#355 Kingdom: Ministers Of The Kingdom
Any seminary, Bible School or Discipleship Program can make ministers of doctrine, ministers of the denomination and ministers of the Letter! Only God Can make ministers of the New Covenant, ministers of the Kingdom and ministers of the Spirit. Making ministers of the New Covenant or Ministers of the Kingdom is something that must begin in the “inner man” by the Holy Spirit. Making ministers of the Holy Place or Priests after the Order of Melchizedek, that is Ministers of the Spirit, is beyond the capacity of men. Why? Because this is not a matter of intellectual learning or mental teaching of the natural mind. This is of another dimension and of a completely different method than what we have inherited from the current church system. I am not being critical of the Outer Court system of teaching and learning by natural light. However, it should be abundantly clear that a transition to the teaching of the next dimension must precede the next restoration. We call this point of transition the Second Veil when we refer to the pattern of the Tabernacle. The First Veil = Jesus the Way. The Second Veil = Christ the Truth. The Third Veil = Christ the Life!
Why am I so certain about this need of transition? Simply because the next dimension can only be taught by the Spirit. The ministry of the Seven Spirits of God is not an option but a requirement for the next restoration. This ministry is not limited to a few ministers selected by some ordination committee but this IS the ministry of the Kingdom of Priests after the Order of Melchizedek. Everything about this Royal Priesthood is the ministry of the Spirit.
This “priesthood ministry” is the end of the “sufficiency of man.” Our only sufficiency is ministering with and by the Spirit of God. This IS the “Ministry of Glory.”
2Co 3:2 You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men;
2Co 3:3 being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts.
2Co 3:4 And such confidence we have through Christ toward God. 5 Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, 6 who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
2Co 3:7 But if the ministry of death, in letters engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, fading as it was, 8 how shall the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory? 9 For if the ministry of condemnation has glory, much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory. 10 For indeed what had glory, in this case has no glory on account of the glory that surpasses it.
The “LETTER” is identified as that which is engraved on stone. Inflexible, cut and dried doctrine. Incapable of change. Unbendable in concept and tradition.
It may seem like a stretch to compare the fading of the glory on Moses’ face as a prophetic application to the fading away of the Old Covenant ministry of the “letter.” Laying aside of the “letter”, however, IS the introduction to the ministry of the Spirit! This reveals a new dimension of the New Covenant Ministry of the Spirit. Obviously, Paul considered this New Covenant ministry to be in effect when he wrote this letter. He considered the ministry of the letter ( mechanics, facts, intellect, doctrines and tradition) to be of the past, connected with the Old Covenant.
Today, most all ministry is of the letter and very little is of the Spirit. My theory is that the next dimension of ministry [in the Holy Place] will be “of the Spirit” which reflects the fulness of the anointing of the Seven Spirits of God. This fulness is introduced in 1 John 2:27. This is the anointing within the new inner man rather than just upon the outer man as seen in Acts 2:4.
1Jo 2:27 And as for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.
In the next dimension of the Holy Place Life and Ministry-- that is ministering the fulness of the New Covenant -- the “grace of God” becomes a dynamic. That means it carries its own provision to manifest itself in another life by a motivating and energizing force. This “grace” is not permissive but transforming.
Tit 2:11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, 12 instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, :13 looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus; 14 who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.
This “GRACE” is of another dynamic. This is the “GRACE” that manifests itself as Life, as Truth, and as Spirit. It is not just “another word to be preached” but a Life to demonstrate. This “grace” is seen in the laying on of hands where there is an actual transfer of something real. A Grace Gift! This “laying on of hands” becomes something “living” and not just another ritual to pretend there is some transfer of a gift, anointing or power. Hopefully, this “showmanship” will be cast aside in this transition to Holy Place ministry and we can actually stop pretending. We are tired of all this ritual that has no life! We insist upon the reality. I am not interested in another prophetic word but I am interested in a “prophetic Life.”
Becoming ministers of the New Covenant is becoming ministers of the Reality or experiential Truth. As long as we are just limited to doctrinal truth we cannot be full grown ministers of the New Covenant. The Spirit of Truth {Reality} will lead you into ALL Reality {Truth.} He will teach you all things! He will take of mine and reveal it to you! We are comparing this New Covenant function of the Holy Spirit to theories, doctrines, theology and the traditions of men that are still popular today. These may be true but not eternal Truth. My doctrine may be true but still have no Life.
Luke 10:5 “And whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house.’
6 “And if a man of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him; but if not, it will return to you.
This peace of which Jesus spoke is real and tangible. We could call this “peace which is reality.” This is not quoting a verse about peace but is imparting an actual experiential peace. It moves from the minister of the New Covenant to others or it returns. I used to do that until it became embarrassing because nothing happened! Why? I was still ministering the “shadow rather than the reality”, the doctrine rather than the life. The letter rather than the Spirit! . I knew the theory but not the Truth.
The New Covenant was also demonstrated by the ministry of the Holy Spirit to the lame man at the temple gate.
Act 3:6 But Peter said, “I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene –walk!” 7 And seizing him by the right hand, he raised him up; and immediately his feet and his ankles were strengthened. 8 And with a leap, he stood upright and began to walk; and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.
Neither Peter or John quoted the scripture that by His stripes you were healed. They didn’t hand the man a tract about healing. They just manifested the ministry of the Spirit according to the New Covenant. They ministered “healing” as a tangible benefit to the man. If they had a pocket full of money they may have been tempted to give the man an offering and send him away. Then their being broke became a wonderful blessing for the lame man. “Rise and walk” becomes the reality of the New Covenant ministry. This IS TRUTH and not just an encouraging word to a sick person. This is not “Well, Lord, thy will be done.” The healing of the lame man demonstrated Spirit and Life. The “letter” could never help this man. “Letter” means hand him a tract and pray for him when we get home.
The early church didn’t function by concepts and principles because this movement hadn’t yet become a religion. They didn’t have books and commentaries to confuse the real issues. They didn’t have to study the Greek and Hebrew to determine if the power of God had been withdrawn. They were really poor and helpless by today’s standards. They were just ignorant and unlearned people. All they had was the New Covenant and the indwelling Presence of the Holy Spirit. They had the Living and Abiding Word of God in them.
The Holy Spirit was guiding them into all truth. He was taking the things of Jesus and revealing it to them. The Holy Spirit was teaching them to know Him who IS Truth. Man’s work of standardizing, systemizing, simplifying and codifying the scriptures has emasculated the Living Word of God. Our doctrines and traditions have nullified the Real Word of God. Those who claim to be filled with the Spirit must soon take the next step to be guided into ALL Truth. We have conceptualized the gospel into a message instead of actualizing the gospel into the power of God’s Kingdom Truth being manifested!
Why was it necessary for Paul to write long corrections to the Corinthians and the Galatians? Why were the letters to the seven churches in Asia necessary? They had departed from the New Covenant and the ministry of the Holy Spirit and regressed to the teaching of men. They looked to men’s wisdom rather than holding to the Spirit of Truth. If they had faithfully stayed in the New Covenant and under the ministry of the Holy Spirit, no correction would have been necessary. Since a lot of the New Testament is written for correction, if the churches had stayed under the New Covenant our Bible would be very thin.
Most of what Paul taught by spoken words was never recorded. What was actually written down by the Apostles only represent a very tiny part of what they said in private meetings and to the churches. Paul was three years in Rome and what is recorded is that he preached the Kingdom and taught about Jesus. This summarizes his words for three years of sharing day and night. Exactly what did he teach? We have no idea! But what he taught was given for them at that time by the Holy Spirit. How do we know that? Because Paul was a minister of the New Covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit.
Jesus spoke a clear and correcting word to the seven churches in Asia. Why was that necessary? Because they weren’t living in and ministering within the New Covenant. They were living in the New Testament times but not under the New Covenant.
To the Evangelical Church, being totally reliant upon the New Covenant and the ministry of the Holy Spirit for our message is very dangerous. What are our parameters to contain our ministry? Where are our checks and balances? How can we trust a message that comes up out of our spirit? If we preach something that is not clearly said in the Bible how will we know it is really TRUTH? Of course if we preach this TRUTH to those in the Outer Court dimension of natural light, it is true, they will be thrown into confusion.
This was Paul’s problem in 1 Corinthians 2, he wanted to feed them meat but they were not able to receive it so he had to stick to the milk. If they had been advancing into the New Covenant experiences, he could have given them meat. The result is that only MILK is recorded. Even the Book of Hebrews is just MILK.
What can we conclude from this? That the Showbread represents the MEAT of the Word. Of course this is for the mature who have their senses trained to discern good from evil and to discern by the Spirit what is Truth from Error. To move into the realms of revelation and the secrets hidden from all past generations, it is necessary that we become that Kingdom of priests that can function in the Holy Place Life and Ministry. Even if we have defects, we may still eat of the Showbread even if we can’t set it out.
Lev 21:21 ‘No man among the descendants of Aaron the priest, who has a defect, is to come near to offer the LORD’S offerings by fire; since he has a defect, he shall not come near to offer the bread of his God. 22 ‘He may eat the bread of his God, both of the most holy and of the holy,
We have a High Priest who is without defect and He can set out the Showbread for us to eat. However, this Bread is set apart just for the priests who are the sons of the High Priest! Is this exclusivism? Yes! This Bread supplies the strength, wisdom, knowledge and understanding to minister the Kingdom, within the New Covenant parameters. The real blessing is this; those of us who have several defects can still eat the Bread of God that came down out of heaven, the Living and abiding Word of God! This provides the “LIFE” for the priesthood.
Standing in that Holy Place dimension of spiritual Light and Revelation, eating the Showbread and standing before the Lord / Word there is a different dimension of TRUTH available to minister. Since we can hardly trust the Outer Court minister who is ministering out of natural light to speak truth, how will we trust the next dimension of ministry? The fact is it will be very difficult until we become New Covenant Priests who carry the inner anointing of 1 John 2:27 so that we know “truth” intuitively by the Holy Spirit.[ 1 John 2:20]
We could say that ministering in the New Covenant is trusting the Holy Spirit to do exactly what He was sent to do! Jesus said the Holy Spirit would lead us into ALL truth. Of course we really don’t believe that so we trust only what our leaders say that the Spirit says. Since they have said so many things that have failed, we fail to trust them. When they come up with another program that has nothing to do with the New Covenant provision, I reject it. Am I just rebellious? Maybe!
Still, New Programs are of the Outer Court dimension while New Covenant is of the Holy place dimension. Are we rebellious if we are no longer content with only natural light? If we are content in that natural dimension we are considered as “good believers.” However, in His message to the seven churches in Asia, Jesus was not in agreement with their “good believer status” and demanded that they repent.
But if we just preach and believe the whole Word of God, isn’t that enough?
If every word that Paul preached publically was recorded on audio tapes, and we listened to all of them, we may receive some Spirit and some Life. However, that alone will not cause us to then speak Spirit and Life. This must rise up out of the Spirit and Life that is experiential in us. Spirit and Life are communicated by the Holy Spirit within the New Covenant provision.
The fact is that every word of Paul or Peter or James was not recorded. Only a very small portion of what they said and did was written down. We don’t even have all the letters that were written. Nothing was recorded of what Paul spoke privately among the mature. The things which eye has not seen or ear has not heard and that which has never entered the heart of man are not recorded.
Even if we believed and preached the whole Bible, we are still just preaching the “in part portion” which IS recorded. Only the “milk” is recorded. The “whole Bible” is still only a small portion of what the Holy Spirit has said to the churches during the church age. What the Spirit is saying to the church today is not recorded in scripture.
However, there is a way we can hear what the Spirit is saying to the church today. That is within the provision of the New Covenant. This is but ONE of the benefits of living in the New Covenant today! The New Covenant, the Kingdom Government of God, the Holy Spirit, the Living Word of God all function within the inner man. They also function as Spirit and Life.
Even within that which is written down in Scripture, we don’t even understand all of that which is just milk. The other thing is that the natural man never will understand and a lot of that which IS written is foolishness to him. The natural man, who insists upon remaining a natural man, will be totally lost in the next restoration.
Then the natural man in the pulpit is limited to just preaching “letter.” He can hand out tracts which are just “letter.” He can witness with the “letter” and preach “letter” but he cannot participate in the many parts of the New Covenant. Why? Because the New Covenant is NOT of the “letter” but of the “Spirit.”
Many of us can no longer trust our leaders to lead us into the next restoration or even believe what they say the Spirit is saying to the churches. They have said so many things and tried so many programs that are just trial and error that we recognize their confusion. We have lost confidence in any new program. Not many leaders can actually say what the Spirit is saying to the church. Even if one could speak out we have been conditioned to reject it because we can’t find a verse to confirm it. In other words, since the cannon of scripture is sealed neither Jesus OR the Spirit is speaking any more than what is written. The Word and the Spirit are now limited to the “in part measure.”
My theory is that the Showbread represents another whole realm of wisdom, knowledge and revelation that is not available as milk in the Outer Court. I am guessing that the anointing in the Outer Court, while essential to the Christian life and Priesthood, cannot be compared to the glorious Light and the inner illumination of the Seven Spirits of God. {1 John 2:27}
God has NOT written down anything contained in the Showbread. This can only be ingested in the Holy Place. If we could read it and understand it with the natural mind we wouldn’t need the New Covenant. What we can read and understand with the natural mind will only lead to these shallow experiences that we see everywhere we go. These shallow experiences are not denominational but seem to be universal from country to country and group to group.
IF God shared with us the hidden wisdom and those things which eye has not seen and ear cannot hear and cannot be understood by the natural man, with whom would we share it? Where are the mature that can participate in the meat? After 2000 years this immaturity should have become a scandal, even in the visible church.
There are a few pastors who have formed a “focus group” that I meet with. We “focus” upon a lot of things and explore a lot of things. We discuss a lot of things. We have shared a lot of ideas for a few years now. We have speculated upon what needs to be done in the church. We have guessed about what the Spirit is saying to the church. We have exhausted the natural man and his ideas. We have produced very little that has any eternal significance.
We can continue to talk and then fellowship and go eat from now on until Jesus comes. But until we really surrender to the New Covenant and participate in the fulness of the Holy Spirit and the indwelling Living and Abiding Word of God, we will just continue to go around this same mountain until we depart this life. The column made by those who are going around this mountain of frustration is getting a little crowded. Someone with actual experience should break out of line and say follow me up this mountain. Are there any Calebs among us who are still credible leaders after so many stupid mistakes?