#521 – The Divine Confrontation.
The Kingdom; Our First Loyalty.
No Substitute For The Kingdom Revelation.
All Ministry Excuses Turn To Garbage In This Light!
July 15, 2012
Over the years I have done hundreds of conferences in so many different places and with very diverse groups of people. However, I have only seen a very small group of people whose lives have been impacted by these meetings or any other meetings. This has been a troubling discovery because we assumed that God’s plan was the transformation of believers through meetings. It was just “accepted” that the more meetings we attended, the greater the transformation we would experience. Of course we all know people who have been in hundreds of meetings over a LONG period of time and have changed very little. Several have been “pastors” or people who have positions in the “ministry.” Some we have “labeled” as “monsters in ministry.” Some are “liars, thieves, deceivers and perverts in ministry.”
Finally, I have discovered a “new” truth from my own experience and can now determine when a small Kingdom Change began in my life. It did NOT come because I have attended thousands of meetings or been in constant fellowship with Christians for 42 years. The “change” does not come by osmosis!
osmosis >noun 1 Biology & Chemistry a process by which molecules of a solvent pass through a semipermeable membrane from a less concentrated solution into a more concentrated one. 2 the gradual assimilation of ideas.
In other words the Kingdom change does not come because of fellowship or preaching or exchanging facts and information or reading verses! The Kingdom begins when we have a direct confrontation by God. Of course, this may happen in Evangelistic meetings or in church meetings or in fellowship but none of these activities alone can guarantees ANY transformation. This will change how I evaluate “ministry” from now on. Most “ministry” is irrelevant UNLESS God’s Presence is there to confront individuals about their carnality, their fallen human characteristics, character defects and bad attitudes. Just one human confronting another human (or a group of humans) with a verse or an opinion is just received as another idea or opinion but changes NOTHING. New programs fail to transform people and are regularly changed.
Mat 18:1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” 2 And He called a child to Himself and set him before them, 3 and said, “Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 “Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
We CANNOT understand or receive the Kingdom by just assuming that everything we have heard preached is a genuine fact or even contain some eternal truth. We recently heard about a “church” that focused upon batting averages, ball players personal information and team scores and THAT was assumed to be a very wonderful meeting. The “pastor” had so much current information that he was considered to be outstanding in the pulpit. Of course this is just more garbage being assimilated by unsuspecting and naive believers and has NOTHING to do with God or His plan or purpose. When a “pastor” gets so dry and desperate to “get a message” that he turns to current events, it is time for someone to speak out and “hire” another “speaker.” The result of hiring a “speaker” is that we attract “hearers” but NOT doers. He who hears but does NOTHING to change can still be added to the assembly of “hearers.” DOING is NOT about finding some work to do but discovering this confrontation by God that really works.
But what about this “child” that is so great in the Kingdom of God? This doesn’t seem to make sense and couldn’t possibly be accurate. How could a “child” be the greatest in the Kingdom? Or could it actually be true? However, like all Kingdom truth, the common, logical and natural explanation offers no help in knowing what Jesus said.
There came a time in my life (about 10 years ago) when I was “forced” to sit down as “a little child” before the facts of the Kingdom and realize I had no idea what the reality of that “Kingdom” actually meant! I had already written over a hundred studies on the Kingdom by that time. Then, I was confronted about the reality of the Christian Life and how little I was manifesting. I was confronted with over 30 years of “ministry” that produced so little. Little by little the Truth about the Kingdom and the Ultimate Person became a humiliating experience because of all the garbage I had distributed that produced nothing toward the spiritual growth of individuals. Some things I shared probably just gave some false hope but some “messages” may have discouraged people because of the abundance of irrelevant information that changed nothing.
Mat 5:2 and he began to teach them: 3 “Blessed are those who recognize they are spiritually helpless (poor) . The kingdom of heaven belongs to them.
Sometimes we miss the power of the Greek words because the translators must pick one word to convey some portion of the full meaning. Therefore, we will use Thayer’s Dictionary to clarify this verse about being “poor”. This could have been translated as “those who KNOW they are bankrupt.”
G4434 ptōchos Thayer Definition: 1) Poor and reduced to beggary, begging, asking alms 2) destitute of wealth, influence, position, honor 2a) lowly, afflicted, destitute of the Christian virtues and eternal riches 2b) helpless, powerless to accomplish an end 2c) poor, needy 3) lacking in anything 3a) as respects their spirit.
Those “pastors” who are still trying to be “the messiah” to the church have not yet been confronted by the revelation of the Absolute Kingdom or the Ultimate Person. They have not really been confronted by the Divine Truth that they are bankrupt and lack everything to provide a spiritual growth in the believers. This applies to myself and nearly all ministers that I have met.
We see the example of Isaiah in chapter 6, when he was confronted with a vision of who God really is and suddenly realized he was bankrupt. This is what we are calling “the Divine Confrontation.”
Isa 6:4 And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke. 5 Then I said, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.”
The word translated as “ruined” seems much stronger than the word “ruined in English” and could be translated as “bankrupt” or “destroyed” or “finished” or “cut down.” Because he clearly saw himself as a man with unclean lips, we might translate it as “utterly Silenced!”
H1820 דּמה dâmâh daw©maw’ A primitive root; to be dumb or silent; hence to fail or perish; transitively to destroy: cease, be cut down (off), destroy, be brought to silence, be undone, X utterly.
Since the Kingdom is the “Ultimate Absolute of Eternity it CANNOT be avoided by using “my ministry” as some sort of lame excuse for being too busy to examine ourselves before the facts of the Kingdom.
If we sit before the Supreme, Ultimate and Absolute Standard of the Perfection of The Kingdom of Heaven, with its Divine Government of Eternity and the Supreme, Ultimate and Absolute Standard of The Prototype Person, The Lord Jesus Christ, and not be crushed by our faults then we might suspect something is lacking in our spiritual vision. Since this “standard” of being perfect as He is Perfect, was set by Jesus, it seems ridiculous to try to explain it away by some dull and uninspiring excuse about being only human. The Bible is clear that the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ is firmly established as the Standard and the goal of the Christian Life! The “ministries” in Ephesians 4:11 are set in place to bring the “believers” to this perfection. This is the specified calling for “ministry” so it must be possible.
However, It seems clear that these ministers must first rid themselves of ALL “messiah complexes!” Each of the “ministries” must first examine themselves in the light of seeing Him as He is NOW! As the High Priest of a Kingdom of Priests and the King of Glory who has taken His seat at the Right Hand of the Throne of the Majesty in the Heavens.
Also, each of us, who aspires to “press onward,” must reject all preconceived ideas and doctrines and be willing to look at the full truth of the Absolute Kingdom and the Ultimate Person revealed in the scriptures. We can no longer trust some ‘minister” or another “message” to accomplish this eternal work. This requires a personal look at the Ultimate Truth and then evaluate our lives in the Light of THIS PARTICULAR TRUTH. In other words, when we are confronted by the Kingdom Truth, all other “ lessor truth” must perish, rendered bankrupt, be finished, be silenced and cut down. And like Isaiah, we must begin again, from that “new” beginning, by being cleansed of all the “ministry” garbage that has clouded and confused the real issues. This is NOT going to happen because we heard another “message” or read another “verse” or even another chapter. This happens when we are confronted by DIVINE TRUTH and know it and accept it as unshakable! This TRUTH has its origin in the Living and Abiding Word of God as it is REVEALED by the Holy Spirit. This inner exchange, this Revealed Truth, carries with it a conviction that is not easily dismissed. This is an inner revelation and not some opinion or new program designed by men to encourage the naive to believe that something they preach is about to affect our eternal destiny. No amount of preaching or the “laying on of hands” will do what the inner revelation can easily do. Years and years of fellowship cannot accomplish what one inner revelation by the Spirit of God can do in one minute.
We must sit down before the real facts of the Kingdom like a little child and permit God to destroy our ministry concepts and human desires for “ministry” because we really do have “unclean lips” but we may not know it. The MOST IMPORTANT thing we can request from God at this time is for that Seraphim with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the gold altar with tongs, to touch and cleanse our lips, our motives, our ego and these human traits that defile the person and the ministry. This MUST start with the guy in the pulpit or it will be slow spreading to the church. Until each one of us comes to the full realization that we are totally bankrupt and have no clue how to live in or preach the Kingdom, we will just remain comatose in this basic dimension.
Isaiah saw he was on “life support” until he was cleansed. This one act of cleansing opened up his revelation for the next 59 chapters of the Book of Isaiah. Otherwise, the Book of Isaiah would have only had 5 chapters and he would be listed as a minor prophet. His prophesies would be accurate but VERY limited!
If the “pastor” thinks he is “the angel to the church” and God is just going to speak through him, (This is the Messiah complex) then the Burning Coal must touch his lips FIRST) This “cleansing” is the FIRST priority when you see your life and ministry is really bankrupt. The Seraphim must burn up all excuses for this pitiful condition of the visible church. Maybe then, these “pastors” whose only job description in the Bible is “those who are bringing the church to perfection” will realize they are bankrupt, ineffective and totally helpless. When they clearly have been “cut down” by the revelation of Christ and the Kingdom of God, they can then BEGIN a fruitful ministry. In many years of observation, I have never seen a pastor that was “full of himself” actually produce anything eternal and that is including myself.
“What a day that will be when our Jesus we shall see; when He takes us by the hand “and we fall as a dead men, destroyed and bankrupt in His Presence! “What a shock that will be when our Jesus we shall see, as He really is!” The problem is that will be too late to receive the revelation and the Divine shock of our real condition in comparison to our calling to come to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ Jesus.
I am guessing that this confrontational revelation, that compares to Isaiah 6, is designed to be part of the Consecration Offering. However, I have no scriptures to support that view. Still, in the Holy Place, where the Lampstand Church exists, Our High Priest is walking among the churches He is building. We can guess that there is a confrontation with His Presence and the revelation of Who and What He is, now. When John saw Him, as He is, John fell like a dead man and was surely terrified by His Presence. This indicates that we should be careful if we intend to walk up and shake hands with Jesus as the gospel songs recommend.
Mat 6:31 “Do not be anxious then, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘With what shall we clothe ourselves?’ 32 “For all these things the Gentiles eagerly seek; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you.
By now we know that Jesus was speaking in words that could not be clearly understood by natural men who were not yet born of God in a New Kind of Birth from above! “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you.” In the 1970's we saw that verse taken literally and people quit their jobs to live like the birds. They soon discovered if they didn’t work they could n’t eat. Then is the verse wrong? Not at all but the people that tried it were wrong. Why? They had no idea of what the Kingdom included!
If you make the Kingdom your Life and your ONLY true loyalty, the Eternal things can be added to you! If you make yourself and your work your ultimate loyalty, you forfeit the eternal things. Unless the Kingdom becomes our extreme loyalty, the “kingdom” will just be another word we repeat, as another Christian Cliche, but have no real significance or any life transforming ability. Not because it lacks power but that we lack authenticity. We may not just forfeit the Eternal things but there may be important things that are subtracted from us. In other words, seeking the Kingdom will add to our “important things” but ignoring the Kingdom reality, including our transformation and obedience, may subtract “essential things” that we desperately need.
In other words; When we substitute ANYTHING for the Kingdom, we may simply fail at EVERYTHING we attempt. Regardless whether we fail quickly or slowly, the end result is the same, the loss of necessary “things.” The kingdom of self , the kingdom of ego, the kingdom of position and title, the kingdom of ministry or the kingdom of authority will ALL, in time, begin the great “subtraction.” The “messiah complex” will hasten the great subtraction. How do I know that? By experience! Acting as “another” mediator will hasten the great subtraction. Assuming you are the “angel to the church and the only one God speaks to” will hasten the great subtraction. The Kingdom simply CANNOT be avoided without consequences and loss of things that are absolutely necessary.
Just because the ignorant and uninformed adamantly insist that the Kingdom is not relevant for the church age, that will be no excuse for us because the scriptures are clear. The Sovereignty of the Most High God and His ultimate authority over ALL things should be warning enough that His Kingdom IS NOT irrelevant in ANY age. The term “THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN” should be all the clarification we need to understand the total significance of the Kingdom as it relates to ALL past ages, to the present and to eternity future. This certainly includes the “Church Age.”
It should be obvious that the visible church has lost its life and relevance because it has lost all demonstrable power of the age yet to come. It seem obvious that the power that was birthed in the early church has “disappeared” in those who “have fallen away” from Kingdom reality. At very least we should have the “power of an indestructible Life.” It seems clear that while men were sleeping the devil sowed tares.
Heb 6:4 For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God, and put Him to open shame. 7 For ground that drinks the rain which often falls upon it and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God; 8 but if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close to being cursed, and it ends up being burned.
If we could sum this up in the Kingdom dimension we could label this, being burned, as “THE SUBTRACTION OF ALL THINGS.” Why? Because, they ignored the command to go on to perfection! It is clear that the “thorns and thistles church” is in a desperate situation and the preachers are encouraging them that God loves them anyway and all is well. Just be encouraged that God’s grace and mercy overrides these negative verses that brother Leo shares. They are not even for the church that is “saved.” This ignorance is really incredible and must be the voice of anti-Christ because many deceivers have gone out into the world.
1John 2:18 Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have arisen; from this we know that it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, in order that it might be shown that they all are not of us.
It seems clear that these antichrists were once believers and with the church and faithful in some way, maybe as “ministers.” It is also clear that they “went out” (or have fallen away) after receiving some understanding. Is it possible that these “believers” that “fell away” will be confronted by the fire of judgement? To preach “eternal safety” to the half saved is accepted as “the gospel” by the unsuspecting multitudes.
The Kingdom cannot become our experience by simply assuming that what is being preached by the majority must be correct. Many of these false doctrines and strange concepts have been accepted simply because they have been around for so many years. Now they are accepted and believed as Bible Truth but some of them are just lies that deceive the ignorant! What could possibly be the motive behind such a ministry? After someone repeats a lie over and over it is accepted as truth and then we or another believer begins to preach the same lie until many really believe it IS the truth.
The Life and Power of the Kingdom cannot be recovered by just attending “church”, or by doctrines or by fellowship or in the song service but ONLY by receiving the Kingdom itself with all its transforming trials, unpleasantness, demands and rejection.
2Thes 1:5 This is a plain indication of God’s righteous judgment so that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which indeed you are suffering. 6 For after all it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, 7 and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, 8 dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
This gospel that Paul preached seems strange when compared to the messages we hear today. It is boldly declared today that we are saved by grace through faith and NO obedience is required. How is this possible in the light of Scripture? Simply because salvation has been removed from the Kingdom dimension and preached as a separate gospel. Note this; “dealing out retribution to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus” seems extremely plain and clear. But what is the gospel of our Lord Jesus? The Gospel of The Kingdom.
There certainly IS salvation within the Kingdom Government but to remove “salvation” from the Sovereign Kingdom of God is the BIG deception today. This “salvation” concept of “say these words and believe this doctrine” appears to have begun during Billy Sundays’ revivals at the turn of the last century. This has been preached for so long now few are even questioning if it is true. “Salvation” outside the Kingdom of God as a separate “blessing” can no longer be accepted as “truth” but maybe can be accepted as another gospel conceived by man.
In ANY dimension, when men revolt against the Kingdom of God and the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, in any way, they will not only fail and be rejected but they will be removed from this existence and sent to the fire. It should be obvious to everybody, that “rejection” is a very dangerous position to take because the consequences are not hidden but clearly written for anyone to read. No matter who says that “this fire” is not possible or is NOT God’s grace, we must just believe the Bible because many antichrists are out there and many are in the pulpits. They have gone out from the Church He is Building and have started their own “churches” but they were NOT sent by Him.
Those that He has set in the church are for the “perfecting of the saints” and not for the “deceiving of the saints.” This is not very complicated. Just tell the Kingdom Truth to the people and let them decide if they will go that way or not! Do NOT make that decision for them by not telling them the truth.
Rom 3:3 What then? If some did not believe, their unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God, will it? 4 May it never be! Rather, let God be found true, though every man be found a liar, as it is written, “THAT THOU MIGHTEST BE JUSTIFIED IN THY WORDS, AND MIGHTEST PREVAIL WHEN THOU ART JUDGED.”
This is NOT “The Kingdom Dimension for Dummies.” How can we be “justified when we are judged” by NOT telling everybody we meet about the Kingdom of Eternity, past, present and future. Is there a more important message than this? What if some do not believe, their unbelief will not nullify the Kingdom of God, will it? Not at all! Why? His Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom which will not pass away or be destroyed.
Dan 7:14 “And to Him was given dominion, Glory and a kingdom, That all the peoples, nations, and men of every language Might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion Which will not pass away; And His kingdom is one Which will not be destroyed.
Even if ALL other things are just relative, doctrinal, or even experiential, His Kingdom is THE Absolute, Unshakable, Constant Certainty and Ultimate Reality and is the Central focus of God’s Eternal Purpose! Without this Everlasting Kingdom of God, to what can we relate a Kingdom of Priests?
Dan 7:18 ‘But the saints of the Highest One will receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, for all ages to come.’
If this “KINGDOM” is just a figure of speech, will the saints just inherit a “figure of speech” for all ages to come, just another cliche? The scriptures are NOT that obtuse! If the saints want to throw away this tremendous opportunity to inherit the Kingdom, it should be up to them to decide and not have some pastor decide for them by failing to preach the full gospel!
Probably 95% of the visible church have no idea that God will restore the reality of establishing a Kingdom of Priests after the Order of Melchizedek. How is that possible? Simply because the pastors are like dumb dogs that cannot bark.
Isa 56:10 His watchmen are blind, All of them know nothing. All of them are dumb dogs unable to bark, Dreamers lying down, who love to slumber; 11 And the dogs are greedy, they are not satisfied. And they are shepherds who have no understanding; They have all turned to their own way, Each one to his unjust gain, to the last one.
This is God’s evaluation of these proclaimers of half-truth, who offer the gospel of the half-priced sale and “no cost” salvation, not mine. Still, the watchman offer a valid excuse. They say, no one taught us how to bark without offending people. Is THAT the goal, to NOT offend people? Of course not! That is why they are called “dumb dogs,” and shepherds who have no understanding.
If this “Gospel of the Kingdom” was not so absolutely essential to the full redemption of the whole church, we all could lighten up, just sing, dance, rejoice and have fun. We no longer have that luxury! Why? Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!