Table of the Lord II
The Original Covenant of the Table, Part 2
We've talked about our granddaughter, Jessica, (now seven years old) many times throughout the past few years and the rather spectacular things she's come out with, her experiences with the Lord, her boldness to lay hands on others and command healing, and the revelations she's had. We have another young one in our midst who is apparently coming up the same way. Rich and DeAngela Warren have been an integral part of River Worship Center for more than two years, and are worship leaders in our fellowship.
They have a grandson, Christopher, who has been living in their home for more than a year. Christopher is three years old. Periodically he talks about the angels he sees here, and sometimes asks either Rich or DeAngela to bring him over during the week because of it. (They live only two doors away from us, by the way.) Sunday a week ago, while we were in the midst of worship, he suddenly broke down and began to weep. A spirit of intercession came over him on behalf of his aunt Jessica (DeAngela's daughter). He comes over to DeAngela and asks, "Is Jessica dead?"
DeAngela's reaction was -- of course -- complete shock. "No, Christopher, she's not dead." Then it suddenly dawned that Christopher was seeing some event with impending death for his aunt and the Spirit of the Lord was moving through his being with intercession on her behalf. We stopped what we were doing and gathered around Christopher and prayed with him for Jessica. There was an immediate release in the Spirit and things settled down.
Because of our focus during the past months on the Table of the Lord and the constant revelation the Holy Spirit has been bringing, we have made it a practice each Sunday to gather around a large table as a fellowship -- both to break the Word together, and to break bread and drink of the cup. Because our fellowship is relatively small (in actual numbers) we grab a cup of coffee or tea or chocolate (or whatever), and sometimes other refreshments and bring them to the table with us as we begin to share out of the Word. We have a real family atmosphere and a bond of love and fellowship that is hard to put into words, and the smaller numbers of people make it easy to fellowship like this.
Christopher was with Della in the kitchen to get his usual cup of chocolate before heading into another room with Sandra (who teaches the children). All of a sudden he began to cry and laugh at the same time. Tears were streaming down his face as he was laughing; and this was a laughter that literally was shaking his whole being with the joy of the Lord. Again, bear in mind that Christopher is only three years old.
Della began to laugh with him and said to him, "Christopher, what's happening?" She took his hand and patted her own cheek saying, "I want some of that. Will you give me some of that?" Christopher continued laughing and crying and drew back his hand. "No, it's mine. It's mine, and I'm keeping it." Everyone laughed, but honestly it was one of those Wow! experiences. It isn't often that you see a three-year-old so under the power of the Holy Spirit. The presence of the Lord so gripped him that he decided he didn't want any cookies, and he didn't want his cup of chocolate. He decided he was just going to eat and drink of the presence of the Lord. (That's my interpretation of what was happening with him. He simply lost his normal desire to eat or drink anything of this natural realm.)
And, speaking of angels, we are seeing them more and more frequently in our midst during our times of praise and worship. It is apparent that they revel in the worship and just want to join in with us. Hallelujah!
OK, we got started again without the usual greetings. So, GOOD MORNING already!
This is the best day of your life! And yes, the coffee is poured. Got both Espresso and the French Press working so there's plenty to go around.
Let's begin today with Jesus' statement that caused such consternation among the people who heard him.
"This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. ..... Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.
"Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever." (John 6:50-51, 53-58)
Then we have John's observation of Jesus:
"And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." (John 1:14)
Ever wonder how "the Word was made flesh" as John declares? Consider the picture that unfolds in Luke 1:26-38. The angel Gabriel appears to Mary and tells her that she is blessed and highly favored of God, and that she will conceive and bear a son who in fact will be the long-promised and prophesied Messiah. Mary does not doubt the word that she is hearing but asks, "How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?" The angel Gabriel responds, "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God."
Bear in mind that the angel is simply a messenger of God sent with God's Word to her. Here is how -- and when -- the Word is made flesh. "And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word." (Luke 1:38) Get it?
Mary agrees with the Word of the Lord and speaks that agreement by saying "Be it unto me according to thy Word:" the Word of the Lord. She is effectively speaking the same creative Word that God spoke when He decreed in Genesis 1:3, "Light be" (or as the KJV reads, "Let there be light!") Thus the Word came into being instantly within her womb. Sure, she had to carry Jesus for the normal nine-month term before He was actually born but He was instantly conceived when she spoke the Word herself.
Are you beginning to get the picture? The Word, spoken by Mary in agreement with the Word of the Lord which had been delivered to her, became flesh in her womb. It was living. It was eternity, invading time and space with the reality of God Himself! Thus, the Word -- Jesus -- became flesh. And John witnesses, "and dwelt among us (and we beheld His Glory, the Glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth."
Jesus walked and talked with His disciples. He preached to the multitudes. He broke bread with them, and He did it in a manner that would testify to them (and they would also be witness to) that He was the Word!
Consider the event that had unfolded (see John 6) just prior to Jesus' statement "Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you."
"After these things Jesus went over the sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberias. And a great multitude followed him, because they saw his miracles which he did on them that were diseased. And Jesus went up into a mountain, and there he sat with his disciples. And the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh." (This is an important point in view of what Jesus is about to do.)
"When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat? And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do. Philip answered him, Two hundred pennyworth of bread (Note: this is roughly equivalent to seven months' wages in those days) is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little.
"One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, saith unto him, There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many? And Jesus said, Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand." (Note: By Hebrew tradition this number represents the married men only, not counting the unmarried men, all the wives, the women and children. The actual number of those gathered on the hillsides would have been more on the order of 20,000 - 30,000.)
"And Jesus took the loaves; and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would. When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost. Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them that had eaten. Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world."
Before we continue with the rest of this picture, let's consider some of the issues that have already been presented.
First, John makes note of the fact that the Passover was "eggus": "ready to begin, at hand." Folks were ready for the seven day period in which they would eat of the unleavened bread. They would break this bread and eat of it only -- no leavened bread at all. (Both Orthodox and Messianic Jews keep this ordinance yet today. They often refer to it as a "Seder" meal.) With the Passover meal, they would drink water -- not wine. The practice of wine with the Table of the Lord did not really commence until after Jesus turned the water into wine at the marriage of Cana in Galilee, although we see this covenant practice long before the days of Moses.
The point I'm making is that the Jews were ready to begin Passover with its unleavened flatbread (matstsah) -- symbolic of the fact that there was no leaven of Egypt in what they were eating. In a parable that Jesus later shared, He likened the Kingdom of God to leaven and said, "The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened." (Matthew 13:33) In so doing, Jesus was clarifying the fact that the picture of leaven is that of a spiritual force -- whether for evil or for good.
In the miracle that unfolded in John 6 where Jesus fed the 5,000, as noted in the last Coffee Break, the loaves that Jesus broke and distributed were artos: raised bread, whole bread -- leavened bread. There was an impartation of His life that took place which He was demonstrating. There is a multiplying factor in His life (and we will be discussing this at length throughout this series) -- the leaven of the Kingdom of God which multiplies and causes the Word to grow and expand within us until we reach the place of being fully "raised" in Him.
Thus as the miracle of the loaves unfolded, Jesus was demonstrating what He would say to the people shortly thereafter, "I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."
On many occasions, Jesus made statements such as the following:
"As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me." (John 6:57)
"I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?" (John 11:25-26)
"I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." (John 14:6)
In his first general epistle, John writes, "For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us." (I John 1:2)
The Table of the Lord -- which took the place of Passover -- provides us with a daily (or as often as we eat and drink of it) impartation of the life, the multiplication that comes in that divine life, and we receive for ourselves healing, health, wholeness, deliverance from bondage and oppression, and the abundant provision of all that Heaven has for us. Consider the event that took place when the Syrophenician woman came to Jesus.
"And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us. But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table. Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour." (Matthew 15:21-28)
See the picture? Are you understanding just how powerful the bread of life really is? This woman was not even of the house of Israel. Yet she understood the significance of the Table of the Lord. She understood the picture of the Bread of Life, and she realized that just a dried-out crumb of that bread that had fallen under the Table would bring healing and deliverance to her daughter.
Brother! I sometimes marvel that the body of Christ -- who is supposed to have a grip on what it means to be seated at the Table of the Lord -- has yet to understand what it means to eat of the Bread of Life. David certainly had the picture.
Remember the 23rd Psalm?
"Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies." Who is preparing this table? Hello!?! The Lord Jesus Christ, of course. And what are the enemies in whose presence this Table is spread? Hmmmm ........ Let's see, now ....... Sickness, disease, infirmity, death, poverty, bondage of every kind, demonic oppression, fear, doubt, unbelief ..... shall we go on?
Yet, for the most part, the body of Christ today still treats the Table of the Lord as anaxios: to treat irreverently, to treat as commonplace and ordinary. There is nothing, and I do mean NOTHING about the Table of the Lord that is commonplace or ordinary. This is not a ritual. This is not some duty to keep. The Table of the Lord is a way of life, a manner of living. Eating of the Table of the Lord takes a person out of this time-space, sin-and-sickness-based, death-imposed realm and transports them into the eternity of eternities -- the Kingdom of God!
When we eat of the Bread of Life, we are eating of the Word Himself. But we have to do it with revelation and understanding. Otherwise it becomes just another "thing to do" as a Christian. Personally, I dislike -- no, I'll make it even stronger than that -- I detest the form and ritual that has turned our sacred Communion at the Table of the Lord into crackers or wafers and dinky little "communion cups" (so that folks don't transmit or catch some disease by drinking from a common cup).
When I was still at Long Beach Christian Center back in the 1970's, we stopped the "crackers-and-grape juice-in-communion cups" ritual and went to breaking a whole loaf of bread and drinking from a common cup or chalice. It began the transformation of my understanding of what it means to partake of the Lord's Table.
That was more than 35 years ago, and you couldn't pay me to go back to the old ritual! I've yet to see someone "catch something" by drinking of a common cup at the Table of the Lord. It just doesn't happen! That would make the Table of the Lord a lie -- and there is nothing but truth that emanates and is imparted when we eat and drink with revelation!
Wheww!!! We've just begun to scratch the surface. There's a whole lot more to go just dealing with the covenant picture of the Table. See you again in a few days.
The Lord has set a table before us that is fit for kings and priests -- and we are both in Him! We have a feast set before us designed to help us function as kings who rule and reign, and priests who worship and come before God's presence in boldness and joy.
Be blessed!
Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
RIVER WORSHIP CENTER
455 North River Road
Prosser, Washington 99350-6554
(509) 781-6099
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Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Monday, August 17, 2009
ANOTHER COFFEE BREAK: THE TABLE OF THE LORD I
THE TABLE OF THE LORD I
Neville Johnson is a former pastor of one of the largest churches in Australia and currently travels the world sharing foundational teaching with the body of Christ. He has a strong prophetic anointing and has a real sense of what God is doing and saying to His people now.
A couple weeks ago or so, Neville's wife had a vision of the American flag dripping in blood and puzzled over its meaning. The Lord spoke to Neville and warned of an assassination planned on Barack Obama, saying that this would result in such race riots and chaos across the country as to result in unprecedented bloodshed. He counseled believers to pray for Obama and to pray that the wind of the Spirit would sweep through the White House bringing change and agreement with God's purposes for this nation.
I agree. And that's exactly how Della and I have been praying every morning. No Spirit-filled believers whom I know feel any sense of agreement with the direction and agenda Barack Obama has been pursuing since he became President. All of us grieve over his abortion and homosexual agendas. The active pursuit of efforts to silence Christians in literally every branch of government and in the public arena flies in the face of more than 230 years of American history.
The creation of more new debt upon this nation in the first six months of the Obama administration than George W. Bush saw in all eight of his years in office has created deep concern in our financial markets. Let's face it folks. Obama was elected and put in office because of great division among Christians in this nation. Had believers been unified and listening to the Holy Spirit it could never have happened. We have no one to blame but ourselves.
You may not be familiar with a man who is becoming more and more prominent in the prophetic community by the name of Sadhu Sundar Selvaraj but he had an experience recently that is very telling. Because of the strong anti-Christian bias that has existed in India for decades, Christians all over the nation began to fast and pray over this year's elections. The body of Christ in India -- regardless of church affiliation, denomination or doctrinal bent -- began to come together to pray with one mind and one focus: that God would place in office a new Prime Minister and a government that would be pro-Christian.
Despite the fact that polls showed overwhelmingly that the party in power would be reelected, a pro-Christian government and leadership was elected for India. Sadhu began to ask the Lord if India could see such a turnaround in its elections why America couldn't have done the same and elected the McCain-Palin ticket (who, despite obvious faults and shortcomings, were decidedly in support of traditional Christian values).
God spoke to Sadhu and said, "The Christians in America were divided. Too many of them were looking at the man and the party instead of asking me what My Will was for the nation. Because of their division, I gave them Barack Obama."
Got the picture, folks? God gave us Obama -- like it or lump it! The situation is not irreversible, and America is not beyond redemption despite the chaos that reigns. There are a number of folks to whom God has given a picture of Obama having a real awakening to the Lord Jesus Christ and reversing course.
Unless Christians begin to lay down their political and partisan differences and agendas and begin to pray in agreement for the moving of God's Spirit across this nation -- and particularly throughout every branch of government -- we are dooming this nation to such chaos as cannot be imagined.
We have both the authority AND the power to effect change -- righteous change -- but unless we stop praying against Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reed, et al, and begin praying for a true awakening to the Lord Jesus Christ throughout every branch of government, along with the cities and towns that dot this nation, we're just participating in the same witchcraft that plagues America now. Whenever we engage in negative prayers against individuals, we are seeking to manipulate their minds and wills -- and that's witchcraft, pure and simple.
As the apostle Paul wrote, "I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth." (I Timothy 2:1-4 -- emphasis mine)
Understand? Our prayers must be for Barack Obama, NOT against him -- and our prayers must be for his having a genuine visitation from the Lord Jesus Christ. The same applies to the Vice-President, the Cabinet, and both houses of Congress. Nothing else will bring the change this nation must have in order to avert a monumental catastrophe. There MUST be agreement in the body of Christ!
Sorry to be so windy on this instruction for prayer before we start this series, but it is something I can't get away from.
Isaiah prophesied, "So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him." (Isaiah 59:19 KJV)
We are that standard God is raising up! God is raising up an army of prayer warriors who know Him and His heart's desire; and they are praying in His will for this nation and other nations of the earth.
Had to start that way today. Didn't mean to spend so much time on it but it's been burning in me; and I just needed to encourage you to join this army.
Anyway, GOOD, GOOD MORNING and the Blessings of the Lord to you! Coffee's on! I made coffee today using the Espresso machine. Got a triple shot of very dark-roasted French Roast in my 16-ounce cup. Mmmmm.....Hmmmm!!
Today's Coffee Break may run a bit long because of the introduction, so bear with me. For the better part of this past year, we have been sharing Sunday after Sunday after Sunday after Sunday on the Table of the Lord. Just when I think we've about gotten the full revelation of what is taking place, the Holy Spirit downloads a whole new picture. Hence, for some 40 weeks or so in succession, the Lord has peeled layer after layer after layer away so that we are seeing and hearing an entirely new (for us) and expanded dimension of this covenant act.
If you've grown up in and around the church, you've likely had pretty much the same routine I've had where we would take Communion the first Sunday of every month. Frequently you will hear the pastor or church leader say something like the following -- particularly after reading the passage of Scripture from I Corinthians 11 that reads like this:
"Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep." (I Corinthians 11:27-30)
You've likely heard something like this: "Now be careful! Examine yourself! If you have sin in your life, don't partake of Communion -- not until you repent and make things right with God. If you do, you could be eating sickness and death to yourself."
What gets missed in the translation is the last phrase of Paul's admonition, "not discerning the Lord's body."
Now if you were part of the Charismatic Renewal, you likely did something like I did. I would try to discipline my thoughts and imagination and try to imagine Jesus' body hanging on the Cross; and I would say, "Oh, Lord, I see you. I see you hanging on the Cross. I see your body. I see what you did for me."
Nice.......but stupid! That was NOT the body Paul was speaking of! He didn't expect us to screw up our willpower and try to imagine Jesus hanging on the Cross. That word "discerning" in the Greek text is diakrino, which means: to make a distinction, to discriminate, to separate thoroughly.
But Paul uses an interesting Greek word in the statement, "Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord." That word "unworthily" is translated from the Greek anaxios, which literally means: to treat irreverently, to treat as commonplace.
The use of those two words greatly affects how we understand this command. Let me explain.
When we treat the Table of the Lord as a ritual, a once-a-month event we are required to keep (and we do it as a religious duty), we've totally lost sight of what Jesus commanded, and we are treating this as "commonplace," as "ordinary." Once the Table of the Lord, or partaking of Communion becomes a religious duty and not a covenant act with revelation and understanding of what is taking place, it simply becomes "another thing to do" for us as Christians. We waste our time, we waste God's time, and....worse....our treating this Table so cavalierly results in our opening a door of opportunity to Satan to afflict us with disease, steal from us and even take our lives prematurely (more on this in a later Coffee Break).
The "discernment" Paul is speaking of refers to discerning -- understanding with true revelation -- all that Jesus' body represents at the Table. This is not eating of a wafer and drinking an ounce of grape juice. This is not crackers and juice, or a piece of bread and wine. This is the body and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, it is!
That said; let me take you to a few foundation scriptures that will unfold the covenant nature of the Table of the Lord.
Before I do, however, let me say something that might surprise you. Literally everything that Jesus said, every miracle He performed (that we have recorded in the Gospels), everything He demonstrated to the disciples was rooted and founded in His Table. In the coming weeks, my objective is to help you see this unfold and radically change your understanding of what takes place each time you break bread and drink of the cup.
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made." (John 1:1-3)
"But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." (John 1:12-14)
"This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. .....
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever." (John 6:50-51, 53-58)
You may not see the foundational aspect of these Scriptures, yet, but stand by. It will become clear as we progress.
Jesus' statement caused a great stir -- both in the Jews generally, and amongst those that considered themselves His disciples (not the twelve) and followed Him. It was a statement that was designed to separate those who could only see and hear in the natural realm from those who understood the spiritual significance of what He was revealing. For those whose reference point was the Law of Moses, it created consternation and even nausea. John tells us (see John 6:66), "From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him." It was simply more than they could handle.
They were only seeing things through legalistic eyes. God had made some very specific and direct commands concerning the drinking of blood as we see in the following references.
"Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things. But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat." (Genesis 9:3-4)
"Moreover ye shall eat no manner of blood, whether it be of fowl or of beast, in any of your dwellings. Whatsoever soul it be that eateth any manner of blood, even that soul shall be cut off from his people." (Leviticus 7:26-27)
"And whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, that eateth any manner of blood; I will even set my face against that soul that eateth blood, and will cut him off from among his people. For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. Therefore I said unto the children of Israel, No soul of you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger that sojourneth among you eat blood." (Leviticus 17:10-12)
And that's just a drop in the bucket. There are a host of Scriptures which emphasize the fact that one does not eat (or drink) blood because all life is in the blood. But Jesus wasn't talking about eating His literal flesh or drinking His literal blood. He was referring back to the prophecy all Jews should have been well aware of -- the prophecy of Passover.
I won't recount the entire portion of Scripture here that relates to the Passover (you can read it in Exodus 12), but to summarize, God was preparing to bring Israel out of centuries of bondage in Egypt and take them to the Land of Promise He had covenanted to give to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The Egyptian Pharaoh wouldn't release the Israelites, despite the fact that God had given him sign after sign after sign, so God was going to send the Angel of Death across the land.
For Israel (living in Goshen) to be free from the death angel's power enabling him to "pass over" them, they needed to eat from a Table that God was going to prepare especially for this event. They were commanded to take a yearling lamb from their flocks, kill it, collect its blood and apply it to the lintels and doorposts of their dwelling places, roast the lamb and eat it along with cakes of unleavened bread. Once again, they were not to drink of the blood; they were to apply it to the lintels and doorposts of their homes.
God's promise to Israel was, "And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt." (Exodus 12:13) But it didn't stop there.
"And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever. Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.
“And in the first day there shall be an holy convocation, and in the seventh day there shall be an holy convocation to you; no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done of you. And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall ye observe this day in your generations by an ordinance for ever." (Exodus 12:14-17)
I can see the wheels turning for some of you. OK, so where is there a prophecy in this? you ask. Glad you asked. I can't take the time in this series to deal with all of the feasts Israel was commanded to keep, but each of these feasts -- beginning with Passover -- was a prophecy, a picture of a future event in time -- to be fulfilled by and for the coming Messiah.
Notice that this very first feast (as was every feast Israel kept) began with the eating of a specific meal. They didn't have a drink specified at this meal/table (that came later as God spelled out the various offerings to Moses) because of the specific application of the blood. However, wine was later specified in the place of blood as an offering to the Lord (Exodus 29:40) and whenever the covenant Table was kept in Israel, wine became the substitute for, and symbol of, blood.
Israel would have the picture of the Table of the Lord continually before them once the Tabernacle of Moses was established. What we know as the "Table of Shewbread" was established as a permanent part of the furnishings of Moses' Tabernacle, and God's promised provision was constantly on display as twelve prophetic loaves.
Passover was the promise of what was to come. Jesus fulfilled that promise. And just as Jesus ate of the Passover meal with the disciples on the night He was betrayed -- becoming the once-and-for-all sacrificial "Lamb that was slain before the foundations of the world" (and forever completing the prophecy and picture of Passover) -- He also became the bread of provision displayed on the Table of Shewbread.
Take a quick look at Matthew 26 where we have a picture of the Last Supper. In verses 17-20 we see them eating of the unleavened bread. The Greek word which describes unleavened bread is azumos. But following the final celebration of Passover, Jesus again takes bread, and as He did when feeding the 5000 (and the 4000), he breaks it and begins to serve the disciples. (See verse 26.)
The Greek word in this instance is not azumos, but artos: raised bread. These two Greek words exactly parallel the two Hebrew words which describe both the unleavened bread (matstsah) of Passover, and the raised bread that was on display on the Table of Shewbread (lechem). Jesus became the bread of Passover, fulfilling its purpose, and the bread of provision -- the Table of Shewbread -- that He promised in Matthew 6:33 and Philippians 4:19.
Yet the Table of the Lord was actually manifested centuries before with Abraham. Remember when Melchizedek came out to greet Abraham after the slaughter of the kings' armies when he went to retrieve Lot following his capture? He came out with bread (lechem) and wine, and declared the Blessing upon Abraham.
This may seem a bit heavy, but I wanted to get these foundations laid in your understanding before we really begin to see and understand just how significant was the Table of the Lord. We should be able to resume this discussion again within a very few days.
The only way true change will come to us, then to the body of Christ and finally to the world, is when we stop setting our own agendas and begin to agree with everything God says. We must respond to what He desires to do in us -- no matter whether it crosses our doctrinal understanding or not.
Be blessed!
Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
RIVER WORSHIP CENTER
455 North River Road
Prosser, Washington 99350-6554
(509) 781-6099
All Coffee Break articles are copyright by Regner A. Capener, but authorization for reprinting, reposting, copying or re-use, in whole or in part, is granted – provided proper attribution and this notice are included intact. Older Coffee Break archives are now available at http://regnersrangers.multiply.com/journal/ and are being slowly added at http://www.AnotherCoffeeBreak.com. Coffee Break articles are normally published weekly.
If you would like to have these articles arrive each morning in your email, please send a blank email to: Subscribe@AnotherCoffeeBreak.com. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to Unsubscribe@AnotherCoffeeBreak.com.
CAPENER MINISTRIES is a tax-exempt church ministry. Should you desire to participate and covenant with us as partners in this ministry, please contact us at either of the above email or physical addresses, or visit http://www.CapenerMinistries.com.
Neville Johnson is a former pastor of one of the largest churches in Australia and currently travels the world sharing foundational teaching with the body of Christ. He has a strong prophetic anointing and has a real sense of what God is doing and saying to His people now.
A couple weeks ago or so, Neville's wife had a vision of the American flag dripping in blood and puzzled over its meaning. The Lord spoke to Neville and warned of an assassination planned on Barack Obama, saying that this would result in such race riots and chaos across the country as to result in unprecedented bloodshed. He counseled believers to pray for Obama and to pray that the wind of the Spirit would sweep through the White House bringing change and agreement with God's purposes for this nation.
I agree. And that's exactly how Della and I have been praying every morning. No Spirit-filled believers whom I know feel any sense of agreement with the direction and agenda Barack Obama has been pursuing since he became President. All of us grieve over his abortion and homosexual agendas. The active pursuit of efforts to silence Christians in literally every branch of government and in the public arena flies in the face of more than 230 years of American history.
The creation of more new debt upon this nation in the first six months of the Obama administration than George W. Bush saw in all eight of his years in office has created deep concern in our financial markets. Let's face it folks. Obama was elected and put in office because of great division among Christians in this nation. Had believers been unified and listening to the Holy Spirit it could never have happened. We have no one to blame but ourselves.
You may not be familiar with a man who is becoming more and more prominent in the prophetic community by the name of Sadhu Sundar Selvaraj but he had an experience recently that is very telling. Because of the strong anti-Christian bias that has existed in India for decades, Christians all over the nation began to fast and pray over this year's elections. The body of Christ in India -- regardless of church affiliation, denomination or doctrinal bent -- began to come together to pray with one mind and one focus: that God would place in office a new Prime Minister and a government that would be pro-Christian.
Despite the fact that polls showed overwhelmingly that the party in power would be reelected, a pro-Christian government and leadership was elected for India. Sadhu began to ask the Lord if India could see such a turnaround in its elections why America couldn't have done the same and elected the McCain-Palin ticket (who, despite obvious faults and shortcomings, were decidedly in support of traditional Christian values).
God spoke to Sadhu and said, "The Christians in America were divided. Too many of them were looking at the man and the party instead of asking me what My Will was for the nation. Because of their division, I gave them Barack Obama."
Got the picture, folks? God gave us Obama -- like it or lump it! The situation is not irreversible, and America is not beyond redemption despite the chaos that reigns. There are a number of folks to whom God has given a picture of Obama having a real awakening to the Lord Jesus Christ and reversing course.
Unless Christians begin to lay down their political and partisan differences and agendas and begin to pray in agreement for the moving of God's Spirit across this nation -- and particularly throughout every branch of government -- we are dooming this nation to such chaos as cannot be imagined.
We have both the authority AND the power to effect change -- righteous change -- but unless we stop praying against Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reed, et al, and begin praying for a true awakening to the Lord Jesus Christ throughout every branch of government, along with the cities and towns that dot this nation, we're just participating in the same witchcraft that plagues America now. Whenever we engage in negative prayers against individuals, we are seeking to manipulate their minds and wills -- and that's witchcraft, pure and simple.
As the apostle Paul wrote, "I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth." (I Timothy 2:1-4 -- emphasis mine)
Understand? Our prayers must be for Barack Obama, NOT against him -- and our prayers must be for his having a genuine visitation from the Lord Jesus Christ. The same applies to the Vice-President, the Cabinet, and both houses of Congress. Nothing else will bring the change this nation must have in order to avert a monumental catastrophe. There MUST be agreement in the body of Christ!
Sorry to be so windy on this instruction for prayer before we start this series, but it is something I can't get away from.
Isaiah prophesied, "So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him." (Isaiah 59:19 KJV)
We are that standard God is raising up! God is raising up an army of prayer warriors who know Him and His heart's desire; and they are praying in His will for this nation and other nations of the earth.
Had to start that way today. Didn't mean to spend so much time on it but it's been burning in me; and I just needed to encourage you to join this army.
Anyway, GOOD, GOOD MORNING and the Blessings of the Lord to you! Coffee's on! I made coffee today using the Espresso machine. Got a triple shot of very dark-roasted French Roast in my 16-ounce cup. Mmmmm.....Hmmmm!!
Today's Coffee Break may run a bit long because of the introduction, so bear with me. For the better part of this past year, we have been sharing Sunday after Sunday after Sunday after Sunday on the Table of the Lord. Just when I think we've about gotten the full revelation of what is taking place, the Holy Spirit downloads a whole new picture. Hence, for some 40 weeks or so in succession, the Lord has peeled layer after layer after layer away so that we are seeing and hearing an entirely new (for us) and expanded dimension of this covenant act.
If you've grown up in and around the church, you've likely had pretty much the same routine I've had where we would take Communion the first Sunday of every month. Frequently you will hear the pastor or church leader say something like the following -- particularly after reading the passage of Scripture from I Corinthians 11 that reads like this:
"Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep." (I Corinthians 11:27-30)
You've likely heard something like this: "Now be careful! Examine yourself! If you have sin in your life, don't partake of Communion -- not until you repent and make things right with God. If you do, you could be eating sickness and death to yourself."
What gets missed in the translation is the last phrase of Paul's admonition, "not discerning the Lord's body."
Now if you were part of the Charismatic Renewal, you likely did something like I did. I would try to discipline my thoughts and imagination and try to imagine Jesus' body hanging on the Cross; and I would say, "Oh, Lord, I see you. I see you hanging on the Cross. I see your body. I see what you did for me."
Nice.......but stupid! That was NOT the body Paul was speaking of! He didn't expect us to screw up our willpower and try to imagine Jesus hanging on the Cross. That word "discerning" in the Greek text is diakrino, which means: to make a distinction, to discriminate, to separate thoroughly.
But Paul uses an interesting Greek word in the statement, "Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord." That word "unworthily" is translated from the Greek anaxios, which literally means: to treat irreverently, to treat as commonplace.
The use of those two words greatly affects how we understand this command. Let me explain.
When we treat the Table of the Lord as a ritual, a once-a-month event we are required to keep (and we do it as a religious duty), we've totally lost sight of what Jesus commanded, and we are treating this as "commonplace," as "ordinary." Once the Table of the Lord, or partaking of Communion becomes a religious duty and not a covenant act with revelation and understanding of what is taking place, it simply becomes "another thing to do" for us as Christians. We waste our time, we waste God's time, and....worse....our treating this Table so cavalierly results in our opening a door of opportunity to Satan to afflict us with disease, steal from us and even take our lives prematurely (more on this in a later Coffee Break).
The "discernment" Paul is speaking of refers to discerning -- understanding with true revelation -- all that Jesus' body represents at the Table. This is not eating of a wafer and drinking an ounce of grape juice. This is not crackers and juice, or a piece of bread and wine. This is the body and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, it is!
That said; let me take you to a few foundation scriptures that will unfold the covenant nature of the Table of the Lord.
Before I do, however, let me say something that might surprise you. Literally everything that Jesus said, every miracle He performed (that we have recorded in the Gospels), everything He demonstrated to the disciples was rooted and founded in His Table. In the coming weeks, my objective is to help you see this unfold and radically change your understanding of what takes place each time you break bread and drink of the cup.
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made." (John 1:1-3)
"But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." (John 1:12-14)
"This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. .....
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever." (John 6:50-51, 53-58)
You may not see the foundational aspect of these Scriptures, yet, but stand by. It will become clear as we progress.
Jesus' statement caused a great stir -- both in the Jews generally, and amongst those that considered themselves His disciples (not the twelve) and followed Him. It was a statement that was designed to separate those who could only see and hear in the natural realm from those who understood the spiritual significance of what He was revealing. For those whose reference point was the Law of Moses, it created consternation and even nausea. John tells us (see John 6:66), "From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him." It was simply more than they could handle.
They were only seeing things through legalistic eyes. God had made some very specific and direct commands concerning the drinking of blood as we see in the following references.
"Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things. But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat." (Genesis 9:3-4)
"Moreover ye shall eat no manner of blood, whether it be of fowl or of beast, in any of your dwellings. Whatsoever soul it be that eateth any manner of blood, even that soul shall be cut off from his people." (Leviticus 7:26-27)
"And whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, that eateth any manner of blood; I will even set my face against that soul that eateth blood, and will cut him off from among his people. For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. Therefore I said unto the children of Israel, No soul of you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger that sojourneth among you eat blood." (Leviticus 17:10-12)
And that's just a drop in the bucket. There are a host of Scriptures which emphasize the fact that one does not eat (or drink) blood because all life is in the blood. But Jesus wasn't talking about eating His literal flesh or drinking His literal blood. He was referring back to the prophecy all Jews should have been well aware of -- the prophecy of Passover.
I won't recount the entire portion of Scripture here that relates to the Passover (you can read it in Exodus 12), but to summarize, God was preparing to bring Israel out of centuries of bondage in Egypt and take them to the Land of Promise He had covenanted to give to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The Egyptian Pharaoh wouldn't release the Israelites, despite the fact that God had given him sign after sign after sign, so God was going to send the Angel of Death across the land.
For Israel (living in Goshen) to be free from the death angel's power enabling him to "pass over" them, they needed to eat from a Table that God was going to prepare especially for this event. They were commanded to take a yearling lamb from their flocks, kill it, collect its blood and apply it to the lintels and doorposts of their dwelling places, roast the lamb and eat it along with cakes of unleavened bread. Once again, they were not to drink of the blood; they were to apply it to the lintels and doorposts of their homes.
God's promise to Israel was, "And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt." (Exodus 12:13) But it didn't stop there.
"And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever. Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.
“And in the first day there shall be an holy convocation, and in the seventh day there shall be an holy convocation to you; no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done of you. And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall ye observe this day in your generations by an ordinance for ever." (Exodus 12:14-17)
I can see the wheels turning for some of you. OK, so where is there a prophecy in this? you ask. Glad you asked. I can't take the time in this series to deal with all of the feasts Israel was commanded to keep, but each of these feasts -- beginning with Passover -- was a prophecy, a picture of a future event in time -- to be fulfilled by and for the coming Messiah.
Notice that this very first feast (as was every feast Israel kept) began with the eating of a specific meal. They didn't have a drink specified at this meal/table (that came later as God spelled out the various offerings to Moses) because of the specific application of the blood. However, wine was later specified in the place of blood as an offering to the Lord (Exodus 29:40) and whenever the covenant Table was kept in Israel, wine became the substitute for, and symbol of, blood.
Israel would have the picture of the Table of the Lord continually before them once the Tabernacle of Moses was established. What we know as the "Table of Shewbread" was established as a permanent part of the furnishings of Moses' Tabernacle, and God's promised provision was constantly on display as twelve prophetic loaves.
Passover was the promise of what was to come. Jesus fulfilled that promise. And just as Jesus ate of the Passover meal with the disciples on the night He was betrayed -- becoming the once-and-for-all sacrificial "Lamb that was slain before the foundations of the world" (and forever completing the prophecy and picture of Passover) -- He also became the bread of provision displayed on the Table of Shewbread.
Take a quick look at Matthew 26 where we have a picture of the Last Supper. In verses 17-20 we see them eating of the unleavened bread. The Greek word which describes unleavened bread is azumos. But following the final celebration of Passover, Jesus again takes bread, and as He did when feeding the 5000 (and the 4000), he breaks it and begins to serve the disciples. (See verse 26.)
The Greek word in this instance is not azumos, but artos: raised bread. These two Greek words exactly parallel the two Hebrew words which describe both the unleavened bread (matstsah) of Passover, and the raised bread that was on display on the Table of Shewbread (lechem). Jesus became the bread of Passover, fulfilling its purpose, and the bread of provision -- the Table of Shewbread -- that He promised in Matthew 6:33 and Philippians 4:19.
Yet the Table of the Lord was actually manifested centuries before with Abraham. Remember when Melchizedek came out to greet Abraham after the slaughter of the kings' armies when he went to retrieve Lot following his capture? He came out with bread (lechem) and wine, and declared the Blessing upon Abraham.
This may seem a bit heavy, but I wanted to get these foundations laid in your understanding before we really begin to see and understand just how significant was the Table of the Lord. We should be able to resume this discussion again within a very few days.
The only way true change will come to us, then to the body of Christ and finally to the world, is when we stop setting our own agendas and begin to agree with everything God says. We must respond to what He desires to do in us -- no matter whether it crosses our doctrinal understanding or not.
Be blessed!
Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
RIVER WORSHIP CENTER
455 North River Road
Prosser, Washington 99350-6554
(509) 781-6099
All Coffee Break articles are copyright by Regner A. Capener, but authorization for reprinting, reposting, copying or re-use, in whole or in part, is granted – provided proper attribution and this notice are included intact. Older Coffee Break archives are now available at http://regnersrangers.multiply.com/journal/ and are being slowly added at http://www.AnotherCoffeeBreak.com. Coffee Break articles are normally published weekly.
If you would like to have these articles arrive each morning in your email, please send a blank email to: Subscribe@AnotherCoffeeBreak.com. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to Unsubscribe@AnotherCoffeeBreak.com.
CAPENER MINISTRIES is a tax-exempt church ministry. Should you desire to participate and covenant with us as partners in this ministry, please contact us at either of the above email or physical addresses, or visit http://www.CapenerMinistries.com.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
ANOTHER COFFEE BREAK: KINGDOM ECONOMICS XL
KINGDOM ECONOMICS XL
Every Wednesday at 10AM (PST) or Noon (CST) we join Billye Brim via the Internet (http://www.billyebrim.org/events/live_prayer) at Prayer Mountain in the Ozarks for corporate prayer for this nation. There are tens of thousands of people who join this concert of prayer for a new Great Awakening -- not just in America, but around the world. I want to encourage you -- wherever you are -- to join us in this world-wide prayer event. Periodically Billye shares about past Awakenings that have changed the course of affairs for this nation and other nations.
If ever there was a time when we need to change the course of affairs, this is it! Although Barack Obama campaigned (and won) on a platform of "change" to America, the "change" he envisioned is not one sanctioned by the courts of Heaven; and some of it certainly runs counter to anything our nation's forefathers and founders envisioned when they paid with their blood to establish our Constitution.
We not only have the authority to bring change -- righteous change -- to this nation, we have the responsibility to do it. For that reason we have been gathering here at River Worship Center (in Prosser, Washington) every morning -- Monday through Saturday -- at 6:30 AM with a small group of intercessors for (as I write this) some nine-plus months as we fulfill our responsibilities as Paul outlined them in his first letter to Timothy:
"First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth." (I Timothy 2:1-4 NASB)
It was last fall when the elections were about to take place that the Holy Spirit spoke to Billye Brim and told her (and I'm paraphrasing), "It is not an election that is going to save this nation. It is not a political party that will save this nation. It can only take place by an awakening in the people to the Lord Jesus Christ." That's a fact, folks! We elect leaders -- I'm speaking in generalities -- whom we believe will serve this country's best interests. The problem with that philosophy is that we elect people in small increments; and when they wind up in Washington, DC they become contaminated by those entrenched in their positions of power and influence. The end result is that we get more of the same-old, same-old.
I'm not discouraged, my friends. In fact, I'm encouraged now more than ever. You may think I'm nuts, but I believe that God has permitted (not ordained) Barack Obama to be elected. Not since the days of Jimmy Carter (after he was elected) have we seen so many of God's people on their knees in prayer and intercession for the future of this great nation. Far too many believers have been sloppy in their prayer lives for too many years. There's too much at stake, folks! We cannot stand by and allow Satan's agenda to sweep across America like a flood of evil.
Isaiah prophesied, "So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him." (Isaiah 59:19 KJV)
We are that standard God is raising up! God is raising up an army of prayer warriors who know Him and His heart's desire; and they are praying in His will for this nation and other nations of the earth.
OK. Had to start that way today. It's been burning in me and I just needed to encourage you to join this army. Anyway, Good Morning, Folks! This is my first new Coffee Break on a new computer the Lord has provided us with.
My other computer had developed mysterious hardware faults that just seemed to move from place to place; and it kept crashing repeatedly making any cohesive work effort almost useless. We now have a new souped-up Dell Studio XPS with an overclocked 3.2 GHz i7 processor, 12 GB of RAM, 1 GB of Video RAM and 1 TB of Raid-configured Hard Drive space running the 64-bit version of Windows Vista Ultimate. Yup! It flies, folks! It flies! Now I can get some work done.
Let's see if we can finish up with our discussion on partnership today as it relates to Kingdom Economics.
Without quoting the entire event from Acts 16, let me remind you of how the Ekklesia in Philippi began. As the story unfolds, Paul and his ministry team/entourage have made their way into the city/colony of Philippi in Macedonia as part of his missionary endeavors. Finding out that folks in that city had a particular place by a river where they (and women in particular) gathered for daily prayers to the gods, Paul begins to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom to the women who happened to be gathered there. It wasn't very many days that one of the women, who had a spirit of divination, began to follow after them. As they walked through the streets of the city, this woman would call out "These men are the servants of the Most High God which show unto us the way of salvation."
It became a serious annoyance to Paul and a distraction to the Word God had sent him to preach. After a number of days of this happening, Paul turns suddenly and rebukes the spirit of divination, commanding that spirit to come out of the woman. She was immediately set free. It was liberating for her, but a problem for the men in the marketplace who took advantage of her demonic powers for personal gain. Suddenly their source of income had dried up.
They filed false charges against Paul and Silas (Paul's prophet-companion) which resulted in severe beatings and imprisonment. During the night, Paul and Silas began to sing and praise the Lord. Their praise brought about an earthquake of no small proportions which destroyed the prison foundations and resulted in all of the prison doors being freely opened. The jailer, thinking everyone under his charge had escaped, prepared to commit suicide rather than face trial and execution by his Roman masters. Paul stopped him and assured him that no one had escaped or left the prison. It resulted in the jailer becoming the first official convert in Philippi, and his entire household followed shortly thereafter.
That remarkable event became the beginning of a real fellowship of believers in Jesus Christ in that city which grew in the Lord and in their spiritual walk. This fellowship of believers felt so connected to Paul that they determined to support his ongoing missionary endeavors with finances and supplies from that day forth.
As Paul begins his letter to the Philippian Ekklesia, he writes the following:
"I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy, For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now." (Philippians 1:3-5 KJV)
That doesn't exactly come out clearly in the KJV, so let me spell it out a little more clearly. The New Living Translation expresses it like this:
"Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God. Whenever I pray, I make my requests for all of you with joy, for you have been my partners in spreading the Good News about Christ from the time you first heard it until now."
See it? From the moment they heard the Gospel, there was a quickening by the Spirit in them to partner with Paul in his ongoing ministry. He continues in his letter,
"Meanwhile, I thought I should send Epaphroditus back to you. He is a true brother, co-worker, and fellow soldier. And he was your messenger to help me in my need... For he risked his life for the work of Christ, and he was at the point of death while doing for me what you couldn’t do from far away." (see Philippians 2:25, 30 NLT)
Epaphroditus, therefore, was the courier from Philippi to bring Paul and his ministry team whatever they had need of in the way of finances, supplies and physical labor.Does partnership pay dividends? Watch next what Paul says to them.
"How grateful I am, and how I praise the Lord that you are concerned about me again. I know you have always been concerned for me, but for a while you didn’t have the chance to help me. Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to get along happily whether I have much or little. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything with the help of Christ who gives me the strength I need.
"But even so, you have done well to share with me in my present difficulty. As you know, you Philippians were the only ones who gave me financial help when I brought you the Good News and then traveled on from Macedonia. No other church did this. Even when I was in Thessalonica you sent help more than once. I don’t say this because I want a gift from you. What I want is for you to receive a well-earned reward because of your kindness.
"At the moment I have all I need—more than I need! I am generously supplied with the gifts you sent me with Epaphroditus. They are a sweet-smelling sacrifice that is acceptable to God and pleases him. And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus. Now glory be to God our Father forever and ever. Amen." (Philippians 4:10-20 NLT)
OK. I quoted a rather lengthy portion there from Philippians 4, but I wanted you to see the context of chapter 4, verse 19. We are more familiar with the KJV translation which is frequently quoted -- and used out of context most of the time.
"But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in Glory by Christ Jesus."Let's see if we can amplify this statement just a bit more from the Greek text.
"But my God shall liberally and abundantly fill up, make complete, totally satisfy and cram until you are running over, all of your lack, your want, your requirement and your demand, according to, out of and in direct proportion to His immeasurable riches, wealth, finances and material goods found in His glory, His praise, His honor and His worship through and by the anointing of the Anointed One Jesus." (Philippians 4:19 RAC Amplified Translation)
That's a mouthful, I know, but it is important to see this word in its proper context. Look at it in a partnership context.
Paul was sent by the Lord with an assignment. He was "apostleing" -- if you'll excuse my slang -- having been commissioned to lay foundations for the body of Christ. (That word, "apostle," by the way, is not a title: it is a function. The "charismatic" sector of the body of Christ has misused the Greek term "apostolos" and turned it into some exalted title or position. It is neither. The word "apostolos" designates someone who is "sent forth" on a royal mission with a specific assignment: an ambassador of the Kingdom, if you will; a representative. They are authorized and empowered by the Lord to represent Him in a specific function -- not to hold some Kingdom governmental power over others. [I'll discuss this more at length in a future Coffee Break.])
Paul was partnered with the Lord in his assignment. Because the Lord had sent him to lay foundations for the body of Christ -- and God always pays for what he orders -- the partnership agreement needed a financial extension in order for Paul and his companions in ministry to have the ability to travel and see every need along the way met. A partnership link was formed with the Philippian Ekklesia (and there were other partnerships Paul speaks of in some of his other letters at different times) in which the Philippians responded to the prompting of the Holy Spirit to liberally give of their resources, encompassing financial, physical, and human, in order that Paul could accomplish what God had spoken to him.
The Ekklesia in Philippi became partnered with Paul and with the Lord in this ministry. Paul couldn't accomplish what he needed to do without the necessary available resources. The Ekklesia in Philippi hadn't been sent by the Lord in person, but they could go with Paul on his journeys with the resources that made his ministry tasks possible. It was divine teamwork. It was an essential component of Kingdom Economics. The Word of the Kingdom -- the Gospel of the Kingdom -- went forth with Paul's preaching and discipling AND made possible by the finances and other resources contributed by Philippi.
Paul certainly was due a reward for his faithfulness in doing what God sent him to do. But Paul made clear in his letter to the Philippians that they likewise shared in that reward. Because their part of the ministry was the financial part, God was effectively opening the windows of Heaven to ensure that every need, every requirement, every demand of theirs was met -- and in abundance: Heaven's abundance!
Folks, that's the picture of how Kingdom Economics works! I've said it before, and I'll say it again: the kingdoms of the world -- Babylonian, if you please -- are based on "getting." The Kingdom of God is based on giving. God gave us His Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus gave us Himself. He sacrificed His life for us so that the curse of the Law, the curse of death, the curse of poverty could be lifted off the human race and relationship with God restored to its pre-Fall basis: intimacy, relationship, fellowship, communion, love!
The entirety of the Kingdom of God and its Economics are predicated on agape love. That is God's love. It is boundless. It is endless. It has no limits. Agape doesn't "take." Agape is a totally giving-oriented relationship. Whether one deserves to be loved has nothing whatever to do with it. There is nothing we can do to "earn" God's love. It is freely available to all who come to Him through Jesus Christ.
Jesus made his purpose clear.
"The thief comes only in order that he may steal and may kill and may destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance -- to the full, till it overflows." (John 10:10 Amplified Version)
Paul expounded on this somewhat in his letter to the Romans when he wrote, "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death." (Romans 8:2 KJV) It is that "Law of Sin and Death" that the thief, Satan, tries continually to foist off on the world -- and even more so, Christians -- who've been given their freedom from that law. That law is a thief, and it is exercised against us continually by Satan, who wants to keep us in a perpetual state of need, lack, want, poverty, death, sickness, disease, etc.
The Kingdom of God is the polar opposite, and the Economic System of God's Kingdom is "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus."
This is the fortieth chapter or discussion dealing with the Economy of God's Kingdom. Maybe there will be more added in the weeks or months or years ahead as the Lord brings more revelation by His Spirit, but I trust that the foregoing discussions have been an encouragement to you, and have brought more understanding to what we have available as heirs and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ.
See you again in a few days as we change topics entirely.
He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. (Sir Isaac Newton)
The Blessing of the Lord: it makes rich and He adds no painful toil and sorrow! (Proverbs 10:22)
Be blessed!
Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
RIVER WORSHIP CENTER
455 North River Road
Prosser, Washington 99350-6554
(509) 781-6099
All Coffee Break articles are copyright by Regner A. Capener, but authorization for reprinting, reposting, copying or re-use, in whole or in part, is granted – provided proper attribution and this notice are included intact. Coffee Break archives are now available at http://regnersrangers.multiply.com/journal/ and are being added at http://www.AnotherCoffeeBreak.com. Coffee Break articles are published weekly.
If you would like to have these articles arrive each morning in your email, please send a blank email to: Subscribe@AnotherCoffeeBreak.com. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to Unsubscribe@AnotherCoffeeBreak.com.
CAPENER MINISTRIES is a tax-exempt church ministry. Should you desire to participate and covenant with us as partners in this ministry, please contact us at either of the above email or physical addresses, or visit http://www.CapenerMinistries.com.
Every Wednesday at 10AM (PST) or Noon (CST) we join Billye Brim via the Internet (http://www.billyebrim.org/events/live_prayer) at Prayer Mountain in the Ozarks for corporate prayer for this nation. There are tens of thousands of people who join this concert of prayer for a new Great Awakening -- not just in America, but around the world. I want to encourage you -- wherever you are -- to join us in this world-wide prayer event. Periodically Billye shares about past Awakenings that have changed the course of affairs for this nation and other nations.
If ever there was a time when we need to change the course of affairs, this is it! Although Barack Obama campaigned (and won) on a platform of "change" to America, the "change" he envisioned is not one sanctioned by the courts of Heaven; and some of it certainly runs counter to anything our nation's forefathers and founders envisioned when they paid with their blood to establish our Constitution.
We not only have the authority to bring change -- righteous change -- to this nation, we have the responsibility to do it. For that reason we have been gathering here at River Worship Center (in Prosser, Washington) every morning -- Monday through Saturday -- at 6:30 AM with a small group of intercessors for (as I write this) some nine-plus months as we fulfill our responsibilities as Paul outlined them in his first letter to Timothy:
"First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth." (I Timothy 2:1-4 NASB)
It was last fall when the elections were about to take place that the Holy Spirit spoke to Billye Brim and told her (and I'm paraphrasing), "It is not an election that is going to save this nation. It is not a political party that will save this nation. It can only take place by an awakening in the people to the Lord Jesus Christ." That's a fact, folks! We elect leaders -- I'm speaking in generalities -- whom we believe will serve this country's best interests. The problem with that philosophy is that we elect people in small increments; and when they wind up in Washington, DC they become contaminated by those entrenched in their positions of power and influence. The end result is that we get more of the same-old, same-old.
I'm not discouraged, my friends. In fact, I'm encouraged now more than ever. You may think I'm nuts, but I believe that God has permitted (not ordained) Barack Obama to be elected. Not since the days of Jimmy Carter (after he was elected) have we seen so many of God's people on their knees in prayer and intercession for the future of this great nation. Far too many believers have been sloppy in their prayer lives for too many years. There's too much at stake, folks! We cannot stand by and allow Satan's agenda to sweep across America like a flood of evil.
Isaiah prophesied, "So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him." (Isaiah 59:19 KJV)
We are that standard God is raising up! God is raising up an army of prayer warriors who know Him and His heart's desire; and they are praying in His will for this nation and other nations of the earth.
OK. Had to start that way today. It's been burning in me and I just needed to encourage you to join this army. Anyway, Good Morning, Folks! This is my first new Coffee Break on a new computer the Lord has provided us with.
My other computer had developed mysterious hardware faults that just seemed to move from place to place; and it kept crashing repeatedly making any cohesive work effort almost useless. We now have a new souped-up Dell Studio XPS with an overclocked 3.2 GHz i7 processor, 12 GB of RAM, 1 GB of Video RAM and 1 TB of Raid-configured Hard Drive space running the 64-bit version of Windows Vista Ultimate. Yup! It flies, folks! It flies! Now I can get some work done.
Let's see if we can finish up with our discussion on partnership today as it relates to Kingdom Economics.
Without quoting the entire event from Acts 16, let me remind you of how the Ekklesia in Philippi began. As the story unfolds, Paul and his ministry team/entourage have made their way into the city/colony of Philippi in Macedonia as part of his missionary endeavors. Finding out that folks in that city had a particular place by a river where they (and women in particular) gathered for daily prayers to the gods, Paul begins to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom to the women who happened to be gathered there. It wasn't very many days that one of the women, who had a spirit of divination, began to follow after them. As they walked through the streets of the city, this woman would call out "These men are the servants of the Most High God which show unto us the way of salvation."
It became a serious annoyance to Paul and a distraction to the Word God had sent him to preach. After a number of days of this happening, Paul turns suddenly and rebukes the spirit of divination, commanding that spirit to come out of the woman. She was immediately set free. It was liberating for her, but a problem for the men in the marketplace who took advantage of her demonic powers for personal gain. Suddenly their source of income had dried up.
They filed false charges against Paul and Silas (Paul's prophet-companion) which resulted in severe beatings and imprisonment. During the night, Paul and Silas began to sing and praise the Lord. Their praise brought about an earthquake of no small proportions which destroyed the prison foundations and resulted in all of the prison doors being freely opened. The jailer, thinking everyone under his charge had escaped, prepared to commit suicide rather than face trial and execution by his Roman masters. Paul stopped him and assured him that no one had escaped or left the prison. It resulted in the jailer becoming the first official convert in Philippi, and his entire household followed shortly thereafter.
That remarkable event became the beginning of a real fellowship of believers in Jesus Christ in that city which grew in the Lord and in their spiritual walk. This fellowship of believers felt so connected to Paul that they determined to support his ongoing missionary endeavors with finances and supplies from that day forth.
As Paul begins his letter to the Philippian Ekklesia, he writes the following:
"I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy, For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now." (Philippians 1:3-5 KJV)
That doesn't exactly come out clearly in the KJV, so let me spell it out a little more clearly. The New Living Translation expresses it like this:
"Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God. Whenever I pray, I make my requests for all of you with joy, for you have been my partners in spreading the Good News about Christ from the time you first heard it until now."
See it? From the moment they heard the Gospel, there was a quickening by the Spirit in them to partner with Paul in his ongoing ministry. He continues in his letter,
"Meanwhile, I thought I should send Epaphroditus back to you. He is a true brother, co-worker, and fellow soldier. And he was your messenger to help me in my need... For he risked his life for the work of Christ, and he was at the point of death while doing for me what you couldn’t do from far away." (see Philippians 2:25, 30 NLT)
Epaphroditus, therefore, was the courier from Philippi to bring Paul and his ministry team whatever they had need of in the way of finances, supplies and physical labor.Does partnership pay dividends? Watch next what Paul says to them.
"How grateful I am, and how I praise the Lord that you are concerned about me again. I know you have always been concerned for me, but for a while you didn’t have the chance to help me. Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to get along happily whether I have much or little. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything with the help of Christ who gives me the strength I need.
"But even so, you have done well to share with me in my present difficulty. As you know, you Philippians were the only ones who gave me financial help when I brought you the Good News and then traveled on from Macedonia. No other church did this. Even when I was in Thessalonica you sent help more than once. I don’t say this because I want a gift from you. What I want is for you to receive a well-earned reward because of your kindness.
"At the moment I have all I need—more than I need! I am generously supplied with the gifts you sent me with Epaphroditus. They are a sweet-smelling sacrifice that is acceptable to God and pleases him. And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus. Now glory be to God our Father forever and ever. Amen." (Philippians 4:10-20 NLT)
OK. I quoted a rather lengthy portion there from Philippians 4, but I wanted you to see the context of chapter 4, verse 19. We are more familiar with the KJV translation which is frequently quoted -- and used out of context most of the time.
"But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in Glory by Christ Jesus."Let's see if we can amplify this statement just a bit more from the Greek text.
"But my God shall liberally and abundantly fill up, make complete, totally satisfy and cram until you are running over, all of your lack, your want, your requirement and your demand, according to, out of and in direct proportion to His immeasurable riches, wealth, finances and material goods found in His glory, His praise, His honor and His worship through and by the anointing of the Anointed One Jesus." (Philippians 4:19 RAC Amplified Translation)
That's a mouthful, I know, but it is important to see this word in its proper context. Look at it in a partnership context.
Paul was sent by the Lord with an assignment. He was "apostleing" -- if you'll excuse my slang -- having been commissioned to lay foundations for the body of Christ. (That word, "apostle," by the way, is not a title: it is a function. The "charismatic" sector of the body of Christ has misused the Greek term "apostolos" and turned it into some exalted title or position. It is neither. The word "apostolos" designates someone who is "sent forth" on a royal mission with a specific assignment: an ambassador of the Kingdom, if you will; a representative. They are authorized and empowered by the Lord to represent Him in a specific function -- not to hold some Kingdom governmental power over others. [I'll discuss this more at length in a future Coffee Break.])
Paul was partnered with the Lord in his assignment. Because the Lord had sent him to lay foundations for the body of Christ -- and God always pays for what he orders -- the partnership agreement needed a financial extension in order for Paul and his companions in ministry to have the ability to travel and see every need along the way met. A partnership link was formed with the Philippian Ekklesia (and there were other partnerships Paul speaks of in some of his other letters at different times) in which the Philippians responded to the prompting of the Holy Spirit to liberally give of their resources, encompassing financial, physical, and human, in order that Paul could accomplish what God had spoken to him.
The Ekklesia in Philippi became partnered with Paul and with the Lord in this ministry. Paul couldn't accomplish what he needed to do without the necessary available resources. The Ekklesia in Philippi hadn't been sent by the Lord in person, but they could go with Paul on his journeys with the resources that made his ministry tasks possible. It was divine teamwork. It was an essential component of Kingdom Economics. The Word of the Kingdom -- the Gospel of the Kingdom -- went forth with Paul's preaching and discipling AND made possible by the finances and other resources contributed by Philippi.
Paul certainly was due a reward for his faithfulness in doing what God sent him to do. But Paul made clear in his letter to the Philippians that they likewise shared in that reward. Because their part of the ministry was the financial part, God was effectively opening the windows of Heaven to ensure that every need, every requirement, every demand of theirs was met -- and in abundance: Heaven's abundance!
Folks, that's the picture of how Kingdom Economics works! I've said it before, and I'll say it again: the kingdoms of the world -- Babylonian, if you please -- are based on "getting." The Kingdom of God is based on giving. God gave us His Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus gave us Himself. He sacrificed His life for us so that the curse of the Law, the curse of death, the curse of poverty could be lifted off the human race and relationship with God restored to its pre-Fall basis: intimacy, relationship, fellowship, communion, love!
The entirety of the Kingdom of God and its Economics are predicated on agape love. That is God's love. It is boundless. It is endless. It has no limits. Agape doesn't "take." Agape is a totally giving-oriented relationship. Whether one deserves to be loved has nothing whatever to do with it. There is nothing we can do to "earn" God's love. It is freely available to all who come to Him through Jesus Christ.
Jesus made his purpose clear.
"The thief comes only in order that he may steal and may kill and may destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance -- to the full, till it overflows." (John 10:10 Amplified Version)
Paul expounded on this somewhat in his letter to the Romans when he wrote, "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death." (Romans 8:2 KJV) It is that "Law of Sin and Death" that the thief, Satan, tries continually to foist off on the world -- and even more so, Christians -- who've been given their freedom from that law. That law is a thief, and it is exercised against us continually by Satan, who wants to keep us in a perpetual state of need, lack, want, poverty, death, sickness, disease, etc.
The Kingdom of God is the polar opposite, and the Economic System of God's Kingdom is "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus."
This is the fortieth chapter or discussion dealing with the Economy of God's Kingdom. Maybe there will be more added in the weeks or months or years ahead as the Lord brings more revelation by His Spirit, but I trust that the foregoing discussions have been an encouragement to you, and have brought more understanding to what we have available as heirs and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ.
See you again in a few days as we change topics entirely.
He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. (Sir Isaac Newton)
The Blessing of the Lord: it makes rich and He adds no painful toil and sorrow! (Proverbs 10:22)
Be blessed!
Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
RIVER WORSHIP CENTER
455 North River Road
Prosser, Washington 99350-6554
(509) 781-6099
All Coffee Break articles are copyright by Regner A. Capener, but authorization for reprinting, reposting, copying or re-use, in whole or in part, is granted – provided proper attribution and this notice are included intact. Coffee Break archives are now available at http://regnersrangers.multiply.com/journal/ and are being added at http://www.AnotherCoffeeBreak.com. Coffee Break articles are published weekly.
If you would like to have these articles arrive each morning in your email, please send a blank email to: Subscribe@AnotherCoffeeBreak.com. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to Unsubscribe@AnotherCoffeeBreak.com.
CAPENER MINISTRIES is a tax-exempt church ministry. Should you desire to participate and covenant with us as partners in this ministry, please contact us at either of the above email or physical addresses, or visit http://www.CapenerMinistries.com.
Monday, June 29, 2009
ANOTHER COFFEE BREAK: KINGDOM ECONOMICS XXXIX
Kingdom Economics XXXIX
When we began our last Coffee Break, I started to tell you about a personal experience that opened my eyes to the importance of "partnering" as a Kingdom principle, but never got back to share the events that generated the revelation in me. Instead we talked about the foundation of partnership and the fact that it all begins with a covenant we have with the Lord Jesus Christ.
This, by the way, is my third effort to get this Coffee Break out. My first two efforts crashed and burned. In fact, this Coffee Break was ready to post about three weeks ago when my computer crashed and inexplicably deleted the entire file. I've never had anything like that happen before and I'm still mystified as to what caused it. Anyway, onward and upward!
A covenant is more than a contract: it is a life-and-death agreement (with severe consequences for the breaching of it) between two or more parties who, despite the fact that they may not normally be equals, treat each other as though they were equals. It takes each other's strengths and weaknesses and combines them in such a way that the weaknesses or needs of each other are shored up by the strengths of the other. Thus, the covenant makes them partners in a true sense of the word. Whatever successes one has, whatever authority one has, whatever power one has accrues to the other individual's credit. There are some powerful examples in the Word of this, and I'll get there shortly, but let me take you into some things that Della and I experienced.
Oh, and by the way, Good Morning! Blessings on you!
Let's see......yup, coffee's on! Last one to the French Press gets the grounds. Hehehehehehe........
In previous Coffee Breaks, I've shared with you the experiences with my parents, watching them live a life of constant miracles, building churches in the arctic and establishing ministries in difficult places and under near-impossible conditions. I knew there were individuals and churches who contributed regularly to their ministry, but somehow never connected the principle of partnership with their successes.
There were times when Dad took on building projects because of the instruction of the Lord; and he would begin planning, doing the engineering and design work, laying out every aspect of a new church building and making preparation for it without a dime in the bank toward its construction. It was in the spring and summer of 1960 that Dad began to make preparation for our move from Barrow to Wainwright, Alaska to build a church there, and then onward to Point Hope, farther down the coast. He had his rulers and compass and drawing tools laid out on the kitchen table. Day after day he would draw, erase and re-draw, think and re-think various aspects of the building design.
'Scuse me for digressing, but you'll appreciate the fact that in the arctic, we didn't have the luxury of the utilities we all take for granted such as electricity, running water, sewer systems, central heating and air-conditioning, etc. That meant that if we were going to have any semblance of those amenities, some rather extraordinary engineering had to be done. Hohohohoho..... Yup! Let's see....flush toilets. Umm....Nope! How about honey buckets? You know what those are, right? We don't have to get into the specifics.
Anyway, Dad wanted to provide some of the amenities of civilization so he designed a huge water tank for our furnace room (we heated by coal in the arctic), ran a pipe and coil in the firepot of the furnace so as to get hot water and plumbed the sinks so we could have some semblance of running water. Most of the running, though, was me (or my brother) going outside to chop blocks of ice that we hauled in either from the fresh-water ice floating in the ocean or cut from one of the nearby lakes. We brought those blocks of ice and dumped them into the tank to melt at room temperature. As the ice melted, it created a reservoir of fresh water that could be pumped throughout the house and church.
Until some bright inventor came up with the idea of propane-fired toilets that consumed the waste (now you know what it means to sit on "the hot seat" Hehehehehehe.....) the honey bucket was the mode for toilets. As they filled, we dumped them into 53-gallon oil drums which froze. In the Spring the drums would be carried out onto the ocean ice to wait for breakup, and they would fall into the ocean as the ocean ice melted or broke. Anyway, you get the idea.
For the first years in the arctic, electricity was pretty much non-existent unless you used a gasoline or diesel generator, and the cost of getting fuel into the arctic was almost prohibitive. So our electricity -- Dad was determined that we would have electricity -- consisted of a wind generator that put out 32-volts DC and charged up a bank of batteries big enough to fill up the eight-foot bed of a pickup truck. If the wind didn't blow for more than a week (and sometimes it would be still for 10 days-to-two weeks) kerosene lanterns provided our light. If we needed to listen to the radio, we had to use a 110-volt inverter to power it from the 32-volt DC supply.
I'm sort of sidetracked here, but you get the picture. Dad would spend weeks preparing for the building of a new church, laying out every detail without a dime towards its construction. As soon as he was ready, he would place the order for the supplies -- again, with little or no funds on hand.
I'm missing one element here. Dad always communicated with his "partners." He would write letters to the individuals and churches who had been faithfully supporting him and Mom throughout the years, and share with them both the Word of the Lord that had come to him, and the vision God had given him for the future. He never asked for money; he just shared the vision. Dad's favorite saying was, "Whatever God orders, He pays for." If folks saw the vision and the Holy Spirit prompted them, they would give -- and sometimes very generously.
Without fail, God would put it on the hearts of certain individuals to "communicate" (as the apostle Paul put it -- see Philippians 4:15)) out of their substance with my folks. They would send gifts that ranged from $15 or $20 all the way into the thousands. When the bills came due for the materials and supplies Dad ordered, the money was always in the bank in a timely manner and every bill was promptly paid.
There were a few individuals throughout the years whose giving was both consistent and generous. I'd venture to say that while there were probably hundreds of individuals who gave sporadically, there were probably not more than a dozen who gave largely and consistently. These were folks who understood the principle of partnership. They knew Dad and Mom had been commissioned to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ into parts of the world where the Gospel simply was not being preached or compromised to such a degree that Christianity was only a word, a doctrine, a religion -- NOT a reality.
These "partners" also understood that it took finances to accomplish what my folks were doing and that without financial partnering, things would coming to a standstill. They also understood that if they "partnered" with my parents, they had an equal share of the reaping. Though our family was on the front lines of the apostolic effort to expand the Kingdom of God, they couldn't have been there without the "support team" functioning behind the lines.
Think of it like this. People form partnerships (or corporations) who share the same vision, the same objective and the same purpose in business. Each partner has a role to play. A "managing partner" may be the most visible in the partnership -- the one who is out front with the running of the business -- but he or she cannot accomplish the goals and objectives without the participation of the other partners. A corporation is nothing but a large partnership.
Della and I own stock in a corporation. When this corporation began its initial startup, in order to achieve the business objectives set forth by certain individuals with a vision, they needed startup capital. Della and I helped to provide some of that startup capital. We have become partners (stockholders) with the leaders of this corporation, and at some point to be determined in the future we will reap proportional rewards -- which are great -- because we (along with about 800 other partners (stockholders) helped to make it possible for this corporate partnership to achieve its business objectives.
The picture of this strategy for spreading the Gospel and enlarging the Kingdom of God became very clear for Della and me when we left Alaska and established a ministry base of operations at Trails' End in Post Falls, Idaho. A certain sister in the Lord saw what we were had set out to achieve and shared the same vision. There wasn't any way she could fund that objective on her own, but she began to contribute a regular monthly amount in order to partner with us. It wasn't long before another person joined her. During our years at Trails' End, had it not been for the faithfulness of these two people (whose combined giving made all the difference in the world, we would have been hard pressed to accomplish the things that took place. One of those two people has since changed addresses and gone on to be with the Lord, but the other continues to this day to partner with us in ministry. In the years since, we've had others who've participated to a lesser degree.
Are you beginning to get the idea? Folks don't partner together in things they don't agree with, or pursue together because they have common understanding and goals for the partnership. Just as folks partner together with us because they see the vision of our ministry and share the same goals of the Gospel, we likewise partner together with others in ministry. That partnership makes both those who partner with us, and we who partner with others recipients of the blessings, the rewards and the gifts and anointings of the Holy Spirit that are part of the overall benefits package for partnership.
Let me describe it like this. For more than 40 years Kenneth and Gloria Copeland have labored tirelessly in the Gospel. I doubt that it is possible to count the number of people (it's in the tens of millions) who've come to know Jesus Christ personally as a direct result of their ministry. Roughly five or six years ago, Della and I began partnering with their ministry. By that I mean that we have contributed financially and in other ways to KCM on a regular basis. Our financial contribution helps them to continue in their ministry -- just as the contributions of hundreds of thousands of others. We're like a corporation. We jointly share in the cost of the ministry, and we jointly share in God's rewards. We likewise share in the anointing that comes with this ministry.
Kenneth and Gloria could not possibly achieve what they do except with the partnering of the many thousands who enable them to fulfill God's calling upon their lives. KCM employs some 500-plus people (to the best of my recollection) who provide the support mechanism for their worldwide outreach. Many of those people are full-time pastors, evangelists, teachers or even folks with apostolic or prophetic anointings. Now KCM is no longer just Kenneth and Gloria; it is the huge support ministry that goes on behind the scenes enabling far more ministry than Kenneth and Gloria could possibly accomplish by themselves. And our partnership -- along with that of the thousands of other partners enables all of this. Although God hasn't sent us to do what Kenneth and Gloria do, we share their vision, and we get to be a part of what they do by partnering together.
I can't tell you how many times -- ad nauseam -- folks complain about "all that money" that goes into ministries like KCM, Creflo Dollar Ministries, Bill Winston Ministries, Jesse Duplantis Ministries, Joyce Meyer Ministries, and the host of other like ministries that spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Somehow people who complain about "all that money" fail to look at the whole picture. They don't understand that this is a Biblical principle that the apostle Paul both taught and practiced. Take it one step farther. Jesus was being partnered with during his 3 1/2 years of public ministry.
Have a look at Luke 8:1-3: "And it came to pass afterward, that he went throughout every city and village, preaching and showing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God: and the twelve were with him, And certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils, And Joanna the wife of Chuza Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others, which ministered unto him of their substance."
This is extraordinary when you realize that Jesus could have funded His own ministry on his own out of the wealth and riches He possessed. You'll recall the gifts of the magi that were brought to Jesus shortly after His birth. Gold was one of the gifts, and it was given to Him in abundance. We once calculated the value of the gold given Him in today's money (based on historical records and the traditions of the day) and using conservative estimates calculated it to be not less than $120 Million. Yet Paul tells us that Jesus took poverty upon Himself.
II Corinthians 8:9 tells us, "For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became (or took on Himself) poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich."
"Though He was rich" Jesus walked away from His earthly wealth for our sakes so that we could be rich. Although Jesus could have drawn from His own finances to minister for the three and a half years of public ministry, He had to demonstrate for those who followed after Him the picture of partnership. And that's exactly what He did. Mary, Martha, Lazarus, Mary Magdalene, Joanna, "and many others" partnered with Him joyfully. It was their pleasure to minister to Jesus of their substance, their wealth, their possessions, and Jesus never lacked at any time for anything. Whatever Jesus walked away from in terms of his own wealth, He certainly never did without during His years of ministry -- and that's the pattern He established.
Partnership, you see, takes it out of the realm of being a "one man show" and creates a teamwork effort where there the Law of Agreement is at work, where love is being manifested, where the power of the Holy Spirit is being demonstrated, and where people can see Heaven on display. This is absolutely fundamental to the economy of God's Kingdom. Everything He does, He does in partnership with us. Everything we do, therefore, should show that fact.
Dad used to say to me (and I've heard Jesse Duplantis say the same thing), "I don't need to share our needs; I only need to share the vision." When folks get hold of the vision and they see what the Holy Spirit is out to accomplish, that vision just explodes in them and they want to be a part. They begin to give out of their substance, and the Lord multiplies their giving back to them. It's the Law of Seedtime and Harvest at work.
I'd intended to take you into an illustration of partnership in the apostle Paul's ministry, but think I'll hold it for our next discussion. This Coffee Break has waited a long time for publication and with any success I'll be able to get it out this weekend with a follow-up in a few days. Our next discussion on partnership will wrap up -- at least for now -- this series on Kingdom Economics. The Lord has literally been pouring revelation into me concerning the Table of the Lord (communion) and its importance and relevance for us today as believers in Jesus Christ.
For more than 9 months, we have been sharing around the Table of the Lord every Sunday at River Worship Center, and just when we think we've about covered it the Holy Spirit downloads more revelation. I'd like to begin sharing some of that with you.
See you again in a few days.
He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. (Sir Isaac Newton)
The Blessing of the Lord: it makes rich and He adds no painful toil and sorrow! (Proverbs 10:22)
Be blessed!
Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
RIVER WORSHIP CENTER
455 North River Road
Prosser, Washington 99350-6554
(509) 781-6099
All Coffee Break articles are copyright by Regner A. Capener, but authorization for reprinting, reposting, copying or re-use, in whole or in part, is granted – provided proper attribution and this notice are included intact. Coffee Break archives are now available at http://regnersrangers.multiply.com/journal/ and are being added at http://www.AnotherCoffeeBreak.com. Coffee Break articles are published weekly.
If you would like to have these articles arrive each morning in your email, please send a blank email to: Subscribe@AnotherCoffeeBreak.com. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to Unsubscribe@AnotherCoffeeBreak.com.
CAPENER MINISTRIES is a tax-exempt church ministry. Should you desire to participate and covenant with us as partners in this ministry, please contact us at either of the above email or physical addresses, or visit http://www.CapenerMinistries.com.
When we began our last Coffee Break, I started to tell you about a personal experience that opened my eyes to the importance of "partnering" as a Kingdom principle, but never got back to share the events that generated the revelation in me. Instead we talked about the foundation of partnership and the fact that it all begins with a covenant we have with the Lord Jesus Christ.
This, by the way, is my third effort to get this Coffee Break out. My first two efforts crashed and burned. In fact, this Coffee Break was ready to post about three weeks ago when my computer crashed and inexplicably deleted the entire file. I've never had anything like that happen before and I'm still mystified as to what caused it. Anyway, onward and upward!
A covenant is more than a contract: it is a life-and-death agreement (with severe consequences for the breaching of it) between two or more parties who, despite the fact that they may not normally be equals, treat each other as though they were equals. It takes each other's strengths and weaknesses and combines them in such a way that the weaknesses or needs of each other are shored up by the strengths of the other. Thus, the covenant makes them partners in a true sense of the word. Whatever successes one has, whatever authority one has, whatever power one has accrues to the other individual's credit. There are some powerful examples in the Word of this, and I'll get there shortly, but let me take you into some things that Della and I experienced.
Oh, and by the way, Good Morning! Blessings on you!
Let's see......yup, coffee's on! Last one to the French Press gets the grounds. Hehehehehehe........
In previous Coffee Breaks, I've shared with you the experiences with my parents, watching them live a life of constant miracles, building churches in the arctic and establishing ministries in difficult places and under near-impossible conditions. I knew there were individuals and churches who contributed regularly to their ministry, but somehow never connected the principle of partnership with their successes.
There were times when Dad took on building projects because of the instruction of the Lord; and he would begin planning, doing the engineering and design work, laying out every aspect of a new church building and making preparation for it without a dime in the bank toward its construction. It was in the spring and summer of 1960 that Dad began to make preparation for our move from Barrow to Wainwright, Alaska to build a church there, and then onward to Point Hope, farther down the coast. He had his rulers and compass and drawing tools laid out on the kitchen table. Day after day he would draw, erase and re-draw, think and re-think various aspects of the building design.
'Scuse me for digressing, but you'll appreciate the fact that in the arctic, we didn't have the luxury of the utilities we all take for granted such as electricity, running water, sewer systems, central heating and air-conditioning, etc. That meant that if we were going to have any semblance of those amenities, some rather extraordinary engineering had to be done. Hohohohoho..... Yup! Let's see....flush toilets. Umm....Nope! How about honey buckets? You know what those are, right? We don't have to get into the specifics.
Anyway, Dad wanted to provide some of the amenities of civilization so he designed a huge water tank for our furnace room (we heated by coal in the arctic), ran a pipe and coil in the firepot of the furnace so as to get hot water and plumbed the sinks so we could have some semblance of running water. Most of the running, though, was me (or my brother) going outside to chop blocks of ice that we hauled in either from the fresh-water ice floating in the ocean or cut from one of the nearby lakes. We brought those blocks of ice and dumped them into the tank to melt at room temperature. As the ice melted, it created a reservoir of fresh water that could be pumped throughout the house and church.
Until some bright inventor came up with the idea of propane-fired toilets that consumed the waste (now you know what it means to sit on "the hot seat" Hehehehehehe.....) the honey bucket was the mode for toilets. As they filled, we dumped them into 53-gallon oil drums which froze. In the Spring the drums would be carried out onto the ocean ice to wait for breakup, and they would fall into the ocean as the ocean ice melted or broke. Anyway, you get the idea.
For the first years in the arctic, electricity was pretty much non-existent unless you used a gasoline or diesel generator, and the cost of getting fuel into the arctic was almost prohibitive. So our electricity -- Dad was determined that we would have electricity -- consisted of a wind generator that put out 32-volts DC and charged up a bank of batteries big enough to fill up the eight-foot bed of a pickup truck. If the wind didn't blow for more than a week (and sometimes it would be still for 10 days-to-two weeks) kerosene lanterns provided our light. If we needed to listen to the radio, we had to use a 110-volt inverter to power it from the 32-volt DC supply.
I'm sort of sidetracked here, but you get the picture. Dad would spend weeks preparing for the building of a new church, laying out every detail without a dime towards its construction. As soon as he was ready, he would place the order for the supplies -- again, with little or no funds on hand.
I'm missing one element here. Dad always communicated with his "partners." He would write letters to the individuals and churches who had been faithfully supporting him and Mom throughout the years, and share with them both the Word of the Lord that had come to him, and the vision God had given him for the future. He never asked for money; he just shared the vision. Dad's favorite saying was, "Whatever God orders, He pays for." If folks saw the vision and the Holy Spirit prompted them, they would give -- and sometimes very generously.
Without fail, God would put it on the hearts of certain individuals to "communicate" (as the apostle Paul put it -- see Philippians 4:15)) out of their substance with my folks. They would send gifts that ranged from $15 or $20 all the way into the thousands. When the bills came due for the materials and supplies Dad ordered, the money was always in the bank in a timely manner and every bill was promptly paid.
There were a few individuals throughout the years whose giving was both consistent and generous. I'd venture to say that while there were probably hundreds of individuals who gave sporadically, there were probably not more than a dozen who gave largely and consistently. These were folks who understood the principle of partnership. They knew Dad and Mom had been commissioned to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ into parts of the world where the Gospel simply was not being preached or compromised to such a degree that Christianity was only a word, a doctrine, a religion -- NOT a reality.
These "partners" also understood that it took finances to accomplish what my folks were doing and that without financial partnering, things would coming to a standstill. They also understood that if they "partnered" with my parents, they had an equal share of the reaping. Though our family was on the front lines of the apostolic effort to expand the Kingdom of God, they couldn't have been there without the "support team" functioning behind the lines.
Think of it like this. People form partnerships (or corporations) who share the same vision, the same objective and the same purpose in business. Each partner has a role to play. A "managing partner" may be the most visible in the partnership -- the one who is out front with the running of the business -- but he or she cannot accomplish the goals and objectives without the participation of the other partners. A corporation is nothing but a large partnership.
Della and I own stock in a corporation. When this corporation began its initial startup, in order to achieve the business objectives set forth by certain individuals with a vision, they needed startup capital. Della and I helped to provide some of that startup capital. We have become partners (stockholders) with the leaders of this corporation, and at some point to be determined in the future we will reap proportional rewards -- which are great -- because we (along with about 800 other partners (stockholders) helped to make it possible for this corporate partnership to achieve its business objectives.
The picture of this strategy for spreading the Gospel and enlarging the Kingdom of God became very clear for Della and me when we left Alaska and established a ministry base of operations at Trails' End in Post Falls, Idaho. A certain sister in the Lord saw what we were had set out to achieve and shared the same vision. There wasn't any way she could fund that objective on her own, but she began to contribute a regular monthly amount in order to partner with us. It wasn't long before another person joined her. During our years at Trails' End, had it not been for the faithfulness of these two people (whose combined giving made all the difference in the world, we would have been hard pressed to accomplish the things that took place. One of those two people has since changed addresses and gone on to be with the Lord, but the other continues to this day to partner with us in ministry. In the years since, we've had others who've participated to a lesser degree.
Are you beginning to get the idea? Folks don't partner together in things they don't agree with, or pursue together because they have common understanding and goals for the partnership. Just as folks partner together with us because they see the vision of our ministry and share the same goals of the Gospel, we likewise partner together with others in ministry. That partnership makes both those who partner with us, and we who partner with others recipients of the blessings, the rewards and the gifts and anointings of the Holy Spirit that are part of the overall benefits package for partnership.
Let me describe it like this. For more than 40 years Kenneth and Gloria Copeland have labored tirelessly in the Gospel. I doubt that it is possible to count the number of people (it's in the tens of millions) who've come to know Jesus Christ personally as a direct result of their ministry. Roughly five or six years ago, Della and I began partnering with their ministry. By that I mean that we have contributed financially and in other ways to KCM on a regular basis. Our financial contribution helps them to continue in their ministry -- just as the contributions of hundreds of thousands of others. We're like a corporation. We jointly share in the cost of the ministry, and we jointly share in God's rewards. We likewise share in the anointing that comes with this ministry.
Kenneth and Gloria could not possibly achieve what they do except with the partnering of the many thousands who enable them to fulfill God's calling upon their lives. KCM employs some 500-plus people (to the best of my recollection) who provide the support mechanism for their worldwide outreach. Many of those people are full-time pastors, evangelists, teachers or even folks with apostolic or prophetic anointings. Now KCM is no longer just Kenneth and Gloria; it is the huge support ministry that goes on behind the scenes enabling far more ministry than Kenneth and Gloria could possibly accomplish by themselves. And our partnership -- along with that of the thousands of other partners enables all of this. Although God hasn't sent us to do what Kenneth and Gloria do, we share their vision, and we get to be a part of what they do by partnering together.
I can't tell you how many times -- ad nauseam -- folks complain about "all that money" that goes into ministries like KCM, Creflo Dollar Ministries, Bill Winston Ministries, Jesse Duplantis Ministries, Joyce Meyer Ministries, and the host of other like ministries that spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Somehow people who complain about "all that money" fail to look at the whole picture. They don't understand that this is a Biblical principle that the apostle Paul both taught and practiced. Take it one step farther. Jesus was being partnered with during his 3 1/2 years of public ministry.
Have a look at Luke 8:1-3: "And it came to pass afterward, that he went throughout every city and village, preaching and showing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God: and the twelve were with him, And certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils, And Joanna the wife of Chuza Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others, which ministered unto him of their substance."
This is extraordinary when you realize that Jesus could have funded His own ministry on his own out of the wealth and riches He possessed. You'll recall the gifts of the magi that were brought to Jesus shortly after His birth. Gold was one of the gifts, and it was given to Him in abundance. We once calculated the value of the gold given Him in today's money (based on historical records and the traditions of the day) and using conservative estimates calculated it to be not less than $120 Million. Yet Paul tells us that Jesus took poverty upon Himself.
II Corinthians 8:9 tells us, "For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became (or took on Himself) poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich."
"Though He was rich" Jesus walked away from His earthly wealth for our sakes so that we could be rich. Although Jesus could have drawn from His own finances to minister for the three and a half years of public ministry, He had to demonstrate for those who followed after Him the picture of partnership. And that's exactly what He did. Mary, Martha, Lazarus, Mary Magdalene, Joanna, "and many others" partnered with Him joyfully. It was their pleasure to minister to Jesus of their substance, their wealth, their possessions, and Jesus never lacked at any time for anything. Whatever Jesus walked away from in terms of his own wealth, He certainly never did without during His years of ministry -- and that's the pattern He established.
Partnership, you see, takes it out of the realm of being a "one man show" and creates a teamwork effort where there the Law of Agreement is at work, where love is being manifested, where the power of the Holy Spirit is being demonstrated, and where people can see Heaven on display. This is absolutely fundamental to the economy of God's Kingdom. Everything He does, He does in partnership with us. Everything we do, therefore, should show that fact.
Dad used to say to me (and I've heard Jesse Duplantis say the same thing), "I don't need to share our needs; I only need to share the vision." When folks get hold of the vision and they see what the Holy Spirit is out to accomplish, that vision just explodes in them and they want to be a part. They begin to give out of their substance, and the Lord multiplies their giving back to them. It's the Law of Seedtime and Harvest at work.
I'd intended to take you into an illustration of partnership in the apostle Paul's ministry, but think I'll hold it for our next discussion. This Coffee Break has waited a long time for publication and with any success I'll be able to get it out this weekend with a follow-up in a few days. Our next discussion on partnership will wrap up -- at least for now -- this series on Kingdom Economics. The Lord has literally been pouring revelation into me concerning the Table of the Lord (communion) and its importance and relevance for us today as believers in Jesus Christ.
For more than 9 months, we have been sharing around the Table of the Lord every Sunday at River Worship Center, and just when we think we've about covered it the Holy Spirit downloads more revelation. I'd like to begin sharing some of that with you.
See you again in a few days.
He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. (Sir Isaac Newton)
The Blessing of the Lord: it makes rich and He adds no painful toil and sorrow! (Proverbs 10:22)
Be blessed!
Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
RIVER WORSHIP CENTER
455 North River Road
Prosser, Washington 99350-6554
(509) 781-6099
All Coffee Break articles are copyright by Regner A. Capener, but authorization for reprinting, reposting, copying or re-use, in whole or in part, is granted – provided proper attribution and this notice are included intact. Coffee Break archives are now available at http://regnersrangers.multiply.com/journal/ and are being added at http://www.AnotherCoffeeBreak.com. Coffee Break articles are published weekly.
If you would like to have these articles arrive each morning in your email, please send a blank email to: Subscribe@AnotherCoffeeBreak.com. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to Unsubscribe@AnotherCoffeeBreak.com.
CAPENER MINISTRIES is a tax-exempt church ministry. Should you desire to participate and covenant with us as partners in this ministry, please contact us at either of the above email or physical addresses, or visit http://www.CapenerMinistries.com.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
ANOTHER COFFEE BREAK: KINGDOM ECONOMICS XXXVIII
KINGDOM ECONOMICS XXXVIII
Coffee's on, folks! Good Morning!
There's an absolutely heavenly aroma filling my office right now. Although the French Press is full and running over, it's the Expresso machine that steaming away on some of that Double-Roast French we picked up at Winco Foods. Mmmmm....Mmmmm Good!
The concept of partnership in ministry is one I've been somewhat aware of for many years, but I'd have to admit that it wasn't until some 16 or 17 years ago or so that I really became aware of its importance in spreading the Gospel. Both Della and I had left our "professional" occupations to travel, sharing the concept of ministering praise and worship to the Lord -- not just singing songs and making music, but making worship our first priority ahead of everything else.
When you transition from six-figure incomes to nothing -- nothing, that is, from a guaranteed paycheck perspective -- things tend to get a bit hairy at first. You'd better know you have a Word from the Lord before you make that kind of move -- and then you have to be prepared to trust the Lord absolutely as the source of your provision.
Let me digress (or appear to) for a minute. We are supposed to live our lives as believers in Christ Jesus with absolute trust and faith in His Word. We are not supposed to trust our jobs AND the Lord; nor are we to trust our "natural" skills or abilities AND the Lord; nor are we to trust our academic training AND the Lord.
Get it? Once we transfer our citizenship from this natural, earthly realm to the Kingdom of God, the entire economy changes. The entire mode of living changes. We don't have the luxury of depending on our own wisdom, our own understanding or our own training. From a Kingdom of God perspective, that is "evil." Fact is, it is idolatry. It puts our natural wisdom, understanding or abilities on par with God. We effectively worship those things.
What was it that was written in Proverbs?
"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways, acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes; fear the Lord and depart from evil. It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones." (Proverbs 3:5-8)
So how is it that we can hear this Word, read this Word repeatedly and continually miss its significance? The truth is that we've been programmed by the society in which we live to trust in ourselves and our own abilities. Human nature -- unredeemed human nature, that is -- worships itself. This is the essence of secular humanism. We make ourselves to be god over God, and the reason is because we've all been programmed with a sin nature.
Satan's most skillful tactic is to convince us that no matter what God has done for others He won't do for us. We can't really believe His Word. The body of Christ has been fed doctrines of demons for centuries -- so much so that it is in our DNA to doubt God. Unbelief permeates the body of Christ.
In the fourth century AD, to compensate for the fact that many of the would-be leaders in the body of Christ had so shifted away from the truth of God's Word that the power of the Holy Spirit was absent, and there was no demonstration -- as Paul put it -- "of the Spirit and power", a demonic doctrine we know today as "cessationism" began to be promoted. That doctrine essentially stated that the gifts of the Spirit died out with the apostles. Thus these leaders were able to skillfully deflect criticism of the fact that they themselves lacked the power.
Then another doctrine we know as "dispensationalism" got added to the mix. That doctrine stated that God moved in certain ways during certain eras: that what He did in certain ages past He wasn't doing today; and that there was no need to expect God to do those things. This doctrine -- like cessationism -- excused the fact that people weren't seeing God move through them as in previous times.
This doctrine drew on the KJV translation of the Greek word, oikonomia: which is more accurately translated: administration [of an economy], to oversee, to distribute. Coupled together with the Greek kairos (occasion, opportunity, proper time, always) folks jumped on the coupling of the two words to imply something that isn't there. Notice that kairos is used in the Greek text of Ephesians 1:10 rather than chronos: a fixed or set period of time.
This is the only place in Scripture where you have the coupling of a Greek word for "time" and "administration." Nearly the whole cloth of the argument for "dispensationalism" is predicated on Ephesians 1:10; and yet the word, oikonomia appears nine times (and its root, oikonomos, ten times) in the N.T. used in a very different context. (Sorry. Didn't mean to get sidetracked with this stuff!)
These doctrines of demons -- and that's what they are -- directly contradict what Jesus said and did. They directly oppose His promises to the believer. They are designed to excuse away our lack of understanding of what it means to live in the Spirit, walk in the Spirit, and demonstrate the power of the Spirit. Let me illustrate.
"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." (Hebrews 13:8) He doesn't change. His Word doesn't change. His power and authority in us doesn't change. His promises never change. His commandments to us haven't changed. The Holy Spirit (who is One with Jesus Christ) hasn't lost any of His authority, power or attributes.
"And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen." (Matthew 28:18-20)
Question. How are you going to baptize or immerse someone into the onoma -- the character, the personality, the makeup or the very essence -- of the Holy Spirit if there's no demonstration of the Spirit and power? It all becomes academic. It's all talk with no evidentiary power to back up what we say!
Try this one on for size! How are you going to teach believers to "observe [tereo: to keep, to prevent from escaping] all things whatsoever I have commanded you" if the demonstration of the Spirit through the promised gifts of the Spirit (healing, deliverance, miracles, speaking in previously unlearned tongues or languages, the giving of prophetic words, words of knowledge or words of wisdom) are absent?
Then there's Jesus' command with promise.
"And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover." (Mark 16:15-18)
Hmmmmm..... Somehow Jesus forgot to say that "these signs shall follow them that believe, but only up to the end of the first century." He didn't say that, did He? Well then, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever -- except when it comes to keeping His promises to "them that believe." No? You're right! The Scripture doesn't say that! He's the same forever, PERIOD!
Right! And that's why the apostle Paul declared that "For all the promises of God in him [Christ Jesus] are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us." (II Corinthians 1:20)
Get it? Every promise God has ever made to us is available yesterday, today and forever through Christ Jesus. The why is easy! All the promises of God are made available to us so that God receives the glory BY US!
Wheww! Boy, did I ever take a side-trip! But it isn't so much a side-trip as it appears. We started talking about partnership, and I want to amplify this concept for your understanding as an economic principle of the Kingdom of God. Let's go back to a command that God gave to His people.
"But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day." (Deuteronomy 8:18)
This is the picture of partnership. God gives us power to get wealth. We gain wealth through His empowerment and covenant with us. The world looks on and sees what God is doing in us and desires what we have.
(Note: Brother, has this concept ever been reversed in the minds of many Christians by another of those doctrines of demons! Christians look at the world's wealth and desire what the world has because of a spirit of poverty that rules them.)
But what we have is not just for our own consumption. The Kingdom of God is spread and multiplied by the Holy Spirit-instructed use of resources: physical, financial and material. We therefore become partners with God. He gives us power to get wealth. We in turn use that wealth for His Kingdom. When God's people become the source of wealth instead of the recipients of handouts, God gets the glory. So long as we are "handout" minded, we are of no use to the Kingdom of God, and He receives no glory from us.
The purpose of partnership with God in wealth and finance is -- as He clearly states -- "that He may establish His Covenant" which He swore to our father (of faith), Abraham. God made a covenant with Abraham. That covenant ensured that Abraham would be blessed -- spiritually, physically, materially, financially, and in every conceivable way -- and that he, in turn, would be a blessing: that through him and his seed all nations of the earth would be blessed.
We are the seed of Abraham by faith. Here is how Paul expressed it when writing to the Galatians.
"Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.
"For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith. And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them." (Galatians 3:6-12)
But the blessing of Abraham isn't just a promise: it is a covenant. It is a covenant between partners. And a covenant is not something any law can supersede or disannul. So Paul continues his explanation.
"Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; Though it be but a man’s covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto.
"Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect. For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise." (Galatians 3:13-18)
Understand?
Our partnership with God in this blessing of Abraham is twofold:
(1) We agree to agree in all things with the Lord by faith. We uphold His Word -- all of it: not just the parts we agree with or find doctrinally comfortable. We agree to be His representative in the earth. We agree to demonstrate His love using all the resources He makes available.
We agree to manifest His character, His integrity, His authority and power; and we agree to show the world that God is a God of abundance -- NOT poverty and need! We agree to use the resources He gives in such a way that He receives the glory, and the world at large sees the benefit of our covenant with Him.
(2) God, in turn, covenants to bless us in all things and in all areas of life. He empowers us to become rich and to get wealth. He promises us long life. He not only provides us with health and wholeness in our physical beings, He also gives us supernatural strength and healing for those times when we are attacked by disease, infirmity, illness or weakness. On top of all that, He provides deliverance and protection from all our enemies.
But there's another dimension to this. Part of what Paul describes in our new covenant, ratified by Jesus Christ with His blood, is "that we might receive the promise (epaggelo: to announce and assert; a divine pledge or guarantee) of the Spirit through faith."
That's what gives us the open door into the dimension of what we would refer to as "the supernatural." This is where we gain the ability and empowerment to show our partnership with the Lord in demonstrating His love for others by healing the sick, raising the dead, cleansing the lepers, casting out demons and bringing spiritual restoration to folks in dire circumstances. This is the realm where the empowerment comes to see the establishment of the covenant that God made with our faith forefather, Abraham.
If we're going to walk in our covenant partnership with God, we have to be ready to embrace wholeheartedly all that this realm requires, all that it may potentially cost us, AND -- wonder of wonders -- the blessing of wealth in order that God receives the kind of glory He deserves.
There's more to come on this, folks! We'll pick it up here next time.
He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. (Sir Isaac Newton)
The Blessing of the Lord: it makes rich and He adds no painful toil and sorrow! (Proverbs 10:22)
Be blessed!
Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
RIVER WORSHIP CENTER
455 North River Road
Prosser, Washington 99350-6554
(509) 781-6099
All Coffee Break articles are copyright by Regner A. Capener, but authorization for reprinting, reposting, copying or re-use, in whole or in part, is granted – provided proper attribution and this notice are included intact. Coffee Break archives are now available at http://regnersrangers.multiply.com/journal/ and are being added at http://www.AnotherCoffeeBreak.com. Coffee Break articles are published weekly.
If you would like to have these articles arrive each morning in your email, please send a blank email to: Subscribe@AnotherCoffeeBreak.com. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to Unsubscribe@AnotherCoffeeBreak.com.
CAPENER MINISTRIES is a tax-exempt church ministry. Should you desire to participate and covenant with us as partners in this ministry, please contact us at either of the above email or physical addresses, or visit http://www.CapenerMinistries.com.
Coffee's on, folks! Good Morning!
There's an absolutely heavenly aroma filling my office right now. Although the French Press is full and running over, it's the Expresso machine that steaming away on some of that Double-Roast French we picked up at Winco Foods. Mmmmm....Mmmmm Good!
The concept of partnership in ministry is one I've been somewhat aware of for many years, but I'd have to admit that it wasn't until some 16 or 17 years ago or so that I really became aware of its importance in spreading the Gospel. Both Della and I had left our "professional" occupations to travel, sharing the concept of ministering praise and worship to the Lord -- not just singing songs and making music, but making worship our first priority ahead of everything else.
When you transition from six-figure incomes to nothing -- nothing, that is, from a guaranteed paycheck perspective -- things tend to get a bit hairy at first. You'd better know you have a Word from the Lord before you make that kind of move -- and then you have to be prepared to trust the Lord absolutely as the source of your provision.
Let me digress (or appear to) for a minute. We are supposed to live our lives as believers in Christ Jesus with absolute trust and faith in His Word. We are not supposed to trust our jobs AND the Lord; nor are we to trust our "natural" skills or abilities AND the Lord; nor are we to trust our academic training AND the Lord.
Get it? Once we transfer our citizenship from this natural, earthly realm to the Kingdom of God, the entire economy changes. The entire mode of living changes. We don't have the luxury of depending on our own wisdom, our own understanding or our own training. From a Kingdom of God perspective, that is "evil." Fact is, it is idolatry. It puts our natural wisdom, understanding or abilities on par with God. We effectively worship those things.
What was it that was written in Proverbs?
"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways, acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes; fear the Lord and depart from evil. It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones." (Proverbs 3:5-8)
So how is it that we can hear this Word, read this Word repeatedly and continually miss its significance? The truth is that we've been programmed by the society in which we live to trust in ourselves and our own abilities. Human nature -- unredeemed human nature, that is -- worships itself. This is the essence of secular humanism. We make ourselves to be god over God, and the reason is because we've all been programmed with a sin nature.
Satan's most skillful tactic is to convince us that no matter what God has done for others He won't do for us. We can't really believe His Word. The body of Christ has been fed doctrines of demons for centuries -- so much so that it is in our DNA to doubt God. Unbelief permeates the body of Christ.
In the fourth century AD, to compensate for the fact that many of the would-be leaders in the body of Christ had so shifted away from the truth of God's Word that the power of the Holy Spirit was absent, and there was no demonstration -- as Paul put it -- "of the Spirit and power", a demonic doctrine we know today as "cessationism" began to be promoted. That doctrine essentially stated that the gifts of the Spirit died out with the apostles. Thus these leaders were able to skillfully deflect criticism of the fact that they themselves lacked the power.
Then another doctrine we know as "dispensationalism" got added to the mix. That doctrine stated that God moved in certain ways during certain eras: that what He did in certain ages past He wasn't doing today; and that there was no need to expect God to do those things. This doctrine -- like cessationism -- excused the fact that people weren't seeing God move through them as in previous times.
This doctrine drew on the KJV translation of the Greek word, oikonomia: which is more accurately translated: administration [of an economy], to oversee, to distribute. Coupled together with the Greek kairos (occasion, opportunity, proper time, always) folks jumped on the coupling of the two words to imply something that isn't there. Notice that kairos is used in the Greek text of Ephesians 1:10 rather than chronos: a fixed or set period of time.
This is the only place in Scripture where you have the coupling of a Greek word for "time" and "administration." Nearly the whole cloth of the argument for "dispensationalism" is predicated on Ephesians 1:10; and yet the word, oikonomia appears nine times (and its root, oikonomos, ten times) in the N.T. used in a very different context. (Sorry. Didn't mean to get sidetracked with this stuff!)
These doctrines of demons -- and that's what they are -- directly contradict what Jesus said and did. They directly oppose His promises to the believer. They are designed to excuse away our lack of understanding of what it means to live in the Spirit, walk in the Spirit, and demonstrate the power of the Spirit. Let me illustrate.
"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." (Hebrews 13:8) He doesn't change. His Word doesn't change. His power and authority in us doesn't change. His promises never change. His commandments to us haven't changed. The Holy Spirit (who is One with Jesus Christ) hasn't lost any of His authority, power or attributes.
"And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen." (Matthew 28:18-20)
Question. How are you going to baptize or immerse someone into the onoma -- the character, the personality, the makeup or the very essence -- of the Holy Spirit if there's no demonstration of the Spirit and power? It all becomes academic. It's all talk with no evidentiary power to back up what we say!
Try this one on for size! How are you going to teach believers to "observe [tereo: to keep, to prevent from escaping] all things whatsoever I have commanded you" if the demonstration of the Spirit through the promised gifts of the Spirit (healing, deliverance, miracles, speaking in previously unlearned tongues or languages, the giving of prophetic words, words of knowledge or words of wisdom) are absent?
Then there's Jesus' command with promise.
"And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover." (Mark 16:15-18)
Hmmmmm..... Somehow Jesus forgot to say that "these signs shall follow them that believe, but only up to the end of the first century." He didn't say that, did He? Well then, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever -- except when it comes to keeping His promises to "them that believe." No? You're right! The Scripture doesn't say that! He's the same forever, PERIOD!
Right! And that's why the apostle Paul declared that "For all the promises of God in him [Christ Jesus] are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us." (II Corinthians 1:20)
Get it? Every promise God has ever made to us is available yesterday, today and forever through Christ Jesus. The why is easy! All the promises of God are made available to us so that God receives the glory BY US!
Wheww! Boy, did I ever take a side-trip! But it isn't so much a side-trip as it appears. We started talking about partnership, and I want to amplify this concept for your understanding as an economic principle of the Kingdom of God. Let's go back to a command that God gave to His people.
"But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day." (Deuteronomy 8:18)
This is the picture of partnership. God gives us power to get wealth. We gain wealth through His empowerment and covenant with us. The world looks on and sees what God is doing in us and desires what we have.
(Note: Brother, has this concept ever been reversed in the minds of many Christians by another of those doctrines of demons! Christians look at the world's wealth and desire what the world has because of a spirit of poverty that rules them.)
But what we have is not just for our own consumption. The Kingdom of God is spread and multiplied by the Holy Spirit-instructed use of resources: physical, financial and material. We therefore become partners with God. He gives us power to get wealth. We in turn use that wealth for His Kingdom. When God's people become the source of wealth instead of the recipients of handouts, God gets the glory. So long as we are "handout" minded, we are of no use to the Kingdom of God, and He receives no glory from us.
The purpose of partnership with God in wealth and finance is -- as He clearly states -- "that He may establish His Covenant" which He swore to our father (of faith), Abraham. God made a covenant with Abraham. That covenant ensured that Abraham would be blessed -- spiritually, physically, materially, financially, and in every conceivable way -- and that he, in turn, would be a blessing: that through him and his seed all nations of the earth would be blessed.
We are the seed of Abraham by faith. Here is how Paul expressed it when writing to the Galatians.
"Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.
"For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith. And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them." (Galatians 3:6-12)
But the blessing of Abraham isn't just a promise: it is a covenant. It is a covenant between partners. And a covenant is not something any law can supersede or disannul. So Paul continues his explanation.
"Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; Though it be but a man’s covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto.
"Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect. For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise." (Galatians 3:13-18)
Understand?
Our partnership with God in this blessing of Abraham is twofold:
(1) We agree to agree in all things with the Lord by faith. We uphold His Word -- all of it: not just the parts we agree with or find doctrinally comfortable. We agree to be His representative in the earth. We agree to demonstrate His love using all the resources He makes available.
We agree to manifest His character, His integrity, His authority and power; and we agree to show the world that God is a God of abundance -- NOT poverty and need! We agree to use the resources He gives in such a way that He receives the glory, and the world at large sees the benefit of our covenant with Him.
(2) God, in turn, covenants to bless us in all things and in all areas of life. He empowers us to become rich and to get wealth. He promises us long life. He not only provides us with health and wholeness in our physical beings, He also gives us supernatural strength and healing for those times when we are attacked by disease, infirmity, illness or weakness. On top of all that, He provides deliverance and protection from all our enemies.
But there's another dimension to this. Part of what Paul describes in our new covenant, ratified by Jesus Christ with His blood, is "that we might receive the promise (epaggelo: to announce and assert; a divine pledge or guarantee) of the Spirit through faith."
That's what gives us the open door into the dimension of what we would refer to as "the supernatural." This is where we gain the ability and empowerment to show our partnership with the Lord in demonstrating His love for others by healing the sick, raising the dead, cleansing the lepers, casting out demons and bringing spiritual restoration to folks in dire circumstances. This is the realm where the empowerment comes to see the establishment of the covenant that God made with our faith forefather, Abraham.
If we're going to walk in our covenant partnership with God, we have to be ready to embrace wholeheartedly all that this realm requires, all that it may potentially cost us, AND -- wonder of wonders -- the blessing of wealth in order that God receives the kind of glory He deserves.
There's more to come on this, folks! We'll pick it up here next time.
He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. (Sir Isaac Newton)
The Blessing of the Lord: it makes rich and He adds no painful toil and sorrow! (Proverbs 10:22)
Be blessed!
Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
RIVER WORSHIP CENTER
455 North River Road
Prosser, Washington 99350-6554
(509) 781-6099
All Coffee Break articles are copyright by Regner A. Capener, but authorization for reprinting, reposting, copying or re-use, in whole or in part, is granted – provided proper attribution and this notice are included intact. Coffee Break archives are now available at http://regnersrangers.multiply.com/journal/ and are being added at http://www.AnotherCoffeeBreak.com. Coffee Break articles are published weekly.
If you would like to have these articles arrive each morning in your email, please send a blank email to: Subscribe@AnotherCoffeeBreak.com. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to Unsubscribe@AnotherCoffeeBreak.com.
CAPENER MINISTRIES is a tax-exempt church ministry. Should you desire to participate and covenant with us as partners in this ministry, please contact us at either of the above email or physical addresses, or visit http://www.CapenerMinistries.com.
Monday, May 4, 2009
ANOTHER COFFEE BREAK: KINGDOM ECONOMICS XXXVII
KINGDOM ECONOMICS XXXVII
Greetings, Salutations, and the Blessing of the Lord to you!
Kitty and René Loyd are two of the funniest, and two of the most unusual people you could ever meet. During the 1960's and 70's -- and even into the 80's -- Kitty traveled around singing in different churches with a couple of ladies from Spokane, and she developed quite a reputation for her musical gifts as well as her sensitivity to the Holy Spirit. Some time in the future, perhaps, I will share some very funny anecdotes from Kitty's life.
More than 60 years ago she married René, a transplanted Frenchman whose life story all by itself would make a fabulous adventure volume. After many years in the Spokane area, they moved to Atlin, British Columbia -- a very remote mining community some 50 miles or so from the Alaska border -- where they established a base of operations for ministry beginning in 1979 and the early 1980's.
René has often shared with us his adventures during the Second World War when he was a member of the French Underground resistance movement. One story worth repeating here took place when he was on the run for his life from the Gestapo. René and a friend were hidden by a family in a barn. When they heard the sound of voices outside the barn they hid in some tall stacks of hay.
Someone had apparently seen René go into the barn and reported it to the Gestapo who had been doing a house-by-house or farm-by-farm search. When the Gestapo came into the barn, they began using their bayonets and stabbing at the piles of hay in search for René and his friend. René told us he began to pray like he'd never prayed in his life.
"Lord, if you deliver me from these Gestapo police and get me out of here alive, I'll serve you for the rest of my life."
Sure enough the bayonets were thrust into the haystack where René was hiding. He told us that they literally brushed up against him or the point of the bayonet came right to his chest on several tries. The Gestapo gave up and left the barn. Both René and his friend made it out of there alive and unharmed.
Here's an interesting tidbit for you. The 1965 movie, THE TRAIN, starred Burt Lancaster as Labiche, the French Railway inspector. The movie, parts of which were fictional, was based on real events. The real-life Inspector Labiche was René's supervisor or superior officer in the French Underground.
René kept his promise to the Lord and has been a faithful servant of Jesus Christ ever since. Kitty and René were an integral part of our spontaneous worship gatherings at Trails' End in Post Falls, Idaho during the 1990's. This past week, just shy of her 80th birthday, Kitty changed addresses and went home to be with the Lord. Though we will miss her for awhile, we look forward to seeing her and joining together in worshiping the Lord when we are all gathered together for the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. We'll be with René this next week -- and at 90 years of age he looks pretty much like he did at 60: strong and vibrant.
OK. That story had nothing to do with today's discussion on Kingdom Economics, but I couldn't let Kitty's passing go unnoticed because of the part she has played in our lives.
Good Morning! Good Morning! Good Morning! Coffee's on! The French Press is steeping right now with a blend of dark-roasted Rwandan and some very oily French Roast. Love that aroma!
A fair number of folks have responded to the last few Coffee Breaks in which I've noted how tithing -- and more accurately, seeing the tithe as the "God's holy portion" -- has been an integral part of God's economy from the time of the Garden of Eden to the present. Most of the responses have been appreciative because of the revelation of seeing the spiritual principle which far transcends the Law of Moses. A few, however, have offered some comments and questions that I should respond to in this Coffee Break since these are questions that many believers have.
Since I went through a period of time where I was personally caught with the serious misconception (Let's call it what it really is, folks! This is deception, pure and simple!) that because I was in the ministry, I was exempt from tithing. I felt that everything I earned from my various business ventures and everything that I received in the way of tithes and offerings from others was to be used however I saw fit and however the Lord directed me.
You see the twist don't you? In the role of priest, I receive (and was receiving) tithes from men and women. In the role of king, I earn (or was earning) a substantial income from my engineering skills, and talents in the business and banking world. I believed that it all went into one pot, and that I was to use it in the advancement of the Kingdom of God as directed by the Lord.
What I missed was the fact that even under the Law, priests paid tithes. They paid tithes to the High Priest. And the High Priest was required to tithe to the Lord. Very specific guidelines for tithing had been established.
With the Law fulfilled in Christ Jesus, many believers mistakenly relegate tithing to the Law, believing that it went away at the Cross. Yet Paul clearly states that while "here men that die receive tithes" (Hebrews 7:8 -- note the context in the present tense some thirty-plus years after the Cross), he goes on to say that "there He receives them, of Whom it is written that He lives."
Tithing, therefore, transcends the Law. It existed as far back as the Garden of Eden and it was demonstrated in Abraham 400-plus years before the Law of Moses was established. To not tithe, folks, is to rob God and touch the Holy Portion. To not tithe is to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil -- and that's exactly what I was doing: ignorantly, perhaps, but still doing it!
I saw the devourer rob me time after time after time and still didn't see the connection. For those of you who've read earlier parts of this discussion on Kingdom Economics, you'll recall my story of being robbed of $7 Million by a crooked banker who fled the country with commissions I'd earned over a period of two years in an investment operation on behalf of the Canadian government.
One story I haven't shared took place in the mid-1980's when Mel Fisher located and recovered the wrecks of the two Spanish galleons, the Atocha and the Santa Margarita. The treasure he recovered was valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Mel had a number of investors who were anxious to recover their investments in his diving and recovery operations, and he was in debt to them for tens of millions of dollars. (My memory tells me that he actually owed a total of around $250 Million.) Piecemealing the treasure out to various buyers would take a lot longer than the investors wanted, and Mel was anxious to get out from under the financial pressure.
He gave me an exclusive contract for the sale of the entire treasure. I had two potential buyers for it: the first being the Spanish government. King Juan Carlos of Spain was anxious to have the treasure back on Spanish soil because of the rich heritage and historical value it represented -- never mind its intrinsic worth. Mel wanted $400 million for the entire treasure intact. The Spanish government didn't feel it could drain its treasury of that amount and appealed to the Vatican for assistance. The Vatican agreed and I met with a representative to arrange for the transaction.
Once all the pieces of the transaction were in place and we were ready to complete it, Della and I flew to Los Angeles where the deal was to be consummated. Mel Fisher was ecstatic over the prospect of being able to complete. He called me at the hotel where we were staying and said he would arrange to fly us to Florida and take us out to the recovery site as soon as the deal completed. He even called me one morning at 4:00 AM excited over the fact that his team had just recovered the ship's compass from the Santa Margarita.
It was a giddy and almost ethereal atmosphere to think that we were less than 24 hours away from completing a historical sale. The fact that Mel was going to pay us a commission exceeding $10 Million from the proceeds was almost anti-climactic in view of the import of the moment.
Then the unthinkable took place. The agent representing the Vatican learned of our commission structure and got greedy. He called Mel and tried to get him to rescind his agreement with us, offering to do the deal for a smaller commission. Mel was incensed! He called me immediately and said, "How well do you know this guy?"
I told him that we'd only just met as a part of transacting this sale and that I'd never had any contact with him prior. "I won't do business with this man, Regner! He's a crook! He's trying to get me to eliminate you from the deal and I don't go back on my word, signed contract or not!"
It was a mark of Mel Fisher's character that we could really appreciate. Nevertheless, we just couldn't get another agent within Mel's needed time frame to consummate the deal with the Vatican and the transaction came to a sudden halt. Walt Disney's companies were interested in acquiring about $200 Million of the treasure to divide up at their theme parks for exhibition, but they weren't interested in an intact purchase. In the end, Mel wound up having to do what he didn't want to do: piecemeal the treasure through a fistful of small purchases and buyers. Years later, Della and I saw bits and pieces of the treasure in shops throughout the Caribbean.
We were robbed. Sure. We never actually had the money in our hot little hands, but Satan took advantage of the open door we'd provided him to effectively interfere in a business deal at the last possible second and block us from receiving what would have amounted to around $12 - 15 Million. We'd been touching the Holy Portion, and now our portion was being stolen and devoured.
It happened time and time again before we finally awakened to the fact that we were giving the Enemy a legal right to steal from us.
"But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day." (Deuteronomy 8:18)
There is a condition attached: Don't steal from God! If you do, you give the devourer the right to put holes in your pockets, rip your wallets apart, block you from receiving the wealth God has available and steal what you do have so that you live on the edge of nothingness! Wealth is made available and the power to get it is a gift from the Lord, but if we don't "remember" Him first, Satan comes along to prevent us from being the means by which God establishes His Covenant through us, with us, in us, and around us!
Once again as I've already said, my objective in sharing all this is not to hammer home some religious doctrine or ride some kind of hobby horse but rather to demonstrate that the Blessing of the Lord is directly tied to our recognition of and obedience to this very basic of spiritual principles. This is not about money -- even though money is involved. This is about walking in the Blessing and seeing it manifested tangibly.
This is about living as citizens of a Kingdom which is foreign to the kingdoms and thinking and reasoning of this world: the Kingdom of God.
There's one last aspect of this topic of tithing that I need to comment on before we move on. The Word has always been very clear on where the tithe belongs: the storehouse. This is a subject that often gets some Christians riled up when I talk about it, but we need to discuss this.
I can't tell you how many believers I've run into who think they have a right to delegate where their tithes are given. Now bear with me, folks. The Word of God gives very clear direction on this. What gets confused is the separation or distinction between "giving" and "tithing." They are not synonymous with each other.
Tithing -- the first ten percent of everything you receive -- goes to the storehouse. The Hebrew word translated "storehouse" in the Old Testament is: otsar: treasury, a repository for corn, food, provision, gold, silver and other precious things. We see this word, otsar, otherwise translated throughout the O.T. as "treasuries" or "treasury."
The New Testament Greek text uses the word: tameion. It parallels the Hebrew and adds the component "dispensary" to the above. Hence, the "storehouse" is a repository of provision ordered and ordained for dispensing food (both spiritual and physical) and provision (again, both spiritual and physical) by those in spiritual leadership.
Nowhere in the Word does God give permission -- much less instruction -- to the individual person as to the distribution of tithes. We are instructed to give our tithes to the repository or treasury which dispenses our spiritual food, nourishment and provision. For most folks, that represents the church body to which they are an integral part. If you are not part of a regular church, then you need to be a part of a home fellowship. If you are not connected on a daily and weekly basis to some body of believers, then you are starving spiritually.
There are many Christians who give, but don't tithe. Tithing, as I've already noted, is completely separate from giving. Giving, sowing seed and giving of offerings is a completely separate function of our spiritual lives -- and it is equally commanded -- but it does not do away with tithing.
We don't have the right to decide where our tithes go. That's clear in God's economy. It is a clear rule of Kingdom Economics. They go where we receive our spiritual nourishment. That is the fellowship or Ekklesia to which the Holy Spirit has joined us. Whoever leads that fellowship, church body or Ekklesia is tasked by the Holy Spirit with the responsibility of dispensing those tithes.
When we take upon ourselves the decision to choose where our tithes go, we effectively usurp God's authority. We usurp the Word, and we make ourselves God above the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus instructed His disciples to go forth in ministry without taking advantage of their business or economic skills and to receive their provision from those to whom they ministered. Twice He made the statement that "the laborer is worthy of his hire." (See Matthew 10:10 and Luke 10:7.) The Scriptural picture constantly demonstrates that those who minister the Gospel are to receive their provision from the tithe.
The apostle Paul notes the following:
"Do ye not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple? and they which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar? Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel." (I Corinthians 9:13-14)
The tithe, therefore, is designed first of all to make provision for those who "live of the Gospel." And they who live by their ministry in turn tithe to those from whom they receive. The priests always tithed to the High Priest. Ministers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ must likewise tithe to those who are their spiritual fathers or source of their continued growth.
It doesn't stop there, of course. Some time ago, Della and I made a covenant with the elders of our fellowship. Our income from River Worship Center is 10% -- the tithe -- of whatever comes in. If the fellowship receives $500 in a given week our income is $50 for that week. If the income is $3,000, we receive $300.
But we take it beyond that. No bills are paid until a second tithe is paid. That second tithe goes to one of the four major ministries with which we partner and participate. We do this on a rotating basis, week-by-week. Above and beyond that second tithe, we contribute to certain missions around the world and support certain missionaries. Above and beyond that we minister to the needs of individuals and families locally to whom the Holy Spirit directs us. Our objective as a fellowship is to consistently tithe 30% of our gross income. We haven't quite reached that level yet, but we continue to increase our tithing and giving, and the Lord continues to increase the income of the fellowship.
It works, folks! You just can't outgive God! When we are faithful to honor the Holy Portion, God is faithful to meet our every need. It never fails. We never have a month go by when the bills are unpaid and we are operating in deficit. Since we began operating this way, we've never had a deficit.
Next: The principle of partnership.
He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. (Sir Isaac Newton)
The Blessing of the Lord: it makes rich and He adds no painful toil and sorrow! (Proverbs 10:22)
Be blessed!
Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
RIVER WORSHIP CENTER
455 North River Road
Prosser, Washington 99350-6554
All Coffee Break articles are copyright by Regner A. Capener, but authorization for reprinting, reposting, copying or re-use, in whole or in part, is granted – provided proper attribution and this notice are included intact. Coffee Break archives are now available at http://regnersrangers.multiply.com/journal/ and are being added at http://www.AnotherCoffeeBreak.com. Coffee Break articles are normally published weekly.
If you would like to have these articles arrive each morning in your email, please send a blank email to: Subscribe@AnotherCoffeeBreak.com. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to Unsubscribe@AnotherCoffeeBreak.com.
CAPENER MINISTRIES is a tax-exempt church ministry. Should you desire to participate and covenant with us as partners in this ministry, please contact us at either of the above email or physical addresses, or visit http://www.CapenerMinistries.com.
Greetings, Salutations, and the Blessing of the Lord to you!
Kitty and René Loyd are two of the funniest, and two of the most unusual people you could ever meet. During the 1960's and 70's -- and even into the 80's -- Kitty traveled around singing in different churches with a couple of ladies from Spokane, and she developed quite a reputation for her musical gifts as well as her sensitivity to the Holy Spirit. Some time in the future, perhaps, I will share some very funny anecdotes from Kitty's life.
More than 60 years ago she married René, a transplanted Frenchman whose life story all by itself would make a fabulous adventure volume. After many years in the Spokane area, they moved to Atlin, British Columbia -- a very remote mining community some 50 miles or so from the Alaska border -- where they established a base of operations for ministry beginning in 1979 and the early 1980's.
René has often shared with us his adventures during the Second World War when he was a member of the French Underground resistance movement. One story worth repeating here took place when he was on the run for his life from the Gestapo. René and a friend were hidden by a family in a barn. When they heard the sound of voices outside the barn they hid in some tall stacks of hay.
Someone had apparently seen René go into the barn and reported it to the Gestapo who had been doing a house-by-house or farm-by-farm search. When the Gestapo came into the barn, they began using their bayonets and stabbing at the piles of hay in search for René and his friend. René told us he began to pray like he'd never prayed in his life.
"Lord, if you deliver me from these Gestapo police and get me out of here alive, I'll serve you for the rest of my life."
Sure enough the bayonets were thrust into the haystack where René was hiding. He told us that they literally brushed up against him or the point of the bayonet came right to his chest on several tries. The Gestapo gave up and left the barn. Both René and his friend made it out of there alive and unharmed.
Here's an interesting tidbit for you. The 1965 movie, THE TRAIN, starred Burt Lancaster as Labiche, the French Railway inspector. The movie, parts of which were fictional, was based on real events. The real-life Inspector Labiche was René's supervisor or superior officer in the French Underground.
René kept his promise to the Lord and has been a faithful servant of Jesus Christ ever since. Kitty and René were an integral part of our spontaneous worship gatherings at Trails' End in Post Falls, Idaho during the 1990's. This past week, just shy of her 80th birthday, Kitty changed addresses and went home to be with the Lord. Though we will miss her for awhile, we look forward to seeing her and joining together in worshiping the Lord when we are all gathered together for the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. We'll be with René this next week -- and at 90 years of age he looks pretty much like he did at 60: strong and vibrant.
OK. That story had nothing to do with today's discussion on Kingdom Economics, but I couldn't let Kitty's passing go unnoticed because of the part she has played in our lives.
Good Morning! Good Morning! Good Morning! Coffee's on! The French Press is steeping right now with a blend of dark-roasted Rwandan and some very oily French Roast. Love that aroma!
A fair number of folks have responded to the last few Coffee Breaks in which I've noted how tithing -- and more accurately, seeing the tithe as the "God's holy portion" -- has been an integral part of God's economy from the time of the Garden of Eden to the present. Most of the responses have been appreciative because of the revelation of seeing the spiritual principle which far transcends the Law of Moses. A few, however, have offered some comments and questions that I should respond to in this Coffee Break since these are questions that many believers have.
Since I went through a period of time where I was personally caught with the serious misconception (Let's call it what it really is, folks! This is deception, pure and simple!) that because I was in the ministry, I was exempt from tithing. I felt that everything I earned from my various business ventures and everything that I received in the way of tithes and offerings from others was to be used however I saw fit and however the Lord directed me.
You see the twist don't you? In the role of priest, I receive (and was receiving) tithes from men and women. In the role of king, I earn (or was earning) a substantial income from my engineering skills, and talents in the business and banking world. I believed that it all went into one pot, and that I was to use it in the advancement of the Kingdom of God as directed by the Lord.
What I missed was the fact that even under the Law, priests paid tithes. They paid tithes to the High Priest. And the High Priest was required to tithe to the Lord. Very specific guidelines for tithing had been established.
With the Law fulfilled in Christ Jesus, many believers mistakenly relegate tithing to the Law, believing that it went away at the Cross. Yet Paul clearly states that while "here men that die receive tithes" (Hebrews 7:8 -- note the context in the present tense some thirty-plus years after the Cross), he goes on to say that "there He receives them, of Whom it is written that He lives."
Tithing, therefore, transcends the Law. It existed as far back as the Garden of Eden and it was demonstrated in Abraham 400-plus years before the Law of Moses was established. To not tithe, folks, is to rob God and touch the Holy Portion. To not tithe is to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil -- and that's exactly what I was doing: ignorantly, perhaps, but still doing it!
I saw the devourer rob me time after time after time and still didn't see the connection. For those of you who've read earlier parts of this discussion on Kingdom Economics, you'll recall my story of being robbed of $7 Million by a crooked banker who fled the country with commissions I'd earned over a period of two years in an investment operation on behalf of the Canadian government.
One story I haven't shared took place in the mid-1980's when Mel Fisher located and recovered the wrecks of the two Spanish galleons, the Atocha and the Santa Margarita. The treasure he recovered was valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Mel had a number of investors who were anxious to recover their investments in his diving and recovery operations, and he was in debt to them for tens of millions of dollars. (My memory tells me that he actually owed a total of around $250 Million.) Piecemealing the treasure out to various buyers would take a lot longer than the investors wanted, and Mel was anxious to get out from under the financial pressure.
He gave me an exclusive contract for the sale of the entire treasure. I had two potential buyers for it: the first being the Spanish government. King Juan Carlos of Spain was anxious to have the treasure back on Spanish soil because of the rich heritage and historical value it represented -- never mind its intrinsic worth. Mel wanted $400 million for the entire treasure intact. The Spanish government didn't feel it could drain its treasury of that amount and appealed to the Vatican for assistance. The Vatican agreed and I met with a representative to arrange for the transaction.
Once all the pieces of the transaction were in place and we were ready to complete it, Della and I flew to Los Angeles where the deal was to be consummated. Mel Fisher was ecstatic over the prospect of being able to complete. He called me at the hotel where we were staying and said he would arrange to fly us to Florida and take us out to the recovery site as soon as the deal completed. He even called me one morning at 4:00 AM excited over the fact that his team had just recovered the ship's compass from the Santa Margarita.
It was a giddy and almost ethereal atmosphere to think that we were less than 24 hours away from completing a historical sale. The fact that Mel was going to pay us a commission exceeding $10 Million from the proceeds was almost anti-climactic in view of the import of the moment.
Then the unthinkable took place. The agent representing the Vatican learned of our commission structure and got greedy. He called Mel and tried to get him to rescind his agreement with us, offering to do the deal for a smaller commission. Mel was incensed! He called me immediately and said, "How well do you know this guy?"
I told him that we'd only just met as a part of transacting this sale and that I'd never had any contact with him prior. "I won't do business with this man, Regner! He's a crook! He's trying to get me to eliminate you from the deal and I don't go back on my word, signed contract or not!"
It was a mark of Mel Fisher's character that we could really appreciate. Nevertheless, we just couldn't get another agent within Mel's needed time frame to consummate the deal with the Vatican and the transaction came to a sudden halt. Walt Disney's companies were interested in acquiring about $200 Million of the treasure to divide up at their theme parks for exhibition, but they weren't interested in an intact purchase. In the end, Mel wound up having to do what he didn't want to do: piecemeal the treasure through a fistful of small purchases and buyers. Years later, Della and I saw bits and pieces of the treasure in shops throughout the Caribbean.
We were robbed. Sure. We never actually had the money in our hot little hands, but Satan took advantage of the open door we'd provided him to effectively interfere in a business deal at the last possible second and block us from receiving what would have amounted to around $12 - 15 Million. We'd been touching the Holy Portion, and now our portion was being stolen and devoured.
It happened time and time again before we finally awakened to the fact that we were giving the Enemy a legal right to steal from us.
"But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day." (Deuteronomy 8:18)
There is a condition attached: Don't steal from God! If you do, you give the devourer the right to put holes in your pockets, rip your wallets apart, block you from receiving the wealth God has available and steal what you do have so that you live on the edge of nothingness! Wealth is made available and the power to get it is a gift from the Lord, but if we don't "remember" Him first, Satan comes along to prevent us from being the means by which God establishes His Covenant through us, with us, in us, and around us!
Once again as I've already said, my objective in sharing all this is not to hammer home some religious doctrine or ride some kind of hobby horse but rather to demonstrate that the Blessing of the Lord is directly tied to our recognition of and obedience to this very basic of spiritual principles. This is not about money -- even though money is involved. This is about walking in the Blessing and seeing it manifested tangibly.
This is about living as citizens of a Kingdom which is foreign to the kingdoms and thinking and reasoning of this world: the Kingdom of God.
There's one last aspect of this topic of tithing that I need to comment on before we move on. The Word has always been very clear on where the tithe belongs: the storehouse. This is a subject that often gets some Christians riled up when I talk about it, but we need to discuss this.
I can't tell you how many believers I've run into who think they have a right to delegate where their tithes are given. Now bear with me, folks. The Word of God gives very clear direction on this. What gets confused is the separation or distinction between "giving" and "tithing." They are not synonymous with each other.
Tithing -- the first ten percent of everything you receive -- goes to the storehouse. The Hebrew word translated "storehouse" in the Old Testament is: otsar: treasury, a repository for corn, food, provision, gold, silver and other precious things. We see this word, otsar, otherwise translated throughout the O.T. as "treasuries" or "treasury."
The New Testament Greek text uses the word: tameion. It parallels the Hebrew and adds the component "dispensary" to the above. Hence, the "storehouse" is a repository of provision ordered and ordained for dispensing food (both spiritual and physical) and provision (again, both spiritual and physical) by those in spiritual leadership.
Nowhere in the Word does God give permission -- much less instruction -- to the individual person as to the distribution of tithes. We are instructed to give our tithes to the repository or treasury which dispenses our spiritual food, nourishment and provision. For most folks, that represents the church body to which they are an integral part. If you are not part of a regular church, then you need to be a part of a home fellowship. If you are not connected on a daily and weekly basis to some body of believers, then you are starving spiritually.
There are many Christians who give, but don't tithe. Tithing, as I've already noted, is completely separate from giving. Giving, sowing seed and giving of offerings is a completely separate function of our spiritual lives -- and it is equally commanded -- but it does not do away with tithing.
We don't have the right to decide where our tithes go. That's clear in God's economy. It is a clear rule of Kingdom Economics. They go where we receive our spiritual nourishment. That is the fellowship or Ekklesia to which the Holy Spirit has joined us. Whoever leads that fellowship, church body or Ekklesia is tasked by the Holy Spirit with the responsibility of dispensing those tithes.
When we take upon ourselves the decision to choose where our tithes go, we effectively usurp God's authority. We usurp the Word, and we make ourselves God above the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus instructed His disciples to go forth in ministry without taking advantage of their business or economic skills and to receive their provision from those to whom they ministered. Twice He made the statement that "the laborer is worthy of his hire." (See Matthew 10:10 and Luke 10:7.) The Scriptural picture constantly demonstrates that those who minister the Gospel are to receive their provision from the tithe.
The apostle Paul notes the following:
"Do ye not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple? and they which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar? Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel." (I Corinthians 9:13-14)
The tithe, therefore, is designed first of all to make provision for those who "live of the Gospel." And they who live by their ministry in turn tithe to those from whom they receive. The priests always tithed to the High Priest. Ministers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ must likewise tithe to those who are their spiritual fathers or source of their continued growth.
It doesn't stop there, of course. Some time ago, Della and I made a covenant with the elders of our fellowship. Our income from River Worship Center is 10% -- the tithe -- of whatever comes in. If the fellowship receives $500 in a given week our income is $50 for that week. If the income is $3,000, we receive $300.
But we take it beyond that. No bills are paid until a second tithe is paid. That second tithe goes to one of the four major ministries with which we partner and participate. We do this on a rotating basis, week-by-week. Above and beyond that second tithe, we contribute to certain missions around the world and support certain missionaries. Above and beyond that we minister to the needs of individuals and families locally to whom the Holy Spirit directs us. Our objective as a fellowship is to consistently tithe 30% of our gross income. We haven't quite reached that level yet, but we continue to increase our tithing and giving, and the Lord continues to increase the income of the fellowship.
It works, folks! You just can't outgive God! When we are faithful to honor the Holy Portion, God is faithful to meet our every need. It never fails. We never have a month go by when the bills are unpaid and we are operating in deficit. Since we began operating this way, we've never had a deficit.
Next: The principle of partnership.
He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. (Sir Isaac Newton)
The Blessing of the Lord: it makes rich and He adds no painful toil and sorrow! (Proverbs 10:22)
Be blessed!
Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
RIVER WORSHIP CENTER
455 North River Road
Prosser, Washington 99350-6554
All Coffee Break articles are copyright by Regner A. Capener, but authorization for reprinting, reposting, copying or re-use, in whole or in part, is granted – provided proper attribution and this notice are included intact. Coffee Break archives are now available at http://regnersrangers.multiply.com/journal/ and are being added at http://www.AnotherCoffeeBreak.com. Coffee Break articles are normally published weekly.
If you would like to have these articles arrive each morning in your email, please send a blank email to: Subscribe@AnotherCoffeeBreak.com. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to Unsubscribe@AnotherCoffeeBreak.com.
CAPENER MINISTRIES is a tax-exempt church ministry. Should you desire to participate and covenant with us as partners in this ministry, please contact us at either of the above email or physical addresses, or visit http://www.CapenerMinistries.com.
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