As I'm feeling it physically, I want to
pray.
Lord, I plead your blood upon our heads,
upon this door and upon this house, upon
myself in particular, that the enemy who would
seek in any way to oppose communication would
be repelled by the blood upon the door,
and that your word would suffer no loss,
for we are asking more than instruction.
We are asking a word that will constitute
an event of a foundational kind, though it
comes only to these few souls in this
room, it would be a word that endures
and affects all the future.
So grant grace for that communication out of
the jealousy of your own heart, for the
church of this city and of this nation.
Redeem this time as only you can, as
the high priest and the apostle of our
confession.
As the high priest and the apostle of
our confession.
We thank you and give you praise.
In Jesus' name.
Amen.
I think I'll just begin from the end
of that prayer.
You don't have to turn to this.
It's just one verse out of chapter 3
of Hebrews.
You only have to look at one verse.
The letter of Hebrews chapter 3.
Chapter 3, verse 1.
Participants of the heavenly calling.
For the apostles and the high priest of
our confession.
Jesus Christ.
It's for the want of this consideration that
we are suffering.
Even the language of this verse sounds to
us archaic and remote.
Holy brethren.
Heavenly calling.
You would almost be embarrassed by references like
that.
They are so out of keeping with the
present tenor of our modern mentality.
Even as Christians.
So we need to consider.
That's why he says that.
If we are to be holy brethren and
to recognize that we have a heavenly calling.
Because even the word heaven is not in
our consciousness.
It sounds like an irrelevant reference.
But we are asked to consider it.
Because our task as holy brethren is to
bring heaven into Bulgaria.
Another mode of reality.
A means of being.
A whole value system.
Which is completely in opposition to the world.
In every point in particular.
That's why those who have subscribed to it.
And have sought to make it known have
suffered the severest opposition.
Because the powers of the air know whom
to fear.
They themselves say Jesus we know and Paul
we know.
But who are you?
There is nothing more important than that they
should know us.
And fear us.
Because we represent something that threatens what they
are.
They are the gods of this present world.
And they jerk and manipulate entire nations.
In fact not the least of the things
that constitute an apostolic mindset.
Not the least of the things that makes
of it.
To which I have devoted an entire chapter
in this book.
Is the principalities and the powers of the
air.
To which the church knows hardly anything.
If we have any awareness at all then
we know something about it.
That is usually at the level of personal
demon possession and the liberation of the soul.
But nobody understands the meaning of a hierarchical
structure which occupies the entire world and affects
every nation.
And like to conceal themselves and yet they
operate profoundly in society and in the world.
We must not dismiss them as some kind
of vague phantom spirit.
Paul says of them in 1 Corinthians if
they had known they would not have crucified
the Lord of Glory.
Paul identifies the root of the destruction of
Jesus.
Jewish instigation Jewish instigation provocation Roman enablement
crucifixion is the Roman form of execution But
if they had known they would not have
crucified the Lord of Glory.
They were able to affect the death of
Jesus because of their spirit influence in the
heavenlies to affect men in the earth so
as to fulfill their will.
How else shall we understand Nazism and the
annihilation of 6 million Jews to the very
last day of the war that has stupefied
military historians the Germans never relented in the
machinery of annihilation to
the very last day of the war they
were still seeing the systematic annihilation of Jews
when by every reckoning they should have been
employing their material and manpower for their own
final defense this is not to be understood
politically sociologically this is a demonic phenomenon not
just influencing the nation but taking full possession
and turning the most liberal cultured civilization in
the world into an engine of destruction for
world Jewry and almost the world itself exhibiting
the distinctive character of the powers of darkness
the kind that is visited by Jesus ourself
violence threat destruction devastation chaos this
is the distinctive nature of the devil and
the fallen angels with him and they are
the gods of this world the church will
never be the church in any significant apostolic
sense until it takes this realm of reality
into its deepest consideration and begins to see
the world as a system operated by these
powers that the love of the world is
enmity with the father there is so much
more that I could say in Ephesians chapter
3 which we will not turn to now
from verse 10 Paul who is the steward
of the mysteries of God which is the
distinct privilege and calling of an apostle that's
why we so desperately need their function because
if it doesn't come from them it doesn't
come they are the guardians of the holiest
mysteries of God and we have suffered for
the want of their impartation but Paul even
says in Ephesians the apostles and the prophets
by the very foundation of the church which
unto him be glory forever until the end
of time this is a typical apostolic statement
that the issue for an apostle is not
the success of the church or the benefits
that accrue to its members or blessing but
it's an instrument for the glory of God
forever this is Paul's profound jealousy that exceeds
and eclipses even his love for his own
nation Israel and even that of the church
as profound as these two instrumentalities are as
profound as these two things are Israel and
the church they are not a thing in
themselves but a means to a great way
to end the glory of God forever this
issue of glory Paul has lost to our
contemporary church we may include it in our
hymns and songs but we don't in fact
believe it anticipate it seek it or jealous
for it so if you want to become
an apostolic entity which is God's jealousy for
you you must have at the very foundation
of your being your corporate life a jealousy
for the glory of God forever only that
will enable you to be the fools for
Christ's sake that apostolic reality requires and when
you come to this alone when you come
to this consciousness in a willful choice the
purpose for our being is God's glory in
our time and in our location whatever it
takes and the remarkable thing is this that
the church that you would think is the
means to that end is in its present
configuration the greatest opponent and will be the
greatest cause of opposition to you because the
principalities and the powers of the air occupy
institutions in society government culture education religion and
when our faith has lost its apostolic character
and has become in effect an institution those
powers are present to exert their influence and
to play upon them for ambition for style
and low and so they will rise up
in the greatest opposition to that which threatens
that institution which is the issue of apostolic
reality when the powers of the air over
this locality who recognize that you have come
to this kind of concentration you will experience
their opposition for the same reason for which
they knew Jesus and Paul they will now
know you because to commit yourself to this
is an ultimate and total consecration that cannot
be performed by religious well-meaning intention the
essential feature or character of an apostle of
which Paul is the personification of which Paul
himself is the personification of which, Paul himself
is the personification of apostasy is that his
life is not his own when he says
to live for me as Christ I am
crucified and hidden with Christ the God this
is not a religious rhetoric a certain biblical
This is eminently the man of the Resurrection,
who has counted all things as done, that
he might win Christ, and know him, that
he might serve him in the power of
the Resurrection.
Dear, dear children, we have to go beyond
the mere approval of the truth, of the
doctrine, and live in that life.
That is what the issue of God's glory
will require, and it requires an ultimate
consecration, because it is a heavenly calling, and
everything on earth will oppose it.
This is ultimate gospel heroism, and it is
not the issue of individual virtue or self
-sacrifice.
It is the Church as the Church, the
corporate body of Christ, which is an organism
and not an institution.
And as we know about organisms, they are
messy and bloody.
That's why men prefer institutions.
That could be organized and structured, but
it requires performance.
But the body of Christ as the Church
is a mystery of an organic kind, that
is connected to the head, every joint supplying,
and the life is derived from the head,
God, Christ Himself.
And until we come to that formulation, in
truth, these powers have no obligation to recognize
it.
We can make the bravest statements about our
intentions, but they see right through those professions.
They've got to see in us what they
saw in Paul.
And Paul says in chapter 3 of Ephesians,
to come back to that, that God has
desired that His wisdom, His many-sided, complex
wisdom, should be demonstrated to the principalities and
powers of the air, through the Church.
And that this is the eternal purpose of
God, in Christ Jesus.
What a mouthful.
We need an entire night just to examine
this.
What is the wisdom of God?
And that God thinks it's so important, that
He has created everything, the whole cosmos, and
the Earth, and its revolutions, and its seasons.
That through the Church, the manifold and complex
wisdom of God, might not just be acknowledged
by the Church.
It will not just be acknowledged, or
spoken about as an interesting subject, but be
demonstrated.
Because it can only be demonstrated corporately, through
a quality of life and relationships, that is
of a heavenly kind.
And it is different from the wisdom of
the world, in all of its values.
This is our heavenly calling.
So you see, we need a consciousness, a
mindset, of an apostolic kind.
The word
apostolic actually means, sent.
The root of the Greek word, apostolos.
And so we see in Acts chapter 13,
the first apostolic act.
The Holy Spirit speaking into a particular congregation,
not to Ruslan, but Antioch.
Not to a totally Jewish congregation, but to
a mixed, diverse congregation, which we can even
identify by the text itself.
One of the believers is called Niger, which
means black.
He was evidently an African.
Paul and Barnabas were Hebrews.
Others were from a Roman descent, or from
Cyprus, or from the Mediterranean islands.
But when they were found worshipping the Lord
together, this is the exact language of the
text.
The Holy Ghost said, separate unto me, Saul
and Barnabas, for the work unto whom I
have called them.
So when they had fasted and prayed, they,
the congregation, multinational, multi-ethnic, laid hands on
these two men and sent them forth.
This is the first sending.
And it says, so they being sent forth
by the Holy Ghost went.
That God equates the laying on of the
hands of men and women, as being the
sending of the Holy Ghost.
God equates the laying on of the hands
of men and women, as being the sending
of the Holy Ghost.
They were being sent into a world of
violence.
Of Balkan tensions and conflict.
Because something had been established at Antioch.
Of a transcendent and a heavenly kind.
By which men were able to rise above
their national, ethnic and racial origins.
They had become holy brethren.
With a heavenly calling.
But really brethren.
Because they were worshipping the Lord together.
It was more than singing the chorus.
They had reached a reality of another kind.
That was beyond what the world and the
earth knows.
It's another wisdom.
Think of the depth of the enmity between
Jew and Gentile.
Black and white.
Look at your own history.
That has been marred with conflict and ethnic
cleansing.
With Bosnia and Serbia.
The hatred.
By people who are of the same ethnic
origin.
God sent these men into that kind of
world.
To save them out of it.
Out of death.
And to communicate another wisdom.
Another mode of living.
Another reality of a heavenly kind.
Which they had obtained in their life in
the church at Antioch.
It would be wonderful if there were an
Antioch here.
And God does not tell us how it
was obtained.
But I can suggest to you.
Now that we are in our 28th year
in community.
Living together on the same property.
In daily relationships.
Going from house to house daily breaking bread.
That this kind of church is a suffering.
Before it's a glory.
I could keep you up all night with
stories.
Of shocking revelations.
Of the truth of the condition of the
most impressive spiritual saints.
Who maintained their spirituality.
So long as their Christianity was Sunday services.
But when it came to intensive daily relationships
with saints.
All the frictions.
The tensions.
The conflicts.
About the condition of others.
And of ourselves.
But it's in that kind of context.
That the reality of another kingdom is established.
If you are willing for the suffering of
it.
And the terrible disillusionment.
Disappointment.
Even betrayal.
With other saints.
And the revelation of our own failure.
Disappointment in ourselves.
Brings us into a depth of reality.
By which heavenly things are formed.
That can be sad.
Moses was a sad man.
A deliverer of his people.
After an extensive preparation by God.
A remarkable picture of a man who thought
he was Israel's appointed deliverer.
Acting out of his own energy.
And understanding.
To kill an Egyptian.
And to flee.
And God keeps him in the wilderness.
Because he has kept us.
For forty years.
Forty is the number of trials.
Then.
The encounter with the God of the burning
bush.
Who says in verse ten of chapter three
of Exodus.
Three.
Verse ten.
Come now therefore.
And I will send you.
You don't send yourself.
I will send you.
Not because of your evaluation of the needs
of the people of Israel.
But their distress and cry has come up
to me.
And now I will send you.
Not out of your initiative but out of
mine.
But Moses says who am I that I
should go.
And this is an apostolic requirement.
Paul says food is sufficient for these people.
A remarkable paradox.
Ultimate calling.
And an ultimate sense of personal inadequacy.
And this.
I can almost say that.
In preparation of the need for salvation for
some people.
For which purpose is the pharaoh?
Pharaoh is the symbol of the devil.
The power of darkness.
The need.
This is at the heart of the enemy's
territory.
And God's answer is certainly I will be
with you.
And that's his answer to us also.
The fool who says.
Who is sufficient for these things.
Christ is my sufficiency.
I can do all things through him.
Through him I move and live and have
my days.
So I'm giving you a sketch.
A very inadequate.
Very shallow.
Of some of the essential elements.
That constitute ascending.
Which constituted in the 19th century.
That we are all.
For ourselves.
And what is the result of that ascending?
It says in the book of Acts.
These are they that turn the world upside
down.
For apostolic.
Apostolic seeing.
Being totally bankrupt.
Its values are patently false.
Its reality is a pseudo reality.
False reality.
Its church is an entertainment.
Its people are victims.
Of merchandise.
It's spitting out their lives.
Without any awareness of eternity.
That the world lives.
In the father of lies.
The whole world is set in the father
of lies.
And needs to be turned upside down.
Not only by what we say.
By what we in fact are.
Radically separated from that world.
And not living by its standards or its
values.
Preferring even apostolic poverty.
And being considered the least of men.
And the offshower of the world.
And without reputation.
Because reputation.
And recognition.
And the theme.
Is the wisdom of this world.
That manipulates and jerks.
And the end of that way is death.
So in the Philippines.
At a ministers conference.
I said to my brown skinned brothers.
All of whom have come out of poverty.
Very real poverty.
And now we're enjoying a certain dignity.
As ministers.
That can put food on the table.
And have a decent suit of clothing.
And a career of vocation.
And I said what would you choose.
The esteem and favor of men.
Recognition.
And promotion.
In a religious system.
Or to be known and to be feared
by the powers of darkness.
You can't have it both ways.
Who of you will stand.
Before God.
That you should be recognized by the powers
of darkness and feared.
What it will mean.
Is that you have to forsake.
Any concern to be recognized and to be
promoted.
To be esteemed by men.
I'm not doing this moment justice.
I'm not doing this.
I'm not describing this as I ought to.
There was a tension in the air.
You could cut with a knife.
There was a moment of truth.
Of ultimate choice.
That men were free to make for or
against.
Who didn't want to go back to poverty.
They would have to face that risk.
If they forfeited the values of this world.
If they gave up.
And chose to be feared by the powers
of darkness.
And some of them stood up with trembling.
And something was happening overhead in the air.
And in heaven.
That would be significant for all that nation.
That's the issue of the cross.
Maybe just to take a few minutes.
And first Thessalonians.
And catch a little sketch of Paul.
Who himself is such a separated man.
And that's why he could come to pagans.
And set them free.
Not just a religious option.
But an exchange of kingdoms.
Because he says in chapter 1 of verse
5.
Our gospel came unto you.
Not in word only.
But also in power and in the Holy
Ghost.
Chapter 1 verse 5.
Because you know what manner of men we
were among you for your sake.
I want you to think on this.
The gospel came to them in the power
of the Holy Spirit.
To set them free from idols.
And to serve the living God.
And to wait for his son who would
come from heaven.
And save them from the day of his
wrath.
I'm actually quoting the text here.
Who even thinks like that today?
Who even speaks like that today?
What modern Christian is thinking about the day
of wrath?
From what he has been saved.
Paul communicated this to pagans.
Who had no biblical foundation.
In so powerful a way.
That the issue of the Lord's coming.
And of judgment in the world.
And salvation from that judgment.
Was made cogent and real.
That is apostolic preaching.
That takes apostolic power.
That's communicating another reality.
Totally invisible.
And yet made real to the hearers.
In such a way.
As to embrace a message.
That will make them an object of opposition.
From their own kinsmen.
For they are not continuing in those traditions.
And have adopted the God of the Hebrews.
The God of Jacob and the God of
Israel.
And will live differently.
And their very living will be an indictment
by those who remain pagan.
This is a radical turning.
And was accomplished by the hearing of a
message preached.
In a particular apostolic power and authority.
Because Paul says you know what manner of
men we were among you.
Which is to say that the issue.
Of true preaching.
And anointing.
Charisma.
Is also the issue of character.
You know what manner of men we were
among you.
Paul could say that boldly.
Knowing he was not going to be contradicted.
For your sake.
Not for my sake.
For any benefit that I would receive.
For your sake.
Paul himself was another kind of man.
He was not only the speaker of the
message.
He was the message.
For an apostle is the thing in himself.
And an apostolic church.
An apostolic body.
Is the thing in itself.
That's why he's a sent one.
He represents the one who sent him.
That's why Jesus could say if they receive
you they receive me.
And if they receive me they receive him
who sent me.
They receive in the ultimate reality of God.
Because the sent one is the representative of
that God.
And lives by his life.
Serves his purposes.
Is without regard to himself.
You know what manner of man I was.
And that's why the gospel came to you
in Paul.
That you should turn from idols to serve
the living God.
And to wait for his son from heaven.
Whom he raised from the dead.
Even Jesus.
Who delivered us from the wrath to come.
Paul is profoundly eschatological.
The wrath to come.
That you might be found worthy in the
day of the Lord's appearing.
Many references to the end of the age.
The coming of the Lord.
The conclusion of history and time.
This is eschatological.
In the Greek word eschaton.
The Lord's coming.
This consciousness.
Is entirely lost to the church today.
It has no anticipation of the end.
That's why one Sunday is like another.
Because we are not moving consciously toward a
conclusion.
Consummation.
Of a cosmic kind.
That glorifies God forever.
By which the crucified and the despised one
returns as king of glory.
To rule from the appointed place of God.
The holy hill of Zion.
Where God says I have to set my
son.
On the holy hill of Zion.
And given him the nations for his inheritance.
Well I have to stop.
How much can you take?
You need to understand apostolically.
The whole foundational issue of the faith.
Is the rule of God over his own
creation.
An actual kingdom come.
Whose king is a descendant of David.
And can rule from the throne of David.
And rule forever.
And affect all nations.
It's the end of the influence and the
power of darkness.
The false rules of this world of darkness.
Are completely ended.
And mankind is freed.
When the king takes his throne.
On the holy hill of Zion.
Where the nations will do everything to oppose
that reality.
Which has to do with the restoration of
the nation of Israel.
More than what is represented by today's political
state.
Which was at the heart of Paul's understanding.
For which reason he gives three chapters to
the subject in Romans.
And tells the church they should not be
ignorant of this mystery.
What is an apostolic body?
One that anticipates this mystery.
And this end and this climax and conclusion.
Knows that it will be bitterly opposed in
seeking it and desiring it.
Sees everything as pointing toward that end.
Understands the issue of Israel in that climax.
And is willing to be extended as a
sacrifice for Israel's restoration.
My subject tomorrow.
And that this is part of an entire
understanding.
The mindset.
An apostolic view.
That cannot be obtained by single individuals.
That requires an organic knit of life.
Who consecrate themselves to these ultimate things.
And that when it takes place.
Not only does heaven recognize it.
But the powers of darkness also.
Jesus they know.
And Paul they know.
But who are you?
Do you know what my prayer for you
is?
And I'm going to pray it now.
Is that you should be known by the
powers of darkness.
Which is more than the enjoyment of your
present fellowship.
It's nice to enjoy what you have.
A shared camaraderie.
A shared fellowship.
An enjoyment of worship.
And choruses.
And sharing of the word.
That does not threaten the powers of darkness.
But when you come to a willful choice
and consecration.
To see this apostolic reality established.
In that which is authentic.
And which is the meaning of the word
apostolic.
Authenticity.
That's what they recognize.
When you're willing to consecrate yourself to that.
Whatever it takes.
And will take much.
To break the power of the influence of
darkness already on your lives.
Which you have gotten from your schools.
Your education.
The wisdom of the school.
From which there needs to be a really
radical recognition and separation.
That you would not only acknowledge another set
of values.
The wisdom of God.
But demonstrate it.
Even by your very presence.
The powers of the air will know it.
And your neighbors will know it.
Your city will know it.
For this kind of presence cannot be ignored.
But it sets captives free.
To serve the living God.
By turning from their idols.
Because the message that will issue from you.
Not only in what you speak but what
you are.
Is attended by the authority and the power
of God.
To serve as the high priest.
And the apostle of instruction.
He will send us.
But he will be with us.
In a world that is hostile and opposed
to this reality.
And nowhere more powerfully opposed.
Than in the realm of religion.
It is they that will kill us.
And claim they are doing God a service.
I want to pray for you.
Lord.
I feel your jealousy for these children.
I understand better than they what this evening
represents.
For them it's a curiosity.
A Jewish man passing through.
A novel form of understanding.
But for you.
It's holy.
It's divine dissertation.
It's call.
It's an ultimate call.
To an ultimate reality.
That the church has not known.
In this city and in this nation.
And must know.
Before the end comes.
Or even hastens that end.
So I pray for these children Lord.
Give them a grace to understand.
And a willingness to sacrifice.
Even those things that the world has made
most dear.
And that the church itself observes and commands.
That they might be a radically separated people.
And show forth another.
Wisdom.
Not only what they say.
But what they are.
We know that this will not be easy
or cheap.
It will be painful.
Sacrificial.
It's the cross.
And they will bring upon their heads opposition.
That they would not have needed to experience.
If only they would have been satisfied with
something else.
At the periphery of the church.
On the outside looking in.
Enjoying their own fellowship.
But not terrifying the powers of the air.
Lord I bless them.
Let tonight's sharing not just be a message
but a call.
And may you receive their yay and amen.
Even as you did that day from those
Filipino pastors.
They chose to be feared by the powers
of darkness.
Rather than to win the esteem of men.
And the powers of darkness trembled at their
decision.
Something was struck in the air overhead.
And something was released in the heavenlies.
That will have consequences.
There will be another kind of man.
For the sake of others.
And be able to set captives free.
Who wasn't even aware that they were captives.
Until they see the heavenly freedom.
That these children exhibit.
It's a reality.
An ultimate reality.
Another kingdom.
Whose time has come.
Bless these children Lord.
And let not your word fall to the
ground.
They will have occasion to consider and review
it.
And even now.
On this basis of this brief sharing.
They know what is being asked of them.
And are able to give you a yes.
Even now.
That releases you.