Notes from Allan Chambers, Monday, June 16, 2008

Romans 1:2-5.  Paul came to impart a spiritual gift.  It’s worth more than rubies or diamonds.

Last night we heard about the apostle and warfare.  An apostle is in the career of military service.  He prepares himself as such.  Why would God want a man as such?  A drive to be military-type?   God sent Jesus as the first apostle.  The key to an apostle is in the classical Greek.  How was the word used?  All five-fold ministers should be “sent ones”, so it’s more than that.  It should be a calling that you can’t help but do.  The usage of the word is extremely important.  Military people defend or attack.  They defend, attack or push into the land to push the enemy out.  An ambassador was the apostle, but not like our ambassadors today.  He was the admiral of a fleet of ships.  The fleet was apostolos.  Every person on the ship was apostolos.  The fleet was sent to start a colony.  Apostles have a great desire to “colonize”, but the problem is the current residents.  You need the military to conquer.

What will the “colony” look like?  It will look like the country establishing it.  Hebrews 3:1 says Jesus was sent to establish a “colony” on earth.  In a Greek colony, all spoke Greek, there were Greek-style houses, and Greek law.

An apostle had to be faithful to sending country.  If he wasn’t, the colony wouldn’t look like the sending country.  Jesus was faithful and created a “colony”.

An apostle is sent with authority to represent the purposes and intents of the one who sent him.  Jesus established those of God here on earth.

The prince of the air is Satan.  Man had authority on earth but gave that authority to Satan and became his slaves.  Satan took possession of earth.  God sent Jesus to create colony on earth.  We pray “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”  The enemy is out to rob, kill, and destroy.

Matthew 3:1 says John the Baptist said the Kingdom of heaven is drawing near.  Matthew 4:17 says Jesus began to preach the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.  It was so close you could grab it if you knew where to grab.  Matthew 4:23 says Jesus healed.  There is no one sick or diseased in heaven.  Jesus was trying to establish on earth what heaven looked like.  Matthew 10:5-7.  Wherever God is King, that place is part of His Kingdom.

A false apostle starts with a great idea and commission.  It grows, but then he takes it for himself.  No longer is it a part of the Kingdom of God.

A spiritual kingdom is not stone or brick.  Do we know how to grab it?  Matthew 6:9-10.  Are we praying for God’s Kingdom to be established on earth?  Do we ask, if we were in Heaven now, would this or that take place?  “Lord, I hate those people at the end of the block.  Take them out of here.”

People in South Africa used to say they were more British than the Brits.  They obeyed the letter of the law, whereas the Englishmen didn’t care.  Jesus only did what He saw His Father do.  Even at death He wanted God’s will.

Matthew 11:11-12 and Luke 16:16.  Are violent men taking the Kingdom?  What does it mean?  Violence means pressing into the Kingdom.  Force is energy.  It won’t just happen!  A car won’t go without gas.  It needs energy.  Since John, the Kingdom is preached, and people are pressing into it.  How do I do that?  Lots of us can’t even find the first step.

Jesus didn’t say to repent for the kingdom of heaven has fallen on you.  We have to push into it.  Hebrews 11:6 says it is impossible to please God without using faith.  My son and daughter-in-law moved from the United States to another kingdom.  My grandchildren now speak Dutch.  They don’t use English anymore.  To make a call in the United States, you must use US currency in the telephone booth.  No dollars, no call.  To make a call we pay with dollars.  We talk to God and pay with faith.  We must believe He is.  We must believe God is a rewarder of earnest seekers of Him.  The reward is the Kingdom of heaven coming into your life.  Use faith to get stuff that never disappears.  The Kingdom says there’s no sickness here, no poverty here.  Do you want to live in the kingdom of man or the Kingdom of heaven?  With faith nothing is impossible in Kingdom of heaven.  On earth dollars can buy anything.  If we diligently seek, we get the reward.  Some say they must clean up their lives first.  No!  Get into the Kingdom and He will sort you out.  God will touch you.

John 4:23.  God is seeking men to worship Him who will worship Him in Spirit and truth.  We speak Spirit when calling Heaven.  We do not speak English, but speak Spirit.  Our spirits will speak to God in groanings that cannot be uttered in a known language when we can’t pray in English anymore.  Is there somebody in Reading who will worship in Spirit and truth?  Is there someone who will believe God is and be rewarded?  We can take hold of the Kingdom.  Operate in our spirit being, not natural thinking.

When Daryl started playing tonight, what happened in this building?  God dwells in the praises of His people.  He is everywhere, but He’s looking for people worshipping.  We become a focal point, and God begins to operate in the affairs of man.

Ezekiel 1:4-7; 13-14.  Symbols are wonderful things.  Lightning is a symbol of God ministering to man on earth.  Ezekiel 1:24-26; 28.  Major fire from the sides of the north, where God’s throne is.  Angels have wings here and carry the throne.  God sits on the throne.  Calves’ feet symbolize praise.  Our praise starts lightnings, etc., in heaven, and God begins to move towards earth.  He comes to praise like lightning.  The angel comes and lands on praise and judges it.  Bronze symbolizes judgment.  If praise is Spirit and truth, it lasts.  If not, it’s gone!  Just a noise!  Form of godliness and no power.  Some come to praise, believe God, cry out for God and His Kingdom.  God’s angel comes like lightning to that.  God speaks and establishes the Kingdom of God in that life.  God moves.

Healings, deliverance, financial problems…gone!  We must be energetic in our spirit-man.  Not just bodily exercise.  God is spirit, and we must worship in spirit.  How can we show what the Kingdom of God is like if we have never been there?  God wants to be there.  We need to push into it, not to have just a good meeting.

My grandkids are in Holland now.  They are different.  They speak Dutch, no more English.  Do we have a form of godliness with no power?  In the middle of Elizabethtown, there’s an old house that is now a restaurant.  It used to be part of the underground railroad for slaves going to Canada.  They were safe in Canada.  There’s a river between Canada and US.  It looks the same over the river, but the laws are different.  Are we pushing into the Kingdom energetically?  Or are we saying okay, whenever we get there?

Can we believe God can reward those diligently seeking Him?  I can’t do it for you.  You can go into a fantastic auditorium with great seats and a great band, and you can still do nothing but physical aerobics.  But you can go into a filthy, miserable barn and meet God!  The angels are flapping their wings and asking, “Do we put down our wings or not?”

The apostolic ministry is to bring the Kingdom of God on earth.  Each one can come boldly to the throne room of God.