PART 11
By
Pastor Roger Anghis
July 29, 2012
NewsWithViews.com
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Revelation 1:5 “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,
(6) And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.”
We are kingdom citizens living in this world and we are to be planted in this world. We get this from Jesus’ Himself in His parable of the mustard seed:
Matthew 13:31 “Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field:
(32) Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.”
You have been planted here by God at His pleasure, not yours, and here you are receiving God’s Word and He is growing it in your heart so that you can do what He has called you to do. We are designed to live and operate in the world, not to stay confined within the four walls of the church. As a representative of the kingdom of God, we are to bring His morals and His way of doing things into the world. His purpose is not to co-exist with the kingdom of darkness, but to replace it.
Our position in the kingdom means that we are not to grab somebody by the collar and force them to accept Jesus. That’s the way the world works. We see that with the gay community today in the fact that they are trying to get laws passed where it will be illegal to say anything against their lifestyle. Now you will notice that they say all they want about our lifestyle. They call it homophobic, hateful, intolerant and other things. But when they want laws that stop us from speaking the truth, they themselves are being heterophobic, hateful and intolerant. We are to live as God has called us to, be who you are supposed to be and act like you are supposed to act and that will cause you to be the light you are called to be. By your living and doing what you are supposed to be doing as a citizen of the kingdom of God, what you do on the job should show increase. Just as when Joseph was in Potiphar’s house, Potiphar increased. What ever you job is, it should show signs of increase. Remember that Jesus said that we, as believers, would be sheep among wolves. This means that we will have opposition in fulfilling our calling. That opposition will trigger the anointing that is on your life so that you can increase the kingdom. Part of that anointing is integrity. The enemy will be after your integrity. The world has little integrity, yet it demands it of a Christian! When they make a movie about a Christian, he is usually portrayed as a buffoon, or a crazed fanatic, which shows their complete lack of integrity. Going through the Bible we can see that Abraham had integrity, Isaac had integrity, even Job had integrity. Integrity is what you do when no one is looking. It’s what you do when no one will find out. You can not enter your wealthy place without integrity. You have to act in integrity even when you are not being treated fairly.
Remember when Jacob worked for Laban and Laban was always trying to keep Jacob under his thumb? The devil was after Jacob’s integrity. Genesis 31:38 “This twenty years have I been with thee; thy ewes and thy she goats have not cast their young, and the rams of thy flock have I not eaten.
(39) That which was torn of beasts I brought not unto thee; I bare the loss of it; of my hand didst thou require it, whether stolen by day, or stolen by night.
(40) Thus I was; in the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night; and my sleep departed from mine eyes.
(41) Thus have I been twenty years in thy house; I served thee fourteen years for thy two daughters, and six years for thy cattle: and thou hast changed my wages ten times.” Even when Joseph was a slave in Egypt, the devil was trying to get Joseph’s integrity: Genesis 39:7 “And it came to pass after these things, that his master's wife cast her eyes upon Joseph; and she said, Lie with me.
(8) But he refused, and said unto his master's wife, Behold, my master wotteth not what is with me in the house, and he hath committed all that he hath to my hand;
(9) There is none greater in this house than I; neither hath he kept back any thing from me but thee, because thou art his wife: how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” Even after Potiphar’s wife lied about Joseph and he was thrown into prison, he maintained his integrity. Genesis 39:21 “But the LORD was with Joseph, and showed him mercy, and gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison.
(22) And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners that were in the prison; and whatsoever they did there, he was the doer of it.” Joseph’s integrity caused him to have favor with the warden. His integrity continued to keep him tied into God so that God could continue to work through him.
What we are learning today and throughout this series will require us to address our positions with a lot more diligence because the responsibilities of our calling will become more apparent than ever before.
The rolls of the kings and priests have almost been reversed in the fact that there are too many priests and not enough kings. Everybody has a vision, but nobody has provision. This must be corrected so that the kings are doing what they are supposed to be doing.
1 Chronicles 22:14 “Now, behold, in my trouble (wars) I have prepared for the house of the LORD an hundred thousand talents of gold ($100 billion), and a thousand thousand talents of silver; and of brass and iron without weight; for it is in abundance: timber also and stone have I prepared; and thou mayest add thereto.”
Matthew 6:19 “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
(20) But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
(21) For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” We have to retrain ourselves to think in a different way. We have to start to think God first, then ourselves. It will be the only way that we can keep a “Covenant alignment”.
We only have to follow the lead of the patriarchs:
Isaiah 51:1 “Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the LORD: look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged.
(2) Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him.” How do we act?, look to Abraham. What do we have for a model for ourselves?, look to Abraham. God had a covenant with Abraham. What did God do so that Abraham would be faithful and walk in integrity?
Genesis 12:1”Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee:
(2) And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
(3) And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”
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The first thing God did was removed Abraham off of the system that he was trusting in. He wanted Abraham to trust only in God. If we are to advance the kingdom, we too must put our trust in God and not the system that is before us. The system before us has never succeeded in anything that it has done. IT HAS ALWAYS FAILED!!! God told Abraham that if he would trust only in God that He would bless Abraham, make his name great. God’s request of Abraham was unique in it was three levels of difficulty in the flesh. First, it is hard to leave your homeland, second, it is hard to leave your extended family and third, it is hardest of all to leave your parents.
There was also other concerns about extended travel God had called him to make. It made child bearing very difficult. This may not have been a major concern for Abraham as Sarah was barren, but even if he hoped against hope that this would not continue, the travel would make it very difficult for Sarah at her age. Extended travel would also diminish his wealth. And last, extended travel would not be good for his reputation. It would make it seem that he was always having to be on the move because of improper behavior. God assured him that none of this would happen by telling him that He would “make thy name great”. God even went one step further and declared that God would make him a blessing so that Abraham could be a blessing. He was telling Abraham that his obedience would bring a blessing on him that would be used by all of the earth to measure blessing. Abraham knew what he was supposed to do with the spoils. When Lot was taken and Abraham went after him, defeated the 5 kings and brought all the people and things back, he gave a tithe to Melchizedek.
An example of a king that did not know what to do with his ‘spoils’ gives us an example of how important it is for us to be good stewards with what God has given us. Luke 12:13 “And one of the company said unto him, Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me.
(14) And he said unto him, Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you?
(15) And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.
(16) And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully:
(17) And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?
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(18) And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.” This man had more than enough, which is God’s plan, but he decided that he was going to keep it all. Instead of giving some away to those in need, planting a seed for a future harvest, he was going to hoard it all. Where was his heart? What did Jesus say in Matthew 6: 21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” This mans heart was centered on things and himself. God wants us to have His heart and that means we think about others before ourselves. It does not pay to be selfcentered.
LUK 12:19 “And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.
LUK 12:20 But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?”
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