By Ray Yungen / Lighthouse Trails
Ancient mystical practices are being introduced into countless churches under the umbrella of the spiritual formation movement. Also known as contemplative spirituality, this belief system has roots in mysticism and the occult. A Time of Departing exposes the truth about the new spirituality that is entering the Christian church.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Discerning Signs and the Supernatural
By: David Coker
What’s the purpose of supernatural signs that point toward your destination?
God is building and establishing His Kingdom. But He’s not pressured to build His Kingdom using media hype and hocus-pocus. No, He’s doing it His way, according to His Word. He’s setting apostolic governing churches in territories to build His Church. One function of true apostles and prophets is to expose the counterfeit operations of Satan that try to slip in and subvert the credibility of the Word. If Satan can discredit the quality of a move of God by sending the false, he is able to successfully restrict and limit the effectiveness of the true move as it happens. In this season, it is vital that we build everything we do upon the foundation of the Word of God. I’m not trying to criticize any particular move of the past or present. My goal today is to equip you with knowledge and understanding to help identify a true move of God.
Imagine you are driving to your favorite vacation spot. When you get about 30 miles from your destination, you see the first road sign with the city’s name. Do you slam on your brakes, slide across the median and jump out at the sign? I would hope not! Yet, in the body of Christ, it seems we have become sign hunters. At the first sign of a “miracle” or the “supernatural,” we bring everything to a screeching halt so that we can take pictures of the sign, dance around the sign, and even build churches to the sign. How foolish we have become! The sign’s purpose is to reveal location. Spiritual signs are no different. When you see a spiritual sign, it is not advertising itself, it is merely pointing the way to where God wants you to go.
Jesus said in Matthew 12:39, “An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas.” Jesus didn’t say they were “slightly in error.” He called them EVIL and ADULTEROUS! What He is saying is that if you are seeking after a sign, you are showing love for the sign rather than the one who gives the sign. You are actually cheating on the truth. You are adulterous, looking for benefits from something that you don’t have real relationship with.
How many churches and “revivals” have become so “sign” minded that they have become adulterers to the Truth?
In our media-sensitive world, we have billboards everywhere and they can distract us from our real focus. If we’re looking too intently at a billboard, we could miss a signal from another driver and cause a wreck. When the sign becomes the focus, we lose sight of the true destination.
In the Old Testament, people had to live by signs. They didn’t have a born-again spirit from God to give them direction through an inner witness (Eph. 3:16). They needed outward signs from God in order to know where to go and what to do. Moses followed a cloud of fire and Gideon set out fleeces, but Paul simply prayed in tongues and built up his inner man (1 Cor. 14:18). He then proceeded to write two thirds of the New Testament! In Proverbs, David prophetically writes that the spirit of a man is the candle of the Lord and searches all the inward parts of the belly. As New Testament Christians with the nature and Spirit of God resident in us, we don’t have to look for outward signs. We can simply know in our “knower.” We are to walk by faith and not by sight (2 Cor. 5:7), meaning we follow the leadings and promptings of the Spirit that dwells in us.
The New Testament not only tells us which signs are from God, it even lays out which signs are used in which situations. There are signs that follow believers (Mark 16:17), there are signs to the unbeliever (1 Cor. 14:22), and there are gifts of the Spirit that are operations of the government and power of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12, and Ephesians 4).
Signs come from different sources and serve different purposes. Some are road signs that regulate driving, some are billboards that advertise, and some are identifiers that tell what and where things are located. All of these signs are legitimate, but they aren’t all from the same people. In the supernatural, there are all kinds of signs but they aren’t all from God. How do you know the difference between a legitimate sign from God and just a billboard?
One Sunday as I was preaching in my church, just as I pointed at one of the ceiling fans someone happened to turn the fan on. Now I know people who would take it as a sign that the “wind of the Spirit is moving.” No, it was just a coincidence. I call these “Santa Claus signs” because it’s like a young kid that convinces himself Santa is real because the milk and the cookies are gone the next morning when he wakes up. When you want something badly enough, circumstances can always line up to support your hopes that it is true. If you’re looking for a sign, the devil will make sure you see one. I absolutely believe in prophetic and supernatural signs, but I also know how to measure them against my born-again spirit.
I’ve known family members and friends – good people, many of whom sincerely loved Jesus – who visited psychics. Those psychics were able to tell them why they were there, what they were looking for and what the outcome of a situation would be, and it all came true. Does that mean you should visit a psychic? By all means NO! Psychics operate with the help of demonic, familiar spirits, not the Holy Spirit. Demonic power can be real, not just a powerless imitation.
Nowhere in scripture do we find signs of jewels appearing, gold dust falling, people being led to act like animals, stigmatas (blood or oil from peoples hands like the wounds of Christ), odd “friendships” with angels, or special angels that carry special anointings. These are “billboard” signs that have been put up by other supernatural powers but don’t fit into God’s reality. The important thing to understand is that these false signs are just as real as the other signs. Have you ever followed billboard signs, looking for a certain restaurant or café, only to get there and find that the location doesn’t exist? Just because a sign is real, doesn’t mean it’s from God or that it’s pointing you to God. Many signs point you to dead ends. It’s important to remember that there is a real spiritual world out there, and God isn’t the only one putting signs up on your spiritual road.
Don’t get me wrong; I’ve seen God do some very interesting things. I’ve seen people healed, delivered, and set free. I’ve seen miracles that simply cannot be explained. However, there is one common element to everything God does… His Word. God’s response is always in line with His Word. And His Word will bring real transformation in the lives of His people.
If there’s one thing I know, it’s that people can be completely ignorant and still operate in the Spirit. I once worked for a great man of God. He loved Jesus and wanted to live right before Him. One time he was in the hospital with pneumonia and had a vision of the Lord Jesus Christ walking up a hill with His back beaten and bloody. He recounted this vision to me with such detail, recalling even the sharp contrast in the red blood against the green grass. I have no doubt that it was a true vision from God. The problem was that he was ignorant in how to interpret the vision. He thought that it meant that since Jesus was willing to suffer that much for him, then he should be willing to suffer pneumonia for Jesus. How sad! He was given a vision showing that Jesus had already carried his sickness and healed all his diseases to strengthen his faith, but because he lacked understanding, this man got it all wrong!
I’ve known other folks who genuinely loved God, but got distracted by the bright billboard strategies of Satan. These good people wanted to experience a mighty move of God so badly that they got caught up in the flakiness of whatever the current “revival” was doing. I have watched many get excited about “something new” and then disappointed (and sometimes deeply wounded) over the outcome. Unfortunately, I’ve also seen plenty of these people who became so deceived by the trickery that they completely lost touch with God’s plan for their lives. Consider William Branham, the great healing evangelist of the 1940’s. He started off pursuing God, but then started experiencing visitations from angels. He became so deceived that he started to think he was Elijah the prophet. Because of his deception, many other believers began to doubt that God really wanted them healed. Now that is exactly what the enemy intends; to discredit God’s reality, destroy ministries, and turn people away from the Faith.
Any text that we take out of context is a pretext. The same goes for any sign. Any sign taken out of the context that it was received (good or bad) is a pretext and can get us into trouble. That’s the problem with living by signs. They can be interpreted incorrectly. They can come from the wrong people. We can build a temple and worship at the sign, never making it to our God-purposed destination. We MUST learn to walk by faith after the Spirit. We must understand how to discern signs and compare them to our instruction manual. We must keep our focus on where God is taking us and not get caught up in the supernatural things around us on the way.
David Coker has a refreshing voice and the heart of spiritual father. He is a 1985 RHEMA graduate and the founding apostle of Gateway Believers Fellowship in Carnesville, Ga. He is also pioneered Breakthrough Apostolic Ministries Network (B.A.M.), A relational network of apostolic ministries. His ministry can be reached at www.gatewaybelievers.com.
What’s the purpose of supernatural signs that point toward your destination?
God is building and establishing His Kingdom. But He’s not pressured to build His Kingdom using media hype and hocus-pocus. No, He’s doing it His way, according to His Word. He’s setting apostolic governing churches in territories to build His Church. One function of true apostles and prophets is to expose the counterfeit operations of Satan that try to slip in and subvert the credibility of the Word. If Satan can discredit the quality of a move of God by sending the false, he is able to successfully restrict and limit the effectiveness of the true move as it happens. In this season, it is vital that we build everything we do upon the foundation of the Word of God. I’m not trying to criticize any particular move of the past or present. My goal today is to equip you with knowledge and understanding to help identify a true move of God.
Imagine you are driving to your favorite vacation spot. When you get about 30 miles from your destination, you see the first road sign with the city’s name. Do you slam on your brakes, slide across the median and jump out at the sign? I would hope not! Yet, in the body of Christ, it seems we have become sign hunters. At the first sign of a “miracle” or the “supernatural,” we bring everything to a screeching halt so that we can take pictures of the sign, dance around the sign, and even build churches to the sign. How foolish we have become! The sign’s purpose is to reveal location. Spiritual signs are no different. When you see a spiritual sign, it is not advertising itself, it is merely pointing the way to where God wants you to go.
Jesus said in Matthew 12:39, “An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas.” Jesus didn’t say they were “slightly in error.” He called them EVIL and ADULTEROUS! What He is saying is that if you are seeking after a sign, you are showing love for the sign rather than the one who gives the sign. You are actually cheating on the truth. You are adulterous, looking for benefits from something that you don’t have real relationship with.
How many churches and “revivals” have become so “sign” minded that they have become adulterers to the Truth?
In our media-sensitive world, we have billboards everywhere and they can distract us from our real focus. If we’re looking too intently at a billboard, we could miss a signal from another driver and cause a wreck. When the sign becomes the focus, we lose sight of the true destination.
In the Old Testament, people had to live by signs. They didn’t have a born-again spirit from God to give them direction through an inner witness (Eph. 3:16). They needed outward signs from God in order to know where to go and what to do. Moses followed a cloud of fire and Gideon set out fleeces, but Paul simply prayed in tongues and built up his inner man (1 Cor. 14:18). He then proceeded to write two thirds of the New Testament! In Proverbs, David prophetically writes that the spirit of a man is the candle of the Lord and searches all the inward parts of the belly. As New Testament Christians with the nature and Spirit of God resident in us, we don’t have to look for outward signs. We can simply know in our “knower.” We are to walk by faith and not by sight (2 Cor. 5:7), meaning we follow the leadings and promptings of the Spirit that dwells in us.
The New Testament not only tells us which signs are from God, it even lays out which signs are used in which situations. There are signs that follow believers (Mark 16:17), there are signs to the unbeliever (1 Cor. 14:22), and there are gifts of the Spirit that are operations of the government and power of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12, and Ephesians 4).
Signs come from different sources and serve different purposes. Some are road signs that regulate driving, some are billboards that advertise, and some are identifiers that tell what and where things are located. All of these signs are legitimate, but they aren’t all from the same people. In the supernatural, there are all kinds of signs but they aren’t all from God. How do you know the difference between a legitimate sign from God and just a billboard?
One Sunday as I was preaching in my church, just as I pointed at one of the ceiling fans someone happened to turn the fan on. Now I know people who would take it as a sign that the “wind of the Spirit is moving.” No, it was just a coincidence. I call these “Santa Claus signs” because it’s like a young kid that convinces himself Santa is real because the milk and the cookies are gone the next morning when he wakes up. When you want something badly enough, circumstances can always line up to support your hopes that it is true. If you’re looking for a sign, the devil will make sure you see one. I absolutely believe in prophetic and supernatural signs, but I also know how to measure them against my born-again spirit.
I’ve known family members and friends – good people, many of whom sincerely loved Jesus – who visited psychics. Those psychics were able to tell them why they were there, what they were looking for and what the outcome of a situation would be, and it all came true. Does that mean you should visit a psychic? By all means NO! Psychics operate with the help of demonic, familiar spirits, not the Holy Spirit. Demonic power can be real, not just a powerless imitation.
Nowhere in scripture do we find signs of jewels appearing, gold dust falling, people being led to act like animals, stigmatas (blood or oil from peoples hands like the wounds of Christ), odd “friendships” with angels, or special angels that carry special anointings. These are “billboard” signs that have been put up by other supernatural powers but don’t fit into God’s reality. The important thing to understand is that these false signs are just as real as the other signs. Have you ever followed billboard signs, looking for a certain restaurant or café, only to get there and find that the location doesn’t exist? Just because a sign is real, doesn’t mean it’s from God or that it’s pointing you to God. Many signs point you to dead ends. It’s important to remember that there is a real spiritual world out there, and God isn’t the only one putting signs up on your spiritual road.
Don’t get me wrong; I’ve seen God do some very interesting things. I’ve seen people healed, delivered, and set free. I’ve seen miracles that simply cannot be explained. However, there is one common element to everything God does… His Word. God’s response is always in line with His Word. And His Word will bring real transformation in the lives of His people.
If there’s one thing I know, it’s that people can be completely ignorant and still operate in the Spirit. I once worked for a great man of God. He loved Jesus and wanted to live right before Him. One time he was in the hospital with pneumonia and had a vision of the Lord Jesus Christ walking up a hill with His back beaten and bloody. He recounted this vision to me with such detail, recalling even the sharp contrast in the red blood against the green grass. I have no doubt that it was a true vision from God. The problem was that he was ignorant in how to interpret the vision. He thought that it meant that since Jesus was willing to suffer that much for him, then he should be willing to suffer pneumonia for Jesus. How sad! He was given a vision showing that Jesus had already carried his sickness and healed all his diseases to strengthen his faith, but because he lacked understanding, this man got it all wrong!
I’ve known other folks who genuinely loved God, but got distracted by the bright billboard strategies of Satan. These good people wanted to experience a mighty move of God so badly that they got caught up in the flakiness of whatever the current “revival” was doing. I have watched many get excited about “something new” and then disappointed (and sometimes deeply wounded) over the outcome. Unfortunately, I’ve also seen plenty of these people who became so deceived by the trickery that they completely lost touch with God’s plan for their lives. Consider William Branham, the great healing evangelist of the 1940’s. He started off pursuing God, but then started experiencing visitations from angels. He became so deceived that he started to think he was Elijah the prophet. Because of his deception, many other believers began to doubt that God really wanted them healed. Now that is exactly what the enemy intends; to discredit God’s reality, destroy ministries, and turn people away from the Faith.
Any text that we take out of context is a pretext. The same goes for any sign. Any sign taken out of the context that it was received (good or bad) is a pretext and can get us into trouble. That’s the problem with living by signs. They can be interpreted incorrectly. They can come from the wrong people. We can build a temple and worship at the sign, never making it to our God-purposed destination. We MUST learn to walk by faith after the Spirit. We must understand how to discern signs and compare them to our instruction manual. We must keep our focus on where God is taking us and not get caught up in the supernatural things around us on the way.
David Coker has a refreshing voice and the heart of spiritual father. He is a 1985 RHEMA graduate and the founding apostle of Gateway Believers Fellowship in Carnesville, Ga. He is also pioneered Breakthrough Apostolic Ministries Network (B.A.M.), A relational network of apostolic ministries. His ministry can be reached at www.gatewaybelievers.com.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Monday, March 9, 2009
Apostles, Authority and The Kingdom of God
Apostles, Authority and The Kingdom of God - Dec 3, 2008
By: Steve & Marilyn Hill
Not so long ago and not so far away in an American city there was an area summit of an international apostolic movement. The speaker was one of their leading figures and introduced his subject as “honor” by boasting of his several cars, multimillion million dollar home and forty ministries that tithed to him. He exhorted those assembled that if they were apostolic fathers, they should receive similar honor from their sons. He then proceeded to talk to them about their clothes--suits off the rack were fine for preaching in a normal meeting but ministering at a leader's conference demanded tailor-made.
It is sad enough that any one representing Jesus would talk such rubbish but even more troubling that no one there had enough integrity to stand up and confront him.
This example is a symptom of how we understand leadership in the kingdom of God. Do we see apostles as the top of the leadership pyramid? If so, we use phrases like “coming into apostolic alignment” and “coming into divine order” and believe that such hierarchical order is the kingdom of God. But should we?
"In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes." Judges 21:25
This scripture has been read as descriptive of a problem to be solved and often the person reading it is presenting themselves as the king you need to submit to in order to solve the problem. In reality these are just two statements. It was true that there was no king in Israel. It was also true that everyone was doing whatever he pleased.
God did not want to solve the problem by appointing a king. In I Samuel 8:7, He responded to Samuel when Israel demanded a king by saying, "They have not rejected you but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them."
How did God rule over His people? He had the priests to teach them the law and the prophets to confront them when they did not keep it. God desired obedience through free conviction rather than any form of coercion. God was willing to accept the possibility of chaos rather than accept the "order" enforced by a king. He did not want a mediator between Himself and His people. Submission to a man, even a “man of God” does not place you in a theocracy. At best, that places you in a benevolent dictatorship.
God's desire was a theocracy for which priest and prophet were to provide the foundation. He never intended to make any man a king over his people!
That theocracy shipwrecked upon the reality of the old heart which could not keep the ways of God. That is why Jeremiah (31:31- 34) and Ezekiel (36:25- 27) prophesied the covenant of the new heart upon which God would write His law, in which God would place His Spirit and by which God would cause us to walk in His ways.
The good news of the Kingdom of God is that you can know the direct, personal rule of the King in personal and corporate life. It is the good news of grace that your heart can be forgiven and clean to desire the ways of God, hear the intimate direction of His voice and receive the power of the Spirit to walk with Him.
"But you, do not be called Rabbi: for One is your teacher, the Christ and you are all brethren. Do not call anyone on earth your father, for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ. But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant." Matthew 23:8- 11
Those words are in the context of Jesus pronouncing “Woe!” on the religious establishment for their lust for power, position and title. But the point is not so much the destruction caused by the lust for power as the reality that when we rule over others, we are taking a place that God has reserved for Himself! Jesus never gave any man authority over another man. He gave us authority over sickness and demons and asked us to rule ourselves by dying to ourselves. Those that do so will have functional leadership through example and by invitation, but they will always know themselves as servants.
Restoration movements keep rising up where the main emphasis is the authority of the leaders over the people of God and where the mark of “spirituality” becomes submission. Some good things happen in those movements, but whether we call ourselves apostles, prophets, pastors and teachers or popes, cardinals, bishops and priests, it makes no difference. We are building a religious system based upon man and we are taking away the authority of the King. The fruit of this is always a cult of leadership privilege and materialism sprinkled with moral failure.
“Divine order”, understood as the “right” arrangement of men in hierarchy, always produces death. This is the pride of man. We think that some right order will produce the life of God. The truth is that it is the life of God which produces the church.
The example of Jesus, as narrated in John 15, is crystal clear.
"Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends. You are my friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you." John 15:13- 15
The One who legitimately could claim all position and title did not do so. He looked into the eyes of men who would soon betray Him and called them His friends. He absolutely and for all time destroyed any possibility of any hierarchy ever representing His kingdom. Pyramids are for dead people. Before the throne is a sea of glass. Lakes have no mountains. We are all brothers before the throne.
You cannot be friends in a hierarchy. Those on the same level are always competitors. Relationships above or below always involve power and control.
The New Testament was written to friends. That is why it has almost sixty "one another" verses which contain thirty “one another commands” including “submit to one another in the fear of God”. That is why there are only six verses which ask for recognition of functional leadership and each of those rest in the context of the "one another" reality. I Peter 5:5 is normative.
The words and example of Jesus as narrated in John 16 are even more startling!
"Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you." John 16:7
The disciples could not imagine anything worse than Jesus going away! Jesus, the best leader that ever walked on earth, is telling them it is better for them if He goes away! And we think we are important, indispensable even? Jesus knew it would be better for the disciples to have the inward leading of the Holy Spirit than even His flesh and blood leadership!
Jesus was willing to trust all upon the ability of the Holy Spirit to lead men into Truth. And we who claim to be followers of Jesus build leadership cults?
If friends are to know the practical reign of Jesus they will have to embrace some basic responsibilities and that is where the problem comes. Often people do not want the responsibilities of freedom. They would rather have a king tell them what to do and there are always those who want to be king but do not call this codependent arrangement the kingdom of God.
The authority of the kingdom is distributed through each member of the body as we accept the responsibilities of freedom and...
1/ Seek the King for ourselves. That means you become a self feeder. You let His grace lead your life. As Dallas Willard says in "The Divine Conspiracy", "You either live by grace or addiction".
2/ Fulfill the "one another commands" with a few. If you cannot be church with your spouse and speak the truth with two or three, your public worship is a show.
3/ Disciple our own children. If you cannot disciple your own kids, how can you disciple the nations? If you do not have relational integrity with your own kids, with whom will you have it?
4/ Multiply our relationship with the King through making disciples. The basic command of the King is to make disciples. This is not about events or programs. Disciples are made by a relational process based in the transparency and humility of doing the "one another" stuff together.
5/ Speak the truth to one another so that we might grow up. Accountability in the Kingdom is not hierarchical. It is primarily to God and then horizontally to one another.
“And he gave some to be apostles...”
When Jesus is the King of His Kingdom, we need a New Testament understanding of “apostle”. The picture of spiritual CEO at the top of the religious food chain is simply wrong. We know the word means “sent one” but may not realize that Paul’s use of the term is in the Greco/Roman business context regarding slaves. There was a fixed hierarchy among slaves from business directors down to those who did manual chores. The most expendable slave and thus, least honored, was the “sent one”. Why? Travel was often dangerous so those sent on errands near or far were those whose loss would be missed the least. They were the most expendable with the least status. Putting “apostle” on your business card then would be like putting “dishwasher” on your card now. \1
In Romans 1:1 Paul identifies himself first as 'the slave of Jesus Christ” and then one who has been “called to be an apostle”. 1 Corinthians 4:8-10 and 2 Corinthians 2:4-10 read properly in this light.
In John 13, Jesus models what the lowest household slave should do, and tells his disciples this is their paradigm. He was free to serve because he knew 'that the father had given all things into His hands and that He had come from God and was going to God”. Our need for position and honor is a testimony to our inward poverty.
Our examples are not David and Solomon. Our examples are Jesus and Paul. Paul was not the top religious administrator going around collecting churches, holding conferences and taking offerings. He was the first into new territory to found a group of disciples, to take the persecution and, after they were established, leave them to the Holy Spirit.
He did not stay to play king and he certainly left no record of teaching his sons about the importance of tailor made suits.
Stephen W Hill
www.harvest-now.org
By: Steve & Marilyn Hill
Not so long ago and not so far away in an American city there was an area summit of an international apostolic movement. The speaker was one of their leading figures and introduced his subject as “honor” by boasting of his several cars, multimillion million dollar home and forty ministries that tithed to him. He exhorted those assembled that if they were apostolic fathers, they should receive similar honor from their sons. He then proceeded to talk to them about their clothes--suits off the rack were fine for preaching in a normal meeting but ministering at a leader's conference demanded tailor-made.
It is sad enough that any one representing Jesus would talk such rubbish but even more troubling that no one there had enough integrity to stand up and confront him.
This example is a symptom of how we understand leadership in the kingdom of God. Do we see apostles as the top of the leadership pyramid? If so, we use phrases like “coming into apostolic alignment” and “coming into divine order” and believe that such hierarchical order is the kingdom of God. But should we?
"In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes." Judges 21:25
This scripture has been read as descriptive of a problem to be solved and often the person reading it is presenting themselves as the king you need to submit to in order to solve the problem. In reality these are just two statements. It was true that there was no king in Israel. It was also true that everyone was doing whatever he pleased.
God did not want to solve the problem by appointing a king. In I Samuel 8:7, He responded to Samuel when Israel demanded a king by saying, "They have not rejected you but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them."
How did God rule over His people? He had the priests to teach them the law and the prophets to confront them when they did not keep it. God desired obedience through free conviction rather than any form of coercion. God was willing to accept the possibility of chaos rather than accept the "order" enforced by a king. He did not want a mediator between Himself and His people. Submission to a man, even a “man of God” does not place you in a theocracy. At best, that places you in a benevolent dictatorship.
God's desire was a theocracy for which priest and prophet were to provide the foundation. He never intended to make any man a king over his people!
That theocracy shipwrecked upon the reality of the old heart which could not keep the ways of God. That is why Jeremiah (31:31- 34) and Ezekiel (36:25- 27) prophesied the covenant of the new heart upon which God would write His law, in which God would place His Spirit and by which God would cause us to walk in His ways.
The good news of the Kingdom of God is that you can know the direct, personal rule of the King in personal and corporate life. It is the good news of grace that your heart can be forgiven and clean to desire the ways of God, hear the intimate direction of His voice and receive the power of the Spirit to walk with Him.
"But you, do not be called Rabbi: for One is your teacher, the Christ and you are all brethren. Do not call anyone on earth your father, for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ. But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant." Matthew 23:8- 11
Those words are in the context of Jesus pronouncing “Woe!” on the religious establishment for their lust for power, position and title. But the point is not so much the destruction caused by the lust for power as the reality that when we rule over others, we are taking a place that God has reserved for Himself! Jesus never gave any man authority over another man. He gave us authority over sickness and demons and asked us to rule ourselves by dying to ourselves. Those that do so will have functional leadership through example and by invitation, but they will always know themselves as servants.
Restoration movements keep rising up where the main emphasis is the authority of the leaders over the people of God and where the mark of “spirituality” becomes submission. Some good things happen in those movements, but whether we call ourselves apostles, prophets, pastors and teachers or popes, cardinals, bishops and priests, it makes no difference. We are building a religious system based upon man and we are taking away the authority of the King. The fruit of this is always a cult of leadership privilege and materialism sprinkled with moral failure.
“Divine order”, understood as the “right” arrangement of men in hierarchy, always produces death. This is the pride of man. We think that some right order will produce the life of God. The truth is that it is the life of God which produces the church.
The example of Jesus, as narrated in John 15, is crystal clear.
"Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends. You are my friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you." John 15:13- 15
The One who legitimately could claim all position and title did not do so. He looked into the eyes of men who would soon betray Him and called them His friends. He absolutely and for all time destroyed any possibility of any hierarchy ever representing His kingdom. Pyramids are for dead people. Before the throne is a sea of glass. Lakes have no mountains. We are all brothers before the throne.
You cannot be friends in a hierarchy. Those on the same level are always competitors. Relationships above or below always involve power and control.
The New Testament was written to friends. That is why it has almost sixty "one another" verses which contain thirty “one another commands” including “submit to one another in the fear of God”. That is why there are only six verses which ask for recognition of functional leadership and each of those rest in the context of the "one another" reality. I Peter 5:5 is normative.
The words and example of Jesus as narrated in John 16 are even more startling!
"Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you." John 16:7
The disciples could not imagine anything worse than Jesus going away! Jesus, the best leader that ever walked on earth, is telling them it is better for them if He goes away! And we think we are important, indispensable even? Jesus knew it would be better for the disciples to have the inward leading of the Holy Spirit than even His flesh and blood leadership!
Jesus was willing to trust all upon the ability of the Holy Spirit to lead men into Truth. And we who claim to be followers of Jesus build leadership cults?
If friends are to know the practical reign of Jesus they will have to embrace some basic responsibilities and that is where the problem comes. Often people do not want the responsibilities of freedom. They would rather have a king tell them what to do and there are always those who want to be king but do not call this codependent arrangement the kingdom of God.
The authority of the kingdom is distributed through each member of the body as we accept the responsibilities of freedom and...
1/ Seek the King for ourselves. That means you become a self feeder. You let His grace lead your life. As Dallas Willard says in "The Divine Conspiracy", "You either live by grace or addiction".
2/ Fulfill the "one another commands" with a few. If you cannot be church with your spouse and speak the truth with two or three, your public worship is a show.
3/ Disciple our own children. If you cannot disciple your own kids, how can you disciple the nations? If you do not have relational integrity with your own kids, with whom will you have it?
4/ Multiply our relationship with the King through making disciples. The basic command of the King is to make disciples. This is not about events or programs. Disciples are made by a relational process based in the transparency and humility of doing the "one another" stuff together.
5/ Speak the truth to one another so that we might grow up. Accountability in the Kingdom is not hierarchical. It is primarily to God and then horizontally to one another.
“And he gave some to be apostles...”
When Jesus is the King of His Kingdom, we need a New Testament understanding of “apostle”. The picture of spiritual CEO at the top of the religious food chain is simply wrong. We know the word means “sent one” but may not realize that Paul’s use of the term is in the Greco/Roman business context regarding slaves. There was a fixed hierarchy among slaves from business directors down to those who did manual chores. The most expendable slave and thus, least honored, was the “sent one”. Why? Travel was often dangerous so those sent on errands near or far were those whose loss would be missed the least. They were the most expendable with the least status. Putting “apostle” on your business card then would be like putting “dishwasher” on your card now. \1
In Romans 1:1 Paul identifies himself first as 'the slave of Jesus Christ” and then one who has been “called to be an apostle”. 1 Corinthians 4:8-10 and 2 Corinthians 2:4-10 read properly in this light.
In John 13, Jesus models what the lowest household slave should do, and tells his disciples this is their paradigm. He was free to serve because he knew 'that the father had given all things into His hands and that He had come from God and was going to God”. Our need for position and honor is a testimony to our inward poverty.
Our examples are not David and Solomon. Our examples are Jesus and Paul. Paul was not the top religious administrator going around collecting churches, holding conferences and taking offerings. He was the first into new territory to found a group of disciples, to take the persecution and, after they were established, leave them to the Holy Spirit.
He did not stay to play king and he certainly left no record of teaching his sons about the importance of tailor made suits.
Stephen W Hill
www.harvest-now.org
The New Generation by Steve Hill
"The New Generation!" - Feb 13, 2007 at 23:00
By: Steve Hill
One of the recurring words of the prophetic movement is that of a new generation arising which will really do the stuff and rise above the sins and failures of the old. Aside from the fact that the prophets love the word "new" just as much as the advertisers because of its power to grab our lust for the next, biggest, brightest and best, this theme carries some heavy baggage!
It implies that simply because we are a part of this new generation, we are better than our fathers! That is hardly a way to honor our fathers! It was said that this generation had a different attitude towards money, power and fame and would not fail as leaders have in the past! Yet those among us who have failed in the recent past have all been identified as belonging to this new generation!
The truth is that there is one new generation and that is the generation of Jesus Christ. There is one new man. There is not a newer version of the new man coming in this generation or in any generation to come. Those who failed in the past failed for the same reason that one of us fails today. Wearing an open necked shirt rather than a suit and tie does not change the nature of man!
The new generation word implies that we are part of some kind of a new dispensation which does not need John's command, "Do not love the world!". A dispensation where the the world, the flesh and the devil have less power to seduce. If we believe that we have already been seduced!
The truth is that our enemies are still the same and always will be. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life wait to bring forth death in any man who will feed them. As John Wimber used to say, "Watch out for the three 'Gs'- the glory, the gold and the girls!"
Believing that you will do better simply because you are a new generation is an arrogance that carries the seeds of its own downfall. No leader in the past set out to deceive or to fail but when was the last time you heard a message about the danger of pride? Talking about pride seems to old fashioned in our culture of success but success is a hotter test of our character than failure!
We love this new generation word because it implies that we can lead significant lives without the discipline of consistent moral choices. It appeals to the arrogance of our moral and spiritual laziness.
James 1:14, is still true! Each of us "is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed."
James 1:22 is still true! All deception begins as self deception when we hear the word but do not do it.
There is a new generation.
It was birthed two thousand years ago on the day of Pentecost!
It is the generation of Jesus Christ!
Let us declare that generation!
http://www.harvest-now.org
By: Steve Hill
One of the recurring words of the prophetic movement is that of a new generation arising which will really do the stuff and rise above the sins and failures of the old. Aside from the fact that the prophets love the word "new" just as much as the advertisers because of its power to grab our lust for the next, biggest, brightest and best, this theme carries some heavy baggage!
It implies that simply because we are a part of this new generation, we are better than our fathers! That is hardly a way to honor our fathers! It was said that this generation had a different attitude towards money, power and fame and would not fail as leaders have in the past! Yet those among us who have failed in the recent past have all been identified as belonging to this new generation!
The truth is that there is one new generation and that is the generation of Jesus Christ. There is one new man. There is not a newer version of the new man coming in this generation or in any generation to come. Those who failed in the past failed for the same reason that one of us fails today. Wearing an open necked shirt rather than a suit and tie does not change the nature of man!
The new generation word implies that we are part of some kind of a new dispensation which does not need John's command, "Do not love the world!". A dispensation where the the world, the flesh and the devil have less power to seduce. If we believe that we have already been seduced!
The truth is that our enemies are still the same and always will be. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life wait to bring forth death in any man who will feed them. As John Wimber used to say, "Watch out for the three 'Gs'- the glory, the gold and the girls!"
Believing that you will do better simply because you are a new generation is an arrogance that carries the seeds of its own downfall. No leader in the past set out to deceive or to fail but when was the last time you heard a message about the danger of pride? Talking about pride seems to old fashioned in our culture of success but success is a hotter test of our character than failure!
We love this new generation word because it implies that we can lead significant lives without the discipline of consistent moral choices. It appeals to the arrogance of our moral and spiritual laziness.
James 1:14, is still true! Each of us "is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed."
James 1:22 is still true! All deception begins as self deception when we hear the word but do not do it.
There is a new generation.
It was birthed two thousand years ago on the day of Pentecost!
It is the generation of Jesus Christ!
Let us declare that generation!
http://www.harvest-now.org
A Prophetic Word for 2009 - Steve Hill
A Prophetic Word for 2009 - Jan 4, 2009
By: Steve & Marilyn Hill
"Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge." I Corinthians 14:29
The flood of prophecies for 2009 have begun to come in. They sound remarkably similar to most I have been hearing for the past 15 years! "This is the year of revival! This is the year of His power. This is the year of increase! This is the year of harvest." You mean it really, really, really is going to happen this time?
I cringe to remember giving "prophetic" words like that! We mistook emotional fervor and hype for anointing. There was no judgement! There was no accountability. The only point was the "power" of the prophetic utterance in that moment. It was paid performance art pure and simple! Forgive us Lord!
There is a major problem with all of the prophecies about revival to come. It is a religious problem which Jesus encountered. Religion will get all excited about the Messiah to come but try to kill Him when He is standing in their midst (Luke 4:16- 30). Why? The Messiah in the future does not demand faith and obedience now!
The revival to come does not demand obedience now. We can feel all warm and fuzzy about the wonderful word and clap at what God will do while conveniently forgetting that where ever people are simply obeying Jesus they are seeing the Kingdom multiply now.
The future can be an escape from present responsibility!
Prophecies about revival to come lessen personal responsibility even further by emphasizing what God WILL do rather than what God has already done! If Jesus has dealt with all sin on the cross and if Jesus has all authority, then we are completely, totally and absolutely without excuse!
The problem is not with God! His work is finished! The problem is with the laborers! Jesus commanded us to pray for the laborers! He did not ask us to pray for the harvest. He did not even ask us to pray against the demons! As a matter of record in Luke 10:18, Jesus saw "Satan fall like lightning from heaven" AFTER the disciples went out to befriend, demonstrate and declare the Kingdom. The gospel of the Kingdom only has power as it is demonstrated and declared outside the four walls of our comfort zones! Much of the fervor of the spiritual warfare movement is simply the avoidance of doing the now work in the fields.
In John 4, the disciples did not want to go through Samaria but Jesus did. He talked to a woman and had a revival in that town. Jesus pointed out the difference between Himself and the disciples. It was a difference of vision!
"Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest?' Behold I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest", John 4:35.
The disciples saw bare, hard ground. Jesus saw white fields. Same view, different eyes, different vision! The problem was not with the harvest but with the laborers!
Harvest fields tend to be poor and difficult places. Harvesting is hard work where ever the field! You have to get dirty and involved. Sinners do not give honorariums. Discipleship is about one on one stuff! Jesus sent away the crowds in order to invest himself in the twelve. Revival is not about platforms and performances. It is about relationships, sacrifice and obedience.
I have a prophetic word for 2009. It is a prophetic word which as been accurate for about 2,000 years and which always will be accurate! It comes from Paul, "Behold now is the accepted time; behold now is the day of salvation." II Corinthians 6:2b
And you are right! This is the same as the "Prophetic Word for 2008"!
That was the most forwarded article of 2008 and I think it deserves a resend.
Be challenged afresh!
Thanks to all who helped us to seek to walk this out.
Steve & Marilyn Hill
http://www.harvest-now.org
By: Steve & Marilyn Hill
"Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge." I Corinthians 14:29
The flood of prophecies for 2009 have begun to come in. They sound remarkably similar to most I have been hearing for the past 15 years! "This is the year of revival! This is the year of His power. This is the year of increase! This is the year of harvest." You mean it really, really, really is going to happen this time?
I cringe to remember giving "prophetic" words like that! We mistook emotional fervor and hype for anointing. There was no judgement! There was no accountability. The only point was the "power" of the prophetic utterance in that moment. It was paid performance art pure and simple! Forgive us Lord!
There is a major problem with all of the prophecies about revival to come. It is a religious problem which Jesus encountered. Religion will get all excited about the Messiah to come but try to kill Him when He is standing in their midst (Luke 4:16- 30). Why? The Messiah in the future does not demand faith and obedience now!
The revival to come does not demand obedience now. We can feel all warm and fuzzy about the wonderful word and clap at what God will do while conveniently forgetting that where ever people are simply obeying Jesus they are seeing the Kingdom multiply now.
The future can be an escape from present responsibility!
Prophecies about revival to come lessen personal responsibility even further by emphasizing what God WILL do rather than what God has already done! If Jesus has dealt with all sin on the cross and if Jesus has all authority, then we are completely, totally and absolutely without excuse!
The problem is not with God! His work is finished! The problem is with the laborers! Jesus commanded us to pray for the laborers! He did not ask us to pray for the harvest. He did not even ask us to pray against the demons! As a matter of record in Luke 10:18, Jesus saw "Satan fall like lightning from heaven" AFTER the disciples went out to befriend, demonstrate and declare the Kingdom. The gospel of the Kingdom only has power as it is demonstrated and declared outside the four walls of our comfort zones! Much of the fervor of the spiritual warfare movement is simply the avoidance of doing the now work in the fields.
In John 4, the disciples did not want to go through Samaria but Jesus did. He talked to a woman and had a revival in that town. Jesus pointed out the difference between Himself and the disciples. It was a difference of vision!
"Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest?' Behold I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest", John 4:35.
The disciples saw bare, hard ground. Jesus saw white fields. Same view, different eyes, different vision! The problem was not with the harvest but with the laborers!
Harvest fields tend to be poor and difficult places. Harvesting is hard work where ever the field! You have to get dirty and involved. Sinners do not give honorariums. Discipleship is about one on one stuff! Jesus sent away the crowds in order to invest himself in the twelve. Revival is not about platforms and performances. It is about relationships, sacrifice and obedience.
I have a prophetic word for 2009. It is a prophetic word which as been accurate for about 2,000 years and which always will be accurate! It comes from Paul, "Behold now is the accepted time; behold now is the day of salvation." II Corinthians 6:2b
And you are right! This is the same as the "Prophetic Word for 2008"!
That was the most forwarded article of 2008 and I think it deserves a resend.
Be challenged afresh!
Thanks to all who helped us to seek to walk this out.
Steve & Marilyn Hill
http://www.harvest-now.org
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