1. Jesus said that the least in the Kingdom is greater than all the Old Testament prophets.

All the prophets includes Elijah!

The 5 year old who just gave her life to Jesus is greater than any of the Old Testament prophets because she didn’t receive a miniature Holy Spirit.  She got the real deal and because she got the real deal she can make a huge difference!

To say we need an Elijah Revolution is a step backwards, not forward.

What we need to truly finish the Great Commission is a “Kingdom Revolution” that forcefully advances God’s purpose on the planet.

2. They always use the verse that says “Elijah must come first”

And they quote the Old Testament as proof that this is true.

Don’t you remember they asked Jesus when this would happen and he says “it did happen.  It was John the Baptist.”

So…why in the world does this need to be fulfilled again?

I get really bothered when I hear people using an Old Obsolete Covenant that Jesus very plainly says has been fulfilled

as proof for their weird End Times Theology.

Now…

I do believe that believers can operate in the same power that Elijah moved in and I do believe that the hearts of the Fathers are being turned to the sons and the sons to the Fathers.

It’s happening!

Really, this is a matter of semantics and doesn’t really make a difference.

Elijah or Kingdom Revolution?

But…

We advance the Kingdom, not Elijah or whatever.

Just sayin….

Preach the Gospel at all times and if necessary use words

I decided to explain why I feel this quote is unbiblical.

First of all, lets just switch this quote around a bit.  What if I said that we should preach the Gospel at all times and if necessary act right?

Most people would say that is just wrong.  It is totally necessary to act according to the Spirit with a life of holiness.

But for some reason when people use the St. Francis quote is doesn’t bother them that by saying it is unnecessary to preach, with words, the Gospel that they are forgetting the times when Jesus himself said over and over again to preach.

Now I went and did some research into the word preach and this is what I discovered:

The greek word for preach, kēryssō, is used 61 times in the New Testament. That’s a whole bunch of times! Just think…if you have one of those Bibles with the words of Jesus is red….take all that out because that is Jesus preaching. It was necessary for him to preach.

The Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon gives this definition for the word preach:
1 to be a herald, to officiate as a herald. 1a to proclaim after the manner of a herald.

Could you imagine a herald who is supposed to go into a city and make an announcement just going into the city and acting as if the announcement is true lets say in a place of business?

If a herald did that he would no longer have a job as a herald.  The herald is supposed to announce whatever news he has to the city.

Over and over again when I am in this discussion people will say “but just the other day I had someone come up to me in my work and say you’re really nice or (fill in the blank) or whatever.  And I get to tell them I’m a Christian.”  And they use this as proof that the St.Francis quote is true.  Rarely do I hear someone say that the other day their friend submitted their life to the Lordship of Jesus because of their Christ-like actions in their workplace.

Then again….to be Christ-like to be like Christ.  And Jesus Christ preached all the time, everywhere!

I mean….in the last 10 years I’ve probably seen around 200,000 people make decisions to follow Jesus and I didn’t know 99.9% of them!  They decided to follow him because they heard the good news of Jesus preached.

Now….I know not all them are following Jesus today.  That’s a given…but take a conservative estimate of say 25% (Jesus in his parable of the sower & the seeds said that only 1 out of 4 soils produced fruit) that is still 50,000 people somewhere in the world producing fruit for the Kingdom of God!

This is why I think it is necessary to Preach (with words….outloud) the gospel.  It’s how the Kingdom of God is spread over the planet.

Jesus commanded us to preach over and over again in the 4 gospels.

Paul said that people can’t get saved unless they hear the message of the gospel.

The apostles were told to no longer preach in the name of Jesus because the Religious people of their day understood the power of preaching and wanted it to stop.  So the believers told them they had to obey God and not man and then cried out for God to enable them to speak his word with boldness. (Acts 4)

Now….

I want to address a misconception that I sense when people are discussing this with me.

They begin to argue like it is an either or type of thing.  Either you preach the gospel…..Or you Act right in your place of business.

It’s not an either or thing.  It’s a Both And thing.

You are suppposed to act right in your place of business and preach the gospel there too!

Sometimes the most loving thing you can do is speak the truth to someone.  Because truth that people know will set them free.

In no way do I want to insult St.Francis…the dude could talk to animals and they would listen to him.  That’s really cool and it encourages me to continue to command the sharks to swim away from me anytime I’m in the ocean.

I just believe that ideas produce action.

And this idea that it’s not necessary to preach the gospel is in my opinion a “bad idea” that I see produce bad action.

If we’re to finish the great commission we need to stand up and speak the truth in love.

You’ll hear something like “we need to preach to everybody!”

or

“The Great Commission is about making disciples.”

When it’s really about both.

So here are the two:

¹⁵He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. ¹⁶Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. ¹⁷And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; ¹⁸they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”  Mark 16:15-18

¹⁸Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20

So the Mark passage is all about Preaching to Everyone & the Matthew passage is about teaching or discipling all the nations.

Just a quick note on the Matthew Passage.  It says to make disciples of nations.  For too long we’ve been content to make disciples in nations when Jesus specifically commanded us to make disciples of nations.

Okay…I digress.

I believe the Mark commission is a generational commission whereas the Matthew commission is a multi-generational commission.

Mark says to preach to every creature in the planet.  Lets say you finally find the last person on the planet who needs to hear about the Kingdom and you go up to them and begin to tell them how awesome Jesus is.  And you’re so excited because this is the “last person” on the planet!

And while you’re sharing the 4 spiritual laws, or whatever method you prefer, a baby is born at that very second.  In fact, in 2008 they figured out that 4 babies are born every second in the world.

So even if you have your gospel presentation down to 10 seconds 40 people have been born around the planet that you now need to go find!

Therefore the Mark Commission is every single generation’s responsibility because it is a perpetual work.

Now the Matthew Commission is a Multi-Generational command.  Meaning you can do the work now and it will last 3 generations down the line.

I learned about this from non other than the golden arches, McDonald’s.

You can go to a MickeyD’s anywhere in the world and have the same experience nearly every single time.  Ever wonder why?

It’s because this guy named Ray Croc got together with the McDonald brothers years ago and saw that they had something going for them.  So Ray asked himself “How can I systematize this process so I can hand the system to a 15 year old kid and they can run it?”

And that’s what he did.  He created a system that to this day is used all over the world.  They basically sell you a business in a box for a million dollars.  You put the system to work and it will work for you.

What does this have to do with the Great Commission?

Everything!

Jesus told us in the Matthew Passage that we are supposed to teach the nations to obey his commands.  If Ray can do it with hamburgers; If he can teach a system that to this day works around the world if he’s there or not, surely we can teach a way to obey the commands of Jesus that will work in the nations no matter if we’re still alive or not.

And since we’re lining up the nations to the very design of the creator of the universe.  It will work!

Just think…what if we taught Government officials & business men how to really obey the command of Jesus to let your yes be yes, and your no be no.  That would make an amazing difference in our planet!

I believe in this so much that I write articles on this site about how to obey the commands of Jesus.  I’d love your input also!  So go visit those posts and leave a comment!

Many Blessings,

RK Castillo

²⁰ Then Jesus began to denounce the cities in which most of his miracles had been performed, because they did not repent.

²¹ Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.

²² But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you.

²³ And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the skies? No, you will go down to the depths. If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day.

Jesus is rebuking the cities where he did the most miracles because they had not changed their mind (repent) about the Kingdom and what Jesus was doing.

But the thing that I have been pondering is Jesus said that if the miracles that were done in Capernaum had been performed in Sodom they would have repented?!

Sodom is a famous city for their grotesque sin and they would have repented if they would have seen a level of miracles?

No Fire? No Brimstone? No wifey into a pillar of salt?

Why is it that miracles will cause a sinful city to repent?

I don’t know!  If you have an answer please leave it as a comment below!

If I had to guess….

Miracles are a demonstration of a higher power.  And I would say the miracles Jesus was doing in their city were of a truly high caliber; Probably deaf, blind, paralytics, maybe even dead people being raised.  So when Jesus performs these types of miracles it causes an automatic gut check.

God is here…and I don’t know if I want him in my life or not.

And their decision at that moment is what Jesus was rebuking them for.  They chose their own selfish ways instead of submitting to the Kingdom that he was demonstrating.

Why would it have cause Sodom to repent?

I don’t know if there was a demonstration of the greatness of God in that city?  There probably wasn’t.  If there were miracles in that city It would have been a declaration to that city that the One true God is here and he wants you to submit to him.  And according to Jesus they would have repented!

Now…if you’re attempting to reach your city without a demonstration of miracles.  I would ask why?

Jesus himself says that the way to reach a city, even a horribly sinful city, is to do public miracles.

So lets get out there and reach out city!

Many Blessings,

RK Castillo

In Malcom Gladwell’s book called “the Tipping Point.”  He shares 3 principles for causing what he calls a Tipping Point.

The nearest thing to a tipping point is what we call an epidemic.  It’s when the momentum for change becomes unstoppable.  It’s like a disease that is running through a community and can’t be stopped.

He says the 3 things you need to cause a Tipping point are an infected agent, contagiousness & an environment for that thing to grow.

When he’s talking about contagiousness he calls it the stickiness principle.  It’s like that song you can’t get out of your head, or that thing pastor Alan said last week about whiskey (huh?)  It’s the ability to cause ideas to be remembered well after the Sunday sermon.

So my question is “Can Jesus Be Sticky?”  Meaning is there something we can do today that would cause people to not be able to get Jesus out of their head?

The most common things I find in the Bible for causing news about Jesus to spread are healings, deliverance & prophetic words over people’s lives.  I mean, if someone is in a wheel chair and you pray for them in the name of Jesus and they get out of that wheel chair.  They will probably have Jesus stuck in their minds for a little while.

But if you get down to the nitty gritty.  The heart of the matter is to just love people.  And as Jesus says (paraphrased in RK language), it’s easy to love those who love you.  It takes God to love those who seem unlovable.

Sometimes something as small as buying someone a $1 cheeseburger will mean the world to them.  Or what about calling someone you know you hurt in the past and ask them forgiveness?  Or why not pray for the guy in the wheel chair?

It all flows from an act of love!

So…lets get to loving people and seeing Jesus become famous in our community!

She is a YWAMer and was impacted by a TV show that a british journalist did on the impact of Christianity on cities.  His whole point was that if Jesus actually changes things, then the most Christian city in the USA should be impacted by it’s influence.  So he made his way to Dallas because it had the most Christians per capita in the United States.  He then began to look at the different aspects of crime, drug use, teen pregnancy, etc.  The things that any sociologist would look at.

And the fact is there was no difference!

So he began to interview the Christian leaders in Dallas and they all basically said the same thing “that’s not my responsibility.  My job is to help people spiritually.”  And we Landa Cope heard this it sank into her chest.  She knew something was wrong with that.

She decided to drive across the USA and visit different YWAM bases and listen to the Bible on tape as she drove.  She was listening to the book of Deuteronomy as she drove and suddenly realized she was hearing advice that relates to government.  Then she heard advice about business.  And she had a major revelation.

When the Israelites left Egypt they were the largest refugee camp ever.

So God had to take this refugee camp and transform it into a prosperous nation.  And the first 5 books of the Bible were just that, a template for discipling a nation.

She calls it the Old Testament Template and she wrote a great book titled the same thing.

With this revelation she began to study the Bible to see what it says about the different mind molders.  And she has studied every verse in the Bible that has to do with the mind molders/culture molders/mountains/spheres/domains whatever it is you want to call them.

And once she studied all the verses that have to do with the mind molders she created mission statements for each of the mind molders.

Mission Statements For The 7 Mind Molders:

Religion- Mercy- To provide for the discipleship of all believers in the whole nature and character of God and His Word applied to the work and walk of faith, and to facilitate the expression of that faith in worship and in the sacraments of the Church.

Government- Justice- To provide and ensure justice and equity for all citizens including executive, judicial, military, enforcement and central services.

Business- Provision- To provide needed goods and services and gainful employment opportunities for the community at a fair market price and wage.

Family- Nurture- To provide a safe, nurturing environment for growth, values and education for the next generation.

Education- Development- To provide for the development of the God-given gifts in every child for the service of their fellow man and society, believing every child is gifted by God and has the right for those gifts to be developed to their highest potential.

Media- Information- To provide truthful, objective information of importance to the community so citizens can make informed decisions.

Arts & Entertainment- To provide rest, relaxation and restoration of the soul through beauty and joy.

So depending on which mind molder you are called to influence.  You can tell what you are supposed to influence this mind molder towards.

Leave me a comment below and let me know what you learned from this article and how you’re going to implement it

Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Matthew 5:25

Although Jesus is saying this specifically about working settling disputes with an adversary taking you to court.  I think it can also be applied to matters with anyone or anything.

Settle matters quickly with your adversary.  Don’t bottle things up.  Don’t let things go and think time will heal.  Deal with matters quickly!  This is connected with the previous command to deal with anger but it is another aspect of it.

We are not just called to deal with anger.  We’re called to deal with anger QUICKLY!

So how do you go about obeying this command?  I’d love to hear how you do it!  Leave a comment below!

Action Point:

So how do you actually go about doing this?  Well, just yesterday I got upset at one of the guys that works with me on my team.  I said some things in anger and then we went into a prayer/worship time.  I was reading a book and praying and felt like God said you need to go apologize to that guy right now!

So I got up, walked over to the guy, tapped him on the shoulder and said “Hey bro, I apologize for getting upset about such and such.  I’m sorry”

That’s how I dealt with the anger I had and how I settled the matter quickly.

“”You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.”Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift”. Matt 5:21-24

Jesus starts of this command zeroing in on our heart issues.  You heard in the past that you shouldn’t murder people.  So where does the actual act of murdering come from?  It comes from a heart issue of anger.  And if you’re angry at your brother you are in danger of judgment!

This should put a little bit of the fear of the Lord in your heart.  Anger is basically the same as Murder in the eyes of God.  We need to deal with it as such too!

So what does Jesus say to do?

He says to go and deal with this thing even before you spend your time in worship to him.  Don’t even worship if you know someone has something against you.  Go to that person and be reconciled.   Do it right now!

So how do you actually obey this command?  I’d love to hear what you do.  Leave a comment below…..

Action Points:

It always interests me that if someone has something against us we are called to go and talk to that person, not them come and talk to us.  And he says in another verse if we have something against another person we are to take the initiative and go and talk to them.

So we have two options.  We can either Go or Go.  If you have something against somebody, Go.  If someone has something against you, Go.

]]> http://greatcommissionstrategy.com/commands-of-jesus/deal-with-anger/feed/ 0 http://greatcommissionstrategy.com/great-commission/a-new-house-church-strategy-to-fulfill-the-great-commission/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=a-new-house-church-strategy-to-fulfill-the-great-commission http://greatcommissionstrategy.com/great-commission/a-new-house-church-strategy-to-fulfill-the-great-commission/#comments Thu, 17 Sep 2009 11:12:35 +0000 http://greatcommissionstrategy.com/?p=17

I was thinking this week about the house church model.  If you would have asked me 4 years ago what I thought needed to happen in the body of Christ I would have told you we needed to do house churches.

But after visiting house churches for the last 4 years I have changed my mind….sorta.

We visited one house church and when the lady answered the door she asked us what we were doing there.  We told her we came for house church and she said “Oh….come in.”  Nice warm welcome!

We were a part of another house church for a couple years with some great people but trying to get them to do anything except meet together was like pulling teeth.  No Evangelism, No Multiplication, No doing life where life happens.  It was just meet and talk about whatever.  And of course I enjoyed meeting with the people but I believed in the house church movement because I could see the potential of rapid multiplication of disciples that make disciples of nations.

This got me to thinking about why house churches in the West are like this.

Here's my opinion.  Since we have been shaped by a western individualist culture we go to the congregational church and the house church for the same reason “What I can get out of this….”

In the Bible Paul talked about a community of people who loved Jesus and their sole purpose was to reflect Jesus to the outside world.  It wasn't about “What I can get out of this church”  It was about “How can We, as a body, represent Jesus to the world.

So I would like to recommend a new “House Church Strategy” but it's not even a house church thing.

I want to take the house out of the new strategy.

It's very interesting that when Jesus chose what to call his followers he named the leaders 'Apostles'  The Apostle was the leader in a band of ships, sent out from the home country.  And whenever they would get to a new place they had one job.  Make whatever place you land in look and act just like they do in the home country.   It might be something like “in the United States, as it is in Rome” or whatever….

The Apostle was in charge of creating the culture of the home country in a foreign land.

So….I want to call these new churches “A Teams” or something like that (kinda cheesy…I know).  Apostolic Teams that have one mission.  To go into the 7 spheres of influence, the 7 mind molders, and so change the culture that it reflects the King & his Kingdom.  Kinda reflects the prayer of Jesus “On Earth as it is in Heaven”

Here's how this will work on a practical level.

There's 7 Culture Molders in a society.  Lance Wallnau calls them mountains

An “A Team's” primary mission is to gather a group of followers of Jesus in whatever mountain they are called to invade.  This might be your business, your school, your government, whatever.

They will be armed with the Commands of Jesus and they will know how to use them (Matt.28:18-20).  Meaning they can teach non-followers of Jesus how to follow his commands in non-christian language.  And when they begin to follow his ways they will see his ways work because they do!

The question a leader of an “A Team” will ask is this:

How is the culture of this organization be effected?  Is it being changed to reflect the Kingdom?

If the answer is no…we're just having a Bible Study during lunch time.  Then you need to change what you're doing.  The whole goal is to change the culture like an Apostle would do in times of old!

This blog is going to be focused primarily on how to do just this effectively!  So…click that little RSS Icon and subscribe to this blog so you can join in on the conversation and we can go do this thing together!

Many Blessings,

RK Castillo

PS…If you disagree with me, agree with me, want to add more…anything.  Leave a comment below!