Leadership is the Key to the Kingdom

Matthew 16:19

I will give you the Keys to the Kingdom of Heaven.

I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

Vitaly from Siberia,Russia & the Ukraine.  Linus, Mike & Pat Heiser

I woke up this morning with this thought, "Leadership is the Key to unlocking the Kingdom of Heaven." Leaders have been given certain keys to unlock their spheres of influence. But you must put the key in the lock and open the doors of heaven for others to come in.

If we look at the scriptures ahead of Matthew 16:19 you will see who Jesus was talking to. It was Peter, who was Jesus main disciple. He was the oldest, but not the smartest.  Peter had something the rest of the disciples didn't, the revelation, Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God and he wasn't afraid to say it.

In Matthew 16:17 Jesus said, "Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but My Father who is in heaven and I say to you that you are Peter and on this rock (THE REVELATION) I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it."

Leadership and their revelation are the keys to any ministry. Leaders need to reproduce leaders. Every seed produces after its own kind. Mike & Pat have done an excellent job of reproducing leaders in their ministry. It is time for their leaders to reproduce so we can have more keys to the kingdom.

Meru Bible School, 2018

I have a key ring, it has my car key, my house key, my Gathering Place key, my blessing box key and a few more.  Some I don't know what too, but they all open a door to something. If you ever lose you key ring, you can't open any doors, you can't start the car, you can't go to work, you can't get in the house or your work and you can't open your blessing box.

Leaders if they are not discovered, may have the key to open the windows of heaven.  Most leaders are not charismatic, they are down to earth people, who can roll up their selves and get the job done. Actually, they are common down to earth people who said yes to something God wanted done. They are not qualified to do it, but they are willing to step out in faith and see what Jesus wants to do.

Pat Heiser has a great saying and I've used many times: We are just ordinary people, doing extra ordinary things for God, Supernatural things which we are not qualified to do. Do you realize God does not have anybody qualified working for Him.  It is Him, who qualifies us, when he calls us to do something, our hands should shoot up in the air and say, "Look no further, I'm your man or women to do the job through you."

Russia - first graduate class.

What are we looking for when we go to Kenya in February? We are looking for people who are not qualified but willing to be used by God. I've already seen many of them in the spirit.

When we went to Russia, not qualified, we just went.  The students who showed up not qualified but willing to be used.  In 2007 a bishop told me out of the bible school in Jelgava, Latvia in 1991-92, over 25,000 churches have been planted. With unqualified people who wanted to be used by God. These my friends are the keys to unlock the doors to heaven.

I see that same hunger in the eyes of students in Kenya, they want to change a nation for God, they have their hands raised and are saying, "Look no further I'm your man".

A Partner with God ~

Philippians 4:19

"My God shall supply all your need (not needs) according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus."

Most people, including me, thought they were doing God a favor when we put our two bucks in the offering plate on Sunday morning. Kay and I did this for many years, it was like paying to go to the movies to be entertained by God. Maybe it was payment for answering prayers, if I am good Santa is going to bring me a present. These conclusions are all wrong of course.

Over our years of being a missionary God has taught us several lesson about stewardship, not only in the money realm but in running our ministry, running our household, and everything we do in life is about being a steward with God's money and time, He has given to us, to do what He has shown us to do in His vision for our lives. It has worked out very well for us.

When you are a steward of what God has given to you it is like you are a partner with the boss. Now maybe someone can tell me what is the downside to partnering with a boss who owns ALL the cattle on the hills and He owns the hills. Why wouldn't you want to partner with him?

When finances seem to be low, Kay and I ask the question, "What does the boss want?"

Kay and I have never had a lot of money but since being missionaries not once have we had to beg for bread, we have always had enough to meet our need. There have been times when it didn't seem like enough but the Boss always came through with what we needed. It has made our ministry easier to step out in faith when we know our partner has all the money we need. Several things come to mind when you are partner with God.

#1. It was Paul's God, in Philippians 4:19 not yours, Paul didn't know what our god's were, may be your house, car, boat, kids. All of these things can be your gods. It was Paul's God who is going to supply your need. The question becomes what are our god's?

#2. There is a difference between all of your need, rather than your needs. What do we really need?

Kay and I found out, when we became missionaries getting ready to go to the Soviet Union, our total reliance had to be on God. While going to school, in Jacksonville, Florida, I wanted to get a job before we went to Russia at Wendy's. My theory was at least we could eat. God stopped me and asked the question, "Can you work in the Soviet Union?"

The answer to this question was no. "I'm going to teach you how to TRUST ME in every situation you find yourself in. Whether Soviet Union or America it is all the same. "TRUST in the Lord with you whole heart and lean not to your own understanding." Proverbs 3:5. There were many stories how God supplied our need during those times. Every month, it seemed like we had a financial miracle to meeting our need.

Where we trained to go to the Soviet Union~

From this point on we never had a need on the mission field. God always supplied all of our need, not our needs. In many cases we had more money, it wasn't much, but more than enough to survive on. Right now our mission field includes the Gathering Place. We have to ask ourselves how we are doing. Because in the natural it doesn't look good but every time in the last seven years God has met our need, (not needs)

#3. According to His Riches in Glory. It is according to God's gold standard in Heaven not our standard here on earth. There is a big difference. When you partner with God you begin to realize the goal is heaven. Heaven is where the gold standard is much different. I will close with this story about His Riches in Glory:

A rich man was about to die and he packed all of his gold in a suit case, he was going to take it with him. Of course we can't take the earth's standard with us to heaven, but we all think we can. When he gets to the pearly gates, he is met by Saint Peter. Peter asks him "what do you have in the suitcase?"

The man replied, "I have all of my gold in my suitcase".

Peter replied to him, "Why are you bringing gravel to heaven".

When you partner with God you will have a different Gold Standard. Have a nice day.