Living For Such a Time as This

Henry Blackaby FCCI 2007 International Conference.

 

A Time For Kingdom Leaders

 

Suggested Reading:

 

Experiencing God

The Man God Would Use

 


Matthew 24:14 (NASB) 14“This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.

 


Matthew 24:21 - 22 (NASB) 21For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will.  22“Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. 

 

We are living is perilous times.  Islamic terrorists threaten with chemical, biological and nuclear weapons of mass destruction.  Drugs, especially Meth are taking over a whole culture, war and rumors of war are discouraging many.  Satan is having a field day within the church as many men are trapped in pornography.  The divorce statistic for the church is the same as the world.

 

Such a time as this calls for Kingdom Leaders, that will stand for righteousness and truth.

 

 
Matthew 4:19 - 22 (NASB) 19And He said* to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”  20Immediately they left their nets and followed Him.  21Going on from there He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and He called them.  22Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.

 

“Immediately they followed” leaving their boats, nets and even father.  Radical turning and obedience leads you into the fullness of The Presence.  The Kingdom of God could not be experienced at their nets, but only in the becoming that Jesus offered them, the journey of the Spirit, the Kingdom of Heaven that had drawn near.  The Living Lord is present now in our time and place wherever you are to usher you into the fullness of Him.  Whenever you encounter the activity of God you need to immediately understand what is happening and process that experience.  God does nothing in a vacuum, but everything happens and is to be like a brick upon which another brick is applied.  If you don’t process the experiences that God provides you won’t be ready for the next one and can miss out on the fullness of God in your life and ministry.

 

I know of another pastor in a charismatic church where the people are complaining of a lack of the supernatural in their church.  I have visited with this pastor and told him of my experiences in The Philippines, he shared his experiences in Brazil where God showed up in healing and supernatural power.  I was excited to hear that he had experiences the same as me and thought them to be rather recent. 

 

But when I talked with some from his church I was surprised of their hunger for more of the supernatural and I told them of his story and they told me that that story happened in his Bible school days many years ago.  I suddenly saw what the issue was.  God was trying to show him what He would do in future ministry, but the pastor viewed it as an insular event.  He did not process what God was trying to show him and so his ministry today has a lack of the supernatural that is supposed to be there.  That pastor needs to repent before God and seek Him and process all that God is trying to show him and God will surely show up in power.

 

 
Matthew 13:3 - 15 (NASB) 3And He spoke many things to them in parables, saying, “Behold, the sower went out to sow;  4and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up.  5“Others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil.  6“But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.  7“Others fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out.  8“And others fell on the good soil and yielded* a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.  9“He who has ears, let him hear.” 10And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?”  11Jesus answered them, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted.  12“For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.  13“Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.  14“In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says,     ‘You will keep on hearing, but will not understand;     You will keep on seeing, but will not perceive; 15    For the heart of this people has become dull,     With their ears they scarcely hear,     And they have closed their eyes,     Otherwise they would see with their eyes,     Hear with their ears,     And understand with their heart and return,     And I would heal them.’

 

The condition of the heart determines what you see and hear.  Those who are His children see and hear and bear the fruit of the Kingdom of God.  Those who are born again enter into the Kingdom of God and are actively living in the midst of this Kingdom of God.  We are to see and hear God’s activity in the world and to understand the mysteries of the Kingdom.  The Kingdom of God is to have a dramatic impact in our:

 

Personal Lives

Marriages

Workplace

Churches

 

God is looking for Kingdom leaders.  You are in the Presence of the King and you have a part in His rulership.

 


Ephesians 2:4 - 6 (NASB) 4But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,  5even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together £with Christ (by grace you have been saved),  6and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 

 

We are seated with Him in the Heavenly places far above all principalities and powers and all spiritual beings that align themselves against Christ.  Through Christ we rule over them.  This only comes from immediate and full obedience my brothers and sisters and no other way.  Much brokenness and dying to self. The cross must have it’s way in our lives.

 


Acts 28:30 - Romans 1:1 (NASB) 30And he stayed two full years in his own rented quarters and was welcoming all who came to him,  31preaching the kingdom of God and teaching concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all openness, unhindered. 1Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, 

 

The Kingdom of God is the incredible power of the Cross, the Cross has power over ALL sin. 

 


Colossians 1:28 - 29 (NASB) 28We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ.  29For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.

 

His power that worked in Paul is the resurrection power of the Kingdom of God and it will work in us just as mightily as in Paul.

 


Matthew 16:13 - 20 (NASB) 13Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”  14And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.”  15He said* to them, “But who do you say that I am?”  16Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”  17And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.  18“I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.  19“I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.”  20Then He warned the disciples that they should tell no one that He was the Christ.

 

Whoever walks in this Kingdom of God and the power it represents will be those who overcome the gates of Hell and who carry the keys of the Kingdom of God to bind and to loose on earth.  We proclaim the wonderful Good News of the Cross and the Resurrection power of the Lord Jesus Christ.