Developing A Kingdom Mentality, Part II

Developing a Kingdom mentality takes time. For the most part, those of us in the west have been programed with a 'church mentality'. Here's what I mean. When we meet another Christian, we'll ask questions like these:

"where do you attend church?"

"what church are you affiliated with?"

"do you attend church?"

Once we've attained this church mentality, we'll make statements like these:

"lets go to church this Sunday."

or

"I'm not happy at this church, lets find another church to go to."

The list could go on and on. I'm not anti-church, far from it. In the New Testament, the Greek word for church is 'ekklesia' and it means, 'a calling out'. In reality, the church is a many membered body with Jesus Christ the Head. It is not an institution or organization, rather it is a living organism, consisting of all the saints on earth and in Heaven. There is one church and its definitely not a man-made entity. Anyone who says their organization or fellowship is the 'real church' is sadly mistaken, perhaps even deceived because the church is universal and spans through time to include all 'the called out' ones.

The church's mission is to equip the saints for the work of ministry, Ephesians 4:11-12. Ministry that is correct builds and expands the Kingdom of God. And it is not confined to the meeting place or behind a pulpit. Ministry is to happen every day, in your world, wherever your world is. I'm a businessman and my world is commerce. Am I looking for someone to pray for in the business world? No, although once in a while, it does happen. My ministry is conducting business according to Kingdom principles, spreading the influence of God throughout my sphere of influence.

I know musicians who are doing the same in the world of art and entertainment, politicians in the political realm, teachers in the educational realm, etc. etc. Where ever your passion and talents are, your field of ministry is very close by. When you are ministering at this level, you are expanding the Kingdom of God.

Many years ago, I heard it put this way: A kingdom is the realm in which a king rules. So given this simple definition, the Kingdom of God is where ever the King is ruling. The Bible says in II Corinthians 5:20 that we are ambassadors of Christ. So that means King Jesus rules through each of us from our hearts. This fits nicely with the fact that WE are Kings and Priests of God and shall reign on this earth, Revelation 1:6 and 5:10.

Like most, I was taught in my early years as a Christian that I must crucify the 'selfish desires of my heart' and submit to the will of God. I tried this for a season and then what? My desires have been discarded for the will of God but no one could direct me to God's will for my life. I tried Sunday School teacher, youth leader and finally, we pastored a church. All to no avail, there was only a little satisfaction and a lot of very hard work with little fruit to show for it. I realized this was a long way from the abundant life promised by Jesus.

Fortunately, for lack of a better term, I stumbled into my calling. In 1991 my father and I started a travel agency for the main purpose of providing wholesale airline tickets to missionaries. I love sales and I really loved selling airline tickets for this purpose. In 1995, I was invited to Ukraine with a short term mission team. God put a love in my heart for the Ukrainian people and we began to return with short trips on a regular basis. I saw scriptures that pointed out our responsibility for taking care of widows, orphans and the poor. So we formed a legal entity that allowed us to legally provide aid to government controlled orphanages. We also helped feed poor families in several cities with the permission of local and regional governments.

To make a long story short, I would raise funds from friends, relatives and my own business to purchase this aid for these projects in Ukraine. After a couple years, I was tired of being a fund raiser so in 2001 I began teaching Ukrainian business people their responsibility to help the poor, the widows and the orphans. In the process, I naturally began to share from my experience how to operate a business more profitably using Kingdom principles.

Because of these actions, hundreds of Ukrainians have started profitable businesses. Many of these business people have in turn started their own mercy type ministries to the less fortunate. Every pastor who has sponsored our business seminars have thanked me for raising up their business people. The pastors indicate these businesses were generous and support the work of the church.

I work with churches but I don't have a traditional ministry within a church. My paradigm goes beyond the four walls of a building to the world around me. I am spreading my affluence and influence in my world. I'm pursuing the desires of my heart and God and I are on the same page. This is Kingdom mentality.

Hopefully, sharing my experience has triggered some desires deep in your heart. So let me ask you, "What is the desire of your heart?"

Kingdom Mentality in Eastern Europe

The church in the Western hemisphere has lost much of it’s power and influence. I’ve been working a number of years in Eastern Europe, specifically Ukraine where it is much different there. The evangelical church had a significant impact on the outcome of the Orange Revolution of Ukraine in late 2004.

The main difference between the East and West is this: the leadership in the East and consequently the members, have a Kingdom mentality. Whereas the church in the west has what I call a “box” mentality. Let me elaborate. Everything happens within the “box”, or 4 walls of the church. Practically all forms of ministry take place within the “box”, therefore, only a small percentage of the membership are actively involved in ministry. They, for the most part, are professional ministers. The rest are required to be faithful at filling their spot in the pews…and do nothing as pertaining to Biblical ministry. For example, personal witnessing has digressed to “inviting people to church”.

From my personal observation, the leaders in the East are adept at equiping the membership as ministers and empowering them to complete their God-given ministries. We are all ministers: Ephesians 4:11-12. The leadership are to equip us, the members, to do the work of the minstry.

In the Eastern European churches, very few own their own church buildings. After the fall of Communism, many people were getting saved through the efforts of western missionaries and the few believers who resided within Eastern Europe. They began meeting in homes and renting public theaters and halls. Even today, almost 20 years after the collapse of the Berlin wall, very few evangelical churches own their own facility. Because of this, the leadership never cultivated the mentality we have here in the West about church buildings. We “go” to church. They consider themselves “the” church.

Back to Kingdom mentality. The western church is infected with “church mentality”. Everything is about the church. Church growth, church finances, etc. etc. Jesus didn’t come preaching, saying, “The church is at hand.” No, He said, “the Kingdom of God is at hand.” John the Baptist preached the same message and so did the first generation believers. The church is the agent that is to extend and manifest the Kingdom of God here on earth, just like Jesus Christ did when He walked this earth. If the Head of the church preached “things pertaining to the Kingdom”, then so should the Body.

The focus should be the Kingdom, not the church.

But now, the Eastern European church is wanting to help the Western church regain what has been lost. It will take a real shift in our thinking in order to regain power and influence we once had. One of the pastors I know and work with, Sunday Adelaja, is kicking off in February 2008 what I call a movement, sharing what they've learned. You can read about it on his website, ChuchShift.

Developing a Kingdom Mentality, Part I

I was speaking with a relatively new Christian the other day about how to develope his spiritual life. In the course of the conversation, I explained to him it was most important to learn to worship God in the privacy of his home first.

He asked, "But I thought we are supposed to worship God publicly?"

I responded, "We are, but private worship comes first. You develop intimacy with God in your 'closet', then when you're in public, worship will be natural to you. Many people are embarrassed to worship God in a public setting because they are not intimate with Him in private."

Herein lies a great principle of the Kingdom of God. It is the key to progressing spiritually and developing a Kingdom mentality. Learn to do everything in secret, don't let your left hand know what the right hand is doing. Don't blow a trumpet, heralding all your good works to all men. Keep it secret, just between you and God.

I gave this young man three disciplines to master:
1. Learn to worship God privately.
2. Consistently read the Word of God and faith filled books about God.
3. Learn to give consistently in secret. The amount is not important, but the attitude of the heart is.

If this young man will practice these three disciplines, he will make much progress in the Kingdom of God.

Religion Sucks, Relationship Rules

I hate religion. Unfortunately, a big part of Christiandom has become religious. Recent studies by Barna Research Group indicate that evangelical growth in America has been flat since 1995. Barna's research indicates the mainline denominations have had declining numbers for even longer.

What's wrong with our churches in America? The leadership seem to be clueless, they do not possess a Kingdom mentality. However, if you'll ask the increasing numbers of Christians who've filled the pews for years but have since left their churches, you'll find the answers.

Let me set the record straight. I haven't conducted any formal studies or polls. I just listen to long time Christians who've given up on the present day American church.

This is what I've been hearing, but not in any order of importance:

  -Tired of the heirarchy ruling without concern for the pew people
  -Pastor trying to control the sheep
  -Too much emphasis on giving money to the church
  -Leadership demanding allegience to their "vision"
  -Sex scandels involving leaders of the church
  -Financial scandels involving leaders of the church
  -Church is boring
  -Church is impersonal
  -Services are too predictable
  -No life in services, just form

Not a pretty picture for the American church. Now before any Pharisees start looking for rocks to throw, let me say there are churches that don't fit this picture...there must be, I'm sure. I just don't know of any and not within driving distance of any.

Back to religion sucking. Not long ago, I was reading the 4 Gospels, actually skimming them, looking for passages that were included in 2 or more of the 4. I realized something. Jesus had a pretty low opinion of the religious leaders of His day.

Here are a few of the comments Jesus Christ made to the religious leaders of His day:

You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? (Matthew 23:33)

You belong to your father, the devil...(John 8:44)

He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God. (John 8:47)

In some circles of the American church, the talk is of a coming revival. I think were past needing a revival. We need a reformation. Something along the order that Martin Luther started. The church of his day in Europe sucked also. Religion was ruling. But Luther's lightbulb went on (a revelation) that the just lived by faith, not works. Furthermore, he saw that church folk didn't need to "go through" an earthly priest to access God. They actually had direct access through Jesus Christ, the High Priest (Hebrews 7:22-25) to God, the Father.

The reformation we need would eradicate religious thinking from the American church. In it's place would be a relational mindset, especially among the leadership, who would take on a more servitude spirit rather than the present empirical spirit.

Paramount would be that every believer has a relationship with God on a personal level. No more looking down the nose from the pulpits of America that the one standing behind it knew God better than the rest.

Pastors in Repentance

As pastors and ministry leaders within the local church we have believed and operated with the mindset that all ministries were church related and that they were to be under its government and control. We have not understood the Kingdom of God or how it was to manifest on the earth. As a result we have used people to build our churches and ministries. In doing so we have not honored those called by God to minister in commerce, media, arts, government, social services and most other occupations outside the influence of the organized church. If individuals could not or would not serve our vision for our churches, we undervalued them as less important - but accepting them as sources of income.

Most of these people have been ignored and as a result they have become discouraged and disconnected. Many have left in frustration, anger and disillusionment, believing somehow that they were less spiritual. Others have given up trying to fit themselves into the limited space within the local church structure and ministry.

We have attempted to make business executives into intercessors, sales people into children.s nursery workers, business administrators into Sunday school superintendents, and so the list goes on and on.
As pastors and ministry leaders we want to tell you that we have been wrong. What we have taught and demonstrated for generations within the church has been shallow and selfish. We are sincerely sorry, and we come in repentance for our bad attitudes, wrong beliefs, and our poor behavior towards you. Please forgive us.

We honor you as Kingdom people . called by God to the marketplace. We believe you are ordained by God to occupy and to transform your sphere of influence and the territory to which you have been called. We release honor, blessing and favor on your life and personal calling to the marketplace. We as pastors and ministry leaders are prepared to stand with you and support you in your God given ministries. You have dreams ordained by God. It is our privilege and heart.s desire to call them forth, and to see you fully established in the destiny for your life.

Pastors and Ministry Leaders of Sonoma County, CA
(Facilitated by Pastors. Prayer and Ministry Alliance of Sonoma County)

Kingdom Mentality vs. Church Mentality, Part 1

*** CAUTION, DO NOT READ IF YOU'RE FAINT OF HEART ***
John the Baptist came preaching the Kingdom of God. Jesus Christ, came preaching the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God. The Gen 1 church (1st generation) preached the Kingdom of God.

Why did Apostle Paul, who wrote more than half the new testament, fail to write one single letter about the seven steps to church growth? Why did it take more than 1900 years for a pastor from southern California to come up with the revelation of the "purpose driven church"? Why do many pastors, especially those in the United States, preach church growth?

It's because they have little or no concept of the Kingdom of God. It's not really their fault, the seminaries and Bible Schools that taught them failed them in communicating the truth about the reality of the Kingdom of God.

Church mentality involves thinking everything spiritual revolves around the church, particularly the church organization of any pastor infected with this mentality. Programs are developed to grow and sustain the church. Members are recruited to help the pastor and leadership to keep the church wheels greased and rolling.

Monies are collected to finance the various programs and pay the professional clergy. Lay people are recruited to work for free. Most supporting staff, secretaries, assistants, etc., work for much less than if they had regular jobs in the marketplace. Pastors of mega-churches make hundreds of times the average salary of their membership.

Pastors who are infected with this mentality are often jealous of other pastors and churches in their area. Said pastors are often very competitive with the competing churches in their area. Said pastors are rarely in unity with other local pastors. They only fellowhip with other pastors of their denomination or ministerial alliance.

This mentality is often communicated to the members of these church driven churches. Often, said members try to recruit members from other churches to "their" church. Why? because they are convinced their church is better than the other competing churches.

Pentecostal and charismatic churches often obtain their church growth from denominational churches who do not "preach the full gospel" or have little to no emphasis on the ministry of the Holy Spirit. "Hungry" believers from these churches often leave to attend full gospel churches. Proselyting is allowed, even encouraged, in the effort to have the largest church in town.

Believers who leave their denominational churches for the "freedom of the Spirit" often have to learn the new discipline of shepherding and being "under a spiritual covering". These new believers must learn the pastor is their shepherd and he knows best for them. Second discipline to learn is you must be "under" a more mature and spiritual believer. This usually means your pastor, who can also be a self proclaimed prophet or apostle. being "under" someone else is a two-fold concept, believe and obey. Believe everything they say, question nothing, and obey everything they tell you to do without hesitation. Not too hard.

Another phenomena is "having a spiritual father". Sometimes a leader will decide they are your new spiritual father, other times you get to pick your spiritual father. If your present spiritual father falls, because of a gay lover, other sexual sins or drug/alcohol use, then its quite alright to search for a new daddy.

Here's the bottom line on having a "spiritual father": the "child" rides on the coat tail of his "spiritual father's" fame and popularity. By being connected to the more famous ministry, the lesser is hoping to increase their own fame. Honestly, I've not seen of too many "fathers" seeking "spiritual children". It's usually vice-versa.

Having the largest church in town is a great honor for the pastor. Members who attend the largest church in town can take great pride in this accomplishment. Church pastors and members who are not from the largest church in town are allowed to criticize, backbite and gossip about the largest church.

Sometimes, churches infected with this mentality have bitter disagreements within their memberships. When this happens, usually a group within the church gets mad and leaves said church. Often, the angry group who left will start another church. The non-believers in the community look on this with sheer amazement. Its further confirmation to the non-believer not to attend church.

Often the bitter disagreement is over the color of the new carpet or pews that are going to be installed.

Does any of this sound familiar? Do you know a pastor or church with this mentality? Or worse yet, have you been a part of a church like this? Don't despair. There is hope yet.

Kingdom blessings

Catherine Marshall writes:

"If we are to believe Jesus, his Father and our Father is the God of all life and his caring and provision include a sheepherder's lost lamb, a falling sparrow, a sick child, the hunger pangs of a crowd of four thousand, the need for wine at a wedding feast, and the plight of professional fishermen who toiled all night and caught nothing. These vignettes, scattered through the Gospels like little patches of gold dust, say to us, 'No creaturely need is outside the scope or range of prayer.'"

You don't have to go very deep into Scripture to discover that God loves to provide for his creation. The Garden of Eden was a place of abundance, and it was said, "the gold of that land is good" (Gen. 2:11). Consider the description given at the end of the Bible of our eternal home: "The great street of the city was of pure gold, like transparent glass" (Rev. 21:21).

Many teach that God's provision is for "spiritual things" and not the physical. Not so. The abundance of scripture plainly show God provides both the spiritual and physical alike.

Of course, we must keep our priorities right, for the love of money is the root of all evil, 1 Timothy 6:10. No one in their right mind disputes that. But it's just as wrong to throw out any physical blessings from God because a few abuse the doctrine.

There is a good and dark side to money. Being generous and under His Lordship will protect you from the dark side of money.

An Ordinary Life

How would you define your life, ordinary or extraordinary?

Dwight L. Moody was a poorly educated, unordained, shoe salesman who felt God's call to preach the gospel. Early one morning he and some friends gathered in a hay field for a season of prayer, confession, and consecration. His friend Henry Varley said, "The world has yet to see what God can do with and for and through and in a man who is fully and wholly consecrated to Him."

Moody was deeply moved by these words. He later went to a meeting where Charles Spurgeon was speaking. In that meeting Moody recalled the words spoken by his friend, "The world had yet to see!...with and for and through and in!...A man!" Varley meant any man! Varley didn't say he had to be educated, or brilliant, or anything else. Just a man! Well, by the Holy Spirit in him, he'd be one of those men. Then suddenly, in that high gallery, he saw something he'd never realized before. It was not Mr. Spurgeon, after all, who was doing that work; it was God. And if God could use Mr. Spurgeon, why should He not use the rest of us, and why should we not all just lay ourselves at the Master's feet and say to Him, "Send me! Use me!"

D.L. Moody was an ordinary man who sought to be fully and wholly committed to Christ. God did extraordinary things through this ordinary man. Moody became one of the great evangelists of modern times. He founded a Bible college, Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, which sends out men and women trained in service for God.

You may consider yourself just an ordinary man or woman, GOOD! God wants to do extraordinary things through your life. Today, believe that God will do great things in you and through you for His Kingdom.

God in the Marketplace

A real move of God is taking place in the workplace today, yet a great divide exists between our understanding of "sacred and secular."

A lot of people who attend local churches do not consider themselves in "full-time ministry" and believe that what they do out in the workplace during the week is somehow "inferior" and "less spiritual" than local church involvement. This misunderstanding is perpetuated by pastors and leaders of churches who only consider those who are salaried by the church as "full-time ministers". How unfortunate because it hinders roughly 95% to 98% of the body of Christ from reaching their destiny as ministers of the Gospel.

Yet God is up to something. Dr. Henry Blackaby says "God is marshalling His people in the workplace as never before in history. The next spiritual awakening could take place in the marketplace."

Understanding the Kingdom of God

Dr. C. Peter Wagner said, "For the last twenty or thirty years, the theme of the kingdom of God has been much more prominent among Christian leaders than previously. We have begun to understand that God's kingdom is not confined to the four walls of the local church. It exists wherever men and women acknowledge Jesus as their Lord and King.

Jesus said, "The kingdom of God is within you" (Luke17:21). Jesus also told us to pray, "Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." If we take this literally, our goal must be nothing less than the transformation of society. The principles and values of the kingdom must be reflected in human society to the highest degree possible."

The Gospel of the Kingdom

After Jesus' death there was a huge emphasis on the Kingdom or the “Gospel of the Kingdom.” That was the primary message of Good news… not just the death and burial (that we identify with in salvation and baptism) but the resurrection life where we live out our Christian life.

After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. Acts 1:3

But when they believed Philip as he preached the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. Acts 8:12-13

"We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God," Acts 14:22

Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God. Acts 19:8

They arranged to meet Paul on a certain day, and came in even larger numbers to the place where he was staying. From morning till evening he explained and declared to them the kingdom of God and tried to convince them about Jesus from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets. Acts 28:23

Boldly and without hindrance he preached the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ. Acts 28:31

What’s the message of the Kingdom?

1. You have an inheritance! - There’s an inheritance for us in “This Life.” We do have to be saved, etc. but the glass is “half full” – actually it’s a cup running over. The Kingdom is much more than a life of duty and sacrifice and then eternal life after we die.

"I tell you the truth," Jesus replied, "no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel 30 will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields-and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life. Mark 10:29-30

2. You have power! - Once we’re saved God equips us for the “work of the ministry” through our local church. We start co-laboring with Christ and doing the “works” outside the church in the Kingdom.

I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. John 14:12-14

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power. 1 Cor 4:20

3. You have God's Heart! - God’s imprinted us with his own heart so that our heart’s desires match His. It’s His goal to give us the desires of our heart.

Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. Ps 37:4

This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. Heb 8:10

4. We're winners! - The real emphasis of the “Gospel” seen in its Biblical entirety is not just death, burial, repentance, surrender, trials, and persecution (we don’t deny any of those things); it’s also being victorious overcomers, healing the sick, raising the dead, casting out demons.

As you go, preach this message: 'The kingdom of heaven is near.' 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. Matt 10:7-8

5. We Bless Others! - The Gospel of the Kingdom also means learning to receive and use wealth for ministry. We’re called to bless all nations.

But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today. Deut 8:17-18

"I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." Gen 12:2-3

And the good news is... Instead of just warning people how hard it is to be a Christian and how bad they are, tell them how good Jesus is and how blessed they will be by their inheritance in the Kingdom. That's when your presentation of the Gospel will really be balanced. That my friend, is the Gospel (good news) of the Kingdom!