WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.880 There is a great kingdom of God awakening that is underway right now. 2 00:00:04.280 --> 00:00:08.520 And I believe that that, uh, along with that, we're entering into what I call a 3 00:00:08.520 --> 00:00:10.720 kingship reformation in the church. 4 00:00:11.080 --> 00:00:15.440 So in this course, I hope to encourage you to discover your royal identity and 5 00:00:15.440 --> 00:00:21.360 find, pursue and find your place in this great, uh, God's great kingdom story. 6 00:00:21.360 --> 00:00:30.440 I would like to welcome you to this empower you class. 7 00:00:30.480 --> 00:00:34.560 And, uh, my name is Jim Maffuccio and I'm excited to bring you this class. 8 00:00:34.560 --> 00:00:37.280 It's entitled, uh, kingship reformation. 9 00:00:37.720 --> 00:00:40.640 And in this first session, I just want to give a kind of an 10 00:00:40.640 --> 00:00:44.280 overview and an introduction and my, my premise for this course. 11 00:00:44.280 --> 00:00:48.320 And, uh, that is that there is a great kingdom of God awakening 12 00:00:48.320 --> 00:00:49.840 that is underway right now. 13 00:00:50.160 --> 00:00:54.440 And I believe that that, uh, along with that, we're entering into what I call a 14 00:00:54.440 --> 00:00:56.640 kingship reformation in the church. 15 00:00:57.000 --> 00:01:01.360 So in this course, I hope to encourage you to discover your royal identity and 16 00:01:01.360 --> 00:01:07.360 find, pursue and find your place in this great, uh, God's great kingdom story. 17 00:01:08.480 --> 00:01:12.720 So first of all, what do I mean by there's a kingdom of God awakening underway? 18 00:01:13.080 --> 00:01:16.640 Well, you know, if you've been around church for a while, I've been three plus 19 00:01:16.640 --> 00:01:18.240 decades, actually more than that. 20 00:01:18.240 --> 00:01:21.000 If you include my Catholic upbringing, but there's a lot 21 00:01:21.000 --> 00:01:22.400 of talk about the kingdom of God. 22 00:01:22.400 --> 00:01:25.440 I mean, everybody uses the kingdom of God in their taglines 23 00:01:25.440 --> 00:01:27.680 and, and, uh, throws that term around. 24 00:01:27.680 --> 00:01:29.320 And, and, uh, that's great. 25 00:01:29.360 --> 00:01:30.520 Nothing wrong with that. 26 00:01:30.840 --> 00:01:33.840 Uh, so just kind of going through some of the history of what this 27 00:01:33.840 --> 00:01:37.240 has meant in my, my own life, you know, in the, uh, in the eighties and 28 00:01:37.240 --> 00:01:41.680 nineties, I think, um, what started waking up in the church was what 29 00:01:41.680 --> 00:01:43.680 we called marketplace ministry. 30 00:01:44.080 --> 00:01:49.400 And, and marketplace ministry kind of came up addressing this divide between, 31 00:01:49.640 --> 00:01:52.480 you know, ministry and all other vocations. 32 00:01:52.480 --> 00:01:56.360 So, you know, when you look at it, the, when I say ministry there, I 33 00:01:56.360 --> 00:02:00.480 mean, in the classical sense of church ministry, the ecclesiastical realm. 34 00:02:00.480 --> 00:02:05.920 And, and so, uh, you know, the 97% of the, of the congregation, let's say 35 00:02:06.040 --> 00:02:11.240 that would never be involved in, um, in church ministry, you know, kind 36 00:02:11.240 --> 00:02:15.040 of viewed themselves and in some teaching were made to feel like, you 37 00:02:15.040 --> 00:02:18.040 know, the real ministers are the, are the guys up front or the guys 38 00:02:18.040 --> 00:02:19.360 working for the nonprofits. 39 00:02:19.360 --> 00:02:24.160 And, and at best, what you do out there in the world is really just about, uh, 40 00:02:24.160 --> 00:02:25.960 yes, display the character of Christ. 41 00:02:25.960 --> 00:02:26.960 We need to always do that. 42 00:02:26.960 --> 00:02:31.800 But, but the whole idea of commerce was you're a cash cow for the real minister. 43 00:02:31.800 --> 00:02:33.920 So you're kind of a second class citizen. 44 00:02:33.920 --> 00:02:37.760 I don't think anybody thinks that way anymore, but, uh, but then marketplace 45 00:02:37.800 --> 00:02:42.640 ministry, the way it kind of started, the focus seemed to be on, okay, let's 46 00:02:42.640 --> 00:02:45.440 take ministry into the marketplace. 47 00:02:45.440 --> 00:02:49.240 And so what that meant was, you know, lead people to the Lord around the water 48 00:02:49.240 --> 00:02:49.640 cooler. 49 00:02:49.640 --> 00:02:53.080 So it really was just moving evangelism into different venues. 50 00:02:53.080 --> 00:02:56.240 And so now you're evangelizing at the workplace and that's awesome. 51 00:02:56.480 --> 00:02:59.480 And then maybe also throw in some teaching on biblical ethics. 52 00:02:59.480 --> 00:03:02.800 So we ought, you know, we ought to all live out the, you know, the scriptures 53 00:03:02.800 --> 00:03:06.480 and the way, the way that we, you know, manage ourselves in the business world 54 00:03:06.760 --> 00:03:09.640 or in the home life or anywhere else outside of the church. 55 00:03:09.640 --> 00:03:13.480 And, you know, more recently, the, the more and more people have been 56 00:03:13.480 --> 00:03:16.880 discovering that, no, the work itself is actually ministry. 57 00:03:17.160 --> 00:03:20.800 And in fact, the word ministry, it really isn't a religious word. 58 00:03:20.800 --> 00:03:24.800 It's, you know, uh, my wife and I adopted some children from Russia. 59 00:03:25.080 --> 00:03:29.040 And when we were there, we had to, we had to deal with the ministry of health and 60 00:03:29.040 --> 00:03:31.000 the minute there's the ministry of education. 61 00:03:31.000 --> 00:03:35.920 And, you know, the word is not, uh, confined to, to the church world. 62 00:03:35.920 --> 00:03:38.560 It's, uh, it's, it's actually all encompassing. 63 00:03:38.560 --> 00:03:42.400 So even the word itself, but we started discovering that, you know, if you're a 64 00:03:42.400 --> 00:03:46.600 plumber, you really are, you really have a ministry because if you're serving the 65 00:03:46.600 --> 00:03:50.120 Lord who sends you as a minister, that becomes your ministry. 66 00:03:50.120 --> 00:03:54.520 And then even the word, uh, work is really the same as worship. 67 00:03:54.520 --> 00:03:56.920 There's an underlying root word there, Avoda. 68 00:03:57.400 --> 00:04:00.280 And it, uh, it's the same word that can be used for worship. 69 00:04:00.320 --> 00:04:03.240 What we think of traditionally as worship and work itself. 70 00:04:03.240 --> 00:04:06.960 So there's been kind of this evolution of this kingdom thinking and kind of 71 00:04:07.280 --> 00:04:10.200 thinking less churchianity and more kingdom of God. 72 00:04:10.200 --> 00:04:13.520 And so then in the seventies and eighties, you know, we had, you know, John 73 00:04:13.520 --> 00:04:18.360 Wimber and the vineyard movement and, and the kingdom of God then was the phrase 74 00:04:18.360 --> 00:04:22.200 that was used, you know, it was all about kingdom demonstrations of the 75 00:04:22.200 --> 00:04:24.200 supernatural, which is awesome. 76 00:04:24.200 --> 00:04:28.000 It was like, do the works Jesus did, you know, heal the sick. 77 00:04:28.000 --> 00:04:32.640 And, and the prophetic became quite, uh, you know, it grew in popularity and, 78 00:04:32.640 --> 00:04:34.240 and, and in practicality. 79 00:04:34.520 --> 00:04:39.280 And so, uh, you know, Bethel probably is a movement that has, uh, has, has picked 80 00:04:39.280 --> 00:04:41.800 that up and, and, you know, teaching courses on it. 81 00:04:41.800 --> 00:04:45.640 So it's, it's really looking at the kingdom of God from perspective of the 82 00:04:45.640 --> 00:04:48.080 power that's released through the kingdom of God. 83 00:04:48.080 --> 00:04:50.680 And that's, that's super valid and super true. 84 00:04:50.680 --> 00:04:54.320 And, and then I would say in the last couple of decades, maybe, you know, 85 00:04:54.320 --> 00:05:00.040 kingdom thinking has evolved or grown to encompass what's come to be known as the 86 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:06.800 Seven Mountains Mandate, and so that's the areas or arenas of cultural influence, or spheres of 87 00:05:06.800 --> 00:05:12.800 influence, where people started teaching and rethinking, hey, maybe we're supposed to be 88 00:05:12.800 --> 00:05:18.960 having an impact as salt and light, and engaging with the culture, and even coming to places of 89 00:05:18.960 --> 00:05:26.480 leadership in the culture, which I 100% agree with. It's underneath it all. God has ways that 90 00:05:26.480 --> 00:05:31.680 He's given us in His Word, and we take not only His presence and His power with us wherever we 91 00:05:31.680 --> 00:05:36.160 go, but we take His ways, and when you bring His ways into the marketplace, they actually work, 92 00:05:36.160 --> 00:05:40.640 and when you bring His ways into government, they actually serve people better than some of the 93 00:05:40.640 --> 00:05:46.720 other ways out there that we see working in the culture. So there's been this, I say that's why 94 00:05:46.720 --> 00:05:53.600 there's a kingdom of God awakening. It's like the church has been waking up to identify and 95 00:05:53.600 --> 00:05:59.920 eliminate this divide between the sacred and the secular. But with all of this, I have found that 96 00:05:59.920 --> 00:06:07.120 the typical believers understanding the kingdom of God is still ambiguous at best. Is it coming 97 00:06:07.120 --> 00:06:12.400 to earth, or has it already come to earth? Is it only spiritual, or does it also impact the natural 98 00:06:12.400 --> 00:06:17.600 realm? Is it just the supernatural? And if Jesus said to seek first the kingdom, I mean, we ought 99 00:06:17.600 --> 00:06:22.480 to know what it is we're seeking, and have some models where we can understand that. And even in 100 00:06:22.480 --> 00:06:26.960 Jesus's, you know, He gave us the Lord's Prayer when He said, pray this, and He said, pray this to 101 00:06:26.960 --> 00:06:33.920 the Father. Thy Father, thy kingdom come, and thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And 102 00:06:33.920 --> 00:06:40.400 I think there's a lot of fog around just how real is the kingdom of God on earth, apart from 103 00:06:40.400 --> 00:06:46.720 the supernatural interventions. And so in this class, you know, I'm hoping to burn off some of the fog 104 00:06:46.720 --> 00:06:53.760 that exists, you know, by taking a look at some high-level, non-controversial, very scriptural 105 00:06:53.760 --> 00:07:01.120 references to the kingdom of God in relation to our lives here on planet earth. So what do I mean 106 00:07:01.120 --> 00:07:06.400 by a kingship reformation? Well, in the early 1500s, you might know that there was the 107 00:07:06.400 --> 00:07:12.320 Protestant Reformation, and Martin Luther was kind of the guy whose name is most associated with that. 108 00:07:12.320 --> 00:07:17.760 But they introduced us to the concept of, and it was a reformation really of the church, but the 109 00:07:17.760 --> 00:07:23.760 priesthood of all believers. And that was basically that we don't need other human mediators to 110 00:07:23.760 --> 00:07:28.480 connect to God, that every individual had this direct access to God through the one mediator, 111 00:07:28.480 --> 00:07:34.080 who was the man Christ Jesus. And that was a major revolution in the church. I mean, 112 00:07:34.080 --> 00:07:38.880 a major reformation in the church, and it changed the face of Christianity, and therefore changed 113 00:07:38.880 --> 00:07:45.040 the face of the world. Well, I believe personally that the Holy Spirit is now birthing a new 114 00:07:45.040 --> 00:07:51.280 reformation, and it's centered on the kingship of all believers. So we got the priesthood of 115 00:07:51.280 --> 00:07:55.680 all believers from Martin Luther, and I believe we're entering into an era where we're going to 116 00:07:55.680 --> 00:08:01.200 be hearing more and more about the kingship of all believers. So I make reference to a couple 117 00:08:01.200 --> 00:08:10.480 scriptures, Revelation 1.6 and Revelation 5.10, clearly say that Jesus has made us kings and 118 00:08:10.480 --> 00:08:18.160 priests. And then 1 Peter 2.9 says that we're, and this is talking about the church, the followers of 119 00:08:18.160 --> 00:08:24.160 Jesus, the body of followers of Jesus, and he says that we are a chosen generation in a holy nation, 120 00:08:24.160 --> 00:08:30.080 a royal priesthood, a royal priesthood. Those are kingly priests. You think about Melchizedek 121 00:08:30.320 --> 00:08:35.919 in the Old Testament, and that's the priesthood of Melchizedek that was kind of a type of Jesus 122 00:08:35.919 --> 00:08:43.679 Christ who was both king and priest, and of course prophet. So let's look again at Revelation 5, 9, 123 00:08:43.679 --> 00:08:48.720 and 10. I just want to read that, a portion of that to you. So it says, for you were slain, 124 00:08:48.720 --> 00:08:55.600 talking of Jesus, of course, for you were slain and have redeemed us to God by your blood out of 125 00:08:55.600 --> 00:09:01.600 every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and listen to this now, and have made us kings and 126 00:09:01.600 --> 00:09:08.560 priests to our God so that when we die, we get to go to heaven. That's actually not what it says. 127 00:09:09.120 --> 00:09:15.600 It says you've made us kings and priests to our God, and we shall reign on the earth. So what 128 00:09:15.600 --> 00:09:21.360 this is saying is that we were redeemed, not just to escape earth and go to heaven, but we were 129 00:09:21.360 --> 00:09:28.080 actually redeemed to reign on earth. That's why he made us kings and priests. So we are God's, 130 00:09:28.080 --> 00:09:34.240 we are Jesus's governmental body on the earth, and Isaiah foretold that Jesus would establish 131 00:09:34.240 --> 00:09:39.280 a government on earth that would never stop increasing. So, you know, we all know the 132 00:09:39.280 --> 00:09:44.240 familiar, especially around Christmas time, the Isaiah 9, 6, and 7 is where it says, you know, 133 00:09:44.240 --> 00:09:49.520 for unto us a child is born, and unto us a son is given, and it says, and the government will rest 134 00:09:49.520 --> 00:09:56.000 upon his shoulders. But get this, in verse 7 it says, and of the increase of his government and 135 00:09:56.000 --> 00:09:59.920 peace, there will be no end. And that verse ends by 136 00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:03.540 by saying, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this. 137 00:10:03.540 --> 00:10:07.720 This is how serious God is about the increase of Jesus's 138 00:10:07.720 --> 00:10:09.040 government and peace on Earth. 139 00:10:09.040 --> 00:10:13.040 And that does not just talk about the internal soul 140 00:10:13.040 --> 00:10:15.520 of a man that becomes governed by Christ 141 00:10:15.520 --> 00:10:18.400 when we make him the Lord of our lives, which is, of course, 142 00:10:18.400 --> 00:10:19.840 the starting point. 143 00:10:19.840 --> 00:10:23.280 So like I said, we're the governmental body on Earth. 144 00:10:23.280 --> 00:10:27.160 Another scripture that points to that is in Matthew 16, 18, 145 00:10:27.160 --> 00:10:31.520 and 19, when he has the famous encounter with Peter, who 146 00:10:31.520 --> 00:10:33.080 was Simon at the time. 147 00:10:33.080 --> 00:10:35.840 And Jesus says, I will build my church, 148 00:10:35.840 --> 00:10:38.920 and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. 149 00:10:38.920 --> 00:10:41.040 Well, the word church there, there's 150 00:10:41.040 --> 00:10:43.920 two ways church has been, two words 151 00:10:43.920 --> 00:10:47.040 that we interpret as church or translate as church. 152 00:10:47.040 --> 00:10:49.440 And our translation is kind of weak 153 00:10:49.440 --> 00:10:51.880 because they're two completely different meanings. 154 00:10:51.880 --> 00:10:55.280 And the one he was using here specifically was ekklesia. 155 00:10:55.280 --> 00:10:56.720 And it was actually a Greek word. 156 00:10:56.720 --> 00:10:59.800 It referred to the, it was a legislative body 157 00:10:59.800 --> 00:11:01.320 in the old Greek city-states. 158 00:11:01.320 --> 00:11:03.560 And these are the people that would pass laws. 159 00:11:03.560 --> 00:11:06.840 They would legislate at the city gates in ancient Greece. 160 00:11:06.840 --> 00:11:10.480 And Jesus very specifically chose that word 161 00:11:10.480 --> 00:11:12.440 to describe the church he was building. 162 00:11:12.440 --> 00:11:14.520 It wasn't just a gathering of people, 163 00:11:14.520 --> 00:11:17.000 which is another form of the word that we call church. 164 00:11:17.000 --> 00:11:19.120 But he said, I'm going to build my governing body, 165 00:11:19.120 --> 00:11:21.880 my legislative body on Earth, and the gates of hell 166 00:11:21.880 --> 00:11:24.240 will not prevail against it. 167 00:11:24.240 --> 00:11:29.720 So another passage, Ephesians 1, 20 and 23, 168 00:11:29.720 --> 00:11:31.840 it says that, this is where it says that, 169 00:11:31.840 --> 00:11:34.680 God raised Jesus from the dead and seated him 170 00:11:34.680 --> 00:11:37.800 in heavenly places far above all principality and power 171 00:11:37.800 --> 00:11:41.240 and might and dominion in every name, not only in this age, 172 00:11:41.240 --> 00:11:42.600 but in that is to come. 173 00:11:42.600 --> 00:11:45.800 And he says, and he put all things under his feet, 174 00:11:45.800 --> 00:11:49.240 and he gave him as head over all things 175 00:11:49.240 --> 00:11:52.720 to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him 176 00:11:52.720 --> 00:11:54.560 who fills all and in all. 177 00:11:54.560 --> 00:11:56.680 So notice it doesn't say there that he gave him 178 00:11:56.680 --> 00:11:59.160 as personal savior to the church. 179 00:11:59.160 --> 00:12:00.320 Now he did. 180 00:12:00.320 --> 00:12:02.800 We all that are followers of Jesus 181 00:12:02.800 --> 00:12:05.880 love the fact that he's my personal savior. 182 00:12:05.880 --> 00:12:09.000 But it says here he gave him as head over all things 183 00:12:09.000 --> 00:12:09.600 to the church. 184 00:12:09.600 --> 00:12:11.120 And remember, he's the one that it 185 00:12:11.120 --> 00:12:15.600 says that the father put everything under his feet. 186 00:12:15.600 --> 00:12:18.600 So this is a high place that he's lifted us 187 00:12:18.600 --> 00:12:20.120 to through redemption. 188 00:12:20.120 --> 00:12:24.360 So we have all of these passages that talk of this, 189 00:12:24.360 --> 00:12:27.240 greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world, 190 00:12:27.240 --> 00:12:29.600 and that he's made us kings and priests. 191 00:12:29.600 --> 00:12:32.960 And as Paul said in Romans, that the God of peace 192 00:12:32.960 --> 00:12:35.960 would soon crush Satan underneath your feet. 193 00:12:35.960 --> 00:12:38.640 He said that to human beings, to the church. 194 00:12:38.640 --> 00:12:42.840 And we know these scriptures, and we recite these scriptures, 195 00:12:42.840 --> 00:12:45.720 but then there's a disconnect between these truths 196 00:12:45.720 --> 00:12:48.080 of the kingdom and our kingship and what 197 00:12:48.080 --> 00:12:51.120 we observe about our own lives and about the world around us. 198 00:12:51.120 --> 00:12:54.080 And what I have come to realize is 199 00:12:54.080 --> 00:12:56.800 as I've grown in my understanding and hearing 200 00:12:56.800 --> 00:13:00.320 of this kingdom and the power of this kingdom 201 00:13:00.320 --> 00:13:04.080 and this high calling of being kings and priests, 202 00:13:04.080 --> 00:13:07.600 it's like there's become like a dueling, a competing narrative. 203 00:13:07.600 --> 00:13:09.480 Because in the back of my mind, I've 204 00:13:09.480 --> 00:13:10.840 been given this story that things 205 00:13:10.840 --> 00:13:14.440 are supposed to go into decline and get darker and darker, 206 00:13:14.440 --> 00:13:16.960 and then maybe some light comes. 207 00:13:16.960 --> 00:13:22.400 Well, my premise here is that this is the reason 208 00:13:22.400 --> 00:13:24.240 we're not living like kings. 209 00:13:24.240 --> 00:13:26.040 This is the reason we haven't really 210 00:13:26.040 --> 00:13:29.040 actualized what being a king and reigning on Earth 211 00:13:29.040 --> 00:13:31.680 is like, because we've been given a story that really 212 00:13:31.680 --> 00:13:34.160 doesn't require kings. 213 00:13:34.160 --> 00:13:37.120 I feel like the kingdom narrative that we're 214 00:13:37.120 --> 00:13:39.160 going to be talking about in subsequent classes 215 00:13:39.160 --> 00:13:42.120 here, the kingdom narrative has been kind of hijacked 216 00:13:42.120 --> 00:13:46.400 by a story that's smaller than the one that Christ actually 217 00:13:46.400 --> 00:13:48.320 came to release on the Earth. 218 00:13:48.320 --> 00:13:51.560 So I was praying about this and meditating 219 00:13:51.560 --> 00:13:53.160 on this a few years ago. 220 00:13:53.160 --> 00:13:56.280 And in that time frame, I heard somebody 221 00:13:56.280 --> 00:13:59.720 talk about the fact, supposedly a scientific fact, 222 00:13:59.720 --> 00:14:04.480 that if you take a fish that in the open sea would live to, 223 00:14:04.480 --> 00:14:07.320 I'm just going to give you a, this is hypothetical, 224 00:14:07.320 --> 00:14:10.000 but a fish that would grow to be four feet long 225 00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:12.160 in its natural environment, but you put it 226 00:14:12.160 --> 00:14:16.560 in a three-foot aquarium, it can't grow to its full size. 227 00:14:16.560 --> 00:14:20.800 So we also will not grow to our full size 228 00:14:20.800 --> 00:14:24.120 if we have been given a story that's 229 00:14:24.120 --> 00:14:26.040 comparable to being stuck in an aquarium. 230 00:14:26.040 --> 00:14:27.560 And I believe that's been the case. 231 00:14:27.560 --> 00:14:29.760 I believe we've shrunk Christianity 232 00:14:29.760 --> 00:14:32.960 and the kingdom of God to saving souls 233 00:14:32.960 --> 00:14:35.160 so that we can get off the Earth. 234 00:14:35.160 --> 00:14:38.240 So we're the workers on the Titanic 235 00:14:38.240 --> 00:14:40.840 as it's sinking, trying to rescue ourselves 236 00:14:40.840 --> 00:14:43.560 and as many people as we can get off the boat. 237 00:14:43.560 --> 00:14:45.320 And I'm saying that's not the narrative. 238 00:14:45.320 --> 00:14:48.000 That's not the big picture meta-narrative 239 00:14:48.000 --> 00:14:49.840 that scripture gives us. 240 00:14:49.840 --> 00:14:52.720 So I believe we've surrendered our place of leadership 241 00:14:52.720 --> 00:14:55.920 in the arenas of life on the Earth, 242 00:14:55.920 --> 00:14:57.680 and we've concentrated on getting people 243 00:14:57.680 --> 00:14:59.600 saved and ready for heaven. 244 00:14:59.600 --> 00:15:01.160 Rapture. 245 00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:05.280 ourselves away from the responsibility for how life on the planet goes. But the 246 00:15:05.280 --> 00:15:09.440 scripture says that the foundations of this throne, of this kingdom, Jesus came 247 00:15:09.440 --> 00:15:14.840 to establish are righteousness and justice. You can't read the fullness of 248 00:15:14.840 --> 00:15:19.760 scripture without coming away and realizing how strongly God feels about 249 00:15:19.760 --> 00:15:25.040 justice on the earth and things working right on the earth. He spun 250 00:15:25.040 --> 00:15:30.240 this dust ball that we're on called earth and put it in place because 251 00:15:30.240 --> 00:15:34.280 he wanted to demonstrate, he wanted to increase his domain, and he actually gave 252 00:15:34.280 --> 00:15:38.920 it to man to be his partner to do that, his family really to do that, and to 253 00:15:38.920 --> 00:15:42.880 think that it's just about us escaping it so it can burn up and then we can go 254 00:15:42.880 --> 00:15:48.440 live in the sweet by and by. It's just not the biblical kingdom narrative. So, 255 00:15:48.440 --> 00:15:53.000 you know, I believe that when we look around us and we see, you know, the 256 00:15:53.000 --> 00:15:57.600 disconnect, like why are the very institutions that God's people actually 257 00:15:57.600 --> 00:16:01.200 pioneered, and I think I like the Ivy League schools, you know, those were 258 00:16:01.200 --> 00:16:05.640 pioneered and founded by people that had a kingdom mandate. They wanted to glorify 259 00:16:05.640 --> 00:16:09.920 God and really disciple people into all the disciplines of life so that they 260 00:16:09.920 --> 00:16:14.200 could go into the world as salt and light and be leaders. And you fast 261 00:16:14.200 --> 00:16:18.120 forward to today, and if you mention the name Jesus Christ on some Ivy League 262 00:16:18.120 --> 00:16:21.840 campuses, you get censored, you get kicked off. Well, how did that happen? 263 00:16:21.840 --> 00:16:26.400 And really what gets me is, you know, we have a whole school of thought out there 264 00:16:26.400 --> 00:16:30.680 and it's pretty widely taught, you know, in the body of Christ, and that 265 00:16:30.680 --> 00:16:34.680 would be they would point at something like that and say, well, see, that proves 266 00:16:34.680 --> 00:16:39.840 that our perspective on the world and where it's going is true, that it's 267 00:16:39.840 --> 00:16:43.960 getting darker and darker, we must be getting near the end. And so they'd say 268 00:16:43.960 --> 00:16:49.720 this is a sign of the times. And I say, no, it's not a sign of the times, it's our 269 00:16:49.720 --> 00:16:55.840 assignment of the times. It's like this, the light left the room, the light 270 00:16:55.840 --> 00:16:59.120 walked out of the classroom, and the classroom got dark. Well, that's gonna 271 00:16:59.120 --> 00:17:03.760 happen every time. And so the assignment of our times, I believe, is to step back 272 00:17:03.760 --> 00:17:07.800 into these classrooms, and I don't just mean the classrooms in the Ivy 273 00:17:07.800 --> 00:17:12.440 League schools, I mean the classrooms of life, to step back into these arenas of 274 00:17:12.440 --> 00:17:15.760 influence, or these seven mountains, or whatever you want to call them, 275 00:17:15.760 --> 00:17:20.400 wherever you're planted, is to step back in with an intentionality that we are 276 00:17:20.400 --> 00:17:24.880 carriers of the kingdom of God, and we actually are kings and priests, and that 277 00:17:24.880 --> 00:17:29.400 we're to function as salt and light, and have a leavening effect on 278 00:17:29.400 --> 00:17:35.160 this whole planet, not escape it, transform it. So you end up living 279 00:17:35.160 --> 00:17:39.760 differently when you have that in your, you know, not only in the back of your 280 00:17:39.760 --> 00:17:43.920 mind, but in the front of your mind. So Jesus said that, you know, He said that we 281 00:17:43.920 --> 00:17:47.120 are the light of the world, and He said that we are the salt of the earth. And 282 00:17:47.120 --> 00:17:51.440 what did He say about the salt? He said, if the salt ceases to be, I'll just say 283 00:17:51.440 --> 00:17:55.440 effective, because there's two schools, you know, salt is something that we use 284 00:17:55.440 --> 00:17:59.360 for flavoring, but in the old days it was used as a preservative, it was used to 285 00:17:59.360 --> 00:18:02.680 keep the meat from rotting, keep things from rotting, it's actually a better 286 00:18:02.680 --> 00:18:07.320 descriptor, I think. But Jesus said, if the salt has become ineffective, it's good 287 00:18:07.320 --> 00:18:12.200 for nothing but to be trampled under the foot of men. And when I watch the news, 288 00:18:12.360 --> 00:18:16.200 which I try not to do too often, and see what's going on around me in the world, 289 00:18:16.200 --> 00:18:21.400 and see some of these other ideas that godless people, that we've allowed 290 00:18:21.400 --> 00:18:25.240 godless people to enter into the classroom of life and teach the people 291 00:18:25.240 --> 00:18:29.680 how to live, and they're terrible ideas, they're ideas that don't work, that is to 292 00:18:29.680 --> 00:18:35.120 me the trampling underfoot of man. And so we've abandoned the post to a 293 00:18:35.120 --> 00:18:38.920 degree there, but this is what's exciting about the times we live in, God's waking 294 00:18:38.920 --> 00:18:44.000 us up, He's waking up the kings, He's waking us up to our kingdom reality, and 295 00:18:44.000 --> 00:18:48.440 the truth is, you are a king. If you're a redeemed son, daughter of the 296 00:18:48.440 --> 00:18:53.480 living God, you are a king, and you've been cast into a victorious kingdom 297 00:18:53.480 --> 00:18:59.760 story. Not an escape story, but a transformation story. And the overcoming 298 00:18:59.760 --> 00:19:03.960 kings in this day are being awakened in this day and age, and it's a 299 00:19:03.960 --> 00:19:08.040 very exciting thing. So I just want to propose to you that the best days are 300 00:19:08.040 --> 00:19:13.200 ahead for you, for your family, for your church, for this nation, and for the 301 00:19:13.200 --> 00:19:16.640 nations of the world. So I would just want to welcome you to the Great 302 00:19:16.640 --> 00:19:20.800 Kingship Reformation. So thanks for joining me, and we'll see you next time 303 00:19:20.800 --> 00:19:28.320 as we continue on this journey, this study of Kingship Reformation, of Empower You.