14. A Herald to Jesus of Nazareth's Bride

The Church in this country is at a time in which there will be no Isaiah 64:1-3 without Joel 2:13 first.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

This is episode 14 of um my version of an audiobook for the book I wrote titled A Herald The Jesus of Nazareth Pride in the United States of America. This is the um twelfth and final stone. Um it's about leadership. Leaders um it's there's an there's a story behind how um it it came to be twelve. Uh I wrote about it in uh the book um that I wrote, uh Moments with the Holy Spirit, personal memoir, which is one also one of the audio books I've done. And uh toward the end I tell my children and grandchildren some of that story. So if you're you want to know how it came to be 12, I tell that story of how it happened. It's very unusual. Are these the only 12 issues? No. In fact, you could read um what Jesus says to the uh the seven churches in Revelation chapter two and three. In fact, I have a little uh pamphlet about that being ready according to Jesus, you know, from Revelation, because he lists some issues. Some of them are actually the uh similar to this. For example, with Ephesus, um, he makes the point with them that they have forsaken their first love, the first and greatest commandment. Well, that's one of these 12 issues. So um I'm sure that maybe some other people who have been given the assignment uh of a forerunner, there may be some overlap or some similarities with the issues I'm talking about. They may have some other ones that I am not aware of, but these are the ones it seems to me that the Spirit gave to me to address. And so that's why I'm doing it. So as I said, this is stone number 12. It's about leaders. All grocery stores sell food, and yet, as we all know, not much of what is sold is healthy for us, with all the additives, preservatives, fructose, bad oils, processing, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. I know a person who has been a nutritionist for some 40 years, and she told me if there's more than about two lines of ingredients, put it back. I would give some similar advice concerning the food, quotation marks produced by various Christian leaders that is sold through various outlets. For example, and by the way, maybe my stuff, what I'm doing qualifies for this. I don't know. I guess we'll see come judgment day. But for example, if the person's photo is prominent, or if the person has titles before his or her name and or letters following their name, like doctor PhD, put it back. If the person is a popular leader of some mega ministry, put it back. If the person openly lives the American dream lifestyle, I gave some examples of that about pastors and how they're living financially, put it back. If there's a lot of fanfare and advertising about the person, put it back. If the person is making money from the sale of his or her materials, put it back quickly and go wash your hands. There are probably some more issues to consider when ingesting something considered to be Christian, but hopefully you get the point. Popularity, titles, bigness, charisma, accolades, the American version of success, etc. Such things are good American advertising techniques for helping to push success, but they're not what Jesus of Nazareth is about. And since one of the issues Jesus addressed in the shaking dream concerns leaders, Jesus knows most people don't know how to measure whether a man is a godly leader or not. For Jesus and the apostles, one of the main major measurements of a godly leader has to do with suffering and lowliness, not seminary degrees or personality or leadership andor administrative skills or any of the American versions of success or even preaching teaching skills. Here is something Paul says about himself that he says qualified him to be a leader. This is 1 Corinthians beginning in chapter one toward the end of chapter one, verse 27. God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things and the things that are not, to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God, that is, our righteousness, holiness, and redemption. Therefore, as it is written, let the one who boasts boast in the Lord. And so it was with me, brothers and sisters, when I came to you I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom, as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I came to you in weakness, and with great fear and trembling. My message, my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God's power. Reread this or replay this. Carefully take in each thing Paul says about himself. He did not do ministry with eloquence or human wisdom. He knew nothing but Jesus crucified. He ministered in weakness, great fear and trembling. His preaching was not with wise and persuasive words. He focused on having demonstration of the Spirit's power, and he did it all of this so that at the end of the day the people knew that whatever good may have happened, it was not because of Paul and his human abilities, but rather because the living God was working powerfully among them. In short, if there was going to be any boasting, it would be boasting on the actions of the Almighty, not the person. Biblically, as opposed to American thinking, the way up in Jesus' kingdom is down. And a godly leader is to exemplify this. John the Baptist said it clearly. John chapter three. The bridegroom belongs the bride, excuse me, belongs to the bridegroom. Most leaders seem to have forgotten this, or simply ignore it. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom's voice. Godly leaders don't do what they think, they do what Jesus tells them to do. That joy is mine and is now complete. He must become greater, I must become less. As long as the church's leaders in this country can do it without the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit won't do anything. The days in which he allowed for some Ishmael stuff are over. True godly leaders must be people who have become less and not more, losers and not winners, poor in spirit and not superstars, persecuted and not glorified, etc. This is a must because as long as the leader has not gone down, Jesus cannot, as in being unable, go up. Only one person can be on top, either a leader or Jesus. Thus, one of the issues in the church in this country are leaders who are building their little kingdoms or claiming they're building Jesus' kingdom. In case you didn't know this, Jesus does not need help doing what he wants to do. He does enjoy doing things with those who will follow him and do it his way, but he is not dependent on people. He can make his own church service with rocks worshiping him and donkeys preaching. See Luke nineteen and Numbers twenty two, twenty eight through thirty. When Paul defended his ministry before the Christians in Corinth in his second letter to them, he contrasted himself with the superapostles. Just think of this title of ridicule and derision. And yet so many of the leaders in this country have much more in common with the superapostles than with Paul. For example, Paul listed all his persecution and failures as proof and evidence of his true calling and true anointing to be a true apostle. This is 2 Corinthians chapter 11. Whatever anyone else dares to boast about, I am speaking as a fool, I also dare to boast about. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they Abraham's descendants? So am I. Are they the servants of Christ? I'm out of my mind to talk like this. I am more. I've worked much harder, been imprisoned more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked. I spent a night and a day in the open sea. I've been constantly on the move. I've been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, and danger from my fellow Jews, and danger from Gentiles, and danger in the city, and danger in the country, and danger at sea, and danger from false believers. I've labored and toiled and have gone without sleep, have known hunger and thirst, and have and have often gone without food. I've been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches or congregations. Who is weak and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin and I do not inwardly burn? If I must boast, I will boast in the things that show my weakness. If I must boast, then my weakness, the God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is to be praised forever, knows that I am not lying. Paul continues with one of his most vivid defenses and stated differences between himself and the superapostles in chapter twelve of Second Corinthians. I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to be gained, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. I knew a man, he's talking about himself, in Christ, who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body, I do not know, God knows. And I know that this man, whether in the body or apart from the body, I do not know, but God knows, was caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell. I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself except about my weaknesses. Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth, but I refrained, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say. Because of these surpassingly great res revelations, which is how we know Paul is talking about himself. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited due to these incredible revelations Jesus gave him, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, I'll boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses and insults and hardships and persecutions and difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. So how does the person you're following measure up? Is he like Paul or is he like the superapostles? Americans hate this. To Americans, even Christian Americans, success is up into greater and bigger and better things, not downhill into weakness, insults, hardships, persecution, and difficulties. Such things are for those with issues. And the church prefers leaders who are winners who have their act put together quite well. Well, real Christians are to lose as far as the things and the philosophies of this world are concerned. And yet so many of the church's leaders in this country live lives which reveal the American standards for success rather than Jesus' standards of success. Paul continues his crazy talk. Further, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you. Watch out for those dogs, those evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh, for it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh or worldliness or their own ability. Though I must myself have reasons for such confidence. If someone else thinks they have a reason to put confidence in the flesh, I have more. Circumcised on the eighth day of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, in regard to the law, a Pharisee, as for zeal, persecuting the church, as for righteousness based on the law, faultless. But whatever were my gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them dung, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ, yes, to know the power of his resurrection and part and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so somehow attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I've already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it, but one thing I do, forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. All of us, then, who are mature, should take such a view of things. And if on some points you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained. Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do. For as I've often told you before, and now tell you again, even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is their destruction, their God is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame, their mind is set on earthly things, but our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that we will be like his glorious body. That's Philippians 3. Without suffering, without going down, without there being some sort of dying to self, no leader can truly know Jesus of Nazareth. In fact, in fact, the exact opposite is true. The more successful by the world's standards a leader is, the less he knows the real Jesus, and the less of the power of the Holy Spirit is expressed through him. This is a fact. Like two plus two is four. While some may question what I just said, remember Jesus' warning about false expressions of power. Matthew 7, 15 through 23, 24 through verse 24. The living God's power is made perfect in weakness, not in any sort of strength, and definitely not in American versions of strength. Shouldn't every godly leader of Jesus' bride in this country say in relation to how they're living life, not just in relation to doing ministry, what Paul said, follow my example as I follow the example of Christ. The honest truth, the blatantly obvious obvious activities, actualities, excuse me, are that the vast majority of leaders in this country are living nothing like the way Paul lived. Need just one example? How about the following standard for a measurement of a leader? 1 Timothy 3. Now the overseers to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. When a leader's lifestyle has more in common with the American dream than with the fasted, self-denying lifestyle of the kingdom, he is not a godly man or leader, no matter how good his teaching or how many books he's written, how sharp his physical appearance, or how wonderful his personality or demeanor may be. And not only is a leader to live the fasted, self-denying lifestyle of the kingdom, but he's also to call those under his care to do the same. The church in this country must stop rationalizing this biblical standard for her leaders. I need to say something about how Jesus of Nazareth trains the people he calls to perform some leadership with his people. First, not everyone who enters the ministry in this country did Jesus choose for that endeavor, Matthew 20, verses 1 through 16, especially 16b. Attending a Bible college or a seminary means nothing to Jesus. Having degrees, letters, and titles before or after one's name means even less to him. He's not impressed with such things. And it's not that learning some theology or even some practicum is wrong, but having lots of theology and experience practicum is not evidence that Jesus of Nazareth called the person to the assignment of leadership. Thus this is clearly one of the many problems among those in leadership in the church in this country. Very few were chosen by Jesus of Nazareth. Secondly, the training Jesus puts those he has chosen through is very different than what the church in this country says such a person needs. Again, it's not that learning is bad, it's not. It's even helpful. But having knowledge without the anointing and purpose of the Holy Spirit only results in more religion and not the evidences and the realities of the kingdom. Hearing his voice, knowing his form, and not just studiously studying the Bible is not optional. John 5 37 and 39 through 40. Therefore, one of the most important trainings Jesus puts those he chose through is time in the desert. Remember, pretty much everything Jesus does comes in from the desert. If you're following a leader who has not come in from some sort of desert, good luck. If you are currently a leader and you're not living the way Jesus of Nazareth expects of those in leadership, and I don't mean morally, but also concerning the American dream and the ways of weakness, Hall uh wrote about, as well as per all the stones I've listed, and most importantly, there is no evidence of the Holy Spirit's anointing in your life. Shouldn't the following passages concern you? Matthew 7. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles? Then I'll tell them plainly, I never knew you. Away from me, you evil doers. James 3 1. Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. A true godly leader is someone who keeps on being filled, drenched and saturated with the Holy Spirit, and thus follows the Holy Spirit, manifesting the power, the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Whether he has degrees from professional schools or not matters not. If he is a morally good guy, it looks good in a As bad as it was in Isaiah today, it's worse today among the vast majority of those in Christian leadership in this country. For not only do so very many of the leaders today have no shame in what they are doing, but they boast and claim biblical grounds for their worldly lifestyles and their compromised teachings.

SPEAKER_00 23:15

I exalty.