WBS.213
FUNDAMENTALS OF DISCIPLESHIP
DISCIPLESHIP 101
Part 10 – The King’s Gospel
Matthew 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of
Elohim, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Being a witness UNTO Yahushua, means they are to be the advance
guard proclaiming the dominion of the King, and demonstrating his dominion
through signs and wonders and the power of the gospel to change men’s lives,
setting them free from all captivity, from all forms of bondage to sin. Repentance, which we have been discussing for
the past two weeks, is in its very essence, a commitment of allegiance to the
King; and a forsaking of all that opposes his reign in their lives.
The church has modified the true gospel. As
long as I have been alive, what has passed for the gospel is what I call “The
Big Pillow” message. “Just fall back
onto Jesus and all your problems will disappear and your life will become
better and better.” The gospel is not about making this life better for
you. In fact, the Scriptures state
plainly that if you respond properly to the gospel, you are guaranteed to be
hated and persecuted by the world. You
don’t hear too many preachers letting the would-be convert in on that little
fact.
The message that is preached today is one of
love and forgiveness and going to heaven when you die. You seldom ever hear
anyone any more command men to repent; to forsake their ways that have been in
rebellion to IAUE; and yet, this is virtually the only thing Messiah preached
once he began his public ministry.
Matthew 4:17 From that time (from the time he returned from his 40 day fast in the wilderness… the
beginning point of his ministry)
Yahushua began to preach, and to say, Repent:
for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Matthew 9:35 And
Yahushua 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.
The gospel is a militant message. It commands
men to cease their rebellion against IAUE.
It commands men to believe on
Yahushua as their King; and it demonstrates the King’s authority over all the
works of the devil; so that men’s faith does not rest upon cleverly crafted
words but on the power of IAUE. It is a
message based on conquest and authority. War was waged and won on our behalf by
the King we now serve. We no longer
belong to ourselves. We have been
ransomed. We belong to the King. We are his purchased possession.
This passage in Paul’s letter to the Colossian
disciples explains why the gospel is a militant message.
Col 1:12 Giving thanks unto the Father,
which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:
13 Who hath delivered
us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:
Whether men, women and children care to
believe it or not, until they bow their knee to the Master Yahushua Messiah
they are held captive by the power of darkness.
No matter how “good” they appear to be; no matter what good works they
may appear to be doing, they are prisoners of Satan’s kingdom. Yahushua paid
our ransom. He paid the price for our
freedom; but there is no realization of that freedom apart from the gospel. Repent.
Believe on the King. Be free from
the power of darkness and walk in the Light.
Until we recognize the militant nature of the
gospel, we will forever struggle with the power of darkness in our life. Until we understand the vile and evil nature
of sin…all sin…and its contaminating and bondage-inducing nature, we will naively
hold to the pleasantness of certain sins in our life; which means we will persist
in our rebellion against IAUE. (It is
unto such that the Master will say, “Depart from me, you workers of
iniquity. I never knew you.”) Until we recognize that the power of sin had
to be conquered, and that the hold of Satan upon man’s life is now released, we
will not walk free of sin.
The gospel is not just a message to bring freedom
to your life. It is a message of conscription. You do not just get to enjoy being
set free and have a blessed personal life lived in a bubble of your own
self-interests. You are conscripted into an army that is charged with setting
others free of their captivity to the power of darkness. Congregational Christianity is focused on
building their businesses; and so focused on teaching the members of their
congregation like students that never leave college to go out into the real
world…ever learning but never coming to the knowledge of the Truth. The totality of their objective is
self-growth as a purpose all in itself. It
isn’t learning in order to do the work of the ministry (See Ephesians 4:1-12).
Matthew 10:7 And as ye go, preach, saying,
The kingdom of heaven is at hand.
8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast
out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.
This is
what Yahushua commanded his disciples to do.
Later he charged the same of the 70.
Can you see the militant nature of their occupation? They moved into a city, warned the city that
the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand. They
destroyed the work of the devil in their lives, setting them free of the
ravages of sin, demonstrating the authority and power of the King; and then
later…the King would come to their city to command them to repent. This was a militant overthrow of the dominion
of the power of darkness over their lives.
Today, believers are afraid of demons. They think demons and Satan have awesome
power; and because they are personally unacquainted with the power of IAUE,
they actually believe there is a contest between the two forces. This thinking is dangerously wrong.
Matthew 16:18 And I say also unto thee, That
thou art Peter, and upon this rock (the revelation that Yahushua is Messiah the King, the son of IAUE) I will build my church; and
the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Christians read this
verse and they think that it means the enemy will not be able to overcome the
church. This is not at all what this verse says. It says the GATES of hell shall not prevail
against the church of Yahushua Messiah.
Gates are not an offensive
weapon. They are a defensive fortification
designed to prevent the success of an enemy attack against THEM. This verse clearly shows the offensive nature
of the church to continue destroying the works of the devil and setting
captives free. We are on the
offense. We are to batter down the gates
of hell. They cannot stand against the disciples of the King.
In the middle of the
Sermon on the Mount, a message of the Kingdom of Heaven, Messiah instructed his
disciples in what manner they should pray.
Now, our religious culture would have us think that prayer is always a
matter of asking IAUE for something. If
we pray about something; or if we promise others that we will pray for them, it
always entails asking IAUE for something.
This is not the heart of what Messiah taught his disciples about prayer.
Matthew 6:9 After this manner therefore pray
ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
10 Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as
it is in heaven.
The first thing Yahushua said we should do is
to declare the holiness of the name of our Father in heaven. That is not asking for something.
The second thing he said we should do is to command
His kingdom to come; to command that His will be done on earth just like it is
in Heaven. This is not asking for
something. When we read this verse, however, our minds tend to change it to a
request: “May your kingdom come…or…please
let your kingdom come; and wouldn’t it be lovely if people began doing your
will?” This is not what Messiah is
teaching his disciples. He is conferring
upon them the authority to COMMAND the kingdom to come into manifestation. He is conferring upon them the authority to
COMMAND that IAUE’s will be done in the earth.
This is an exercise of dominion…the dominion that belongs to the King. It is militant. It is taking the conquest of Messiah over
sin, Satan and death, and exercising dominion over it. Every single disciple should regularly
declare this in their city. We should
command the Kingdom to come to our city; and command the will of IAUE to be
done in our city; and we should be obedient to the Holy Spirit to do what we
are expected to do to make that happen.
Do you think that when the disciples went into
a city and said, “Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand,” that it was
anything less than an order? They were
commanding their fellow Hebrews to get their lives right with IAUE.
The moment we take up the militant nature of
the gospel, we necessarily come under authority. When we come under authority, two very
important things happen.
1) You recognize that your life is no longer
yours. When you are under someone’s
authority, you do as you are instructed to do by your superior.
2) When
you come under the authority of the Master Yahushua, all of his authority and
dominion and power are yours to exercise in his name. Remember the centurion in Matthew 8 that told
Yahushua he did not need him to come to his house to heal his servant? He merely needed to speak the word. He said that he, too, was a man under
authority; and that gave him the ability to exercise all of the authority of
the one to whom he was submitted upon and over all who were under his own
position. He understood that all of the
works of the devil were clearly under the jurisdiction of the Master.
All of this is contained in the words, “Repent,
for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”
Kingdom
heart: a heart that offers no resistance to the
performance of the will of IAUE.
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