Behold The Kingdom - Curry Blake
Behold The Kingdom - Curry Blake
Behold The Kingdom - Curry Blake
THE
KINGDOM
By: Curry R. Blake
General Overseer of
John G. Lake Ministries
and
Dominion Life
International Apostolic Church
Copyright 2013 by Curry R. Blake
All Rights Reserved
Published by
CHRISTIAN REALITY BOOKS
P.O. Box 742947
Dallas TX 75374
1-888-293-6591
Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the
King James Bible.
This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form without
written permission of the publisher.
The name of the ministry has been John G. Lake Ministries, and we’ve
shortened that to JGLM. I’m ex-military so everything is in acronyms.
Everything goes down to initials which makes it easier. We have so
many initials you wouldn’t believe it. We have the DHT, we have
SWAT, we have IAC, and we have DLIAC, which is the church.
We’ve got all of these initials for everything, and you really need a
program to keep up with them.
Years ago, when I looked at the letters “JGLM” I saw just the letters,
and it was like I didn’t see “John G. Lake Ministries.” I saw “JGLM,”
but what I saw afterward was JGLM: “Jesus Gives Life Meaning.” I’ve
used that a lot of times, and that is the way I think of JGLM.
JGLM is just the vehicle. It is not important in and of itself; it’s just
the vehicle. What is important is that “Jesus Gives Life Meaning.” It
is important that He gives life a mission, and if you ever get a grasp of
His mission, you’ll get a mission. As I said, “The greatest tragedy in
life is not death; it is a life without purpose.”
The greatest challenge in life is to know what to do. What shall I do?
What do I devote my life to? Many people just devote their lives to
themselves, and then, at the end of their lives, they find out that they’ve
wasted their lives.
The greatest mistake in life is being busy but not effective. Many times
you can tell if a person doesn’t have peace. They’ll try to keep their
mind busy so that they don’t think about the peace that they wish they
had.
To align yourself with Gods purposes, you must first die to self.
The single greatest success in life comes from the correct use of time.
Time is the most valuable thing we have; it is not unending. The
correct use of time comes from correct priorities, so if you are going to
use time correctly, you have to have the right priorities. Otherwise, you
will waste time. Correct priorities always come from aligning yourself
with Gods purposes.
I am big on reverse engineering. It’s like I see the overall picture first,
and then I see how to get there, step by step. I’m just taking you there
step by step.
Jesus said in the original Greek, “If you will lay down your lower life
with its goals, ambitions, and objectives, then I will give you My
higher life with its goals, objectives and ambitions.” This is found in
Matthew 10:39 of the Amplified Bible. It is quite different from the
way it says it in the King James.
That’s one thing I mention when I talk with people, especially unsaved
people, people who aren’t walking with God. It’s amazing how they
think, because when you start talking about walking with God, they
automatically think of rules. They think, “Well, if I do that I’ll have to
stop doing this,” or “I’ll have to stop doing that.” They think, “They
are just rules: ‘don’t do this’ and ‘don’t do that.’”
I try to tell them, “If you really love God, and if you really get hold of
His heart, you don’t think about dos and don’ts; you just love.” You
just love people, and you love God; you love people because you love
God. If you don’t love God, it’s hard to love people. If you love God,
it gets easier to love people.
Now, one of the keys to loving people is to be dead; die to self. If you
don’t die to self, people are always going to hurt you. People are
always going to offend you, or they’re always going to do something,
but once you make that commitment and say, “I’m dead; it’s no longer
I that live but Christ who lives in me,” people really don’t bother you
anymore.
Dead men never get bothered by people. You can walk up to a casket
at a funeral, look in there and say, “Well, you’re just as ugly now as
you ever were,” and that dead person isn’t going to say a word to you.
You’re not going to offend them; they’re not going to get mad; you
can’t hurt them. It’s good to live dead. I think a lot of people just
never get there.
Christianity has basically come to a point now where it’s all about
band-aids and fixing people. They say, “Make me a better person.”
Jesus didn’t come to make you a better person. He came so that you
could die, and you could have His life.
We have to get our priorities right. God’s purposes are clear. God’s
whole focus is establishing His Kingdom on this earth, making it on
earth as it is in heaven. That’s what He’s really pushing for, and He is
trying to get every person into His Kingdom, which means that they
live by Kingdom principles, and they start living out these principles.
If people would do that, it would be so amazing what would be taken
care of and how things would happen.
The key that we’re talking about is that He is trying to establish His
Kingdom first in the hearts of mankind. Once He gets the Kingdom in
their hearts, it will play out in the rest of their lives. If it doesn’t play
out in the rest of their lives, it’s not in their hearts yet.
Matthew 6:9-10,
9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in
heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
If you want to know what God’s will is, there it is. It is plain and
simple. Whatever you see on earth that doesn’t look like it would in
heaven is supposed to be fixed until it looks like heaven. Isn’t that
simple?
I remember the first time I ever met Dr. Sumrall. He was over 70 at
that time, and he said, “I’ve walked with God for 56 years, and I’ve
never been out of the will of God.” I was shocked; I’d never heard
anybody say something like that. Almost everything I’d heard was that
people are mostly out of the will of God, and every now and then their
life crosses the will of God and something good happens. Then they’re
right back out of the will of God again. That’s the way most people
act; it’s the way they think about it.
He said, “All these years I’ve never been out of the will of God.”
Everybody asked him, “How can you say that,” and he said, “Simple. I
saw what He said to do, and I aimed my life in that direction. I’ve
never looked back.” He went around the world multiple times, saw all
kinds of things, and always kept his life in the will of God, because he
was always loving God and loving people. If you have ever listened to
him, you might not be so sure that he was loving people. I don’t know
if you’ve heard much about him or not.
One time they were in a revival meeting in a school house, and one
little girl was sitting there. All of her friends were getting saved, and
they asked, “Would you talk to our friend here?” He walked back to
her. He was about 18 or 19 years old at that time, and he said, “Don’t
you want to go to heaven?” She said, “Not really.” He said, “Well,
then. Go to hell.” She passed out. Boom! She fell over. That is not
something you usually hear from a preacher.
When she came to, she got saved. They asked, “Well, what happened?
Why did you pass out?” “I have never had a preacher tell me to go to
hell before.” He said, “Well, there are only two places; heaven or hell.
You didn’t want to go to heaven. Guess what? You’re going to hell.”
“Yeah, but I never thought of it like that.” He said, “Well I’m not
responsible for that.” He said, “All I am responsible for is telling you
the truth.” Now, that’s not what we think of as a loving person, but
sometimes you have to love people enough to shoot straight with them.
You have to tell them what they don’t want to hear, because they need
to hear it.
We have this idea that what’s going on out there is somehow all messed
up according to His will, even though His whole effort has been to get
things back to the Garden of Eden. Even Jesus is called the last Adam.
Why? He is called that, because He came to restore the Kingdom.
In the Garden there was no altar, there was no temple, there was no
church service; there wasn’t any of that. It was just man walking with
God. We’ve muddied the waters a lot of the time. I say “we,” and I’m
talking about “we,” as preachers. We have made it so hard to know if
we are walking with God. It’s not that hard, really, when you get down
to it, and look at it.
Seek ye first the Kingdom. You’re going to see that everything Jesus
ever taught was the Kingdom; that’s all He taught over and over again:
Kingdom, Kingdom, Kingdom. He said, “Seek ye first the
Kingdom…,” not last, not when you get time, but first. “Seek ye first
the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall
be added unto you.” What things? To know that, you have to go back
and read verse 24. Jesus said,
24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one,
and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise
the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
Now think about that—no man can serve two masters. Do you realize
that’s where most of our problems come from? Most of our problems
come from us trying to hold God’s hand with one hand and the world
with the other. That’s where your struggle is, because when heaven
and earth collide, there is always going to be a battle.
When you try to straddle the fence, when you try to hold heaven with
one hand and the earth with the other, you become the battleground
where those two Kingdoms hit. You will serve one or the other. When
those hit, there will be a struggle going on, there will be turmoil, there
will be turbulence, and all of these things will go on inside of you.
Almost all of the struggles that people go through are because they’re
standing in the middle between the world and heaven.
That’s what the Prophet Elijah said. “Choose; make a choice.” Even
Joshua said, “Choose you this day whom you will serve. As for me and
my house, we will serve the Lord.” Make a choice.
One of the worst things I see, more than anything else in the world
today, is that people can’t make choices. “Should we do it this way?”
“Well, I’m not sure.” “Well, let’s do it that way.” “What about this?”
“I don’t know, because we do this, and we do that.”
I’m definitely not going to get political on this aspect, but honestly, the
Bible says to pray for our leaders, whether you agree with them or not,
or whether you voted for them or not. You pray for them, regardless.
They are in a position of power and the Bible is clear that when the
righteous are in power, when they rule, then the people are in peace,
but whenever the wicked rule, then the people moan, and they groan
because of their burdens.
We should be praying that our leaders have godly influence, that they
hear the voice of God, and that they have an encounter with God so that
they can actually know what God wants and will follow that path.
It’s really easy to second guess and say, “Well, you just make this deal
and you do that,” but when you’re there, you find out, “If we do this,
this will happen, so we’d better not do that. If we don’t do that, then
this will happen.” It is not always as clear cut as just making that
choice. Now, it is always clear cut to make a righteous decision.
24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one,
and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise
the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye
shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye
shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than
raiment?
“Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life.” What does
that mean? You have to die. It’s really simple. That’s the only way
you won’t take thought for your life.
26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they
reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth
them. Are ye not much better than they?
We talked about this during the DHT, about sowing and reaping. They
don’t store up, they don’t prepare, and yet your Heavenly Father takes
care of them. He feeds them.
27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his
stature?
28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the
field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was
not arrayed like one of these.
Jesus was saying that if all you think about is taking care of your needs,
then you are going to be a person of little faith. Why? That’s because
the affairs of this world are going to come in, they are going to entangle
you, and they are going to choke out the Word that’s in you.
“Therefore take no thought.” This was the second time He said this.
32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your
heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all
these things will be added to you.
“For after all these things do the Gentiles seek…” These are the things
that people who don’t have a God go after. Why? They don’t have a
God; they have to take care of themselves.
He said, “For your heavenly Father knows that you have need of all
these things.” Then He said, “If you seek first His Kingdom and His
righteousness, all these things will be added to you.” The “things” He
was talking about were clothing and food. He was talking about you
being taken care of as a good father takes care of his child.
Over and over again, I keep trying to bring this across to people: you
can trust God; He’s trustworthy. Many times we just don’t want to take
that chance, and we try to do it ourselves, but you can’t serve two
masters. You’re either going to have to serve God or yourself. One of
you is going to be the master of your life, and you have to decide who it
is going to be. You can’t serve both.
You can’t serve your own end and serve God’s end. There has to be a
point where you say, “You are my Lord. I will serve You; I will put
Your priorities first.” Then you think, “Well, I don’t know how I could
do that.” Believe me, He’ll show you. The things that seemed
important in your eyes will start falling way.
All of a sudden, you’ll start seeing that what counts is literally spending
time with God, loving people, taking care of people, and helping people
who can’t help themselves.
4 And the same John had his raiment of camel’s hair, and a
leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and
wild honey.
“And the same John had his raiment of camel’s hair.” Apparently he
wasn’t thinking about his raiment.
I’ve heard different stories on this, but actually what they called locusts
here was actually a type of plant; it wasn’t a cricket or a grasshopper.
Everybody always pictures him with crazy hair, camel’s hair clothing,
and a grasshopper leg sticking out of his mouth. That wasn’t
necessarily the case. Even if it had been, it wouldn’t have mattered,
because a locust (the insect), is actually very healthy and has a lot of
protein. You can actually survive off of it, not that you would want to,
but you could.
5 Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the
region round about Jordan,
“Then went out to him Jerusalem…” Do you hear that? Jerusalem
went out to Him, so He had a crowd out in the wilderness. When you
get a message from God, you can hide anywhere you want, and people
will find you. You don’t have to do big advertising campaigns and get
a Fifth Avenue or Madison Avenue marketing firm to come in and tell
you how to advertise and how to position yourself. You don’t have to
do that.
People ask me all the time: “How do I get started in the ministry?” I
don’t know. If you’re talking about all that JGLM does, I don’t know,
because I didn’t do this. I just got hold of a message that I was looking
for when I needed it; that was when my first daughter died. I just kept
searching until I got it, and when I found it, I knew I couldn’t keep it to
myself.
I had to share it, and I had to start using it to pray for people. I had to
minister to people and get them some help. From there it just grew.
I’ve never asked for a place to preach. I’ve never done any of that, and
it just keeps growing.
You can hide, but if you get a message from God, God will make your
light shine. He will cause your light to shine, so don’t concern yourself
with trying to position yourself so you can get into ministry. Just love
God and love people, and when you love enough people around you,
you’ll start loving people farther away. Soon you will be on a mission
field somewhere, because you will go, you will help, and you will pray.
Just start loving people. That’s the best way to work it.
Notice, they were “confessing their sins.” That’s plural. They were
talking about what they had done wrong. There is always a lot of
controversy over whether we should confess our sins. All of this was
the beginning of the Gospel.
Your fruit should show that you have repented, not just continue living
and say, “Well, God’s grace is amazing.”
10 And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore
every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down,
and cast into the fire.
12 Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor,
and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the
chaff with unquenchable fire.
© 2013 Curry R. Blake – John G. Lake Ministries 17
BEHOLD THE KINGDOM
John said, “He will baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire,” and
“He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.
We take that fire as zeal, and there is a zeal that comes with the Holy
Ghost, there’s no doubt about it, but part of that fire we call “the
baptism by fire.” A baptism by fire is not always a good thing. That
means you’re in the heat of the battle, right then.
Later on, in 1 Corinthians 3:13-15, Paul even talks about that, and he
says that you will pass through the fire, and whatever makes it through
the fire is what you actually get credit for.
John said of Jesus that He was going to gather the wheat, but all of the
straw and chaff were all going to be burned up. We need to realize that
although part of the Baptism in the Holy Ghost is purity, there is also
fire, which is not always pleasant. There is an aspect of the fire that is
zeal, but there is also an aspect of the fire that is purging. Get all the
dross, as they would say, all of the chaff in your life burned out so that
you can run faster.
So many times, even Paul himself said, “Let us lay aside the sin and the
weight.” That weight is straw, and it needs to get burned up by the
Holy Ghost. It needs to get burned out of your life so that you can run
without these bales of hay on your back. You need to get these things
out of the way so you can run the race.
Have you ever watched runners? They strip down to the bare
minimum; they don’t want any extra weight. The bicyclists wear this
clothing that is aerodynamic, and it’s meant to have this effect where
there is no wind resistance on them.
We need to think the same way about our race and get rid of everything
we don’t need. Everything that doesn’t help us win is a hindrance.
We’re not here to gather. We’re not here to store up. We’re here to
run a race. We’re here to advance the Gospel of the Kingdom of God.
It is not just my own purpose in life, but it is every Christian’s purpose
in life to advance the Kingdom; that’s the whole point.
Jesus preached the same message that John the Baptist preached.
One of the main points I wanted to hit on was what John said in verse
2, saying, “Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” John
preached the kingdom.
17 From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for
the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Jesus was saying the same thing that John said. He was preaching the
kingdom of heaven.
19 And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers
of men.
Jesus said, “Drop your nets on the other side of the boat,” and they said,
“We’ve done this the whole time, and we’ve got nothing.” However,
20 © 2013 Curry R. Blake – John G. Lake Ministries
KINGDOM AGENDA
since it was Jesus who said, “Drop it on the other side,” Peter said,
“Okay, it’s Your word; we’ll do it.” I can imagine Peter saying,
“You’re a preacher, and I’m a fisherman. I know the fish aren’t biting.
Being a preacher, you don’t know anything about fishing, but we’ll do
it.”
The Scripture said that when they dumped the fish, there were so many
that the fish were causing the boats, plural, to sink. Why? Jesus sought
first the Kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things were
added. Well, fish were currency. If you got enough fish, you had
whatever else you needed. Why? That’s because you could sell it.
It says that He called them and said, “I will make you fishers of men.”
They left their nets and followed Him,
22 And they immediately left the ship and their father, and
followed him.
It doesn’t give you a lot of details, but you’ve got to notice this: Jesus
called, and they left everything. That was a drastic move. In many
ways, for a fisherman to quit fishing is dying. Death would be
preferable to some fishermen, but here it was a clean break. Even
Matthew the tax collector closed down his shop when Jesus said,
“Follow Me.”
22 And they immediately left the ship and their father, and
followed him.
The Greek word there for “kingdom” is basileia and it just means a
place where a king has dominion. That’s why it is called, “king-dom;”
it is the king’s dominion.
Jesus was preaching the good news that God has dominion and that
God is stronger than anything you’ll face, including whatever has you
in bondage. God is strong enough to set you free. There is nothing that
can have you in so much bondage that God cannot set you free.
The church has to learn that there is nothing that has stronger power
than God Himself. We have to be able to display that to the world,
because for the most part, people think of the church as a crutch for
weak people who need to believe in a “higher power.” In one aspect
that is exactly true—we have to find that we do need God. You cannot
live on your own; you cannot do your own thing.
Notice: Jesus preached the Gospel of the Kingdom, and then He said,
“Now, let me demonstrate it to you. Let me show you what I am
talking about.” Why? That’s because in the Kingdom, there is no
sickness, no disease, no pain, and no tears. If there are tears, they’re
tears of joy and not tears of pain. That’s what the kingdom of heaven
should be like.
24 And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto
him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and
torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and
those which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy; and he
healed them.
Notice: those that were lunatic and those that were possessed with
devils are listed under two different categories there, so there can be
mental issues that are not necessarily a devil.
“And they brought unto Him…those that had the palsy; and He healed
them.” Why? He was demonstrating the Kingdom. He said, “I am the
King of this Kingdom, and I’ll show you what it is like to live under
My rule. If you live under My rule, you’ll have peace. If you live
under My rule, you’ll have health.”
That’s the way it is in the world, even right now. There is an aspect of
the Kingdom that we can demonstrate to the people by getting them
healed.
I don’t even say, “Come and get prayed for,” because we don’t pray for
you. We actually command the thing to leave you. Why? A kingdom
has authority or it’s not a kingdom. What we operate in is under
Kingdom authority, so we command. We don’t beg, and we don’t ask;
we don’t even talk to God about it. We’re His representatives; we are
already under Kingdom authority.
They have to know the limits before they get there. Otherwise, it does
no good for them to go, because every time somebody says to them,
“Well, we’ll give you this for that,” they say, “Well, hang on. Let me
check with Washington.” That doesn’t do any good. They have to be
able to make the decision, and say, “Yes, we can do that.” Why?
That’s because it is within their parameters and within the realm of
their authority to agree to that.
the soldier with the boots on the ground. You’re the one that gets to
knock on the door and say, “Excuse me, are you being held hostage?
Are you being held as a prisoner of war? If that’s true, I can set you
free, right now. I’m here to help.” That is your Kingdom authority.
However, it is not enough. Yes, we can do this for the rest of our lives.
We can minister healing and have people come in and get healed, and
they go out and get sick again and come back in at a later time. You
could do that for the rest of your life. The bad part is that it is where a
lot of people want to be.
The idea is that we cannot just get people healed, but we have to
actually plug the hole. We have to start teaching the Kingdom
principle of living in divine health and living free of sickness or
disease.
If you’re going to lay hands on the sick, you’ve got to believe that you
can be protected from sickness or disease, because otherwise, you’re
We have to start teaching it in our Sunday school for the kids and in our
children’s ministry. We’ve got to start teaching them that they can live
free of sickness and disease and that they can walk strong and healthy
all the days of their lives. Why? They need to know that God walks
with them.
I told everybody, “Alright, who still needs prayer? If you need prayer,
come and line up.” They all lined up, because they thought, “Oh, we’re
going to get Curry Blake to pray for us.” They all lined up, and as soon
as they all lined up, I said to the young girl, “Come here. Pray.” I just
stepped back. I just stood there and watched, and they were looking
like, “Really? Her?”
When the people came up there, this little girl was standing there, and
she asked, “What do you need?” It was like they wanted to say, “I
don’t want to have to tell you.” You could see it on their faces like, “I
am an adult.” It was awesome to watch, because she said, “Okay, I’ll
pray for you.” (At that time I was still laying hands on the person’s
head. I had not yet learned to take them by the hands. Everyone else I
had taught did, also). This little girl would reach up to put her hands on
their heads, and the people standing there had to bend down to let her.
This little girl started laying hands on people, and she came alive. She
said, “Be healed in Jesus’ name! You’re free in Jesus’ name!”
Somebody said, “Well, the pain is still there.” She said, “Jesus isn’t a
liar! You’re healed!” I was like, “Whoa! Yeah!” Then she had them
move around a bit, and she said, “Now, do what you couldn’t do!” She
said, “Isn’t that right, Brother Curry?” I said, “That’s right, that’s
right.” It was amazing! People were getting healed right and left. It
was awesome!
Notice the first thing Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for
theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” “Blessed,” means spiritually
prosperous. The kingdom of heaven was the first thing He started
preaching.
5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
Now, when you talk about these things, you automatically say, “Oh,
he’s getting into politics.” Well, yes, we’re talking Kingdom; that’s
politics. We’re talking the Kingdom of God. There are politics that go
along with the Kingdom of God. I’m not talking about parties and that
kind of thing. Your view of the world dictates your politics. Your
view of the Kingdom dictates your earthly politics. We cannot stand by
and watch people die. It is a responsibility; we are our brother’s
keeper.
That’s what the church has done. “Well, we’re just spiritual. People
who are hungry, we’ll bless, but beyond that, it becomes more
physical.” You can, however, also get to where you’re socially
minded, to the point where you just feed them and don’t get people
saved. You just clothe them and don’t heal their bodies. You can get
that socially minded.
God will take care of your. He will make sure your bellies are full. He
will make sure you’ve got clothes to wear. That’s part of the Kingdom
of God, but it is also because we seek first His Kingdom, His rule, His
supremacy, and His righteousness.
We can’t just sit around and be spiritually minded people, only thinking
on spiritual things. We can’t do that. We’ve got to touch every aspect.
The natural mind, the carnal man, doesn’t get it spiritually, so to reach
him, you’ve got to reach him the first time physically. You’ve got to
fill his belly. You’ve got to put clothes on his back. You’ve got to
show him, “You are valuable to God; you are valuable to me, because
you are valuable to God.” You’ve got to show them their worth. They
are worth Jesus, because God sent Jesus to die for them.
Whatever you pay for something, that’s what that thing is worth. Now
other people may look at it and say, “That is not worth that,” but
whatever you pay for it, that’s what it’s worth. God paid Jesus for
every person on this earth. Every person on this earth is valuable to
God.
When you look at these people, you can’t just say, “Well, I am thankful
that God takes care of me and I’m not like that.” That’s not what God
thinks when He looks at them. Again, we don’t want this to be just
physical and about food and clothing either, but that’s a big part.
Man is made up of three parts—spirit, soul and body. There are the
down and outers, and then there are the up and outers. There are
people behind fences and brick home walls who are every bit as down
and out spiritually as somebody that lives on the street. We have to be
able to touch their lives, spirit, soul and body.
When a person lives under those down and out conditions for a long
time, even if it’s physical, then in their soul they start to think less of
themselves. We’ve got to get to the place where we lift them.
That’s what I loved about T. L. Osborne, and I still love about the way
he ministers. He always said, “God lifts people; He loves people.”
Dr. Sumrall used to say, “The devil always tries to make man lose his
dignity, but God always brings man’s dignity back.” I started thinking
about that and looking at these things.
11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you,
and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
We know these verses as the Beatitudes. What that means is that these
are the attitudes that we need to have. The Beatitudes are the attitudes
that you need to embrace. This is what it is like to live in the Kingdom
of God, which is what Jesus preached.
17 And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet
Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place
where it was written,
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He hath anointed me to: (a)
preach the Gospel to the poor; (b) heal the brokenhearted, (c) preach
(proclaim) deliverance to the captives, (d) recover sight to the blind, (e)
set at liberty them that are bruised, and (f) preach the acceptable year of
the Lord.
The reason I brought up the political parties earlier was to say that
political parties have what they call platforms. That platform is
basically their basis, or the reason for being, or as we would say, “It’s
their agenda.” It is what they are shooting for, and it’s what they stand
for. It encapsulates how they think and what they are working toward.
What I just read to you is what Jesus said was His agenda; this was His
platform. He was saying, “I am here to proclaim the kingdom, and the
reason I am here is because God has anointed me to do these things.
This is what I am here to do,” and He gave a list.
This agenda is the agenda of the Kingdom of God, because Jesus’ will
was the Father’s will. Jesus was the one who taught His disciples to
pray this way, “Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in
heaven.”
This agenda is also the agenda of any church that is in God’s program,
meaning in line with God’s program. If you are going to be in line with
God’s will, and if you are going to be in line with His plan, then this
platform here, this agenda, is going to be your agenda. That’s why He
said, “You cannot be my disciple except you lay your life down and
you take up My cross.”
It would be great to come in here and say, “It’s all wonderful, it’s all
good. God has the ultimate social welfare program. Here’s your
program. Just take it and run.” There is some truth to that—that God
does help and that He is interested in every aspect of your life—but
Jesus had some requirements. He wasn’t trying to make it hard just to
make it difficult. He had some requirements, because He said, “This is
the way you do it.”
I could ask, “Who in here wants to take part in the Olympics? Who
wants to run the 880 in the Olympics?” Someone might say, “What
have I got to do?” “Oh, just sign up.” “Okay, well what kind of
training program?” “Oh, don’t worry about a training program, just
show up and run on the day of the Olympics.”
How many of you know that if I could get you into the Olympics, you
could maybe show up and run. How many of you know that you aren’t
going to win? Winning requires training. People say, “What! I’ve got
to train? You killjoy! That just isn’t fair. I shouldn’t have to train.”
Often you hear, “Oh, it’s all done. Don’t worry about sin; it’s been
taken care of. It’s all good.” They don’t tell you the things that Jesus,
Himself, the King over this Kingdom, said in Matthew 7:21,
21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into
the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father
which is in heaven.
24 Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will
seek to enter in, and shall not be able.
13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is
the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go
in thereat:
14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth
unto life, and few there be that find it.
Jesus said, “Many seek to find the way in but few find it, because the
way in is narrow, but the way that leads to destruction is broad.” The
path that leads to destruction is out there, where people are living and
doing anything they want, but the way to life is narrow.
It’s not that God said, “Okay, I’m going to make it narrow, because I
only want a few.” He said, “Look, this is how to live; if you live
outside of that, you die.” It wasn’t that He was trying to make it hard.
It’s just that there is a difference between life and death. All God did
was tell us the truth about what it takes to live.
It wasn’t that He set the parameters and said, “Do it this way,” or “Oh,
no, you’re one speck over, so there you go; you’re gone.” It wasn’t that
He was trying to do that. He said, “The wages of sin is death,” so don’t
sin; stay out of sin. Why? That’s because it will kill you. He wasn’t
trying to say, “Oh, what do you like to do?” “Oh, I like to do this.”
“No, you can’t do that anymore.” “Why?” “Because I don’t like you
having fun, so I’m just going to make that a sin.” That wasn’t it. He
was saying, “These things will kill you.”
The best place to play stick-ball is in the street, but what do parents
say? “Don’t play in the street.” “Why? Don’t you want us to have
fun?” “Yes, and I want you to live a long life, so stay out of the street,
because if you play in the street, sooner or later, you’ll get hit.” Are
they just trying to be mean, or are they trying to keep you alive?
That’s what Jesus was trying to tell us. He was saying, “This is the
way of life. I’m it. You know Me, and you know your Father. You
see how I live, you take on My ambitions, and you change your life.”
When you lay down your life and take up His life,
you make the Kingdom of God your priority.
I’m amazed at the people who claim to be saved, and yet as they are
going through their lives, they’ve got their plans. God saves them, and
their lives stay the same. Their plans stay the same; everything stays
the same. I don’t know how that could happen. That didn’t happen
with anybody Jesus called. They had plans, they had their goals, they
all had businesses, and they walked away from them.
Your life has to change. When you lay down your life and you take up
His life, and you make the Kingdom of God your priority, that’s what
you have to do. You’ve got to make it your priority to live and your
priority to proclaim.
I don’t care if you say you are a preacher or not a preacher; I don’t care
if you say you’re in ministry or not in ministry. None of that matters.
If you’re a citizen of the kingdom of heaven, you have a responsibility
to expand that kingdom. You need to be trained to be a disciple so that
you will know how to expand it. You need to be taught and shown
how to heal the sick, raise the dead, and cast out devils.
The Spirit of the Lord is upon you because He has anointed you to
preach the Gospel to the poor. He has sent you to heal the broken
hearted, He has sent you to preach, and He has sent you to proclaim
deliverance to the captives.
walk out. Stay free. Here’s how you stay free: don’t keep doing what
you did before. Jesus has set you free, and whom the Son sets free is
free indeed. That thing does not have power over you anymore. The
things that have power over you now are your desires, so you have to
decide that you’re going to go after the Kingdom of God.”
There is an agenda that the church has to have, and we are getting in
line with that; we’re putting these things into place.
35 And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in
their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and
healing every sickness and every disease among the people.
“And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their
synagogues, and preaching,” proclaiming, “the Gospel of the
Kingdom,” the Good News of God’s supremacy, “and healing,”
demonstrating God’s supremacy by healing, “every sickness and every
disease among the people.”
The bad part is that every time God tries to bring a message into the
church, man gets hold of it and twists it to his own good. We have to
get away from that and realize this is about the Kingdom of God.
It’s not about having things piled up. God wants you to have enough
so that you can bless any person who needs help. You ought to be able
to help anybody or feed anybody. We should be able to take a family
that needs help and put them into a place, and say, “Here’s a house.
You can live here. We’ll help you find a job, and you can live here
until you get on your feet and get into a position where you can get
your own place.” We ought to be able to do that. That would be
Kingdom. We ought to have our own place so that when visitors come
here, we can put them up.
My goal that I’ve talked about for years is that I would have a place,
such as a hotel or motel, where people could come in and stay in
rooms. The televisions in there would be hooked up and no matter
what channel they turned it to, someone would be preaching, 24 hours a
day. It would be where our Bible School students could actually come
in and live.
There may be a family that needs help. Maybe they lost their jobs, or
maybe their house burned, or something. If we have a place, then we
can put them in there, and say, “Don’t worry about it. We’ve got a
cafeteria here, we’ll feed you. You work, you save up your money, and
when you get enough to go somewhere and move into something else,
we’ll help you get in there, and then you can make it on your own.”
Kingdom isn’t about you piling up money so you have the nicest cars,
the fanciest houses, and two of everything. It’s not about that at all.
The Bible says, “Let him that stole, steal no more, but let him work
with his hands so that he has to give to those that have need.” The
reason you work and the reason you have things is so you have
something to give to those who have a need. Imagine that. Suppose a
person has been stealing, and then they show a change of heart. Now,
instead of stealing, they are giving. It shows a change of heart first, but
it works throughout their whole life. Isn’t that amazing?
Matthew 9:36,
38 Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth
labourers into his harvest.
The words, “send forth,” are from the Greek word ekballo. Ekballo
means send forth; cast out. It is the same word used for casting out
devils. He was saying, “Send forth (or cast out) laborers.”
Matthew 10:1,
1 And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave
them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal
all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.
Notice that they weren’t given names of people. He didn’t say, “Go
find this person because their lottery number came up. Find them and
heal them.” He was telling them, in other words, “You have power;
you’re like a policeman. You have power to arrest any spirit, any
sickness, or any disease you see oppressing the people.”
He had called them together and had given them, “power (authority)”
against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of
sickness and all manner of disease.
In verse 1, the Greek word used for “power” was exousia (authority)
and not dunamis (power). The KJV translated it “power” here, but
authority would have been better.
8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils:
freely ye have received, freely give.
“Heal the sick.” Notice, every time you see the kingdom of heaven
mentioned you usually see healing in the next sentence. Why? That’s
because it does no good to preach a kingdom if you cannot demonstrate
the kingdom’s authority with the power to set people free. The
Kingdom of God is not in word only but in demonstration of the Spirit
and power. It has to be together.
When we preach about the Kingdom, the people have to know that this
Kingdom has the authority to set them free. That’s why people should
want to push into this Kingdom. They should say, “I want in on this. I
Jesus said, “Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, and cast
out devils.” Deal with anything that bothers people. Cast it out, fix it,
change it; set people free. We get so religious sometimes in how we
see these things. He was just saying to go and help people, and set
them free. Find out the problem they have and meet that need.
Don’t pick and choose. You can’t tell one person, “You deserve it,”
and tell another person, “You don’t.” It is not, “Is there any sin in your
life? Yes? Oh, you sinner. God’s not going to do anything for you.”
We go out into the streets and people get saved by some miracle of
God. We talk to them and say, “Well, you need to get saved.” They
say, “I would like to, but I’ve got to get my life cleaned up first.” No!
It hurts us when we hear that. We say, “No, you can’t get your life
cleaned up. Coming to God is getting your life cleaned up. You can’t
get cleaned up to come to God, because you can’t get clean enough for
God. You come to God—He cleans you, He takes care of you. Just
come to Him.” By some miracle they say, “Okay.” They get saved,
and we rejoice.
Then we bring that person into the church, and somebody comes in and
says, “Who here needs healing?” Then that person we brought in goes
forward and says, “Yes, I’ve got an issue I’m dealing with here. I have
some problems, some pain, and sickness.” The first thing you hear
them get asked is, “Is there any sin in your life?” They say, “Well, I’ve
just been saved two days, so yes, I’m sure there is some sin in there
that’s working out.” They get told, “Well, go back and sit down. God
is not going to do anything for you until you get your life clean.”
Isn’t that amazing? On the street we tell them it’s all by grace. We get
them in the church and tell them that it’s all by works. It’s just the
opposite of what we tell them on the street.
Instead, show them the goodness of God. Set them free and say, “This
is the kind of God that we are talking about; this is the kind of kingdom
you’re in now.”
We find out what the problem is, why they tend to go toward that, and
fix that thing. We tell them, “The reason you’re doing this is because
you’re trying to fill this need with that thing.”
You need to be able to say, “Here’s what you need: you need to
understand what is in the Kingdom for you. You’re not fulfilling your
Jesus has a better plan than that, and He came to die for you. That
means that He has seen potential in you that probably nobody else sees.
You can be something in the Kingdom of God. On this earth and this
earthly kingdom, people look at you and think you are nothing, and
they write you off. God looks at you and says, ‘I’ve got a plan for
you.’”
God loves to take the worst and fix them. Why? It shows how good
He is at fixing us.
Our trainer is God. It doesn’t matter where you come from, and it
doesn’t matter what you’ve done; none of that matters. God can turn
you around.
God’s goal is for you to “grow up into Him (Jesus) in all things.”
Ephesians 4:15,
15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all
things, which is the head, even Christ:
God’s goal is that you “grow up into Him (Jesus) in all things.” I don’t
care where you are today, and I don’t care where you’ve been. God
can take you all the way to Jesus, because He is that good of a trainer.
It has nothing to do with your qualities; He can give you whatever
qualities you need.
That’s the key: it has nothing to do with you. All you have to do is say,
“Here I am. I’m just a stack of clay here. Mold me, fix me, and turn
me into what You want me to be,” and He will turn you into something.
He knows the potential you have in you, because He put it there. He
can take the worst and “grow them up into Jesus.”
“Freely you have received, freely give.” God will take care of you.
Matthew 10:8,
8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils:
freely ye have received, freely give.
Here Jesus was saying, “As you go, preach and do these things; cast
these things out, and heal the sick. Freely you have received, freely
give.”
Why did He say that? He was telling them, “I’m going to show you
that I’ll take care of you. You don’t have to worry about those things.
I’ll take care of you.”
Matthew 6:33,
Matthew 10:10,
10 Nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor
yet staves: for the workman is worthy of his meat.
Matthew 11:12,
12 And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of
heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.
People always look at this verse, and they say, “Violence? What does
that mean? I didn’t think Jesus was violent.” Yes, He got very violent.
He turned over tables and ran people out of the temple. He made a
whip, and everybody ran out of the temple. People don’t run just
because you make a whip; people run because they think you are going
to use the whip on them. Obviously, He had them convinced.
If you look at the word “violent” in the Greek, it is the word biastēs
and it means a forcer. It means literally, energetic, aggressive. We
think violence means hurting something, but it just means to be
energetic, or to be aggressive; it means you go after it. In other words,
it means not to be passive. The passive don’t inherit the Kingdom of
God. The meek do, but the meek aren’t passive.
Moses was the meekest of all men, but he wasn’t passive. He went into
a kingdom and brought a nation out of it. He led an insurrection. He
stood up against the mightiest army of the day and won. Why? God
was covering his back. He was energetic, he was violent, and he was
aggressive. Let’s go back to verse 12 in Matthew chapter 11.
Matthew 11:12,
12 And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of
heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.
“Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with
them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air.” The words “caught
up” are from the same word, harpazō.
After it said, “From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom
of heaven suffereth violence,” then it said, “and the violent take it by
force.” In other words, “The violent, the energetic and the aggressive,
take the kingdom of heaven suddenly by snatching and grabbing it to
themselves.”
You start thinking, “What does that mean? How does that apply?” He
had just told them, “Preach the kingdom; say, ‘The kingdom is at
hand.’” What do you do? You heal the sick. We have to realize that
health is something, and we have to grab hold of the Kingdom of God,
© 2013 Curry R. Blake – John G. Lake Ministries 51
BEHOLD THE KINGDOM
and say, “Health is mine. Devil, you can’t touch this body!” That’s the
violent taking the kingdom of heaven by force, because sickness isn’t
in heaven; health is in heaven.
If we’re going to take heaven by force, that’s not against God. God
says that’s what is going to happen, and that’s what He wants to
happen.
He said to cleanse the lepers. It is the same thing. What are you
doing? You’re taking the kingdom of heaven to these people, and you
are doing it violently. Now, you’re not grabbing them and shaking
them, or punching them or hurting them, but you take that leprosy and
you look at it, and you say, “Leprosy, you’re leaving here now! You
get out of this person! Don’t you ever come back! I set this person
free! Now, go!” Be forceful with it.
It doesn’t say beg, it doesn’t say cry, it doesn’t say weep, it doesn’t say
intercede; it doesn’t say any of that. It says to take the kingdom of
heaven by violence; take it aggressively. We have to take it, we have
to bring it here and say, “This is the kingdom of heaven; it is at hand.
Do you want to see it? Watch this,” and then you set the captives free.
That’s what it means.
12 And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of
heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.
The energetic take it suddenly. Don’t think you’re going to ease into
this thing; you’re not. You’re not going to be like Nicodemus, who
went to Jesus by night, to talk to Him. There will come a point where
you’re going to have to stand up boldly.
21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the
Kingdom of God is within you.
Jesus said, “I’d rather you be cold or hot, but not lukewarm.” Don’t
straddle the fence. Get on one side or the other. Be a friend of God or
an enemy of God, but don’t think you’re in the middle. There is no
middle ground. There is no lukewarm. He said, “If you are lukewarm,
I’ll spew you out of my mouth.” You say, “Well, why would He want
us cold?” That’s because cold people know they are cold.
It’s the lukewarm people who fool themselves, and they think they are
okay. Lukewarm people hang around lukewarm people and tell each
other they’re all hot and on fire. You should always be looking for
people that are hotter and more on fire than you are. Let them pull you
up. Better yet, you be on fire and pull others up.
We always know that there are two kingdoms at war with one another;
the Kingdom of God and His dear Son, and the kingdom of darkness.
We’re not talking about those two kingdoms today. We’re going to be
talking about the Kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven, and what
the Bible says about them. You’re going to have to follow along
closely.
It’s not overly complicated, but at the same time you have to pay
attention. Follow along as we go through these verses; read them for
yourself.
As we showed last week, and many times before, Jesus taught the
Gospel of the Kingdom, and then He demonstrated the Gospel of the
Kingdom. He taught the Good News of the Kingdom or the Good
News of God’s supremacy over everything.
The way Jesus demonstrated it was by healing and setting the captives
free. You can’t preach a kingdom and say that it’s supreme without
setting people free. The idea is that whenever that kingdom is
preached, there has to be a demonstration. We are going to look at
some of that today.
Matthew 9:35,
35 And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in
their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and
healing every sickness and every disease among the people.
58 © 2013 Curry R. Blake – John G. Lake Ministries
UNDERSTANDING THE KINGDOMS
You will notice that the Greek word here for “preaching” literally
means to proclaim with an authority, a solemnity, and a gravity that
must be listened to and obeyed. That’s a far cry from what many
people call preaching. In other words, when Jesus proclaimed the
Gospel of the Kingdom it had such a force behind it that it made people
say, “I’ve got to change, and I’ve got to go this way.”
In Matthew 4:23 and Matthew 9:35, it said that He preached the Gospel
of the Kingdom. It really doesn’t say anything more than that about the
Kingdom or what He was preaching about the Kingdom, but we know
that He did demonstrate by healing the sick.
Mark 1:14,
14 Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee,
preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God,
The kingdom of heaven and the Kingdom of God are two different
realms, yet the Kingdom of God includes the other.
The key here is this: Matthew emphasizes the mission of Jesus to the
Jews and to the people of Israel. Every time the term, “the kingdom of
© 2013 Curry R. Blake – John G. Lake Ministries 59
BEHOLD THE KINGDOM
You will see that in some places in different Gospels, there are parallel
passages of the same incident or story being told. In one of the
Gospels, for example in Matthew, it will say, “the kingdom of heaven,”
and maybe in John, Mark, or even Luke, it will say, “The Kingdom of
God,” yet it will be the same situation. One author brought out “the
Kingdom of God,” and the other brought out “the kingdom of heaven.”
You say, “Well, if they’re both used in parallel passages, then they
have to be the same thing.” That’s not true.
There are places where the two terms, kingdom of heaven and
Kingdom of God, are used in parallel passages in Scripture. That’s
similar to saying that all New Yorkers are Americans, but not all
Americans are New Yorkers. That’s basically what it comes down to.
The kingdom of heaven and the Kingdom of God are two different
realms, yet one includes the other.
All in the Kingdom of God are in the kingdom of heaven, but not
all in the kingdom of heaven are in the Kingdom of God.
I know you are thinking, “What? What are you talking about?” Now,
that may be shocking, but we will prove it. We’re going to look at that,
right now.
22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward
they that are Christ's at his coming.
25 For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
Verse 23 says, “But every man in his own order,” is talking about all of
those that are in Christ. They will be made alive, but there is going to
be an order to it: “Christ the firstfruits.” We know that is true. Then it
says, “Afterward they that are Christ’s at His coming,” are the others
that will be made alive. Then in verse 24, it says, “Then cometh the
end.” This is the main point I wanted to get to.
Let me go back and start over. “For as in Adam all die, even so in
Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ
the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming. Then
cometh the end.” It talks about Christ’s coming, then it says, “Then the
end will come.” When does the end come? It says, “When He (Christ)
shall have delivered up the kingdom to God.”
It says in verse 25, “For He (Christ) must reign, till he hath put all
enemies under his feet.” He’s going to reign as King over this kingdom
until all enemies are put under His feet.
I’m going to give you several individual Scriptures in the Gospels that
will help you to study it out.
44 The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I
make thine enemies thy footstool?
Mark 12:36,
36 For David himself said by the Holy Ghost, The LORD said to
my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies
thy footstool.
This verse in Mark 12:36 says the same thing it says in Matthew 22:44.
Let’s go to another.
Luke 20:42-43,
42 And David himself saith in the book of Psalms, The LORD said
unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand,
It says the exact same thing. Those were all in the Gospels.
34 For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself,
The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand,
Now, let’s go to Hebrews chapter one. I know we’re going all over, but
that’s because I really want to show you that this is not just some
Hebrews 1:13,
In other words, “Did He ever say this to an angel? Which angel did He
ever say this to, ‘Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy
footstool?’”
14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for
them who shall be heirs of salvation?
He never elevated any angel to that position. First of all, this is the
Bible. This is not commentary. This is a direct refuting of the current
Jehovah’s Witness doctrine. It is a direct refuting, because He never
said to any angel, “Sit on my right hand,” but He did say that to Jesus.
Hebrews 10:11,
12 But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever,
sat down on the right hand of God;
“Then cometh the end, when He (Jesus) shall have delivered up the
kingdom to God.” Jesus is going to turn the kingdom over to God.
Now, if you turn a kingdom over to someone, it means that, up to that
point, they have not received it. We know that Jesus was proclaiming
the Kingdom of God, and we know He was proclaiming what was
called the kingdom of heaven.
© 2013 Curry R. Blake – John G. Lake Ministries 65
BEHOLD THE KINGDOM
Then, of course, He was raised and resurrected, and then it said that He
went to the Father. He said, “I have to go to the Father; if I don’t go, I
can’t send the Spirit back.” He went to the Father and then, when He
sent the Spirit back, it said that He sat down on the right hand of
Majesty.
Every Scripture about Him sitting down has to do with Him sitting
down and waiting until His enemies are made His footstool.
Technically, He Himself is not making His enemies His footstool.
Apparently, from all indications so far, He has turned that job over to
somebody else and is waiting until His enemies are made His footstool.
Jesus must reign until He has put all enemies under His feet.
25 For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
“For He must reign,” notice He is reigning, “till he hath put all enemies
under his feet,” so Jesus is reigning, but He is seated. Then it says that
He will basically hand the kingdom to the Father after He has put down
all rebellion. Let’s look at this in 1 Corinthians 15:26,
27 For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all
things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted,
which did put all things under him.
28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the
Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under
him, that God may be all in all.
“For He hath put all things under his feet. But when He saith all things
are put under Him, it is manifest,” or obvious, “that He,” Jesus, “is
excepted, which did put all things under Him. And when all things
shall be subdued unto Him…” Did you hear that? “…then shall the
Son also Himself be subject unto Him that put all things under Him,
that God may be all in all”
This is where a lot of error comes in, and it’s where a lot of people get
really confused. They don’t see the difference between the two terms:
the positional and the experiential. We would even say it like this, “I
was saved, and now I’m being saved, and I shall be saved.”
When I say, “I was saved,” I don’t mean that I’m not saved anymore.
I’m just saying there was a point in time where I was saved, but then,
from the time I got saved until now, I’m being saved. I’m still in the
process. At the end, I shall have been saved. In other words, I will
have reached the culmination of it; there is a point coming. This is one
of the reasons why He says we must endure to the end. Part of that
process of being saved is the enduring.
28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the
Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under
him, that God may be all in all.
“And when all things shall be subdued unto Him, then…” Do you hear
that? “Then…” That means not before then.
Verse 27 says that He has put all things under Him. Notice that He is
seated, and He is waiting until His enemies become His footstool.
Jesus is King of kings and Lord of lords. He’s King there, and we’re
kings here. He is Lord there, and we’re lords here. He is working
through us, He lives through us, and He is reigning through us. Now,
He has won the war, so to speak. There are still some battles we have
to fight to put down all of these rebellious things that are going on in
this world against Him.
This is where people get to the point where they’re ask, “Well, if all of
this is going on and God is God, why doesn’t He just do something
about it?” You don’t understand. First and foremost, God is just. He
is just, and He does things right. There is an order to things. He is
God, and He put Jesus as King over this earth, in that sense.
God gave Adam lordship, and Adam gave lordship over to Satan, the
god of this world. Then Jesus came and said, “No, that’s not good;
that’s rebellion. I’m going to re-establish My kingdom.” The people
He wanted to reestablish it through said, “No, we don’t want it.” Jesus
was crucified, and He left, but He sent His Spirit back to work through
people. Then, His Spirit was mainly transferred toward the Gentiles.
If you go back in and look at Daniel 2 and 7, you will see that the
kingdom of heaven was prophesied for a future time. It started when
they began to preach or proclaim that the kingdom of heaven was at
hand. It started at that point on the earth. In Daniel 9, there is the
prophecy of the 70 weeks that takes place.
Daniel 9:24,
24 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy
holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins,
and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in
everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and
prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
After the seventy weeks then things will pick back up. There will be a
point where Israel will be flooding in. There is this whole process
going on.
When Jesus was ascended upon high, after He led captivity captive, He
sat down at the right hand of the Father. When He sat down at the right
hand of the Father, He sat down as a King saying, “I am here, I’m
sitting, and I’m waiting until My army makes My enemies My
footstool.” That’s us. We are the army, not the enemy; just remember
that. When you look at these things, you have to understand what is
going on.
Not too long ago, in Libya, they had that kind of thing going on.
They’ve got the same thing going on in Syria, even now, where the
government is supposed to be in control. They say, “We’ve lost control
of this city,” or, “We’ve lost control of the airport.” Do you see what I
am saying? The country owns it, but the rebels have control of things.
Those that are rebelling against the lawful order, you might say, are in
rebellion against the lawful king.
God said, “I have a world that is in rebellion, and I want you to go and
put down that rebellion.” The way Jesus did that was to come and die,
and then go back and sit down and say, “Alright, we have won, we
have conquered, and it’s good. Now, I have an army there that’s going
to finally be putting down all insurrection and all rebellion.”
Jesus said, “Father, I’m just waiting so that when that happens, they
will bring it to Me, and I will turn around and hand it to You, and once
again, You will be the ultimate, supreme, uncontested God of the
universe.”
28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the
Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under
him, that God may be all in all.
There’s that transfer. At that point, God gave Jesus the right to rule as
a King and to do what needed to be done. Jesus, as God’s deputized
authority, is doing that. He has deputized us to continue that work until
it’s all done. Then He’s going to be able to turn around and say, “My
army has done this, and here it is. Now, I give you back a world that is
under Your dominion.” Essentially, that’s what it comes down to.
It answers so many questions, and it will help you. The one thing that
we have to realize is that everything Jesus taught was the Kingdom;
that’s what He taught. I don’t know how churches get away without
teaching it, since that was His message.
1 The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the sea
side.
If you read parables, you have to realize that not every detail of a
parable is supposed to be interpreted to a specific doctrine. It’s a story;
it’s a parable used to give a truth. The key is to find the truth in what
He was trying to say. Don’t try to make every detail some special
hidden knowledge. If you do that, you will get so confused.
Every time Jesus taught a parable, He told what the parable meant so
that we don’t have to guess. It’s amazing how many people spend time
in the parable where He’s teaching it, and they don’t go down a few
verses and read where He said, “This is what this means.” Usually,
what they come up with is far different from what He meant. Just keep
reading.
The following parable is also out of Mark 4, but we are going to read it
out of Matthew 13.
4 And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the
fowls came and devoured them up:
5 Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth:
and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of
earth:
6 And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because
they had no root, they withered away.
7 And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and
choked them:
8 But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an
hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold.
10 And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou
unto them in parables?
The disciples asked, “Why are you talking to people in parables? Why
don’t you just tell them?” Why didn’t He? He only explained the
parables to the disciples because they were the ones He had chosen to
follow Him.
This goes along with 1 Corinthians 2 and 3 where it actually says that
the carnal mind doesn’t understand the things of the Spirit. The
spiritual mind gets it and the spiritual man understands these things, but
a carnal mind, a carnal man, does not get them, and to him they are
foolishness.
Here Jesus was saying, “The reason they’re given to you is because you
have decided to follow Me, but the people out there that have not yet
made that decision don’t need to know the details of these things.” If
you want to know the secrets of the Kingdom, you’ve got to connect
with Jesus. Otherwise, you will just sit there and wonder.
The people were listening, and they were seeing all of this,
but they still didn’t understand it.
The “Prophecy of Esaias” was talking about Isaiah the prophet. He was
saying, “This prophecy is being fulfilled in the people.”
15 For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of
hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they
should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should
understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I
should heal them.
“Their eyes they have closed.” Even when Jesus was speaking about
healing here, He wasn’t talking about physical healing. He had healed
a lot of people who didn’t have a clue about what He was doing.
16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they
hear.
Remember: any time you see the word “blessed,” you can put
“spiritually prosperous” in there. Blessed literally means: to be
spiritually prosperous.
17 For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous
men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not
seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not
heard them.
Jesus had just told the parable to the people. Then, when He was by
Himself with His disciples, He explained it to them.
When He said, “When any one hears the Word of the Kingdom,” He
was saying that the parable of the sower, and what is sown, is the Word
of the Kingdom. He said, “Now when any one hears the Word of the
Kingdom and understands it not, then cometh the wicked one, and
catcheth away that which was sown in his heart.” If you don’t
understand it, then what you don’t understand, you don’t get to keep.
You have to understand it, or it will be stolen.
People say, “Well, the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy.” Yes, and
let’s say you hear healing preached. Guess how he tries to come and
steal it? He usually tries to make you or one of your loved ones sick.
He’s trying to steal that Word in your heart by getting you refocused on
the natural, which keeps you from moving into the spiritual.
Notice what it says: “Then cometh the wicked one and catcheth away
that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the
way side.” Here He says, “If you don’t understand it, you don’t get to
keep it.” Now you know why Solomon said in Proverbs 4:7, “In all thy
getting, get wisdom, and get understanding.”
You have to get understanding; you can’t just hear it. You don’t get
brownie points for just sitting and hearing. “Well, I was there. I was in
church, and I heard.” No. You have to understand; it’s important that
you understand. He said, “This is he which received seed by the way
side.”
Verse 20,
20 But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he
that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it;
21 Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when
tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by
he is offended.
“Yet hath he no root in himself.” Now, get that: “He hath no root in
himself.” Right there, we would think, “Well, that doesn’t even sound
like a Christian term, “root in yourself.”
Some might say, “You shouldn’t have root in yourself; you should have
root in Christ.” Well, that’s a good religious answer, but you have to
realize that the only thing you bring to the table is the commitment, the
will to stick, the ability to stick, and the ability to endure.
Don’t back off, don’t back down, and move on into it.
All of the DBI students were saying, “Get hold of it and stick. Don’t
back off, don’t back down, and move on into it.” I heard one preacher
one time say, “If you’re going through hell, don’t stop, because then
you just stay in hell. Move through it.” The idea is to pass through it.
Over and over again the Bible says, “And it came to pass…” Anything
you’re going through will pass—unless you stop. You don’t want to
stop. You want to keep on going.
What does “offended” mean? It can mean mad or angry, and it does
have that connotation, but it also means to quit, back off, or not show
up. If you get offended, you quit.
Well, that’s exactly what it said about the people in the hometown of
Jesus. They heard the Word, and they got offended.
You can have the Word in your life, and it can become unfruitful
because of the cares of this world and because of the deceitfulness of
riches. “I would love to be at church on Sunday, or attend a Life Team,
or enjoy home fellowship, but they offered me this overtime. It’s a
holiday, and it pays double time and a half. I just can’t pass that up.”
That’s called the deceitfulness of riches.
23 But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth
the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and
bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
That was “The Parable of the Sower,” and He explained it. If you want
the answer to “The Parable of the Sower,” there it is. It is really
simple.
Notice: “His enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat.” The
tares are not of God; God didn’t plant them.
25 But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among
the wheat, and went his way.
26 But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then
appeared the tares also.
27 So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir,
didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then
hath it tares?
We know that the wheat and the tares are people. I’m not saying to
change this around, but I want you to notice that this is what people do.
The first thing they say is, “God, didn’t you sow good seed? God, I
thought You were a good God. How can there be bad things in my
life? God, where are You? God, why did You let this happen to me?
You’re the one that’s supposed to be sowing the seed. You’re the one
that’s supposed to be in charge of everything. Why am I having tares
in my life? Why isn’t my life just all wheat?”
Many people ask, “God, why is this happening? Why don’t You do
something?” He goes on here to give God’s answer.
28 He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said
unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?
He said, “An enemy has done this.” “The servants said unto him, “Wilt
thou then that we go and gather them up?”
We know that the wheat and tares are people, and they grow up
together. They both show up at the same time. When they saw the
tares (the people), they said, “Lord do you want us to take these out?”
and the householder said, “No. No, don’t do it, because if you do, you
might tear up the wheat, also.”
I said this before, and this is what this is getting down to. If you tell me
you’re a Christian, I take your word for it, because this is the realm of
profession. You profess as a Christian. Unless a gift operates, where I
can discern your spirit and discern whether you are of God, or whether
by your accumulated actions you prove that you’re not, then I have to
go with what you say.
I’ve told God before, “We need a tenth gift in 1 Corinthians, and that
would be the gift to be able to look at a person and say, “Born again” or
“Not born again.” That would make evangelism so easy. Wouldn’t it?
You could just walk down the street and say, “No, I don’t need to talk
to you. You’ve got it; you’re good.” You could just go right on to the
next person.
With this being the realm of profession, we have to take people’s word
for it, then watch their lives, and then see if their fruit bears witness to
their words.
church says I am a Christian,” but we don’t know. There are some that
are and some that are not.
Just because you are in church doesn’t mean you’re a part of “the
Church.” To be in “the Church” you have to be born of God. Anybody
can walk in here, sit down, and say, “Oh yeah, I’m a Christian,” but
that doesn’t put them in “the Church,” into “the Body of Christ.” There
are some that only profess.
The “wheat” are those that are truly the children of God,
and they are born again.
The “tares” are those that attend church and are not born again.
The reality is that many times God does reveal and show you things
about people. Then people ask, “Don’t you know this about…?” I say,
“Yes, I know that.” “Why don’t you do something about it?” I tell
them, “If I do, it could hurt other people,” so we just let it go. It’s also
called giving a person enough room to hang themselves. If a person is
a tare, it will show up.
You don’t have to tear them out, and you don’t have to do anything
about them. You can keep preaching truth. I would like to think that
the tares could become wheat. The bottom line is, even if they don’t,
they are hearing the Gospel, and they will have no excuse when they
stand before God. However, if you kick a tare out, then all you’ve done
is reinforce their old idea of God.
You also have to make sure that you know that the tares are not
infecting the wheat. That’s where church discipline comes in. That’s
when you have to start saying, “No. This will not happen.”
Some would say, “Hey, come here a minute. This person right here has
absolutely refused discipline and has absolutely refused to listen to
truth. They’re living in open sin. They are infecting the rest of the
church with their false doctrine. They are a heretic. They’re trying to
pull people off to the side, so this person is to be treated as a heathen to
you.” Think about that. Have you ever seen that in a church?
It hasn’t happened often, but it has happened. That’s what Dr. Sumrall
did. That’s the way he ran things, so I have no problem with that, but
here’s the difference: we say, “Treat them like a heathen,” and how do
we treat the heathen? We love them.
The key is to love people, and try to win them. That’s what Matthew
18 is about. It’s about loving people. It is going to them and saying,
“Fix this; just change.”
Let’s read on. In verse 28 He said, “An enemy has done that.” The
servant asks, “Do you want us to go gather them up?” In verse 29, He
said, “No, lest while you gather up the tares, you root up also the wheat
with them.”
30 Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of
harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the
tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the
wheat into my barn.
I’ll give an illustration where you get it.” He just kept telling the
parables, and each one brought out a different facet of the Kingdom.
Understanding leaven:
I brought this out, specifically, because I want you to realize that many
times I will make reference to the “leaven” aspect of the kingdom. I
will be talking about going into an area, just getting in there, then
letting it grow, and letting it bring forth fruit. Many times I use the
term “leaven” and people automatically think of the warning that Jesus
gave against the leaven of the Pharisees.
I wanted you to see in your own Bible that Jesus said, “The kingdom of
heaven is like unto leaven.” Every time you see the word “leaven,” it
doesn’t mean something bad. Here it means something good. It means
Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven may start as the smallest of all
seeds, but it’s like leaven. If you put it in something, it will take over.
The nature of the kingdom is domination; it is to take over. It is to
reestablish dominion in believers.
34 All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and
without a parable spake he not unto them:
If you get this, nobody will be able to fool you. All I’m trying to do is
inoculate you against wrong teaching, wrong doctrine, and against
hirelings and wolves. I’m trying to bring truth to you straight from the
mouth of Jesus, so you can say, “This is what the Kingdom is like.”
Understand what Jesus said about the Kingdom and what He was
trying to accomplish:
I pray that you will start to understand His plan, His program, and how
He wants to accomplish it. Like I said, it may not be very exciting; you
might not be cheering, or waving handkerchiefs at me. I’m not trying
to get you excited. I’m trying to get you grounded. You’ve got to get
grounded into the Word and into the truth of the Word.
Jesus was talking about the Kingdom. It all goes back to who you are
and what you can do in the Kingdom.
36 Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house:
and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the
parable of the tares of the field.
You’ll notice that He had already given two other parables since that
one on the tares. They said, “We want You to explain that parable
about the enemy coming and sowing. We want to know about that.”
37 He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed
is the Son of man;
Who sows the good seed? Jesus (the Son of man) sows it. Here, He
was explaining it, so you don’t have to guess.
38 The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the
kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;
How many of you know that you can have children of the wicked one
sitting in a church service? That’s where they should be. You have to
realize that everybody was a child of the wicked one until they weren’t.
That’s why we don’t run them off; we want them to be there. We want
to infect them with the Spirit of the living God.
39 The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end
of the world; and the reapers are the angels.
That’s as clear as you can get. He spoke to them in parables, but then
He explained it in such a way that they couldn’t get it wrong.
41 The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall
gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which
do iniquity;
“They shall gather out of his kingdom…” The children of the devil are
in the kingdom of Christ. Isn’t that something? What did Jesus
90 © 2013 Curry R. Blake – John G. Lake Ministries
UNDERSTANDING THE KINGDOMS
The earth was given to man, and it was operating under the dominion
of God. When the enemy rebelled against God and was kicked out of
heaven, he came to the earth. Then, the earth was given to the enemy.
The enemy then set up this rebellion, and the earth became a pocket of
rebellion against the Kingdom of God. Based on that, this rebellion
was ongoing.
Then the Father said to Jesus, “We’ve got rebellion on the earth, and I
want you to take care of it. I want you to go, and put down the
rebellion. I want you to go and destroy all the works of the enemy.”
That is what Jesus came to do. God said, “I want you to go and do
that,” so Jesus came and did it.
Jesus said, “If I heal the sick, if I cast out a devil by the finger of God,
then you would say that the Kingdom has come.” When Jesus referred
to acts of power, He was referring to the Kingdom of God, not the
kingdom of heaven, because the kingdom of heaven is the realm of
profession. In other words, we profess that we’re walking in this.
Both wheat and tares are in the kingdom of heaven. However, within
the Kingdom of God, there are no tares. The Kingdom of God is the
true Kingdom of God.
To get into the kingdom of heaven all you’ve got to do is say, “I want
in. I’m here; I’m part of it,” and no one will say anything.
To get into the Kingdom of God, you must be born again. Do you see
the difference? People in the Kingdom of God are in the kingdom of
heaven, but everybody in the kingdom of heaven isn’t in the Kingdom
of God. I’ll prove all of this as we go on.
He says here that the field is the world, the good seed are the children
of the kingdom, but the tares are the children of the wicked one. The
enemy that sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the
world, and the reapers are the angels. Therefore, the tares are gathered,
burned with fire, and it shall be at the end of the world. I am just trying
to recap here.
41 The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall
gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which
do iniquity;
That is all amazing, but that doesn’t show that they’re getting away
with it. It just shows how good God is. However, there will be a time
when those that do iniquity shall be gathered out of the kingdom of
heaven.
42 And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing
and gnashing of teeth.
43 Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of
their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.
There are two different kingdoms: the Kingdom of God and the
kingdom of heaven. You have the Son of Man (Jesus) over His
kingdom (the kingdom of heaven), and you have God the Father over
His Kingdom (the Kingdom of God).
That’s all He said about it. Do you realize that He just said this is how
good the kingdom is? If you find the kingdom of heaven, you’ll sell
everything, because it’s worth it.
46 Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold
all that he had, and bought it.
You can tell what these last two parables were all about. They were
about selling out to God about everything. In other words, we are to go
for it 100 percent and not let anything else get us off track. It’s worth it
for the kingdom. This actually goes into proving some of the things
I’ve already said.
47 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast
into the sea, and gathered of every kind:
48 Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and
gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.
The kingdom of heaven is like a net that has good and bad in it.
However, the bad gets cast out of the net (out of the kingdom).
50 And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be
wailing and gnashing of teeth.
I am guessing here, but it’s just hard to believe that they understood all
of those things that He said, because this was in Matthew 13, and they
still didn’t understand a lot of things from Matthew 13 all the way to
Matthew 28. They were still lost half the time in their understanding.
None of them just wanted to look stupid. They said, “Oh yeah, Lord,
we got it; we got it.” When they walked off they probably said, “Did
you get that? See if you got what I got. Tell me what you got, and I’ll
tell you if I got it.” It is human nature.
Jesus was saying, “If you’re instructed in the things of the kingdom of
heaven, you are going to be able to bring forth old things and new
things. You’re going to be able to look into the Old Testament and say,
‘That’s pointing to this. Yes, look at this. This is a reality. In the Old
Testament it was a type and a shadow. That means that it wasn’t as
good as this.’”
He was saying, “We have the reality, and I can show you how these
two fit together. If you’re instructed in the kingdom, you’ll have that
understanding.”
96 © 2013 Curry R. Blake – John G. Lake Ministries
UNDERSTANDING THE KINGDOMS
Notice, also that the man is likened unto a householder, the owner of a
house. What does that mean? It means that the man is likened unto a
steward. We will see a parable later that the man is likened as someone
that has a responsibility to do something with what he has authority
over.
The people in the hometown of Jesus heard the Word, and they got
offended.
54 And when he was come into his own country, he taught them in
their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished, and said,
Whence hath this man this wisdom, and these mighty works?
Do you see where this event took place? He taught them in their
synagogue.
55 Is not this the carpenter's son? is not his mother called Mary?
and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas?
Notice: Jesus was the son of the carpenter, Joseph, and Jesus was a
carpenter.
56 And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this
man all these things?
57 And they were offended in him. But Jesus said unto them, A
prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in
his own house.
“And they were offended in Him.” This is exactly what I was referring
to earlier. Jesus predicted this. He just went in and sowed seed in the
synagogue, and they didn’t get it, and immediately, they were offended.
I said all of that to get to this point: there’s a difference between the
Kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven. It’s very simple. The
kingdom of heaven in this age is the realm of profession. Anybody can
enter the kingdom of heaven. If you get this message then you will
understand.
This is where the once saved, always saved doctrine and the other
doctrine, you can lose your salvation if you have a bad thought, come
in. This is what fixes both of those. Both of those are wrong. They’re
both ditches.
You would say, “Well, he that endures to the end, he shall be saved.”
Yes, but then it says, “All that call upon the Name of the Lord shall be
saved.”
“Yes, I was saved at one point, but I’m being saved, and I must end up
being saved, but he that endures shall be saved.” When you call upon
the Name of the Lord, you’re saved, but you’ve still got to endure. It
wasn’t a one-time deal, just to get your ticket punched and that was it.
If you just get an idea of God, you will understand that God is a faith
God. By that, I mean that He has faith in us more than we do. God
says, “I have provided the most amazing opportunity that mankind has
ever had.” Why would anybody that gets in ever want out? Then, He
says, “But, knowing man, some will.”
are in the kingdom of heaven. Do you see that? The good and the bad,
the wheat and the tares, are all in the kingdom of heaven.
The Kingdom of God is the realm of God in the vast universe. The
kingdom of heaven is only upon this earth.
The kingdom of heaven is only upon this earth. He said, “Thy will be
done on earth as it is in heaven.” The idea is to make earth look like
heaven in all of its actions. The kingdom of heaven is only one part of
the universal Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is the realm of
God in the vast universe.
Texas is one state in the Union. The idea here is that the kingdom of
heaven is one part of the Kingdom of God, and it is relegated to the
earthly realm at this time.
The church is the wheat part of the kingdom of heaven, and only a part
of the true servants of the universal Kingdom of God.
In other words, the tares in the kingdom of heaven, the angels, and
other subjects of God in the Kingdom of God are not part of the church.
Let’s go to Luke 17. If you were to look for Scripture that would
summarize everything that JGLM, this church, or anything else that we
are a part of represents, it would be the following verses. Verses 20
and 21 summarize the essence of everything we teach.
Luke 17:20,
21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the
Kingdom of God is within you.
It talks about us being in the kingdom of heaven, but it talks about the
Kingdom of God being in us. There are the two different kingdoms.
When you see this, you begin to realize that the Kingdom of God has
invaded this world by being in God’s people.
We don’t have to call Him down; we don’t have to call Him up.
7 Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ
again from the dead.)
8 But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and
in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;
We don’t have to call Him down; we don’t have to call Him up. Why?
That’s because He is in us. The word of faith is in our hearts, and in
our mouths, which we preach.
Romans 10:10,
10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with
the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
We have an anointing.
What determines the waiting time is how much you’ve grown up into
Him, and the more grown up, the faster things happen.
People say, “But God is God, and He’s in control.” There is not one
verse in the Bible that says that. There is not one verse that says that
He is absolutely in control of everything and that everything that
happens is His will. It does not say that.
When the Messiah puts down all rebellion and every enemy is
destroyed, then everyone in the universe, except the rebels who are
confined to external hell (meaning those outside the true Kingdom of
God), will be willing subjects of God. God becomes all in all, as He
was before the rebellion. The Son will then become subject to the
Father, but will continue to reign with the Father forever and ever.
Both the professed sons and the true sons of God are in the kingdom of
heaven at this time, and the rest are in the universal Kingdom of God.
God recognizes only the true sons of God as being in the Kingdom of
God. Do you hear the difference? That is why one must be born again
in order to become a willing subject of God and to be a part of His
Kingdom.
We are being born again into the Kingdom of God. The natural
connotation of that would be the naturalization process of immigration.
Adoption is also the same thing. This is why one has to be born again
to be in the Kingdom of God. One does not have to be born again to be
a part of the kingdom of heaven.
In Matthew Jesus told the Jews at that time, “The kingdom will be
taken away from you and will be given to others of a different tongue.”
Just because you’re in the kingdom of heaven doesn’t mean that you’re
going to be there all the time. He very clearly said, “Don’t think that
just because you have Abraham as your father that you’re good and that
it is all okay.” He said, “God can make sons of Abraham out of these
rocks.”
Here are some contrasts between the two terms, the kingdom of
heaven and the Kingdom of God:
1. The kingdom of heaven has the Messiah as its King. The Kingdom
of God has God as its King.
5. After the Jews rejected the kingdom of heaven, then it went to the
Gentiles. Because it went to the Gentiles, it went to every other nation.
It wasn’t just one nation; it was any nation.
9. John the Baptist and then Jesus began to preach or proclaim that the
kingdom of heaven was at hand. The kingdom of heaven started at that
point on the earth. The Kingdom of God had no starting point, because
it was always with God.
10. All who profess are in the kingdom of heaven in this age. One
must be born again to be in the Kingdom of God.
13. Men were never told to seek the kingdom of heaven. It was
offered, but they were never told to seek it. They were told to seek the
Kingdom of God, His rule, and His reign over their lives.
You cannot legislate morality. You can legislate to protect the victims
of immorality, but you cannot legislate morality. However, if you put
righteous men in rule, then the character of God will be seen in the
rules and regulations that they legislate.
14. Finally, if you go back to Daniel 2 and 7, you will see that the
kingdom of heaven was prophesied for a future time. It was postponed
for a time and came back in. The Kingdom of God is now, in the sense
that God rules and reigns in and through us now.
Do you see the difference between the two? You say, “Okay, I see the
difference,” but I don’t want to leave you thinking, “Well, that was
informational, but it didn’t tell me anything. How am I supposed to
live?” You do have to go in and study. It took some time for me to
study it. When I was studying it out, I had to look at the differences.
They are quite different.
That’s the reason you can’t just accept a person that has power or gifts.
You can’t just take their word for it, because they can be operating in
the kingdom of heaven and not be speaking for God. They can have
these things. Then it is up to you to decide. The Bible says that the
closer to the end we get, the more there will be lying signs and
wonders, so even the tares can be walking in power.
“Father,
“We thank you for clarity and understanding, and Father we desire to
see your Kingdom advanced. Father, in Jesus’ name, let this
understanding settle into the peoples’ minds, let them get a clear
understanding of it, and let them see that the kingdom comes with
power, and that it is to set the captive free.
“Our job here, at this point in time, is to exercise Your authority and
Your power, to set the captives free, to heal the sick, cast out devils,
and raise the dead. Father, we know that there’s coming a time when
this kingdom will be submerged into Your overall Kingdom, and there
will be no need for power, no need for healings, and no need for
deliverances.
“At that point, our opportunity to share in that part of Your work will
be over, so we thank You that now is our time to work. While we’re in
this world, we are the light of the world, and we thank You for it.
“We thank You for bodies healed and blind eyes opened. We thank
You for sickness and diseases eradicated. Father, we thank You, and
we bless You for it. In the name of Jesus, we thank You that the
Kingdom of God is within us. It is with us, and it goes everywhere we
go, at all times. Father, we thank You that the Kingdom is always nigh
at hand. In the name of Jesus. Amen.”
Religion didn’t come in until later on, and even then, it wasn’t religion.
It was simply because man messed up, and there were certain things
that had to be done because of the mess up. Man took those rituals and
turned them into a religion, thinking that doing those rituals would
make him right with God. It didn’t. If it had, Jesus wouldn’t have had
to come.
We are going to look at what Jesus preached and what He talked about.
Some of the things that we are going to talk about, I have already
mentioned, but I really want to be able to bring it to you in a slightly
different way than I did before.
For years, I was right on the verge of actually doing something the
Bible says not to do in this particular area. Specifically, the Scripture
says, “Despise not prophesying.” I was right on that verge, because I’d
seen so much of the “flake” and the “fake” that I had just gotten to a
point where I said, “I don’t care. I’ll just avoid it altogether.” I was at
the point where I was ready to start despising prophesying because of
the way I saw it.
I’m sure there were some things he could have found out by way of the
internet and by reading our webpage, but a lot of things he spoke over
us he couldn’t have read.
At that time, my son and daughter-in-law were about to have their first
child and they were going to name him Josiah. This prophet was
giving me a word, which I didn’t ask for. I’ve never pursued or gone to
somebody and asked, “Do you have a word for me?” I have never done
that. I am like Dr Sumrall was. People would always come to him and
say, “I have a word for you from the Lord.” He would say, “Well, if
you know Him so well, you go do the word.” He said, “God knows
where I live. He can talk to me if He wants to.” He didn’t let just
anybody walk up and start saying things to him.
When we were there, they began speaking into our lives. This prophet
spoke to me and said, “I am bringing you a Josiah generation.” As I
said, my son and his wife had just found out that their child was going
to be a boy, and they were going to name him Josiah. This prophet had
no way of knowing this, because I had just heard it myself. When he
spoke that, I perked up. I thought, “Okay, he’s hitting pretty close
here.” He began to proceed and actually spoke for some time.
One good thing about that particular group is that they’re always ready
with some type of recorder, and they record. They’re very adamant
about recording prophetic words, because they don’t believe in people
just saying things. They believe that you ought to be able to go back,
listen to them, and check them.
One of the things that Paul told Timothy was to pay attention to the
prophecies that had been put out upon him. He was told to war a good
warfare with the prophecies that had been given. Honestly, I’ve been
around a lot of Christians, and most Christians don’t know how to war
a good warfare with prophecies.
I had to study the prophecy out, and then I started doing some research.
I asked God about it, and He said, “This is what I meant.”
Some prophecies are just going to come to pass, but some of them are
conditional. In some of them there are aspects where you do this, and
then God does that, and until you do this, God doesn’t do that.
The Bible says in the New Testament that we are to judge the words of
a prophet or of prophecies that come forward. We’re not supposed to
take them just as they are. We are to judge them. I wouldn’t say to
analyze them, but check them out. Make sure that they line up with
Scripture. We started doing that, and in many ways, prophecy was the
foundation of this ministry.
Back in 1934, Dr. Lake gave a prophecy and that prophecy is the
reason I am in the position I am in today. Dr. Lake’s family had heard
the prophecy. We made contact with them, and eventually, they
decided that I was the person that this prophecy was talking about. The
very reason I am in this ministry is because of a prophetic word, yet for
years, like I said, I was on the verge of despising prophesying. You can
see the work of the enemy there, trying to take us away from it.
We’ve always been sticklers for the Word and making sure that what
we say lines up with Scripture and keeping it on Scripture. You can
fall into a ditch on either side. You can either become so “pseudo-
prophetic” that you get weird and just say anything, or you can say,
“Next week is going to be a bigger prophecy than last week.” Then
you have a stack of prophecies that never come to pass and nobody
judges them.
You can say whatever you want to say in the church today and nobody
will call you on it, or you can go to the other side and just get so
legalistic and dead that the Spirit of God can hardly even move in your
midst. We don’t want to be in either ditch. We want to make sure that
we are in the middle. We want to be right where God wants us.
I want to show you a couple of things here, and we’re still going to be
talking about the Kingdom. It is a high privilege to pastor this
fellowship and to pastor people around the world. It’s a high privilege,
but it’s also a great responsibility. I hear from people all the time
saying, “Your teaching on this has changed my life.” I hear people say,
“We’ve taken this teaching, and we’re doing this.”
I recognize that the words that come out of my mouth alter people’s
destinies, and so I’m very cognizant of what I say. I’m very aware, and
I always want to make sure that I am right, not for the sake of being
right, but because I just don’t want to lead anybody off in a direction
that is not right. Therefore, I’m very careful about things.
In saying that, if you’re hitched to this wagon, then where I go, you go.
That’s another reason why I’m so careful about where I go, because I
want to make sure that I don’t take you somewhere you don’t need to
go. In these prophetic words, if they were spoken to me and they’re
accurate from God, by the Spirit of God, then because of that and
because of where I’m going, as I said, you will go, too.
I think it only right that you should know some of the things that have
been said and put forth, so I’m going to bring some of those things out.
They directly tie in with what we’re talking about right now and what
we have talked about.
10 And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou
unto them in parables?
He even said that, in hearing, they wouldn’t hear and in seeing, they
wouldn’t see; they would not perceive. He was saying, “I’m putting it
out there, but they’re not getting it.”
10 And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou
unto them in parables?
The disciples had come to Him asking, “Why are you talking in
parables?” He said, “Because it is not given to them to know the
mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to you it is. You are to know
the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.”
These mysteries were not the mystery that Paul said had been hidden
from the beginning of the ages. Remember: they are two separate
things.
The one mystery that Paul talks about is the mystery of the ages, which
is “Christ in you, the Hope of glory.” Without that mystery, there is no
Church. We also look at these mysteries of the kingdom, and we know
that if you are in the Church, you’re in the Kingdom.
I have been looking at this over the last couple of weeks, but last night,
it all came together. My wife stood and looked at me several times,
and she asked, “Okay, what’s going on?” I said, “I’m getting this; I’m
seeing this!”
As I was going back and looking at this, she started trying to talk to me,
and I said, “Hang on.” She said, “Hello. You’re not even here, are
you? You’re not even here.” That was because I was, as we would
say, “Getting a download.” It was just coming, and as it came, I was
just thinking, “Okay. That fits with this and that goes there.”
All of a sudden, it was like, “Okay, I need to get a Bible. I need to start
going through this.” I got my I-Pad and started looking up Scriptures.
Then, I took my physical Bible and started going through different
Scriptures. I started seeing these prophecies that had been given to us.
Some of them go way back, but the ones that I’m specifically referring
to right now go back to 2003.
You can see how some are coming to pass right now. Some have
already come to pass, and then there are some that are coming to pass,
yet there are parts of it that are still for the future. You can tell it’s for
the future, but it’s all happening. That’s why I want you to know
what’s going on, because this will help you to know where we’re
going.
One of the things that I really don’t like to do is get into a car and have
someone take me somewhere without telling me where. I ask, “Where
are we going?” They say, “We’re just going somewhere.” I ask,
“Well, how long is it going to take?” They say, “Well, it won’t take
long.” That tells me absolutely nothing. I hate sitting in the back of a
car or in the passenger seat and wondering where we are going. Tell
me where we are going. I don’t even care if I don’t know where it is;
just tell me where we’re going.
122 © 2013 Curry R. Blake – John G. Lake Ministries
KEYS OF THE KINGDOM
14 And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some,
Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.
Jesus asked His disciples, “Whom do men say that I the Son of man
am?” They said, “Some say that thou art John the Baptist.” It could
have been a real trick, because they were both in the same place at the
River Jordan.
He was saying, “Who do you say I am? I hear you saying what they
say, but who do you say I am?”
The first revelation that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living
God:
16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the
Son of the living God.
17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon
Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but
my Father which is in heaven.
Peter was the first one to answer. He said, “Thou art the Christ, the
Son of the living God.” Jesus looked at him and said, “Blessed art
thou.” The word “blessed,” means spiritually prosperous. He called
him Simon Barjona. The word “Barjona” means son of Jonas; his
father’s name was Jonah.
Jesus said, “Simon Barjona, you are blessed (you are spiritually
prosperous), because flesh and blood has not revealed this to you.” In
other words, you didn’t figure this out. He said, “…but my Father
which is in heaven.” This is the first revelation, so to speak, where we
see a reference to Jesus being the Christ, the Son of the living God,
spoken by somebody other than Jesus.
18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock
I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail
against it.
Notice, Jesus was talking to Peter here. The word “Peter” in the Greek
is the word petros, and it means a piece of a larger rock. One
translation even says, “…a pebble,” and another one says, “…a stone.”
Here He was saying, “I say unto thee, that thou art Peter, and you are a
piece of a larger rock,” and then He said, “…and upon this rock I will
build my Church.”
Now, the word for “rock” there is the word petra and it means the
larger mass of rock. What He was saying was, “Upon this rock (larger
mass), of which you are a piece (smaller piece of this larger mass)…”
Notice what He said, “…and upon this rock (larger mass), I will build
my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
You have to realize what He was talking about here. He was talking
about this revelation of Jesus being the Son of the living God and that
Jesus was the Christ. He was saying, “That’s the revelation.”
Jesus didn’t say, “I’m going to build my church on you, Peter.” That’s
not what He was talking about. He was saying, “What I’m going to
build my Church on is the fact that my Father reveals to people who I
am, the revelation that I am the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
That is the basis of the Church. I know that’s not revelation to you; it
was at one time, but it’s not now.
Jesus said, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.”
In verse 19 He says,
19 And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven:
and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in
heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be
loosed in heaven.
“I will give you the keys of the kingdom.” What kingdom? It was
talking about the kingdom of heaven. It has a lot to do with the visible
kingdom on this earth. He said, “I’m going to give you some keys that
are going to open up certain things. They are going to allow things to
be seen here, physically.
keys are going to do: “And whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be
bound in heaven.” These keys have to do with binding things on earth.
One translation even says, going back to the original Greek, “You will
bind and anything you bind will have already been bound in heaven.”
I’ve heard that preached a lot of different ways, but you have to realize
that your Heavenly Father knows what you have need of before you
ask. Whenever you bind something and it says it’s already bound, it
doesn’t mean that you’re finding what is bound. There would be a
truth to that, but He was saying, “By the time you ask, it’s already
done, because your Heavenly Father already knows what you need.
You’re just making the requisition and Heaven has already granted it.”
This is where I actually got the idea that I tell people, “When a son of
God speaks, heaven hears and agrees, and hell hears and obeys.” This
is the verse that I got that from.
Matthew 16:19 says, “And whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be
bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be
loosed in heaven.” You will notice that this is in the exact same
Scripture where it talks about these keys, so the keys of the kingdom of
heaven have to do with binding and loosing and have to do with you
being in contact with heaven and heaven backing you up so that what is
seen on the earth is representative of heaven.
If you have the keys of the kingdom of heaven, then you have some
type of authority in the kingdom of heaven, and that means that you can
open things that are locked.
This goes right back to what we talked about before. Things that are
locked tend to be mysteries to us. That’s exactly what it goes back to
when it talks about mysteries. It was saying that these things are
hidden, they’re secret.
Jesus told the disciples: “You understand who I am, but these people
don’t know who I am.” At the beginning of these passages, He asked,
“Who do they say that I am?” The disciples said, “Well, some say that
You are John the Baptist.” John the Baptist was a prophet. “And some
say Elias, and others Jeremias, or one of the prophets.” What did the
people think? They weren’t coming to him to be healed because He
was the Christ. They were coming to Him, because they saw that a
great prophet had arisen in Israel, which is exactly what it says about
Him in one place. They had this idea that He was a prophet, but they
did not have an understanding of who He was.
His disciples knew Him. They started seeing Who He was. They said,
“You’re somebody different. You are the Messiah. We believe that;
we’re staking everything on You. We’ve already been run out of the
temple; we can’t go in there and worship anymore, because they know
that we follow You. Every time we go in there, You heal somebody
and then they run us out.”
This idea that they had was this knowledge of the mysteries. This is
one of the mysteries, and because of that, the mysteries were opened,
and they could understand the other mysteries of the kingdom of
heaven. These keys opened things.
Let’s go on. I’m going to read, and then I’m going to come back to
these keys. Remember the keys of the kingdom, and remember the
keys and mysteries. Remember those two words.
20 Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that
he was Jesus the Christ.
That verse proves that Jesus didn’t go around healing just to prove He
was the Christ, because He just said, “Don’t go and tell anybody I’m
the Christ.” Even demons said, “You’re the Christ, you’re the Son of
the living God.” The demons realized that Jesus was the Christ before
some of these disciples did. He told them, “Hold your peace,” because
He didn’t want them to tell who He was.
Jesus was not healing to prove who He was. He was healing because of
compassion. He was healing because of who He was—not to prove
who He was. Now, remember that.
21 From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples,
how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of
the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be
raised again the third day.
Jesus told them these things from Matthew 16 on. Matthew has 28
chapters, so more than halfway through, they found out who He was.
From that point on, He started saying, “Here’s the plan: I’ve got to go,
I’ve got to suffer, I’ve got to die, and I’ve got to be raised.” He
pointblank told them that. Even after He died and was resurrected,
many of them didn’t even believe that He was raised from the dead.
If His ministry lasted from three to four years, based on the chronology
of it, then somewhere between a year and a half to two years is
probably when He told them this. For a year and a half they had time
to think about it, hear about it, and ask questions about it. Yet, even
after it happened, they were all hiding and thinking, “What are we
going to do now? Our Rabbi, our Master is gone.”
Then, Jesus showed up and asked, “Why do you doubt?” Think about
that. You’re not as bad off as you thought. They were with Him, and
they had those kinds of thoughts. You think, “Why is God allowing
this?” or “Why is that happening?” You’re not that much different
from them, and they had a lot of personal contact with Jesus. He was
physically in their presence. Don’t be too hard on yourself when you
ask questions like that.
22 Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far
from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.
“Then Peter took Him, and began to rebuke Him.” Notice: as soon as
He started talking about being killed and raised, Peter rebuked him.
Imagine rebuking Jesus.
23 But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan:
thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things
that be of God, but those that be of men.
Now, that’s strong language. Jesus just turned around, and said, “Get
behind me, Satan.” Satan means adversary. He said, “Get behind me.
You’re an offence to me.” Why? That’s because Peter was trying to
convince Jesus that He didn’t have to go and die.
© 2013 Curry R. Blake – John G. Lake Ministries 131
BEHOLD THE KINGDOM
If you know your purpose and someone tries to tell you that is not your
purpose, it offends you. That’s the reason you have to make sure that
you don’t offend someone by telling them, “You’ll never amount to
anything; there’s no hope for you.” Believe me, if there’s breath,
there’s hope.
Jesus said, “Thou art an offence unto me because you savor not the
things that be of God, but those that be of men.” Peter had just said,
“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” That was a revelation
from God, a revelation that nobody else had at that time, except for the
demons who knew it.
Imagine here: Peter had just given this great revelation, this great
statement, and then Jesus said, “I’m going to build my church on this
revelation of who I am.” Then Jesus turned around, and Peter said,
“No, it’s not going to happen that way, Lord. We’re not going to let
you die,” and Jesus said, “Get behind me, Satan, because you’re not
thinking like God. You’re thinking like man.”
Here was this man that had just received a great revelation one minute,
and the next minute he was operating totally carnal, totally after the
things of the flesh.
I’m just trying to show you that you can have great revelation, you can
have great victories, you can have great faith for things, and yet, in a
moment, in a second of time, switch and be thinking carnal.
You shouldn’t always take as gospel every word that comes out of
somebody’s mouth, because one minute they could be talking about
revelation, and the next minute they could be trying to figure out
revelation from a carnal mindset and give you a totally wrong
conclusion.
I’ve read books where the people laying down their argument seemed
so right on, and I thought, “Yes, this is good, this is good.” However,
after laying all of the pieces out and putting the puzzle together, the
conclusion was so far off, that I started thinking, “How did they get
that? How did one plus one equal sixteen? How did they do that?”
They were just that far off.
It shows that you can get revelation and truth of the Word of God, and
yet, in a split second, because of previous teaching, you can think
wrong and put a wrong connotation to it or come to a wrong
conclusion. Just because you got a revelation that does not mean that
the way you think about everything is right. You can still think carnal.
That’s why our minds have to be renewed in every area, and every area
has to work together with the others. That’s one of the main things.
If you are on the topic of healing and you’re talking about healing in
the Atonement, and then you talk about God not healing a person
because of this thing in his or her life, those two cannot sit together.
You are violating the very basic principle of the Word of God.
Jesus said unto his disciples, “If any man will come after me, let
him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.”
24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after
me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
The disciples knew that if they took up their cross, the end was going to
be death. Leonard Ravenhill used to say, “One thing for sure, when
you saw a man carrying a cross out of Jerusalem, you knew he wasn’t
coming back.” Think about that. When Jesus talked about taking up
one’s cross, that’s what they knew. He was saying, “You’re taking up
My path, and it leads to one place—death to yourself.” In other words,
“You will not come back this way again.”
25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever
will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and
lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his
soul?
27 For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with
his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his
works.
Notice His words. When Jesus returns is when He will bring His
rewards. Healing isn’t a reward. Jesus is going to bring His reward
with Him to give to every man according to his works when He returns.
Anything you see in life is not a reward. There is an aspect of sowing
and reaping, but let’s get specific. Anybody can sow and reap.
28 Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall
not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his
kingdom.
I want you to hear some of these prophetic words that have been given,
because I want you to see what is going on, even in what we’re doing
here now and what we’ve been doing here for almost a year now. It is
an answer to some prophetic words, some of which I had not
recognized until now.
Some of these things aren’t written down, but some of them are in the
back of the DHT manual. You can go in and read them there. I’m
going to tell you about two that we don’t have written down. We’ll get
them transcribed, because we do have them on tape.
One was by a woman that was in South Africa the last time we were
there. We were in the church that John Lake founded in 1908. I had
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been there several times before, and after a service, we went into a
backroom to have a meeting, and we had lunch back there.
There was a woman who came up; we had run into her a time or two.
She was a sweet lady, but we didn’t know how prophetic she was.
After we finished eating, she came up and said, “I’ve got a word for
you.” I was acting like Dr. Sumrall, and I said, “Okay. You talk and
we’ll see. I’ll judge it, and we’ll go from there.”
She began talking and she began laying these things out. My wife
actually got her phone out and recorded it. I will show you why I tie
this into what’s going on right now, because we talked about this last
week.
In this prophecy she said, “I see you going into a room and opening this
old chest.” It was like the type that they used to carry. They called
them steamer trunks, back in the day. They would use those huge
trunks to travel with.
She said, “I see you opening this old chest and pulling out these clothes
that were very neatly folded. They were all really old, but they were
perfectly folded, perfectly clean, and pure white. You were taking
these old clothes out, but they looked brand new.” She said, “As you
were taking these clothes out, you were putting them up to these
people. You were helping people get dressed in these old, old white
clothes.”
Last week we talked about the kingdom, and how Jesus said that every
scribe that is instructed in the kingdom of heaven brings forth treasures
both old and new.
Matthew 13:52:
All of these things started coming together. There were more things to
the prophecy with details, but essentially, that was the prophecy that
she had.
One night they said, “The church that we’ve been working with is
having a meeting on a weekend, and the speaker’s name is David
Wagner. He is known for being a prophet.” I had never heard of him; I
didn’t know anything about him.
We went into the meeting and we got the entire JGLM board of
directors in two pews. We were sitting right in the center, but back a
few rows. This man, David Wagner, started to minister. Finally, he
said, “I understand that we have the John G. Lake Ministries’ Board of
Directors here.” I don’t know where he got the information or who told
him, but he said, “Alright, if I could just get all of you to come
forward.”
We had been in places where people who knew us would call us out.
They would call us out, lay hands on us, and try to give us a double
portion of something, or they would try to give us the new mantle of
John Lake. They would do all kinds of different of things.
I remember I was sitting on the very end, and my wife was sitting next
to me. We had all of our Board of Directors there, and as I’ve said
before, “I can be extremely stubborn. It’s called ‘sanctified
perseverance’ now, but it was ‘stubborn’ when I was younger.”
David Wagner said, “Would all of you come up; everybody come on up
here.” I was just sitting there, and they all looked at me. I was like, “I
am not going up. I’m not going to do it.” The pastor was there on the
other side, and he turned around and looked at me, and I looked at him.
I was like, “I’m not getting up there; I’m not going to do it.” I don’t
know if you realize how awkward that can be. Again, he said, “Yes, if
you all can just come right up here and stand.” You know, 30 seconds
of silence is long.
He just stood there for a few seconds, and nobody was moving. I was
looking around at all of my Board of Directors, and they were looking
at me like, “Are we going to go up?” and I was thinking, “Nope, we’re
not going up; not going to do it.” There was a long silence.
You can tell a lot about a person by how they handle things like that.
He stood there for a few seconds, saying, “Yes, just the JGLM Board of
Directors; if you will, just come right up here; come right up front here,
because I have a word for you.” I was thinking, “Nope, not moving. If
you are really of God, you would know that. You would know how I
am, and you would know that I am not moving.” It wasn’t comfortable
for anybody, especially for him I’m sure, but it wasn’t comfortable for
me either.
Then, he walked down the aisle right next to me. I had never met him,
but he walked right up next to me.
I also don’t like for people to just walk up and lay their hands on me. It
is an act of submission for you to allow someone to lay hands on you. I
will “defer one to another,” but I’m very careful about submitting to
another. If I don’t know you, and if I submit to you laying hands on
me, then that gives you permission to put into me whatever you’ve got,
and if I don’t know you, I may not want what you have. That’s why
I’m very careful about who I allow to lay hands on me in that type of
situation.
I know we train people to go into all the world and lay hands on the
sick everywhere. You say, “Well, what if they are as picky as you?”
Then they probably wouldn’t be sick either, and they wouldn’t need
your hands. We understand that the people we lay hands on don’t
always understand in regard to transference or inputting.
I was sitting there thinking, “We’re really going to find out if he’s of
God, because if he comes and puts his hands on me, I’m probably
going to get up and walk out.” I am not going to say I’m stubborn, but
I held my ground. He walked over, and I could tell he was about to lay
hands on me. He said, “The Lord says,” and then he stepped back.
He didn’t touch me, which was the first sign that this guy might
actually hear from God. He began to prophesy, and he said, “I see you.
You’re supposed to be writing some books,” and he mentioned these
five books. I thought, “Okay,” because I had heard of these books from
this other prophet from five years before that.
He said, “These books are going to bring forth these two keys.” I had
heard about these two keys just a couple of months before that from
this other lady, so God was putting all of this out there.
Then, I began to listen, thinking, “Okay, this guy could be for real.” He
went through this whole thing, and he said, “These keys are going to
open this up and bring forth revelation. You’re going to look at this,
and you’re going to think, ‘Can this be true?’ You’re going to bring
revelation out.” There are a lot more details to it, like I said, but I don’t
have it written down. I will get it transcribed and written down, and
then I will put it out.
you pray for these people?” I said, “Yes, but before I do, I want you all
to know this man is of God. I want you to know that when I sat there, I
wasn’t trying to be rude, or mean, or anything,” and I told them some
things. I said, “This is the way I was raised, spiritually.”
I told them who I had studied under, and I told them how we did things.
I said, “Very honestly, the way he handled that proved to me that he
was of God, because he didn’t lay hands on me, and he didn’t do
certain other things, yet he had to get that word out.”
He was standing there saying, “Yes,” and started laughing. I said, “So
he did. He found a way to get it out, even though I didn’t come
forward and didn’t do what he wanted me to do. He still had to deliver
that word.” I said, “It was right,” and I went through all of these things.
I said, “What he has said is exactly right. He hears from God,” and I
told them about the details of the lady in South Africa. I was basically
just verifying his whole ministry.
I want to show you the following prophecy that was given to me before
those other two prophecies were given. I’m not going to read all of it,
but I am going to read the parts that apply now.
First he said,
“Son, you have some things set before Me that have been a cry in
your heart for a number of years that you have not voiced or shared
with other people, but you are going to begin to see that the
answers that I have for you are going to become a real living
revelation to you. You have had a measure of revelation, even in
healing, but I am taking you to deeper places of revelation that is
even going to begin to blow your mind.
“But as it comes forth you are going to say, “God, this is what I
have been crying out for. This is what I have been looking for.”
And even as the books are written, each will be a piece to the puzzle
that you are trying to solve.”
Here he was talking about these books that I’m supposed to be writing.
Now think about that. Only God can say that you’re going to write
books and that each book is going to be a piece of puzzle that you’re
trying to solve. That shows that the books are going to be by revelation
and not by knowledge, per se.
He said,
“You have been putting together here and pieces together there.
You’ll begin to see the pieces all coming together in greater unity.
And even as you step out into deeper places of healing and step into
places where you will see even more people raised from the dead
just by you walking past them.
“Son, there are also some relational things that you’ve set before
me that I am going to begin to resurrect from those dead places and
bring into a place of life and purpose and destiny in Me and even
those people that you thought would never come into the Kngdom
will come in and they will even work alongside of you, those who
many years ago did not understand what you were doing; they
turned and walked away. This is the day of reconciliation, this the
day of restitution, this is the day where you will begin to see them
coming back to you, repenting for their attitude and repenting for
the fact that they misunderstood and they will ask you to mentor
them and to train and equip them.”
This part of the prophecy relates to the prophecy that Dr. Lake gave.
One of the things that Dr. Lake said was that we would not be
understood or accepted by our brethren and that we would be rejected
by our brethren. We have seen clear cases of that; we have seen
outright, blatant rejections. I want to say that it is almost like being
ignored in a way, but it is the fulfillment of prophecy. It’s hard to get
offended if it’s fulfillment of prophecy.
”Son, you will raise up many people who will be the reproducers of
reproducers and you will see that the work will be a quick work and
it will be an even quicker work than you have had to labor to do
because you have ploughed the ground and made the way and now
is the time for that next generation to step in.”
Years ago, a word was given that one of the reasons why God chose us
was because we would raise our children correctly, and even though we
buried one physical child, God would bring forth spiritual children, and
“‘For surely,’ says the Lord, ‘Son, this is a season, a time that you
are coming into that you are going to reap the harvest of seeds that
you have sown in your late teens and early twenties.’ The roots of
the seeds that you have sown have grown and become this huge
thing and it is a blessing that is not only going to impact you in
your soul, mind and spirit. I see it being something that will restore
the energy and restore the things in the areas where you may have
grown tired. Part of the benefit and the reaping of the harvest that
you are getting is a physical reaping even in your body’s
rejuvenation but also where you have seen miracles with people in
the physical realm and have seen miracles happen before your
eyes.”
“The Lord says, ‘Son, I’m going to supernaturally bring money and
finances into your life.’ I see someone coming into your life that is
of great financial stature who will connect with your ministry and
your call and your purpose and your plan. He will know the root of
what you’re trying to do in the ministry and the obedience that you
walk in with the Father. The Lord says, ‘Son, this person is going
to be someone that supports you in whatever you need.’ I see
checks after checks being written, finances being there.
“The Lord says, ‘Son, I am opening new doors for your family,
even as your family starts to travel more and more with you.’ The
Lord says, ‘Son, I am bringing a new, deeper, fresh relationship
between your family, and what is going to happen.’ I see a zeal
within your children rising up, a passion to receive that double
portion anointing, and the plowing, and to see their eyes being
opened to the sacrifices you have made throughout your life where
you have set things aside, where you have wanted different things at
different times and you said, ‘Lord, I receive your will and I am
going to be obedient to You no matter what is I set aside right now.’
questions and the answers have not been right according to what
they wanted to hear.
“The Lord says, ‘Son, you are going to be back in that situation
again, and Son, just lay it all on the line with them. I see the
situation turning around and even them doing the partnering in
with you that you thought would never have been possible because
of the way they presented themselves. Son, sit back, just receive
from Me. This is a time of joy; this is a time of reaping the harvest
for the seed sown and the sacrifices made.’
“‘Son, receive it. Sit back and relax for I am going to bless you, I
am going to bring what you need. This is the time to ask for even
great, great bigger things than you can imagine.’”
You can keep hearing this thing over, and over, and over again.
“The Lord says, ‘My Son, I sense the urgency within your spirit
because I have placed that urgency there.’”
Again, this goes back to a prophecy that was given by Dr. Lake where
it talks about what was put in me and this urgency.
“The Lord says, ‘Even though, Son, there are things that you have
done that no one else has done, there are still things you know you
can do. There are even teachings that you have done that you have
not even released yet because in your study of people that walked
with Me, twenty, thirty or forty years, a hundred years ago, you saw
some things there that are not ready to be revealed yet. Son, now is
the time to reveal those teachings. Now is the time to reveal those
revelations. And even though the disappointment in your
relationship has come about here in the last two years, it is going to
be taken care of. It is not going to have to be a burden on you.
Son, release that burden on you. That is not your burden, my Son;
that is My burden. I took that burden from off your shoulders. I am
taking it off your shoulders.’
“Son, you are a man in integrity. You have people who have been
looking at you for the past five years who are not sure where you
are standing, but now they are sure where you are standing and
now your finances will be coming in and the plane that was spoken
of will be brought to you because Son, your time in travel has to be
decreased and your time teaching has to be increased, and that is
the way it is going to be done.
“You will be going, not just from country to country, but you will be
going from nation to nation. You will get phone calls from
presidents and princes wanting you to come to their nations. They
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“‘The calling on your life will be increased and your strength, your
vitality and purpose will be revealed.’
“‘I have a purpose for you that is going to be revealed. You have
had a taste of it. I have not told you about it, but you have sensed
in the Spirit that I am going to speak to you. When I speak those
words and I give you that unction, there is going to be a quick move
and you will be staying within a country for three months and
during that stay there will be a change within that country that you
will know what your new calling is and that you will know what
needs to be done.’
“‘I’ve searched the whole earth through. I’ve gone to places with
you. I have found your heart. I’ve seen your heart. I know your
heart is true, for My eyes are upon you my Son. I’ve come to
support you my Son.’
“‘I’m clothing you this day,’ says the Lord, ‘for My angels have
come to you. I’m strengthening you. I’m restoring you. I’m
causing you to be strong.’
“‘You will have what you need. You will ask what you need. You
will have what you need,’ says the Lord. ‘Look up and see My face.
Look up and see My face, for you have My attention. You have My
voice. You have My will. You will have My way. Look up,’ says
the Lord your God, ‘for I have shaken the systems of man. I am
enabling you, my Son. Look now and see for I have redeemed. I
am yours this day. You are mine in every way. You have given
your heart, now I give you My best. I give you My best,’ says the
Lord.
“The Lord says, ‘Just as I have searched and looked and looked
and looked and found you, I am also jealous for you. You are not
even jealous for yourself and with other ministries and the
competition thing has not taken root in your heart, and I am
pleased with your heart and how you have kept the garden of your
heart and the garden with the weeds being torn out so that the
Here, the Lord was speaking, talking about a particular thing. This
would definitely be relevant to this current church family, so I will
definitely have to deal with it.
“‘I’m giving you that land that is prime where people will say, ‘Oh,
no, this just can’t be. This is too prime a piece of land for people to
build a house on.’ ‘You build My house, and I’ll build your house.
The plans are going to be there.’
“‘It will be timely given to you; you will know what to do with it.’
“The Lord says, ‘Not only will it be a home, but there will be
provision for the training center.’ The Lord says, ‘You go to
people, now I am bringing them to you. You have been free to give
out that which I have given to you and I am giving you more. You
can’t even imagine the depths, the mysteries and the keys that are
going to be coming to you.’
“‘I’ll bring the entire family and they will have a peace that will
enable because I will give them sharpening tools. I am taking the
scales off the eyes of some, there will be greater vision and acuity
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and you will be surprised. Yes, you will marvel because you
thought, ‘Can this happen?’ and the Lord will say, ‘You better
believe it.’
“‘This season is good. This season is fast. This season is for the
future. You will see this season is for the very thing that I have
placed in your heart. It is bigger; it is more, because you just can’t
see it all. It is here,’ says the Lord.
“Doctors are going to begin to come and ask how to cure a specific
disease or illness because they have heard of your reputation as a
doctor and that all these people are healed. As they come and ask
you how you would treat or cure this, God will give you the medical
terminology that will surprise you because you aren’t familiar with
the words. They will sense or feel that you have the information
and as they are open to receive it, you will say, ‘Now let me show
you a better way,’ and you are going to bring many of the medical
profession into the Kingdom of God as you do that.
“‘My Son, even as you set your feet on this property [the place we
went to minister], I began to do a deepening work in the midst of
your heart and I am doing an enlargening work in the midst of your
spirit. You have deposited a thing here because it is the earnest of
the multiplication getting ready to happen. For surely you have
come into the prophets and even this day you are receiving the
mantle of prophet and you will prophecy more than you thought
was possible and you will have dreams and visions that are going
to begin to open up to you. ‘There will be third heaven revelations,
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“‘Now even as you put the seed in the ground, there has been a
measure of dying for you, though not only to get here but to process
what had to happen here. This has been a springboard and you
will begin to count down, ten, nine, eight, seven, six, right on down.
For surely as it is established in My Word, I tell My secrets to My
prophets. I tell you now that which I tell you secretly, that which I
read to you secretly, that which has been behind closed doors and
hidden for a season, will burst open and be revealed by My Spirit
and you will see a worldwide impact.’
“‘Son, I am partnering with you in this hour because the last days
are coming quickly. I am calling My bride forth and I am
preparing My warriors in this hour. I am going to put a trumpet to
your mouth, for surely within the midst of you I put an Amos 7
plumb line.’”
“‘I have put within the midst of you a line of demarcation; I put
within you, within the midst of you, My Spirit of Truth. Now it will
come out with forcefulness.’
“‘You will be in a situation where you will speak words that will
come out of your spirit that you will want to put back in your
mouth.’”
That has actually happened many times. This next part was the hardest
thing for me to believe. The prophet continued saying,
Well, it certainly will be. If I can articulate the English language that
will truly be a work of God. Then He said,
“‘I spoke to you and said I would give to you some hidden
mysteries and there has been some measure of that come forth
within the midst of your life. This has not been the fullness. There
is getting ready to open up to you, an open heaven revelation that
will reveal to you the armies of My heavenly realms. I am going to
show you My battle strategies and plans. I am going to give you, as
it were, CIA secret information that will reveal what I am going to
be doing. Son, you will go forth establishing a thing, where your
foot will trod, there will I establish My Kingdom.’
There’s that first mention of the garment we were talking about earlier.
“‘I’m getting ready to pull back the veil. I’m getting ready to pull
back the eyes. I’m getting ready to show you some things that you
have cried out for. You will see this in the thrusting of the wings of
the eagle that will begin to spread and begin to soar with heights in
Me. You will demonstrate that ability of discernment that you have
been asking for. It will settle and rise in your heart and spirit like it
has not happened before.’
“‘This is the day and the hour that I am standing up in the midst of
My throne. I have told you that I am sending you on a journey.
I’ve called you a mighty Warrior. I am raising you up as a
General. I am also telling you right now the power that I have in
the midst of Me to establish, to dethrone and enthrone, to release
and bind, to establish new developmental orders of government and
tear down old forms of government is being put in your hand. A
sickle is being put in your right hand.’
“The Lord says, ‘Son, I have a work for you to do. I have a
commission that is being placed upon you. I have a release that is
coming forth out of the midst of you. There will be a joining of
family. There will be a joining of teams. There will be a
networking of people around about you.’”
You have to remember, all of this was given in 2003 before we were
doing Life Teams and before a lot of the things we have now were
actually established.
Those in the Bible School have been hearing about fullness of stature
and growing up.
You have to go through all of this and look at it, even this idea of
releasing a new song. Every move of God has a song, and it has its
own sound. Very honestly, that has been the one thing that we have
been lacking. We have not been able to take the words of this message
and put it into song so that we don’t have to sing the old songs. The
new songs should come forth and literally take people to a higher level
of revelation.
“‘For this is the hour, son, for you to rise and proclaim; this is the
hour for you to rise and declare. It is the hour for you to set in
order and to position for surely have I placed upon you the
apostolic authority of the last days Prophet, Apostle.’
“‘You will lead this last day army into battle, into victory. Your
time is now at hand.’
“‘You will continue to travel but you shall travel from a base. The
Training Center shall be your launching place. You will produce
those who will also be mighty warriors.’
“‘You must not fear. You must not back off. You must move
forward. You must attack, attack, attack.’”
That’s code, and it is surprising that God would use that, because a lot
of people wouldn’t catch that. The words, “Attack, attack, attack,” are
a direct quote from General George S. Patton, Jr. He said, “When in
doubt, attack, attack, attack.” When this person said this, it was like,
“Oh, yeah; okay,” because I had questions about the path I was on, and
this just confirmed some of those things.
“‘There will come a burst as it were of writing and the books you
produce will change dead traditional Christianity into a living
practical lifestyle that will produce victory.’”
There is a lot more on this; I’m not going to read it all right now. There
are other pages of this prophecy. One of the things that it actually talks
more about is the revelation that is coming forth. Actually, in the last
couple of days in the Bible School, we have completely broken the
mold as far as teaching courses like we planned to. Instead of
following through the course, we have stayed on the “new man.”
We’ve been teaching this “new man” to the Bible School students here
and just going through it, and going through it.
Half of the time we will read a Scripture, start to comment on it, and
immediately it’s like, “How did you get that out of that Scripture?”
Well, I wasn’t trying to get that out of that Scripture. It was revelation
coming forth that we have since gone back and checked out. This is
part of that process of revelation.
The reason I’m telling you this is because, like I said before, if you’re
hooked to this wagon, that is where you’re going. I think it is only
fitting that you know where you are going. We will always have
people that come in for ministry and come in to be prayed for; that’s
just a given.
You heard that a lot of what was said in this prophecy had to do with
the next generation. I believe that the next generation does have to do
with an age, but I also believe that is because God usually speaks to a
person in a language that they understand.
Ephesians 4:11-15,
15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all
things, which is the head, even Christ:
We will always have people who come in that just want to hear; they
just want to go to church on Sunday. They come in, maybe they like
the message, so they keep coming back, but they never get involved.
They just show up and leave. We will always minister to them.
We will share with anybody, and we will talk with anybody. I meet
with people, go to eat with people, and just fellowship. That’s always
good and I enjoy it, but at the same time, the purpose of this place is
not just to give people a place to worship. The purpose of this place is
to train up believers so that people don’t feel like they always have to
meet with me. Until we get that taken care of, this is still going to be a
man-centered thing, and that’s definitely not what we are trying to do.
You can ask anybody around here: if you hang around very much, we’ll
put you to work. That doesn’t mean a paycheck from me or the
ministry, but that means we will find things in the Kingdom of God that
need to be done and see if you will do them. If you do them, God will
pay you; He will take care of you. God doesn’t rip people off. If you
work for God, He will take care of you. That’s just the way it is.
The whole idea here is to get people active. What most of you are
looking for, you won’t ever learn by sitting there. You’ve already
heard the message; you’ve already heard what you need to know. What
you think you need to learn now, you’re going to learn by doing it.
That’s where 90 percent of my growth came from. It wasn’t from just
what I read, but what I started putting into practice. We will have
opportunities for you to get involved and for you to step up. You will
actually be put into a place where you can be used by God.
The senior care facility is the same way, but you can also establish a
relationship where you actually start to pastor these people. You find
out what they need, take it to them, and then you start to have
relationships with them. Honestly, a lot of these people are very close
to death, and they’ll never see outside that building that they are in, so
it is very important that we make sure that they know Jesus as their
Lord. This is a vital thing.
It’s the same thing on the streets. People die every day, so we need to
make sure that we are touching lives. This is your chance. It is not all
about pulpit ministry. It’s not about you having a title or business card.
It is about you touching lives anywhere and everywhere. That is the
essence of it.
My job here is to train you up, and this is the first chance we’ve ever
had to literally train people up, from start to finish. God is giving us
the information, the plan, and what we need to get that done.
I will tell you just very plainly: I cannot do all that I need to do. We
need people to take on things and to start being available to do things;
that is part of the growth. This is not just a place for singing and
entertainment. You can go to any one of a hundred other churches for
that. That’s not what we are about. A lot of things around here don’t
look all polished and professional, because we are actually trying to
really touch lives with the power of God.
To those of you who have been around, you can tell that a lot of these
things that we’ve talked about in the last couple of weeks can be seen
in these prophetic words. A lot of these things I didn’t even try to put
together, until last night. I was looking at these prophecies and
thinking about some of these things.
The two primary keys that God has given us are the keys that open
up the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.
These two keys that we have been talking about just kept coming up
over and over again. There are more than two, but the two primary
ones that God has given us are the keys that open up the mysteries of
the kingdom of heaven, and these keys are very simple.
To you, they may not seem dramatic, but it’s because you’re used to
them. However, if you took what you have been hearing here, or if you
took our CDs or DVDs, or any of our material from the last couple of
years to most other church congregations, it would be a revelation to
them. In many cases, they would absolutely just stop, back off, and
say, “Whoa! That is so far out there.”
The keys that we’re talking about here predominantly have to do with
dominion and authority. I would say that dominion and authority run
together. I could look at it from several different viewpoints, but if I
had to pick two, I would say that at this point, the two main keys that
we have brought to people are: the aspect of dominion, and the aspect
of obedience to the Word. Just do what it says. Most people don’t
think they can, because they don’t think they have the authority, or they
don’t think they have that level of responsibility.
Isaiah 9:6-7,
Here in Isaiah it did not say, “On His shoulders shall be a new
religion.” It said, “The Government will be upon his shoulder,” and
that Government is the Kingdom of God. It is a different type of
government.
That is exactly what this person prophesied. A while ago, when I was
reading, he said, “There is a new government, a new way of moving
into things that I am beginning to bring forth and reveal to you.” It is
very simple. The Kingdom of God is the Government, and it is
operating in that Kingdom; it is not operating under natural principles
that we have in this world. To those of us in this Kingdom, these keys
have been given.
you. Well, that understanding is a key. It’s not one or two keys;
actually, the bigger a kingdom is, the more keys there are attached to it.
These keys have to do with this understanding.
That’s the whole purpose of having this training center. It’s not to give
me a place to preach. If we didn’t have this, I could be preaching
anywhere in the world. We have thousands of open invitations. I don’t
need a place to preach. I am here to sow into your life and to pastor
you, “to grow you up” so that you look, talk, and act like Jesus. The
way for you to do that is to understand the principles of the Kingdom of
God. If you don’t understand those principles, you will never walk in
the fullness.
Jesus used the parable of the sower as the principle. He said about this
parable, “If you don’t understand this one, how are you going to
understand any of the rest?” You have to get understanding.
Once you have that understanding, the devil cannot steal it from you.
Get understanding, whether it comes by healing, by the Baptism of the
Holy Spirit, or by the Kingdom; get understanding. Keep going after it
until you get those questions answered. If we have to say the same
thing a hundred different ways, we will do it, because it is not enough
that we preach it. You’ve got to get it.
Healing the sick is not a gift. You have to understand that there are
gifts of healing, but you don’t have a gift so that you are able to heal.
You are a believer. Healing is walking in the Kingdom.
We have laws, but we also have rights here in America. That is how
we live in this culture. There are different ethnic groups that have
different cultures within their ethnic group, yet all of those cultures
come together to make this country.
The Kingdom of God is like that. In other words, there are all different
ways that people do things, but we all have to abide by the same
principles. We all live under the same principles, and they are very
simple. Those principles are the ones that Jesus laid out.
For the people in the kingdom of darkness, it’s dark; that’s the reason
we have to bring light. How do we bring light? We bring light by
preaching truth, healing the sick, and setting the captives free, because
that’s what it is like to live in this Kingdom. In this Kingdom, there is
health.
You don’t need a health plan; you’ve already got one. I see people
saying different things about insurance, but that doesn’t concern me
one bit, because I’ve got none of it. I’ve got Psalm 91 brought over
into Luke 10:19. That’s how I live. Based on that, there are principles
in the Kingdom of God that are your right. You have the right to live a
certain way, but you have to get used to it.
The first ground you need to take is other people’s hearts. You need to
win their hearts, because until you win their hearts, you’re not going to
see much of the Kingdom lived out through their lives. We can
demonstrate it “on them,” but it won’t be demonstrated “through them”
until we convert them.
We’re talking about colonizing; we’re talking about going into a new
area, planting the flag of Jesus, and causing those people to see truth.
In order to do that, we have to walk in it. We can’t walk two sides. I
know there are some countries where you can have dual passports.
That’s not the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God has one
passport—it is the blood of Jesus. We need to understand that we walk
in this Kingdom, and therefore, we walk on these principles. We have
to get it drilled into us to the point where we start walking that out, and
we start living in the Kingdom.
The other day I saw a book that told how the best leaders lead. I
thought, “I don’t even need to read it. It’s called, ‘By example.’”
There are a lot of other details there, but bottom line, it comes down to
some point where you can’t just describe it; you have to demonstrate it.
We, as the people of God, have to begin walking this out.
There were some people who got kicked out of some healing rooms.
They were not our healing rooms. They got kicked out, because the
people running them said, “You’re not relying on the Holy Spirit’s
anointing enough.” When asked what results they were getting, they
said, “Oh, people were getting healed left and right.”
They were probably relying on the anointing enough, but it just didn’t
look the way that those running it wanted it to look; it didn’t fit in with
their culture. Why? That’s because their culture is trying to build
something that is not biblical.
The more spiritual you get when walking in the Kingdom of God, the
more natural you’re going to look in how you do these things. You’re
not going to look weird; you’re going to look normal.
Someone might say, “Oh, this is horrible! I just got a phone call and
someone is on life support.” You’re not going to sit there, do the same
thing they did, and say, “Oh really? Oh, no! That’s horrible.” No, it’s
going to be natural for you to say, “Well, get them on the phone.”
“Well, I can’t get them on the phone; they’re on life support.” “Okay,
call somebody who’s next to them. When you get them on the phone
say, ‘Take the phone and put the phone near them or point it toward
them.’” Then you say, “In the name of Jesus, I command you to wake
up! I command you to be healed!” They will ask, “Okay, are you
done?” You say, “Yes, I’m done.”
After you have done that, you will go back to eating and being normal.
The people that are with you will look at you and say, “That was weird.
Do you think that really worked? I mean, don’t we need to stop eating
and fast?” “No, it’s too late now to fast; you were already eating.”
We have to realize that this is who we are, and this has to be normal to
you. Until it is normal to you, nobody else is going to want it. They
have to see that this is part of who you are. When people see you
walking in this, and they ask, “When everybody else got scared and
nervous, why didn’t you get scared and nervous?” you can say, “I
didn’t get scared, because nothing is going to touch me. I don’t care if
everything falls apart; I’m going to walk out into the midst of it.”
I firmly believe that if I had been at the World Trade Tower on 9/11, I
would have walked right out. Either that or it would have collapsed
around me, and I would have been standing there looking at the pile of
rubble. You say, “That sounds crazy?” No, that is what it sounds like
when you are walking in the Kingdom.
You have to realize who you are; you are not the same as you were
before. You have access to power, you have access to knowledge, and
you have access to wisdom that has not been revealed before. You are
a new creation, a new species. You have to realize that.
34 Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the
knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.
If you get around me and talk cars, I won’t have a clue. If you were to
ask me about different kinds of cars, I wouldn’t be able to tell you the
difference. Cars may impress you, but I would be standing there
looking at you like, “Yeah, so?” Why? It’s not my world.
We need to get to the point where the Kingdom is our world and to
where we talk and people say, “What are you talking about?” “Don’t
you understand? Here let me explain it to you. It’s like this…”
What are you doing? You’re throwing out a parable, because that’s the
way Jesus taught, and you begin to explain the Kingdom. Everything is
about the Kingdom.
Everything we are going to be doing here, especially over the next few
months, you’re going to hear it more, and you’re going to see it more.
We’re going to start living out the Kingdom here. You’re going to see
it functioning in ways that you’ve never seen it function before,
© 2013 Curry R. Blake – John G. Lake Ministries 175
BEHOLD THE KINGDOM
because I believe that this is the time; this is what we have been waiting
for.
Honestly, what I like about this place is that we are not under any type
of denominational thumb so that we have to do it a certain way. We
can just see what the Bible says, and do it the way the Bible says to do
it, and by the Spirit of God, we will establish the Kingdom of God in
this place. People that come here can walk through those doors and get
healed. They don’t even have to get prayed for. It’s all fine and good
to pray, but we don’t have to. We can just begin to minister the
Kingdom of God.
After going through some of these prophetic words, the hardest thing to
believe is that God knows you well enough that He can speak prophetic
words to you and say, “This is what I have for you.” When I got called
to the ministry, everybody told me that I wasn’t fit for ministry or
couldn’t be used by God. I heard all of that. If I had not answered the
call to ministry and stepped out, I would not have been on that platform
the day that God had a word for me. Every step you take today puts
you somewhere else tomorrow.
When people say, “That’s never been done before,” I say, “Well,
nothing has ever been done before until you do it.” Basically, that’s
what it comes down to. It is time for us to do some things that have
never been done before. Let the world marvel at it, and when they ask,
“How did ya’ll do that?” we will just say, “That’s just Kingdom.
That’s just normal; it’s how we live.”
It’s because of what Christ did in and through us and what He did for
us. It’s as if I keep going farther and farther back, and healing is just
one spoke on the wheel of salvation, so to speak, and of God’s overall
plan.
As I started studying the new creation, I realized that the reason healing
worked was because of this new creation.
The new creation works, because of what God did in us, and because of
what He did through Jesus at the cross. We moved into a new time at
that point, especially with His resurrection.
In studying the new creation and the new man, we looked at this. Paul
literally spent his entire ministry teaching this new creation, and every
time there was a problem in the church, he always answered that
problem by teaching them about the new creation. We will continue
doing that. Paul spent his entire life doing that, so I don’t have any real
hope of doing it in a few days of teaching, but we can at least head you
in the right direction.
I’m going to give you some Scriptures here, and I am going to give you
a major piece of what we’re going to be talking about in this session.
Then I’m going to break it down and hopefully give you some nuggets
that you will be able to use.
There is a real danger in Christianity for people who have been around
the church for a very long time, in that they get “religionized.” When
somebody says the Kingdom, they automatically switch modes of
thinking to religion.
2 The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they
that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath
the light shined.
3 Thou hast multiplied the nation, and not increased the joy: they
joy before thee according to the joy in harvest, and as men
rejoice when they divide the spoil.
Notice: it says that these people walked in darkness, and they saw a
great light. This is exactly the Scripture that was later quoted about
Jesus when He showed up in the flesh and began walking through
Galilee and began doing the works of God.
4 For thou hast broken the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his
shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian.
Notice it is talking about breaking this rod and breaking this yoke. We
talk about that when we talk about the anointing. There is a teaching
where He said, “You have broken this yoke from off your shoulder and
the burden from off your shoulder.” It was talking about the day of
Jesus, specifically about when He showed up. He was talking here
about breaking the yoke. Look at verse 5:
I brought this verse out, because here it was talking about the battle,
and the warrior, and the rod of the oppressor being broken.
Then it goes into verse 6 which is usually the most peaceful verse,
because it’s always spoken at Christmas. It is always spoken in a most
peaceful way.
At Christmas, people want to give you the idea of how peaceful and
how good it is going to be. They talk about the child, Jesus, who was a
baby in a manger and all of the other things that you hear. Yet they
never go back and find out that in the verse just before that peaceful
one, he talked about warriors, breaking the yoke, the clothing rolled in
blood, and all of that. It almost sounds like violence, and then it says,
“For unto us a child is born.” You would think that would be the
antithesis of violence.
I want you to realize that when we talk about kingdom of heaven, we’re
not talking about just a concept or even an idea. We’re talking about a
tangible literal empire, even to the point where you would call it a
government.
Usually, when we talk about the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of
heaven, we don’t think in terms of the Government of God or the
government of heaven, but that’s what it means, because a kingdom is a
government. We are going to be talking about what is required for
there to be a kingdom.
I don’t know if you realize it or not but a person can’t just go out in
their front yard with their own special flag that they’ve hand sewn,
stick it in the front yard and say, “We’re a kingdom.” I know that
people say, “A man’s house is his castle,” but that doesn’t make his
front yard his kingdom. There’s more to it than that.
There are some legal requirements for a kingdom to exist. There has to
be a certain territory, and there has to be a provision. The people that
live there have to be subjects of the kingdom, and there has to be an
army to protect the kingdom. There has to be a governing body to
actually operate in the kingdom.
When you go to back and look at it, it is amazing how God used those
terms specifically, both kingdom and government, referring to His own
way of doing things.
The Word says that Jesus was born in the fullness of time, and the
empire that most closely resembled the way that the Kingdom and the
Government of God operated was the Roman Empire. That was one of
the most corrupt empires ever in existence. It just shows that once man
gets hold of something, he usually messes it up. If an empire was done
the right way, it would be in God’s keeping and in His will.
Here He was talking about this in more specific terms, so I want you to
think in terms of government. Don’t think of it as some wispy idea of
the Kingdom of God being here, as in it’s here…it’s there…it’s
everywhere. Don’t think of it that way. You need to think of the
Kingdom of God as the Government of God and that the Kingdom is
wherever God’s will is being done.
as long as you are doing the will of God. As you go out and do the will
of God, you are advancing His Kingdom.
I want you to see that there is a Government. I want you to get away
from the religious idea and start thinking in more concrete terms,
because most people never think that way.
Matthew 4:17,
17 From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for
the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Jesus began to teach and He didn’t stop. Everything that Jesus taught
was Kingdom, all the way through. He was basically showing us how
God’s Government operates. Start thinking more along the lines of the
Kingdom being Government rather than thinking of it as just an idea.
We can be the “advanced force” to help bring that into being, or we can
wait. If we wait until He arrives, we’re not going to get what He has
promised to those who actually advanced His Kingdom. It’s really
simple.
19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and
rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Remember: “…where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single,
thy whole body shall be full of light.
You can have light, and it can be dark. Notice the essence of what He
was talking about here. He was talking about being single-minded.
24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one,
and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise
the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
“Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall
drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on.”
25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye
shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye
shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than
raiment?
Understand that He was not saying not to think about it. He was
saying, “Take no thought.” The word “thought” there actually leans
toward a concerned thought, in other words, a worry. We have to
realize that He was trying to say, “Don’t put all of your time into
thinking and making sure that you’re going to be taken care of.”
26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they
reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth
them. Are ye not much better than they?
27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his
stature?
28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the
field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was
not arrayed like one of these.
What was He saying over and over again? He was saying, “Don’t
worry about what you’re going to eat, or what you’re going to drink, or
what you’re going to put on.” He wasn’t saying, “Don’t think about
it.” He was saying, “Don’t worry about it. Don’t let that be the reason
you live.” You have to realize that this is one of the first generations to
potentially have so much leisure time.
Almost every previous generation spent most of their time just working
toward making sure they had a roof over their head and making sure
that they had food to eat. If you think about it, before supermarkets and
refrigeration and all of that, they had to go out nearly every day and get
food for that day; they had to gather it. The whole day was spent either
in going and getting it, or preparing it, building a fire, and getting
everything ready. There was a lot involved. Your whole day was
wrapped around just existing.
Some people would say that’s how we are today; we’re having
problems in paying our mortgage and this bill or that bill. Very
honestly, most of that we brought on ourselves. Many times we
(Americans, especially), tend to try to live above our means. At some
point, you have to choose to cut back on spending. Unless you have a
money printing machine, you can’t just make more money. You have
to learn to cut back on some things.
Most of what we have today are not necessities. They are luxuries, and
we’ve gotten so used to them that the luxuries have become necessities,
or at least we think they have.
Jesus was trying to tell them, “Don’t get hung up on all of those things
so that that’s all you think about and live for.”
Matthew 6:30,
The church has gotten far away from the Bible and from the teachings
of Jesus, what He actually did, and what He said. It has gone to this
other extreme from what the Bible teaches. The way the world
operates is the opposite of everything in the Bible. The hardest thing is
to take that first step across and start operating the opposite of the way
the world operates. Most people never get there, and that’s where
religion comes in.
Religion comes in and says, “Live like the world, and pay your penance
for living like the world.” Religion is based on: “You can never be
good enough and since you’re not going to be good enough, you must
always pay the price of not being good enough. If you pay a big
enough price, you can continue to live while not being good enough. It
won’t matter, because as long as you pay the price, God will overlook
what you’re doing wrong.” That’s what religion does.
That’s not what God said. Jesus was telling us right here, “Don’t be
like the world; don’t think like the world. You have to do the
opposite.”
In other words, “Don’t be worrying about those things, and don’t let
that be your topic of conversation.”
32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your
heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
“For after all these things do the Gentiles seek.” He could have put in
there the word heathen or godless. He could have said, “People that
don’t have God think like that, however if you have God, you shouldn’t
think that way.” He was telling them, “You have to remember that you
have a God who will take care of you. You’re not going to starve;
you’re not going to do without.”
hope. We have a God who loves us so much that He gave His son; we
all know that Scripture.
Romans 8:32,
32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all,
how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
Matthew 6:33,
That’s just the opposite of what the world says. The world says, “If
you want it, you’ve got to go get it. If you want it you’ve got to grab
hold of it, you’ve got to take it, you’ve got to exert yourself, assert
yourself, and you’ve got to step up, even if that means stepping on
somebody else. If you want something, you’ve got to go after it.”
Here He said, “If you want to be clothed, if you want to be fed, and if
you want to be taken care of, the way to do that is not to think about
being clothed and fed and taken care of, but to seek first God’s
Kingdom.” Let me just paraphrase this: “If you take care of God’s
business, He’ll take care of yours. If you make other people your
responsibility, God will make you His responsibility.” Amen?
It’s like mercury. Have you ever tried to put your finger on a little spot
of mercury? You try, but you can’t; it always slips away. That’s the
way chasing all of these things are. The more you try to catch them,
the more they just slip away from you.
Have you ever tried to sneak up on a dog or a cat? The best way to do
that is not to walk toward them; it’s to turn around and walk backward
toward them, because then they don’t realize you’re coming toward
them. They will lay there and let you just walk right up to them, but
only if you are backing up. You can’t act as though you’re going after
them, because they’ll run or do whatever else they might do, but if you
act like you don’t want them, you can catch them.
It’s the same thing with all the things that we were just talking about.
The best way to be taken care of is not to put your mind on being taken
care of, in the sense of trying to get this and trying to get that.
There are only two positions: the humbler position and the exalted
position. You get to choose which one you want. If you choose to be
your own exalter, then you will automatically put God in the humbler
position. You don’t want God humbling you. However, if you take the
humbler position and you humble yourself, then God will exalt you.
That’s what you want, because God is a good exalter. God can exalt
you better than you can.
You’re going to have to decide: who is your provider? God has already
said, “I am Jehovah Jireh, the Lord who provides.” You have to
decide, “Is that what He is to me?” If He is not and if you are your own
provider, then God isn’t your provider.
If you are going to provide for yourself then you are going to go back
under Adam. You’re going to toil, you’re going to sweat, you’re going
to have to work at these things, and it’s going to be hard to get it all
done. However, if you take God as your provider, and you start taking
care of other people, then God will take care of you.
Matthew 6:32-33,
32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your
heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
“All these things…” God’s not against you having things. He said,
“…and all these things shall be added unto you.” God’s not against
you having things; He’s against things having you. You’ve heard that
before. It says here that He will add these things to you. I don’t know
about you, but it’s much better to have them added to you than you
having to chase them down.
If you understand this, you will find out how to have things delivered to
you, rather than you having to go and chase them down and provide for
yourself. This is the way the Kingdom operates—this is not the earthly
way. The earthly way says, “Well, you’ve got to sow, and then you
will get it back.” It’s not like that in the Kingdom. It’s amazing!
Before Jesus ever did one miracle, even when He came up out of the
water and saw the dove, He had never done any work, yet He heard the
Father say, “I’m well pleased in you.” Isn’t that amazing? Now
according to most Christians’ way of thinking today, that would only
have come at the end of His life after He had done all the works and
then God could look at the works and say, “Yes, yes, yes, that’s good.
I’m well pleased. Well done.”
People look at it like it should come at the end of His life, but Jesus
heard it at the beginning. Jesus heard that before He ever did a thing,
so God being well pleased cannot be based upon what you do.
Faith pleases God, and you can have faith. We know that faith without
works is dead, but you have to realize that when Jesus pleased the
Father, He was already living in faith. That pleased the Father and He
said, “In whom I am well pleased.” He had to be living by faith, and
yet had not done a thing.
Don’t think that you’re not pleasing to God just because you haven’t
raised the dead or healed 1,000 sick people. You have to realize that
God is well pleased in you when your faith is in Him. You have faith
in Him by trusting Him to take care of your daily needs.
It pleases God for you to have faith in Him that He’s going to give you
things and that He’s going to take care of you. Why? It is because He
is your heavenly Father, first and foremost.
He’s still a Judge, but He’s not your Judge today. Today He is your
Father, and even when you stand before Him as your Judge, you’re
going to stand there with Him as your Father. Remember that.
Notice it said in Matthew 6:33, “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and
His righteousness and all these ‘things’ shall be added unto you.” In
Deuteronomy 28 it talked about going back under the Law, the blessing
of the Law.
Deuteronomy 28:2,
2 And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if
thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God.
Matthew 6:33 wasn’t some brand new thing. Jesus was just “cutting to
the chase,” you might say, and getting right back to the blessings. He
said, “If you will listen to God and listen to His voice, then all these
blessings will be added to you.” In other words, these blessings will
overtake you. You won’t chase them; they will chase you down. You
cannot run fast enough to get away from the blessings of God, and that
was under the Old Covenant.
All Jesus was saying here is this: “Seek first the Kingdom, God’s
Government; seek first His rule in your life and through your life. Seek
first how He does things.”
You could represent yourself, but lawyers know laws, and they know
when to make certain motions and when to say certain things that are
supposed to help your case. You have to have a license and have
passed the bar to operate in a court of law in almost any country.
Every country will tell you that you have to go through their school and
generally, a lawyer in one country cannot operate in another country
without having gone through law school there. That is mainly because
the laws are different and the ways of operation are different.
The way you were in the world cannot be the way you operate in the
Kingdom of God. It’s a different system. The best rule of thumb is
very simple: whatever you used to do, just do the opposite. That is
generally the best way. If you do the opposite, you’re going to be in
keeping with the way God does things.
Deuteronomy 28:2,
2 And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if
thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God.
Matthew 6:33-34,
34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall
take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is
the evil thereof.
He told them, “Seek first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness
and all these things will be added to you.”
Don’t be like the heathen who think that you have to take care of
yourself. You have to think in terms of, “I have to take care of other
people.” That’s the exact opposite of the way the world thinks. The
world says, “I’m going to get mine; it’s too bad you didn’t get here
sooner if you wanted to get it. You should have gotten here before I
got here, because now I’m getting it.” That’s the way the world thinks.
The Kingdom of God says, “I’ve got this, and I want to give it to you. I
want to help you, because I cannot exhaust the resources of heaven.
The more I give you, the more blessed I get.”
Think in terms of this: Jesus was telling them how to operate according
to the Kingdom, according to God’s Government, and how it operates.
He said, “Don’t worry about tomorrow, don’t worry about things, and
don’t worry about your daily needs.”
Right at this moment, many have situations going on. There may be
financial situations or health situations going on within a family; there
might even be social situations. Many would say that their lives are in
an uproar. The more they focus on it, the more their lives will be in an
uproar.
We’ve got one of those little coin counting machines. You turn this
lever and every coin goes into the right slot. That’s the way things
work, as long as you try not to focus on the coins. You start pouring
those coins in and you may try to watch them going into the slots, but
you can’t. You just pour them all in there, turn the thing on and they
go into the right slot. That’s the way the Government of heaven is.
You just get busy about your Father’s business and everything will start
to fall into place.
I was raised over in Mesquite, east of Dallas, most of my early life and
I went through high school there. During that time, I went to Larry
Mahan Bull Riding School and rode bulls with Donny Gay. I always
enjoyed it. I was just an adrenaline junkie, so I liked the adrenaline
rush of it.
We used to make bets about who was going to get thrown the first and
how quickly. The key was being able to tell the riders who were
uptight that they were the first ones to go. The first thing you have to
learn about bull riding is that you have to relax. You have to relax, and
then you have to get what they call the rhythm of the bull.
If you’re not relaxed, the ride will pop every joint and every bone.
Those who are uptight are the people who will get hurt, so you have to
learn to relax. Hold on tight, relax and listen for the buzzer. That’s all
you have to do. Lean back, and as they say, “Rake the spurs.” The
farther you lean back, the higher your score goes. The whole idea is to
relax.
Have the peace of God and the joy of God in the journey.
Jesus said several times, “They’re going to know you because of your
love.” He said, “I’m leaving you a peace, not like the world has, but
My peace. They’re going to know you because of your peace.” He
said, “You’re going to have a joy that no one else is going to be able to
understand.” Well, joy comes out of peace. If you don’t have peace,
you are not going to have joy. Love and joy are the things that we are
supposed to be known for.
Jesus didn’t say that you were going to be known for your power.
Power has to do with signs to show people that God is with you. He
said that you would be known because you love people.
Jesus was saying, “People are going to know I’m with you, because
you love them. People are going to know I am with you, because you
have joy that they cannot explain. They are in the same situation
you’re in, but you have joy, and they don’t. In the midst of that, you’re
going to have a peace that they’re not going to understand. The reason
is that you understand that you have a Heavenly Father, and they
don’t.” Think about that. The things you seldom see in the lives of
Christians are love, peace, and joy, all of which are fruit of the Spirit.
People will watch someone ride a bull and ask, “How can he do that?
That’s so dangerous.” The rider will say, “Are you kidding me? It’s so
much fun.” “How can it be fun? It’s dangerous.” “That’s why it’s fun.
You get that adrenaline rush, but once you get past that, then it
becomes an art.”
You have to realize that paper currency is unstable, because they can
value it or devalue it at will. I would say the most sure things are gold,
silver, and precious metals. Even that fluctuates, but still it is more
solid than just paper money. If you have paper money, it’s usually in a
bank somewhere, and even if it’s not, the value goes up or down, it
doesn’t matter whether it’s in a bank or in your mattress. When you
pull it out, it isn’t worth what it was before, and it usually isn’t going to
go up. However, if you have precious metals, most of the time those
stay solid, and they become something you can trade with.
Have faith in God that He will to do what He has said He will to do.
The other day I was at the bank and on the window was a sign that said,
“This is backed by the full faith and credit of the United States.” I
looked at that and asked the teller, “Does that make you nervous having
that thing on there? Do you ever get any comments on that sign?” The
girl started laughing and said, “Yeah, we get a lot of comments on that
now, because people don’t have very much faith in the stability of the
United States government. A lot of people are concerned about it.”
She also said that people came in all the time to just check their balance
as if that would make a difference. How much balance you have in the
account is not how much you have in there.
In the Kingdom of God, your faith in God will enable you to relax, to
enter into His rest, to trust that you have a Heavenly Father who will
take care of you under all circumstances, no matter what you’re going
through and no matter what’s happening. You know that there may be
ups and downs, but at the end you’re going to come out all right.
That’s the main aspect of what God is trying to get across through His
Kingdom.
Remember what He said in Matthew 6:33: “If you seek first the
Kingdom of God and His righteousness, these things shall be added to
you.” It doesn’t say you will pursue them. As a matter of fact it says
the opposite. He says if you want them, don’t pursue them. You go
after the Kingdom of God, and these things will be added to you. If
you go after those things, you’re acting like a heathen. Go with me to
Philippians 4.
Philippians 4:19,
19 But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in
glory by Christ Jesus.
“His riches and glory by Christ Jesus” are immeasurable. We can talk
about them, but they are immeasurable. You could never deplete “His
riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” It is a bottomless bank account. I’m
not just talking money. Hopefully, I’m just giving you a visual.
Notice he said, “My God shall supply all your need according to His
riches in glory.” Notice that it doesn’t say it is according to your good
works or according to the way you sow. Now, admittedly, when he
was talking to the Philippians, the people of the Philippian church had
sacrificially supported Paul. When nobody else did, they had partnered
with him so there was an aspect of that that they were walking in.
Paul was writing to them saying, “My God.” He didn’t say, “Their
God.” Obviously, it was the same God, but he said, “I’m not even
talking about how much you believe in God. I’m telling you my God
will take care of all your need by His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”
Paul had faith in God for the Philippians. He told them that God was
going to take care of them.
James 4:1,
1 From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they
not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?
2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot
obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.
“You lust, and have not.” The word “lust” and the way it is used today
usually has a strong, sexual connotation to it, but all it means is an
insatiable desire. That’s all it means.
“You lust, and have not.” Notice what it was saying: “You desire to
have things, you strongly want things, and don’t have them. You
desire to have them, and cannot obtain them.” That’s the old carrot and
stick thing, which refers to a policy of offering a combination of
rewards and punishment to induce behavior. It’s always out there.
They pay people just enough to keep them from quitting, and the
people will work just enough to keep from getting fired. Generally,
that’s the way business is.
He says, “You lust, and have not: you kill, and desire to have, and
cannot obtain: you fight and war, yet you have not, because you ask
not.” Do you hear that? He was saying, “You want it, you desire it,
you go after it, and you fight for it. You go after those things, you lust
after them, you try to get them, and you can’t get them, and the reason
you don’t have them is because you didn’t ask.” Isn’t that simple?
You say, “You mean I don’t have to struggle, and fight, and war, and
go after these things? Are you telling me business isn’t cutthroat? I
can’t go out there and step on the other guy? That’s not the way it’s
done?” James said, “You’re doing all that you think you’re supposed
to do, and it is not working.” He said, “Do it the Kingdom way; do
God’s Government; do God’s principle.”
In Matthew 6:33 Jesus didn’t say anything about asking. He said, “If
you seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, these things
will be added unto you.” Your focus is on the Kingdom; your focus is
on the Government of God. Then in Philippians it said, “My God shall
supply all your need according to His riches.” He didn’t say according
to how you ask. Both times, in Matthew 6:33 and Philippians 4:19, it
was talking about needs. Your needs will be taken care of by God
without you asking.
When my kids were at home with us, they didn’t have to ask us for
food; we fed them. They didn’t have to ask us for clothing; we clothed
them. They didn’t have to ask. We did it for them automatically. As a
matter of fact, sometimes we had to make them eat when they didn’t
want to. We had to make them wear clothes when they didn’t want to.
Those things can be provided. Are you seeing the picture here?
I am trying to get across to you that what most people do is spend all
their time begging God for their needs. You’re wasting your time
begging God for your needs because He said, “I’m taking care of your
needs. If you are going to talk to Me, if you are going to ask Me for
something, ask Me for what you want, ask Me for what you strongly
desire. The wants are what you ask for. The needs are handled, so
don’t waste your time.”
You can spend time thanking God for meeting your needs. You can
spend time worshiping God. What most people end up doing is
spending all of their time chasing after their needs. If they talk to God,
it’s usually about things they need. It is sometimes about what they
want, but they spend so much time trying to get things that they never
really fellowship with God. I can tell you, “I am blessed, and yet I
don’t ask God for anything.”
Honestly, everything else could fall apart, but I’ve promised people by
hiring them that we are going to pay them. Therefore, to me that’s a
big thing, because if it isn’t there, that’s a family that is going to do
without. That’s the way I see it, because I have taken them on as a
responsibility. God has blessed us all through the years. Even before
we had employees, God blessed us. We had abundance, and we were
able to do things and help other people.
If you make other people your responsibility, then the increase will
come through you. You’ve just got to remember it’s coming through
you, and it’s not just for you. Then, you start to give it out. I hope you
see that God takes care of your needs. If you have some wants, you can
tell Him about that.
James 4:3,
Do you hear that? “The spirit that dwells in you lusts.” It puts a strong
insatiable desire in you and is envious and jealous over your time. God
wants you to focus on Him. He wants to be “All in All.” He wants to
be “El Shaddai” to you. He wants to be everything that we need, yet
we make everything else our need.
5 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine
own understanding.
Why would we make other things the answer to our need rather than
God? It is because when we make other things the answer to our need
or we go after these other things, then we’re not leaning on God. We
start to lean to our own understanding.
We start to go down our own path, and it’s like, “Well, I can believe
God for this, or I can buy it. It’s easier to buy it than to believe God for
it, because I’m not really sure that God wants me to have it. I really
want it, so I’m just going to buy it.”
It has been amazing that God has known what our needs were going to
be before we knew that we had need of them. Whenever I recognized
that I had need for something, I just told God, “This is what we need. I
know that You already know it, so I thank You for it.” I didn’t fret
over it, as we would say. I told Him exactly.
I have retired two Tahoes with over 400,000 miles on each of them.
They were still holding up, still running, still decent cars, but not good
enough for going across the country. I told God, “I need a new vehicle
and it needs to be bigger than a Tahoe. I’ll take a Suburban or a
Yukon, either one, I don’t care which, and I don’t want to pay for it.” I
said, “I’m going around the country preaching Your gospel, doing Your
business, and I’m not buying this for a personal car. This is Your
business car, so You provide it.”
Within a week, the money came in for that vehicle. When we found a
vehicle, the money was to the dime, exactly. My wife and daughter
went online, found a vehicle, and said, “Here it is.” I said, “How much
is it?” They said, “X amount of dollars.” I said, “Okay.” Now, could
we have paid for it? Probably, but I would have had to divert funds
from somewhere else where I had need of it. I shouldn’t have to pay
for what I have a need for. He said that He would provide that. I’m not
telling you theory here; I’m telling you what works.
I really want you to get understand that you need to relax and trust God.
He loves you. He is your Father, and He will take care of you. If you
are going to use faith, don’t be in stress. If you’re in stress, you’re not
in faith. Some people talk about being in faith when they’re really in
stress, and you can usually tell the difference. Just relax. I’m not
saying don’t push, but you can push relaxed. It’s one of those weird
things about the Kingdom.
Matthew 3:1,
We’ve talked about the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven,
and I am going to be clarifying some things that we have said
throughout this teaching, because I want to be specific about these
things.
I want you to realize these things about the Kingdom, but I don’t want
you to take these things and make them into some hard and fast rule.
Don’t try to use them as a formula. Formulas are what you use when
you are trying to work things out for yourself. Trust God. God’s not a
formula. There are ways that God works, but don’t try to play God;
don’t try to work God.
There are some people that will come up to you, and they will try to
play you; they will try to con you. You’re not going to con God. It’s
like worship. Sometimes when you have worship, it’s not really
worship. It is you trying to convince God to show up to do something.
Notice that when we talk about the kingdom of heaven, with only one
or two exceptions, the kingdom of heaven is always referred to as being
at hand. The Kingdom of God, with only one exception, is always
referred to as being within you.
When you lay hands on the sick, you’re showing the earth Who is in
you and what is in you; you’re showing earth how it is supposed to be
and how it is in heaven. The Kingdom of God is within you; the
kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Many people have the Kingdom of God for years. They have it within
them, but they never have the kingdom of heaven, because it is never at
hand for them. It’s always within, but it’s not always at hand for some.
Matthew chapter 3,
4 And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair, and a
leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and
wild honey.
5 Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the
region round about Jordan,
The Sadducees were just the opposite. They didn’t believe in angels,
didn’t believe in gifts, and didn’t believe in power. They didn’t believe
in anything really, which is why they were “Sad-you-see.” Now, just to
give credit where credit is due, that expression came from Charles
Capps. Some of you might remember him. I remember when he first
said that, I thought, “That is a good way to remember the difference
between the two groups.”
There are times when you do things that you wouldn’t normally do in
order to help somebody, even though you might not agree, on a general
basis, of what they are doing. You say, “What in the world are you
216 © 2013 Curry R. Blake – John G. Lake Ministries
THE GOVERNMENT OF GOD
talking about?” Maybe you would go into a place you would never go,
but you know that there is a person there who needs help. You go there
even though you wouldn’t go there on your own, because you don’t
like it. I’m just giving you an example.
I’ll tell you this too: if your car is such that you are unwilling to pick up
a drunk who’s passed out on the gutter because you’re afraid he is
going to throw up all over your leather or carpet, that car is an idol to
you. People are more important than things. If God gave you the
thing, you need to use it for God. Amen?
If you truly repent, you should have some fruit to prove it.
Repentance is not in word only.
10 And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore
every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down,
and cast into the fire.
12 Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor,
and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the
chaff with unquenchable fire.
Notice that wheat and chaff are two different things: wheat is good,
chaff is bad. Chaff gets burned up but not the wheat. He says of Jesus,
“He that comes after me…is going to baptize you with the Holy Ghost
and fire.” Notice: He was mentioning fire with being burned up.
People say, “He’s going to baptize us with the Holy Ghost and fire. I
want that fire.” Actually, the fire here is in context with burning up the
chaff, so the fire isn’t always a good thing. It’s good to be purged, but
this fire is not a pleasant thing, because purging is never a pleasant
thing.
When people say, “He’s going to baptize me with the Holy Ghost and
fire. I want the Holy Ghost fire,” they’re talking about the purging. He
will be purging them, chopping things off, burning things up, and
purging their lives.
Matthew 4:17,
17 From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for
the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
John the Baptist preached the kingdom of heaven is at hand, also. Both
Jesus and John the Baptist had the same message, basically. What it
says here is that from that time on, Jesus began to preach and to say,
“The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” It never says He stopped.
Everything Jesus preached was the Kingdom.
naturalized that know more about how our government operates than
some of our native-born citizens.
The legal aspect is the governmental aspect. The vital aspect is the
dynamic; it’s how you function in it. As you read the Bible, I want you
to start thinking differently. I don’t want you to think religiously, I
want you to think Kingdom; I want you to think the Government of
God. I want you to think from a legal standpoint. Don’t think
legalistic or legalism, but think about if from a legal standpoint.
We are even told that we are citizens of heaven. That means that we’re
not citizens here, per se. Admittedly, we apparently have dual
citizenship; we’re here, but we’re not of here. We are born of heaven,
therefore, we should know how heaven operates. That’s what church
generally is about, or what it’s supposed to be about.
Once you start thinking in governmental terms, then you start realizing
that when you pray, you are an ambassador making a requisition to
headquarters. You just simply tell your Heavenly Father what you
want. He already knows what you need, so you let Him know, “We
want this,” then He will provide that for you.
This Kingdom that Jesus talked about is not a physical kingdom in the
sense that it has a locale, a certain land, so to speak. The difference is
that the Kingdom of God is wherever we are. If we’re here, then this is
the Kingdom of God. If we all left here, this wouldn’t be the Kingdom
of God. If we were to become scattered, anywhere we put our feet
would be the Kingdom of God.
When you go to an embassy, they stop you at the gate, because that
embassy and the grounds around it are the sovereign territory of the
nation it represents. If you climb the wall of that embassy and drop to
the ground, the minute you touch that ground, no one outside the wall,
no one in that country where the embassy is, can touch you. That
embassy has to kick you out or you have to leave on your own before
that country where the embassy is can have jurisdiction over you.
America abides by that. That is the reason we have guards at the front
gate of an American Embassy. We don’t want anybody just walking in
and saying, “I’m in America now; here I am.”
That is the reason the enemy has fought Kingdom teaching for so long.
You start to realize, as an ambassador, that wherever you go is an
embassy. All you and I have to do is put out the invitation, and
anybody who jumps into this Kingdom becomes an ambassador, also.
That outside kingdom, the kingdom of this world, can’t touch them,
because they have diplomatic immunity. That means that sickness,
disease, poverty, fear, any mental problems, habits, addictions, or
anything like that have a right, but all of those operate under the system
of the world. Not one of those things will be in heaven. The Kingdom
of God dwells in us, and wherever we are is an embassy. Our body is a
temple and because of that, wherever we go we can set the captives
free. We can take the Kingdom to them. That’s what we do.
them and take them into the embassy. The minute they are surrounded
by the Marines, they are protected by the governmental forces of the
United States. Once they get them inside the embassy, the United
States can offer asylum.
They can rescue someone who’s in danger of imminent harm and take
them into the embassy. Once inside, they are given the opportunity to
decide, “Do I want to go back out there, or do I want to seek asylum in
the United States?” We have that same ability as ambassadors of the
Kingdom.
I really want you to see that this is not about some religious thing; it is
about a governmental aspect. God says, “This is how My government
operates.”
Thank God that the head of our Government is the King of the
universe, and He is our Father. At the same time, He is a King, and He
is the head of a Governmental Entity, so we can bring this to pass.
Amen? Our job is to show the Kingdom to the world. We are to
manifest the Kingdom of God that is within us by bringing the kingdom
of heaven to hand. Amen?
If you get this message, and if you start walking the way we are talking
about here, you will walk like T. L. Osborn. T. L. Osborn walked
around with dignity. He gave people dignity, because dignity is an
element of the Government of God. Jesus walked with dignity.
Dr. Sumrall used to tell us, as his students, “The devil always wants to
make man lose dignity and make man look bad, so he does things to
denigrate man. God always gives dignity back to man.” The devil will
always cause man to walk around with his shoulders slumped, his head
down, and afraid to look people in the eye. Jesus comes and lifts our
head and says, “Look on us; look at us.” He gives man dignity. You
don’t have to be ashamed.
If you ever face a Christian, you never have to face them with your
head down, because the heart of a Christian is to show people respect
and to give them dignity. It is never to put them down and definitely
not to put condemnation and shame on them. If you ever go
somewhere and people put condemnation and shame on you, get up and
walk out. Don’t listen to them.
Jesus died for us, and those that trust in Him will never be ashamed.
He died to give you dignity. He died to lift you, not to put you down.
He is the only One who has ever had a right to put you down. He
didn’t. He lifted you up.
This is what Jesus taught. The “new man” is the result of you coming
into the Kingdom. It literally gives you the ability to live out this
Kingdom life. You can do this; you can live this life. You were born
to live this life. Kingdom living will bring all of the Kingdom
provisions to you and to your life.
You can already see what Jesus was talking about. There is a spiritual
connotation to this, a spiritual application.
2 And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day,
he sent them into his vineyard.
somebody to come along and hire them. That’s exactly what this was
like.
They had this opening in the middle of the city or village, and they
would go to this area. They would hang out there to see if there was
any work, and if so, then somebody would come along and hire them.
3 And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing
idle in the marketplace,
He went back in the third hour, and there was a whole new group of
people just hanging around.
Notice: this was twice that he went into the city market and found
people who were just standing around idle. He hired them all. Every
time he went in, he hired everybody who was standing around.
5 Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did
likewise.
6 And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others
standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the
day idle?
Notice: this time it wasn’t three hours later; it was only two hours later.
He went back into the town, looked at them and asked, “What are you
doing here? Why are you all just standing around idle?”
7 They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith
unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is
right, that shall ye receive.
He didn’t seem put out necessarily, but he was asking, “Why are you
just standing around?” They said, “Well, nobody has hired us.” He
said, “Well, just go on out to the vineyard, and I’ll pay you what is
right. I’ll take care of you. Just go out there and get busy.”
Notice that he was not upset, but he definitely didn’t agree with the fact
that somebody had to hire them and send them out. He was thinking,
“You should have just gotten busy.”
8 So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his
steward, Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning
from the last unto the first.
Did you hear that? Start with the last. Why? That’s because the last
will be first, and the first will be last. He said, “Start with the last, and
then work your way to the first; pay them what we agreed to pay them.”
9 And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour,
they received every man a penny.
10 But when the first came, they supposed that they should have
received more; and they likewise received every man a penny.
11 And when they had received it, they murmured against the
goodman of the house,
12 Saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast
made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat
of the day.
They were expecting more money even though they had agreed to work
for a certain amount. What they were trying to do was limit the
householder, the employer; they were trying to limit his generosity.
They were telling him, “It’s not right that you give them the same that
you gave us. We worked longer so we should get more.”
14 Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last,
even as unto thee.
We know who Jesus was talking about, because one time they came to
him and said, “Oh, good Master…” Jesus had said, “There is none
good but God.” Jesus in this parable called this man good, so we know
He was talking about God.
16 So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called,
but few chosen.
That has tripped up a lot of people over time, and in keeping with the
illustration of the Kingdom, I just wanted to bring this out to you.
For instance, for people to get into the presidential cabinet, they
generally have to be in some other area of government, or in a good
business, or be in a place of prominence. Maybe it is wishful thinking
on my part, but there should have been a point where those people
should have developed some skills to get them in there.
Now, all of the people who work in this kingdom/government that I’m
talking about are all working; they have all been called. They’ve all
answered the call for Civil Service, but then out of that Civil Service
pool, there will be a few that are chosen. The chosen means that they
are in, but they will have certain assignments.
The Word doesn’t really say much about making sure that you were
chosen.
Peter said, “Give diligence to make your calling and election sure.”
In the parable the householder said, “It is right that I pay the last as
much as I pay the first, and it’s nobody’s business how much I pay
anyone.” However, that’s not the key here. It’s obviously telling you,
“Don’t judge yourself according to other people. Don’t look at what
they get.”
You think, “Well, they haven’t been a Christian as long as I have, and
look at how God is blessing them. I’ve been in church faithfully. I’ve
been Sunday School Superintendent for 25 years, and I have to fight to
get any healing; I have to fight to get any blessing. Here this guy
comes in, and last week, he was a drug addict, a drunkard, and a
Jesus said, “That’s not how you get healed. That’s not how you get any
blessing from God. It is not by paying your dues.” It is all by the
mercy and grace of Jesus Christ. If you had been there in that situation,
and you had been what you claim to be, then when you saw this
younger Christian come in, then you would have been walking in love
and you wouldn’t have been envious. You wouldn’t have been jealous.
You wouldn’t have been wishing them harm by wishing that they
hadn’t been blessed as much as they were.
the right to speak into other people’s lives. If you want to speak into
other people’s lives, you have got to show some fruit, not gifts.
The Holy Spirit, through the Apostle Paul, told them, “If you get a
word from God, and there’s not someone there that can interpret it,
keep it to yourself.” You say, “I can’t keep it to myself. I have a word
for this person.” Why don’t you just pray that word for them?
If you think that God is showing you a word about a person, just pray
for them, whether it’s good or bad. God is trying to show you
something about them. Pray for them; you don’t have to go to them.
You don’t have to run to them. However, if it’s really good, then you
will want to run to them, and tell them some great prophecy and say,
“Oh, God is going to use you. God’s going to give you this. He’s
calling you to this.”
Have you ever thought that you might really be responsible for causing
a novice to fall into the snare of the devil by pumping them up and
telling them, “You are going to be a great! You’re going to have the
anointing like no one else has ever had it.” God had them on a path,
and you are being used by the devil to snare them.
234 © 2013 Curry R. Blake – John G. Lake Ministries
KINGDOM ADMINISTRATORS – PART 1
Now, should you encourage them? Yes. Should you say things that
the Bible says? Yes. That’s what real prophesying is anyway. It’s an
encouragement. It’s a comfort. It’s to edify and build up, not to puff
up. You ought to be able to tell these people what God said about them
in the Word. If they ask, “How do you know God said that about me?”
you could say, “Let me show you.” You ought to be able to show them
in the Word.
You say, “Well, I’m going to prophesy to them.” No, you’re trying to
get a word of knowledge, a specific thing, or maybe a word of wisdom
to say, “Do it this way; go this way.”
I’ve been around the block a time or two, and I have seen some things.
I have seen some great people with great potential. Even in our own
ministry we’ve had people come along that had some great potential,
but they were just so full of themselves that you never saw Christ in
them. People all around them would build them up and make them
think, “Oh, I ought to be out holding crusades.” No, you ought to be
cleaning toilets, until you die to self.
helping people, because they start thinking they’re somebody and that
they are too good for that.
If God really speaks a word to you about where you’re going and what
He has for you, He’s telling you that because you’re on the right path.
Don’t change. When people tell you, “Oh, you’re going to be a great
this or great that,” don’t change. That path you’re on is the right path,
and it is what got God’s attention so He could say, “Yes, I’ll be able to
use you.”
That’s what happened with Dowie. He should have stayed on the path
he was on. It would have been better for him to stay in Chicago and
fight with the politicians, the newspaper people, and the alcohol people.
It would have been better for him to stay there and fight for the rest of
his life, rather than moving up to Zion, becoming a little pope, and
getting off into something else.
When David went to fight Goliath, Saul said, “Take my armor and take
my sword.” David said, “No, that’s not been proven.” Saul had been
in battle. He’d won. His weapons were proven, but they hadn’t been
proven by David. David hadn’t wielded Saul’s sword before, and the
worst thing you can do is go into battle with a new weapon that you’ve
never handled before. It will make you a little slower, a little more
awkward, and it will cost you your life.
David said, “No, God is with me.” David went out with what he was
used to, even though it wasn’t thought of as being the best of weapons.
It was generally thought that a sword or javelin with full armor was the
best. David went out with a slingshot and a rock. He even told Goliath
when he got out there: “Today, God is going to deliver you into my
hands, and I’m going to take your head off your shoulders.” You can’t
take somebody’s head off with a rock. David was looking at Goliath’s
sword. He said, “This rock is going to put you down. I’m going to
take your own sword and kill you with it.”
You have to know what weapons you’re using. Your weapons have to
be proven. You ought to try things out; test them out. Pray about
something, and see if it comes to pass. If you need verification, write
the thing down. Start telling God, “God, I want to prove this.” Do you
know how much honor God gives you when you want to prove
something instead of just jumping into the middle of other people’s
lives? Why? That’s because it shows you really care about them, and
you’re not trying to be somebody.
23 And when he was come into the temple, the chief priests and the
elders of the people came unto him as he was teaching, and
said, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave
thee this authority?
24 And Jesus answered and said unto them, I also will ask you one
thing, which if ye tell me, I in like wise will tell you by what
authority I do these things.
26 But if we shall say, Of men; we fear the people; for all hold
John as a prophet.
These were the religious leaders and they feared the people, because
the people held John up as a prophet.
28 But what think ye? A certain man had two sons; and he came to
the first, and said, Son, go work to day in my vineyard.
31 Whether of them twain did the will of his father? They say unto
him, The first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you,
That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God
before you.
34 And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to
the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it.
35 And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed
another, and stoned another.
36 Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did
unto them likewise.
37 But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will
reverence my son.
38 But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among
themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us
seize on his inheritance.
Isn’t it amazing how people can have two different viewpoints? The
father said, “This is my son. They will honor him. They will listen to
him.” Think about that. Obviously, this father was an optimist.
Obviously, he was a person of faith. He believed in the good in people,
yet when the people saw his son, they thought just the opposite. They
said, “This is the heir. Let’s kill him, and we won’t have to deal with
this anymore.”
39 And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew
him.
You’ve got to remember that Jesus was telling this to the Pharisees, to
the leaders.
Various scholars say that these passages refer to the Jews and the
Gospel of the kingdom being taken from the Jews and given over to the
Gentiles.
1 And it came to pass, after the year was expired, at the time
when kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab, and his
servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the
children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried
still at Jerusalem
3 And David sent and enquired after the woman. And one said, Is
not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the
Hittite?
4 And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in unto
him, and he lay with her; for she was purified from her
uncleanness: and she returned unto her house.
5 And the woman conceived, and sent and told David, and said, I
am with child.
It said that in the evening, David went to walk on his rooftop, and he
saw a woman bathing on the next rooftop, and it said that she was
really beautiful. David went down and asked, “Who is that?” They
said, “Well, that’s Uriah’s wife.” He said, “Well, send for her.”
David sent for her, and she came to him. It says that he lay with her,
and she became pregnant. She sent word and said, “I’m pregnant with
your child.”
Here was David, a man after God’s own heart. Why? It was because
he knew how to repent quickly. That’s really what made him after
God’s own heart, but he didn’t do it that time.
David had refused to touch Saul when he had every opportunity to kill
him. Instead he showed him honor. This showed the character he had,
which is why God called him. He went out, and he killed Goliath. He
had great victories in battle. They were just amazing things. God was
with him. He walked with God, and he was tender before God, yet he
saw Bathsheba, brought her over, and she got pregnant.
6 And David sent to Joab, saying, Send me Uriah the Hittite. And
Joab sent Uriah to David.
7 And when Uriah was come unto him, David demanded of him
how Joab did, and how the people did, and how the war
prospered.
8 And David said to Uriah, Go down to thy house, and wash thy
feet. And Uriah departed out of the king’s house, and there
followed him a mess of meat from the king.
9 But Uriah slept at the door of the king’s house with all the
servants of his lord, and went not down to his house.
10 And when they had told David, saying, Uriah went not down
unto his house, David said unto Uriah, Camest thou not from
thy journey? why then didst thou not go down unto thine house?
11 And Uriah said unto David, The ark, and Israel, and Judah,
abide in tents; and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord,
are encamped in the open fields; shall I then go into mine house,
to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? as thou livest, and
as thy soul liveth, I will not do this thing.
Now, here was David, the great David. He was the man who wouldn’t
even touch Saul when he had every opportunity. Then he said, “Send
for Uriah.” He told Uriah, “Come in and tell me how the battle is
going.” Uriah said, “Oh, it’s going well.”
David said, “Stay here a day or two, and then go back to the battle,
because I’ve got a message I want you to take back to Joab, the leader
of the armies.” Uriah said, “Okay.”
David said, “Go down to your house, wash your feet, and be with your
wife.” It sounded good at the time. He was trying to hide his sin, and
he was hoping that Uriah would lay with Bathsheba so he wouldn’t
know whose child it was.
Here was this man after God’s own heart. Here was this man that loved
God with everything he had. He used to sit and sing psalms to God
when he was nobody, and then he started down that wrong path. He
became an adulterer, and then he began to become a conspirator and
murderer. David had a heart, and he had character; he just had a major
flaw.
You have to know the kind of character that David had, and he saw this
same character in Uriah. You know it had to break his heart, and it
crushed him when he realized, “What am I doing?”
12 And David said to Uriah, Tarry here to day also, and to morrow
I will let thee depart. So Uriah abode in Jerusalem that day, and
the morrow.
13 And when David had called him, he did eat and drink before
him; and he made him drunk: and at even he went out to lie on
his bed with the servants of his lord, but went not down to his
house.
David told Uriah, “Well, stay another day or two,” and he wrote a
letter, and he gave the letter to Uriah to take back to Joab. The sad
thing about that was that Uriah didn’t know it, but he was carrying his
own death warrant.
17 And the men of the city went out, and fought with Joab: and
there fell some of the people of the servants of David; and Uriah
the Hittite died also.
David wrote to Joab, “When you go into the battle, put Uriah right up
at the front and in the thick of the battle.” Then he said, “In the heat of
the battle, you withdraw, yet let Uriah die.” That’s exactly what
happened, but he lost the whole battle because of it.
18 Then Joab sent and told David all the things concerning the war;
20 And if so be that the king's wrath arise, and he say unto thee,
Wherefore approached ye so nigh unto the city when ye did
fight? knew ye not that they would shoot from the wall?
21 …then say thou, Thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.
Joab told the messenger, “When David hears how we lost this battle
he’s going to be upset, so after you tell him that and he’s angry, then
you can tell him, ‘Oh, but Uriah is dead,’ and that will make him
happy.”
22 So the messenger went, and came and shewed David all that
Joab had sent him for.
23 And the messenger said unto David, Surely the men prevailed
against us, and came out unto us into the field, and we were
upon them even unto the entering of the gate.
24 And the shooters shot from off the wall upon thy servants; and
some of the king's servants be dead, and thy servant Uriah the
Hittite is dead also.
25 Then David said unto the messenger, Thus shalt thou say unto
Joab, Let not this thing displease thee, for the sword devoureth
one as well as another: make thy battle more strong against the
city, and overthrow it: and encourage thou him.
Now, think about that. The only reason I am bringing this story up is
for one point. I’m not bringing it up to focus on David. It’s not to try
to get the focus on you or to get you to repent of anything. I’m not
saying that at all, please understand.
All I want to bring out of this story in 2 Samuel 11 is that the whole
situation started in verse 1 when it said, “It was a time when kings went
to war, and David stayed in the palace.” Joab shouldn’t have been
leading the armies of Israel. David should have been out there in that
field. He should have been leading those armies.
His problems started when he got lazy and stayed home. He started
walking around, looking over his kingdom, and looked over at another
man’s house. It was then that he saw Bathsheba. If he’d been in the
field, he would have remained a great general.
Nathan exposed David’s sin by telling him a story about a rich man
who stole a sheep.
The amazing thing is that David thought he got away with it, and then
Nathan showed up. Nathan came walking in and told David this story
about a rich man who stole this little sheep, and it was the greatest little
sheep. It was the only one that the poor family owned. This rich man
had all of these other sheep, but he wanted that one. You can find this
in 2 Samuel 12:1-7.
After Nathan told the story, David said, “Who is that man? He will
pay.” I’m sure Nathan pointed a finger at David and said, “You’re that
man.” That’s the first time you see where David was just crushed.
David’s entire life changed based on that one decision.
Every decision you make can have the possibility of being a life-
altering decision, for good or for bad. You have to realize that you can
live free, but at the same time, you have to know the price that some
decisions cost.
David had several things take place even after this that were pretty
amazing, but this thing haunted David for the rest of his life. It caused
rebellion even in his own family. It caused the death of children. It
was said that the violence of the sword would never leave his house.
He had a daughter who was raped, and he had a son who died. Horrible
things came out of one decision. One decision!
Jesus was doing the same thing that Nathan did. He exposed all of
the things that the leaders had done wrong.
42 Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The
stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head
of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in
our eyes?
Jesus was doing the same thing that Nathan did by listing all of the
things that the leaders had done wrong. He was talking to them about
John the Baptist. He said, “You’re supposed to be teaching Israel.
Have you never read the Scriptures that talk about Me? Don’t you see
that you’re doing this very thing just like David did?”
They could have chosen between two responses. They could have
repented instantly, and said, “Oh no, no, no, we don’t want to miss
this,” or they could have laughed, and said, “Who do you think You
are, to say that to us? We’re the leaders of Israel.” It goes on,
45 And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his
parables, they perceived that he spake of them.
46 But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the
multitude, because they took him for a prophet.
Apparently, He upset them, and they didn’t like the stories. They were
going to lay hands on Him. It says, “They feared the multitude,
because they took him for a prophet.”
With these rights and privileges that we have, we have the right to be
free. We have the right to be healed, and we have the right to prosper.
We have these rights that are provided for us in this Kingdom, that is a
better Kingdom than any kingdom anybody has ever seen, but at the
same time, there’s a responsibility.
Most people don’t see the responsibility. They just see the rights and
privileges, and they think, “I’m going to learn this Kingdom teaching.
Yes, we should be kings, and we ought to have dominion. I should
have new cars, and new houses, and all kinds of things.” Very
honestly, all those things are available in the Kingdom, as long as you
250 © 2013 Curry R. Blake – John G. Lake Ministries
KINGDOM ADMINISTRATORS – PART 1
don’t get your eye on them and as long as you realize that they are tools
to be used for the Kingdom.
Deuteronomy 8:18,
18 But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that
giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his
covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day.
It is God who gives you the ability to create wealth, so that He may
establish His covenant upon this earth. If you have an ability to create
wealth, you operate in that, and create wealth. It is not so that you can
heap it up on your own lust and your own desires. It is so that you can
establish the covenant.
Ephesians 4:28,
28 Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour,
working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may
have to give to him that needeth.
Notice: it wasn’t enough for him to just quit stealing, get a job, and
make an honest living. The reason he was to make an honest living
was so that he could have something to give to other people.
It’s not about what we can gather up—it’s about how we can help.
Everybody talks about this wealth transfer at the end, and you might
see it, but you have to realize that you can’t let it change you. One of
Matthew 23:13,
13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut
up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in
yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.
He was telling them, “You are actors. Not only do you not go in, but
you don’t let anybody else who’s trying to enter get in.”
Matthew 24:12-14,
12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax
cold.
13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
I am still talking about the Kingdom and trying to give you an overall
view of the Kingdom.
Matthew 25:14,
16 Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with
the same, and made them other five talents.
18 But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and
hid his lord’s money.
20 And so he that had received five talents came and brought other
five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents:
behold, I have gained beside them five talents more.
21 His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful
servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make
thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
22 He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou
deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other
talents beside them.
23 His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant;
thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler
over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
24 Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord,
I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast
not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed:
Do you hear the attitude of that servant? His lord gave him a talent, but
he said, “Oh, you want me to do all of the work for you. You’re not
doing it yourself, but you want profit; I know you’re a hard man.”
Then the servant said,
25 And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo,
there thou hast that is thine.
In other words, “I’m giving you back exactly what you gave me. I kept
it safe. I didn’t make any mistakes. I didn’t lose one dime.”
26 His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful
servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather
where I have not strawed:
28 Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which
hath ten talents.
29 For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have
abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even
that which he hath.
That sounds really harsh just for not losing anything. This isn’t
something somebody made up. I’m not pulling any Scriptures out of
context.
31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy
angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the
left.
34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye
blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you
from the foundation of the world:
36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was
in prison, and ye came unto me.
37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw
we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee
drink?
38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and
clothed thee?
40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto
you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these
my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
You may not have much, but whatever you have, you can share.
Many times you don’t see the miraculous, because you’re not willing to
share what you already have. You think, “I don’t have enough to
share.” So many stories about Jesus go back to where He started with
what someone had. He never said to wait until you get more, and then
start.
When I started this, way before I was a pastor, I never asked for money.
You all know me; I don’t pull for money. I go the opposite way.
Look at the story of Jesus with the loaves and fishes. We’re talking
about a little boy’s lunch; he wasn’t a caterer. He didn’t pull up in a
lunch wagon that Jesus went over to and got a few things to feed the
multitude. He took a little boy’s lunch and fed the multitude. It
doesn’t matter what you start with.
Whatever you have, that’s what you start with. That is what God has
given you so far. People say, “Well, why didn’t He give me more?” It
is probably because you haven’t made room by getting rid of what you
have. It’s amazing how He does that. We can talk about talents, we
can talk about money, we can talk about gifts, we can talk about
anything, but you have to start somewhere.
I’ll be the last person to come to you personally and say, “What do you
have? Can you do this? Can you do that? What are you doing? You
need to do this or that, and if you don’t, God’s not going to bless you.”
I’m the last person to do that. All I do is preach the Word to you, and
you decide what to do with it. However, I’ll tell you this: “It’s a
blessing.”
It’s a blessed life to break that thing, and to be able to step out into
areas that hold you in bondage, and to be able to break that bondage,
and to be set free. There’s nothing better than freedom, and the way
you do that is you start; you just start.
40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto
you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these
my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from
me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and
his angels:
Notice that there was nothing in there about lying, stealing, cheating,
and whoremongering. There was nothing about any of that. It just
mentioned the simple things. He said, “You didn’t feed the hungry,
you didn’t clothe the naked, and you didn’t visit people when they were
sick. You just didn’t do the things that you could do.
It wasn’t that you did things that you weren’t supposed to do. It was
about you not doing things you were supposed to do.” People try to
live by the words, “Thou shall not.” It’s not the “thou shalt not(s)” that
hang you up. It’s the “thou shalt(s),” because you’re not doing the
“thou shalt(s).” Amen?
I’ve had people ask me, “Well, do I have to lay hands on the sick to go
to heaven?” My answer is, “No, you get to.” However, with an
attitude like that, you probably are not going anyway, because all
you’re trying to do is get by, by the skin of your teeth. You think,
“What is the least I have to do to get in?” I can guarantee that whatever
standard you set, it’s going to be a little bit too low. You have to kill
those things in you. You can’t play with them; you have to kill them.
We talk about inner healing and going through counseling for inner
healing. The counselor asks, “Well, what is your problem?” They
keep digging and asking questions. Then they say, “I have finally
found it. There is someone that you haven’t forgiven for something.
Let me help you with that. Let’s work that out. Now, you need to
forgive, even if you’re not sure who to forgive. We know you need to
forgive someone, so we’re going to keep digging.” You’re on
somebody’s couch, and they say you are getting psychotherapy.
I can tell you how to find out who you need to forgive, and if you want
to break free of it, you don’t have to spend hours having someone
counsel you. It’s very simple. Make a list of every person you know,
and then go and buy them a gift. See who it bothers you to buy a gift
for, and you will find the person that you have something against. It’s
that simple.
When you start to do that and you say, “I don’t want to buy a gift for
them.” That’s the one you need to buy for, and then you buy that gift.
When you give it to them, smile. Don’t say anything; just smile. Just
go ahead and give the gift to them.
Stop and think, “I’m going to go and buy another gift for them,” and
see if it still bothers you. Keep buying them gifts. Buy more and more
expensive gifts until it doesn’t bother you anymore. You can’t keep
buying people gifts and still have something against them, because you
have too much invested in them. You can’t keep on disliking them.
Where your treasure is, there your heart is, also. It is really simple.
What I have just told you has saved you hours on somebody’s couch.
Amen? I have saved you hours of all that psycho-babble stuff. This is
the simplest way in the world to find out who you need to forgive. It’s
easy to fix it, and then you just forgive. Finally, you will go to God
and say, “God, I don’t know what it is; fix me. This is costing too
much money.”
All of that advice I just gave you was free; every bit of it was free.
That could have cost you several hundred dollars in counseling, which
proves that such counseling isn’t a ministry; ministries don’t charge for
help.
Matthew 25:43-46,
44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we
thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in
prison, and did not minister unto thee?
4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them
which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ,
who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
Does anybody disagree with that verse? It’s not a trick question. Is
what he said right? Paul called Satan the god of this world, did he not?
He was talking about the god of this world’s system and the way things
are, but you will notice that Paul called Satan a god.
God said, “Thou shall have no other gods before Me.” You can have
other gods, so obviously there are other gods. Here Satan was called a
god, so there are gods.
Galatians 4:8,
8 Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them
which by nature are no gods.
Paul was saying, “You were serving gods that aren’t gods.” When God
said, “There is only one God; there is no other god like Me,” He was
saying, “There is one supreme God, and there are no other gods like
Me.” Then He said, “Don’t have any other gods before Me,” so there
are other gods that you could serve.
We know that a bass boat can be a god. A car can be a god. We can
make anything into a god. Even though we know that those things are
not gods, they’re idols in our eyes, because we put them up above God.
There is that aspect of gods that simply puts an idol or something in
front of God, but then there are beings that are spirit beings that can
also be called gods. Satan is one of those.
We know that Satan, even though he is the god of this world’s system,
is not a god like God is God. When he is called a god here, the god of
this world, we know it is saying that he is the chief authority, the chief
person, the chief being, the chief personality; he is the top thing over
something. Isn’t that what it’s saying about him? In other words, the
god of this world, Satan, is not a god like God, but he is a god, a being,
that is over a world system.
Principalities are also over sections of this world’s system. They’re not
called gods in the Bible; they’re called principalities. In this country,
there are principalities, powers, and spirit beings that are over certain
sins, certain areas, and even certain geographic areas. We would call
them principalities, but there are people, in other countries especially,
that would call them gods, and they worship them.
In the Greek and the Roman Pantheon of Gods, they had certain gods
such as Artemis the Greek goddess and Diana the Roman goddess.
There was also a goddess of fertility. They saw them as gods, but we
would call them principalities. They were gods in that area, because
they were principalities over that area. They fell when Satan fell, and
they went with him. When Adam turned this world over to Satan,
Satan became the god of this world.
Is Satan the god of this world’s system? Yes. It says that he was. This
was Paul writing after the cross; he was writing to Christians. I want to
make sure that we don’t just have a knee-jerk reaction to certain
terminology. We actually look at it, and find out what’s being said so
that we can talk about it logically and spiritually. If we do that, we
have to talk about Jesus.
6 And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and
the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to
whomsoever I will I give it.
“And the devil said unto Him, ‘All of this power, and all of this
authority, will I give thee.’” Satan showed Jesus all of these kingdoms
in a moment of time and showed Him the glory of them. He said, “All
of this I will give you, and the glory of them, for that is delivered unto
me; and to whomsoever I will, I give it.” Satan became the god of this
world when Adam gave it to him.
Let’s look at some things here, and just take it piece by piece. Satan
said, “Look at all of these kingdoms of the world. I will give them all
to You. They were given to me, and I can give them to whomever I
want.” When were they given to him? They were given to him at the
fall of Adam. When Adam turned over the world, this world’s system,
and all of these kingdoms to Satan, at that moment, Satan became the
god of this world.
Satan wasn’t the god of this world before then; Adam was. Notice how
that position can be handed off so easily. Very simply, it was handed
to him. Basically, Adam just bowed his knee to another god and said,
“I take you as my god.” “Why?” It was because he said, “I choose to
listen to you, as opposed to listening to God, Himself.”
That’s how easy it is to change gods; whoever you obey, whoever you
serve, that’s whose servant you are. That’s why your single decision,
like when I was talking about David, is so important. Your single
decision can change your destiny.
Notice this, because it says that the devil took Jesus up into a high
place, into a high mountain. He showed Him all the kingdoms of the
world and said, “All of this power was given to me, and the glory of
them; they were delivered to me, and to whomsoever I will, I give it.”
“If…” Notice this was the temptation of Jesus. Satan said, “If You
will therefore worship me, all shall be Thine.”
8 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me,
Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God,
and him only shalt thou serve.
“Get thee behind Me, Satan.” Those were the very same words that
Jesus said to Peter.
Do you realize that Jesus beat the devil with the Old Testament? He
beat Satan by simply saying, “Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is
written, ‘Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou
serve.’”
Jesus was telling Satan to get behind Him, and He used the Old
Testament Scriptures to do it. Those were the only Scriptures they had
at that point. Notice: this was the temptation of Christ; it was a real
temptation. In other words, Jesus knew that Satan was telling the truth.
The devil can tell the truth when it is in his best interest to do so, and he
was telling Jesus the truth.
Jesus knew that if He bowed His knee and worshipped Satan, then at
that point, Satan could have transferred the world to Him. Jesus could
have won the world without having to die.
Jesus knew that Satan was not lying when he said, “It was delivered to
me and I can give it to whomsoever I want.” It had to be true, because
Jesus didn’t call him on it. He didn’t say, “That’s a lie.” He knew it
was true and that it could happen. He knew that Satan was the god of
this world. He knew that He was talking to the god of this world.
The word “earth” and the word “world” are two different things. The
earth is a physical thing here. The world is the system that goes on
here on the earth, the kingdoms that rise up, and all of the other things
that have to do with this world.
Jesus didn’t call him on it, because He knew it could have been
delivered to Him. He knew that Satan was the god of this world’s
system. At this point, Jesus had no problem dealing with another god,
but if He had bowed His knee to him, then He would have had another
god before God. It would have been Adam all over again.
Satan was the god of this world, and it was delivered to him to be god
of this world. That position was delivered to him from Adam who was
god of this world. I know I’m emphasizing it, I know I’m repeating
myself, but I want you to see this because of what we’re going to look
at next.
He said, “Get behind Me, Satan: for it is written, ‘Thou shalt worship
the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.’”
John 10:10,
10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy:
I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it
more abundantly.
Notice that Jesus gave the elements of Satan’s work—the thief comes
to steal, kill, and destroy. His answer and remedy for all of that was
that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly.
That means that if you have life and you have it more abundantly, you
won’t be killed, you won’t have things stolen from you, and you won’t
be destroyed.
Everything that is evil and wrong ends up being some form of killing,
stealing, and destroying. Sickness or disease will kill you; it will
destroy your life. Amen? It steals your life from you. It steals your
vitality, it steals your days while you’re lying in bed, and then
eventually, it destroys your life. It can destroy your whole family,
because it can take every dime your family has.
I know people right now that had it all. Then, because of the sickness
of a spouse, or maybe one of their children, it took every dime. They
lost their house, because they couldn’t pay their mortgage. Their entire
life was destroyed because of sickness or disease.
24 Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How
long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us
plainly.
They were saying, “Are You the Christ or not? Just tell us.”
25 Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works
that I do in my Father’s name, they bear witness of me.
27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish,
neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man
is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.
33 The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee
not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man,
makest thyself God.
Jesus only said, “I and my Father are one.” He never said, “I am God.”
He didn’t say that. He said, “We are one.”
6 I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most
High.
7 But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.
Right there is where people get confused, and they go off into these
other things. They take things out of context. What’s the difference
whether I read this or if Jesus said it? I’m not saying it; I’m just
reading what Jesus said. As His representative, all I’m doing is
repeating what He said.
We know that the word “god” does not necessarily mean a self-
sufficient one totally apart from God. We know that the word “god,”
simply in many cases, as we just read in Luke and in Corinthians, is
referred to as the chief top person over a system.
When it said in Psalms 82:7, “I have said, ‘You are gods;…but you
shall die like men,” it was contrasting God and men.
If you go back into the Hebrew, the Hebrew word used there for
“gods” is the word elohiym. It means gods in the ordinary sense; but
specifically used for the supreme God; occasionally applied by way of
deference to magistrates; and sometimes as a superlative: angels;
great; judges. This is the same word that was used for God in Genesis.
It’s hard to really differentiate, so you have to read it in context to find
out what it really means in a particular Scripture.
We have the Greek in the New Testament, and we have the Septuagint,
which is the Greek version of the Old Testament. A lot of times I’ll
look back at the Old Testament to see how they translated words into
the Greek from Hebrew.
John 10:34-38,
35 If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and
the scripture cannot be broken;
“If He (God) called them gods, unto whom the Word of God came, and
the Scripture cannot be broken.”
36 Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into
the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of
God?
38 But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye
may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him.
The only reason I brought that up is because there has been so much
controversy over these verses. John Lake preached on them, and if you
go on the internet, you will see that people try to blast him for it. It’s
cowardly to blast somebody who’s dead; they can’t answer for
That does not mean that I am this supreme and divine being. I’m not
saying that by any stretch. I derive my life from my connection with
Jesus. That “divine life” flows from the Father, through Jesus, and
through me. I want you to get this: if I severed my connection with
God, there would be no “divine life” flowing through me.
The more we grow to look like Jesus, the more we should be partakers
of “the divine nature,” and the more our nature should be divine. That
is because the branch is always connected to the vine; that’s the only
way.
If you were to sever that connection, there would be no more divine life
flowing through to you. Amen? At the same time, why would we
worry about that connection being severed? Now, if we’re going to
accept that we are in this position, then we also have to accept the
responsibility that comes with it, not just the benefits.
God gave us Jesus, and with Jesus, He gave us everything. It all comes
through Jesus. The problem in the church is that people keep trying to
be somebody special.
There are two ways to use the word, apostle. You can use it in your
mind meaning, “I have a particular mission God has sent me on. He
has appointed me to this, and I’m on that mission,” or you can wear it
like a tag, walk around in a fancy suit, and expect everybody to bow
down and kiss your ring.
You have to have the mind of Christ if you’re going to be like Him.
Philippians 2:5,
7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form
of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
It said, “Let this mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,” and right
after that it said, “…who took on the form of a servant (even though
being equal with God).” Equal how? He was equal in nature, in
character, and in Spirit. He was in a class of “being.”
Now, if I walk into a room and there is a Christian there, we are equal.
It doesn’t matter if one is an apostle and the other is not an apostle. It
doesn’t matter, because ministries are simply within the Body of Christ,
and they are jobs that we have to do within the Body of Christ. They
don’t make one person any better than anyone else.
A general is a soldier. When the battle starts, if it comes down to it, the
general will grab a rifle just like the other soldiers. There’s a saying in
the Marine Corp, “Every Marine is a rifleman.” It doesn’t matter what
rank is on the shoulders or on the collar, because each one is a Marine.
That’s what we have to get to. You can walk around, spout the terms,
and wear the tags, but when you go out on the street, nobody cares
what your tag says. All they want to know is, “What can you do? Can
you help me? Can you help my baby? Can you help me out of this
situation?” That’s all that counts. Everything else is all internal.
A lady was standing there, and she asked, “What principality do you
think is over this area?” I said, “I don’t know. I haven’t really thought
about it.” She said, “Well, what do you think would be the most
powerful spirit over this area?” I said, “Oh, that’s easy.” She said,
“What?” I said, “The Holy Spirit.”
She said, “Well, I don’t understand.” I said, “The Holy Spirit is in me.
I don’t know if there are any other Christians in town.” I was talking to
a person who claimed to be a Christian. I said, “I don’t know if there
are other Christians here, but if not, then when I got here, the Holy
Spirit took charge. He’s bigger than any principality, any spirit, or
anything else, so if He is in me that puts me over everything.”
We started talking about it, and I said, “From what I’ve seen so far, the
principality would either be the god of medicine or the god of
insurance. Those are the two predominant things in the city, so it
would probably be one of those.”
She asked, “Can you help us to learn about this?” I said, “Well, yes.
I’d be glad to teach on it.” She said, “I know we can’t attack this
principality until God gives us a Rhema word, or until God gives us a
commission to go after that thing, because you just don’t jump in.”
I said, “Well, I agree that you don’t just jump in, especially if you don’t
know anything about it, but you don’t need a special word. These
things must be brought into submission under Jesus Christ. You don’t
need a special word to do that, but you do need to know what you’re
doing; you don’t want to stir this up.”
There are some other things I could share with you about principalities;
some things you can watch for and see. I want what I am going to say
next to be a really clear-cut thing. Sometimes when a healthy family is
moving into the things of God, especially if the family is in leadership
in a church, then many times the wife will become pregnant. The
principality in that area will try to attach itself to that child.
very strong. What I mean by that is that you would look at it in the
natural and say, “That’s a big deal.” Many times that principality is
attached, and it draws its life from that child, because its whole purpose
is to get that family to back off.
The other thing is that the principality will find a place to work within
that child that will mess up other things around it. No one will ever
deal with the principality or pray against it, because they think that the
leader can do that. That’s his child, and you don’t want to approach the
leader and say, “Well, there’s a problem.”
Then the leader many times will say, “Oh, that’s not a problem,”
depending on their viewpoint of healing. They will say, “Well, God
has given us this special child to teach us something, to help us, or to
give us compassion.” That is basically a tradition of man. These are
aspects of principalities that you need to know. We’ve dealt with some
things like this.
I just really wanted to emphasize this and get this out there, because
people ask me questions about it. We haven’t really gotten a chance to
talk about it much. It’s not that we are divine or that we are gods, or
that man can become a god. It’s not that at all. It is just simply going
back, finding out what words were used, what they referred to, and then
logically and spiritually going through it and looking at it.
Hopefully that helped you to see that this is not about saying anybody
is anything, any more than saying this is a “class of being.”
Jesus has given you the ability to walk through this world
in such a way that the enemy will not be able to touch you.
You are a son of God. You are no different now than you were before
you walked in. I didn’t make you a super being. I didn’t make you a
god unto yourself.
The Bible says that we’re in charge. It’s just like saying that there is an
overseer. The Bible talks about shepherds, chief shepherds, and under
shepherds; it’s the same thing. The word “shepherd” is always there,
so there is a Chief God and there are under gods. It’s just a level of
being in control and having dominion over something. It’s that simple,
so don’t let people scare you with these things.
The Bible is not to instill fear, unless you are against God. If you’re
against God, then you might want to fear, but if you’re for God, you
ought to have peace. You ought to know He has given you the ability
to walk above the circumstances, to put your foot on the back of
principalities and everything else, and to be able to walk through this
world in such a way that the enemy will not be able to touch you.
Amen?
Now that you know that, it doesn’t mean the enemy is going to stop. It
just means that you’re going to have to get serious. You’ve got to
become as serious as the devil is, because he’s serious. He doesn’t like
it when people start trying to step up and take away his dominion in
areas. When they do that, he has no authority. Amen.
“Father,
“I believe Your Word. Your Word is true. It’s always true. It is I who
must come into alignment with Your Word. Your Word does not instill
fear; it instills peace. Now that I have understanding, I have greater
peace. I thank You, Father, that through Jesus Christ I can do all
things. One of those things I can do is put my foot on the devil. I
thank God who will crush Satan under my feet shortly.
Turn first to Isaiah chapter 9. We’ll be starting our teaching there, but
to begin with, I want to share a testimony of a young lady who was
diagnosed with terminal bone cancer. She was about 12 years old, and
it was really hard on her. The church she was in was a good faith
church that really preached faith and believed in healing, so people
were believing and praying.
They said she was the one that really kept everybody’s hopes up, even
though people would look at her and say, “What’s going on with her?”
She would say, “Jesus is talking to me. He says I’m going to be okay.”
Yet the symptoms kept progressing, and it looked bad. She actually
needed a bone marrow transplant. The parents were doing everything
they could to find a donor.
They were down near Alexandria, Louisiana. This young girl was
African-American, and she had strong faith in God. A lot of the people
around her were praying and believing, but they were also apparently
wavering, but she kept saying, “Don’t worry. This is going to be okay.
This is going to work out. Jesus is talking to me.” She kept saying.
“Jesus is talking to me, and it’s going to be okay.” It was amazing!
The bone cancer kept progressing, and they looked everywhere for a
bone marrow donor. They were looking all around the Alexandria,
Louisiana area and then even farther out. Eventually, they found a
donor, so she went through the whole surgery.
The little girl was good with that. She said, “Whatever it takes. I know
that Jesus is with me, and He told me I’m going to be alright. He didn’t
tell me it was going to be this way, or that way; He just said that I’m
going to be alright.” She was just going along with it.
Then they started talking about it at the church, and she was the main
topic. She was fine; her body picked it up and started going on. She
apparently wasn’t going to need any more medical operations or
anything. They kept watching her body change, and then it got to a
certain place where it seemed to stop. It was almost like they could see
a tug-of-war over which genetics her body was going to go after.
The amazing thing was that her body changed genetically. After doing
all of the tests on her and seeing where she was, they said to her, “The
strange thing is that your body really grabbed hold of the donor’s
genetics, and if you ever need any other medical procedures, like a
blood transfusion, you can’t go back to your family.”
While I was listening to that, I was thinking, “Oh that will preach. That
is exactly the situation we are in and should insist that we be in, in
Christ.” Here we are, and we’re born with a terminal disease called sin.
People will say, “Well, I’m this way, because I was born this way.”
We’re all born a certain way, but the beauty of it is, even if you were
born a certain way, you get to get born again, and you don’t have to be
that way. Even if that is the case, we’re all born sinners, and everybody
has to be born again. We’re all born with a terminal disease.
You needed a donor. God the Father found one. He did a blood
transfusion in you. It was one of will, so by your own choice you
decided to accept that and because of that, now if you need any further
help or development, you can’t go back to your original family; you
can only go to the family of the donor for help, for transfusion, or
anything else. Amen? That is like the perfect illustration of the new
birth.
The only person you can go back to is your donor. That Donor is
Jesus. Our spiritual genetics should so grab the genetics of Jesus Christ
that we automatically gravitate toward Him rather than away from Him
and back toward past family, or history, or what they call
“determinisms.” There are all kinds of determinisms. There are
genetic determinisms, supposedly; there are cultural determinisms;
there are social determinisms. There is also something called a psychic
determinism, although it doesn’t really have to do with something
psychic. It means that it is of the mind determinism, which is based
more on what you’re raised around; it is about the ideas and thoughts
that you pick up.
It seems like no matter what I read, no matter what I study, even when
I’m just reading the Bible, it just keeps coming out. Then I think,
“Okay, what am I going to minister on?” I talk to God and I
automatically ask, “Is there anything in particular that You want me to
minister on?” It’s like I don’t even get the words out of my mouth, and
ZAP! There it is. Then I have to start to type it fast, because I’m not a
typist by any stretch; I know what the home keys are, but I just don’t
ever get home.
I don’t want to just tell you things; I want you to see it for yourself. I
want you to read out of your own Bible so that there are no questions
about it. Then you won’t be able to say, “Well, this is his view.” I’m
just reading the Bible.
Isaiah 9:6-7,
Number one: verse 6 says, “The government shall be upon His (Jesus’)
shoulder, and verse 7 says, “Of the increase of His government there
shall be no end.”
We know that when Jesus showed up, He came preaching the Gospel of
the kingdom of heaven and the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. You’ll
notice there, in Isaiah 9:6, He was called “The Prince of Peace.” He’s
not really called Prince a lot; He is usually called King. He’s also
called King of kings and Lord of lords.
The word “lord” is a word that you have to see in context to know what
it applies to. What I mean by that is this: the word “lord” can be used
in governmental or in religious connotations. In England, they have the
House of Lords, which obviously is made up of men. The word lord
many times is used toward a man, but many times we also know it is
used toward God.
You can say “king” but king means more of a ruler-ship from royalty or
from a national viewpoint, such as a governmental king of a kingdom,
whereas “lord,” in the sense of being a priest, or something like that,
would have more to do with the spiritual aspect; the word “lord”
intersects the two.
You might say, “That’s really strong; let’s say maybe not ‘as He is,’
because now we picture Jesus as the risen Lord. He’s Lord and Savior,
He’s King of kings, He’s majesty, and He has overcome. Let’s make it
as religious as we can: let’s say that back when He was the lowly,
Even if we said, “As He was,” and we still picture the shores of Galilee
and all of that, that’s still better than the way we picture ourselves now,
generally speaking. Even if we went back to that, the Bible doesn’t go
back to just that. The Bible says, “Not as He was, but as He is so are
we.” This is present tense. To emphasize that it says, “…so are we in
this world.” It does not say that we will be like Him in the world to
come.
Religion almost always tries to put the things of God in the future or in
the past. It was always “the great moves of God.” It was always “the
great man of God.” It was always some major thing of God in the past
or in the future. People say, “It’s going to be great over there. It’s
going to be great some day. It’s going to be great in the sweet by and
by.” Religion is never now. That’s why religion has no faith. Faith is
now. Religion is always past or future, but it’s never present.
Faith is always present. That’s an easy way to tell whether you are
acting as a Christian or just being religious. If you’re putting
something off to the future or wishing you could be back in the old
days, you are probably more religious than Christian.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t want to see what it was like back then,
but I wouldn’t trade being back with John Lake and Smith
Wigglesworth for being here now. We are reaching more people on a
weekly and monthly basis than Smith Wigglesworth or John Lake ever
One night, my phone rang and it was about 10:30 to11:00 o’clock. I
had it plugged in for charging, so it took me awhile to get to it. When I
got there, it had already stopped ringing. I could tell it was an out of
country number. It didn’t have a name; it just had a lot of numbers, and
a plus symbol in front of them. I was waiting to see if the person left a
message, but they didn’t. I thought, “Okay, they should call back. I
hope they call back.”
I put the phone down, and I remembered that I needed to run upstairs
and get some books. By the time I got back, my phone had just quit
ringing, again. I had just caught the light going off, and I thought, “I
missed them again.” I went back over there and checked, and sure
enough it was the same caller, but this time he left a message.
This time I put the phone done, sat down, and opened a book. I was
sitting right next to my phone. I wasn’t going anywhere; I was waiting
for it to ring. In about three minutes, it rang again. I grabbed it and
answered it. “Oh, Brother Curry, thank you so much for answering,
we’re so glad. This is the problem,” and he began to tell me what was
going on.
It was the weirdest thing; it was different from almost any other time I
can remember praying for somebody. I got up with the phone and
walked across the living room area. We have the main area where the
fireplace is, and we have this big rug there. I just walked over to the
middle of the rug. I was barefoot, in my pajamas, trying to get ready to
write, and then go to bed.
I just walked to the middle of the rug and just plopped down on the
floor. I started talking to the caller. I asked, “Is she there with you?”
He said, “Yes, Brother Curry, she’s right here.” I said, “Alright, here’s
what I’m going to do. I’m going to pray.”
He said, “I’ll put the phone on her.” I said, “Well, you can, but you
don’t have to. That doesn’t matter. We know what we’re doing here;
we can do this. Alright, I’m going to pray.”
It was one of the strangest prayers I think I’ve prayed in a long time, if
ever. It was one of the simplest, easiest prayers, but there was a totally
different feel from what I’d felt before. It was a certain feeling that I
can’t describe; there’s just no way. It was as if this had already been
done, and I was just praying to enforce it. I knew that it had been done,
and I didn’t even have to pray.
As soon as I knew that situation, I knew the way it was supposed to be,
and when I prayed, I had such a love for these people. I had no idea
who they were. I had never talked to them before.
Apparently they had heard of us somehow, and they were calling from
Thailand or Malaysia, I’m not sure which. I didn’t get to talk to them
very long, because they were the ones calling and it was on their
minutes and their money.
The person said, “Oh yes! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you very
much! Goodbye,” and that was it.
The next morning, I got a text. I had gotten other calls and texts, and I
guess it got lost in the shuffle. It wasn’t until I started going through
my texts that I found it. It said, “Brother Curry, I wanted you to know
that Emma’s fever broke. She is completely well, and she is up
playing.” The text said that her temperature at one point was 39.9
Celsius, close to 104 Fahrenheit, and that’s hot.
My response the night before had been one of resolve. As soon as I put
the phone back on the charger, I didn’t even give a second thought
about it being done. I was rejoicing over the fact that she had been
healed. The only thing I can credit that with is what we’ve been saying
about the Kingdom.
You ask, “Well how does that tie in together?” I don’t know, but it’s
one of those things where you feel like the two are connected; I just
don’t know how. I can see it, and you can figure it out, but at the same
time it’s not like something said, “This is that.” It is just like you know
these are connected. I will touch on that a little more.
“As He is, so are we in this world.” We’ve taken Jesus’ place. That’s
why He said, “Go in My name.” That meant: “Go in My stead.” He
was saying, “You go in My place. Speak for Me, talk for Me, and act
like Me. Do what I would do, and I will back you up.”
Revelation 1:5-6.
5 And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first
begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth.
Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own
blood,
Jesus is “The Prince of the kings of the earth.” It says, “Unto Him that
loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood.”
6 And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to
him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
Notice verse 5 said, “And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful
witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the Prince of the kings
of the earth.” Verse 6 was still talking about Jesus: “And hath made us
kings and priests unto God and His Father; to Him be glory and
dominion.” Notice who He was saying has dominion: “Jesus has
dominion forever and ever.”
Revelation 5: 9-10,
9 And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the
book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast
10 And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall
reign on the earth.
“And hast (past tense), made us unto our God kings and priests.”
That’s twice in just a few verses where we’re called kings and priests.
Look at what it says: “…and we shall reign on the earth.” Do you see
where it says we’re going to reign? It doesn’t say anything about
reigning in heaven. It says that we will reign here on the earth.
Romans 5:17 tells us that there is more about reigning in this life.
Over and over again you will see Scriptures that say we are to reign in
this life. It means reigning here, now. “As He is so are we in this life,”
now. It’s amazing because this is two-fold.
First of all, we are here, and we are exercising faith. The kingdom of
heaven is here; it is at hand; there’s no doubt about that.
It says that we will reign with Him, and it says that we’re going to reign
right here on earth. Basically, what you’re going to be then is
determined by how you exercise faith in the Word of God, now. It will
determine how He says you can reign.
Luke 19:16-19,
16 Then came the first, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained ten
pounds.
17 And he said unto him, Well, thou good servant: because thou
hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten
cities.
18 And the second came, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained five
pounds.
This verse just scares people. If you look at it logically, it makes sense
as long as you don’t get weird with it.
I want to read through this, and I want you to look at these words. The
words that we are using in this session are words like prince, king, lord,
and government, and we’ve talked a lot about Kingdom.
heard me preach this chapter many, many times. It’s in the DHT, and
it’s in the New Man. It’s in almost everything we preach.
In 1 Corinthians 2:6-8,
6 Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not
the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that
come to nought:
The Apostle Paul was talking about some princes that are in this world,
“…that come to nought,” or come to nothing.
8 Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they
known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
This tells us something about these princes, because it says here that
this was wisdom they didn’t have, and if they had known these things,
then they would not have crucified Jesus. Apparently these princes are
of this world, and it’s talking more about this world’s system.
They would not have killed the Lord of Glory, because that was the
downfall of this world’s system. They had a vested interest in keeping
this world’s system going the way it was. If they had known, then they
wouldn’t have done anything to Jesus, because that messed up their
future in this world’s system.
John 10:34,
6 I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most
High.
7 But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.
Notice: “I have said, ‘You are gods…but you shall die like men.’”
Let’s remember who He was talking to. If He had been talking to us,
that would have been impressive, but He wasn’t even talking to born
again people. He was talking to non-born again, natural men, and He
called them gods.
for?” They said, “Well, not for a good work, but because You being a
man make Yourself out to be God.”
John 10:35,
35 If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and
the scripture cannot be broken;
Jesus was saying to them, “How can you say that when the Scriptures
say, ‘I said you are gods to whom the Scripture was written, and the
Scripture can’t be broken.’” In other words, “Here, in your own
Scripture, it calls you gods, and now your going to stone Me because I
say I’m the Son of God?”
Again now, if you’re religious, this will scare you, because there’s a
line drawn that religion draws. They don’t want man to go across it,
because once man crosses that line, they find out it wasn’t God that
drew that line; it was religion that drew it.
I explained in session 5 how the term “gods” was used in John 10:34 by
Jesus, Himself. When I read where Jesus said, “I said, ‘Ye are gods,’”
it was a term used to describe the chief (top person) over a system, or a
judge. Then if you’ll remember, I went into the Hebrew and into the
Greek in both places out of Psalm 82 and out of John 10:34 and showed
how that word is used many times for a magistrate. In the Psalm, it is
the Hebrew word, ‘ĕlôhıym, which is exactly the same word used for
God in Genesis.
Ps 82:1,
Genesis 1:26-27,
26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our
likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea,
and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the
earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the
earth.
“God (Ĕlôhıym), said, ‘Let Us (plural), make man in Our own image,
and let them (man) have dominion.’”
I showed how all of that terminology was used, and how many times
that word was used in other places when it refered to magistrates,
judges, or rulers. It even refered to kings over nations. It was
translated into so many different words that that you can’t say it means
only one thing.
All of those things, which have been given different words, have one
similar characteristic, in every case. If you were going to boil all of
these down, the word for “god,” ‘ĕlôhıym, is the word for magistrate,
the word for king, and the word for ruler. If you were to give them all
one definition, the one definition would simply be “the highest official
in a given area.”
Wouldn’t that be a common definition that you could use for every
magistrate or chief justice of the court? A Supreme Court Justice
would hold the highest office in his realm. God, obviously, holds the
highest office in His realm. I think another term used is potentate
which means the highest official in a room.
When Jesus said, “I said you are gods,” He was saying to them,
“You are the highest official in your area.”
When Jesus said, “I said you are gods,” He wasn’t saying, “You’re
divine, and I’m going to enter you all into a new age. You’re all going
to sit around, hum, and become gods.” He wasn’t saying that. All He
was saying was, “I said you are the highest official in your area, yet
you’re still going to die just like a man, like every other man.” That’s
all He was trying to say.
As I took each one of these things and studied it, each one exploded
inside of me. I got DHT answers; then I went into the New Man, and
things started coming out about that. It is still coming out as I look at
this. If you take all three of these and put them together, it’s like I’m
walking this thin line. It seems like every other minute I step over to
the other side, and I see all of this.
As I was studying this out, I kept saying, “God, I want to make sure
that we’re right.” That’s always the first thing; I always want to make
sure that what we’re saying is exactly right.
The second thing is that sometimes it doesn’t matter how right you are
if nobody is listening. We have to be able to present this in a way that
people can understand it, although, sometimes this concept scares them.
Honestly, this is big.
Like I said, “It’s not making us divine, in and of ourselves, but we are
connected to Him.” That’s the key. It is amazing, and that is why we
have to realize what He was talking about. This is why I said that when
you study this out, the common definition should be the highest official
in a given area, because He was talking to people who were not born
again. He was talking to man. In Psalm 82, He was talking to God
about man, if you want to get technical about it.
In John 10:34, Jesus was talking to men about what God said. If you
had been there and they were fixing to stone you for making yourself
out to be the Son of God (or as they saw you to be making yourself out
to be God), that would not be the verse you would want to bring up.
You would want to stay away from anything that made it sound like
you were saying, “Yes, you’re right. I am God.” He didn’t do that. In
so many words, He told them, “The Bible says you are gods, and I say
I’m the Son of God. The Bible says you’re gods, so if you’re going to
stone Me, stone yourself first.” Think about that.
Let’s trace this back. Remember, Jesus was quoting Psalm 82:6 which
was an Old Testament verse that was written and applied to non-born
again men.
1 O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!
Who hast set thy glory above the heavens.
Notice: “…that thou 308ightiest still the enemy and the avenger.” If
you just read that part, you would never again worry about some curse
that you’re told God is putting on you. It says that if you praise God
and let praise come out of your mouth, that praise will still the enemy
and the avenger!
It is not just your enemy, but the ones that have a right to avenge
something against you, so even if you commented the wrong way, you
can still praise God and it will stop you from reaping what you have
sown. See how strong that is?
Just from that one thing, you begin to praise Him and worship Him for
who He is, and when you do that, He will show mercy. This praise will
still the enemy and the avenger, and God will protect you.
3 When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon
and the stars, which thou hast ordained;
“You have set them in their place. You have ordained that they be set
there.”
4 What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man,
that thou visitest him?
Notice he didn’t say, “man,” the second time. He said, “the Son of
man.” First of all, in Psalm 82, verses 6 and 7, it was talking about
man, starting with Adam, but here it was talking about the Son of man,
and it said, “When You visit Him.” We know when He (the Son of
man) visited, because that was when Jesus came.
There are some powerful beings out there, and they’re all worshiping
God; they are all with God, yet it says, “What is man, that thou art
mindful of him?” For some reason, God liked man. Out of all the most
powerful creatures in the universe, God took what was, by all accounts,
the weakest of all of the creatures He had ever created, and for some
reason decided to put His favor on them.
I like what Jesse Duplantis says. He just stands there, smiles, and says,
“You know, God just loves me. He can’t help Himself. He just loves
me. He likes me, and He can’t help Himself.” I thought, “That’s
exactly the way God is.” Thank God, that God can’t help Himself.
Amen? Thank God He just likes us. Nobody knows why, but He does.
Psalm 8:5,
5 For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast
crowned him with glory and honour.
By now, you know that the word “angels” there is not the word for
angels as we understand it. It’s the Hebrew word ĕlôhıym. It is the
same word used for God in Genesis chapter 1. It is the same word used
several times, and it is almost always for God, Himself.
If, at this point, it only meant magistrate or potentate, then the question,
“What is man that You made him a little lower than a judge?” wouldn’t
make sense. However, if you read that to say, “You made him a little
lower than God, Himself,” then it would take on a whole different
meaning.
Actually there are several different translations that are good. One
says, “Just a shade lower than God Himself.” Imagine that: just a shade
lower than God Himself. E.W. Kenyon said, “God made man as much
like Himself as He could.”
I don’t care how good a copy you make of something, the next copy is
not going to be as good as the original. However, it can be so close that
it takes a magnifying glass to tell the difference.
Literally, the type of connotation that this makes is that God made man
so close to His own image and likeness that if it was just one shade
more like God, it would be God. Now, that’s strong. Amen?
Let’s go on and read what it says about this man. “You made him a
little lower than the angels, and hast,” past tense, “crowned him with
glory and honor.” What man was he talking about? Obviously he was
talking about Adam and the way He made Adam, but then Adam fell.
After Adam fell, God didn’t start saying different things about man.
God still said good things about man, and God still kept talking about
man like He wanted to see him, although not necessarily like he was.
Why? That’s because God calls those “things that be not as though
they were.” Amen? The last thing you want is for God to call you as
He sees you or as you have been.
Psalm 8:6,
Honestly, it should change your life every time you read it, because it
says, “You have made him to have dominion.” The Hebrew word for
“dominion” there is mâshal. It means to have dominion, reign, rule, or
have power. You can look it up and know that’s what I’m referring to.
It talks about having force and dominion.
Another Hebrew word used for “dominion” is râdâh. That is the word
used in Genesis chapter 1.
Genesis 1:26-28,
26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our
likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea,
and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the
earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the
earth.
28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful,
and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have
dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air,
and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
All things made by God were to be put “under his (man’s) feet.”
Psalms 8:6 says, “You caused him” or made him, “to have dominion
over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his
(man’s) feet.” He was talking about man, and all things God made
were to be put “under his feet.”
Where have you heard that statement before? Isn’t that the statement
that was used about Jesus?
Ephesians 1:22,
22 And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the
head over all things to the church,
Our feet are the feet of Jesus. We are the Body of Christ.
Romans 16:20,
20 And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.
“And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly.”
Why? That’s because your feet are the feet of Jesus. You are the Body
of Christ. You are one with Him.
We could just take these Scriptures, not study anything else, and focus
and mediate on these for a period of time, and you would walk like
Jesus. He said, “Man is made just a little lower than God Himself, and
You have crowned him with glory and honor. You have made him to
have dominion, authority, power, the ability to tread down, the ability
to dominate, and the ability to have dominion over the works of Your
hands.” What were the works of God’s hands? He just said in Psalm
8, “Who has set the world above the heavens.”
Psalm 8:1,
1 O LORD our Lord…who hast set thy glory above the heavens.
3 When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon
and the stars, which thou hast ordained;
Then in the first part of verse 6 it said, “You’ve made man to have
dominion over the works of Your hands.”
Then in the second part of verse 6, he said, “You put all things under
his feet,” under man’s feet.
7 All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;
8 The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever
passeth through the paths of the seas.
9 O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!
You may have to go back over this, and study it out. I hope that you do
because you need to start developing this in you, and as you do it will
open up to you.
In the first part of Genesis, it says that God made Adam in His image.
Genesis 1:26,
26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our
likeness…
He said, “Let us make man in Our image, after Our likeness.” Both of
these have to be there, because He made and He created. He created
man in His image, and He made him after His likeness.
The word for “created” there is the Hebrew word bârâ which means to
make out of nothing. First of all, God created Adam. We know that
everything that was made was made by God, but in John it says
specifically that anything that was made was made by Jesus.
John 1:10,
10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the
world knew him not.
It says that anything that was made was made by Him, so Jesus made
everything. Jesus made Adam. He said, “Let us make man in our
316 © 2013 Curry R. Blake – John G. Lake Ministries
KINGDOM ADMINISTRATORS – PART 2
He made man in His own image and after His own likeness. The image
was made after the Spirit, but the likeness was made after the physical
appearance. God created the spirit of man out of nothing, according to
the Word, but He made his body out of the dust of the earth.
Genesis 1:26,
26 …let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the
fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and
over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
Later on, in 2 Corinthians, we see where it says that Satan is the god of
this world. He became the god of this world when Adam passed the
world over to him. For that to happen, Adam had to be “god of this
world” at that time, and he passed it on.
God never said that man was to have dominion over one another.
Adam was the first Adam. Jesus was the last Adam.
There are two kinds of men on the earth. There are the children of the
devil and the children of God. The first man was earthly; the second
man was spiritual.
46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is
natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
47 The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord
from heaven.
Adam was the first Adam. Jesus was the last Adam.
Jesus was the second man, but He was not the second Adam. He was
the last Adam. Do you see it?
Adam was the first man, but he was not the original;
he was the first copy.
The question that came up when I started looking at this was: who
made Adam? The answer is: Jesus. God put Jesus in the Godhead.
The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit agreed, “Let us make man after Our
image, after Our likeness.”
The Godhead had to send Jesus, because He was the One that had an
image; He could make Himself into the same likeness. Whenever He
made Adam into that likeness, He made a copy of Himself. Adam
might have been the first man, but he was not the original. He was the
first copy. He was the first print.
Take a paper that you want to save. You would call it the master,
which is the first or the original. If it is the original, the master, then
you would want to take care of it. You would make copies of it and put
it away because you would want to protect the master.
The beauty of it is, if you go to the printer and make a copy, that copy
will be the first print. You could take the master and you could look at
the master and the printed copy side-by-side, and with the naked eye,
you couldn’t tell the difference. You would have to know something
about it and look much closer at it to be able to see a difference.
If you were to spill water on it, it would probably run; it would mess it
up and there would be a visible difference. You wouldn’t be able to
use that anymore because of the damage. You couldn’t make copies
from that one. You would have to go back to your file and get the
master in order to make a new first print.
When you’ve given your life to something, and you think, “We got
that. We captured it,” and then something happens, it’s rough, and it
affects you. You think, “We’ve got to take better care of them.”
Well, we have a Master. Adam was the first print and Jesus was the
original. Adam fell, so he was damaged, but God didn’t panic, because
He had the Master. Jesus came back in.
All this time we’ve been making copies from the damaged first print, so
we have a world full of copies. Through the generations the copies are
getting worse and worse. Isn’t it amazing that it lines up with
Newton’s theory that things run down and don’t get better? However,
when Jesus came He said, “We’re not going to use that first print
anymore. We’re going to use the Master now.”
He went through the same thing Adam did, but He didn’t get messed
up, and because of that, now every reproduction in Jesus is a perfect
digital copy. I hope you get the idea there. It’s no longer
mimeographed where it’s going through the process, but now its
digital; now it’s a perfect imprint over and over. That’s who you are.
Why do you think the devil comes to tempt you? There are two
examples of the devil tempting people. One was in the Garden when
he said, “Hath God truly said?”
Then, when the devil appeared to Jesus, he came to try to tempt Him.
He didn’t say, “Has God really said?” like he did in the garden. He
said, “If You are the Son of God…” Do you see the difference? That’s
how he tempts you when he comes to you. What he’ll say first is, “Has
God really said that you’re different?” However, the way he tempts
you is by asking, “Are you a son of God, or are you a child of God?”
Then you say what Jesus said.
Jesus said: “It is written.” You have to respond to him the same way
that Jesus responded to him. It’s the only way to win, and it’s the only
way he knows that he’s dealing with Jesus and not somebody else. If
you answer a different way, he knows he’s dealing with somebody else.
When the devil asks, “Are you truly a different person?” you have to
say, “It is written; I am a new creation in Christ Jesus. Old things are
passed away, behold all things have become new, and all things are of
God, who has reconciled me unto Him.” You have to respond that
way.
The devil will turn around, and say, “If you are a son of God, do this.”
He will try to get you to do something out of one of these three: the lust
of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, or the pride of life. Isn’t that what he
did with Jesus? After he asked Jesus if He was the Son of God, he said,
“I hear Your belly rumbling. You’ve been fasting for forty days. I
know You’re hungry. You need some bread. Look at that rock.
Wouldn’t that make a perfect loaf of bread? You can do that; just turn
it into bread. That’s all You have to do to prove you are the Son of
God.”
Jesus said, “No, I’m not going to do that, because if I did, I would be
doing it in response to you. I would be obeying you.” The one you
obey is the one you become the servant of. He said, “I’m not going to
do that.” He said, “It is written: ‘Man does not live by bread alone, but
by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’” Do you see
how all of that ties together?
The power of words: “You will have what you say if you believe it.”
When Jesus said, “You can speak to a fig tree, and it will obey you, or
you can speak to a mountain, and it will obey you,” He was saying,
“You will have what you say if you believe it.” He was talking to
fallen man. He didn’t say, “Well, when you’re born again you can do
this.” He didn’t say that. He was talking to fallen man and He said,
“You will have what you say if you believe it.”
You have people that hear that the economy is going to go down, and it
is going to be tough to get jobs, and they start repeating it. They say,
“Don’t buy anything. Hang on to your money.” Then they don’t buy,
and they start storing up. Those are corresponding actions, and what
happens is that the world goes that direction. All of that happens
because someone said that it was supposed to be that way. They said,
“Indicators seem to point us to the idea that that’s the way it’s going to
be.”
The bad part is that you have born again Christians, powered by the
Holy Spirit, whose words should be so much more powerful, and they
are saying the same thing the world says.
Satan comes to these people of the world. I’m not saying he comes in a
form, but however he does it, he works through them.
If faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God, then doubt
comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of man, or the word of the
devil; you can say it either way.
I didn’t say anything that only a Christian can say. I said something
that man can say. You have some people doing that, but the bad part is
they’re doing it illegally. They are going at it through New Age, and
they do that exact same thing.
It’s amazing to me that some of the first people that did some of the
experiments on the power of words on things were New Age people.
They started talking; they would say good things over this, and they
would say bad things over that, and then they would look to see the
difference. Words actually affected those things. These were non-born
again people, New Age type people, and it worked. Why? That’s
because they are man, fallen man. You will find out that God never
retracted what He said about man. He never retracted that dominion
that He gave or that ability to speak.
I started looking at that, and I started thinking, “We need to start taking
those indicators as promptings to pray or to speak, instead of listening
to the news and saying, ‘Well, I’ve got to figure whether to get out of
the stock market.’” No, you listen to it and decide, “Here’s what we’re
going to say about it.” Amen?
That’s Kingdom living. When you start acting as the highest official
over your area of influence, and you start speaking over your city, He
will see that you’ve been faithful over one city, and He’ll make you
master over five. Do you see this? It does not seem as far fetched as it
used to, does it? If not, then that means you’re getting it.
To sum these up: Adam gave ruler-ship to Satan. Satan then offered
the temptation of ruler-ship to Jesus.
We know the temptation was real, or Jesus would have called Satan on
it. It was presented as a temptation that Jesus overcame. Jesus
responded to it like He did every other temptation.
Satan knew that if Jesus had agreed to it, then He would have gone
under. He would have gained the world, but He would have lost His
position; He would have been under Satan. It would actually have
pushed Satan up a notch, rather than putting Jesus where He wanted to
be. There’s nothing to say that it wasn’t a real opportunity for Him to
gain all the kingdoms of the world. If it had not been a real offer, then
it wouldn’t have been a real temptation.
Genesis 1:26-28,
26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our
likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea,
and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the
earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the
earth.
Notice: man is singular, but them is plural. He was saying, “Let them,”
basically man, and everyone that comes out of man, “have dominion.”
“Dominion” in this verse is from the Hebrew word râdâh. It means to
tread down, subjugate, or trample under.
“Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of
the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth.” Do you hear that?
Let them have dominion over all the earth, not just cattle, fish, and
birds. “Let them have dominion over all the earth, and over every
creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.”
28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful,
and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have
dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air,
and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
Matthew 8:24,
25 And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord,
save us: we perish.
“And He saith unto them, Why are you fearful, O ye of little faith?”
I’m sure they were thinking, “Hello, look around; waves are coming
over the boat. You told us to go to the other side, we’re out in the
middle now, and we’re going to sink. Now is the time to be afraid.”
He was thinking just the opposite. “That’s right; I told you to go to the
other side. Now there are waves coming, so you ought to get up in
front of the boat and speak to it. I did not tell you to come to the
middle of the sea and drown. I told you to go to the other side.”
He said, “Why are you fearful, O ye of little faith? Then He arose and
rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.” We know
He talked to fig trees. We know He talked about talking to mountains.
We know He talked to wind and sea. We know He talked to demons.
We know He talked to fever. We know He talked to sickness, disease,
and numerous other things.
“What kind of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him!”
I’ll tell you what kind of Man that was; He was the original One. He
was the original Man that Adam was copied from.
It talked about the deity of Christ, which I absolutely agree with and
believe, but I did not agree with all of their reasoning of what proved
Him to be divine. It mentioned the part about His miraculous virgin
birth. It went back to Scripture and said, “He would be called a mighty
God.”
Then it said, “What proved Him to be divine were His miracles and His
healings.” When I read that I thought, “I can’t go with that, because
Elijah did miracles. Elijah wasn’t God, so miracles can’t prove you’re
God.”
Jesus didn’t do miracles to prove He was God. You can’t use miracles
to prove Jesus is God, because the minute you do that, then you have to
bring in every other person that’s ever worked a miracle and say they
were God, too. At that point, you enter the realm of Mormonism.
I could not go along with that, so I left that part out when I taught. I
did not teach that miracles or healings proved Jesus was divine. I used
all of the other things that were good, such as His death, burial, and
resurrection; all of that was good.
I had a problem with the part about how the 12 healed, and Judas was a
devil. That should prove my point, right there. The 70 healed. There
was another man casting out devils in Jesus’ name. We don’t even
know his name, but we know he wasn’t of God.
They asked, “What manner of man is this?” Well, He was the original
man. He was the One after Whom everyone else was supposed to be
patterned. However, over time, the copy got so weak, so bad, and so
messed up that you couldn’t even look at the copies and say that they
came from the original.
Do you realize that Peter should have been able to look at Jesus and
say, “There is something familiar about you.” Why? If you traced
every person, each one would go back to Noah, and then from Noah
back to Adam.
They said, “Even the winds and the sea obey Him!” We know that fig
trees obeyed Him, and sickness, disease, and demons obeyed Him.
Have you ever noticed that everybody just accepted Jesus as the
Master? He told them, “Come, follow Me.” He didn’t say, “Come,
follow Me, or else.” He just put out the call. He said, “Come.”
At some point, He did tell them, “I’m the door. The only way to get to
the Father is by Me.” He didn’t force that; He just stated the facts. He
didn’t lord over anybody, and yet He was the Lord. All He lorded over
was sickness, disease, wind, rain, demons, fish, and things on this earth.
Philippians 2:5-8,
7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form
of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
Jesus acted like the prophets did, but He stood out so drastically from
everybody else, because He was the original that everybody else was
supposed to be imitating. Paul said, “Follow me as I follow Christ.”
Imitate Christ. That’s our whole purpose.
We are a new species of being that never existed before on this earth, in
that sense. Because of that, we are able to do these things in His Name.
We are bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh. We’ve already had the
bone marrow transplant that we talked about earlier.
This is why we have to walk in love. We’re not to have dominion over
one another; we are all part of one another.
There are only references to two of “man” on this earth. They are the
first Adam and the last Adam.
46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is
natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
47 The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord
from heaven.
It says that if we are made in the image of the first man, which was
earthly or natural, we will be earthly but if we are made in the image of
the second Man, the last Adam, then we will be spiritual. It says that
the first Adam became a living soul, but the last Adam was a life giving
Spirit.
If you go and study it out, you will find that you are made after the
image of the last Adam, the second man. You are made in the image of
the Original. You are an identical clone, if you want to use that term.
Because of that, we take on the image of the heavenly, the spiritual, and
we walk under the conditions of this kingdom. That’s all Jesus was
doing. Everything He did, He did as a person living in this new
kingdom.
In the new kingdom, when you speak, things come to pass for you.
This new kingdom is exactly the opposite of the old kingdom. This
new kingdom is voice activated. You speak, and things happen. You
speak and it comes to pass for you, because you have the right to speak
and believe in your heart, and when you speak the Word of God, what
you’re speaking comes from the Word of God. It doesn’t have to be a
quote, but it’s the Word of God even if you paraphrase it. Angels
hearken to the voice of God’s Word, and they accomplish it.
Believe on Him, cease from your works, and start doing His works.
I asked before what you would do if someone came to you and said that
they would back you in anything you wanted to do. What would be
your dream? What would you say that you want to do with your life?
How do you see yourself in five or ten years? What do you want to be
doing? What if you never had to worry about money again? What
would be the first thing to pop into your mind? Would it be in line with
the will of God? I’m not saying that it is some special will that you’ve
got to go out and find. If it lines up with the Bible and if it lines up
with loving God and loving your fellowman as yourself, and if it lines
up with doing to others what you’d have done to you, then it is God’s
will.
God has already said, “I don’t want you to ever have to worry about
food, where you’re going to sleep, or what you’re going to wear. I
don’t want you to think about any of that. I want you to focus, and I
want you to be absolutely dedicated to this dream. You don’t have to
worry about anything else.”
People say, “Well, I have to work eight hours a day to make ends meet.
If I want to make enough money to start my own business, I have to
work an extra four hours of overtime a day just to put money back.”
God’s answer to that would be: “That’s just like the Gentiles. You’re
just like a pagan. You’re religious. You’ll serve Me on Sunday, but
Monday through Friday, you don’t talk to Me because you are busy
building your own kingdom.”
God doesn’t want you to worry about what you’re going to eat or what
you’re going to wear. He wants to take care of you. He is your
heavenly Father, and He wants you to be about your Father’s business.”
If that dream that popped up in your head when I mentioned that before
is in line with the will of God, go after it! God will back you, and you
won’t have to worry. Most people spend so much time worrying about
making a living that they never live a life. That is the reason for the
world system. It is to keep you looking at eating, dressing, and being
taken care of so that you don’t have time to be the blessing to the world
that God wants you to be.
There’s not a person that God cannot use to do amazing things through.
Not one. You say, “Well, you don’t know me. How can you say that?”
That’s because I know me, and if He can use me, He can use you.”
Amen? He’s done some amazing things through me, so I know He can
do amazing things through you.
He can do that, because He is God. He’s that big. I don’t care how
much of a mess-up you are, He is big enough to overrule that and do
great things through you. Amen? That’s really what I want you to
realize: you have a heavenly Father. You don’t have to focus on what
to eat, what you’re going to wear, or where you’re going to sleep.
Matthew 6:33,
If you have that righteousness, that means you sought it, and you have
sought the Kingdom, and you found it. That means that if you seek
Him, all these things are going to be added to you, but as long as you
keep providing for yourself, He’ll let you do it.
What we’re going to do here in the next six months to a year is going to
be phenomenal. People are going to look at us and say, “How did that
happen?” That’s because we’re going to put the Kingdom first, and we
will do it through the Kingdom. We’re going to do what’s important;
we’re going to focus on that.
You have to think Kingdom. What kingdom are you in? Are you in
the Kingdom of His dear Son? You say that you’re born again, so I
assume you’re in that Kingdom.
We’ve got American troops around the world in different places. They
are in Afghanistan, but they’re not of Afghanistan. If they’re in
Afghanistan, they’re there because we sent them there. Now, please,
I’m not getting into the right and wrong of all of that; I’m just using it
as an example. We sent them there.
If you talked to a soldier, they would tell you that the most important
thing to them would be things sent from home. They can’t get those
things there. Even if they could get them, they would still want them
from home, because they remind them of home. It’s their way of
connecting. They love to get cookies. They love to get things in the
mail from home.
The amazing thing about going to a foreign country is that the minute
you walk onto the grounds of an American embassy, you are on
American soil.
After reaching the American Embassy, you could go into the kitchen.
Their pantry would be so full of food, that they could lock the gates and
live there for one year. I’m not talking about crackers and cheese to
spread on your crackers; I’m talking about food. They fly food in from
Florida. Whatever the ambassador wants, they fly in, because the
ambassador is not limited to the resources of the country he is placed
in.
The resources of the place where you are do not limit you. What
you’re limited to are the resources from where you’re from. I am not of
this world. I was not born of this world. I am born of heaven. I’m not
limited to the resources of this world. I’m only limited to the resources
of the world I’m from; I allow only those to get to me.
I have that passport and that passport says, “Property of the Untied
States.” That passport means that a person from another country can’t
deal with me without going through the consulate. They would have to
deal with me according to the International Standards.
Colossians 1:13,
“We were delivered out of the power and authority of darkness, and
translated into the Kingdom of His dear Son.” What does that mean?
I’m in a new Kingdom. I’ve got a new passport. The authority of
darkness does not have the right to talk to me.
The devil (the authority of darkness) may come up and say, “Hey,
you’re here on the earth, and as long as you’re here you have to get
sick, you have to be poor, and you have to have all of these troubles.” I
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BEHOLD THE KINGDOM
say, “No, no, no. That’s not me. Look at my passport; I’m born of
heaven. Heaven will bring resources to me.”
Psalm 91:7,
7 A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right
hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.
Why will it not come close to me? That’s because the authority of
darkness has no right. It shall not come near me, because I’m from
another Kingdom.
I’m born of the original Man and because of that, I have dominion over
the earth and the earth will obey me. I can say, “You will prosper, and
you will grow,” and it will grow produce four times bigger than
normal. Why? That’s because we need four times the amount of food.
We don’t have four times the amount of space, so it just has to grow
four times as big.
Delve into this and think about these things. Go over them. Get the
CD and go over it again and again. Get it in you; start realizing how to
live in this Kingdom, how to talk and how to walk. In this Kingdom,
you don’t talk about what you’ve got; you talk about what you want.
You call those things “which are not as though they were.” Anybody
can talk about what they have. Anybody can call those things that are
as though they are. We’re not doing that. We’re of another Kingdom,
we talk differently. We call those things “which are not as though they
were.”
People will ask, “Oh, what do you think about that economy?” Just
say, “I know, isn’t it great?” They won’t know what to think. You just
talk that way, and they’ll either be drawn to you, or they’ll walk away.
Amen?
I want you to get this message, so study it out. I’m going to keep going
on it until you get it. When you get it, I will be able to tell, because you
will show that you have it.
“Heavenly Father,
“We thank You. Your Word is true. I believe Your Word. Let it be
unto me according to Your Word. I thank You, Heavenly Father, that
Your Kingdom come, let Your will be done in my life and in the lives
of those around me. I thank You now that the eyes of my
understanding are enlightened, and I walk not according to this world,
but according to Your Kingdom and according to Your dominion. Live
through me in the name of Jesus. Amen.”
John 10:34,
Psalm 82:6-7,
6 I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most
High.
7 But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.
Notice that it said, “I have said ye are gods…” Then it said, “…but you
shall die as men.” Obviously, there’s always some controversy over
that, but if you just study it out there’s nothing really controversial
about it.
Exodus 19:5-6,
Revelation 5:9-10,
9 And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the
book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast
redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and
tongue, and people, and nation;
10 And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall
reign on the earth.
Notice: “And hast,” past tense, “made us unto our God kings and
priests.”
Romans 5:17,
In other words, “If we have received the abundance of grace and of the
gift of righteousness, we shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.” It is
reigning in life, and not reigning after death. It’s not over there on the
other side; it’s over here. Amen?
This teaching, “All that Jesus began both to do and teach,” is from Acts
1:1.
Then Luke wrote what we call the Book of the Acts of the Apostles,
which probably should have been called the Acts of the Holy Ghost. I
think the main star there was the Holy Ghost, so it was more along the
Acts of the Holy Ghost more than the Acts of the Apostles. There were
a lot of other people in there doing some things other than just the
Apostles.
He didn’t just do, and He didn’t just teach. He did, and He taught.
Every believer should do and teach. Every believer should be sharing
with someone, more than just in a witnessing aspect. Every believer
should be making a disciple of someone.
You say, “Well, I don’t know that much.” Believe it or not, there are
people who know less than you do. They ought to be easy to find, so
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ALL THAT JESUS BEGAN BOTH TO DO AND TEACH
just find somebody that knows less then you do and teach them. Bring
them up to speed, and then somebody will teach you a little more, and
then this whole thing will just grow. That’s the way it’s supposed to
work.
Now, so that we get the whole picture, we are starting at the very
beginning of Jesus’ ministry. Jesus had been baptized by John in the
Jordan River. He had gone into the wilderness, He had been tempted,
He had overcome temptation, and He had won the victory in
temptation. Then it says, “He returned in the power of the Spirit.” As
soon as He got back on the scene, then John the Baptizer was almost
immediately arrested and then beheaded. After John was arrested,
Jesus started preaching.
John had already been preaching, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is
at hand.” Then Jesus picked it up immediately and said exactly the
same thing. We read this in Matthew chapter 4, starting in verse 17. I
want to emphasize certain words. The key to our ministry really has
been the fact that we actually pay attention to exactly what was written,
and we emphasize words that most people just run past.
Matthew 4:17,
17 From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for
the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Notice the phrase “from that time.” What does that mean? How would
we say that today? We would say, “From then on.” He didn’t say,
“And at this time Jesus preached this.” If he had, then we would say,
“Well, that was one time that He preached that,” but he didn’t say that.
He said, “From that time,” so basically he was saying, “From the very
beginning of Jesus’ ministry.”
I talk to Christians and non-Christians, and they all seem to have the
idea that Jesus just went around and gave a little word here and there,
preached the Sermon on the Mount, healed some people round about,
and it was all disconnected—but it wasn’t. He was sent with a purpose.
Jesus was sent to preach the Kingdom of God, and He invited people to
partake of that Kingdom. Everything He taught was about that
Kingdom. Every word and every action was a demonstration of the
Kingdom.
Once you start putting this whole thing in perspective, all of a sudden it
will be like, “Okay, so He was just showing us how the Kingdom is
supposed to be operating. He was showing us how people who live in
the Kingdom live.” We’re going to look at that a little more.
Even John said that everything that Jesus did wasn’t mentioned, but we
know that everything He did and said was included in the phrase, “The
kingdom of heaven is at hand.” I want you to get that locked in.
Mark 1:14-15,
14 Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee,
preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God,
What was the Gospel? It was “The Good News.” Jesus wasn’t
preaching a sermon so much as He was preaching “The Good News.”
He was “evangelizing.” To evangelize means to bring forth Good
News. He was preaching “The Good News of the Kingdom;” the reign,
the superiority, the supremacy, and the rules of the “Government of
God.” He was preaching the Good News that God’s Government could
be entered into and exercised upon the earth.
I always have to emphasize that Jesus was not preaching His death,
burial, and resurrection. Usually, when we talk about the Gospel, we
talk about His death, burial, and resurrection. That is not what He was
preaching. If anything, He hid it. For the most part, He hid it in
parables, and He even hid it for some time from His own disciples.
In Isaiah chapter 55, verse 11 it tells how God’s Word goes forth and
doesn’t return void. It accomplishes what He sent it for. His Word is
like rain that comes down and makes the earth produce fruit.
God continues to work in people’s lives like a slow rain that they can’t
get away from, and it’s always moving forward. That’s the way His
Kingdom is: that Kingdom starts small and then it grows. Jesus said
that the Kingdom, even though it starts as the smallest of all seeds, once
it’s planted, it grows into a tree that all the fowls of the air can live in.
In other words, it grows into this huge thing.
The Kingdom frees you from everyday life. Decide to tell God,
“Let it be unto me according to Your Word.”
The thing about the Kingdom is that it frees you from everyday life.
Once you understand the Kingdom, it frees you from having to think in
terms of what you are going to eat, what you are going to wear, or if the
bills are going to get paid. If you still have to worry about those things,
I can honestly tell you that you don’t understand the Kingdom yet.
In the Kingdom, you are a king and a priest unto God who is your
Father, a Father who wants to take care of you. He will take care of
you. It’s not like the Old Covenant in this Kingdom. It’s not like when
people were under the law where they had to perform perfectly.
You cannot go by what has been in the past. I don’t care if you’ve
struggled emotionally, with sin, with finances, with healing, or in some
other area. I’m telling you today that you just simply decide to tell
God, “Let it be unto me according to Your Word.” Believing will flip a
switch, because this Kingdom is voice activated. Amen?
The Word in your mouth is a seed. You plant the seed, you water the
seed, you believe and then you say. It works. That’s the element of
everything about the Kingdom, of everything about the Gospel, and of
everything in Christianity. We believe, and say: “Because we have
believed, therefore we speak.” That’s what it comes down to.
No matter what is going on in your life, at some point, you have to just
simply change what you say.
It doesn’t matter how you were born. What counts is how you were
born again. You were born again according to the incorruptible seed of
the Word of God. Now you are recreated in true holiness and
righteousness after Jesus Christ and after God, Himself.
Let’s look at Acts chapter 1:1 again. This is the verse where we
actually got the title for this sermon. Luke was writing.
Acts 1:1,
Acts 1:2-3,
2 Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the
Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom
he had chosen:
After Jesus had been dead for three days, and then resurrected, He was
seen by them for 40 days. He just talked to them about the Kingdom of
God and shared with them.
It doesn’t say what all they did, but it says He spoke to them. It said
that later He explained to them all things of the law and the prophets
and of how He, Christ, had to suffer. He told them all about Himself,
but it also says that He spoke to them about the Kingdom of God.
Think about that. For 40 days He explained the Kingdom. That would
explain why they acted the way they did right after the Day of
Pentecost.
Paul was chained to a Roman guard, and he was talking like he was the
boss. I’m sure the guard was thinking, “Here I am guarding you, and
you are talking like you are the boss. I’m your guard to make sure you
don’t get away.”
As Paul was writing letters, the guard was probably thinking, “Well, I
am not going to have this job much longer, because he’s going to go
before Caesar. They’re going to be cutting his head off, so this is going
to end quickly.”
Paul was writing, “Yes, I know the Church needs me. I really want to
go on, but right now, I think the Church needs me too much. I’ll
probably stay around awhile. I don’t think I’m going to die yet. I’ll
just stay here and do my job.”
For 40 days Jesus went into detail on the Kingdom of God. I’ve only
taught on it six or seven times in this series, and a couple of years ago I
taught on the Kingdom parables and different things, but I didn’t teach
on it for 40 days. They were literally staying in, sitting there. Sending
out for food and that kind of thing would take a couple of hours here
and there, but for 40 days He continually spoke of the things pertaining
to the Kingdom of God.
Matthew 4:17,
17 From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for
the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
I’m running through several places, but I just want you to get an overall
view of what was going on. Jesus had started preaching and John was
dead. You may be thinking, “Okay, where’s the Kingdom in that?”
It’s all throughout these Scriptures, but again, if you don’t understand
it, you won’t see it.
Luke 4:16,
Colossians 2:3,
Luke 4:17,
17 And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet
Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place
where it was written,
Do you realize it would have taken a little while to find that place?
Isaiah was on a scroll and you had to roll that thing out and go all the
way through to what we call chapter 61. There weren’t any chapter
numbers there, so it wasn’t like He could just turn and see numbers.
He had to actually read it.
It would have taken a little bit of time to pull through the scrolls. It
wasn’t where they just tossed it down and went through it. Before they
took it, they had to wash their hands, and do certain rituals.
Isaiah 61:1,
61 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath
anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent
me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the
captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
Luke 4:18,
Jesus was preaching “The Good News” to the poor. What Good News?
It was the Good News of the Kingdom. Remember that He wasn’t
preaching the good news of His death, burial, and resurrection. He was
preaching the Good News that God’s Kingdom was finally here.
Remember Exodus 19:6 we just read? He said, “If you will obey Me
and keep My statutes and walk in My covenant, then you will be a
kingdom of priests.” He was saying, “There is a Kingdom coming,”
and that’s what they wanted, but they wanted it physically.
When Jesus was asked about when the Kingdom would come, He
told them that it was not going to come with observation.
They asked, “How will it come? What’s it going to look like? How
will we know?”
Luke 17:20-21,
21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the
kingdom of God is within you.
It’s like when the Holy Spirit comes, or when the wind rustles the
leaves. You see the results of it, but you don’t see the wind. It’s not
going to march in and take over. It’s going to be of the Spirit; it’s
going to be in the heart. It’s going to change things. You will be able
to see the results of it, but it’s not a Kingdom like you would think.
He said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because God hath anointed
Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to heal the
brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of
sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.”
Luke 4:19-20,
He didn’t go on, because the very next part of that same verse in Isaiah
61:2 said to preach the “vengeance of our God.”
Isaiah 61:2,
He was preaching the Good News of the Kingdom, and He was telling
them that God’s reign was there. It wasn’t time for the vengeance, at
that point. He wasn’t preaching the vengeance, because it was set off
to a future date. The only people who would get the vengeance were
the ones who didn’t accept the Good News. Here He was saying, “I’m
here to tell you good things, the Good News of this Kingdom.”
You ask, “Well, where’s the Kingdom in that?” That’s easy. The
Kingdom is preaching the Gospel, the Good News of the Kingdom to
the poor.
Matthew 5:3,
“Blessed are the poor in spirit.” Why? “For theirs is the kingdom of
heaven.” If He was going to preach the Gospel, the Good News, to the
poor, He had to preach the Gospel of the kingdom of heaven to the poor
to tell them, “You have a heavenly Father.”
You don’t have to worry about paying your bills in the sense that you
think, “Are we going to make it or not going to make it? Are we going
to starve? What’s going to happen to us? Am I going to go into debt,
or what am I going to sell so that I can stay out of debt?” Back then if
they got in debt, they would go into servitude. They would sell
themselves into servitude for a set amount of years.
Jesus read down to the part where it said, “Preach the acceptable year
of the Lord.” Then, in the first part of verse 20 of Luke chapter 4, it
said, “And He closed the book, and He gave it again to the minister,
and sat down.”
The second part of verse 20 said, “And the eyes of all them that were in
the synagogue were fastened on Him.” Why? That’s because they
weren’t used to hearing somebody preach that. They knew that it
related to a specific time, and that time was when the Kingdom of God
was at hand.
Luke 4:21-29,
Notice: He had already sat down, and everybody was looking at Him.
You can picture Him sitting down and everybody just staring. It was
quiet, and He looked at them and said, “This day is this Scripture
fulfilled in your ears (in your hearing).”
22 And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words
which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this
Joseph’s son?
23 And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb,
Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in
Capernaum, do also here in thy country.
25 But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days
of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six
months, when great famine was throughout all the land;
26 But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city
of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow.
In other words, Elias was sent to somebody that wasn’t even a part of
the covenant at that point. All of the land of Israel was undergoing a
drought and a famine, and here, God was sending him to a Gentile.
28 And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things,
were filled with wrath,
Notice: in six verses, it went from, “All bare him witness, and
wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth,” to
“And when they heard these things, all were filled with wrath.” I’m
telling you that it doesn’t take but a second for the crowd to turn on
you. It’s amazing how fast that can happen.
After they were filled with wrath, it says that they thrust
Jesus out of the city. They meant to kill Him.
29 And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the
brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might
cast him down headlong.
They were going to throw Him headfirst off the cliff. If you read this
whole story, it says at one point that He actually went with them. He
got right to the edge and then it says that He turned around and walked
through their midst.
I’m sure that while He was walking with them, He was calm the whole
time, and He was peaceful. He knew He wasn’t going to die like that
because He knew Psalm 22. It said that He was going to be pierced, so
He knew that it wasn’t going to happen by being thrown off a cliff.
All the time they were leading Him out, I am sure He was saying, “Do
you really think you’re going to do this? Do you really want to do this?
Don’t you see that this shows your heart?” He went right with them to
the edge. That was just like Abraham raising that knife.
He was giving them a chance to repent. They had from the time they
were in the synagogue until they got to the edge of the cliff. He gave
them enough rope to hang themselves. He proved their hearts. He got
them right to the edge and when they got there, He just turned around
and walked away. It makes you wonder what they were thinking when
He just turned and walked off.
What He preached was out of Isaiah 61, so go there with me. We know
it was the Kingdom, so let’s go back and read this, starting with verse
1,
Isaiah 61:1-9,
1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD
hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath
sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the
captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
4 And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the
former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the
desolations of many generations.
They didn’t realize that if they had just accepted Him, this is what
would come. This was what was going to be available. It was what He
was trying to bring in.
5 And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of
the alien shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers.
6 But ye shall be named the Priests of the LORD: men shall call
you the Ministers of our God: ye shall eat the riches of the
Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves.
7 For your shame ye shall have double; and for confusion they
shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they shall
possess the double: everlasting joy shall be unto them.
“For your shame ye shall have double.” In other words, “You’re not
going to have shame and what shame has cost you anymore; I’m going
to give double back to you.”
That’s the reason Jesus turned over the tables in the temple. They were
robbing the people just so they could buy animals for the offering.
9 And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their
offspring among the people: all that see them shall acknowledge
them, that they are the seed which the LORD hath blessed.
Notice this next part: “…that they are the seed which the LORD hath
blessed.” Now, doesn’t that sound like what we read in Galatians?
Galatians 3:16,
“He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed,
which is Christ,” and you are in Him.
Matthew 4:17,
17 From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for
the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Matthew 4:23,
Where did He go? He went about all Galilee. Doing what? “Teaching
in their synagogues.” And what? “And preaching.” The what? “The
Gospel.” The Good News of what? “The Kingdom.” He went through
all of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues (plural). He went through
all of Galilee and to every city. He went to every synagogue He came
across. He taught, and He preached that the kingdom of heaven was at
hand.
Imagine walking in and saying “I’m really glad to be here today. I’m
here to announce that what you’ve been waiting for is here. I am He.”
He probably had them up to the point where He told them that He was
the One. They probably thought, “Oh, okay. We’ve got something
happening.”
You’ve got to remember that it had been 400 years since there had been
a prophet. When John the Baptist came up, people asked, “Is he a
prophet?” “We think he’s a prophet.” “He could be a prophet, but
we’re not sure, because he never gets very specific.”
They were wondering: “Is this a new time? Is there a new move going?
Is God bringing something in? What’s going on?” Then, all of a
sudden, He said, “Well, everything you’ve been waiting for is here, and
it’s all in Me.” At that point He probably lost them. They probably
thought, “Well, who do You think You are?”
That’s what every religious person thinks about a person who walks in
right standing with God and knows who they are. They always think,
“Who do you think you are? Do you think God just loves you,
especially?” “No. He loves you too; you just won’t take it.” Most of
the time, that’s the way things happen.
Jesus taught in their synagogues, preaching the Gospel, the Good News
of the Kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of
disease among the people. He healed the sick, raised the dead, and cast
out devils. He did all of that.
Matthew 4:24,
24 And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto
him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and
torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and
those which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy; and he
healed them.
“And His fame went throughout all Syria, and they brought unto Him
all sick people.” All means there were none left sick. Wherever He
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ALL THAT JESUS BEGAN BOTH TO DO AND TEACH
went, when He left, nobody was sick there anymore. It looked like
heaven; it looked exactly like the Kingdom. That’s the way it’s
supposed to look when the Kingdom is in force in an area. There
should be no sickness or disease. Amen?
The Kingdom is God’s reign and rule. It’s His Government over your
life. It’s you doing things the way God wants them done.
It said here in verse 24, “They brought unto Him all sick people that
were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were
possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic, and those that had
the palsy.” What did He do? He healed them. He healed all of those
who were sick, all of those who had diseases and torments, those who
were possessed with devils, those who were lunatic, and those who had
palsy. He healed them all. That means everybody. Jesus healed all of
the sick and all of the demon possessed—everybody was set free.
Let’s look at Matthew chapter 5 to see what Jesus began both to do and
teach. I’m really trying to emphasize that He never did anything
different. He didn’t change. He just preached, “The kingdom of
heaven is at hand.” He preached the Good News of the Kingdom of
God, and that’s all He preached for His entire ministry. He just went
about preaching the Kingdom and teaching about it.
If you are poor in spirit, I’ve got Good News for you:
the kingdom of heaven is yours.
Matthew 5:1-3,
Jesus was saying, “If you are poor in spirit, I’ve got Good News for
you; the kingdom of heaven is yours.” You will see this all the way
through.
Matthew 5:10,
He kept saying things about the Kingdom over and over again. If
you’re being put down because you’re living right, that’s okay. Don’t
worry about what they say; the Kingdom is yours. People might be
talking about you and saying things about you because you’re living
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ALL THAT JESUS BEGAN BOTH TO DO AND TEACH
right. They may even be calling you names like Pharisee, legalist, or
something else. Whatever they’re calling you, don’t worry about it.
The Kingdom is going to take care of you.
The ones that are doing that to you are begging God to show up.
They’re the ones who are begging God to pay their bills and constantly
asking God for something. God said, “You’re not of those people.”
You’re the people God takes care of. Why? You expect Him to do
that, because that’s the Kingdom. You’re seeking God’s Kingdom, His
rule, and His Government first, and when you seek His Government
and His way of doing things, you are in right standing with Him. In
Matthew chapter 6, He talks about that.
Matthew 6:33,
I would not turn help away from anyone that’s hurting in any way.
Pain and hunger don’t know national boundaries. In saying that, even
if an illegal immigrant comes over and tries to get into the system, they
are trying to become legal immigrants so that they can take part in the
benefits of being a legal citizen.
Then you have illegal immigrants that come over and they hide because
they’re afraid they’re going to get deported, so they really can’t
participate in the benefits of the nation that we have.
Too many times we have people in the Kingdom of God who don’t
realize the benefits that we have in the Kingdom and what we can
partake of. They do not learn how to access the benefits of that
Kingdom. Why? That’s because they keep thinking, “Oh, it all comes
after we die. It’s all over there.” As long as you put it over there, then
you can’t get it here. You need to realize that the Kingdom is available
now.
Some knees are going to bow willingly. Hopefully, we have bowed our
knee willingly, but there will come a point to where if you don’t bow
your knee willingly, your knee will be bowed for you.
It could be that angels will stand behind people when they stand before
God and force them down to the ground and say, “You will kneel
before this King and God. You will kneel before Him.” Why? That’s
because every knee shall bow.
You are an ambassador of the Kingdom of God. You are not from
here; you are from heaven.
I don’t know how this message comes across to you, but to me the fact
that we are ambassadors encapsulates things and really drives it home.
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BEHOLD THE KINGDOM
One of the things I want you to realize—if you get this message—is
that you are not born of this world. You are born from heaven. You’re
in this world, but you’re not of this world.
I gave you an example of this before when I talked about Haiti. Haiti is
the poorest nation in the western hemisphere. There are people living
on the streets, starving, and dying. It is really bad there, especially
since the earthquake and all that has happened.
There is an American Embassy there, and if you went in there and you
walked into their kitchen and into their pantry, you would see that they
have food stacked up. They have seven course meals, every meal.
They are taken care of in the Embassy, because an ambassador is not
dependent upon the wealth or the resources of the place where they are.
They are blessed by the resources of where they’re from.
When you realize that you are an ambassador from the Kingdom of
God, you do not have to bow under the circumstances of this world.
You’re in this world, but you’re not of it. The kingdom of heaven has
resources that are at your disposal, and you can live that way in the
middle of a recession, in the middle of a depression, or in the middle of
anything else. You can live that way if you don’t identify with this
world.
If you identify with this world, then you’re going to have the resources
of this world, and you will be limited by that identification. You have
to decide. You limit yourself according to the place that you want to
identify yourself with.
If you identify yourself with the world, you’re going to suffer like
everybody else. When the stocks go down or when the economy goes
down, you’re going to suffer right long with them, because you look at
this world’s system as your source and as your resource.
However, if you understand that you are born from heaven and that you
are sent here as an ambassador, to represent the Kingdom of God, then
you do not have to go through the same things they go through.
We got over to the meeting, and we sat there in the parking lot for a
little while; we were talking about it. I kept going back to this guy and
I thought, “It does something to a man when he has to beg.” Men were
never meant to beg. I’ve never seen a righteous forsaken or his seed
begging bread. We were meant to have dominion over this earth.
Man was meant to walk in dominion; he was not meant to beg. When a
man has to go to begging, it does something to his psyche; it does
something to him. Begging takes away a person’s dignity, because
that’s what the enemy wants. That’s one thing I learned from Dr.
Sumrall, and even from the times I sat under T.L. Osborn: “The devil
has always been trying to remove man’s dignity. God brings back
dignity.”
When you see pictures and movies that depict Biblical times, they are a
good representation of what happened back then. When a person
would come up, he would drop down and kneel at Jesus’ feet and
maybe cry. In the case of Mary Magdalene, she came up and knelt at
Jesus’ feet. You can just picture Him; He didn’t stand there and say,
“Yes, that’s what you ought to do.” He wasn’t like that.
You can picture Him reaching down, touching her chin, and raising her
face up. He would look her in the eye and say, “Woman, why are you
doing this? Stand up. Get up on your feet.” Jesus brought dignity
back to man. He didn’t bring pride and arrogance. He brought dignity.
Every human should have dignity and part of our goal, part of our job,
and part of our purpose on this earth is to give dignity back to people.
You don’t look at a person who’s asking for money or a handout on the
corner and say, “Here you go, but why don’t you get a job?” No. Give
them dignity.
Encourage them and just tell them, “The Spirit of the living God wants
you to know that you’re not going to be this way all of your life. If you
will just turn to God and listen to Him, He has so much more for you.”
Raise them up and bring them dignity. Don’t put them down and get
back in your car and think, “Wow, I’m glad that’s not me.” That’s
what the Pharisees did.
Jesus got onto people a whole lot more for what they didn’t do rather
than for what they did do. If you’re a Christian, you’re going to make
mistakes, and generally there are going to be more of what you didn’t
do, rather than what you did do.
All of the other things they did just flowed, because if you do not love
God and you do not love man, guess who you look at? You begin to
look at yourself. You become self-centered and self-serving and all of
a sudden it’s all about pleasure. It’s all about what you want and what
you can have.
Matthew 5:19,
This is the negative side of doing and teaching. If you are doing wrong
and teaching others to do wrong, it says that you will be called “…the
least in the kingdom of heaven.”
Jesus was still preaching about the kingdom of heaven. We call this the
“Sermon on the Mount.” We say that sometimes, but we lose sight of
the fact that even though it was preached on the mount, it was about the
Kingdom. Jesus preached the Kingdom. He was always trying to tell
people, “Live in the Kingdom.”
17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for
us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;
18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things
which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal;
but the things which are not seen are eternal.
He told us all the time to do this or to do that, and to stir up the fires,
but He only told us to seek one thing and that was the Kingdom. Seek
the Kingdom. Go after the Kingdom. He didn’t say to seek power. He
didn’t say to seek an anointing. He didn’t say seek a mantle. He said,
“Seek the Kingdom and the righteousness of God. Seek the Kingdom
of God and His right standing.”
When you have right standing with God and with His Kingdom, then
you can participate in the benefits of that Kingdom because the
kingdom of heaven is at hand to work for you.
Matthew 5:19,
“But whosoever shall do and teach them,” not just do them and not just
teach them, but whosoever shall do and teach these commandments,
“the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” Do you
want to know how to operate in the kingdom of heaven? It’s very
simple. You have to teach, and you have to do.
Matthew 5:20,
20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed
the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no
case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Here Jesus was talking about the kingdom of heaven and about your
righteousness.
In Matthew 6:33 He said, “Seek first the Kingdom of God, and His
righteousness.” He was talking about the Kingdom of God and God’s
righteousness.
How could your righteousness exceed that of the scribes and the
Pharisees? They lived by the letter of Law. They did everything so
perfect that it was wrong. Do you realize that? Yet He said, “Your
righteousness can’t be on the fact that you do everything just right.”
Your righteousness has to be based on the fact that you know that
without Him you can’t do anything right. No matter what you do, even
if you do it right, you’re going to be doing it wrong, because you’re
going to do it wrong out of a wrong motive. However, once you are in
Him, and once you come to Him and accept that, then at that point His
righteousness becomes your righteousness.
It’s not so that you get more credit; you already have credit. You got
the credit of what He did which is much better than anything you could
do. Once you accept that, then everything you’re doing, He gets credit
for, so you should do as much as you can.
Matthew 6:33,
We are still talking about what Jesus began “both to do and teach.”
Matthew 7:21,
21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into
the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father
which is in heaven.
He was still preaching the Kingdom. It’s not as simple as saying, “Oh,
okay. Yes, I want that.” It’s not quite that simple; you actually have to
live the life.
Some people don’t like this, and they want to argue about it. If they
don’t like it, they are going to have to argue with Jesus.
People want to quote Paul, but they don’t want to quote James. They
say, “Well, that’s because James wrote to the twelve scattered tribes.”
Yes, and Paul wrote to the Colossians, and he also wrote to Ephesus. If
you’re going to try to say that James was only writing to the 12
scattered tribes, then you are alone with that. You either have to take it
all, or leave it all. Jesus, Paul, and James all said the same thing. It
was just that each had different emphasis at different times.
Charles Finney was one of the greatest evangelists that the United
States has ever had, and the reason wasn’t that he was such a great
evangelist; he was an amazing preacher. He was a lawyer that
preached like a lawyer, so he convinced people of his position and got
them to vote and cast a judgment in his favor. That’s how he got them
saved. He had the results he had because he preached, “It’s not that
you can’t serve God; it’s that you won’t. You just need to make the
choice to serve God.” He was preaching that you have the free will to
serve God.
Then Charles Finney came along and said, “No, it’s not that at all, and
you can actually have some part in it. You can actually turn toward
God, and you can take the offer that He has made to you.” People said,
“What!? We have some part in it? We can actually get in?”
To them, it was as if he just opened the door and said, “Please come
in.” Prior to that, they thought the door was shut. They started rushing
in, and that was called a great revival. They had a great revival,
because he preached the opposite of what they’d been hearing. When
he preached the opposite, people said, “Wow, this is great!” and they
ran into it, and it caused a great revival.
386 © 2013 Curry R. Blake – John G. Lake Ministries
ALL THAT JESUS BEGAN BOTH TO DO AND TEACH
Steve Hill is another one of the greatest evangelists America has ever
had, because when he started preaching at the Pensacola Revival,
America was cold toward God. He started preaching, “Repent. Turn
your life around. If you repent, God will remove your sin from you and
the burdens that are on your shoulder. He will set you free.”
You can sit around all day long and say, “Well, it’s all done. We don’t
have to do anything.” It’s just like with healing. People say, “Oh, you
can’t do anything to get God to use you.” That is a lie. If that were
true, God would be using everyone. Every time you prayed, every
prayer would be answered, but the fact is that there are things you can
do to make yourself more effective.
You cannot do one thing to make God love you, but you can do some
things to actually receive that love. As a matter of fact, you have to do
things to receive that love. He can make it available, but He’s not
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BEHOLD THE KINGDOM
going to make you take it. However, the fact that you do receive that
love brings the grace of God into your life. The fact is that He made it
available, and He gave you the opportunity.
Again, all of this goes back to what I was saying about Steve Hill. He
came along and started preaching, “Repent. Turn back to God.” The
Bible says, “Set your affections on things above.” That means you
have the choice of where you set your affections. If you set your
affections on things of this world, you will be cold toward God. The
world generates coldness toward God, and when you set your affections
on whatever you want, that’s what happens.
Some say, “Well, I just don’t feel like I love God that much.” What are
you watching? What are you listening to? It’s a choice. Turn the TV
off. Get your Bible out. If you’ve got it on CD or DVD, that’s fine,
too. If you have it on your computer, it will talk to you; that’s good.
It’s amazing how much time you might actually have to pray if you just
turned that TV off. You would have that much more time to spend
with God.
I was raised in Pentecostalism. They used to say that you could tell
when a household was captured by the devil because their house had a
devil’s horns sticking out of the top of the TV.” That was back when
televisions had antennas. What I’m telling you is that there comes a
point when you need to turn the TV off.
Sometimes, I’ll put something on, just to have something playing, but I
will put on a DVD or a CD of preaching. Lately, I’ve decided to set
my affections on things above and focus on the Kingdom, because
there’s not a lot of teaching out there on the Kingdom. There are some
here and there, but almost all of it goes back to some human type of
thing, rather than what God is trying to do.
Matthew 7:22-23,
Let’s just take this piece by piece. “Many will say to Me (Jesus) in that
day…” What day? He was talking about the day of His vengeance, the
day of the Lord. It will be the day when everyone will stand before
Him at the consummation. It will be at some point in the future.
23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart
from me, ye that work iniquity.
I’ve been purposely in the church for three decades now, and the other
two decades before that I was raised in the church whether I wanted to
be there or not. In all that time, I’ve never seen a time where it can be
more fulfilled, where people think and preach that you can live like the
world, live like the devil, do anything, and still walk in the power of
God, than now. People think that because God will use you it means
that you’re alright.
Notice that Jesus did not say, “You liar. You didn’t prophesy in My
name; you didn’t do mighty works.” He didn’t say that. He said, “I
never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity.” With what’s
going on in the church, right now, that is the best Scripture that
encapsulates it.
There are people who say, “The more a person sins the more grace
abounds, so sin.” They say that because they think that when they do
it, it’s not sin anymore. They think that they can do anything and it
doesn’t matter.
Even though people think that and are living in sin, people are still
getting healed. You might ask, “Well how does that work?” It works
because God loves the people, and He will use anybody that will let
Him. People don’t realize that, and just because God uses you doesn’t
mean you’re right with God. That’s the reason Paul said to examine
yourselves.
That means there is a possibility that you might not be in the faith. He
wrote that to the churches. Make sure that you’re in the faith. Examine
all these things and hold fast to what is true. Throw out the garbage but
hold fast to what is true. Check these things out. If nothing mattered,
Paul wouldn’t have told you to examine yourself.
Colossians 1:28,
As long as God has me here, I will stand for righteousness, for living a
life of gratitude toward God, which is living a life clean before God. If
you’re not born again, or even if you have been born again, and if you
claim to be a Christian, and your life is full of sin, there is hope for you.
You can decide to live for God. You can decide, right now, to get rid
of that sin. He will absolutely cleanse you. It’s already been paid for,
but you still have to pick it up.
It’s so much better to live free, to live clean before God, and to live
pure before God. It is not hard. You might think, “I’m bound by
certain things.” I’m telling you, “If God can set me free and change my
life there is not a person who gets this message who is too hard for Him
to change.” Amen? There is not a life that is too hard, too messed up,
or too far gone.
Matthew 7:22-23,
23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart
from me, ye that work iniquity.
“Many will say to me in that day, ‘Lord, have we not prophesied in thy
Name? and in thy Name have cast out devils? and in thy Name done
many wonderful works?’”
Look at the results of iniquity and sin. “And then will I profess unto
them, ‘I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity.’”
Those that work iniquity say, “Well, we’re doing mighty works. We’re
prophesying.” Jesus was saying, “You’re working iniquity. All of
these things are happening, but you’re still living in sin.” He said, “I
never knew you.” Why? That is because you can’t know God and
keep living in iniquity. You can’t do it.
There’s an old saying, “A praying man doesn’t sin, and a sinning man
doesn’t pray.” Why? It’s because a sinning man runs from God. He is
just like Adam. The more he messes up, the more he will run from
God. He won’t want to walk with Him and talk with Him. He will run
and hide from Him.
Matthew 7:24-27,
25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds
blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was
founded upon a rock.
26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth
them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his
house upon the sand:
27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds
blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the
fall of it.
Notice these two things: one man did the words of Jesus and the other
didn’t; that’s the difference. It doesn’t say, “Well, God ordained you to
fall and you to stand.” It doesn’t say that at all. Jesus said, “You
decide if you’re going to fall or stand, based on whether you take My
words and do them.” He said, “If you do them, you are a wise man,
and if you don’t, you’re a fool.” Isn’t that what He said? You can’t get
around that. One thing about Jesus is that He was plain spoken. You
knew where He stood.
When Kim Unrau was here recently, we were riding and talking. He
said, “That’s one thing I like about you Curry. Nobody ever has to
worry about where you stand. People know right where you stand all
the time.”
I said, “Yeah, if you ask me, I’ll tell you. As a matter of fact, if you
wait around long enough I will tell you without you asking me; I’ll tell
you anyway.” He started laughing and said, “Yeah, that’s true.”
I think that you do need to know where people stand. It’s time to stand
and say, “This is who God is! This is what He said.”
Matthew 8:10-13,
“When Jesus heard it (what the centurion said), He marveled, and said
to them that followed (His disciples and those that were around), ‘I
haven’t found this kind of faith among God’s covenant people, and
here you’ve got a Roman centurion, the oppressor of God’s people, and
he knows more about faith than God’s own people do.’”
11 And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and
west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in
the kingdom of heaven.
This is almost the same thing He said when He first preached in Luke
chapter 4. “Many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down
with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob.” Where will they sit? They will
sit in the kingdom of heaven. What was He still preaching? He was
still preaching the kingdom of heaven. Everything He did was filtered
through the kingdom of heaven.
12 But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer
darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
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BEHOLD THE KINGDOM
13 And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast
believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in
the selfsame hour.
Matthew 9:35,
35 And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in
their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and
healing every sickness and every disease among the people.
What Jesus began “to both do and teach,” He made available to all.
Luke 4:40,
40 Now when the sun was setting, all they that had any sick with
divers diseases brought them unto him; and he laid his hands on
every one of them, and healed them.
It says that He laid hands on any that were sick. He laid hands on every
one of them, and healed them. Who did He heal? He healed every one
He laid hands on all who were sick. He healed everybody. He didn’t
heal just some of them. He didn’t pick and choose who got it and who
didn’t. He healed them all.
Luke 4:41-43,
41 And devils also came out of many, crying out, and saying, Thou
art Christ the Son of God. And he rebuking them suffered them
not to speak: for they knew that he was Christ.
42 And when it was day, he departed and went into a desert place:
and the people sought him, and came unto him, and stayed him,
that he should not depart from them.
Notice He went through the whole night. “When it was day, the people
sought Him, and came unto Him, and stayed Him.” In other words,
they said, “Please stay. Don’t go anywhere. Please do not depart from
us.”
Here He told the people, “I’ve been preaching the Kingdom of God
here, and now I’ve got to go to other cities to preach the Kingdom of
God (the Gospel of the Kingdom), also: for therefore am I sent.”
He was saying, “I was sent to preach the Kingdom of God, the Good
News of God’s rule, the Good News of God’s Government, how He
does things, and His supremacy. This is the reason for which I was
sent.”
Jesus was sent to seek and to save those who are lost. Yes, and that
comes under the auspices of preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of
God.
Jesus also came to destroy the works of the devil. Yes, that’s what
preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom does; it destroys the works of the
devil.
Everything falls under that canopy once you realize that there is a
spiritual Kingdom that you are a part of when you’re born again, and
because of that, you can walk differently than anybody else has ever
walked except for Jesus. He’s the only One who has walked in this to
any real degree. I’ve already shown you that He is waiting for you.
In 1975 there was a picture of the last helicopter leaving from the top of
the American Embassy in Saigon. I was about 16. The Vietnam War
was over. The picture of that helicopter was all over the news and in
the newspapers. Without saying it, that picture said, “America lost
Vietnam.” That was because they had to evacuate the Ambassador
from the American Embassy by helicopter.
Now, put that understanding with what I just said. I’m not saying that
we’re not getting taken out of here; I’m just saying that it is not the end,
because He says we shall reign on this earth. God put man on this earth
to have dominion.
If it got to a point where God said, “I have to take you out of here,” He
has lost. He might have to remove us so He can do something and
bring us back to a much better place. I can go with that, but what I’m
saying is that if the idea is just for us to go to heaven and spend the rest
of eternity there, then God basically has said, “Okay, I give up the earth
to Satan.” That’s not God. God doesn’t lose. Amen?
He’s going to have a kingdom of priests that rule on this earth. How
much you’re going to rule is up to what you do now, because it’s going
to be very simple, and if you’ve been faithful over one city, He’ll put
you over five. If you’ve been faithful over two cities, He’ll put you
over ten. This is your chance to decide what you want to do in the
future.
It depends on how much faith you walk in, how much of the Kingdom
of God you understand, and how much you walk in that. All Jesus was
saying was, “Show Me what you can do with your area, and make it
like heaven on earth. If you do that, and if you’re faithful over that
one, then I’ll put you over these others, also.”
Jesus was just saying that you are to act like it’s already here. That’s
what faith is; it’s just acting like it’s already done. It’s that simple.
That’s how we are able to live in this world now. That’s how you live
in the Kingdom.
I was talking with some young men at the David Hogan meeting the
other day, and apparently David had mentioned a situation between the
two of us years ago. It was when I was up in Canada. David came to
my room, and we discussed some things; that is apparently what he
talked to them about. The thing about the situation was that David
wasn’t in Canada. The young men came to me and said, “Tell me
about this. How did that happen? What did he do?” They asked,
“How do you do this?”
I had never thought about it. Having never thought about it, I had
never figured out how to do it. However, as I was talking to them, it
was coming out of my mouth how to do it. It was literally by
revelation. At the same time I was checking it with my filter. As I was
checking it with my final filter, I was saying, “Yeah, yeah.”
After I told them, they said, “Oh, yeah. I got that.” I’ll tell you,
“Walking in the Spirit doesn’t have to be weird, but it is as easy as
making the decision to walk there.” It’s that easy. The problem is that
you decide what the barriers are. You have to start by removing the
barriers. To a normal man, a wall would be a barrier, whereas, to Jesus
it wasn’t. It didn’t even slow Him down. It’s the same thing. That’s
walking in the Spirit.
You have to decide what your barriers are. What can you not do? If
you can name something you can’t do, that’s your barrier of belief.
You have to decide that that barrier is not there.
Jesus sent forth his twelve disciples. He said, “As you go, preach,
saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’”
Matthew 10:5-7,
If you look up the Greek word for “sent forth” it’s an offshoot of the
word apostellō, or apostle. It means to send out (properly on a
mission) literally or figuratively. He made them apostles and sent them
on a particular mission, “…and commanded them.” He didn’t suggest;
He commanded them saying, “Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and
into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not.”
What are you supposed to preach? He didn’t just say go and preach
good sermons. He was saying, “Go and preach, and here’s what you
are to say, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’” Wait a minute.
Wasn’t that Jesus’ message? Isn’t that what He was preaching? He
told His disciples to preach the same thing. Don’t change your
message.
I know that God can bring things out, but there are certain people in the
world that I have been around, that are so far off, and they are so sure
that they have a revelation. They think that’s what’s going to make
them, and that’s all they talk about. They think, “If I keep preaching
that, eventually it’s going to make me somebody, and I’m going to be
in the ministry the way I’m supposed to be. I’m going to have people
flocking to me.” That is a dangerous thing to do. I’m not saying don’t
get revelation, but I’ll tell you that sometimes it’s best to start with
other peoples’ revelations.
One of the people I thank God for is Kenneth Hagin. Early on, he was
part of the “Voice of Healing Movement.” He lived right over here in
Garland, Texas. I’ve got the street address of where he lived when he
was here. I went through the old “Voice of Healing” directory and all
of their addresses were listed. You can go by and see the houses they
lived in; many of them are still there today. Other people live there, so
don’t go rubbing on the house trying to get the anointing, because you
might not want the latest anointing that’s been there.
Brother Hagin said that most of the guys who were in “Voice of
Healing” built each of their ministries on a gift. He was right. He said,
“Because of those gifts, almost every one of them ended up not staying
in the group. I made a decision from the beginning that I would base
my ministry on the Word of God, and that I would stick to the Word,
no matter what.” He had some amazing visitations, and he had some
amazing revelations. He has even been called the “Father of the Word
of Faith Movement.” It was just his sticking to the Word that put him
on the map.
If you want to get on the map, make your place. Don’t go shooting for
fame, fortune, or whatever else it is that people seek. Stick to the
Word, because that’s the only way God can promote you. You say
what Jesus said, you confess Him before men, and He will confess you
before His heavenly Father. You have to stay on the Word, no matter
what. Don’t go for a special revelation; just be a faithful minister of the
Word.
Stay on the Word of God. Don’t try to be somebody. The harder you
try to be somebody, the longer it’s going to take you to be somebody.
I’m just telling you that the sooner you die to that and decide to help
people, the faster you’ll grow. That’s the truth. If you keep trying to
be somebody and keep trying to get the spotlight, you will be stifling
your own growth. God wants to work through you, but He can’t if you
won’t let Him “grow you up.”
When you are somebody, God notices you, but guess what? The devil
notices you, too. If you’re trying to be somebody, then you don’t have
the character yet to stand the heat that the devil can bring on you. You
don’t want that kind of attention. Stay hidden.
Colossians 3:3,
3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
Stay “hid in Christ.” Let God promote you. Let Him put you in place.
If He puts you there, nobody can do anything about it, but if you put
yourself there, you won’t last long.
Matthew 10:8,
8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils:
freely ye have received, freely give.
Watch what He told them to do: “Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise
the dead, cast out devils.” He was saying to them, “Just go and preach
like I preach. Don’t preach a different message; preach the same
message. You’ve heard me preach it. Preach what I preached and then
do what I did.” He was telling them, “I want you to go and begin to do
and teach.” They were to go out and teach “all of the things that Jesus
began both to do and teach.”
Here’s the good part: “Freely you have received, freely give.”
You don’t have to pick and choose. You don’t have to figure out who,
when, and how. No, just go and represent Jesus; be Jesus to the people.
Just go, and teach, and do, and be free in the Kingdom of God. We are
talking about what Jesus began to do and teach and what His followers
did and taught. See how it’s passed on down?
I’m thankful for the fact that God keeps giving me different ways to say
the same thing and that you keep coming to hear it. Hopefully, when
you hear it, it gets to be a part of you, and you can go out, and do it.
You can start at any time, and it will grow like everything else in the
Kingdom. It all grows from a seed. It starts small and then grows. A
lot of it just has to do with whether you will just keep showing up, keep
doing what you’ve been doing, and let it grow. You don’t need to get
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ALL THAT JESUS BEGAN BOTH TO DO AND TEACH
in a hurry and try to do some weird thing. If you go after visions and
other things, the devil will show you that. He will give you visions,
and he’ll give you revelations.
Mary Baker Eddy had a revelation, and she started Christian Science,
which is neither Christian nor science. Charles T. Russell, who started
the Jehovah’s Witnesses, had a revelation and started a cult that is
taking people to a place that they don’t believe even exists.
You say, “Well, I want to see a vision. I want to see an angel.” The
Bible says that angels are sent to you to minister to you, to minister to
those who are the heirs of salvation. They work for you. You say, “Oh
God, I want to see an angel,” and because you asked Him, He’ll do it,
eventually. However, when the angel finally shows up, the angel will
say, “What do you want?” You will say, “I just wanted to see you.”
The angel will say, “Are you kidding me? You’re more important than
I am. I’m an angel; I’m a messenger of God, and you’re a son! I wish
I could be a son.” People ask me, “Well, what makes you think that?”
I think that because we’re going to judge angels.
You don’t judge what you’re below; you judge what you’re above.
They wish that they could know what you know. It says that we’re
going to teach them the things of God. They learn from us what it’s
like to be in this thing called the Church, the Ecclesia. The Ecclesia is
like the Senate; it’s like being on the Cabinet for the president. We are
to help administrate the Government of God. That’s who we are.
That’s the reason you have to be trained up, and this is a training
center. This is not a religious place; it’s a training center. It’s a
Kingdom training center. It teaches you how to be kings and priests.
As one person said, “This is training for reigning.” Amen?
Luke 9:1,
Jesus called His twelve disciples together and gave them power and
authority over all devils. He also gave them the ability to cure diseases.
Jesus said, “By this shall all men know that you are My disciples,
if you have love one to another.”
John 13:34-35
Do you know why you have to walk in love, especially with your
brother? Jesus said, “All men will know that you are My disciples
because of your love for one another.” He didn’t say that they will
know you for your love of the world. You should love the people of
the world. I’m not giving you an excuse to hate the people of the
world, but you should love one another.
You know that you should love one another, and you should forgive
one another. Paul was writing to the church when he said, “You bite,
and you devour one another.” Think about that. One Christian was
biting and devouring another Christian. Every member of the Body of
Christ is one cell in the Body of Christ.
Do you know what they call it when one cell in the body rebels against
another cell in the body? It’s called cancer. You’re supposed to live in
forgiveness, because if you don’t, you’re the one biting and devouring;
you’re the cancer. Do you get that? That’s why you should love one
another, and that’s why you forgive men. If they say things against
you, it will go back on them.
You don’t say, “Oh, let that curse go back on them.” You should pray,
“No, God don’t let it go back on them. God, they don’t know what
they’re doing. God, they obviously don’t know who they are. They
don’t know the power of the Word. God, I forgive them for what they
said to me.” Why? “God, I don’t want them to be destroyed. I don’t
want them eaten up. God forgive them.” That’s why you live in
forgiveness.
Forgiveness is not going through counseling where you say that you
will forgive someone. That’s not forgiveness.
You have to preach the Kingdom the same way Jesus preached it.
Luke 9:2,
9 And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the
sick.
You are to speak with authority. He spoke as One with authority, not
as the scribes and Pharisees. You are to speak with that authority
because you represent Him. He represents the Kingdom, and you
preach the Kingdom. You’ve got to preach it the same way Jesus
preached it.
Jesus told the disciples to heal the sick and cure diseases. The word for
“sick” there is astheneō, and it means to be feeble (in any sense), be
diseased, be sick, be made weak. In other words, you are to help
anybody at whatever level of sickness or disease they have. It can be a
headache, or terminal cancer, or anywhere in between; it doesn’t
matter. Set them free.
This is the Kingdom we’re talking about. We’re not talking about your
power; we’re not talking about how much you fast, how much you
pray, or how spiritual you are. That only impresses un-dead humans.
It doesn’t impress Christians that are dead to sin.
He said, “You preach the Kingdom, you heal the sick; set them free.”
It’s all Kingdom power. You set them free.
Luke 9:3-6,
3 And he said unto them, Take nothing for your journey, neither
staves, nor scrip, neither bread, neither money; neither have two
coats apiece.
6 And they departed, and went through the towns, preaching the
gospel, and healing every where.
Luke 9:10-11,
10 And the apostles, when they were returned, told him all that
they had done. And he took them, and went aside privately into
a desert place belonging to the city called Bethsaida.
The Gospel of the Kingdom was what they taught and did. “And He
took them, and went aside privately into a desert place belonging to the
city called Bethsaida.”
11 And the people, when they knew it, followed him: and he
received them, and spake unto them of the kingdom of God, and
healed them that had need of healing.
He talked to them about the Kingdom of God. Did you notice that the
Kingdom of God was all the way through these verses? Every time it
mentioned what He talked about, it always said He talked about the
Kingdom. He didn’t just preach the Sermon on the Mount. He
preached the Gospel of the Kingdom.
Nicodemus asked, “Well how does that happen?” Jesus said, “You’re a
teacher of Israel and you don’t understand this?” Even to Nicodemus
He was talking about the Kingdom. Everything was the Kingdom.
“They followed Him, and He spoke unto them of the Kingdom of God,
and healed them that had need of healing.” Why? That’s because He
was teaching and doing, so He healed them. Notice the people that He
healed: “He healed them that had need of healing.” It doesn’t say,
“And He healed them that gave a vow offering.” No, it doesn’t say
that. It says, “He healed them that had need of healing,” because that’s
how the Kingdom operates.
People in the Kingdom see people in need, go to them, and say, “What
can I do for you? I see that you’ve been coughing, and every time you
cough, I see blood on your handkerchief. What is that?” They might
say, “Well, I’ve got tuberculosis, but what I really need is food. I’m
hungry.” “Okay, we can handle both of those.” It’s not either/or. “We
can handle both of those.”
What you have is enough. Jesus fed a multitude with five loaves of
bread and a few fishes that were from a little boy’s lunch.
One of His disciples said, “Look at these people. Send them away;
there are too many. Send them home so they can go and get something
to eat before they start fainting on us. Send them home.” Jesus said,
“Hmm, you feed them.”
Jesus said, “You feed them.” They said, “We don’t have that kind of
money.” He asked, “Well, what do you have?” Apparently the little
boy was standing there with the food. One of the disciples said to the
boy, “Let’s see what you’ve got in this sack.” He told Jesus, “There are
five loaves and two fishes.”
Jesus said, “That’s enough.” Notice that He never said there wasn’t
enough. Notice that He never said, “If we had just had three fish, I
could have done a miracle.” He didn’t say that. He said, “What you
have is enough.”
Luke 9:16-17,
16 Then he took the five loaves and the two fishes, and looking up
to heaven, he blessed them, and brake, and gave to the disciples
to set before the multitude.
17 And they did eat, and were all filled: and there was taken up of
fragments that remained to them twelve baskets.
Just start with what you have. You might say, “Well, I don’t have
enough power.” Yes, you do—use what you’ve got. Give Him what
you have. Look up to heaven and bless it, and say, “Father, I thank
You for the talents, for the gifts, for the power, and for all of the things
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BEHOLD THE KINGDOM
You have given me. I thank You for that which You’ve given me, and
I will use it for the Kingdom.”
If you think, “I will do my best to try to die empty,” you can’t, because
no matter what you give to Him, He pours back more. If you were to
try to die empty, you would have to give it and die before He could
give it back. If you see this, you are seeing the Kingdom; that’s the
way the Kingdom operates.
In the Kingdom, nobody goes hungry. The problem is that God can’t
get His Church to bring the Kingdom to the hungry. When you throw a
feast, don’t throw it amongst people that you know and like, or those
you know and don’t like. Go out and throw it for the people that can’t
repay you.
After blessing the food, He told His disciples to feed the multitude with
the five loaves and two fishes. He was doing that because the people
were hungry, but He was trying to teach His disciples to look to God as
their resource for help and not to look to their limited natural resources.
That’s Kingdom mentality.
I’m excited about this, as you might be able to tell. We’ve been
preaching full-time like this since 2000, and every principle I have
taught you, we’ve been practicing in the DHT. That’s the reason
they’re not new to some of you, because we teach it.
Start with where you are. Start with what you have. Don’t look at
yourself; look at the needs of the people. Don’t try to find their
problem. You set them free. All of these principles are in the DHT.
What I’m teaching in this series on the Kingdom just enhances what
we’ve been preaching. We’ve been preaching Kingdom all along and
didn’t even know it. It’s good not to have to come in and say, “Sorry;
what I taught two years ago, scratch that. I’ve found something here,
and what I told you then wasn’t true; this is true.” You will notice that
I’ve never had to do that. Do you know what a blessing that is to not
have to retract something? It shows that God had His hand in what
we’ve been teaching for the last 13 years and that it is growing.
Jesus grew in stature and in favor with God and man. Even with His
revelation, His understanding, and His being able to preach, His stature
grew. As we grow to be more like Him, the same thing should be
taking place in our lives. It shouldn’t be just understanding in our
heads, but our lives should be lining up.
Everything in our ministry is lining up. I don’t even pray for things
anymore. I haven’t prayed for things in a long time. From time to
time, things just show up. I ask our staff, “What do you need? Make a
list.” They’ll give me a list and then I’ll say, “Okay, find out what it’s
going to cost, and let’s get it. Let’s go after it.” We do it and
everything we need, we get. Amen?
That’s Kingdom. It isn’t Curry Blake Ministries. It’s not even John G.
Lake Ministries. It’s Jesus’ Kingdom, and we’re just learning how to
walk in that. I’m the one who is trying to lead by example. I’m trying
to learn, and show the staff, and everybody who hears this message
how to walk this out. Hopefully, any mistakes that are made, I will
make first. I can correct them and go on without making them again.
So far, it’s been good.
We’ve been learning, and we’ve been seeing God do wonderful things.
It has been amazing. I’m like a kid playing, and it is just the most fun
thing. It’s good to walk in the Kingdom, and it’s not just because I’m a
preacher. I’m telling you, “This will work for you.” It’s not just
because you’re a preacher, too. It’s not about being a preacher; it’s
about being an ambassador of the Kingdom. The Kingdom should be
seen in your life. Just do away with those boundaries.
418 © 2013 Curry R. Blake – John G. Lake Ministries
ALL THAT JESUS BEGAN BOTH TO DO AND TEACH
What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail? If you knew that
you could do anything you wanted to do, where would you see yourself
in five years? Where would you see yourself in ten years? Where
would you see yourself, and what would you see yourself doing? If
your vision is self-centered, then you haven’t gotten the vision of God’s
Kingdom yet, but if you’re thinking in terms of, “I could be in India
planting Bible Schools, or I could be in Africa teaching seminars and
conferences, or I could be in Haiti building orphanages,” then you have
the Kingdom mentality.
If you could think that way, with that person backing you, you could do
anything. I’m telling you that the One who backs you is much richer,
and He is much more able. The rich person might back off from you
and tell you, “Oh, you can’t talk like that, or I’ll withhold my finances.”
God isn’t like that. He’ll correct you, but He’ll keep feeding you and
keep taking care of you.
Now is the time. Do things, now. Let your light shine. Don’t worry.
The light is not for the other side; it’s for this side. There are people in
great darkness that need to see a great light shine. Your light is going
to pale in comparison to what’s in heaven. Here in the darkness of this
earth is where your light needs to shine.
Start with where you are and with what you have. Amen.
“Father,
“I thank You, right now, for Your Word. Your Word is truth, and we
thank You, Father, that we don’t have to reinvent it, and we don’t have
to repackage it; we just constantly refer back to it. Father, we thank
You. We bless You. I thank You, right now, that the people who have
sat under the voice of Your Spirit have a greater understanding of Your
Kingdom, and of what Jesus did and how He passed this great
opportunity on to us so that we could preach and demonstrate Your
Kingdom throughout this earth.
“I will remind your body, right now, that it must line up with the Word
of God; it must lineup now. It will function correctly, and it will do its
job.
“Right now, in the name of Jesus, Father, we thank You, and we praise
You for healing these people. Father, You have blessed them, and what
can I do, but bless those whom You have already blessed. Father, I
thank You for Your blessings throughout their lives. We bless them in
Jesus’ name. So Be It. Amen. Amen.”
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