Kingdom Journey! 2009/20 07/19/09

There are many things still concealed in the word, but they are there to be revealed at the proper season. Just as Myles Munroe taught on the kingdom, by fresh revelation, and there was so much that God gave revelation on, that it boggles the minds of those who have seen any portion of it. He is still teaching on the kingdom with no end in sight until Jesus comes. I want to take one more look at a few [plus] verses we had in the last lesson and there is a reason that I am doing this, which I will mention later.

Some time back, we heard some of the research that Bill Cloud did, and we are going to go there again to begin this time together. Turn to Matthew 11:11-14 again this week;

“Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist: yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

And from the days of John the Baptist until the present time, the kingdom of heaven has endured violent assault, and violent men seize it by force [as a precious prize – a share in the heavenly kingdom is sought with most ardent zeal and intense exertion].

The word ‘force’ is from the greek “harpazo”, and it means that those who function in this walk are those who are possessed of wise eagerness, and instead of yielding to the opposition of the world’s ideas and pressures, they, through all the trials that they could encounter, press through into the kingdom life that defies the system that we are in, but not of.

For all the prophets and the Law prophesied up until John.

And if you are willing to receive and accept it, John himself is Elijah who was to come [before the kingdom].”

While in Israel, Bill asked one of the noted greek scholars if that was what the greek really translated that portion to be, and this man said that it did not, because it is now three steps away from the original Hebrew that Jesus spoke, and that he should read Micah 2:12-13 first, and then understand that Matthew should be read as follows; Turn to Micah 2:12-13;

“I will surely gather all of you, O Jacob; I will surely collect the remnant of Israel. I will bring them [Israel] together like sheep in a fold, like a flock in the midst of their pasture. They [the fold and the pasture] shall swarm with men and hum with much noise.

The Breaker [the Messiah] will go up before them. They will break through, pass in through the gate and go out through it, and their King will pass on before them, the Lord at their head.”

Now back to Matthew 11:12b;

‘the kingdom of heaven has endured violent assault, and violent men seize it by force’

That’s the way it is most often translated, but look at it now, the way it would be read as a gathering of the original language.

‘The kingdom of heaven is breaking out and the breakers are advancing the kingdom.’

The word for breaker used here is “parats” and it is the same word that Jesus used for ‘John’ when He spoke this word. He called John a breaker, and we can be called that as well as we awaken to the kingdom reality with kingdom mentality—the renewed mind

This is the time that the kingdom is breaking out through an awakening, revelation knowledge. This has been and is now a growing time that the jewish people are breaking out from around the world and being restored back to the land of their origin, their inheritance. They have been scattered to many lands, but now they are being gathered together just as Micah prophesied. There is much noise from all the world, because as Jesus said in several places, there will be a growth of anti-Semitism, but the church is also awakening to its inheritance as well, and that becomes a force on two fronts, the restoration of Israel and the true church.

Jesus was telling them and us that John was the ‘breakerbeginning”. Jesus said that John was Elijah and he is the beginning of this restoration.

Now lets jump a little and turn to 1 Peter 2:8-9 and then to Revelation 5:9-10;

“…and a Stone that will cause stumbling and a Rock that will give [men] offense; they stumble because they disobey and disbelieve [God’s] Word, as those [who reject Him] were destined (appointed) to do.

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a dedicated nation, [God’s] own purchased, special people, that you may set forth the wonderful deeds and display the virtues and perfections of Him Who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” [see Col. 1:13]

Now to Revelation 5:9-10 (read vs. 7 & 8 ahead)

“…and [now] they sing a new song, saying, You are worthy to take the scroll and to break the seals that are on it, for You were slain (sacrificed) and with Your blood You purchased men unto God from every tribe and language and people and nation.

And You have made them a kingdom [royal race] and priests to our God, and they shall reign [as kings] over the earth!”

This is all part of the awakening that we have been speaking of. This is all happening just before the coming of the Lord Jesus, Who is theBreaker, come after John, the same that John himself prophesied. Remember that we will reign as kings in this kingdom, under the King of Kings, but let us go and look at another situation with several kings, and I am going to only paraphrase this story, and you can research it out to see where [you] we are. At home, begin your reading at 1 Samuel 4 through 7. One thing to keep in mind is that last week we spoke of ‘timing’ and God has a purpose for His doing things in His timing.

This is one of the times that the Hebrews were complaining to Samuel that they did not have a king that they could see, like all the other nations, and they wanted one. This saddened Samuel, and he mourned before God. God responded and said to Samuel, “Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them.” (1 Sam 8:7)

If you read on from there, you would think that you were reading of the selection made at our last election, but this was then over 3000 years ago. The Lord chose Saul and told Samuel to tell them exactly how the king would treat them as a people, and He did just that, he would raise taxes and put them under great burdens, and wouldl appoint captains (czars) and that answer only to him.

To make a long story a little shorter, we know that Saul did not obey the orders of the Lord and there came the day that the Lord rejected Saul from being the king over Israel, and sent Samuel to anoint a son of Jesse, and it was David that He chose, and Samuel anointed him with a vial of oil, and God, from that moment, recognized him as king over Judah, and then later when Saul’s son Ish-Bosheth, who Abner made king of Israel, was assassinated, Israel came under the reign of David as well. We’ll come back here in a moment to close this out.

That may, for the moment, be story enough for you? This is where we have been heading. We just read in 1 Peter and Revelation that Jesus has made us a royal priesthood, God’s own purchased people, a kingdom (royal race), priests to our God, to reign as kings over the earth. So when we accepted Jesus as Lord of our lives, the ‘Breaker’ anointed us as kings too, isn’t that good? Well, let me break the spell for a moment. Hear this; our God can do anything, with Him all things are possible, but, our God will not do everything, and leaves much out in front of us to build us into the kingdom that He destined us to be.

David was anointed king of Israel as a young man, and as I said, from that moment, to God, he was king, but Saul wore the crown. David was truly king, but Saul had the authority and occupied the palace. What is going on? David was mocked by his family, and even though he dared to fight and kill the giant that had harassed all Israel, he had to dodge the jealousy driven spears and arrows of the very king he served, and was chased from cave to cave. He was ridiculed by his wife for worshipping the Lord and had to live in the dregs of the earth, and even though he was the one anointed king, he was without a kingdom for over 13 years. Why? I believe it is God’s pattern for those He choses. It is one thing to be given a position, but it is another to possess it. That is where the training through testing comes in. Turn to Judges 3:1, 2;

“Now these are the nations which the Lord left, that He might test Israel by them, that is, all who had not known any of the wars of Canaan

(this was only so that the generations of the children of Israel might be taught to know war, at least those who had not formerly known it).”

We are from a generation, at least those of us that are old enough to have seen the depression that began in 1929, and was there until the War began in this nation in 1941. The years of the 20’s and 30’s were basically innocent years, tough but innocent, when no one thought of the rash of evil that is happening today in every facet of life, and in those early days it was a simple life and even in depression, there was a great more peace of soul than there is today. You know that it took a war to break the depression, but I think that it was the hard times that hardened us to take on the battle on the home front as well as on the front lines of battle.

I am going to switch direction for a moment, because there is more to this than meets the eye.

Last week we put on the board portions of John 14:27 and they went something like this –

Jesus had just told them that He was leaving with them His peace, and then followed it with—Do not let… and stop allowing yourselves…do not permit yourselves, but there is an implied pronoun that must be added, and that is “You” before each statement. Now this week we are going to put another level to that one and definitely adds to your growth as you put them together in your lives. It is found in Mark 8:34;

“And Jesus called to [Him] the throng with His disciples, and said to them, If any one intends to come after Me, let him deny himself—forget, ignore, disown, lose sight of himself and his own interests—and take up his cross, and (joining Me as a disciple and siding with My party) follow with Me—continually, [that is,] cleave steadfastly to Me.”

Note: Matthew adds, “follow My example in living and if need be in dying also”

You may ask how does this fit with last week? If you allow any agitation or any intimidation or irritants to your flesh that would generate anger or anxiety, then you are not moving in the peace that Jesus bequeathed to you and have not taken up a cross designed for that particular place in the tests of your life. We have to mature to the place where we are willing to die to any offense and the offender or agitator, and this will also eliminate the areas of intimidation from your life. If there is no place for fear to dominate your life, then there is no room for intimidation. We need to remember and be aware that no discontent nor impatience that sows discord will ever have any place in the kingdom heart. We must begin to live as though we truly know that we are in this place, but not of it, and will never go the way of its manipulation. We should always display the character of the kingdom that we are of, not in.

I am going to bring this up to date and fit this to what we have just spoken of in testing response. There is no room for political resentment or even anger driven criticism. God says to turn that energy into prayer power [1 Tim 2:1-4].

Back in 2004 at about this same time in the year, Chuck Pierce had a prophetic word that I feel was the beginning of this kingdom awakening period that we are now in, and I want to read it to you again, and some of you may remember it;

“I am mounting up the waters of breakthrough for this nation. I have brought you here to this state because part of the mounting up of the waters is coming this hour from this particular state. I have gathered you together here because from this state you will cause the waters to rise again. Many will try to put their finger in this water just as the boy who tried to hold back the water stuck his finger in the dike, but I would say this water that is mounting over this nation cannot be stopped.”

“There is a mounting enemy that is rising up at this time. Therefore I have drawn you together for a day such as this. In this place and at this time I will release an anointing that will cause the enemy that is mounting to become confused. The voice of the enemy will taunt, and taunt, and taunt again. The voice of the enemy will become very strong beginning in September through October. But even now that which you release in the heavens will begin to neutralize that which will come forth at harvest time.”

“Harvest time is upon you, and because harvest time is mounting I must have a people with a harvest mind. I have brought you here to bring forth the first fruit of that harvest anointing, and to cause your mind to shift into a mind of increase. Many have come and said, ‘But the enemy has surrounded me and besieged me. I even feel like I am in a strait jacket.’ During these days I will untie that strait jacket and your hands will go free.”

“Hear the sound as the waters mount up, for the waters are mounting and the wall that is being built against My righteousness is cracking. And within 22 months there will be floods across this land.”

Chuck Pierce

I believe that I hear that the floods are the cries of the righteous and God is listening, and He will soon answer with His voice and deliverance will be swift.

I feel that is what we are facing at this moment. The enemy is in our midst with all that is going on in the world and especially in this nation. I heard the other day, from someone in our government that there is a great state of confusion on Capitol Hill among the ones there who are seeking the best for the people, and though they may be outnumbered in the balloting on the House floor, God is watching and He is laughing in the heavens, for His will is going to be done in a manner that will confound all, and that includes many in the church as well. Election time 2010 will surely come and that is the time to choose righteous leaders. The remaining time I will spend with some of the word that we had in the past and it still holds for today, so make a note of it or get the outline, and this we will call kingdom principles for steadfastness in any storm.

Kingdom Principle #1

DEVELOP A CALM SPIRIT IN YOUR LIFE!

Peace, be still! Focus on the peace of the Lord and not on the turmoil of the storm. Just remember that the peace that Jesus spoke of is far beyond just the absence of adversity. It is the calm in any storm. [Col 3:15 and you will see this again at the end.]

Kingdom Principle #2

DEVELOP A BALANCE IN YOUR LIFE!

Understand that carnal [soulish] tendencies lead to making hasty, unwise decisions and overreacting in the storm is the best way to lose any chance of making the wise choice needed in the circumstance. The only extreme action allowed by the kingdom mentality is that of peace and patience and a cool spirit that always confounds the wisdom of the world, because it is free from the pressure of the situation. You are the child of the One Who has charge over all thing and His nature is already within you.

Luke 21:19; By your steadfastness and patient endurance you shall win the true life of your souls.

Kingdom Principle #3

STAY ON THE COURSE THAT YOU HAVE BEEN SET ON!

“Those that are led by the Spirit of the Lord are the sons of God” It tells us in Hebrews 12:13 to make straight paths for our feet. And in Isaiah we hear, This is the way, walk ye in it. God’s plan for your life does not change just because you encounter a storm. Don’t be tossed about by the winds of circumstance. If you do not hear God speak some of the time, just keep doing what you last heard Him tell you to.