Tag Archives: Kingdom

Friend of Sinners?

Posted on by under Bible, Christian, Christianity, Commitment, Covenant, Disciple, Discipleship, Excellence, Faithful, LifeGiving, Mandate, Mature, Maturing, Message, Mission, Movement, Revolution, Righteousness, School Of The Spirit, Teamwork, Training, Transformation

I have been thinking about the phrase, “friend of sinners” again.

I have heard for most of my 40 years of being a Christian that Christ Jesus is a friend of sinners. Is He?

I don’t think Jesus is a friend of sinners. Jesus is a sinner’s Savior. But friend, I don’t think so. If Jesus befriends a sinner it is to save Him from his sin and lead him to his ultimate place of divine purpose, not just be his friend.

We will see how Jesus defines friendship later in this blog.

Now, if you want to say that Jesus was, and is friendly toward sinners I will wholeheartedly agree with you. Jesus is not mean spirited toward those who live a life of sin, or who take advantage of others for the sake of increasing their wealth. But to insinuate that Jesus would ever be “in league with,” or, “to be an associate or companion of” sinners is a misuse of Jesus’ character, nature, mission, mandate, and message.

Jesus never refers to Himself as a friend of sinners. Never!

There are two texts where Jesus brings up what other people say about Him as it pertains to being a friend of sinners. Both of those texts include tax collectors.

Matthew 11

“16 But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the market places, who call out to the other children, 17 and say, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’ 18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon!’ 19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”

Luke 7

“31 To what then shall I compare the men of this generation, and what are they like? 32 They are like children who sit in the market place and call to one another, and they say, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not weep.’ 33 For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon!’ 34 The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ 35 Yet wisdom is vindicated by all her children.”

Did you notice how Jesus said that His generation said things that were not correct about John or Himself? Things have not necessarily changed have they? People are still saying wrong things about John and Jesus. Both John and Jesus came preaching leave your life of sin behind, and reach out and receive the kingdom of heaven [God].

Wisdom is vindicated by all her deeds [children]! What does that even mean? One thing it means is just because the crowd [generation] says something is true does not make it true. We must look at the life and ministry of Jesus in what He did and what He said to discover truth.

When we misunderstand what John’s mission was – to prepare a people for the Lord Jesus Christ, and what Jesus’ mission was [is] – to prepare God’s people to discover the place of purpose God saves them to find – we mistake our purpose as being one day getting into a place called heaven instead of everyday getting heaven into earth.

Here are several more references where Jesus coupled tax collectors and sinners [Gentiles] together.

Matthew 5

Be Like Dad

“43 You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.“

This text has to do with representing the Father as mature sons by not responding in like manner to those who are mistreating you. This is about operating out of the Spirit of the Father not the spirit of the world. This is about mature love, and not about befriending those who are evil and or just unrighteous.

Matthew 18

Keep Corruption out of My Community

“15 If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. 16 But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed. 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. 18 Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven. 19 Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven. 20 For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.”

‘The church’ may be the entire body, or it may be those who are the overseers and who are ultimately responsible before Jesus, the Chief Shepherd and Head of the church.

Binding and loosing here refers to stewarding the culture within the community in a local church based on what heaven allows or disallows.

Being in agreement means keeping the community of covenant keepers free of those who want to corrupt that community. Unity with heaven is a prerequisite to maintaining purity in God’s people.

The authentic church is not necessarily found in large numbers, but in the several covenant keepers who are synergizing with Him by the Holy Spirit! “Keep the unity of the Spirit” [it is the Spirit’s unity we are to protect].

Jesus’ presence is predicated on purity, not performance!

We see from Jesus that an unrepentant “brother” is to be treated [viewed, regarded as] a pagan [someone who worships false gods], and a tax collector. This means they must be treated like they are unsaved, because their soul is in danger.

Gentiles [non-Jews] were viewed as subhuman and even as animals [dogs] by the Jews! Racism is not about some modern fake white privilege. It is about the darkness of someone’s heart, regardless of their ethnicity.

Tax collectors were Jews who sold their souls to Rome in order to pad their pockets by adding additional fees or taxes to the taxes Rome required them to collect from the Jews. This was lower than low and in some circles they were worse than a Gentile.

Matthew 18 is about ex-communication and disassociation in hopes that the unrepentant brother would eventually respond in a way that protects the community he or she was once involved in, and claimed to love being in. If they refuse then the community must reject them because of their behavior. [See 1 Corinthians 5 where this process was not followed so Paul, as the spiritual father over the work, had to step in as judge].

Jesus never associated with sinners just for the sake of association, and He does not call us to do that either. Every contact Jesus made with those who did not know or love Him was redemptive, and in some cases resulted in a rebuke. This means Jesus had, and still has an agenda – to save sinners, even tax collectors!

He called Matthew, a tax collector, to be one of His original disciples. We will see later what Matthew heard about friendship with Jesus. We must learn that salvation is not about where God delivers us from, but who we become so that He can deliver us into the very place of purpose He saved us.

Mark 2

“14 As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting in the tax booth, and He said to him, ‘Follow Me!’ And he got up and followed Him. 15 And it happened that He was reclining at the table in his house, and many tax collectors and sinners were dining with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many of them, and they were following Him. 16 When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they said to His disciples, ‘Why is He eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners ?’ 17 And hearing this, Jesus said to them, ‘It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.'”

Do you remember the Matthew 11 and Luke 7 texts above. Mark says the scribes and Pharisees [representing the generation Matthew and Luke wrote about] asked the twelve about Jesus’ eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners.

This text clearly reveals Jesus’ heart for and purpose for being with tax collectors and sinners.  Jesus’ spending time with them was  “to call” them, and in His calling them He calls them “sick”. Jesus references Himself as a physician. This Greek word is iatrós / ee-at-ros’ and it means: to cure; heal; to make whole; to free from errors and sins; to bring about one’s salvation.

Nothing in this text indicates Jesus was palling around or fellowshipping with these tax collectors and sinners [who by the way were friends of Matthew’s], just for the sake of spending time with them. Jesus redeemed His time in hopes of redeeming those He deemed sick.

Additionally, Jesus connects righteous living with health, and sinful living with sickness. So, Jesus does not come to initially call those who are healthy [in right relationship with Him]. He comes to initially call those who don’t have a right relationship with Him to give them a chance to get and remain healthy and whole [right with Him].

Mark says of these friends of Matthew, “there were many of them, and they were following Him.” The word follow is the Greek word akolouthéō / ak-ol-oo-theh’-o which means: to join one as a disciple; become or be a disciple; side with; attend to; walk the same path or way.

This a different Greek word than what is used for those who are disciples of Jesus. That word is mathētḗs / math-ay-tes’ which means among other things: to understand what you are learning.

So, these sinners and tax collectors were being called into discipleship but had not yet chosen to be Jesus’ disciples. They may have been following Jesus but had not yet committed to what Jesus requires of all of His disciples.

How long did they follow we do not know? We do not know whether they gave up their lifestyle as sinners and tax collectors. What we do know is that Jesus called them, not to be His friend, but to be healed of their sinful behavior so they could be whole, to become His disciple, and to continue to grow in their relationship to Him as they let go of and leave behind their past life.

We get more information on Jesus’s requirements to be His disciple when He said this to the Jews in Judah who had believed Him, – “31 If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” [John 8]

John said the Jews “believed Him,” not “just believed in Him.”

Do you believe Jesus?

What does your belief produce?

So many modern Christians have no idea what it means to believe God. When it was used in the first century it meant: trust in and fidelity to. Fidelity means the quality of being faithful to; to be accurate in all the details.

To “continue in My word” does not mean commit to continually reading the word. It means commit to becoming what the word requires of all those who say they have committed their life to Christ.

I tell people often, my mandate from Jesus is to go and make disciples [to Him]. My mandate is not to go and make converts, church members or even friends. I am commissioned to make disciples and to teach them everything Jesus commanded His original disciples. If ‘we’ happen to be friends during or after that, praise the Lord. If not, praise the Lord. I will not allow ‘friendship’ to get in the way of my personal discipleship to Jesus, or my discipleship of others to Jesus.

I have lost a lot of ‘friends’ over this stance! Have you? By the way, Jesus, because of His stance did too, and still does!

Jesus, speaking to His original disciples, including Matthew the ex-tax collector, said this about being His friend. “You are My friends if you do what I command you.“ [John 15:14]

Hmmm! So, even Jesus’ disciples are not His friends if they refuse to obey what He commands.

So much for hanging out ‘for hanging out’ sakes! For heaven’s sake!

“Friend!” That is an endearing term is it not? Yet, Jesus told a parable in Matthew 22 that should shock us all into a different reality if we believe friendship with God is whatever we want it to be or define it to be.

“11 But when the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed in wedding clothes, 12 and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without wedding clothes?’ And the man was speechless. 13 Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14 For many are called, but few are chosen.”

Now, we can discuss the theological aspects of who this “friend” was and how he came to be in the wedding celebration dinner, or we can simply look at what Jesus is communicating here – and that is this – He determines who remains in His celebration.

In other words, accepting His invitation to attend, and entering His celebration is not His goal. His goal is, is the person worthy to remain in His celebration. Something else that jumps out at me in this text – Jesus commanded His slaves to bind His friend, and not just throw him or her out of the celebration, but to throw him or her into outer darkness.

So, who was the authentic friend of Jesus, the “friend” or the slaves who obeyed Jesus?

It is time for you and me to stop lowering the standard to what we can handle, and start rightly handling the word of truth. Jesus is not everyone’s Friend! And Jesus does not have friends who do not obey Him. The first test is usually, “You must be born again.” Or, you must undergo an authentic spiritual conversion. That is what Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3. In fact, one cannot even see to enter the kingdom without that experience.

Look at what Matthew, the ex-tax collector wrote about conversion – “Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” [Matthew 18:3]

Remember, conversion [being spiritually born again] is required for anyone to see to enter the spiritual kingdom John the Baptist and Jesus preached.

Have you been converted? Great! What are you becoming?

I am not going down the road of the revelation of this statement either but suffice it to say Jesus revealed here that conversion is not the goal. Growing up, maturing, and becoming responsible is the goal. Apparently, according to Matthew, Jesus said conversion alone does not qualify a person to enter the kingdom God.

Those who do not, will not, or refuse to obey Jesus regardless of what it costs them are NOT His friends!

Receive and steward God’s passion, power, presence, priority, process, promises, protection, provision, pruning, purging, purity and purpose!

Dr. Kevin M. Drury, DMin
A radical spiritual revolutionary
Revolution Movement Co-Founder
http://www.revolutionmovement.org
kdrury@revolutionmovement.org

You say you want a revolution! Join our movement and turn your world upside down so God can turn His world right side up!

 

 

 

Culturally Innapropriate

Posted on by under Bible, Christian, Disciple, Discipleship, Excellence, Faithful, LifeGiving, Mature, Message, Mission, Revolution, Righteousness, Teammates, Teamwork, Training, Transformation

Danny Silk is a relational specialist in the Body of Christ and His kingdom. He recently posted this on social media from his Book, Keep Your Love On, Page 22 – “Powerless people often blame the messes they make on other people.”

He goes on to post:

“Powerless people believe the reason their life, marriage, child, finances, job, or whatever is the way it is has nothing to do with their choices. Someone else — their parents, their spouse, their teachers, society — created the life they are living. They don’t have the power to create their own lives.

We do not have to live like this. You don’t have to be a victim of your life. As a powerful person, you don’t have to simply react to whatever is happening today. You can take responsibility for your decisions and the consequences of those decisions — even for your mistakes and failures. You can respond to today and create your tomorrow!”

This is the part of kingdom life so many never understand, or choose to never understand! “They” settle for just the supernatural aspects thinking they have the “culture.”

The power [ability to prophesy or heal the sick] they do possess leads them to believe they are okay when in fact the most important aspects of kingdom culture they are relationally bankrupt in [honor, trust, selfless love, etc].

This delusion reduces them to a performance based Christianity with no authentic relationships. A person who primarily relates to only those they minister to, is, in fact, powerless! These people always disconnect from healthy people and environments because they are not healthy or connected internally.

My wife Donna and I have seen this too many times and what we have realized is, for the most part, these powerless people serve because of what they need or want, not for what those they are supposed to be serving and serving with need or want. They are in practice lone rangers because they are very lonely people.

Their need to be needed leads them to only love those they perceive love them the way they want to be loved, or love what they can do for them. Many times these people do not have substantive connections with anyone anywhere.

These people need to be needed and when what they do is challenged they take this to mean they are not valued [loved, appreciated, accepted]. This is because they have no real value for who they are, just what they can do.

These people struggle with trust issues! They portray themselves as trusting God and themselves. Everyone else is suspect! The truth is they do not trust anyone, including God!

They will, in the face of overwhelming evidence and a multitude of witnesses, deny they have done what is being asserted. They are innocent, just ask them!

It is very sad but is rampant nonetheless!

Can you imagine the look on some “powerful” people’s faces when, after they say to Jesus, “Lord, Lord! Did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles,?” they hear Him say to them, “I never knew you; Depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.”

It is time for God’s kids to grow up!

Dr. Kevin M. Drury, DMin
Spiritual Revolutionary

Receive and steward God’s passion, power, presence, priority, process, promises, protection, provision, pruning, purging, purity and purpose!

Agendas

Posted on by under Bible, Christian, Disciple, Discipleship, Excellence, Faithful, LifeGiving, Mandate, Mature, Message, Mission, Revolution, Righteousness, School Of The Spirit, Teammates, Teamwork, Training, Transformation

Everyone has one and some have more than one!

What is the goal of the person, or people and their agendas?

Some people are up front with theirs, and others keep theirs “close to the vest.”

Some agendas are greately concealed and others are quickly revealed!

Some are selfish and others benefit the rest!

Everyone has one and some have more than one!

Which ones are the best?

It was all a test?

Given enough time and access they will always eventually surface!

Wait for it!

Don’t fear it!

World changers will emerge too!

TEAMS – Train, Equip and Activate Maturing Saints in the Biblical lifestyle of purity and power!

Hidden in plain sight for those who want to see!

Agreed to, or too greedy to?

Stealth or wealth?

Went ones or sent sons?

The kingdom has it all and always has!

Everyone has one and some have more than one!

Which one do you have?

Which one are you?

Receive and steward God’s passion, power, presence, priority, process, promises, protection, provision, pruning, purging, purity and purpose!

Dr. Kevin M. Drury, DMin

A Spiritual Revolutionary

 

 

Apostles & Fathers

Posted on by under Bible, Christian, Disciple, Discipleship, Excellence, faith, Hard Work, LifeGiving, maturity, Righteousness, School Of The Spirit, teaching, Teamwork, Training

There is much misinformation that misleads people in the area of apostles and fathers in the faith! I hope the misinformed will not continue misleading people, no matter how well intended they may be.

Just because someone is an apostle does not make them a father in the faith. There are a lot of apostles leading ministries and movements who are still children in the faith, and manifest childishness in their daily lives. If you are a genuine apostle you will genuinely grow up.

Even Paul, who was called an apostle from his mother’s womb, said he had to grow up spiritually. In fact, he said after he grew up he still had to make a decision to act grown up!

“When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things.” 1 Corinthians 13:11

Paul did not say when he became an apostle he put away childish things! He said when he became as man he put away childish things. One manifestation of childishness is the need to be needed. Needing attention is a core value of someone who is immature, insecure, and suffering identity and image issues. There are an abundance of leaders who serve for what they need which proves they are still in the childish, carnal, self-centered, self-absorbed level of maturity.

Just because someone is not an apostle does not eliminate them from being a father in the faith. There are a lot of believers with no 5 fold office call on their life who have matured to fatherhood. Some have had a great impact on my life as I developed as a disciple of Christ.

Maturing into fatherhood is the call to every believer in Christ, regardless of their call, mission, office or lack there of! And at the father level of maturity the person is not interested in their personal needs. Their need is to pour their life out for and into a person who needs mature leadership and direction to help them become a mature adult.

“You are to become perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect” applies to all the disciples of Jesus of all ages! Perfect means perfect, not just mature and complete!

Fathering requires running with the person needing fathering in close enough proximity to monitor their progress, without impeding their personal creative expression. This allows the person being fathered to keep their eye on the father but not be encumbered as they run the race set before them.

The person needing fathering must be willing to enter into and embrace the process fathers put them in to develop them into a mature believer. The acceptance of that process verifies the person voluntarily accepts the person fathering them. If the person needing and or wanting fathering in their life constantly complains or resists the person and their process, they prove they are not ready for, or interested in genuine development as a disciple of Christ.

Every believer should look for and find someone who can father them without them needing to call them “father,” or the father being called their “father.”

Jesus said, “Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven.” Matthew 23:9

If a “father” needs to be called father to feel adequate, or accepted by the ones they are fathering, then that father has some serious father issues.

I think some who call themselves apostles need to quit worrying about who is, and where are the apostles. If God calls someone to the office of an apostle then God is handling that apostle’s progress into Their purpose! And if God wants one apostle to align with others He is perfectly willing and able to arrange that connection.

I believe there are apostles who take out of context Paul’s statement in 1 Corinthians 4, “14 I do not write these things to shame you, but as my beloved children I warn you. 15 For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. 16 Therefore I urge you, imitate me.” Paul would reiterate the “imitate me” instruction later in chapter 11 of 1 Corinthians.

Paul did not say the Corinthians did not have many “apostolic” fathers. He just said they had an abundance of people teaching them, not fathering them. This tells me there is a difference in those who teach and those who father. All fathers teach but not all teachers are fathers, even to those they teach. Fatherhood is a maturity level and function, not an office or title. There is no office or title called fatherhood, except in the Catholic Church, which connects apostolic succession to fatherhood! This is, and should be rejected by all believers everywhere.

In addition, Paul, who operated both as an apostle and father to the Corinthians believers, demonstrated apostolic and fathering discipline when needed to those who chose to follow [imitate] his discipleship core value of following [emulating] the lifestyle of Christ Jesus. Purity is paramount in the development of a maturing disciple [son or daughter] of Christ. Discipling a person to Christ is the same as discipling a person to Father God. “The Father and I are one.”  Biblical fathering has everything to do with modeling Father God to the person being fathered so they will become like the Father who is perfect.

“Follow [imitate] me as [in the same way that] I follow [imitate] Christ [the ultimate leader]” should be the standard every kingdom leader lives by. Paul is saying he was following Christ so that he could lead people to Christ. All kingdom discipleship has that core value or it is not kingdom discipleship. Christ is the

Good gracious, Paul said he received, accepted, embraced, and developed his apostolic call, mission and revelatory message apart from the apostles in Jerusalem. He said it was developed on his sabbatical in Arabia.

Galatians 1

“11 For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. 12 For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. 13 For you have heard of my former manner of life in Judaism, how I used to persecute the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it; 14 and I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my countrymen, being more extremely zealous for my ancestral traditions. 15 But when God, who had set me apart even from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, was pleased 16 to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood, 17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went away to Arabia, and returned once more to Damascus. 18 Then three years later I went up to Jerusalem to become acquainted with Cephas, and stayed with him fifteen days. 19 But I did not see any other of the apostles except James, the Lord’s brother.” 

If Paul were alive today he would not be accepted into some apostolic brotherhoods by some of those who see themselves as the brotherhood’s gatekeepers. Paul went to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Peter and James, not to surrender his apostolic credentials to them.

I think some modern ministers who consider themselves apostles, see themselves erroneously in that select group of original leaders who were called to the closed, select community of the apostles of the Lamb!

All the apostles, even the original 12 called personally by Jesus, volunteered their ministry connections! And the 12 did not require obedience to them as a qualification into the post apostle of the Lamb apostolic office. The nonsensical heresy called “the shepherdship movement” was debunked in the 1970’s. I am concerned some of its tenets still exist and its tentacles are still reaching out trying to entrap unsuspecting saints.

Honor and respect does not require connection or obedience! It is given and received voluntarily! And for that matter, submission is voluntary too. If someone demands submission run as fast as you can. That is called slavery!

Everyone should focus on their personal relationship, call, mission, mandate and message with the Apostle and High Priest of our confession who died, was raised, ascended, and called us into our respective relationships, call, mission, mandate and message for Him.

“Do not think more highly of yourselves than you ought” is a really good verse right now! Especially for apostolic fathers!

In conclusion, if you need a father figure in your life look for one who will look for your loyalty, not require your loyalty. Again, loyalty cannot be demanded. A father who looks for loyalty more than likely will demonstrate loyalty to you. Loyalty is discovered in disagreement just like faithfulness is discovered when there are other options to choose from. If you want and need someone to father you, you must accept the responsibility of being a child [son or daughter]. That responsibility includes but is not limited to recognizing and admitting you do not have all the answers and you volunteer to be parented.

Dr. Kevin M. Drury, DMin

A Hisstorymaker

Moses’ Veil & Blindness

Posted on by under Bible, Christian, Excellence, LifeGiving, Righteousness, School Of The Spirit, Training

There is renewed interest in the State of Israel again now that Barack Obama “stabbed them in the back” at the United Nations several weeks ago by not vetoing a resolution against their West Bank developments.

Of course in some Christian circles there is a constant interest in “Israel” and the unsaved, natural Jewish people that really does not carry the weight of heaven as it pertains to their present day predicament – being without God and hope in this world.

There is the constant admonishing to “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem” because of the promise, “May they prosper who love you.” [Psalm 122:6]

This verse is used to mislead the immature masses into thinking that if they don’t pray the proper prayer then not only will God not prosper them He might just pound them into either submission or oblivion.

My main issue with the constant droning of those desperate to prosper because of their prayer for Israel’s peace is they totally forget “Israel” forsook and eventually murdered the Prince of Peace Jehovah sent to save them. They seem to also conveniently forget Jesus spoke Ichabod over Jerusalem by stating, “Behold, your house is being left to you desolate [abandoned, divorced].” [Matthew 23:38]

He continued His rebuke by telling “Jerusalem”, “From now on you will not see Me again until you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.'” [verse 39]

Jesus was not inferring a future revealing He was declaring they would not see Him UNTIL they confessed His being there then was in the “name of the Lord.” For the Jews of our day, just like the Jews of Jesus’ day, must confess He came 2000 years ago in the name of the Lord. This means repenting for rejecting Him and receiving Him and His work on the Cross that paid for their salvation.

Praying for peace now looks like praying for them to genuinely repent for their sin of slaying the Savior of the world, and prosperity becomes promoting proper relationship protocols!

The Jewish prophet Isaiah said this, “But he [Messiah] was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” [53:5 KJV]

There can be no peace with God without agreeing with and surrendering to the God who presented His terms for peace.

Also, there is another verse that is so badly misrepresented that it is becoming laughable to those liberated in the Kingdom lifestyle Jesus inaugurated when He emerged out of His water and Spirit baptism at the Jordan River.

That verse is found in Genesis 12, and so many leaders and scriptural “authorities” completely misuse it and its context.

“I will bless those who bless you and I will curse those who curse you.” What is left out is this portion of this verse, “And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” [verse 3]

This verse has nothing to do with the State of Israel, or unsaved Jewish people. Israel is not mentioned in the verse or its context. Abram was the recipient of the promises God proclaimed and Paul would write in Galatians 3 that the gospel was preached to Abram in the last line of that verse. [verse 8]

The context of Genesis 12 is salvation through the gospel message that would bring God’s blessings upon the entire planet through all the people on the planet who received and accepted the gospel. That is why Paul said in Galatians only those in Christ are of Abraham’s Seed and heirs to [all] the promises God made to Abraham.

I have an 11 part teaching series that can be found on YouTube called Who Is The Israel Of God, And What Does That Have To Do With Me. I also have a 14 part teaching series on YouTube called Jesus and Jerusalem. I hope both these series’ become Books because there is so much misinformation that leads to the misdiagnosing and eventual mistreatment of these very important subjects.

I am continually in prayer for revelation as to the “Why” question I have concerning why the unsaved Jewish people and “saved” Christians cannot see the obvious truth about Jerusalem and the Jewish people.

I feel God just dropped a nugget into my noggin [head] as I watered the plants this morning at Bethel Church in beautiful Brunswick and the glorious Golden Isles of Georgia.

This is what I believe I heard Him say to me: “The blindness from Moses’ veil keeps people from seeing the obvious.”

I was immediately reminded of this text Paul wrote to the believers in Corinth.

“12 Therefore having such a hope, we use great boldness in our speech, 13 and are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face so that the sons of Israel would not look intently at the end of what was fading away. 14 But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ. 15 But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart; 16 but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.” [2 Corinthians 3]

Here are some things of importance that stand out to me in this text.

  • Verse 12 – Paul and his team were bold in declaring the truth of God’s new day/new thing He had announced to the Jewish people in the Old Covenant and that day was upon them all
    • The boldness Paul refers to is traced back to verse 4, “Such confidence we have through Christ toward God.” Their boldness is directly tied to the hope they possessed
  • Verse 13 – Paul and his team were not going to live in the limitations of what God had done that was temporary
  • Verse 13 – Moses realized in the days of his glorious encounters the glory of his day [experience] was temporary
  • Verse 14 – The sons of Israel’s hearts hardened against God and His glory
  • Verse 14 – Paul and his team knew that hardening remained in their present day
  • Verse 14 – The Old Testament was the source of that hardening and the persistence of the veil that veiled the minds of those who depended on Moses for their revelation
  • Verse 14 – Paul and his team revealed that only in Christ would the veil be lifted for those who are in Christ and who do not rely on Moses for their revelation of what God was doing in their day
  • Verse 15 – Paul and His team reiterated that every time Moses was read the hearts of the hearers are covered with a veil that hides the new day/new thing God is doing. This hinders them from coming to the knowledge of the present tense reality that removed the problem
  • Verse 16 – Paul and his team reiterate the present tense truth that only turning to the Lord [Jesus] is the veil, cover, hindrance removed from the head and heart of the hearers

~~~ My conclusion is simply this ~~~

There are so many well meaning Christians who are blinded by the blindness from the veil Moses used to cover his decline. The result is they cannot see the truth of God’s new day/new thing that began with Jesus.

Concurrently, because of their unhealthy soul ties to old information and revelation and the possessor, protector and propagator of the old thing [Moses] they still live within a reality that is no longer real.

If you are presently tied to what faded away I whole heartedly encourage you to jettison the veil and proceed to the Person who now fully represents the present tense reality of heaven’s influence in the earth!

Keep HIS Faith! Keep HIS Passion! Keep HIS Purpose!

Dr. Kevin M. Drury, DMin

HIS Hisstorymaker

I’m A Dominionist! Are you?

Posted on by under Bible, Christian, Excellence, LifeGiving, Righteousness, School Of The Spirit, Teamwork, Training

I am a dominionist who believes wholeheartedly in dominionism!

To the Christian critic of dominionism and its dominionist proponents, I have some questions?

Are you a defeatist who believes in defeatism?

  • Do you believe the prince of darkness will extinguish the Light of the world?
  • Do you believe the prince of the power of the air will defeat the One who created air?
  • And do you believe the prince of darkness will chase the citizens of light off the planet?

Are you an escapist who believes in escapism?

  • Are you looking for Jesus to come rescue you off the planet He loves?
  • Are you willing to relinquish the planet you are to inherit?
  • And are you resigning yourself to one day go to a place called heaven instead of every day being a vessel through which God wants to reveal and release heaven in earth?

Genesis 1:28 KJV

“And God blessed them, and God said unto them, ‘Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.'”

Did you notice the writer of Genesis said God said, “Have dominion?”

What is the purpose in having something you have been given if you are not going to use what you have that was given to you?

Jesus said, “Freely you have received, freely give.” [Matthew 10:8] The context of that command was the preaching [revealing, declaring] of the present tense reality of the arrival and expansion of God’s kingdom on earth.

The manifestation of God’s kingdom of light materializes in the undoing of everything the prince of darkness has done, is doing or will ever do.

Original man’s original sin does not alter God’s original mission for men!

The failure of men does not cause God to fail nor does it cause the commission of man to partner with God to fail.

Jesus came along and along with many commands said this ~ “18 “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” [Matthew 28]

Jesus literally said to His disciples [apostles] to go evangelize the world. Somehow through the corridors of time His command has been corrupted and His design has been diminished.

He said “Go and make disciples of all nations” and that has been reduced to hopefully get some converts in the nations.

I believe this is the same commission His first disciples [Adam and Eve] were given in Genesis 1 – “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it.”

Fruitfulness speaks of successful productivity as well as successful reproduction in having children.

Multiply speaks of having children but more importantly their reproduction was to reproduce children who would love and serve God and His purposes for the planet.

Replenish speaks of cultivating a culture where the earth would constantly be filled with the fulness of what God intended when He commissioned His “man” to take Paradise to the planet.

Subdue speaks of using the authority God gave them to bring anything and everything not in subjection to God under the rule of God.

And then the command to ‘rule’ or ‘have dominion’ speaks of being the head, not the tail; being leaders not followers; being givers not borrowers; being those blessed by God to be a blessing for God in the earth He created for His people to inhabit.

The question then arises on how are we to rule or have dominion.

The how is through servant leadership, not physical force!

It is through leading people to the Lordship of Jesus Christ!

It is through leading them out of the land of their limitations into the land of plenty!

John said this, “When the seventh angel blew his trumpet, there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will rule forever and ever.” [Revelation 11:15 ISV]

People have placed this verse, and many others like it, into a future time. I believe Jesus began His rule on the earth when He ascended into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God and received His kingdom!

29 “Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30 Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne,  31 he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. 32 This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. 33 Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear.” [Acts 2]

Luke writes that Peter preached on the Day of Pentecost that David prophesied the resurrection of the Christ included His being seated on David’s throne. That smacks down any doctrine that has Jesus returning to earth to sit on a physical throne.

And ~~~~

“41 While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, 42 saying, ‘What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?’ They said to Him, ‘The Son of David.’ 43 He said to them, ‘How then does David in the Spirit call Him “Lord,” saying:44 “The Lord said to my Lord, ‘ Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool’ “?” [Matthew 22]

Jesus is quoting David in Psalm 110:1, which by the way can be found numerous times in the New Testament.

Jesus is on David’s throne as you read this blog and He began ruling the moment He sat down next to His Dad!

And He will continue to sit there and rule with His Dad until His enemies surrender and submit! However looooooooong that takes!

That knocks the “imminent return” theology out of contention in my mind!

And ~~~~

“9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name,  10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” [Philippians 2]

And finally, look at what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15 ~ “ 20 But, in reality, Christ has risen from among the dead, being the first to do so of those who are asleep. 21 For seeing that death came through man, through man comes also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For just as through Adam all die, so also through Christ all will be made alive again. 23 But this will happen to each in the right order—Christ having been the first to rise, and afterwards Christ’s people rising at His return. 24 Later on, comes the End, when He is to surrender the Kingship to God, the Father, when He shall have overthrown all other government and all other authority and power. 25 For He must continue King until He shall have put all His enemies under His feet. 26 The last enemy that is to be overthrown is Death; 27 for He will have put all things in subjection under His feet. And when He shall have declared that “All things are in subjection,” it will be with the manifest exception of Him who has reduced them all to subjection to Him. 28 But when the whole universe has been made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also become subject to Him who has made the universe subject to Him, in order that GOD may be all in all.” {Weymouth Translation]

So, I am a proud card carrying domionist, and I believe in the total dominion, rule, and eventual subjection of the world to the Lordship of Christ Jesus, and then THE END will come!

And not a day before!

Keep HIS Faith! Keep HIS Passion! Keep HIS Purpose!

Dr. Kevin. M. Drury, DMin

His Hisstorymaker!