Hey guys, how's it going?
I'm just getting this organized here, let me just, hey, hey, hey, what have we got here?
Hey guys, I'm just going to wait for a couple of people to join, hey Janet, how's it going?
Storm, how's it going?
I'm just going to wait for a couple of people to join up and then we're going to get started
on this session, it's going to be our first Kingdom Culture session, doing a whole unit
on Kingdom Culture and it's going to be theological, it's going to be revelational, it's going
to be super practical, pray it will be transformational, and can you guys hear me?
Let me know if you can't hear me, I'll figure out my sound if you can't hear me, hello,
hey, hey, yes, you can hear me, cool, okay, good, I'm glad the sound's working, I'm just
going to give a couple of minutes for a few more people to join, cheers!
Behind me is actually a film studio, I've been filming a prayer school today and I've
just filmed five sessions, so, whoa, I feel like I've kind of run a marathon, I started
at 5am this morning, set this thing up and of course there's no camera people, no videographers
allowed in our house with the level 3 lockdown, so I've been the videographer and let me just
see if I can tilt this, yeah, look at that, all this stuff everywhere, there's another
camera over there, whoa, it's my living room and my film studio right now, so there you go,
welcome, awesome guys, well, what I'm going to do is, Elise, hey, I'm just going to interact
with you guys for a little bit longer, good to see you Elise, legend, I'm going to wave
at you by pressing this wave button, yeah, cool, kia ora, yes, wow, well, hey, okay,
let's get into this guys, today we're going to be talking about, I'm going to be sharing
to you about Kingdom Culture and we're going to have our first Kingdom Culture session,
these sessions are going to start, they're going to begin here on the embassy, kia ora,
they're going to begin here on the embassy and I think we're going to do at least the
first three, I'm going to do today, this session, then tomorrow and then on Wednesday I'm going
to do a third session, on Wednesday night we're going to launch our new initiative which
is the Online School of Sonship and we're really excited about that, so we're going
to release the first part of this Kingdom Culture series here on the embassy and we're
going to continue it on the School of Sonship, if you don't end up doing the School of Sonship
this is still going to be awesome, each and every session is going to be a complete session
in and of itself, so that's going to be pretty cool, and the first five sessions are what
I would call the pillar sessions, so we've broken the Kingdom Culture unit into, we've
defined one major pillar which is what I'm going to talk about today, four other pillars
and then under those four pillars there are just a bazillion different sessions and we're
trying to cover as much as we can around Kingdom Culture and not just about Kingdom Culture
but how to walk in, establish and build Kingdom Culture in, through and from your lives, so
I want to begin by something that I think is the most foundational aspect of Kingdom
Culture, I want to talk about Jesus Christ as the Chief Cornerstone, I want to talk about
Jesus today and I want to talk about how Jesus practically actually is the cornerstone for
a Kingdom Lifestyle or a Kingdom Culture and I think that's going to be pretty powerful,
so
Let's get into this. I'm going to get my Bible. I've got my Bible here and I'm going to share
some scriptures. I'm going to tell some stories. I'm going to share some thoughts, some ideas,
some inspiration. And at the end of this, I'm going to share something really practical around
what I do and what the Lord led me to do when things in my life just aren't lining up with
what I know they should be. And I don't know if anyone else has experienced that. I'm pretty sure
you probably all have. But there's been moments in my life, and sometimes they're more frequent
than I would like, where it just seems that God is saying one thing, but what I'm experiencing
in my life seems to be another thing. And I'm like, that's not cool. So what do you do in
those kind of circumstances where things aren't just lining up with what you know to be the
reality that God has designed for your life? Hey Margaret, good to see you. So here we go.
We're going to begin with John chapter 1. So we're going to read a couple of scriptures.
I think this is going to be quite beneficial for people. John chapter 1 says this.
It says,
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the
beginning with God, and all things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made
that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And I'm just going to read the
whole thing because it's so good. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not
comprehend it. There was a man sent from God whose name is John. This man came for a witness
to bear witness to the light that all through him might believe. And then we're going to skip down
to... I mean the whole thing is just so good, but honestly it's dangerous for me to read this
because I just go down so many different rabbit trails. But in verse 14 it says,
And the Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us, and we beheld His glory, the glory of the
only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Full of reality and full of the empowerment
to live within that reality. Full of grace and truth. The Word became flesh and dwelt amongst
us. It's as if God was saying, you know, listen I've spoken to you through the prophets. I've
told you about who I am. I've told you about who you are. I've told you about what life is all about.
But listen, now I'm just going to come and I myself am going to enflesh myself into human
flesh, and I'm going to show you what I mean. That the Word became flesh. And what is the Word?
What Word? What is the Word? Now first of all I want to say this. I love the Bible. I absolutely
love the Bible. I think the Bible is amazing. The Scripture is amazing. But this is not the Word of
God. Now these are the inspired Scriptures. All Scripture is God-breathed. All Scripture comes
from God Himself. This is a God-inspired, you know, God inspired the authors of this Bible to
write down the things that they wrote down straight from the heart of God. And I believe that all
Scripture is God-breathed. All Scripture is God-inspired. But when the Bible talks about
the Word of God, it's not actually talking about the Scripture. It's actually talking about Jesus
Christ, who is the Word made flesh. It's talking about the Logos. One translator translated
that Word in John 1.14, the Word Word. He translated it the Blueprint. So it could be read like this.
The Blueprint. God's Blueprint became flesh and dwelt amongst us. God's Blueprint of what? And
God's Word of what? God's Word around who He is. God's Word around who you are. And God's Word
around what life is all about. And, you know, Jesus Christ is what God has to say about Himself.
Jesus Christ is what God has to say about you and I, about the human race, about humanity.
And Jesus Christ is what God has to say about life. Not just God saying it and giving it lip
service, but God actually showing it and demonstrating it. The Gospel is a taste and
see Gospel. It's not just a, hey, you do this Gospel. It's a Gospel where God has actually
come and He's showing us the way in His own flesh, which is pretty amazing. So, you know,
Jesus refers to Himself as both the Son of Man and the Son of God. He's the Son of God,
which means He could say things like, when you've seen me, you've seen the Father.
He could say things like, I am. He was crucified for making Himself easy.
with God. And you know, Jesus Christ is fully God. Amen? Awesome. And let me just
go to Philippians. Philippians says something amazing in the light of the
fact that Jesus Christ is fully God, but He's also fully man. He's the Son of Man.
So Jesus is not just what God has to say about Himself, but He's also what God has
to say about you and I. He's also God's divine blueprint of what God imagined
for what God imagined as the normal human life for every human. Jesus Christ
is the blueprint from heaven that says, hey, this is what human life's meant to
be like. Guys, you might be experiencing like this, you might be experiencing that,
you might be experiencing this lack, or this lack, or that lack, or you might be
experiencing something less than this, but this is actually the life that I
imagined for you when I created you, and I'm actually through
Jesus giving you empowerment to live that life now. And so Jesus Christ is not
just what God has to say about Himself. He's not just a perfect representation
of God. Jesus is not just what God is like, that is, He is what God is like, but
Jesus Christ is also what you're like. And so let's read Philippians, oh and
sorry, before I do that, let me just mention a couple of things. You know,
Jesus said, you know, Hebrews, sorry, Hebrews says that Jesus is bringing
many sons to glory. Romans says that He's the firstborn, Romans 8 says He's the
firstborn amongst many brothers and sisters. When the disciples asked
Jesus, how do you pray? He says, pray like this, our Father. He's saying, He's not, He
didn't say my Father, He said our Father. In other words, the same way that God is
my Father, and the same way that I am God's Son, you are God's child, and He is
also your Father, in the exact same way. And so this is so cool that we have an
invitation that we get to see modeled through the life of Jesus, to relate to
God in the same way that Jesus relates to God, and as we follow Jesus, He brings us
into the fulfillment of our sonship, and into the fulfillment of what it means to
to be a child of God, and into the fulfillment of what God imagined our
lives to be like when He first created us. And so, now let's skip to
Philippians 2, and in Philippians 2, it says something really interesting
regarding the fact that Jesus is fully God, and that He's also fully
man at the same time. And I love all this stuff, by the way, but Philippians
chapter 2, and in verse 5, it says this,
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of
God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God. In other words, Jesus is
God. But He made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bond
servant, and coming in the likeness of men. In other words, Jesus is fully man,
fully God, fully man. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself
and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. And so, we
have this scenario where Jesus Christ, being both fully God and fully man, even
though He was fully God, and didn't consider it robbery to make Himself
equal with God, He laid aside His divine rights as God, and took on the full
expression and the full experience of what it means to be human, along with all
the limitations and restrictions that come along with that, which there are far
less than what we had previously been led to believe. And why would He do
something like that? Because He didn't want to just receive a clap
and an applause from mankind to say, Whoa, you're so cool, God. He actually wanted
through His life, God was and still is, inviting us into the fullness of
who He's made us to be. Jesus is the most normal human that has ever walked the
planet. Jesus is an example of the normal Christian life. Of course, every human
being is designed to be a follower of Jesus. God's desire is that every
human being be a Christian. And therefore, with that in mind, Jesus is the most
normal human that has ever walked the planet. Everything Jesus did, He didn't do
as God, He did as a human being in relationship with God by the Holy Spirit.
He walked on water as a human, in relationship, filled with and flowing in
the Holy Spirit. He raised the dead as a human being, like you and I.
but in relationship and filled with and flowing in the Holy Spirit.
He multiplied bread. He caused money to come out of fish.
He did all those things that He did as a human being in relation.
Now, He is fully God, but He had put that aside for the moment that He was trying to express to us
what it's like to be human and what He intends for the human life to be like.
And He did that as a human being, and He lived His entire human life as a human,
but in connection with God, filled with and flowing in the Spirit, which is pretty awesome.
Jesus is, in fact, really a divine invitation from the Father Himself.
You know, Jesus said to Himself, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
No one comes to the Father except by me.
He's the way to the Father. He's the truth of the Father, and He is the life.
He came, you know, we beheld His glory full of grace and truth.
Full of grace being the empowerment from God to do something that you couldn't do
before you received the empowerment, and truth being the reality that God says.
The reality from God's perspective.
So Jesus Christ is both reality from God's perspective and the empowerment
to come into the reality that is the reality of God's perspective.
And so, He is the way, He is the truth, and He is the life, and no man comes to the Father except by Him.
What is also true is that He is the way, He is the truth, and He is the life,
and no man comes to who they have been designed to be except through Him.
He's the way to two places. He's the way to the Father, but when you come to the Father,
the Father then takes you to yourself.
And in connection with the Father, you find yourself because you have been hidden with Christ in God.
And when Christ who is your life appears, you too will appear with Him in glory.
And whereas Christ now, He is in glory.
And as we come, and as we follow Jesus, and as He leads us to the Father,
when we come to the Father, we find that in that space of the Father, we have actually been hidden.
In other words, the true blueprint of who you are, the reality of who you are as a son or a daughter of God,
has been hidden in God with Christ.
And so when you come with Christ into that space, there you are, and you find yourself in that space.
Jesus Christ leads you to the Father, and the Father unveils you to yourself.
This is an amazing thing.
He unveils what life is always meant to be like. He unveils to you the normal human life.
He unveils to you and leads you into the space where you can begin to fully outwork the life that He designed for you when He created you.
Jesus Christ is the chief cornerstone, and the alignment comes before the assignment.
That we've all been designed for an assignment.
We all have a mission on earth. We all have a purpose on earth.
But before we engage in that mission, before we engage in that purpose,
God brings us into alignment with who we are so that we can engage in that.
And when we're asking the question, what is kingdom like, and what is kingdom culture like?
Kingdom culture is like Jesus.
And if we're asking the question, what does it look like to live a kingdom culture kind of life?
What does my life look like when it's fully kingdomized?
Well, in a simple answer, you could say this.
It looks like Jesus, and anything less than Jesus is less than what God has designed for you.
Sharama kasanda. Ho ho hoa.
So I think of things like, I think of the Mount of Transfiguration.
I've just been filming for a school of prayer that we're going to unleash in the near future.
And part of what I was sharing in one of my sessions in the school of prayer is,
you know, I think it's in Matthew 17, the Mount of Transfiguration.
And I love when Jesus takes the three, Peter, John and James.
He takes him up the Mount of Transfiguration and they get a glimpse into Jesus' secret place,
Jesus' personal devotional time with the Father.
And, you know, the glory of God is emanating through Jesus' skin.
You know, the cloud is there, they see Elijah, they see Moses, the Father's voice is there.
It is, it is, I mean, I read that and think, oh, if Jesus is the example of the normal Christian life,
then that means this is the normal, this is the type and the quality of devotional time
that I've been invited to have with the Father.
This is what my secret place is meant to look like.
And I think, oh my gosh.
I'm so excited. Lord, I RSVP to that invitation. Yes, I'm coming.
I want my prayer life to look like that.
And then I see things like I see the multiplication of food.
Man, how cool would it be to go to some of the places on the earth?
I mean, there's a place that I I love to visit.
It's a slum in Myanmar,
and it's just millions of people who just have very little
and have a lot of lack and not much food
and there's a lot of hunger and there's a lot of poverty in this place
and how cool it would be to go to that place
and just to just to bring food and to just multiply food like Jesus did.
Well, I mean, I want to tell you and I want to remind me
that that is the normal Christian life.
That Jesus wasn't some abnormal way out of the box.
I mean he was but only because everyone else is abnormal.
Jesus is the most normal anything less than Jesus is abnormal
and we're all becoming normal.
And so there's so many aspects to Jesus life
and you can look at every aspect of life and you can find it in Christ
and there's so many aspects to his life that just get me so excited
and I feel such a tug from the Father and such an invitation from heaven
to step into the more and to step into the higher experiences
of what it means to walk with God and know God and follow Jesus
and be the person that God has called me to be
in the kingdom living a kingdom life
and establishing a kingdom culture everywhere I go.
Kingdom culture looks like Jesus.
So, I mean in my life there have been moments,
there have been times where my circumstances
and my experiences, you know, don't line up
or haven't lined up with what I see in the life of Jesus.
For example, just to give you a really simple example,
I mean I pray for many people and they get healed
but I have prayed for many people and they haven't got healed.
Now the crazy thing is Jesus doesn't give any example of what to do
when you pray for someone and they don't get healed
because Jesus never prayed for someone and they didn't get healed.
They all got healed.
And so I look at that and I think well what do I do with that?
And there's something very simple that you do do with that
and I'll share that in a second
but there's many aspects of my life where I look and I think
man, I know what your reality is God.
I know what you're calling me to God.
I know what kingdom culture looks like God.
I can see it in Jesus and I refuse to take my eyes off of you Jesus.
I'm following you Jesus.
But what do I do when it doesn't line up?
And here's the temptation.
The temptation is when things don't seem to be lining up in our lives
and when things maybe happen that are disappointing
which is what happens when there's distance between you
and where you've been appointed to be or who you've been appointed to be.
When you experience that distance
and when you experience anything less than what you know to be
the standard that God has set for you
or the life and the quality of life that you know that God has invited you to live
and you see that obviously in Jesus
because he's the chief cornerstone.
He's the divine blueprint and he's who we look to.
Then one of the temptations can be this
is you can be tempted to set your expectation of reality
and to set your framework and your worldview for what you consider to be real
what you consider to be truth
and what you consider to be possible at the standard
and at the limit of your experience and your circumstance.
Now my question has been what am I going to do?
Am I going to let my experience in life?
Am I going to let my circumstances?
Am I going to let what externally happens to me from the outside
and define my reality to me?
No, I'm not going to do that
and I encourage you don't do that.
Disappointing things happen to me
and I guarantee they happen to you too.
Some of us have gone through dramatically disappointing things
but regardless of the level of disappointment
we are not disciples of our disappointment.
We are not followers of our failures.
We are not, you know, like our lack of experience is not our Lord.
But in practicality many Christians
and many people that proclaim to follow Jesus
and they are following Jesus to the best of their ability
and to the best of their understanding
are actually more so in some occasions
actually following their circumstances and their experiences
and they are being discipled by those things
instead of being discipled by Jesus.
What I've said in my life is no.
disappointments, my experiences, even if they're good or if they're bad. I'm not a
disciple of my experiences and I'm not a disciple of my external circumstances.
I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. My experiences are not the way, the truth,
and the life. Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. And if I'm wanting
to live a kingdom culture life, then I must sever my attachment from my
experiences and from my circumstances, where that attachment is causing me to
actually follow those things and be shaped and defined by those things above
and beyond being defined by Jesus Christ Himself and what God has to say. I want
the Word of God, as I defined it in the beginning of this teaching, to be my
definition, to be my definer. I don't want to be defined by anything else.
The Bible says, as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. So what that, you know,
one of the implications that that makes is this, is that your experience of
reality is not necessarily reality. Your experience, but this is true, your
experience of reality is solid evidence of what you believe to be real. And we're
all in this process, as we follow Jesus, of changing what we believe. That's why
Jesus' first message was, repent, change the way you think, for the kingdom of
heaven is at hand. Sorry, I've lost my thought for a second. Coming back to me.
It's coming back to me. Oh man, I hate it when that happens, when you lose your
thought. In the editing of this, can you just edit out this part? Someone remind
me in a comment what I was saying. Good to see you all, by the way.
Oh man, I can't believe it. So, I've just completely lost track of what I was saying.
That is so funny. Elise, you're laughing at me. Thank you so much. Thank you for
that encouragement, Miryama. I honestly can't remember what I was saying though.
Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. That's right. Thank you. Thank you so
much. As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. So, your experience of reality is not
necessarily reality, but it's what you believe reality to be. And if you believe
reality to be something different to what God believes is real, then your experience
of reality will be less than what God has assigned and defined and intended for
your life. And so, the clear solution to that is to change your perspective of
reality to come into alignment with God's perspective of reality. And where
do you find God's perspective of reality? You find God's perspective of reality in
Jesus. And so now, let me read to you the scripture that I often read whenever I'm
feeling discouraged or whenever it feels like my life is just not matching up with
what God is saying and with what I see in the life of Jesus. It's in Hebrews. You
can turn that, if you like. It's in Hebrews chapter 2. And I'm going to read
this to you in a little bit of thoroughness because I think it's just
very, very good. And we'll start in...oh man, it's so good. We'll start in verse 5. And in
verse 5 it says,
What is man? Everyone say man. Come on, man. That one word is majorly pivotal in the
scripture. What is man? That you, with a capital Y, talking about God. What is man?
That you, God, are mindful of him. Or the son of man, not with a capital S or a
capital M, talking about you and I. Or the son of man, that you take care of him with
a little h, not a capital H. You have made him a little lower than the angels.
Well, actually the word is Elohim, which means God.
God. You have made Him a little lower than God, Him with a small m, talking about you and me,
talking about man. You have made mankind a little lower than God and you have crowned Him, humanity,
mankind, with glory and honor and set Him, mankind, you and I, over the works of your hands.
You have put all things in subjection under His feet. Whoa, whoa, hang on. Now, when it says His
feet, it still doesn't have a capital H. It's still got a small h. It's talking about your
feet and my feet. All things have been put in subjection under our feet, the people of God.
This is amazing. You have put all, it doesn't even say some, it doesn't even say 99% of things,
it doesn't even say 99.9% of things, it doesn't even say almost everything has been put under
your feet. It says all, A-L-L, all things, everything, barring nothing, everything has
been put under your feet and everything has been put under subjection to you.
Now, that's majorly encouraging. There's the reality of God right there. That's God's perspective
of your life right there. You have utter, absolute, complete and all authority given to you.
And you can back that scripture up with multiple other scriptures that say exactly the same thing.
And if you can't find a specific scripture, you can just look at the life of Jesus.
And there it is right there, the Word made flesh. God's told us about it and not just that, He's
showing us it in His own life, in the life of Jesus. So this is pretty exciting. I'm going to
get my clap on. So I'm encouraged. I hope you're encouraged. Until you come across one of those
circumstances where it doesn't line up. And then you think, hang on a second, did the writer of
Hebrews know what he was talking about? Did Hebrews 2, was Hebrews 2 meant to be in the book
of Hebrews? Because this doesn't seem to be lining up. And you get to make that choice that everyone
gets to make, as are my circumstances going to define me? Or is Jesus going to define me?
And God gives you the solution in the next half of verse 8. And it says this,
For in that He put all in subjection under Him. Let me just define that. For in that
He with a capital H, God, in that God put all in subjection under Him, small h, you.
He left, God left, nothing that is not put under Him, you, you and me.
But now we do, but now we do not yet see all things put under Him with a small h.
So in other words, what the writer of Hebrews is saying, inspired by the Holy Spirit to say it,
is he's saying, hey, all things have been put under you, but you don't yet see the fulfillment
of that reality in your life yet. In other words, the truth is, the reality is that all things you
do truly, actually, really, wonderfully have all authority, but you haven't seen the outworking of
that yet. That hasn't come to its fulfillment yet. And there are still some things that you look at,
and you think, that's not under my feet yet. What do you do then? Well, here it is.
He says, but, I love it when the Bible puts a but in there, but we see Jesus,
who was made a little lower than Elohim. He's relating back to the Son of Man.
For the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God,
might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all, sorry,
for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, and bringing many sons to glory,
to make the captain of their salvation, perfect through suffering.
For both He who sanctifies and those who have been sanctified are all of one,
for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren.
Wow! Your older brother, Jesus Christ, your high priest, Jesus Christ, your divine blueprint,
Jesus Christ, God made flesh, the Word of God, what God has to say about Himself,
about you and I, and about what it looks like to live a kingdom life, to live a normal human life,
is right there. And He says, hey, everything has been given to you. All things have been put under
your feet. You have all authority, but I'll tell you what, man, that's not always...
It's not always going to be your experience, but it will remain always your reality.
Even when it's not your experience, it's still your reality.
And when you hold on to that reality, I'll tell you what, man, your experience will start
rising to the degree you believe in the reality that God says about you.
Because as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.
And that's why it's so important when things don't line up, when things don't seem to be
making sense in your life, it's so important to go straight back to the prayer closet,
to go straight back into the place of beholding God, beholding Jesus, to go straight back
into that place of prayer and worship and praise and adoration and just go, God, show
me your face.
Jesus, show me your face.
Show me your life.
Show me your reality.
Show me who you are.
I want to sit and I want to behold you.
It's so important to take the time to go back into Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and to look
at the life of Jesus again and to be redefined.
Every time you feel knocked to the side, coming back into alignment looks like looking at
Jesus.
And so that's really what I want to share for Kingdom Culture Session 1.
The first and the absolute primary pillar of Kingdom Culture is this, is that Jesus
Christ is the Word of God.
The Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us and we beheld His glory.
What is the Kingdom like?
The Kingdom is like Jesus.
What is the King like?
The King is like Jesus.
What are the sons and daughters of the King like?
They're also like Jesus.
Every time you have a question mark, go to Jesus.
Jesus is the way, not our way.
Jesus is the way.
He's the truth and He's the life, period.
And so I hope that helps, guys.
I hope that rings true.
I'm sorry I lost my train of thought halfway through that session.
Again, Benji or Joseph or whoever the editing guys are in this, feel free to edit that part
out and also this part now, but I hope that helps.
And also tonight we're going to be going live, myself, Benji and Joseph are going to be going
live at, I think, 8.30, so that's going to be pretty fun.
We're just going to be having a kōrero, having a yarn about this, having a conversation
about this session and about this topic of Jesus Christ being the chief cornerstone and
how that's kind of outworked in our lives.
We might share some more personal stories in that time, so that'd be pretty cool.
And then tomorrow, at some point, probably around lunchtime, I'll be going live with
Kingdom Culture part two, pillar two, and that's going to be super exciting and encouraging
and fun.
And maybe I'll write some more notes so I don't lose my place in that.
Just kidding.
Well, I might actually write some more notes.
And yeah, so God bless you.
Guys are awesome.
Legends.
Thanks for tuning in, guys.
Thank you for tuning in.
So good.
Hopefully, I'll see you tomorrow around the same time-ish.
Bless you.