The Present Day Ministry Of Jesus 4

You got your Bible right there, close by.

Why don't you pick it up waving around, make Jesus glad in the devil mad, and say this together with me.

Say, heavenly, father, I've tuned in tonight for encouragement and the only real encouragement I can receive is the supernatural strength that comes from believing and acting on the word of God.

And so, father, I have ears to hear what the spirit is telling me.

Jesus, I'm so comforted to know that you are in fact engaged in full time ministry at the right hand of the majesty on high, and I'm so glad that I am better for it in Jesus name.

And that's the point of these messages, because once you understand that Jesus is not sitting up there, uh, neutral or something you know, just kind of biding his time until the rapture, I mean, he's a busy, busy man and he is God.

He's a man and he's God, all both at the same time.

So, um, quickly, let's look at Hebrews, chapter eight.

Our foundation scriptures found in Hebrews eight versus one through three and then verse six.

Now, of the things which we have spoken, this is the sum.

Now, quickly, I want to say what did he speak in the first seven chapters?

Uh well, just briefly, that Jesus is better.

Jesus is better than the angels, jesus is better than Moses, jesus is better than Aaron, so Jesus is better.

So the sum of all this is that we have such a high priest, who is set, appointed, a settle down in Mades abode, at the right hand of the throne of the majesty on in the heavens, a minister of the sanctuary and of the treatment of the end of the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched, and not man, for every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices, wherefore it is of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer.

Verse six but now has he obtained a more excellent ministry?

Uh, how?

More more excellent than who?

Well, more excellent than the high priest Aaron and all the other high priests of Judaism.

He's got a more excellent ministry by how much?

He is also the mediator of better covenant, which was established on better promises.

So it's vital for every believer to have a revelation of Jesus' ministry today.

His great substitutionary work, his great redemptive work, the shedding of his blood would be a very little value if he didn't take care of and protect the new creation by means of his present day ministry.

Just think about it.

I mean just say he came down here, he preached the gospel, he left us a way to be saved.

All we have to do is call upon the name of the Lord, believe in our hearts, speak with our mouth and we can be saved.

And then, if he just left it up to just the Holy Spirit in us, and here we are, we're pummeled, we're assaulted, especially right now.

I mean, you cannot even turn on any kind of media, you can't read the newspaper, you can't listen to the radio, you can't watch television without being assaulted by the group of people that want to take this world over and get rid of Christians and get rid of Christianity.

And so if he just went off and left us, it'd be like going off and leaving a little baby, or like an animal gives birth to a little baby animal, like I just think about a chick.

A little chick, I mean you know mom has got to be around that chick.

You know they got to be taken care of, they have to be, they have to be warm, they have to be fed and all of that kind of thing I mean.

So so he's still taking care of his new creatures, he's taking care of us so that we can mature and grow up.

And so he was set, fixed, as I mentioned, fixed and abode, appointed, settled down as high priest, and God, the Father, appointed him as high priest forever.

And then we talked about this past Sunday morning mediator.

He's a mediator.

A mediator is one who intervenes between two, puts his hand on one, puts his hand on God, and becomes the go between, and it's so similar to the high priest.

It's similar to the advocate which we talked about last Wednesday night the advocate and the intercessor.

Very similar to mediator.

What does an intercessor do?

The intercessor prays in between God and the person.

And they need prayer, don't?

We need prayer?

We need prayer right now.

Guess what?

God's praying for our nation.

God's praying for our nation.

So that's why we need to get meet together and help him pray and let him help us pray tomorrow night.

And so so, intercessor and advocate.

So all of these four, these three that I mentioned, all of these work together.

You know the high priest, we you know, when you understand what a high priest does.

The high priest is one authorized to administer, execute, implement and carry into effect our profession or our confession.

So what we say about our lives, about our health, about our, about our strength, about our country, about our president.

You know what we say is important, and we need to draw from God's Word and let Jesus, the high priest, administer our confession to us so that we can speak right, and then he will carry it into effect.

What a powerful idea.

So many Christians don't have any idea that what they're speaking and saying is of such vital importance and really is.

The cause of much trouble on the earth is because the people who should be speaking better aren't.

So let's, let's be leaders in that area, all right, and so that also includes speaking against things.

I mean, we need to lift our voice when things are wrong in Washington, because government is not of the government, governments of the people, by the people, for the people.

So we have a part to play in that.

So all of these ministries that we have mentioned up till tonight work together so that, as we grow, we can continue in fellowship with our heavenly Father.

Let's face it without without an advocate, without an intercessor, without a mediator, without a high priest, then we would quickly get out of fellowship with our God.

We wouldn't be able to really talk to him, we wouldn't be able to hear from him.

Why?

Because we would be in sin we would.

We would fall victim to the temptations, tests and trials of this world and our and our fellowship.

We might wind up dying and going to heaven.

But in the in the process we will be cut short of our communication, our fellowship with the Father, and our Father deserves all the fellowship.

He created us for fellowship, and so that's how vital revelation is on this subject.

So tonight, to wrap up this series, we're going to talk about the final ministry of the Lord Jesus that he is executing right now, and that is his ministry as Lord and head of the church.

He is Lord, jesus is Lord and he is the head of the church.

So let's look at a few verses here.

Let's turn in our Bibles, first of all, to Philippians, chapter two, not Philippines.

No, it's not Philippine.

I know you're thinking that, but no, it's not Philippines.

It's Philippians, chapter two verse.

Well, let's turn back to verse nine, wherefore God has also highly exalted him, talking about Jesus and given him a name which is above every name that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow of things in heaven.

Now, that word things, that thing, word, things is an italicized.

It's not in, it's not in the original manuscript.

So if we read it, we could just leave the word things off, that that every knee should bow in heaven and earth and under the earth.

Well, what needs is the is this verse talking about?

Well, first of all, it's talking about people.

It's talking about words, things and words same thing.

It's talking about demonic powers, so everything has to balance me.

I mean ugly words that are being spoken right now by the enemies of the cross, the enemies of Jesus, the enemies of Christ.

Those words have to bow therein.

The name of Jesus.

We have nothing to be intimidated or afraid of.

And there to the rhetoric is hot and heavy right now, and what I've noticed is everybody concerned is just over the moon exaggeration about everything that they're talking about.

Well, I'll tell you what one of these days, they're all gonna stand before that mighty one, jesus, and we'll be standing right there.

So they'll get a revelation of who it is they're talking about and their knee will bow one day.

It's not bowing right now, but it will be one day.

And so, at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow of words in heaven, beings in heaven, you know, amen.

Demons, things in earth and things under the earth.

Yeah, there you go there.

You're talking about things under the earth and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

So Jesus is Lord.

Every tongue must confess he is Lord.

And Colossians let's turn over there Next couple of pages over Colossians, chapter one, verse 17,.

Talking about Jesus.

And he is before all things.

See, jesus wasn't just born in Bethlehem.

Jesus has existed from you know, eternally with the Father.

He's the second person of the Godhead.

He's always been here, he always was, he always will be.

So he is before all things and by him all things consist.

And he is the head of the body.

See, there's that, here's that phrase.

He's the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence that he might have.

Why does that mean?

Does it mean he might or might not?

No, it means that we have to make him preeminent.

It means that we have to place him at the very top.

See, that's what Lord means.

Lord means master, it means preeminent.

I think they call the Pope his eminence.

Now, I think that's a silly thing to call him.

He's not imminent at all when he compare him to Jesus.

Amen, especially this Pope, god a Marxist.

So in him that in him that in all things he might have the preeminence.

See, jesus is today Lord and the head of the church.

Let's look at another time here.

The word Lord is used 700 times in the New Testament.

I mean it must be important for us to have a revelation of what Lord is.

But Lord you can't be, he can't be savior unless he's Lord.

See, people there's many people that you're gonna meet in life that won't fire insurance, they wanna avoid hell, but they don't wanna do the next thing, and that's make Jesus Lord.

And you know what, when we make him Lord, he is expecting us to do that.

Many people never, they never follow through with him being Lord.

They may say a little prayer, they might have a few tears, but until and unless they can execute him being the master of their life, how is Jesus Lord?

He is Lord to the degree that the Word of God has mastery over your life and your decisions.

And so the true test of a Christian is developing and growing as a Christian.

You know, as a little child, little child, children don't make good decisions.

They ask for reason, not to have to be have parents.

They have to be told what to do and they have to, little by little, they learn how to make better decisions.

And if you're a good parent, you teach your children and you'll let them make a few mistakes that are minor and let them live with the consequences of those mistakes.

I mean, you're just mothering your child.

If you don't let them do that, if you don't let them have the experience of growing and growing and growing, and that's what God does with us and through those four present day ministries of Christ.

And so when we were saved Romans 10, 9 and 10, we confessed Jesus, our Lord, with our mouth and we believed that God had raised him from the dead.

That's the only way that we can be saved.

But we have an obligation.

In fact, it has to happen that we have to live as if he's Lord.

Now, that's something that has to go gradually, but you start off very strong.

I mean I remember the night I prayed that prayer and I asked him to take over my life.

And I'm being.

That's when it started.

I mean, I started living right, I started being different.

I said was I perp?

No, did I have other things in my life?

Yeah, I had some things that I grew out of.

That's what happens you finally grow out of being stubborn, you grow out of being disobedient, you grow out of being just as a child.

It's very similar to child growth.

And so Jesus is Lord 700 times in the New Testament.

Oh, the church needs to know that Jesus must be Lord.

He must be Lord over our lives.

And Jesus is what he is the Word made flesh so that this Word does not govern your behavior.

He's not Lord, and I'm not here to make you nervous and make you feel like you're not saved, but I've done a lot of funerals myself and I've been to a lot of funerals.

It's just amazing to me, the people that I've gone and listened and especially I don't do them that way when I'm doing the funeral, I don't do it that way.

But I've been to places where I knew the person was an ungodly person, never served God a day in their life, a drunk, a cheat.

And all of a sudden, somehow they're talking about him looking down or her looking down from heaven.

Well, they're not in heaven.

They're not in heaven because they weren't born again and Jesus was not Lord.

That's the only way to go is you've got to make Jesus the Lord of your life.

It means 100% commitment At first.

Certainly, you're gonna grow in these things, but the commitment is down on the inside.

Are you with me?

Let's look at Ephesians, chapter four.

Just back to the left a few pages, ephesians chapter four, verse four.

There is one body and one spirit.

Even as you are called in one hope of your calling, there's one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in you all.

Isn't that powerful?

I know you've read that before, but it's something that we have to keep in mind today, because there are people who say they're saved, people that say they're Christians, people on Facebook throwing rocks at our president, throwing rocks at the supporters of our president, who say they're Christians.

Well, there's only one body and there's only one Lord.

There's only one head of the church and I know for a fact that he was Donald Trump was his choice.

I got on the side of God early on when I found out God's choice was Donald Trump.

Then I don't lift my voice and criticize him.

I have fear.

It's not because I'm a groupie.

It's not because I have an idol.

I'm an idol worshiper.

I fear God, I love God and I'm on his side.

And I might pray for my president, but I'm not going to criticize him.

Is he perfect?

No, and has he made some mistakes?

Yeah, but you can't.

I'm not going to tell you what they are, because I don't even think about those.

I think about how he's God's choice for this hour.

And guess what?

He's still our president right now, right tonight, he's still our president.

Some of you don't like that idea.

Maybe you'll hang around long enough, maybe I've changed your mind, I don't know.

All right, so there's one body, one spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God, one father, and so there's one Lord and he has the preeminence.

It's time for the church.

If we want everybody else to bow there, if we want America to be one nation under God, if we want to say in God we trust on our money, then shouldn't the church have a little bit more fear of God in its ranks?

Shouldn't there be more people, more pastors, more believers speaking out in support of a man that's done more good for the Israel, he's done more good for the unborn and for.

He's done more good for the poor.

He's done more good in this country than any president I can remember.

I mean, he had a roaring economy before this Chinese virus hit us and this man has done a lot of good and here for the last while.

It's all been forgotten.

Well, it didn't forgotten around here, amen.

So let's realize that Lord means master, it means head, it means chief.

See, jesus in the scriptures is known as the great shepherd, he's known as the good shepherd and is known as the chief shepherd.

He's all of those things wrapped up in one.

And so, since he's your Lord, if you're a Christian, then he is your Lord, not the devil Devil's not your Lord.

Then he has something to say about your life.

He has something to say about how you vote.

He has something to say about what you're going to put on Facebook.

He has something to say about practically all of life.

This is our operation manual right here, and he can't be savior without being Lord, and our decision to receive him as our personal Lord must be.

Every time we have to make a decision.

I had to find this out the hard way.

I didn't.

I would.

You know, I was a businessman.

So when I got saved, I started making business decisions and I didn't know how to make a.

I didn't really know how to hear from God that well, I just make a good, best decision I could make.

And I didn't know how to function in the.

I didn't know how to function in the witness of the spirit.

But a Holy spirit will let you know yes or no.

He'll let you know which decision to make.

And if you pray see and I didn't spend enough time praying and asking God in the beginning I made some pretty big business decisions that were that were disastrous.

Why were they?

Well, because God couldn't bless them, because they weren't his plan, they were my plan and I had to learn the hard way that Jesus has to be Lord over every decision.

And a lot of times we have mess in our life, disorder, we have tragedy, and and the devil doesn't need a whole lot of excuse to attack you.

But if we're truthful, a lot of the trouble we have is our own failure to make him Lord over every single decision that we make.

And it's it's, it's worth the time.

You know, the more serious the decision, the more serious we should be to find out Jesus, where, what's your plan?

What, father, what's the plan in this?

I want Jesus to be Lord over this decision and God will honor that.

He will.

He'll speak to you where you are, he will guide you where you are not where I am, but where you are.

And and so we've been set free from Satan's bondage to be eternally bound to him.

Sometimes we get so caught up in this bio I'm so free, I'm free.

Thank God, I'm free.

Well, we're free in one sense.

We're free from the devil, but we're bound to Jesus, we're bound to God.

I mean, we're tied up with him, and let's not forget that.

Let's not forget that.

So, in order, in Ephesians four now are you still there, ephesians four.

Let's keep reading here, in verse eight, wherefore he saith when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and he gave gifts unto men, doma.

The word gifts is Doma.

It's not the spiritual gifts like tongues and interpretation and prophecy.

It's called, it's.

It's talking about the ministry gifts, the five fold ministry.

They're present.

The word Doma means a present, they're present, their gifts, the presence unto men.

So I'm a present to you, I'm a gift to you.

And so it says here, verse 11 and he gave some apostles, some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers.

For what purpose?

For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, for the perfecting of the saints.

So, in order to ensure lordship and headship, you need earthly help, you need the five full ministry you have.

You have the Jesus on the right hand of the father.

But guess what he is?

He's taken up his abode at the right hand of God.

He's not coming back down here, he doesn't travel back and forth, back and forth every time we have a crisis.

So he has.

He has set the ministry gifts, the ministry gifts in the church, and there's only one church and there's only one head and there's only one body.

But these five ministry gifts are set there and it's for growing and maturing the body.

Notice here in verse 13, till we all come, in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature, of the fullness of Christ.

Now the church is that's.

The destiny of the church is to come into the fullness of the measure of the stature of Christ.

And that takes the five full ministry and it.

So it takes a mainly the, the.

It mainly means the pastor, because the pastor is the one of the five full ministry that you have the greatest contact with.

That's the head of each local church, that's the shepherd of the local church, and so it becomes incumbent upon every believer to make sure they have a pastor, that they are faithful in a local church, because this is how you become useful in the kingdom of God.

Otherwise you're undisciplined, otherwise you're.

You know, a lot of people have the idea well, I just need to go some meetings and get some motivational speaking.

And I listened to a guy the other day on the radio that had lost 86 pounds, I think, and he had a particular diet that he followed, you know, and he was selling that diet and making an ad.

But then later on he was interviewed and he said you know, a lot of people get motivated.

They get all motivated at the beginning of the year to lose weight.

They're going to get motivated.

He said it takes a lot more than motivation, it takes discipline.

So you know what?

You can go get motivated all you want to, but it won't do one bit of good until you get disciplined down.

And that's my job is to instill in every person that accounts me their pastor discipline.

You can't get disciplined running from church to church or going to church whenever you want to.

In fact, that's a lack of discipline.

So you have to.

You have to get down and commit yourself.

Amen, that's what it takes to do anything.

You have to get disciplined.

That's what disciple the word disciple comes from discipline and so growing and maturing into the full stature of Christ and answering all of Jesus.

Present day ministry.

That's what it's all about.

Getting us from his standpoint.

And then on the earth he's got the five full ministry to help you complete that process.

He didn't go away and leave you orphans.

He gave you the Holy Ghost on the inside, but then on the outside you've got the five full ministry that you can come up and you can look at me, you can shake my hand, you can hug my neck, you can see and you can watch my life and how I interface with my family.

We live before you and as examples to you.

Amen, that's what every believer needs in order for Christ to have the preeminence and so not stuck in babyhood Verse 14, that we are henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the slide of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie and wait to deceive.

So you grow up into the head by hearing and applying the truth.

Where do you hear the truth?

At your local church?

You don't get it in the chronicle.

I just called the other day, canceled my subscription to the Wall Street Journal.

I'm tired of looking at their drivel, tired of seeing the people.

They have right and the editorial board did.

Last week they had an editorial.

I just I just threw the paper away and I canceled my.

It's expensive.

It's a couple of hundred bucks a year.

I'm through with it.

I'm not going to have it thrown in my yard anymore.

I'm not going to go online and read their articles.

I'm doing the same with the Houston Chronicle.

Tomorrow I'm going to call them and fire them.

I'm getting rid of everything.

That's a contrary voice to what I believe.

I don't want to read it.

I don't listen to it.

I don't want to pay the main things.

I don't want to give money to it.

You don't have to do that.

I'm just doing that.

Praise God.

So Jesus.

In Revelation 19, 16, the Bible calls Jesus the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

Now, who are the Kings that Jesus is King of?

Well, we're the Kings and we're the Lords, he's the Lord and he's Lord over us.

We're, should be Lords in this earth.

Lord is one that has dominion and a power and an authority and a region.

Well, in your life, you've got dominion, you've got your domain, your Lord.

You know, in Europe they call people my Lord is Lord.

They have this whole system of the nobility.

Well, god's got His form of that.

Hey, we're children of the Most High God, and so it's good to realize that we're the Kings and Lords that Jesus is King and Lord of.

And we can't be much of a King if he's not our King and we can't be much of a Lord unless he's our Lord.

So it gets back to if we want authority, if we want to be able to command demons to let our family leave, our family alone, if we want to be able to command sickness to leave, if we want to be able to do that, then we've got to be able to do what we're told.

We've got to be able to let this word Jesus is the word made flesh.

We've got to let this word dominate our decision making.

We've got to let it dominate our thinking.

We've got to let it dominate our behavior.

We just will not think about behaving in a manner that is not acceptable to the Word of God.

The Word of God tells you how to behave.

It says be angry and sin not.

Don't let the sun go down on your rat.

And I have to tell myself that all the time, because it's easy to get angry watching.

That's why I have to turn the TV off, to turn the radio off.

You know, sometimes I'm just better off not being so informed about what's going on.

I find out just enough to know what's going on, and then I don't meditate on it.

I mean I'll find out and then that's it.

I'm not going to listen to it anymore, I'm not going to have it all.

You know over and over Everybody's opinion about what went on and all of that.

That's what I have to do to stay where I'm not angry.

But if I ever do get angry, I make sure I cut it off.

I mean I'll just, if I have to, I'll go out and I'll start laughing.

Praise God, we need to learn to laugh at the devil.

I was watching Jerry Savelle last night and he was referring to a message that I heard him preach.

I don't know how many years ago now 35 years ago I heard him preach this message If the devil can't steal your joy, he can't keep your goods.

And he's got a.

He's got a story of testimony of what happened to him.

I think it was a briefcase that you lost at the airport, but I might be wrong.

It's been a long time since I heard the punchline of that message, but it was hilarious and yet it was insightful.

I mean, jerry Savelle is a great teacher and he's a great storyteller and, and you know, his faith works he got over a stroke in amazing time.

I mean, he had a massive stroke and within 30 days he was talking and preaching again.

And I mean you can't tell that he was ever hit.

And I'm confessing that over on you, frank Kester.

I believe that you didn't have a stroke, but you had similar thing with a brain bleed.

I'm saying, in Jesus' name, frank, you're coming back strong.

So you know we, if you want your authority to work, you have to be under authority and if Jesus is your personal Lord, then become accountable, then to your pastor, become accountable to your local church.

I mean it's not that you have to be accountable to me personally, because I have a staff.

We have teams here.

You can get involved and every team has a leader.

So become accountable that way.

That was how I started out.

I, I, I started going to Lakewood.

I got involved in, in being a prayer partner In the early days.

They called them counselors.

Well, they had.

They had team captains, they had the overall director.

I became accountable.

I was a new kid on the block.

I did what I was told and and I and I tried my best to always follow instructions and and that's how I started out.

So that's how you can start out.

You can find something to do here.

You can be an usher, or you can be a someone in the welcome ministry, or you can work in children church.

There'll always be someone for you to be accountable to, and that's very necessary for you to grow in in the things of God.

You have to be accountable.

So as you grow, naturally, I wanted to go back because I didn't get to say this or money.

No, in verse first, 12, why did he give the five-fold ministry?

For the perfecting of the saints.

And what is that for?

For the work of the ministry which is the edifying of the body of Christ, building the church up.

So that word perfecting is an interesting word, because I looked it up.

I always say it means maturing, and I and it does mean that, but it's something a little bit more exact because the Greek language is an exact language, more exacting than than English.

So there are different words in the Greek that are translated perfect or perfect, and this is one of those.

This is a medical term, which means really the setting of a bone that's out of joint or broken, so it's more of a medical term.

So basically, what it is is that that the five-fold ministry is to get you set into a place where you can be able to function.

And you know, in 34 years of ministry 40 years being saved I've seen a lot of people that were out of joint.

I mean, you know, they just won't submit to getting the.

You know, I saw a ball player the other night whose shoulder was knocked out of socket, a big hit on, and they and I saw him put it, put it back in.

You know that has to hurt bad.

I think you know all those ligaments and he went back in the game and but some people, they, they, they have things in their life that makes them incompatible with being able to do what God's will is.

They're never going to actually be able to be useful to the kingdom of God and to their Lord.

They're never going to grow properly until they're matured or perfected, or they're are.

They're put back into joint, and so that's what happens in a local church.

It goes goes again to what I'm saying about how important the local church is and, and you know, thank God for online, but if that's the only kind of church we had, that would not occur.

That you've got to have hands on, you've got to have eyeball, eyeball contact.

There's got to be church, has got to be assembling together.

And thank God for live stream.

It's, but it's just an adjunct, it's just a, it's just something that we're giving offering right now, but the main thing comes at church.

So we encourage you, if you're watching my live stream, if there's any way you can get here for a service, make sure you do so, as as you grow in maturity, you'll function as a member of the body of Christ, you'll become an able minister of the new covenant and you, and as you, have revelation that Jesus is alive today and functioning now in his present day ministry, lift your hands and receive the word of God to God today.

Praise God.

Let's just all say this together I'm functioning full strength in the kingdom of God because I've submitted myself to my Lord and to his church and to his five fold ministry in Jesus name, amen.