Once you understand the scriptural foundation of the Kingship of Jesus, you begin to understand the concept of spiritual poverty: That without Him life is a dull place with no power, love, or hope. When you begin to relate to Him in the way God intended, you find your world flooded with power, love, hope, and more. This is the great mystery of intimacy with Jesus, and the entire kingdom is built on this concept.
Jonathan Greene explores the scriptural foundations for the present kingship of Jesus in both the old testament and new testament. He also probes the significance of the priesthood of Melchizedek as it relates to Jesus. The thread of the kingdom is carried from the old testament, throughout the birth, ministry, trial, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus.
In his book God is the Gospel, John Piper offers the following:
The critical question for our generation–and for every generation–is this: If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends that you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven, if Christ was not there?
I’m living for the reality of a generation rising that will forsake all else for the sake of knowing Him. I’m exceedingly zealous toward that end. All over the earth people are arising who are saying, “Nothing is right, nothing is worthy, nothing is entertaining enough for me without the person of Christ.”
Is the church to be relegated to the buildings in which we gather and the ceremonies that we perform, or will we once again connect to Jesus and begin to transform the world from the inside out. I believe it’s already happening.
The question of the hour is, “Does our missions strategy work?” I believe that the answer is a resounding “no.” This podcast deals with the topic of authority and power as it relates to accessing the realms where the lost dwell, and how our current missional strategy is not getting the job done. Enjoy.
I had a dream the other day about Grace Community Fellowship. In the dream, there were members of the church out on the road on highway 16 setting up a checkpoint. As the checkpoint was opened, I began to see vast quantities of refugees travelling down the road into Starke. Many of the refugees were very heavy laden with baggage, and were barely able to continue walking.
As the refugees passed the checkpoint, some of the members of the fellowship were standing by. These folks would remove the baggage from the refugees, usher them into the church, and help them to eat and rest. After a suitable period of time, the refugees would re-emerge from the church and continue on their way in good health.
Clearly, the dream highlights a restorational mission for our church. We are seeing an increase in this ministry through the various recovery ministries, jail ministries, and pastoral ministries represented in our congregation. Maybe this will serve as confirmation for those good folks involved. Keep it up.
I recently had a prophetic experience where the Lord showed me a hand gun. It was a revolver with a spinning cylinder style chamber. On the barrell was written the word “ministry.” I watched as the Lord began to take people and form them into bullets and place them in the chamber of the revolver.
After the people had been formed into bullets and placed into the chamber, the Lord would spin the cylinder Russian-roulette style and point the gun into a nation. When He pulled the trigger, the “bullets” would go forth and cause a revival to break out.
I believe that this vision speaks of ministry teams of several people. I believe that the Lord is saying that the days of the personality cult in ministry are over. The season of men building ministries in their own name has drawn to a close. It is my belief that the next generation of revivalists will not be well-known preachers with huge platforms, but rather teams of apostolic warriors who are submitted to the cause of Christ. They will be nameless and faceless and rather than ambitiously building a ministry will be committed to advancing the Kingdom.
I believe that the Lord will utilize different team members under different circumstances to effect powerful ministry. This is what the spinning of the cylinder symbolizes. I also received interpretations for the following components of the gun itself:
The sights: Control the direction of the bullets. This is the role of prophetic counsel to the apostolic teams of ministers who will take part in the next wave of revival.
The cylinder: This is the place of prayer. It is the sole abode, qualification, equipping center, and desire of those who will be endued with power from on high. It is the chamber in which the combustion will take place that propels people to their prophetic destiny.
The gun powder: This is intimacy with the Lord. This is the combustible force that will fill the place of prayer (the chamber) and propel the projectile (the spirit-filled minister) down the barrel and into the heart of the people where they will be a catalyst for revival on an epic scale.
When you hear the phrase “wasted life” it conjures up images of your mother and father standing over you and yelling about how art school will never produce a paying job, or how your boyfriend/girlfriend is a dead-end road. “You’re wasting your life,” they say. In short, we associate the phrase with rebellion, negativity, and bad decisions. Imagine my surprise recently when the Lord told me that He wanted me to waste my life on Him.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. (Matthew 16:25)
I’ve taken a Pastor Mike sermon (Spirit Sent), chopped it down to the best parts (I know, how to choose?), and added a nice beat, some keyboard action, and a bass line. The result is the “Spirit Sent Remix.” Hopefully Pastor Mike won’t sue me for copyright infringement. Enjoy.
