Kingdom Invasion Part One
KINGDOM INVASION - PART 1
REVIVALIST TODD BENTLEY
The following article is a two-part series entitled Kingdom Invasion. In Part 1 we will discuss the Lord’s desire that Christians become carriers of His presence so that the earth will be filled with His presence. Then we will examine how the kingdom of God advances in the earth through a demonstration of signs and wonders, intimacy with God, binding and loosing and welcoming the kingdom of God. As well, I have defined six signs that reveal that the kingdom of God is in our midst. This week we will examine two signs and then next week in Part 2, we will discuss the four remaining signs.
The message of the hour is the King and His kingdom! There is an unfolding revelation concerning Jesus Christ as the King of Kings and the King of Glory and His kingdom coming to invade our world. We need a deeper understanding concerning this revelation and so in this week’s teaching I want to talk about the gospel of the kingdom and the demonstration of the kingdom of God.
CHRISTIANS, CARRIERS OF GOD'S PRESENCE
Recently I was thinking about a man who came to one of our Open Heaven conferences a few years ago. He told me that when he went home after the conference the Lord told him to buy a small tent and to set it up in the middle of his living room! He prepared his family by explaining that he was going to go into his tent and exercise his spiritual senses and wait on the Lord in solitude, meditating on His word. And he did just that! He soaked up and drank in the atmosphere of the presence of God in that tent.
As the presence of the Holy Spirit continued to intensify day after day, he began to receive a revelation from God. Here’s what he told me. “You know Todd, I’m graduating from the tent ministry to the room ministry.” He went on to say that he had enough faith to believe that as he continued to develop an intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit, the presence of God would increase and grow, even geographically. He then declared that God’s presence would broaden to the point that his whole house would be filled. He explained that as more and more believers carried God’s presence, cities and whole nations would be filled with the glory of God because of Christ Jesus in them, the hope of glory (Col. 1:27). I believe this will happen!
Listen! This man was faithful in little. He began with a small tent! The Bible tells us that when we’re faithful in the little things that God gives us to do then He will bring increased blessings and responsibility into our lives. We see this principle concerning “increase” described in the story of the slave who was faithful with the money his master gave him to invest. The servant made his master a ten-fold profit and his master gave him a ten-fold reward (Lk. 19:16-17).
It’s time for Christians to be faithful carriers of His presence not only in their homes, but in their churches, their cities and their nations. Listen! That man’s tent filled up with the presence of God. His faith became so strong that he had a revelation about God’s presence being carried not only by him, but also by other believers to the extent that cities and nations would be filled with God’s presence. You know, when Christians are carriers of God’s presence (Christ in us, the hope of glory), they become a living reflection of Jesus Christ in the earth!
And as I was thinking about the implications of God’s presence impacting the whole earth, the Holy Spirit began to reveal to me that the kingdom of God is like yeast; it will expand and rise. Then I discovered a passage of scripture that related to this in the Book of Daniel:
“And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold--the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure." (Dan. 2:44-45).
What was the stone that was cut out of the mountain without hands (v. 45)? It’s Jesus Christ. The picture is a small stone, but look at the power of the stone. In Daniel 2:35 it says “and the stone which struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.” The stone that struck the image and consumed all the kingdoms started as one small stone cut out of the mountain without hands. It’s a picture of Jesus Christ, the King of the kingdom. And that one stone struck the image of all the other kingdoms and grew to the size of the mountain until the kingdom kept growing to fill the entire earth.
And we’ll know when God’s kingdom is filling the entire earth because we’ll see a demonstration of what Jesus Christ was like 2000 years ago manifested through the body of Christ. The lost won’t just see miracles happen, they’ll actually experience miracles. Many of their hearts will be softened and they will come to realize that God loves them and He sent His Son Jesus Christ to earth to rescue them. Remember, Jesus never brought the message of the kingdom without the demonstration of the kingdom: preaching, and healing all kinds of sicknesses and diseases (Mt. 4:23 & 9:35).
Also Jesus said, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel" (Mk. 1:15). Wherever we go, the kingdom of God is at hand. It’s that close! And when we have a revelation that the kingdom of God is near, that it’s at hand, we’ll realize that His kingdom is at work, to bring salvation, healing and deliverance everywhere we go. It’s at hand in the work place and in the supermarket. So wherever we go carrying God’s presence, we bring the kingdom of God into the earth.
WELCOMING THE KINGDOM OF GOD
I want to bring a deeper revelation concerning the kingdom of God because so often we have a limited understanding about this. Some believers think that the kingdom of God is all about their mansion in heaven. Others think that one day there’s going to be a new heaven and a new earth and that’s the kingdom of God! The kingdom of God is much more than this. It’s not just a future destination. It’s a living demonstration of what Jesus was like 2000 years ago, full of kingdom activity, like healing the sick and delivering the demonized.
As Jesus accomplished the will of the Father and only did what he saw his Father doing (Jn. 5:19), He modeled the vision of what He saw in heaven and He brought the kingdom of God to earth. Also when Jesus taught his disciples how to pray, He gave them an important key to release the kingdom of God in the earth. He said “In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed is Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Mt. 6:9-10). He didn’t say, “Father, let your kingdom come.” Rather, Jesus honored the Father and out of worship and intimacy He said, “Your kingdom come.” That’s the key. He welcomed God’s kingdom to come because He knew that in order for God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven, that His kingdom needed to be welcomed and invited to come.
Now we know that the kingdom of God is not on the earth right now as it is in heaven. But, we want it to be! So it’s important for the body of Christ to honor the Father just like Jesus did and then invite and welcome His kingdom to come. “God, we welcome Your kingdom to come. Please come into our world so that the earth begins to take on the image and the atmosphere as it is in heaven.” Having said that, it’s one thing to invite and welcome the rule of God to come as it is in heaven, but we need to always remember that the kingdom of God comes when we walk in the center of God’s will.
As well, the kingdom of God can’t come in power or in its fullness until we can truly say, “Your will be done, I surrender.” Until there is surrender and death to self, we’ll never experience another measure of “Your kingdom come” in our lives. Worship and praise creates an atmosphere for relationship and intimacy. And when we surrender ourselves to the Lord and die to ourselves then the kingdom of God comes. It begins to manifest on the earth as it is in heaven. Miracles happen! Poverty turns into riches, sin turns into holiness, defeat turns into victory and sickness turns into healing. So let’s welcome the kingdom of God to come in our lives, in our churches, in our cities and nations so that God’s will can be done here on earth as it is in heaven.
The Lord is on the throne in heaven and the earth is His footstool (Acts 7:49). We, the body of Christ, connect the throne and the footstool. The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and Christ (Rev. 11:15). We are the ones that establish the rule of God and we are the ones that establish the kingdom, the dominion and the authority of God so that what is already in heaven begins to line up with earth again.
BINDING AND LOOSING
In this week’s teaching I’ve spoken briefly on the phrase “as it is in heaven.” This phrase describes what it looks like in heaven right now. Everything that is within the atmosphere of the kingdom of heaven needs to take on the image and the nature of what it looks like in heaven right now—as it is in heaven—concerning our churches, our cities and our nations. So let’s examine another significant key that Jesus gave to help us bring the kingdom of heaven to earth; establishing on earth what it looks like in heaven right now. He said: "Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Mt. 18:18). This key concerns our authority in binding and loosing.
Did you know that we have authority to loose (open and bring in) and to bind (close and shut out)? We can only loose what has already been loosed in heaven and we can only bind what has already been bound in heaven. So we need to see and discern what the Father is doing because then we’ll have a revelation concerning what needs to be bound and loosed in order for the kingdom of God on earth to synchronize with the kingdom of God in heaven.
In every city and nation that we enter the Father will give us the keys concerning what needs to be bound and what needs to be loosed. And until we loose what has been loosed in heaven, we won’t have it on earth even though it’s already loosed in the eternal destiny of God. And until we bind what has already been bound in heaven (concerning our church, our city and our nation because we see that it’s already bound in the eternal destiny of God), we won’t experience the manifestation of it bound on earth. When we discern the Father’s will concerning binding and loosing we will actually be calling forth those things that be not as though they were (Rm. 4:17). Then we’ll bring the realm of as it is in heaven into the earth and we’ll see the kingdom of God in our midst (Lk. 17:21).
SIGNS OF THE KINGDOM IN OUR MIDST
We’ll examine six signs of the kingdom of God in our midst. This week I will begin by outlining two signs and then next week in Part 2, we’ll examine the four remaining signs.
1. The Kingdom of God is Jesus Christ
Most of the Pharisees never realized that the kingdom of God was in their midst; Jesus Christ Himself was the embodiment of the kingdom of God. He had invaded their world and they didn’t even know it! Ignorantly they asked Jesus when the kingdom of God was coming! He didn’t ridicule them with his answer. "The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is in your midst" (Lk. 17:20-21). He was telling them that the kingdom of God wasn’t something to gawk at, rather it was in their midst, among them.
A few Bible translations finish off v. 21 by saying that “the kingdom of God is within you.” And so I want to make it clear that the kingdom of God wouldn’t be within the Pharisees in a personal way until they were born again. Remember Jesus’ conversation with the Pharisee, Nicodemus. Jesus told him that unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God and unless one is born of the water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God (Jn. 3:3, 5). Jesus’ world is within us only when we’re born again! Then we are temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 3:16) and Jesus Himself lives in us (Col. 1:27).
2. The Kingdom of God Demonstrates His Power
It’s too bad that the church in North America, by and large, stops after preaching, without giving a demonstration of God’s power concerning healing and deliverance. Everybody’s preaching! How many sermons do we preach in North America on a Sunday? Yes, we preach, and that is good, but we rarely see any demonstration of the power of God. The apostle Paul said that his speech and preaching wasn’t with persuasive words of human wisdom, “but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God” (1 Cor. 2:4-5). Bottom line: we’re really not living in the realm of the kingdom of God if there isn’t any demonstration of God’s power in our lives.
People tell me all the time: “Todd, we’re preaching the gospel of the kingdom.” But when there isn’t any demonstration of the power of God I’ll answer them by saying, “I don’t know just what you’re preaching because I don’t see any power and I don’t see any demonstration.” One of the reasons we don’t see any demonstration of the power of God is because we’re too concerned about human wisdom; being politically correct. We’re too focused on giving persuasive words and wanting to look and sound good. We’ve got our five-point sermon ready to give in 40 minutes! We’ve laid out enough sermons for the next six months already!
So many of the preachers teach the kingdom and they bring people to a place where they have faith to receive, but they don’t go on to the stage where they demonstrate the power of God. Instead they say, “Let’s wait until the evangelist gets here. Todd Bentley has the gift of healing, so let’s have him pray for the sick. I am just a pastor (or a teacher, or a prophet). I don’t do signs and wonders.” But they preach and teach! The gospel is preaching, teaching and healing. The gospel was never presented by Jesus without signs and wonders and so I think every person that preaches or teaches needs to heal every sickness and every disease just like Jesus did! Jesus said that whoever believes in Him would not only do the same works that He did, they would do even greater works than He accomplished (Jn. 14:12).
Also I’ve noticed that many times when there is a demonstration of God’s power it often causes controversy. People get skeptical and try to figure it out. When someone says, “I saw an angel” the response is often, “Aw, come on!” We go into unbelief. But from the beginning of the Bible until the end of the Bible many people had a visitation of an angel and they weren’t even apostles. Jesus is the same today, yesterday and forever (Heb. 13:8), and yet so many believers struggle when someone says, “I saw an angel!”
Listen! You will know that we’re getting close to the kingdom when someone can stand in the pulpit and testify, “Hey guys, I was in the third heaven. I saw the four living creatures. One of the four living creatures walked up to me and I felt his breath breathing on my neck.” That happened to me. (The four living creatures are in the Bible: Ezekiel 1, Ezekiel 10, and Revelations 4.) If supernatural encounters could happen to Paul and Peter then they can happen to us. But we don’t tend to have a faith grid or an expectation for supernatural encounters unless they’re solely initiated by God and He sovereignly takes us into a supernatural encounter. We never consider ourselves worthy enough to even say to God, “I’m ready and waiting for a supernatural encounter to happen.”
But I believe it’s time to rise to the occasion! So in our ministry I teach my disciples like this. “Guys, power first and then word.” Now that’s not the way we usually do it in church. It’s word first and then power. But because so many people say they’ve heard the same message before (been there, done that, got the T-shirt) without seeing any demonstration of God’s power, it’s like they’re already closed before the preacher opens their mouth! I’ve had so many experiences where the minute I get into a church (I’ve never been to before) and I begin to speak about what God is doing in Africa, it’s like I can just hear the thoughts of the people: “Yep, it’s always in Africa. How come it doesn’t happen here?” And then when I speak about miracles, they’re thinking, “Oh here we go again. Somebody else talking about everything that’s going on everywhere else, but we won’t see anything here.”
Before we went into South Africa five years ago, we let our contacts know that I was coming with a demonstration of signs and wonders. “Todd, if no miracles happen they will kill you,” our contacts warned. They told us that too many white guys from Canada, America and Europe were coming over there to make themselves look good in the eyes of those that give to their ministry because they can get big crowds in South Africa. They told us that many people could be manipulated to attend a crusade because of the words on their promotional posters declaring prophecy and healing. “Too many guys are coming in and they aren’t demonstrating the power of God. We as Africans are perfectly able to get it done ourselves.” So there was actually a little bit of offense. They emphasized, “If you pray for a Muslim child and that child doesn’t get healed, the Muslims may stone you and kill you. They’ll call you a false prophet because you said signs and wonders would be demonstrated at the crusade.” So I said, “Hallelujah! Let’s go tomorrow!”
Listen! We had such an exciting time in South Africa. Next week in Part 2 of Kingdom Invasion we’ll discuss what happened there when eight people with tumors came forward for healing just after we opened the crusade. Then before we close the series with a powerful prayer time, we’ll examine four more signs of the kingdom of God in our midst.
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REVIVALIST TODD BENTLEY
The following article is a two-part series entitled Kingdom Invasion. In Part 1 we will discuss the Lord’s desire that Christians become carriers of His presence so that the earth will be filled with His presence. Then we will examine how the kingdom of God advances in the earth through a demonstration of signs and wonders, intimacy with God, binding and loosing and welcoming the kingdom of God. As well, I have defined six signs that reveal that the kingdom of God is in our midst. This week we will examine two signs and then next week in Part 2, we will discuss the four remaining signs.
The message of the hour is the King and His kingdom! There is an unfolding revelation concerning Jesus Christ as the King of Kings and the King of Glory and His kingdom coming to invade our world. We need a deeper understanding concerning this revelation and so in this week’s teaching I want to talk about the gospel of the kingdom and the demonstration of the kingdom of God.
CHRISTIANS, CARRIERS OF GOD'S PRESENCE
Recently I was thinking about a man who came to one of our Open Heaven conferences a few years ago. He told me that when he went home after the conference the Lord told him to buy a small tent and to set it up in the middle of his living room! He prepared his family by explaining that he was going to go into his tent and exercise his spiritual senses and wait on the Lord in solitude, meditating on His word. And he did just that! He soaked up and drank in the atmosphere of the presence of God in that tent.
As the presence of the Holy Spirit continued to intensify day after day, he began to receive a revelation from God. Here’s what he told me. “You know Todd, I’m graduating from the tent ministry to the room ministry.” He went on to say that he had enough faith to believe that as he continued to develop an intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit, the presence of God would increase and grow, even geographically. He then declared that God’s presence would broaden to the point that his whole house would be filled. He explained that as more and more believers carried God’s presence, cities and whole nations would be filled with the glory of God because of Christ Jesus in them, the hope of glory (Col. 1:27). I believe this will happen!
Listen! This man was faithful in little. He began with a small tent! The Bible tells us that when we’re faithful in the little things that God gives us to do then He will bring increased blessings and responsibility into our lives. We see this principle concerning “increase” described in the story of the slave who was faithful with the money his master gave him to invest. The servant made his master a ten-fold profit and his master gave him a ten-fold reward (Lk. 19:16-17).
It’s time for Christians to be faithful carriers of His presence not only in their homes, but in their churches, their cities and their nations. Listen! That man’s tent filled up with the presence of God. His faith became so strong that he had a revelation about God’s presence being carried not only by him, but also by other believers to the extent that cities and nations would be filled with God’s presence. You know, when Christians are carriers of God’s presence (Christ in us, the hope of glory), they become a living reflection of Jesus Christ in the earth!
And as I was thinking about the implications of God’s presence impacting the whole earth, the Holy Spirit began to reveal to me that the kingdom of God is like yeast; it will expand and rise. Then I discovered a passage of scripture that related to this in the Book of Daniel:
“And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold--the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure." (Dan. 2:44-45).
What was the stone that was cut out of the mountain without hands (v. 45)? It’s Jesus Christ. The picture is a small stone, but look at the power of the stone. In Daniel 2:35 it says “and the stone which struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.” The stone that struck the image and consumed all the kingdoms started as one small stone cut out of the mountain without hands. It’s a picture of Jesus Christ, the King of the kingdom. And that one stone struck the image of all the other kingdoms and grew to the size of the mountain until the kingdom kept growing to fill the entire earth.
And we’ll know when God’s kingdom is filling the entire earth because we’ll see a demonstration of what Jesus Christ was like 2000 years ago manifested through the body of Christ. The lost won’t just see miracles happen, they’ll actually experience miracles. Many of their hearts will be softened and they will come to realize that God loves them and He sent His Son Jesus Christ to earth to rescue them. Remember, Jesus never brought the message of the kingdom without the demonstration of the kingdom: preaching, and healing all kinds of sicknesses and diseases (Mt. 4:23 & 9:35).
Also Jesus said, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel" (Mk. 1:15). Wherever we go, the kingdom of God is at hand. It’s that close! And when we have a revelation that the kingdom of God is near, that it’s at hand, we’ll realize that His kingdom is at work, to bring salvation, healing and deliverance everywhere we go. It’s at hand in the work place and in the supermarket. So wherever we go carrying God’s presence, we bring the kingdom of God into the earth.
WELCOMING THE KINGDOM OF GOD
I want to bring a deeper revelation concerning the kingdom of God because so often we have a limited understanding about this. Some believers think that the kingdom of God is all about their mansion in heaven. Others think that one day there’s going to be a new heaven and a new earth and that’s the kingdom of God! The kingdom of God is much more than this. It’s not just a future destination. It’s a living demonstration of what Jesus was like 2000 years ago, full of kingdom activity, like healing the sick and delivering the demonized.
As Jesus accomplished the will of the Father and only did what he saw his Father doing (Jn. 5:19), He modeled the vision of what He saw in heaven and He brought the kingdom of God to earth. Also when Jesus taught his disciples how to pray, He gave them an important key to release the kingdom of God in the earth. He said “In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed is Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Mt. 6:9-10). He didn’t say, “Father, let your kingdom come.” Rather, Jesus honored the Father and out of worship and intimacy He said, “Your kingdom come.” That’s the key. He welcomed God’s kingdom to come because He knew that in order for God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven, that His kingdom needed to be welcomed and invited to come.
Now we know that the kingdom of God is not on the earth right now as it is in heaven. But, we want it to be! So it’s important for the body of Christ to honor the Father just like Jesus did and then invite and welcome His kingdom to come. “God, we welcome Your kingdom to come. Please come into our world so that the earth begins to take on the image and the atmosphere as it is in heaven.” Having said that, it’s one thing to invite and welcome the rule of God to come as it is in heaven, but we need to always remember that the kingdom of God comes when we walk in the center of God’s will.
As well, the kingdom of God can’t come in power or in its fullness until we can truly say, “Your will be done, I surrender.” Until there is surrender and death to self, we’ll never experience another measure of “Your kingdom come” in our lives. Worship and praise creates an atmosphere for relationship and intimacy. And when we surrender ourselves to the Lord and die to ourselves then the kingdom of God comes. It begins to manifest on the earth as it is in heaven. Miracles happen! Poverty turns into riches, sin turns into holiness, defeat turns into victory and sickness turns into healing. So let’s welcome the kingdom of God to come in our lives, in our churches, in our cities and nations so that God’s will can be done here on earth as it is in heaven.
The Lord is on the throne in heaven and the earth is His footstool (Acts 7:49). We, the body of Christ, connect the throne and the footstool. The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and Christ (Rev. 11:15). We are the ones that establish the rule of God and we are the ones that establish the kingdom, the dominion and the authority of God so that what is already in heaven begins to line up with earth again.
BINDING AND LOOSING
In this week’s teaching I’ve spoken briefly on the phrase “as it is in heaven.” This phrase describes what it looks like in heaven right now. Everything that is within the atmosphere of the kingdom of heaven needs to take on the image and the nature of what it looks like in heaven right now—as it is in heaven—concerning our churches, our cities and our nations. So let’s examine another significant key that Jesus gave to help us bring the kingdom of heaven to earth; establishing on earth what it looks like in heaven right now. He said: "Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Mt. 18:18). This key concerns our authority in binding and loosing.
Did you know that we have authority to loose (open and bring in) and to bind (close and shut out)? We can only loose what has already been loosed in heaven and we can only bind what has already been bound in heaven. So we need to see and discern what the Father is doing because then we’ll have a revelation concerning what needs to be bound and loosed in order for the kingdom of God on earth to synchronize with the kingdom of God in heaven.
In every city and nation that we enter the Father will give us the keys concerning what needs to be bound and what needs to be loosed. And until we loose what has been loosed in heaven, we won’t have it on earth even though it’s already loosed in the eternal destiny of God. And until we bind what has already been bound in heaven (concerning our church, our city and our nation because we see that it’s already bound in the eternal destiny of God), we won’t experience the manifestation of it bound on earth. When we discern the Father’s will concerning binding and loosing we will actually be calling forth those things that be not as though they were (Rm. 4:17). Then we’ll bring the realm of as it is in heaven into the earth and we’ll see the kingdom of God in our midst (Lk. 17:21).
SIGNS OF THE KINGDOM IN OUR MIDST
We’ll examine six signs of the kingdom of God in our midst. This week I will begin by outlining two signs and then next week in Part 2, we’ll examine the four remaining signs.
1. The Kingdom of God is Jesus Christ
Most of the Pharisees never realized that the kingdom of God was in their midst; Jesus Christ Himself was the embodiment of the kingdom of God. He had invaded their world and they didn’t even know it! Ignorantly they asked Jesus when the kingdom of God was coming! He didn’t ridicule them with his answer. "The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is in your midst" (Lk. 17:20-21). He was telling them that the kingdom of God wasn’t something to gawk at, rather it was in their midst, among them.
A few Bible translations finish off v. 21 by saying that “the kingdom of God is within you.” And so I want to make it clear that the kingdom of God wouldn’t be within the Pharisees in a personal way until they were born again. Remember Jesus’ conversation with the Pharisee, Nicodemus. Jesus told him that unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God and unless one is born of the water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God (Jn. 3:3, 5). Jesus’ world is within us only when we’re born again! Then we are temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 3:16) and Jesus Himself lives in us (Col. 1:27).
2. The Kingdom of God Demonstrates His Power
It’s too bad that the church in North America, by and large, stops after preaching, without giving a demonstration of God’s power concerning healing and deliverance. Everybody’s preaching! How many sermons do we preach in North America on a Sunday? Yes, we preach, and that is good, but we rarely see any demonstration of the power of God. The apostle Paul said that his speech and preaching wasn’t with persuasive words of human wisdom, “but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God” (1 Cor. 2:4-5). Bottom line: we’re really not living in the realm of the kingdom of God if there isn’t any demonstration of God’s power in our lives.
People tell me all the time: “Todd, we’re preaching the gospel of the kingdom.” But when there isn’t any demonstration of the power of God I’ll answer them by saying, “I don’t know just what you’re preaching because I don’t see any power and I don’t see any demonstration.” One of the reasons we don’t see any demonstration of the power of God is because we’re too concerned about human wisdom; being politically correct. We’re too focused on giving persuasive words and wanting to look and sound good. We’ve got our five-point sermon ready to give in 40 minutes! We’ve laid out enough sermons for the next six months already!
So many of the preachers teach the kingdom and they bring people to a place where they have faith to receive, but they don’t go on to the stage where they demonstrate the power of God. Instead they say, “Let’s wait until the evangelist gets here. Todd Bentley has the gift of healing, so let’s have him pray for the sick. I am just a pastor (or a teacher, or a prophet). I don’t do signs and wonders.” But they preach and teach! The gospel is preaching, teaching and healing. The gospel was never presented by Jesus without signs and wonders and so I think every person that preaches or teaches needs to heal every sickness and every disease just like Jesus did! Jesus said that whoever believes in Him would not only do the same works that He did, they would do even greater works than He accomplished (Jn. 14:12).
Also I’ve noticed that many times when there is a demonstration of God’s power it often causes controversy. People get skeptical and try to figure it out. When someone says, “I saw an angel” the response is often, “Aw, come on!” We go into unbelief. But from the beginning of the Bible until the end of the Bible many people had a visitation of an angel and they weren’t even apostles. Jesus is the same today, yesterday and forever (Heb. 13:8), and yet so many believers struggle when someone says, “I saw an angel!”
Listen! You will know that we’re getting close to the kingdom when someone can stand in the pulpit and testify, “Hey guys, I was in the third heaven. I saw the four living creatures. One of the four living creatures walked up to me and I felt his breath breathing on my neck.” That happened to me. (The four living creatures are in the Bible: Ezekiel 1, Ezekiel 10, and Revelations 4.) If supernatural encounters could happen to Paul and Peter then they can happen to us. But we don’t tend to have a faith grid or an expectation for supernatural encounters unless they’re solely initiated by God and He sovereignly takes us into a supernatural encounter. We never consider ourselves worthy enough to even say to God, “I’m ready and waiting for a supernatural encounter to happen.”
But I believe it’s time to rise to the occasion! So in our ministry I teach my disciples like this. “Guys, power first and then word.” Now that’s not the way we usually do it in church. It’s word first and then power. But because so many people say they’ve heard the same message before (been there, done that, got the T-shirt) without seeing any demonstration of God’s power, it’s like they’re already closed before the preacher opens their mouth! I’ve had so many experiences where the minute I get into a church (I’ve never been to before) and I begin to speak about what God is doing in Africa, it’s like I can just hear the thoughts of the people: “Yep, it’s always in Africa. How come it doesn’t happen here?” And then when I speak about miracles, they’re thinking, “Oh here we go again. Somebody else talking about everything that’s going on everywhere else, but we won’t see anything here.”
Before we went into South Africa five years ago, we let our contacts know that I was coming with a demonstration of signs and wonders. “Todd, if no miracles happen they will kill you,” our contacts warned. They told us that too many white guys from Canada, America and Europe were coming over there to make themselves look good in the eyes of those that give to their ministry because they can get big crowds in South Africa. They told us that many people could be manipulated to attend a crusade because of the words on their promotional posters declaring prophecy and healing. “Too many guys are coming in and they aren’t demonstrating the power of God. We as Africans are perfectly able to get it done ourselves.” So there was actually a little bit of offense. They emphasized, “If you pray for a Muslim child and that child doesn’t get healed, the Muslims may stone you and kill you. They’ll call you a false prophet because you said signs and wonders would be demonstrated at the crusade.” So I said, “Hallelujah! Let’s go tomorrow!”
Listen! We had such an exciting time in South Africa. Next week in Part 2 of Kingdom Invasion we’ll discuss what happened there when eight people with tumors came forward for healing just after we opened the crusade. Then before we close the series with a powerful prayer time, we’ll examine four more signs of the kingdom of God in our midst.
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posted by KFF at 4:26 AM
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