Pursuing Love
It Will Never Fail,

Ron McGatlin

http://www.openheaven.com
basileia@earthlink.net

Embrace the Awe of God!

Posted: July 24, 2011 in disciples life, Kingdom Teaching, Prophetic, wilderness
Tags: Bride of Christ, disciples, Doctrines, kingdom growth, kingdom of darkness, radical christianity, sin, Spirit led life

Embrace the Awe of God!
by Bobby Conner

An Urgent Word

The lion has roared; who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken; who can but prophesy? Amos 3:7-8

A Divine Veil of Light

Recently, I was overwhelmed by a heavenly visitation. Without notice, I received one of the most significant and captivating encounters of my life.

I was enjoying an ordinary day with my family in Texas. I had much to do to prepare for an upcoming ministry trip to Europe, so I excused myself to retreat to my study. As I arranged some papers on my desk, I heard a slight sound behind me. Thinking it was my wife or perhaps one of my grandchildren, I casually turned around to see who was in the room.

Without warning, I found myself in a spiritual realm. There suddenly appeared just inches in front of my face a living, incandescent wall of translucent light, suspended within brilliant, blue-green waters. The waters were glowing and luminous and also alive. A soft swishing sound came from the moving mass of living liquid light, much like the sound of wind through trees.

This glorious wall was a divine veil reflecting the most stunning, alluring rays of brilliant light I had ever seen. They were refreshing beyond words. Astonished, I wanted to absorb everything I could from within that veil. Its purpose seemed to be to enlighten and refresh.

Suddenly, He Roars!

All of my senses were extremely alert as I admired this breathtaking veil and wondered what was about to transpire. I reflected on how peaceful, tranquil and good I felt, when suddenly, without warning, a magnificent LION exploded from the wall of living light. This was an enormous, fearsome creature, a gigantic lion of golden-amber color whose mane radiated a halo of golden light. He was tall enough to look me straight in the eye. In fact, He locked his eyes on mine, gazing into my eyes with such intensity that I knew He was looking into my very soul. As I returned His steadfast gaze, I felt I was peering into eternity.

I wanted to flee from sheer terror, but also wanted to embrace this wonderful being from another realm. This Lion had an extraordinary fierceness, but from within this indescribable strength and power an overwhelming gentleness also radiated. I was amazed at the warmth and love pulsing within Him, and the peace and sense of protection that exuded from His presence.

Our eyes were locked in a gaze for what seemed to be a very long time, when suddenly the Lion opened wide His mouth and began to roar. The roar was unlike any sound I had ever experienced ear-piercing, overwhelming, indescribable. Mere words simply cannot convey the force and beauty of that blast of breath from another world. This massive roar lasted for quite some time and released a vibration and reverberation that shook the heavens and earth and felt as though it could be heard and felt throughout the entire universe.

Standing within that divine current of the Lion’s roar, I felt a divine invincibility. Before I had time to ask, I understand the nature of the roar: Within my spirit, I heard the words, “The breath of God.”

As suddenly as the Lion’s roar began, it stopped so swiftly that its absence created a vacuum that sucked the air and sound from the room. Out of that deep, sublime silence a booming voice from Heaven rang out with a holy declaration that shook my entire being. The voice surged with supernatural power and authority:

“Prepare My people to embrace the awe of Almighty God!”

And then the beautiful liquid light disappeared also, as swiftly as it came. I stood trembling in my office, my heart pounding hard and fast, my spirit ablaze with the fire from Heaven’s altar.

At this point, in a quiet, comforting and convincing tone of voice, the Holy Spirit said, “Yes, prepare the people of God to embrace the Awe of God!”

The Spirit then explained that much revelation would be released concerning the Lion of the Tribe of Judah a revelation that would produce the holy, wholesome fear of the LORD.

The Fear of God, the Awe of God

Indeed, the Lord spoke a very stern warning to me, saying, “Warn the people that I am not as easy to get along with as some preachers have made Me out to be!”

What does this mean, dear brothers and sisters in Christ? We must never forget the truth that “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God” (Hebrews 10:31). The writer of Hebrews further admonishes us, entreating us to fear the Lord:

“Wherefore we receiving a Kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear” (Hebrews 12:28).

This Greek word translated fear is eulabeia, which means reverence, piety and veneration. Veneration and piety are not mere religious formalities. Yes, we can “act” pious and not feel true reverence in our heart but the Lord will see through our whitewashed gestures.

Although some Christians have feigned reverence through the centuries, we cannot dismiss the authentic and vital experience of holy fear and trembling before the Lord as just “the form of godliness” or man’s empty religion. The fear of the Lord is more than ritual and has not been replaced by the New Covenant of grace. To be sure, when a revelation of God’s grace grips our soul, the deep reality of our heart will become holy circumspection and discretion before the King of the Universe! We will not approach God casually, nor with a religious spirit, but with “godly fear.”

This same word translated fear, the Greek eulabeia, is only used one other time in the New Testament to describe the holy reverence, piety and veneration of Jesus Christ Himself for His Father God:

“Who in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to save Him from death, and was heard in that He feared…”

If Christ Himself feared the Father “with strong crying and tears,” how much more shall we offer up holy prayers and supplications in the fear of the Lord? Indeed, we are instructed to not only serve God with fear, but with awe. We’ve all but forgotten this most precious and vital disposition of the heart.

The fear of God and the awe of God are inseparable. If you fear God with a holy fear, you will stand amazed and reverent; if you feel the awe of His majesty and omnipotence, you will most certainly experience a godly fear of His power and sovereignty. In truth, you cannot be in awe of the Lord without a holy fear.

The Greek word translated reverence or awe in the above verse of Hebrews 12:28 is aidos, which suggests not just modesty but actual bashfulness a healthy shame for one’s own lowly status. This awe is a holy reverence whose essence is a profound, unspeakable wonder, the deepest honor and respect imaginable, reserved for the King of kings. This is an awe that cannot humble itself enough, cannot bow low enough and cannot be thankful and worshipful enough before the One who gave His life for us.

God is Indeed a Consuming Fire

Beloved, we must rekindle a holy awe, reverence, honor and respect for the glorious Lamb of God and Lion of Judah, Creator of the universe! Let’s consider another translation of Hebrews 12:28-29:

Let us therefore, receiving a Kingdom that is firm and stable and cannot be shaken, offer to God pleasing service and acceptable worship, with modesty and pious care and godly fear and awe; for our God [is indeed] a consuming fire.

How do we offer the Lord “pleasing service and acceptable worship”? With nothing less than “modesty and pious care and godly fear and awe.” And why do we offer the Lord this piety, fear and awe? Because God is a consuming fire.

This Greek word translated fire is none other that pyr, from which we derive our English words relating to actual fire, such as pyrotechnics. To be sure, this pyr of God described in Scripture is real uncontrolled, scorching, dangerous and wild. This pyr isn’t referring to a fancy metaphor or analogy, like a “fiery” personality or a “fire” of passion in the belly. On the contrary, the word pyr occurs 74 times in the New Testament and most often refers to a quite literal substance that burns, scorches, and imparts power: Hell fire; everlasting fire; raining fire (as Lot and his wife experienced); tongues of fire; blood, fire and smoke; the fire of the burning bush; and flames of fire the eyes of the Lord Himself and more.

This fire of God is described in a very specific way: God is a consuming fire. This word translated consuming is from a Greek root that means to use up entirely and to destroy. From this Scripture, we learn a most important lesson: God is not a cozy campfire providing warmth and a comfortable circle of fellowship. Neither is He a fire we can control by turning a burner dial. His fire is of an entirely different substance and purpose than any fire on earth. It is not for our personal use and enjoyment. We cannot control it. We can’t understand it. We can’t compare it to anything or anyone we’ve ever encountered or will encounter.

Just as C. S. Lewis wrote of Aslan in The Chronicles of Narnia, “He is not a tame Lion,” we must say of God that He is not a controlled burn. He is not a torch we can carry casually. He is neither a match head we can strike at will, nor a lamplight we can turn on and off.

No, His fire consumes. His fire destroys or gives power and life. His fire is Resurrection. His fire creates universes. In truth, His fire commands our fear and awe.

Are we prepared to become intimate with this consuming fire? The first step is learning how to approach God with fear and awe! And great rewards are in store for those who do. If we truly fear and reverence the Lord, great promises are ours:

“O fear the Lord, you His saints [revere and worship Him]! For there is no want to those who truly revere and worship Him with godly fear” (Psalm 34:9).

But if we learn to abide in the fear and awe of God, the even greater reward is the manifest Presence of Christ Himself!

Intimacy vs. Familiarity

Unfortunately, this godly fear and holy awe have been replaced by a yawn of familiarity in our modern Church. The consuming fire of God has been reduced to a mere candle flame on the pulpit or in our prayer closet, or at best a handy “pillar of fire” that guides us along the way.

We wrongly assume that we can approach the Lord casually and blithely according to our own timetable and needs. We use Him like a flashlight when we desire guidance or revelation. We sit beside Him as a warm stove when we are cold. We crank up our reliable and familiar “God fire” to meet the need of the moment.

May it never be! The modern Church must learn the vast difference between mere familiarity and true intimacy. True intimacy speaks of love and affection. With true intimacy, we experience deep, sincere and abiding appreciation. Intimate friends are consistent in their kindness and care for each other. They bond deeply and continue to grow together in honesty, transparency, togetherness, trust and mutual sharing. They know each other’s secrets. They share each other’s burdens. They love spending much time in each other’s company.

Ask yourself: Am I intimate with the Lord or just a casual, familiar acquaintance? We must ask the hard questions. Do we fear the Lord or just “use” Him to fill the lack in our lives? Do we have the vaguest idea of the type of power we so casually invoke?

The condition of the modern Church is, at best, sad and extremely troubling. Many sincere Believers have accepted a distorted concept of the God of the Bible by whittling Him down to a manageable person. They refashion God to fit their own expectations and to serve their own selfish desires.

Beloved, we have exchanged the magnificent glory of the incorruptible God for heathen gods suited to a sin-soaked nation, gods compatible to a self-serving culture. The result? Biblical awe is lost! The holy fear of the Lord is lost! We have reduced our worship to programs and performances. We have heaped praise upon ourselves instead of heaping reverence, piety and unbridled worship upon His Majesty! We have appropriated His anointing and giftings for personal use, building ministries, careers, publishing ventures and reputations instead of His Kingdom.

It is sad but true: visit almost any worship service on Sunday morning and you will likely find a wonderful, well-meaning congregation comfortably relating to a deity who fits nicely within their particular doctrinal positions. We have constructed our own so-called god to back our own plans, visions and social concerns, molded into our comfort zone. This is a “god” that can be explained and controlled by the carnal minds of mere men and women the minds of Christians with personal agendas, who have not died to themselves and the world.

God’s plan is to make man in His own image; however, Christians are attempting to make God into their image. The seeker-friendly, non-confrontational, Cross-removing church will not prepare the Body of Christ for the days we are facing!

In a church like this, no wonder we find an absence of holy awe and the fear of the Lord! We have dared to approach the Almighty God with our many desires and needs, yet feel no awe, no trembling heart, no bated breath, no sweaty palms, no shaky knees no reverence. The atmosphere of most churches today and even the prayer closet of most Believers is diametrically opposed to what we find in the Scriptures, where the glory of God filled the temple and no one could stand, where worshippers prostrated themselves before the living God.

The Lion Will Roar!

But do not despair, dear Believer. There is mercy, deliverance and hope for His Church! Rest assured that the casual, carnal attitudes of the modern Church are about to abruptly change!

We are about to be introduced to Almighty God as the roaring Lion of Judah. God is restoring holy awe and fear to His people and as this righteous and wholesome fear of the Lord returns to the people of God, the manifest Presence of the Lord will also return. Expect to see God reveal Himself in such magnitude and glory that the mouths of the people will open wide. Expect no less than jaw-dropping experiences.

Let us ponder the response of John the Beloved, the disciple who was of all men most intimate with Christ Jesus. Notice that when John encounters the risen, ruling Redeemer on the isle of Patmos, he falls to the ground with no breath left within himself. John did not casually or nonchalantly give Jesus a “high five” and go merrily on his way:

“When I saw HIM, I fell at His feet as if dead. But He laid His right hand on me and said, ‘Do not be afraid! I am the First and the Last'” (Revelation 1:17).

How will we learn to rightly fear and reverence the King of kings like John the Beloved? The Holy Spirit is our Teacher!

Come, you children, listen to Me; I will teach you to revere and worshipfully fear the Lord. Psalm 34:11

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, fall on your face and cry out to be changed! Ask the Lord to soften your hard heart and impart a living revelation of God as a consuming fire. With your whole being, implore Him to teach you “to revere and worshipfully fear the Lord.”

Ask, seek and knock until true awe and fear are branded upon your spirit and soul, until you no longer approach the Lord casually but as a trusted, reverential friend. Seek to become an intimate of God not just an acquaintance who assumes too much.

Beloved, “Draw nigh to God and He will draw nigh to you” (James 4:8). This is His promise He will draw near to us in turn but understand that we must only draw near in the holy fear and awe of the Lord. Herein lies the secret of true intimacy with the King of kings!

Prepare to hear the Lion’s roar and embrace the awe of Almighty God!

Bobby Conner
Eagles View Ministries
Email: manager@bobbyconner.org

Kingdom Business Transformation – Part 1

Posted: July 22, 2011 in disciples life, Kingdom Teaching, Prophetic, teaching, wilderness
Tags: disciples, kingdom growth, Kingdom life, Kingdom living, Kingdom of God, Spirit led life

Part 1 – The Ministry of Business

By Ron McGatlin

Every adult believer is involved in the business/ministry of Kingdom Life.

Business is a primary foundational part of the kingdom of God.

The foundational principles of Babylonian-style business are opposite to the New Jerusalem kingdom of God business principles.

All productive enterprise in the world can be qualified as either business or ministry. Almost every mature adult is involved in business. Some may own businesses, others work at jobs in businesses, others do the business of managing a household or family and everyone manages the business of his own personal life.

In the kingdom of God, both ministry and business have exactly the same basic foundational purpose. What we each do with our lives involves business/ministry. Before we consider how kingdom business is to be done we must consider God’s purpose for our involvement in business or ministry. In the kingdom, the primary purpose of business or ministry is to serve God by providing for the needs of mankind and the world around us.

Kingdom business or ministry is caring for God’s people and managing the resources of His earth.

God’s love is the primary motivational force of all kingdom business and ministry. Through love, people serve one another.

The love of God will cause us to lay down our lives for our brothers. We will seek to provide for our brothers’ needs. Jesus’ love coming forth in us will cause us to serve one another. We become humble servants and not proud rulers. We keep His commandments to love God and love one another.

Galatians 5:13-14: For you brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love – serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

In the kingdom both ministry and business exist for the primary purpose of meeting needs. The only distinction between ministry and business is the type of needs met.

Ministry generally seeks to meet spiritual needs of people. Business is focused mostly on meeting physical needs. However, there is much overlap and both may meet mental and emotional needs. All areas of kingdom enterprise are important to God.

The desire to serve stemming from love is the foundation of kingdom enterprise. We serve Jesus as we serve mankind by providing for peoples’ needs. We are able to do a good job of providing because love has ordered our lives. Love brings unity and cooperation that enables greater production. We are to do good to all people but especially to the people of God.

Gal 6:10: Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.

The Sheep and Goats of Business/Ministry

In the parable of the sheep and the goats, the only factor considered by the Lord when dividing the sheep from the goats was whether an individual had provided for the needs of the brethren. Those, who had provided for the needs of the brethren, were told to “come inherit the kingdom” (Matthew 25:31-46).

No one can provide food for the hungry or clothes for the naked unless they first acquire food and clothing. We cannot supply what we do not have. Someone must grow, transport and process food; one must obtain fiber, process it into cloth, and then sew it into clothing. Or, one must, through production of some sort, obtain money to pay others for food and clothing. Obviously, the sheep in the above parable were involved in industry–the production and distribution of goods and services.

The kingdom principle Jesus is teaching here is greater than just giving away some of our surplus to the needy. The principle is that, because of the love of God, we desire to serve and because of the gifts and power of God working with us, our lives become productive. We become highly productive in business activities of manufacturing, farming, building, education, transportation, processing and a myriad of other enterprises providing for the needs of people.

What does my job, business/ministry do to meet the needs of mankind and the world around us?

This concept is hard for most people living in heavily populated areas to grasp. In the modern setting the importance of what our production does for others is sometimes lost because of a disconnect in seeing the end use of what we do and how needs are met by our labors.

For a moment, imagine life in a small, godly, frontier village that has no access to outside provisions. The people of the village would all know one another and care about the well being and the needs of each other. The different people would develop their God-given gifts into various skills to help supply the needs of the people of the village. Someone might be adept at growing certain needed food or animal feed items. Someone else might become good at raising and providing poultry products and others beef or pork products. Someone else might be a dairyman and provide milk products to their neighbors. Someone else may be good at cabin building and woodworking, and another at blacksmithing and so on. When a need in the village arises, someone will seek to meet that need for the people. Working together, they will provide for one another and will be happy to trade the produce of their skills and labor for the produce of others to meet their needs and the needs of the others in the village.

In this small village no one tries to get rich at the expense of others and no one seeks to hinder or harm another. Loving concern for one another causes industrious activity (business) producing goods and services to meet needs. The love of God brings order and cooperation. Now, expand the view in your mind from the small village to nations and then the world and God’s plan for business in the kingdom begins to come into view.

The more our love leads us to provide for the needs of mankind, the more we will reap. The law of sowing and reaping never fails. The more we provide, the more we will receive. Our needs will be provided for and we will have more to use to provide for the needs of the brethren and the world.

As we grow in the business of producing and providing for the brethren, more people are required to help with the enterprise. This means productive employment for more people. Jobs are created and people join together to work in the enterprise of providing for peoples’ needs. All this comes from the root of love that causes a desire to provide for the needs of people and the planet.

The sheep that serve by meeting the needs of the brethren inherit the kingdom of God quality of life (true prosperity). The goats that do not serve by meeting the needs of the brethren have only continuous lack (real poverty).

The thing that divides the sheep from the goats is the love and life of Christ Jesus in the sheep.

The sheep inherited the kingdom of God because they produced. They became productive kingdom servants/rulers as they met the needs of the brethren. Love motivated them to cooperate with and serve the brethren. The goats were motivated by unlove to use what they had only for themselves. The goats do not enter the kingdom. They are separated from God’s heavenly blessings in this life.

Life is the presence of God and serving His purposes. The kingdom of God lifestyle is abundant life, eternal life, now and forever. Death is separation from God and His purposes.

The end result of Babylonian business/ministry is death (separation from God and His purposes).

The Babylonian system has perverted the purpose of business in the minds of most people, including Christians. The perverted purpose of business has also infested ministry. Love is not involved in business in the Babylonian-patterned world. Unlove is assumed in all business transactions in the Babylonian world system. Need and greed are the primary motivational forces behind business and work.

The primary purposes of business in Babylon, is to control in order to meet personal needs and gain personal wealth. People, in the Babylonian system, work at a job or business to get money. They normally give little or no thought to what the job they are working at does to serve God by meeting the needs of mankind and the world. Generally, work is a tiresome dread for them because they are doing something that they don’t want to do but must do to get their paycheck. They have become as harlots–selling themselves to provide for their needs and wants. For the most part, this is considered normal in Babylonian-style business.

Christians caught in this system may believe it is God’s design for them to work at their jobs to get money and that church and church-related things represent their only opportunities to serve God. They also may believe that paying a tithe, plus some offerings, from the produce of their labors satisfies God and makes it all acceptable. Being a good slave and obeying your master is commendable and about the best that can be done in Babylonian captivity. Even in captivity, being a good servant can lead to ruling. God can bless those who remain faithful to Him even in captivity. However, we all need to know that in the kingdom work and business are vital parts of serving God.

God is not leaving His people captive in Babylon. God is delivering us into His marvelous, heavenly kingdom of light and love. We are learning the ways of New Jerusalem in every facet of our lives, including our families and businesses.

The greater principles of kingdom life and business found in the Bible are becoming more ingrained in the hearts of God’s people as we continue to move toward the kingdom of God life on earth.

Keep on pursuing Love. Love never fails
and His kingdom never ends.

Ron McGatlin

http://www.openheaven.com
basileia@earthlink.net

Let us return the Word to the pulpit Pt 3

Posted: July 20, 2011 in disciples life, Kingdom Teaching, Prophetic, teaching, wilderness

The church today needs once more to return to the primacy of preaching.

Sadly, we are again seeing a serious decline in the important place of preaching in the church — Ministers of the gospel are forsaking their God-given duty to “preach the Word” (2 Tim. 4:2). They are busy with counseling sessions, with church meetings, with social activities, and with their own personal interests. And what is it that suffers? What is neglected? The exposition of the Word of God before the public assembly of the church on the Lord’s Day!

Worship services are packed with new innovations — beautiful singing by trained choirs, liturgical dancing, testimonies, dialogues, dramatic presentations, and many other forms of entertainment. And what gets less and less time and attention? What is shoved to the rear of importance in the worship service? The preaching of the Word!

But why is this? What is the cause or (are) the causes of this near loss of preaching? Is it that many evangelical and conservative seminaries are no longer training their students to be chiefly preachers of the gospel, but rather counselors and liturgists and administrators? Is it that the churches are full of unfaithful shepherds who are feeding themselves and not the sheep of God? These may be reasons too. But they are all subordinate to a more basic and underlying reason.

That is that Protestant churches have forsaken the sole authority of the Scriptures and have, therefore, lost their confidence in the preaching of this Word. The churches at large have been influenced by the higher critical views of Scripture that swept this country at the beginning of this century. Men denying that the Bible was the inspired and infallible Word of God through and through. They claim it is more the word of man than of God. In this way they undercut the Bible’s authority and power. And many churches are fallen for this lie. This is “the great evangelical disaster” as Francis A. Schaeffer points out in his book by that very title. Hence, Protestant churches have lost their confidence in preaching this Word. If the Bible is in fact mainly the word of man, why preach it?!

The English preacher D. M. Lloyd-Jones makes precisely this point in commenting on the decline of preaching in the 20th century. He gives as the leading factor accounting for the decline of preaching this: “…The loss of belief in the authority of the Scriptures, and a diminution in the belief of the Truth.” And so he continues,

While men believed in the Scriptures as the authoritative Word of Cod and spoke on the basis of that authority you had great preaching. But once that went, and men began to speculate, and to theorize, the eloquence and the greatness of the spoken word inevitablv declined and began to wane…. As belief in the great doctrines of the Bible began to go out, and sermons were replaced by ethical addresses and homilies, and moral uplift and socio-political talk, it is not surprising that preaching declined (Preaching and Preachers, Zondervan, 1972, p.13).

That is where the church is at today.

What is the answer to this? A return to the Scriptures, first of all. And then, on the basis of that Word, a conviction that preaching is God’s method of saving and building up his church. This, too, is what Lloyd -Jones prescribes:

So I would sum up by saying that it is preaching alone that can convey the Truth to people, and bring them to the realization of their need and to the only satisfaction for their need. Ceremonies and ritual, singing and entertainment, and all your interest in political and social affairs cannot do this. .. . What men and women need is to be brought to a ‘knowledge of the truth’; and if this is not done you are simply palliating symptoms, and patching up the problem for the time being. In any case you are not carrying out the great mandate given to the Church and her ministers (ibid, p.40).

This is the way the church will be gathered and her saints remain strong. What is it that God’s people need? What is it that will still effect true reformation in the life of the church in these days of apostasy? It is the preaching of God’s holy Word. This alone will be effective and blessed, because it is God’s way. To this primary labor He has called and does call His church yet today. Anything less than this is disobedience to Him.

Let us be warned that a departure from this God-ordained method is sure to spell another generation of lawless Christians, running after ear tickling words and amassed in error. Let us pray and work for faithful pastors to bring us the faithful Word.

We are in an our when the Spirit is swiftly bringing forth another reformation in the Church, He is calling back the Bride to a purity in the Word. Cleansing the Fathers house of error and exposing at a rapid rate the wolves who have taking the forward seats of the church.
By all means let us preserve the pulpit!

Let us return the Word to the pulpit Pt 2

Posted: July 18, 2011 in disciples life, Kingdom Teaching, teaching, wilderness

The Reformers restored the Church to her central task — preaching.

They brought down the papal system and pointed out the errors of mass. They denied the mass the primary place in the worship of the church. They cried down the sad lack of knowledge among the clergy and laity.

But what was to be done? What was to take the place of the mass? How were the people to receive the grace of God? How were they to be built up in the knowledge of the truth?

The unanimous answer was: by the preaching of the Word!

The Reformers came to this conclusion on the basis of the Scriptures themselves. The Reformation was a return to the centrality of preaching because it was a restoration of the Scriptures. As the Bible came once again into the people’s hands in their native language, and as they poured over it, they came under the powerful conviction that the Bible was the sole authority for the faith and life of the church. Therefore, they took it up as their sword to bring reformation to the church. With this sword, they cut down the authority of the pope and exalted the authority of God’s Word, the Bible. With this sword they shredded the Roman Catholic Church doctrine and practice of the mass.

But with this instrument they also established anew the true doctrine and the pure worship of God. In the Scriptures they rediscovered the truths of God’s absolute sovereignty in salvation, justification by faith without works, and Christ’s Headship over His church. And here they found again that pure, simple, humble way of worship God has commanded – with preaching at the heart as the chief means of grace.

In this way did the Reformers become convinced of the indispensability of the preaching. Having studied the Scriptures themselves, they came to see that the church could do without all the ceremonies and elaborate services. But there was one thing she could not do without, and that was the pure preaching of the Word. As they studied the Scriptures, they noticed that the prophets, Jesus Himself, and the apostles had all been instruments to bring the Word of God.

Consequently, they rediscovered the truth that the proclamation of the Word was God’s method of salvation. This is easily verified from the writings of the Reformers. We are familiar with Martin Luther’s 95 theses, which he nailed to the door of the castle church at Wittenburg on October 31, 1517. Perhaps the most noteworthy of these theses is #62 which reads: “The true treasure of the church is the most holy Gospel of the glory and grace of God.”

A little later in life Luther expanded on this in his “Treatise on Christian Liberty”:

One thing and one only is necessary for Christian life, righteousness and liberty. That one thing is the most holy Word of God, the Gospel of Christ…. Let us then consider it certain and conclusively established that the soul can do without all things except the Word of God, and that where this is not,, there is no help for the soul in anything else whatever. But if it has the Word, it is rich and lacks nothing, since this Word is the Word of life, of truth, of light, of peace, of righteousness, of salvation, of joy, of liberty, of wisdom, of power, of grace, of glory, and of every blessing beyond our power to estimate.

… On the other hand, there is no more terrible plague with which the wrath of God can smite men than a famine of the hearing of His Word, as He says in Amos, just as there is no greater mercy than when He sends forth His Word, as we read in Psalm 107.

…Nor was Christ sent into the world for any other ministry but that of the Word, and the whole spiritual estate, apostles, bishops and all the priests, has been called and instituted only for the ministry of the Word (Works, vol.II, p.314).

Calvin reiterated this when in preaching on Eph.4: 11-14, he said:

Now the fact is that it (i.e., the church, CJT) cannot be built up, that is to say, it cannot be brought to soundness, or continue in a good state, except by means of the preaching of the Word. So then, if we earnestly desire that God should be honoured and served, and that our Lord should have his royal seat among us peaceably, to reign in the midst of us, if we are his people and are under his protection, if we covet to be built up in him and to be joined to him, and to be steadfast in him to the end; to be short, if we desire our salvation, we must learn to be humble learners in receiving the doctrine of the gospel and in hearkening to the pastors that are sent to us… (Sermons on Ephesians, Banner of Truth, 1973, p.374).

In fact, it may be said that the Reformation itself was brought about through the power of preaching. How did the Reformation begin? It began with preaching. Men such as Wycliffe, Huss, Savanarola, and others before Luther, brought about reformation by preaching. And how did the Reformation move forward as an unstoppable force? By means of preaching! This was due to the fact that the Reformers believed preaching to be the power of reformation. There was present in the 16th century’ the radical wing of the Reformation, which wanted to use physical force and human power to effect change in the church. But the Reformers despised this, and instead held that only the preaching could effect change, since it was God’s spiritual power.

This was concretely manifested in Wittenburg, when Luther returned there after he had been excommunicated at the Diet of Worms and subsequently hid at the castle at Wartburg. The radical element in Wittenburg was threatening to ruin the true reformation of the church there by resorting to the arm of flesh. But Luther came and preached eight sermons in eight days, pleading with the people not to use force but to rely on the power of the Word. In his second sermon Luther stated clearly that the Romish mass was evil and that he wished it to be abolished. But he went on to say,

Yet Christian love should not employ harshness here, not force the matter. It should be preached and taught with tongue and pen, that to hold mass in such a manner is a sin, but no one should be dragged away from it by force. The matter should be left to God; His Word should do the work alone, without our work. Why? Because it is not in my power to fashion the hearts of men as the potter moulds the clay, and to do with them as I please. I can get no farther than to men’s ears; their hearts I cannot reach. And since I cannot pour faith into their hearts, I cannot, nor should I, force anyone to have faith. That is God’s work alone, who causes faith to live in the heart. Therefore we should give free course to the Word, and not add our works to it (Works, vol.II, p.397-98).

A little later in the same sermon Luther gave an example of how his preaching had been the power in effecting the Reformation:

I have opposed the indulgences and all the papists, but never by force. I simply taught, preached, wrote God’s Word; otherwise I did nothing. And then while I slept, or drank Wittenberg beer with my Philip and with Amsdorf, the Word so greatly weakened the papacy that never a prince or emperor inflicted such damage upon it. I did nothing; the Word did it all. …For it is almighty and takes captive the hearts, and if the hearts are captured the evil work will fall of itself (Works, vol.II, pp.399-400).

Thus it was that the Reformers labors consisted chiefly of the proclamation of the Word. Luther, Calvin, and all the other Reformers were chiefly preachers. It is true that they were also men who wrote and lectured. All of them wrote books, commentaries, catechisms, and letters. And of course, as pastors of established churches, they had their regular duties of the ministry – bringing the word privately, leading meetings, and so on. But all of these labors were founded on and were the fruit of their preaching. The chief thing that has come down to us from them is their sermons.

That is because they saw their primary task to be that of preaching the Word. That becomes plain when one considers their labors in their respective places. Beginning in 1510, Luther preached at Wittenburg; and here he continued until his death in 1546. For 36 years then, Luther expounded the Bible in Wittenburg, first in the little chapel, and then in the great city church. He preached often: at least two times on Sunday, and usually three times a week, in the morning. And his method was to preach systematically through the Bible.

The centrality of preaching is especially evident in the ministry of Calvin at Geneva. When he came here for the first time in 1536, he immediately set himself to the task of preaching. But it was when he came back in 1541, that the labor of preaching the Word became dominant in his life and in the city of Geneva. Not only did Calvin himself labor in Geneva for 23 years chiefly as a preaching pastor, but he also established the preaching of the Word as central to the life of the entire city.

Shortly after he returned in 1541, Calvin worked with the government of the city to adopt an organized policy for the churches of the city. The result was the “Ecclesiastical Ordinances.” In these “Ordinances” the work of the pastors was outlined. In the three congregations preaching was to be conducted twice on Sunday and every day of the week! These sermons were at least an hour in length and usually longer.

Furthermore, both Luther and Calvin trained men to preach and sent them out with the Reformation gospel. Believing that the chief task of office of pastor was preaching, they established schools and seminaries where men might be prepared for this work. Luther did this at the University of Wittenburg, and Calvin did the same with his Academy at Geneva. At these schools young men were trained in the doctrines of the truth and in the knowledge of the Scriptures. And with this knowledge these men went out into all of Europe, Asia, and beyond with the message of the gospel.

Thus did the Reformers restore preaching to the lives of God’s people and to the center of the worship service. For this reason too, God’s people came readily to hear the preaching. In the preaching was the message their souls needed and craved. It was a refreshing oasis in the otherwise barren desert of the church scene. This God used to feed and nourish His people once again. Once more God’s people had the Word, and with that, a true knowledge of God and of His works and ways. This was the great benefit of the Reformation as a return to the primacy of preaching.

In this connection, T. H. L. Parker, a significant and sympathetic biographer of Calvin, makes these comments regarding the preaching which the people heard due to Calvin’s diligence in the pulpit:

Before he smiles at such unusual activity of the pulpit, the reader would do well to ask himself whether he would prefer to listen to second-hand views on a religion of social ethics, or the ill-digested piety, delivered in slipshod English, that he will hear today in most churches of whatever denomination he may enter, or three hundred and forty-two sermons on the Book of the Prophet Isaiah sermons born of an infinite passion of faith and a burning sincerity, sermons luminous with theological sense, lively with wit and imagery, showing depths of compassion and the unquenchable joyousness of hope. Those in Geneva who listened Sunday after Sunday, day after day, and did not shut their ears, but were “instructed, admonished, exhorted, and censured”, received a training in Christianity such as had been given to few congregations in Europe since the days of the fathers (John Calvin: A Biography, Westminster Press, 1975, p.92).

This is our Protestant heritage. This is what God has given Reformed churches through the Reformation.

But where do we stand today? Is the conviction of the Reformers still our own? Do we believe that the preaching ought to be primary in the labors and life of the church today? Is this what pastors are giving themselves to in their ministries? Is the preaching of the Word of God what we seek and love to receive each Lord’s Day for the salvation of our souls and those of our children?

Let us return the Word to the pulpit Pt 1

Posted: July 18, 2011 in disciples life, Kingdom Teaching, Prophetic, teaching, wilderness
Tags: disciples, Doctrines, Kingdom living, Kingdom teaching, Spirit led life

During the Middle Ages (approx. 500 to 1500 AD.) preaching gradually lost its place of primacy in the church, until it was all but lost from her life and work in the years before the Reformation. We should remember that the Middle Ages were in general a time of gradual but steady decline for the church. As she increased in her worldly power and influence, she decreased in her spiritual strength and influence. Sometimes the Middle Ages are referred to as the “Dark Ages.” This was certainly true also with respect to the preaching.

The days before the Reformation were preaching poor times. Many of the established clergy, bishops, and priests, simply did not preach at all. It is said that the lay people could not expect any preaching from the priests in the local parish. Weeks and even months could go by without their hearing any sermon from the pulpit of their local church. Many priests simply forsook their parishes (local churches), checking on them only on occasion. The English Reformer, Hugh Latimer, called such absentee priests “strawberry parsons” since “they came only once a year and stayed for a very short time,” (quoted by G. J. Murray in The Preaching of the English Reformers, pp. 9,10).

Writing already in 1520, Martin Luther explained,

Lo, whither hath the glory of the church departed! The whole earth is filled with priests, bishops, cardinals and clerics, and yet not one of them preaches by virtue of his office, unless he be called to do by another and by a different call besides his sacramental ordination. (“The Babylonian Captivity”, Works, II, Baker, 1982, p.280.).

And if and when the bishops and priests did preach, the quality of the sermons was very poor. There was preserved in the worship service a place for preaching. This was called the “homily,” a brief sermon. But these homilies were for the most part nothing but borrowed sermons from the church fathers. The priests did not do any original work, nor was there any exposition of the Scriptures. The sermons were therefore not edifying but boring treatments of meaningless subjects of the Middle Ages. In addition, these sermons were filled with many absurd stories and fables. Besides, even where the sermons were of good quality and content, they were most often read in Latin, which most of the people could not understand. On the character of these sermons John Calvin wrote:

…What sermons in Europe then exhibited that simplicity with which Paul wishes christian people to be always occupied? Nay, what one sermon was there from which old wives might not carry off more whimsies than they could devise at their own fireside in a month? For, as sermons were then usually divided, the first half was devoted to those misty questions of the schools which might astonish the rude populace, while the second contained sweet stories, or not unamusing speculations, by which the hearers might be kept on the alert. Only a few expressions were thrown in from the Word of God, that by their majesty they might procure credit for these frivolities. (Selected Works of John Calvin, ed. & Trans. by H. Bevridge, vol. l, p.40).

This weakness in preaching also applied to the traveling preachers, the friars. These were special religious orders of men in the Roman Catholic Church. whose beginnings had been sound and good. This class of clergy arose because of a lack of preaching in the church and care for the sick and poor. Founded by Francis of Assisi and Dominic in the 13th century, they were organized into preaching orders, which would travel throughout the countrysides bringing the message of the gospel to the poor peasants. But gradually, these friars too fell victim to the abuses in the church. They gave in to the sermon style of the day, and worse, became nothing more than instruments of the pope.

Hence. also their preaching became corrupt and worthless. Instead of bringing the pure and simple gospel based upon the Scriptures, they resorted to embellished messages in which the stories of the Bible were mixed in with sensational fables and traditions, designed to entertain the peasants. Thus did they spread fact and fiction, truth and error, and therefore, confusion, throughout the countryside. The result was that, though they still traveled preaching, the message they brought was not that of the gospel, but of loyalty to the pope and the need of money for the church coffers.

It is also striking but sad that with the preaching so bad and the people so ignorant, another method of bringing the gospel to the people was being used — drama. Groups of dramatists would travel from town to town putting on mystery plays and passion plays. Sound familiar?! Yes, history is being repeated in our day! Entertainment once more fills the churches! And sadly, this occurs in Protestant churches which have their roots in the preaching revival of the Reformation!

But if there was little or no preaching done by the ordained clergy of the church, who was doing the preaching? Undoubtedly, there were a few faithful bishops, priests, and friars scattered throughout the vast regions of the church world who continued to bring the gospel to the humble city and country folk. But one Reformer was convinced that there was another faithful preacher at work in the church.

Hugh Latimer, in a sermon preached in 1548 denouncing the sin of a lack of sound preaching among the clergy of his day, announced whom he considered to be the “most diligent preacher and teacher in all England.” Said he,

And will ye know who it is? I will tell you: it is the devil. He is the most diligent preacher of all other; he is never out of his diocese; he is never from his cure; ye shall never find him unoccupied… And his office is to hinder religion, to maintain superstition, to set up idolatry, to teach all kinds of popery. He is ready as can be… to devise as many ways as can be to deface and obscure God’s glory. Where the devil is resident, and hath his plough going, there away with books, and up with candles; away with bibles, and up with beads; away with the light of the Gospel, and up with the light of candles…. Where the devil is resident that he may prevail, up with all superstition and idolatry; censing, painting of images, candles, palms, ashes, holy water, and new service of men’s inventing; as though man could invent a better way to honor God with than God himself hath appointed. Down with Christ’s cross, up with purgatory pickpurse, up with him, the popish purgatory, I mean. Away with clothing the naked, the poor and impotent; up with decking of images and gay garnishing of stocks and stones: up with man’s traditions and his laws, down with God’s traditions and his most holy Word. Down with the old honor due to God, and up with the new god’s honor…. Oh that our prelates would be as diligent to sow the corn of good doctrine, as Satan is to sow cockle and darnel. (quoted by G.J.Murray in The Preaching of the English Reformers, pp.70,71).

Such was the situation prior to the Reformation. Not only was the true biblical preaching no longer central; it was also virtually nonexistent. How do we account for this?

There are especially two reasons for this decline and dearth of preaching. First, there was the rise of the authority of the pope, and with that, the decline in the authority of the Scriptures. During the Middle Ages gradual stress was laid upon the offices of the church. With this came a multiplication of offices: cardinals, bishops, priests, monks, etc. In particular, the office of the papacy came to dominate, when the bishop of Rome assumed the title of successor of Peter and head of the entire church of Christ. From that point, all it took was a few dominant popes, and the power of the pope was firmly established. And that is what happened in the Middle Ages. Yet these men were not satisfied with being the mere successors of Peter. Assuming to themselves the office of Christ, these popes took the position that they were the direct mediators between God and men; they were the voice of God to the people. Hence, the pronouncements they made, and the decisions they took were the infallible, authoritative word of God.

The result was that the authority of the church and her tradition were exalted above the Scriptures. As far as the church was concerned, the people no longer needed the Bible nor the preaching of it; they only needed to hear and abide by the teachings of the popes. The Bible and the preaching of it were even considered dangerous to the people. Because of these things, the Bible was virtually taken out of the hands of the people. And with that, of course, went the preaching.

A second reason for the loss of the primacy of preaching was the emphasis placed on the mass as the chief means of grace. During the Middle Ages great stress was also placed on the sacraments and with that, on the formal, outward worship of the church. The result was that at the time of the Reformation the worship services of the Roman Catholic Church were filled with countless unbiblical rituals and ceremonies. But at the center was the mass. This was Rome’s sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, only with many abominable additions.

According to the Romish church an amazing thing takes place in the mass. First, the bread and wine are changed into the actual body and blood of Christ. And, second, the priest offers up the ‘body” of Christ in a real, atoning sacrifice for the sins of the people. Consequently, the people were led to believe that they were fed with the actual body of Christ in the wafer, and that this was the chief means of grace for them. They were taught that on the basis of the priest’s repeat performance of Christ’s death they had the forgiveness of sins. Their salvation, they were told, was tied to the mass.

It is not difficult to see that with this idea of the sacrament the preaching of Christ crucified had to take a back seat. In the mind of the church at that time, was it not far better to have Christ really crucified again before your eyes than simply to hear about it in the Word preached?

Thus did the mass become the heart of the worship service, because it was seen to be the chief means of grace. And the preaching was relegated to a low, insignificant place in the worship; it was no longer primary. Indeed, it was unnecessary!

For these two fundamental reasons, the priests and other officers of the church did not really need to preach, nor were they trained to do so. The priests did not have to bring the message of the gospel to the people. All they had to do was dispense the grace of God through the means the church established as the vehicles of salvation. The attitude that prevailed was: Why use the preaching of the Word when there are so many other easier ways to bestow divine blessings?

Hence, for the most part the clergy of the Roman Catholic Church went untrained in the art of sermonizing. Seminaries for the training of preachers were unheard of. Instead men were taught how to hear confessions, read the forms of the church, and follow her elaborate rituals and ceremonies. The result was an office of ministry that was woefully ignorant of God’s Word, and consequently incapable of delivering its message to the people. Even if a priest had wanted to preach, he did not know how.

The most serious consequence was that God’s people were being deprived of a true knowledge of God through His Word preached. Souls were starving since they were being fed stones for bread. There was a famine of the Word in the church (Amos 8:11). But God would not have it so for any longer.

Waiting Upon the Lord

Posted: July 17, 2011 in Kingdom Teaching, Prophetic, teaching, wilderness
Tags: God's love, kingdom growth, Kingdom living, Kingdom teaching, Spirit led life

I love them that love Me; and those that seek Me early shall find Me… That I may cause those that love Me to inherit substance; and I will fill their treasures.—Proverbs 8:17, 21

The “approbation” or favor of the Lord rests upon those who have fully yielded their lives to Him, who desire to intimately know Him and are willing to spend time in His presence. The result is that these will be able to recognize His presence and will have “understanding” concerning His ways.

If these qualities are to become a reality in our lives, we also must first learn to “wait upon the Lord.”

Blessed is the man that heareth Me, watching daily at My gates, waiting at the posts of My doors. For whoso findeth Me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the Lord.—Proverbs 8:34-35

When the Lord responds to our waiting for Him, and He manifestly comes into our midst, we then begin to wait on Him.

There is an Urgent Need that We Become Capable of Hearing a “Present” Word

As we wait on the Lord, it is important that we approach Him with a deep reverence in a spirit of worship, acknowledge His presence as being with us, and then tell Him how much we appreciate His coming to be with us. Now we can begin to flow in a cooperative relationship with Him in whatever way that He may lead or direct.

We have become a wheel (us) within a wheel (Jesus). That is, as being a wheel within a wheel, we will be in the right place at the right time, and with the right word.

Whithersoever the spirit was to go, they went, thither was their spirit to go; and the wheels were lifted up (opposite) them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels. When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up (opposite) them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.—Ezekiel 1:20-21

There is an urgent present need that we become capable of hearing a “present” word.

As the voice of many waters, the Lord is beginning to speak a powerful last day word to bring visitation and judgment to all mankind. Unless we become sensitive to hear His voice, we will miss the sound of His gentle “knock” upon the door of our spirit.

The “Secret” to Jesus’ Effectiveness and the Heart of His “Preparation”

Jesus spent much time in the presence of His Father. This is the “secret” of His effectiveness in ministry.

The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: He wakeneth morning by morning, He wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned. The Lord GOD hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back.—Isaiah 50:4-5

This is the very heart of the “preparation” of Jesus for His ministry – His being awakened “morning by morning.” This is also the means of preparation for our place in the end-time purposes of the Lord.

…The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.—Revelation 19:10

“The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned.” This speaks of the spirit of prophecy that which is beyond the gifts, and emanates from relationship. The spirit of prophecy is the result of having become so “at one” with the Lord, that our lives have become the expression of His life (the voice of many waters).

This testimony that the Lord desires to express through us, is imparted within us during our times of communion with Him, as we wait in His presence. As He quickens us, His testimony becomes the spirit of prophecy within us; then it can be expressed through us, to whom He wills. We will then have the right word, at the right time, to be given in the right place, or to the right person.

“He wakeneth morning by morning.” To be awakened means that I am lifted into the realm of the supernatural, above the limitation of my natural sense, perception and understanding. When He awakens us, our inner being is alerted to turn aside from all activity, to become sensitive so we will hear what He has to say – a present word.

How to Develop and Cultivate a Sensitivity to the Lord’s Voice

Today, His word may seem to be as a “wind,” strong enough to knock us off of our feet; but tomorrow, it may be as a gentle breeze. Our hearing today will prepare us for His still small voice tomorrow. We must cultivate our ability to hear and respond to His voice.

David had within him a sensitivity to the presence of the Lord. In spite of his problems, David listened, as he had a heart for the Lord. The Lord had to speak to one of the prophets through a donkey, but to David He could say:

I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go; I will guide thee with Mine eye.—Psalm 32:8

David had such a relationship with the Lord that he sensed the very presence of the Lord. The Lord did not have to speak “words” to David for him to know the desire of His heart. David knew the heart and the mind of the Lord because he had cultivated a personal relationship with Him during the years he was in the fields at night tending the sheep.

For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.—I Corinthians 2:16

Our mind will be renewed, or progressively brought closer to the Lord’s mind as we wait upon Him.

Our taking time to wait upon the Lord will enable Him to enlarge our spiritual capacity, and grant us the tone of authority that comes only by hearing from Him. Thus, our times of waiting upon the Lord will become as a “wheel within a wheel,” which will enable us to hear and respond to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, and to move with Him in His will as He guides us.

And He goeth up into a mountain, and calleth unto Him whom He would: and they came unto Him. And He ordained twelve, that they should be with Him, and that He might send them forth to preach, and to have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils.—Mark 3:13-15

The Primary Purpose of God’s Calling

The primary purpose of His calling is for us to be with Him. It is essential to our spiritual health that we spend quality time in His presence “waiting upon Him.” Only then will we have the spiritual energy to face the challenges, testings, and problems of life.

But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.—Isaiah 40:31

During these times of intimate fellowship, we are brought into a closer union with Him. In the closeness of this communion, we will receive of His life and strength, and along with this, we will come into a deeper understanding of spiritual principles and the unfolding of His Word, which will draw us yet closer.

…The times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.—Acts 3:19

Our times of waiting upon the Lord are the key to a victorious, overcoming life. Throughout the Psalms, whenever David found himself in difficult circumstances, he constantly reminded himself to wait upon the Lord.

Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.—Psalm 27:14

It is here, in the Lord’s presence, that we will begin to understand the mysteries of the Kingdom. There will be a realignment of our lives, and our priorities will change from the natural to the spiritual. Our spiritual senses will be energized by His presence and restored to respond to His purposes.

We are to be changed from one level of glory to a higher level of glory. We may be birthed through a particular ministry and even flow in the same anointing, and echo the same teachings; but unless we “personally” have cultivated the presence of God by spending time waiting upon the Lord, we will simply be reflecting reflected light, a dimmed reflection of the pure glory of the Lord.

As we wait upon the Lord, we will experience a genuine encounter with the Lord. Then, wherever we go, the result of His manifest presence that we have experienced will cut through every bondage and every fear in those who are witnessing the result of our life in His. This will bring others to a knowledge of Jesus Christ.

During these prolonged times spent in His presence, we are “sowing” to the Spirit – enlarging our capacity to flow with the Holy Spirit. It is always costly to the natural man and will probably seem inefficient. Many of our “early morning risings” may seemingly bear no fruit at all, but the continued lifting up of our desire for the Lord, along with our worship and the obedience of seeking after Him rather than things, will in time bring forth within us an accumulative effect that will surprisingly produce a profound spiritual result.

We will have become a prophetic vessel that is available to Him. These times of waiting upon the Lord in His presence do not produce quick results, but rather, lasting ones. Jesus commanded us to abide in Him, adding that it will cause us to bear “fruit that remains.” The abiding life – a life that waits in God’s presence, will produce fruit that will stand in eternity.

Indeed, the Lord is knocking on the door of our spirit and is seeking to enter into the room of our spiritual being. He is seeking those who will respond to His knock, and will open the door that they might “wait upon Him.”

…Let my Beloved come into His garden, and eat His pleasant fruits.—Song of Solomon 4:16

Wade E. Taylor
Wade Taylor Ministries
wade@wadetaylor.org

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