Called to Influence Your World: Priests, Kings and Rulers
You are part of a royal priesthood that is empowered to take a stand for righteousness “in season and out of season.”
SALVATION IS MORE THAN A RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS. God has an expectation of you. He wants you to use His authority to make a difference with your life and make this world a better place. He wants you to be salt and light in a decadent society desperate for moral leadership (Matthew 5:13-16). He wants you to be a faithful servant actively advancing the Kingdom of God and "occupying until He comes" (Matthew 24:45-46). That's what the new apostolic reformation is helping people to do. All five ascension gifts "apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers" are working together to equip you, the born-again believer, to rule. Our Lord is building a governing Church occupied by a ruling people prepared to battle anti-Christ opposing forces.
DEALING WITH GOD-HATERS
The God-haters continue to spread their religion. It's a gospel that preaches a secular society rife with humanistic world-views. When Christians present Kingdom viewpoints and ideals in the competitive marketplace they are labeled intolerant, irrelevant and judgmental. The nightly news is filled with a hodgepodge of world-views (all except Christian ones, that is) for the audience's lifestyle consideration. The obvious hypocrisy against Christianity is not new. It is a continuing effort to silence humanism's staunchest rival: God's people of promise. Truth is under attack like never before, our biblical truth, not their secular humanistic truth. Yet, we take courage knowing that "greater is He that is in us than He that is in the world."
"So why the conflict?" you ask. Because God's Word is full of moral absolutes. These absolutes challenge the "if it feels good do it" crowd. Right and wrong and black and white have their roots in God's moral absolutes. When violated, there are outcomes. scri pture declares, for example, that you "reap what you sow." Moral absolutes are found in the Bible and not within the shifting opinions of self-centered human beings who change their values based on current circumstance, greed, or temporary public opinions.
TWO GREAT COMMISSIONS
As Christians we must take a stand for righteousness and be ready to share our faith "in season and out of season." We must never forget the warfare for godly virtues takes place on battlefields outside the local church. Fighting the good fight of faith requires an understanding of purpose. Our purpose is found in what I like to call the two Great Commissions. The first commission comes from Genesis 1:28. "And God blessed them, and God said to them, be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth and subdue it and have dominion." Dominion was the first assignment God gave humanity. Dominion in this verse is the Hebrew word rada translated "rule" 13 times in the Old Testament. This is also the first covenant of promise to God's representatives Adam and Eve. They were not only gardeners but rulers of a kingdom. The kingdom's jurisdiction was earth, their place of delegated authority.
How many times have you heard that Jesus is the King of kings and the Lord of lords? The word Lord in that scri pture comes from the Greek word kurios, meaning "supreme ruler." Jesus is the Ruler of rulers. We, the born-again believers, are the rulers and the citizens of His Kingdom. As He called Adam and Eve to rule, so He has called you to rule. The moment you were born again you qualified to enter His advanced rulership training course. The Apostle Peter called the participants of the training the "royal priesthood" of believers. They were the priests, kings and rulers (1 Peter 2:9).
The second commission lending purpose to the born-again believer is found in Matthew 28:10: "Go ye into all the world and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you." This verse isn't about making you a Sunday morning pulpit preacher on the "Gospel TV Network." No, this scri pture focuses your life's journey on advancing the purpose of Christ throughout the earth. This validates your call to minister in the public arena.
MORE THAN A PRIVATE RELATIONSHIP
Notice that neither of these two Great Commissions limited people to a private relationship with Jesus. What gospel is it that produces converts that boast a personal relationship with Jesus yet dismiss any involvement in affecting society around them? Christian author A. W. Tozer wrote about this: "Everything is made to center upon the initial act of "accepting" Christ (a term, incidentally, which is not found in the Bible) and we are not expected after that to crave any further revelation of God to our souls."
Tozer was on to something. Some have heralded a gospel focusing the Body of Christ on an internal-only relationship with Jesus while denying the two Great Commissions of dominion and worldwide discipleship. Yes, an intimate relationship with our Savior is chief. To ignore our mandate to be salt and light to the world, however, dishonors God, violates scri pture and is a tragic mistake that leaves the next generation to suffer the ravages of unbridled demonic principalities and powers. I say it's time for the Body of Christ to wake up from its self-centered slumber and engage society again with the Gospel of the Kingdom. It's time for another Great Awakening.
IMPACTING OUR WORLD
Jesus' words were specific about our efficacious purpose on this earth. Right before His arrest in the garden of Gethsemane He communed with the Father about His disciples. "I pray not that you should take them out of the world, but that you should keep them from the evil one. As you have sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world" (John 17:14-18).
As born-again believers we should take our new birth experience into the entire world and help others by discipling them in God's Word. Salvation encompasses far more than a personal relationship with Jesus. In fact, salvation has "fruits of repentance" and is visible through our obedience to the Word of God, good works and our love for one another (Matthew 5:16). God’s mandate to us is to do something with our personal relationship with Jesus by influencing the culture around us. These two commissions are as valid today as they ever were in history. Both deal with making the world a better place by establishing the Kingdom of God in ones delegated place of authority.
AUTHORITY TO INFLUENCE
The Lord has given you both spiritual and natural authority to influence and take dominion. In the New Testament the Apostle Paul speaks of the ability to rule in one's jurisdiction (2 Corinthians 10:13). He uses the Greek word metron to define places of jurisdiction, authority and influence. A metron is one's place of kingship or rulership. It’s your place to influence for Christ. Every follower of Christ has an assigned place of influence. This is the place where you fulfill the first Great Commission of dominion and the second Great Commission of discipling others. That place is where you live, work and play.
KINGDOM JURISDICTION
The word jurisdiction comes from two Latin root words, juris (law) and diction-em (sayings). A jurisdiction therefore is governed by law-sayings. These two words shed some valuable light on our authority as Christians to influence society. When you were born-again, for example, you left the jurisdiction (law-sayings) of the kingdom of darkness and entered the jurisdiction (law-sayings) of the Kingdom of Christ. Through the born-again experience you are no longer a slave to the beliefs of rulers and propagators of anti-Christ kingdoms such as humanist principles, Eastern religious philosophies or socialist theologies.
PUTTING THE KINGDOM FIRST
scri pture says Christians should "seek first (put first) the Kingdom of God and His righteousness" (Matthew 6:33). This scri pture is not referring to one's salvation alone. The Kingdom of God, including its citizens, is governed by the Word of God, His law-sayings. As believers continue to put first the Kingdom of God it will result in a visible expansion of influence, prosperity and, eventually, establishing the Gospel of Christ throughout the world.
Obeying the Word of God transcends having a private relationship with Jesus but equips you to take the Kingdom of God, Christ' governmental rule and law-sayings into all the kingdoms of this world. The result will be "the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he will reign forever and ever" (Revelation 11:15).
FAITHFUL SERVANTS OCCUPY
So what does all this mean to you? It means that God expects you to make a difference with your life by applying His Word to your life first, then introducing His Word to all the kingdoms of this world that you touch. Use your kingly authority to take dominion and disciple others. Anti-Christ rebels will never overrun the world thanks to believers like you. scri pture declares, "Submit yourself to God, resist the devil and he will flee." The world is desperately waiting your arrival. Christ expects you to be a faithful servant who victoriously occupies until He returns. You are a ruler under the jurisdiction of the Kingdom of God. You can make a difference with your life. Join the royal priesthood and change the world around you.
© by Jonas Clark
7/14/2008
7/07/2008
THE KINGSHIP OF EVERY BELIEVER AND GOD'S GOVERNMENT
The Kingship of Every Believer and God's Government
Keep in mind that Jesus said He is building His church – not a ministry that is disconnected from the local church. If you help build what He is building – the local church – then the “increase of His government” will come on you, too.
Christians need to understand God's government - and their kingship - before we can see true reform in the Church.
Jesus is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. He is the King of Glory Who rules His Church. He is the King of the Universe with servants, ambassadors, armies, enemies, and, yes, a fully functional government.
The Prophet Isaiah declared that there would be no end to the increase of His government and peace. Jesus is predestined to reign on David’s throne over His Kingdom, establishing and upholding it with judgment and justice forever (Isaiah 9:7).
Most of us are familiar with Isaiah’s prophetic decree, but does the Body of Christ truly recognize that the seat of Jesus’ rule on earth is in the local church? Or has religion tainted our view of the local church by portraying it as merely a gathering place for believers to worship God and listen to a Sunday morning motivational sermon? In some sad cases the local church has been reduced to nothing more that a social club with a religious montage.
MANIFESTING THE KINGDOM OF GODThe restoration of apostles is shedding new light on the local church as not only a gathering place for believers to get equipped to do the work of the ministry but also as a governmental center in a spiritual jurisdiction assigned by God. Local church leaders and believers, then, must understand the government of God in order to be most effective in accomplishing its mandate to manifest the Kingdom of God.
Looking at the structure and function of natural governments can help us to better understand spiritual governments. While natural governments include senators, ambassadors and presidents, for example, spiritual governments include apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, priests and kings (1 Corinthians 12:28). In both realms, governing is ruling by right of authority, administering policy, exercising power, and regulating, influencing, restraining and managing the affairs of men.
So if Jesus is the King of kings and Lord of lords, and He is, then just who are these kings that Jesus is King of? We, the believers, are those kings. Jesus has given us authority as priests and kings. We have a solid revelation of our priesthood – we can sing, worship, preach, pray and prophesy with the best of them; we can cast out demons and lay hands on the sick and watch them recover – but we have yet to fully comprehend what it means to be a royal (kingly) priesthood.
SPIRITUAL JURISDICTIONSGod sets churches in territories as governmental centers filled with believers who are called to invade, occupy, influence and manifest the dominion of the Kingdom of God on earth just as it is in heaven. As kings who have been planted and sent out from local churches we have been assigned places of spiritual jurisdictions (domains) in which to rule and reign and to establish heaven’s rule on earth.
How will we see His Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven? Demonstrating kingship through evangelism is the key to changing cities because when people are saved and baptized in the Holy Ghost the devil will lose his grip on the crime-riddled, drug infested neighborhoods he set out to destroy. As we reach out to the lost, we build the Church of Jesus Christ and establish His Kingdom in our territories.
BUILDING GRACE Jesus, our High Priest, King, Lord and Chief Apostle, has assured us that He is building His Church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it (Matthew 16:18). Take note that Jesus is not building His Church in heaven and no demon power is opposing His heavenly government. No, Jesus is building His Church and establishing His Kingdom here, and we – as priests and kings with an apostolic building grace – are called to help Him. You might say our Lord is the Lead Architect and we are the construction workers that follow His blueprint to build His Church.
The Author and Finisher of our faith is also a Warrior and He is using us as a battleaxe to overcome demonic enemies opposing His rule on earth. The battle against Jesus’ governing rulership is directed against every believer and the local church in particular. The gates of hell have shut down many a local church and caused many other once-on-fire believers to hang up their armor and head for the hills. The apostolic grace imparted to believers equips them to break through the spiritual resistance to building the Church and living a strong Christian life.
INVADING DARK KINGDOMSThe Apostle Paul equipped the believers at Ephesus with spiritual weapons to victoriously battle the forces raging against the government of God on earth. The wise masterbuilder said, “We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Ephesians 6:12). The Greek word for “principalities” is arche, meaning the habitation of demonic government. He then proceeded to equip them by imparting faith, truth, the Word of God, revelations of their righteousness in Christ, their salvation and the importance of invading the kingdoms of darkness by spreading the Gospel.
Paul's strong words in his epistle to the Ephesians capture the essence of the fight to stop the local church from equipping believers to rule and reign as priests and kings. It paints a vivid picture of the wiles of the enemy designed to hinder believers from governing spiritually and influencing naturally. The devil knows that the local church connects the spiritual realm with the natural realm. The evil one understands that the local church is more than the house of God; it is also the gate of heaven. Remember Jacob’s ladder? The Bible records Jacob’s powerful dream in which he saw the Lord atop a ladder that stretched from the earth below into the heavens above. Jacob saw angelic beings ascending and descending on that ladder delivering divine assignments directly to the servants of God. He called the footrest of that ladder the house of God, the gate of heaven (Genesis 28:10-17).
JACOB'S PROPHETIC DREAMAs Christ's ambassadors, we need to understand that Jacob’s prophetic dream portrays local churches today. The local church is a house of prayer, where revelation, strategies, instruction, direction, warning and the prophetic voice are released into the heart of God’s victorious believers. It is where the Holy Spirit governs through His Word, His voice and His people. It is the place for the perfecting of saints and the gathering of sent ones and companies, all called to take the Kingdom of God into the heart of their cities (Acts 13).
Paul also told the Ephesians that it is now God’s intent for His Church to make His manifold wisdom known to the rulers and authorities in those same high places (Ephesians 3:10). Making His wisdom known is accomplished through the act of exercising and demonstrating His righteous rule on earth.
AMBASSADORS OF CHRISTFinally, Paul taught the Corinthians that Jesus must rule through His Church by continuing to put down all opposing spiritual government, authority, and power, thus subduing all His enemies under His feet (1 Corinthians 15:24-28). Jesus gave His Church the right to exercise His majestic authority, challenge anything that opposes His Word, resist demon principalities and powers, decree a thing, announce, command, influence, and, yes, govern.
Jesus has entrusted His government to His Church. We must not lose sight of the truth that local churches are set in territories and have an awesome responsibility to invade and occupy with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Believers are ambassadors of God’s government – ambassadors are the highest-ranking representatives of a government or kingdom – and every believer is called to actively represent and demonstrate the rule of God on earth (2 Corinthians 5:20).
When you understand the governmental function of the local church, then you can find your place in it as a believer. Remember, “You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that you should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9). Keep in mind that Jesus said He is building His church – not a ministry that is disconnected from the local church. If you help build what He is building – the local church – then the “increase of His government” will come on you, too.
God bless you. Your partner,
© by Jonas Clark
Keep in mind that Jesus said He is building His church – not a ministry that is disconnected from the local church. If you help build what He is building – the local church – then the “increase of His government” will come on you, too.
Christians need to understand God's government - and their kingship - before we can see true reform in the Church.
Jesus is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. He is the King of Glory Who rules His Church. He is the King of the Universe with servants, ambassadors, armies, enemies, and, yes, a fully functional government.
The Prophet Isaiah declared that there would be no end to the increase of His government and peace. Jesus is predestined to reign on David’s throne over His Kingdom, establishing and upholding it with judgment and justice forever (Isaiah 9:7).
Most of us are familiar with Isaiah’s prophetic decree, but does the Body of Christ truly recognize that the seat of Jesus’ rule on earth is in the local church? Or has religion tainted our view of the local church by portraying it as merely a gathering place for believers to worship God and listen to a Sunday morning motivational sermon? In some sad cases the local church has been reduced to nothing more that a social club with a religious montage.
MANIFESTING THE KINGDOM OF GODThe restoration of apostles is shedding new light on the local church as not only a gathering place for believers to get equipped to do the work of the ministry but also as a governmental center in a spiritual jurisdiction assigned by God. Local church leaders and believers, then, must understand the government of God in order to be most effective in accomplishing its mandate to manifest the Kingdom of God.
Looking at the structure and function of natural governments can help us to better understand spiritual governments. While natural governments include senators, ambassadors and presidents, for example, spiritual governments include apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, priests and kings (1 Corinthians 12:28). In both realms, governing is ruling by right of authority, administering policy, exercising power, and regulating, influencing, restraining and managing the affairs of men.
So if Jesus is the King of kings and Lord of lords, and He is, then just who are these kings that Jesus is King of? We, the believers, are those kings. Jesus has given us authority as priests and kings. We have a solid revelation of our priesthood – we can sing, worship, preach, pray and prophesy with the best of them; we can cast out demons and lay hands on the sick and watch them recover – but we have yet to fully comprehend what it means to be a royal (kingly) priesthood.
SPIRITUAL JURISDICTIONSGod sets churches in territories as governmental centers filled with believers who are called to invade, occupy, influence and manifest the dominion of the Kingdom of God on earth just as it is in heaven. As kings who have been planted and sent out from local churches we have been assigned places of spiritual jurisdictions (domains) in which to rule and reign and to establish heaven’s rule on earth.
How will we see His Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven? Demonstrating kingship through evangelism is the key to changing cities because when people are saved and baptized in the Holy Ghost the devil will lose his grip on the crime-riddled, drug infested neighborhoods he set out to destroy. As we reach out to the lost, we build the Church of Jesus Christ and establish His Kingdom in our territories.
BUILDING GRACE Jesus, our High Priest, King, Lord and Chief Apostle, has assured us that He is building His Church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it (Matthew 16:18). Take note that Jesus is not building His Church in heaven and no demon power is opposing His heavenly government. No, Jesus is building His Church and establishing His Kingdom here, and we – as priests and kings with an apostolic building grace – are called to help Him. You might say our Lord is the Lead Architect and we are the construction workers that follow His blueprint to build His Church.
The Author and Finisher of our faith is also a Warrior and He is using us as a battleaxe to overcome demonic enemies opposing His rule on earth. The battle against Jesus’ governing rulership is directed against every believer and the local church in particular. The gates of hell have shut down many a local church and caused many other once-on-fire believers to hang up their armor and head for the hills. The apostolic grace imparted to believers equips them to break through the spiritual resistance to building the Church and living a strong Christian life.
INVADING DARK KINGDOMSThe Apostle Paul equipped the believers at Ephesus with spiritual weapons to victoriously battle the forces raging against the government of God on earth. The wise masterbuilder said, “We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Ephesians 6:12). The Greek word for “principalities” is arche, meaning the habitation of demonic government. He then proceeded to equip them by imparting faith, truth, the Word of God, revelations of their righteousness in Christ, their salvation and the importance of invading the kingdoms of darkness by spreading the Gospel.
Paul's strong words in his epistle to the Ephesians capture the essence of the fight to stop the local church from equipping believers to rule and reign as priests and kings. It paints a vivid picture of the wiles of the enemy designed to hinder believers from governing spiritually and influencing naturally. The devil knows that the local church connects the spiritual realm with the natural realm. The evil one understands that the local church is more than the house of God; it is also the gate of heaven. Remember Jacob’s ladder? The Bible records Jacob’s powerful dream in which he saw the Lord atop a ladder that stretched from the earth below into the heavens above. Jacob saw angelic beings ascending and descending on that ladder delivering divine assignments directly to the servants of God. He called the footrest of that ladder the house of God, the gate of heaven (Genesis 28:10-17).
JACOB'S PROPHETIC DREAMAs Christ's ambassadors, we need to understand that Jacob’s prophetic dream portrays local churches today. The local church is a house of prayer, where revelation, strategies, instruction, direction, warning and the prophetic voice are released into the heart of God’s victorious believers. It is where the Holy Spirit governs through His Word, His voice and His people. It is the place for the perfecting of saints and the gathering of sent ones and companies, all called to take the Kingdom of God into the heart of their cities (Acts 13).
Paul also told the Ephesians that it is now God’s intent for His Church to make His manifold wisdom known to the rulers and authorities in those same high places (Ephesians 3:10). Making His wisdom known is accomplished through the act of exercising and demonstrating His righteous rule on earth.
AMBASSADORS OF CHRISTFinally, Paul taught the Corinthians that Jesus must rule through His Church by continuing to put down all opposing spiritual government, authority, and power, thus subduing all His enemies under His feet (1 Corinthians 15:24-28). Jesus gave His Church the right to exercise His majestic authority, challenge anything that opposes His Word, resist demon principalities and powers, decree a thing, announce, command, influence, and, yes, govern.
Jesus has entrusted His government to His Church. We must not lose sight of the truth that local churches are set in territories and have an awesome responsibility to invade and occupy with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Believers are ambassadors of God’s government – ambassadors are the highest-ranking representatives of a government or kingdom – and every believer is called to actively represent and demonstrate the rule of God on earth (2 Corinthians 5:20).
When you understand the governmental function of the local church, then you can find your place in it as a believer. Remember, “You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that you should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9). Keep in mind that Jesus said He is building His church – not a ministry that is disconnected from the local church. If you help build what He is building – the local church – then the “increase of His government” will come on you, too.
God bless you. Your partner,
© by Jonas Clark
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