Work in the Kingdom perspective
Dr. Paul Taylor
I want to begin to lay a foundation for why God has given us all gifts and ability to work. Before I do so I remind u of of a quote that I believe is so important as we go forward.
"If revelation does not lead us to a divine encounter, it only works to make us more religious and arrogant, because the nature of knowledge is to puff up!"
Bill Johnson
Our desire is not to puff up with knowledge, but to lead us into a deeper encounter with Jesus Christ that will empower us to accomplish our purpose for this generation.
Why did God give us gifts to work? Is work part of the curse? Does only work in a religious setting glorify God or does all honest work glorify God? I hope I can answer all those questions before I am through.
"Before you were born, your end result was already deposited within you. God did not place "birth and death" in your womb. He placed "The discovery of a Divine Word, and He also placed the result of that Word within you. He created your beginning and your end, not just you "being born and dying."
Andre Fizer
I encourage u to read that quote over and over again until it gets deep in your spirit. U were created for a divine purpose! Don't confuse divine with religious. U were created by God to accomplish something on earth. This is why we have been emphasizing that everyone is called and anointed for the purpose for which they were created.
Second, you were created and placed on earth! Most of what we hear taught in church is about going to heaven. You were not created for heaven.
"May you be blessed by the Lord who made heaven and earth. The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord's; but the earth He has given to the children of men." Ps. 105:15,16
“Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.”
2 Peter 3:13-14
As you read the creation story there is no mention of heaven. Mankind was created for the earth.
"Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth." Genesis 1:28
Notice man was not to subdue or have dominion over other men!
Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."
Genesis 1:26
So we can clearly see that we were created by God, in His image, for the purpose here on earth!
"This is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, before any plant of the field was in the earth and before any herb of the field had grown. For the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to till the ground."
Genesis 2:4-5
There was no herb
No rain
No plant
No man
So God created man.
Jesus Christ restored to us what was lost in the garden, eternal life! Agreed we must deal with corruptible flesh but in Christ all things are possible!!!!
So man is formed.
The garden is planted.
Work is established.
Notice that work is established before the fall of man.
This is very important for us to understand because most people believe that work is a part of the curse. NOT SO!
You were created to work! I am going to stop here and give time to respond.
Notice that man was created to work and there are no churches, no ministers, no clergy, not even the five fold gifts!
I would like to continue teaching about work because it is the foundation to build on.
Work was given to Adam before the fall! There r three words for work in Genesis 2.
1. To till.... (abad) Genesis 2:5
2. To tend...(abodah) Genesis 2:15
3. To keep...(shamar) Genesis 2:15
Abad: to serve; cultivate; as in: develop a culture or change the climate
Abodah: to work, serve and worship. "Our understanding of worship comes close to the Hebrew meaning of 'abohad'.
Shamar: to put a guard, be a watchman.
This is proof that when God gave Adam work (his purpose on the earth), to till and tend to the garden, it was his worship to His Creator. His obedience to what God had given him to do and the use of the talents and abilities given to him to perform this work, brought the Lord great pleasure.
God placed in Adam what he needed to accomplish what he was called, assigned or purposed to do!
I personally believe that work also brought great pleasure to Adam!
When you the created does what you were created to do, you will please God and you will draw great pleasure from it also! You will never work another day in your life! In fact you will be energized when doing what u were created to do!
This is not to say that u will not get tired. We have this treasure in earthen vessels (2 Corinthians 4:7-18).
I am also not saying that singing is not worship. Singing is wonderful and we love praising our King Jesus! But we r trying to establish the truth that there is no clergy and laity. That Sunday is not the only day we should worship God but every day is the Lord's. And that u are anointed to do what you were created to do and when u do it THAT IS WORSHIP TO GOD!
We have far to many believers who go to church on Sunday thinking it is the only way to worship God. They then hate going to work the next day other than they know they have to work to pay the bills. What if u discovered your purpose for life and could provide for your family's needs by doing it? How happy u would be! How much more productive u would be!
Here is the formula to finding your purpose in life.
PURPOSE = (YOUR PASSION + YOUR ABILITIES) x YOUR TARGET GROUP
Your target group just means who u will do it for or with. Maybe u r passionate about singing but u can't sing? That is not God's purpose for your life because u do not have the ability to do that. YOU POSSESS EVERYTHING U NEED TO BE SUCCESSFUL AND TO FULFILL YOUR PURPOSE!
U must have ability to do what u r passionate about. Now, who will u do it for? Will it be in a company, a church, or the government? Will it be in your community, your country or maybe it will be international?
Maybe u r called to be a mother and raise your children to serve the Lord and to know their purpose in life? There is nothing wrong with that.
Lets continue with our discussion on the origin of work.
We have discovered that work was not a part of the curse when man sinned in Genesis 3. In fact work was given to man and was Adam's act of worship to God.
Do u think God only made Adam this way? There were no church buildings, worship services or even a Bible to read, yet Adam worshipped God as he tended the garden and named the animals. He had dominion over all of creation, but most important, Adam and his wife, not yet named Eve walked with God in conversational relationship. I will get back to this relationship in a moment.
"...of every tree of the garden you may freely eat."
Genesis 2:16 Provision was provided by God.
"But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil u shall not eat; for in that day that u eat thereof u shall surely die." Genesis 2:17
YOU WILL LACK!
When man disobeyed God by eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil several things happened.
They were removed from the garden and separated from God. Their relationship was broken. They would no longer live forever as first created by God. They became human beings in need of a Savior!
THEY WERE NEVER CURSED BY GOD!!!
The serpent was cursed. The ground was cursed but man was never cursed by God!
"Cursed is the ground for your sake: In toil u shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for u...in the sweat of your face...
Genesis 3:17-18
Your provision is connected to the ground/creation.
It was the ground that was cursed.
When the curse was broken: Salvation became available. Salvation is more than a ticket to heaven. Salvation restores the relationship that was lost with our Heavenly Father and our original purpose to walk in relationship with Him on the earth! Salvation also broke the curse and redeemed our provision!
I strongly recommend you read Romans 8:19-22
All creation waits for the revealing of the sons of God. That is you! The redeemed. It is in deliverance from sin that you are reconciled to your Heavenly Father, to walk in relationship with God, through Jesus Christ, discover your purpose, identity, calling, assignment, and your provision is released!
Everything now flows out of your relationship with God just as it did with Adam! You now have eternal life, not just because you are forgiven, but because your relationship has been restored with your Heavenly Father.
Adam lived because he walked in relationship with God. He lived because he heard the voice or sound of God!
Jesus said, "It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God."
Matthew 4:4
You need to be hearing God's voice. We live by hearing the Word (rhema or spoken word) of God. We will talk more about this later.
All of what we are sharing with you directly relates to LIFE, and how you will live. It will determine how you will run your business when you understand that your business is worship to God.
"Because the creation itself will also be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious Liberty of the children of God." Romans 8:21
"For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now."
Vs. 22
YOU ARE PREGNANT WITH YOUR PROVISION AND YOUR DESTINY!!! It is time to live what God has created you to be!
We r going to help u do that as u apply the principles u r being taught. God has so much more each of us and it is in us!!!
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