God is surely in our
midst. There is no mistaking the awesome presence of God that is invading our
land and sweeping through the schools, churches and fellowships. There is no
way this presence is merely going to be contained in a small church auditorium.
God is a God who cannot be contained in your small church container. King
Solomon made it very clear in his dedication prayer of the temple in 1 Kings 8:27, “But will God indeed dwell on the earth?
behold, the heaven and heaven of
heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have
builded?” If you think God can be contained in a small four walled
structure, you are mistaken. God desires to break out of those four walls and
break into the marketplace, the street, the bars and the heathen’s homes. It is
about time for the church to wipe the cloudy windows of tradition with the water
of the Word and see the ripe harvest of souls waiting for reapers. “Say not ye, There are yet four months,
and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on
the fields; for they are white already to harvest. And he that reapeth
receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that
soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together” (John 4:35-36). Who is
discipling you, is it the World or The Word? The world would prefer you to take
out a number of hours per day to watch unprofitable movies and listen to
demonic songs, whereas Jesus requires you to take a few hours preaching the
gospel to the lost in your neighborhood. I believe the devil has brought the
church into a comatose state where the work of the gospel is more of a dream
than a reality. I may not be able to grab you by the lapels and shake you out
of spiritual slumber but I can surely write a few weighty words to rouse up the
sleeping giant in you.
Many people think that
God cannot use them for anything. That is one of the greatest lies of the
devil. It is like having a car and locking it up in the garage everyday until
it rusts. There is great potential in you as a believer in Jesus since you have
the greater One inside you. Apostle Paul makes it very clear in 2 Corinthians 4:7“But we have this TREASURE
in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of
us”. There is a treasure God has placed in you that can benefit the whole
world and make you a blessing to others. There is a power at
work in you that is greater than any other power you have ever heard or seen in
the world. It is a power greater than an atomic bomb or dynamite explosive. It
is the power of the Holy Ghost, the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead
is dwelling in you mortal body. Look at what Paul says to believers of all
ages, “And what is the exceeding
greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his
mighty power, Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and
set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places … But if the Spirit of him
that raised up Jesus from the dead
dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken (give life) your mortal bodies by his
Spirit that dwelleth in you” (Eph 1:19, 20, Rom 8:11). God has promised to
quicken or give life to your mortal body by the Holy Spirit. When
you think of yourself as a dwarf or a grasshopper you will surely turn out to
become one (Num 13:33). When you begin to overestimate you enemies and
underestimate your capacity you are on the road of spiritual failure. Start
seeing yourself the way God sees you, not the way man does. Human beings never
lack words to speak and not all these words will be wholesome. If you base your
life on what men say about you there is a great door opened to Satan to
manipulate your life to his tune. Man’s words will always fail and fall to the
ground but God’s word never fails, “yea,
let God be true, but every man a
liar” (Rom 3:4). God’s word is an everlasting rock upon which you can
establish your dwelling. Even when the winds blow and the floods come, they
will not overflow or destroy your house (Matt 7:24-27).
Last week we were
looking at the fall of man and how man lost his initial position of dominion
and rulership of this world. God actually refers to man as Elohim or gods in Psalms 82:6, “I
have said, YE ARE GODS; and all of you are children of the most High,” this
word Elohim is plural and is used
most especially throughout the first chapters of the book of Genesis to
describe God. This implies that God relinquished control of the earth to man.
The moment God uttered the words of Genesis 1:26, Satan became the happiest
creature in the universe. He now knew that if he could deceive man and entice
him to disobey God and eat the fruit, the whole world would be his to command
and rule. As we progress through the coming weeks of the Bible Study we shall
see from the scriptures how our initial position of dominion over the earth in
Adam has been restored through Jesus Christ. When God came down to earth in
human form as Jesus Christ He showed us what it means to live out the Christian
life and establish the Kingdom or rule of God on the earth. When Jesus ascended
into heaven the bible tells us that He, “was
received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God” (Mk 16:19). The
reason why Jesus sat down in heaven after accomplishing His three years of earthly
ministry is because he left another body to continue what he had begun. This
body is what Paul speaks about in 1 Corinthians 12:27, “Now YE ARE THE BODY OF CHRIST,
and members in particular (individually).”
The body that Jesus left on the earth after His ascension is you and me, the
church on earth. Jesus is not going to come back physically and start preaching
to your neighbour and disciple the nations. He is waiting for you to do it. I
believe a converstion went on in heaven when Jesus had ascended there. Micheal
must have asked Him, “How are you planning to continue the work of preaching
the gospel and discipling the nations of the earth now that you are here in
heaven”. Jesus must have said, “I have left that work in the hands of the men I
spent my life training and also through those who will hear and believe through
their ministry. I believe they shall accomplish the work of establishing my
kingdom on the earth till the time I come to take them home.” With a quizzical
look, Micheal must have said, “But what if they fail to accomplish this task
and become absorbed in the worldly affairs of their common life, do you have an
alternative plan?” Jesus must have turned to Micheal and lovingly yet
confidently told him, “I trust them so much that I believe they will accomplish
my will, I do not have any other alternative!” Heaven is counting on you! Jesus
does not have “plan B” of sending some angels to do the Kingdom business on
your behalf. He expects you to boldly step out and act in His full authority as
His heavenly representative on the earth, “Now
then WE ARE AMBASSADORS for
Christ” (2 Cor 5:20). The angels
are not His ambassadors but you are. Jesus has placed so much confidence in you
that He has named you as His ambassador to this suffering planet. Notice that
even when God wanted to ignite a Holy Ghost revival in the house of Cornelius,
He did not use an angel to preach to the people. Rather He used an angel to
tell Cornelius to call Apostle Simon Peter to declare the words of salvation to
his house. “He saw in a
vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day an angel of God coming in to
him, and saying unto him, Cornelius...And now send men to Joppa, and call for one Simon, whose surname is
Peter… he shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do” (Acts 10:3,5,6). As you
continue reading this same chapter you will see the Lord pouring out His Spirit
upon the Gentiles even before Peter had finished his sermon. Isn’t it
interesting that the angel himself never preached the gospel to Cornelius. The
angels of God are merely our servants (Heb 1:14). You and your servant can
never be given the same assignment.
God chose to delegate
His greatest assignment in all eternity to His sons and daughters and not to
their servants. You are a son of God by faith in Jesus Christ and all of heaven
is expecting you to take your rightful place and reign on this earth. Jesus is
referred to as the King of Kings (Rev 17:14); this means that there are some
sub-regents under Him. We are His body on the earth and we are meant to reign
on this earth. You are a King (brothers and sisters inclusive) and are meant to
reign and exercise Christ’s full power on the earth through the anointing that
was upon Jesus. “And (Jesus) hast made
us unto our God KINGS and priests:
and we shall REIGN ON THE EARTH” (Rev 5:10). Take up your scepter and
exercise the power of God as you heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the
leppers, cast out devils and preach the gospel (Matt 10:8). Heaven’s hope is in
you, take up your sword mighty warrior!