God’s Blueprint

December 19, 2013

Mature leadership will be marked by those who see beyond the obvious; to identify and nurture the gift of those they’ve been called to work alongside. The measure of true Kingdom leadership is to discern God’s blueprint operating in those being led; and then to foster the alignment needed to bring that calling to the next level. It doesn’t happen overnight and even with the seasoned, it requires a continual reaching for the progressively higher standard.
“It is no longer I who lives, but Christ who lives within me.” Gal 2:20

In Matthew 25:31 Jesus pointed to the time when the nations would be judged and He separates the sheep from the goats. “Nations” will be judged; by virtue of responding to God’s blueprint for them, as Egypt responded to Joseph’s guidance and God’s plan for them as a safe-haven through the time of famine. Then the King said, “Come you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you took me in.” Then He reveals what had been involved: reaching out with God’s blueprint.
“Inasmuch as you did this to the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.” Matt 25:40

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Pushing Back

November 21, 2013

There are requisites that God’s people must meet in order for His turning to be released. The story of David in 1 Samuel 30 unveils insights into these requisites. From the time of his renown after killing Goliath, David was in over his head, operating against the odds. Eventually fleeing for his life, David had pulled out all the stops to respond honorably to Saul’s efforts to crush him. Finally, without any question of David hitting a low point in walking out his “calling”, he gave in and sought safety by cavorting with the Philistines. David was flying by the seat of his pants. Then with his activities with the Philistines abruptly terminated, he returned to his base at Ziklag with his remnant of warriors. Upon returning, they discovered Ziklag had been raided by the Amalekites. They had lost everything, including their families. It was a time of utter despair, with no foreseeable hope for even the next step. With his followers disgusted and ready to stone him, David’s mantle of leadership had hit a threshold. Yet, it proved to be a turning point for all that would unfold from that point onward; in David’s calling and for his followers. The scripture tells us that at that low point, in the face of revolt and the bottom dropping out; that David strengthened himself in the Lord and inquired of the Lord. The word of the Lord came: he was to pursue and all would be recovered. It was a time to reach beyond the hopeless despair and push back.

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Pioneers, Peddlers and Tz’dakim

November 21, 2013

From the days of Noah, God’s people have been distinctive. As stewards of God’s intentions, they’ve restored God’s order from the way He established it at the beginning. They’ve pioneered; they’ve creatively built self-sustaining operations; and they’ve reestablished God’s standard for righteousness, which is an opportunity-enabling community dynamic. Serving in this unique, mixed role as pioneers, peddlers and tz’dakim (a righteous people), God’s people have again and again demonstrated a most exceptional societal standard of trust and leadership. Historically, the impact has far exceeded the best the world, or society without God, could offer. The result, despite overwhelming adversity, has been disproportionate contributors and achievers who have exhibited a brand of leadership pointed to by Jesus: leadership by serving.

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The Model in Motion

October 27, 2013

The world’s system is being shaken. Tenets of leadership, once accepted as the standard, are in question. The response of God’s chosen to this shaking; the response needed to impact nations requires more than what can be done in the natural. It demands a community-level response and a higher level of leadership. The response needed is to foundationally restore God’s order. The response will flow from the ancient model of God-centered entrepreneurial community being fully set in motion by a people mobilized in God. Within Christendom today are remarkable models to mobilize churches. Likewise, the last generation has seen incredible models that have mobilized missionaries. Now, we have entered the time of mobilizing the marketplace. All this has been good. However, in each of these cases there’s been a serious blind-spot. That blind-spot is created from the premise that if you are successful in one area, then success will follow in other areas. The blind-spot has also held that if you just employ a successful Western church model, then by doing it enough it will transform society. Not so. Church growth should be the by-product rather than the goal. Mobilizing missionaries should be the by-product rather than the goal. Spiritual success first pivots on changing the spiritual climate to the level that it impacts a culture. It is a process. It is a process that emanates from God’s order. At its crux is the restoration of the biblical model that fully embraces the interactive dynamic of the spiritual, the economic and community, all operating in concert.

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The Elect

October 18, 2013

During His entire earthly ministry, Jesus challenged misaligned and unproductive thinking. He raised the bar. He challenges those with idols in their minds, who miss the mark of true service by fearing the loss of their turf and “perceived empires.” There’s something very holy when a people refuse the defilements that come from the way the world responds to life and its ambitions. They begin seeing things from the stance of the Lord’s heart. It involves a standard that flows in the honor that only comes from God. It’s the standard that is at the heart of Jesus’ kingdom message. It reflects an issue of mind-sets that penetrate the very core of a culture. Jesus drew a strong line in the sand with the Pharisees. First, the standard for leaders is much higher. Jesus’ hard line also was because not only was Pharisaical-thinking askew in terms of God’s order; but because these religious leaders justified their thinking with what Jesus referred to as “the precepts of men.”

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Joseph’s Apostolic Gifts

September 15, 2013

Within any move of God or spiritual organizational setting, God’s order is the framework through which the work is conducted. One of the amazing results of the impact from the societal standards outlined in the Jewish Torah is the influence these truths have had on civilizations over the centuries. It’s much more than just a better mousetrap. It is the collateral fruit of operating according to God’s order. A work will always be judged by the fruit of its standard. Without God’s order, efforts to accomplish God’s purposes will fall short or fall into results described by scripture, on one level, as the arm of the flesh. Compromise is a deceptively subtle foundation which in reality is the gateway into a seedbed from which Babylon or Chaldea (Jer 51:23); mammon or sorcery can take root. The apostolic mantle and its complementary gifts meld in such a way to uphold the standard of God’s order; provide the discernment and authority to recognize and bypass judgment; and to serve as a catalyst for prophetic influence and spiritual climate change. The life of Joseph exhibits a process. His was a disciplined life; a spiritual response to the status quo. The process was in Joseph’s role to progressively face the hurdles (such as the spiritual backlash of his righteous response to Potiphar’s wife) and change the spiritual climate of a pagan society. The reality of God was demonstrated by Joseph from the time he lost his freedom, serving as a slave. Joseph’s faithfulness, step by step, overcame the pagan culture and calmed the spiritual storm, and established the spiritual alignment needed for God’s short- and long-term purposes.

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Prophetic Stewardship

August 19, 2013

Prophetic stewardship bears an even higher standard. Kingdom leadership pivots on stewardship that seeks the community good. That may require a decisiveness that is neither popular nor comfortable. It demands a basis that understands the true heart of God and the long-term prophetic implications. Joseph’s service to Pharaoh began with a time of preparation. Scripture indicates that these years of preparation were a fruitful time, a time of abundance. Yet, what was required to gather and store the grain demanded discipline. It no doubt involved some belt-tightening for everyone. The tough standards and decisions required were not for the feint of heart or those with the need to be accepted. Yet, when the years of abundance were over and famine came, then both the decisions and the discipline became even harder. Joseph’s stewardship involved a balance between maintaining order, adjusting to the widespread famine, while establishing Egypt as solution-provider. It required a level of administration that not only was gifted, but drew from God’s wisdom for the decisions being made.

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Testimony of Kingdom Farming

August 7, 2013

The way that the Lord explains the Kingdom through you is very uplifting and directional. God called me as a farmer in South Africa and I believe He is busy establishing a kingdom farming model that with the foundation of Isahia 53 and the methods of Isahia 58 to break the yokes of poverty in the community and erecting a economic sustainable farming opreration run in His way (Isaiha 60).

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Impact of ‘Ruddick’ Bible Reading plan

August 7, 2013

For years I have read 3 chapters in the old and 1 in the new each day…but I always seemed to bog down. It was tedius. Then, the one book of yours I brought with me when I relocated to Indonesia in 2010 was “Something More”. I was drawn to your methodical Bible reading chart…and I decided to try it. It seemed to me to be far too ambitious and time demanding…but I needed to “break the tedious cycle of my old Bible reading chart. So I plunged into it. Before the first month was out, my wife…who has never really read a comprehensive way of reading the Bible began to take note of the “hand made” chart of mine and she began reading the Bible along with me and together NOW we read 10 chapters a day “out loud” to each other.

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The Princely Anointing

August 7, 2013

The princely anointing defines the standard. Regardless of the context, it maps out, it builds up and it brings increase. It enables others and nurtures community. The princely anointing is always God-centered, raising the bar, establishing righteous influence in the culture around it. It was the anointing that established Daniel’s influence in the King’s court despite the prevailing culture of sorcery. Likewise, despite his lowly position, Joseph’s regal anointing gained the recognition and trust of those in authority over him: from Potiphar to the jailer to Pharaoh. Psalm 15 highlights the criteria for the operation of the princely anointing: walks with integrity, works righteousness, speaks truth in his own heart, does not slander, does no evil to his neighbor nor takes up a reproach against a friend, despises reprobates, but honors those who fear the Lord, abides by commitments and does not take advantage of others. The princely anointing attracts and engenders trust. The princely anointing exudes an authority, a humble authority that very naturally bestows God’s blessings and wisdom. It is a regal leadership conveying a confidence that evokes trust for stewarding responsibility.

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