Jesus: King of kings
Honorable Secretary of Agriculture, Washington, D.C.
Dear Sir,
My friend, Dan Hansen, over at Honey Creek, Iowa, received a check for $1,000.00 from the government for not raising hogs. So I want to go into the ‘NOT RAISING HOGS’ business next year.
What I want to know is, in your opinion, what is the best kind of farm not to raise hogs on? And what is the best breed of hogs not to raise? I want to be sure that I approach this endeavor in keeping with all government policies.
As I see it, the hardest part of the ‘NOT RAISING HOGS’ program is keeping an accurate inventory of how many hogs I haven’t raised.
My friend Hansen is very joyful about the future of the business. He has been raising hogs for twenty years or so, and the best he has ever made on them was $422.90 in 1968, until this year when he got your check for the $1000.00 for not raising 50 hogs.
If I get $1000.00 for not raising 50 hogs, then would I get $2000.00 for not raising 100 hogs? I plan to operate on a small scale at first, holding myself to about 4,000 hogs not raised the first year, which would bring in about $80,000.00; then I can afford an airplane.
Now another thing - these hogs I will not raise will not eat 100,000 bushels of corn. I understand that the government also pays people not to raise corn and wheat. Would I qualify for payments for not raising these crops not to feed my hogs I will not be raising’
I want to get started as soon as possible as this seems to be a good time of the year for the ‘NOT RAISING HOGS’ and ‘NOT PLANTING CROPS’ business.
Also I am giving serious consideration to the ‘NOT MILKING COWS’ business and any information you would have on the endeavor would be greatly appreciated.
In view of the fact that I will be totally unemployed, I will be filing for unemployment and food stamps, and was wondering how long that process takes.
Be assured, Mr. Secretary, you will have my vote in the upcoming election.
Patriotically yours, P.S. Would you please notify me when you plan to give out the free cheese again’
Don Genereaux
Now Don had a bit of a misunderstanding about the real-life application of governmental empowerment…and so did a large crowd of Jewish people in the Biblical story that we’ll open with…
John 12:12-16 12 On the next day the large crowd who had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, 13 took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet Him, and began to shout, ” Hosanna! BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD, even the King of Israel.” 14 Jesus, finding a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written, 15 “FEAR NOT, DAUGHTER OF ZION; BEHOLD, YOUR KING IS COMING, SEATED ON A DONKEY’S COLT.”
NASU
A combination of centuries of frustration at the hands of Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, Greek and Roman oppressors, AND the prophetic promises of God, AND the miraculous works of Jesus convinced this large crowd of Jews that Jesus of Nazareth was the King, their Messiah that would restore Israel to her former glory. Now, restoring royalty, a Kingdom was in the mind of God, but, God had a far greater purpose for King Jesus than simply empowering one group of people with similar DNA to rule over all the other governments of the world. To get a better understanding of just how beyond this concept of government, God’s plan was than this…we need to go back to the beginning…let’s turn to Genesis, Chapter 1…
I. God’s Plan for Man to Rule with Authority
Gen 1:26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule… NASU
Gen 1:27-28 27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule… NASU
So, God delegated to mankind an authority to rule over, to subdue the earth…to exercise a God-given, kingly authority over the works of His hands, in the likeness of the King who created them in His image.
5 Yet You have made him a little lower than God,
And You crown him with glory and majesty!
6 You make him to rule over the works of Your hands;
You have put all things under his feet, NASU
II. Satan’s Plan to Usurp God’s Plan
Then, sadly, Adam and Eve surrendered their God-given authority to Satan when they believed the lying words of Satan and ate the forbidden fruit. Satan described the transaction like this…
Luke 4:5-6 5 And he led Him (Jesus) up and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6 And the devil said to Him, “I will give You all this domain and its glory; for it has been handed over to me NASU
Adam and Eve placed themselves, and all of mankind, under his dominion by believing Satan’s lies rather than trusting in God’s word!
Listen to Andrew Murray in his book, The Power of the Blood…
Man had been destined to be king of this world, for God said, ‘Have dominion” When Satan conquered the king he took his entire kingdom under his own authority ‘ and this authority was recognized by God. God, in His holy will, had ordained that if man listened to Satan, he must suffer the consequences and become subject to his tyranny. God never in this matter used His power or exercised force but always took the way of law and right, and so Satan retained his authority until it was taken from him in a lawful manner.
In fact, Scripture speaks of Satan as “the prince of the power of the air,” “god of this world,” (2 Cor 4:4) and the “ruler of this world.” But, even before that moment when Adam and Eve surrendered their inheritance from the Lord, in His foreknowledge of all that would happen, Father had a loving plan to restore kingly authority to man, in a lawful manner.
III. God’s Plan to Restore Man’s Ruling Authority
Illustr: On Restoration
A few years ago, an angry man rushed through the Rijks Museum in Amsterdam until he reached Rembrandt’s famous painting ‘Nightwatch.’ Then he took out a knife and slashed it repeatedly before he could be stopped.
A short time later, a distraught, hostile man slipped into St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome with a hammer and began to smash Michelangelo’s beautiful sculpture The Pieta.
Two cherished works of art, created by some of the most skilled artists the world has ever known, were severely damaged. Well, what did the officials do? Throw these highly valuable, painstakingly designed, unique masterpieces out and forget about them? Absolutely not! Using the best experts of this era, they worked with the utmost care and precision, they made every effort to restore the treasured work of the hands of Rembrandt and Michelangelo. How much greater a work are each one of you, handcrafted by Him who actually formed Rembrandt and Michelangelo in their mother’s womb, as well as you.
So, our loving Father, faced with the marred work of His hands had a Master Plan to restore this kingly authority to His sons and daughters by judging the sin of the world, through Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, the seed of Eve…listen to the curse spoken over Satan by the Lord, soon after Satan stripped the authority from mankind. It’s a curse that reveals God’s plan for the future restoration of man…
15 And I will put enmity (or hostility)
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her seed;
He shall bruise (crush) you on the head, (describes a death blow)
And you shall bruise him on the heel.” (describes a painful but not fatal blow) NASU
So, the Lord declared His Master Plan of restoration, to legally strip the authority from Satan and return it to man. The authority that Adam and Eve had yielded to Satan by believing and obeying him rather than believing and obeying the Lord. God’s plan involved delivering His Son Jesus Christ over to righteous wrath and judgment unto death, as a substitute, in the place of disobedient mankind, and then raising Jesus from the dead victoriously, and exalting Him to a place of authority, on the throne, at the right hand of the Father.
IV. God’s Affirmations of His Plan to Restore Man’s Ruling Authority
Listen to these covenant promises of God in the Old Testament, looking ahead to bring about the full restoration of mankind…
Ex 19:6 …you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ NASU
Jer 29:11-14 11 ‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. 12 ‘Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 ‘You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. 14 ‘I will be found by you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will restore your fortunes NASU
Jer 30:3 ‘For behold, days are coming,’ declares the LORD, ‘when I will restore the fortunes of My people NASU
Jer 33:22 ‘As the host of heaven cannot be counted and the sand of the sea cannot be measured, so I will multiply the descendants of David My servant and the Levites who minister to Me.’” NASU
V. God Restores Man’s Position to Rule with Authority
Col 2:8-15 8 See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. 9 For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, 10 and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority; 11 and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; 12 having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. 13 When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, 14 having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him. NASU
VI. Your Restored Status
Now, listen to Peter looking back at what Father did through Jesus Christ on the Cross in restoring our authority…
1 Peter 2:9 But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal (basileios - kingly in nature) PRIESTHOOD… NASU
Rev 1:5-6 5 …from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood ‘ 6 and He has made us to be a kingdom… NASU
22 times from 2 Sam 10:1 to 2 Kings 24:6 the phrase his son became king is used…
1 Kings 14:31; 1 Kings 15:8; 1 Kings 16:6; 1 Kings 16:28; 1 Kings 22:40; 1 Kings 22:50; 2 Kings 8:24; 2 Kings 10:35; 2 Kings 12:21; 2 Kings 13:9; 2 Kings 13:24; 2 Kings 14:16; 2 Kings 14:29; 2 Kings 15:7; 2 Kings 15:22; 2 Kings 15:38; 2 Kings 19:37; 2 Kings 20:21; 2 Kings 21:18; 2 Kings 21:26; 2 Kings 24:6
You might see a pattern there…
The pattern is…
VII. Kings Sire (or Give Birth) to Kings
Rom 8:14-17 14 For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, ” Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him. NASU
Illustr: Power of Belief
For centuries people believed that Aristotle was right when he said that the heavier an object, the faster it would fall to earth. Aristotle was regarded as the greatest thinker of all time, and surely he would not be wrong.
Anyone, of course, could have taken two objects, one heavy and one light, and dropped them from a great height to see whether or not the heavier object landed first. But no one did until nearly 2,000 years after Aristotle’s death. In 1589
Galileo summoned learned professors to the base of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Then he went to the top and pushed off a ten-pound and a one-pound weight. Both landed at the same instant. The power of belief was so strong, however, that the professors denied their eyesight. They continued to say Aristotle was right.
7 There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace,
On the throne of David and over his kingdom ,
To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness
From then on and forevermore.The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.
NASU
The best way to get the gospel out is to plant new churches.
“It has been well substantiated by research over the past two or three decades: The single most effective evangelistic methodology under heaven is planting new churches. It holds true ‘ both on new ground and on old ground.”
Well-known professor of church growth, Dr. C. Peter Wagner.
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New churches best reach a) new generations b) new residents, c) new people groups’it also allows newer people to get into ministry
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New churches best reach the unchurched’every major study proves it
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New church planting is an exercise in Kingdom-mindedness since it forces us to not be territorial with our people or geography. This kills turf fights since we see the whole city in need of multiple churches