Seeking the Spirit of the Kingdom... Introduction
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SEEKING THE SPIRIT OF THE KINGDOM
“Not by might nor by power,
but by My Spirit”
Zechariah 4:6
INTRODUCTION:
THE
ONLY WAY TO SERVE GOD
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| You are reading the introduction to this book, "Seeking the Spirit of the Kingdom" |
NASA understands the
exactitude that this science demands. Every time that a shuttle returns from
space it must make contact with earth’s atmosphere at an exact geometrical
angle. If the angle is less than required, the apparatus cannot enter and will
simply bounce back into space. If an attempt is made at a more direct angle,
the craft will enter all right, but it will be the end of it and its cargo,
whether that cargo is people or material. The intense heat caused by friction
will incinerate and annihilate it. You see, the laws that rule Mathematics
cannot be ignored, because they allow no place for carelessness.
These demanding laws that
regulate the universe were established by the Creator of heaven and earth and
we must respect them. We must live in agreement with them, because they are
unchangeable. The same is true concerning the spiritual world that He has
created. In the same way, the laws that govern it are so strict and unbending
that, if we do not want to fail spiritually, we must learn, respect and apply
them appropriately. God expresses one of the basic spiritual principles, quoted
by Zechariah in our biblical text: “Not by might nor by power, but by My
Spirit” (Zech. 4:6). It was an answer that God gave to a question posed by
Zechariah, concerning a vision that he had seen, in which a lamp stand with
seven lamps received oil for burning directly from two olive trees. (Zechariah
was like the disciples, as we learned in the second volume, with a yearning to
understand the significance of the parabolic figures that were shown to him. In
the first six chapters, I count ten questions that he asked.)
The vision carried an
encouraging message to Zerubbabel. His name is found in the royal line of David
and in the genealogy of Matthew, chapter one, as an ancestor of the Son of Man.
He was a king without a throne or an army, captive to a nation much stronger
than his own. God gave a ministry for both Zerubbabel and the high priest,
Joshua, to carry out, so that their people, Israel
The olive oil, used as fuel
for the lamps, is a symbol of the Holy Spirit and it flowed continually and
directly from the two olive trees to a receptacle for the lamp stand. There was
no process of picking the olives, crushing them to extract the oil, or any kind
of refining for fuel. The message guaranteed that Zerrubbabel would place the
foundational stone of the house and the work would follow through until he
would also lay the final stone. God would look with favor upon this work and
provide everything necessary to complete it. Therefore we have the words, “Grace,
grace to it!” (verse 7). “The eyes of the Lord which range to and fro
throughout the earth” were upon this project and an ancient prophet of Judah Persia
In our text, we first see
the Lord negating two possible answers that man could consider valid. He
declared that it would not be “by might nor by power.” God says that the
way to bring success to heavenly, eternal purposes is neither by means of
military might nor my human strength. No national leader can move any spiritual
element with the force of an army, regardless of how great and powerful it may
be, nor can it be done by physical or mental capabilities that man possesses,
individually or corporately. It will not be carried out by human initiative or
invention.
Zerubbabel had no army or
political force available to him. To consider these means as an alternative, in
order to produce something for the Kingdom of God, is a wrong conclusion and,
in practice, can never provide the least spiritual benefit. To express it in
more detail, to confide in things, such as various ideologies, human talent, or
technology, will only lead to failure. We must completely eliminate all other
options apart from the Holy Spirit. The immutable law is the following: The
only One, who can put into action eternal powers by His omnipotence, develop
infinite plans by His omniscience and work out divine purposes to completion
with an unbreakable will, is uniquely the Holy Spirit of God. He is the right
answer to all the questions regarding how to further the Kingdom of God
The work of the Holy Spirit
is directly related to a spiritual element called faith. The Spirit and
faith are so essential in spiritual realms that we ought to see them in every
promise, commandment and instruction given in the Bible. We should have them so
in mind, when we study the Scriptures, so that as we read about some duty that
we need to perform in serving the Lord, automatically we remember that it must
be done by faith and by means of the Spirit of God. We immediately understand
that its execution has nothing to do with any natural work, human effort, or
physical or mental capability.
The Holy Spirit and faith
are so closely united that we could say that they are spiritual synonyms. What
someone does in the Spirit, he does by faith, and what he does by faith, he
must do in the Spirit. Therefore, since we spoke in previous books of seeking
the King of the Kingdom, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever,
and of seeking the truth of the Kingdom, which comes through the revelation of
mysteries given in Scripture, now we will seek the way of service in the
Kingdom through the Holy Spirit. This study has to do with walking in the
Spirit by faith.
Jesus said, “When they
bring you before the rulers and the authorities, do not worry about how or what
you are to speak in your defense, or what you are to say; for the Holy Spirit
will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say” (Lk.12:11-12). Only
as the Spirit works in us are we able to fulfill the eternal will of the Father
and live to the glory of God without self-serving motivation. We also must
recognize that the Spirit of God can only have liberty to function through
someone, who has been to the cross and died to his own will and abilities.
Consider and meditate on the following paragraphs, taken from a message by
Paris Reidhead, called “Ten Shekels and a Shirt”:
Why should a person come to
the cross? Why should a person embrace death with Christ? Why should a person
be willing to go, in identification, down to the cross and into the tomb and up
again? I’ll tell you why – because it’s the only way that God can get glory out
of a human being! If you say it’s because he’ll get joy or peace or blessing or
success or fame then it’s nothing but a Levite serving for ten shekels and a
shirt (note: To understand this statement and to have an idea as to
what Reidhead is referring, you might want to read Judges 17 and 18.) There
is only one reason for you to go to the Cross, dear young person – and that’s
because until you come to the place of union with Christ in death, you are
defrauding the Son of God of the glory that He could get out of your life. For
no flesh shall glory in His sight. And until you’ve understood the sanctifying
work of God by the Holy Ghost taking you into union with Christ in death and
burial and resurrection, you have to serve in what you have and all you have is
under the sentence of death: human personality, and human nature, and human
strength, and human energy. And God will get no glory out of that! So the
reason for you to go to the cross isn’t that you’re going to get victory – you
will get victory. It isn’t that you’re going to have joy – you will have joy.
But the reason for you to embrace the cross and press through until you know
that you can testify with Paul, “I am crucified with Christ...” (Galatians 2:20
) - It isn’t what you’re going to get out of it, but what He’ll get out of it,
for the glory of God. By the same token, why do you press through to know the
fullness of the Holy Spirit? Why are you to press through to know the fullness
of Christ? I’ll tell you why – Because the only possible way that Jesus Christ
will get glory out of a life that He’s redeemed with His precious blood is when
He can fill that life with His presence and live through it his own life.
The genius of our faith
wasn’t that we were going to go through the motions like a Levite that was
hired to serve God. No, No! The genius of our faith was that we’d come to a
place where we knew we could do nothing, and all we could do would be to
present the vessel and say, “Lord Jesus, you’ll have to fill it. And everything
that’s done will have to be done by You and for You.” But oh, I know so many
people that are trying to know the fullness of God, so that they can use God.
A
young preacher came to me down in Huntington ,
West Virginia
He was like a fellow
driving up in a big Cadillac, you know, to someone standing at the filling
station, saying “Fill her up, bub, with the highest octane you’ve got!” Well,
that’s the way it looked. He wanted power for his program. God is not going to
be a means to anyone’s end. I said, “I’m awfully sorry, I don’t think that I
can help you.” He said, “Why?” I said, “I don’t think you’re ready.” I said,
“Well, suppose you consider yourself coming up with a Cadillac. You’ve talked
about your program, you’ve talked about your radio, you’ve talked about your
Sunday School and church. It’s very good. You’ve done wonderfully well without
the power of the Holy Spirit.” That’s what the Chinese Christian said, you
know, when he got back to China America
It will never work. Never
work. There’s only one reason for God needing you and that’s to bring you to
the place where, in repentance, you’ve been pardoned for His glory. And in
victory you’ve been brought to the place of death that He might reign. And in
the fullness, Jesus Christ is able to live and walk in you. Your attitude is
the attitude of the Lord Himself, who said, “I can do nothing of Myself” (John
8:28) I can’t speak of myself. I don’t make plans for myself. My only reason
for being is for the glory of God in Jesus Christ. If I were to say to you,
“Come to be saved so you can go to Heaven, come to the Cross so that you can
have joy and victory, come for the fullness of the Spirit so that you can be
satisfied,” I would be falling into the trap of humanism. I say to you
Christian friend, you come to the cross and join Him in union, in death, and
enter into all the meaning of death to self in order that He can have glory. I
say to you dear Christian, if you do not know the fullness of the Holy Ghost,
come and present your body a living sacrifice, and let Him fill you, so that He
can have the purpose for His coming fulfilled in you and get glory through your
life. It’s not what you’re going to get out of God, it’s what He is going to
get out of you.
In these studies, we are
going to have to face some of the disturbances that do not permit God’s Spirit
to do as He would please. The first that we will consider will be the will
of men, which always opposes and takes a direction 180 degrees away
from the will of God. The man, who causes me the most trouble, is the one that
I see, when I look in the mirror. The will of natural man is against God’s
will. To illustrate what I am saying, let us look at two examples in the Bible,
very much alike, one in the Old Testament and the other in the New.
God wanted Jonah to serve
Him to the east, in Nineveh Kingdom of God Nineveh
Many times I ask young
Christians about their lives and they tell me of many plans and preparations
that they would like to do in order to serve God. They are not very different
from Saul of Tarsus, who, from his youth apparently, had a great desire to
serve God as a leader of his people. He wanted to be a rabbi and, to fulfill
that purpose, he went to Jerusalem Damascus
Nevertheless, not only can
we sway ourselves away from the will of the Lord, but many other people, some
of them Christians, can sway us from the will of the Lord. All my life, I have
seen people persuaded and convinced by others to abandon what God has shown
them to do, so I know what I’m talking about. Those strongly influential in
their lives, whom they respect (and should respect), such as parents, leaders,
professors, and others, have been used to take them far from the plan of God.
All this has caused me great sadness always.
In these efforts to
frustrate heaven’s purposes, three enemies of God and humanity join together.
It is a wicked alliance, committed and determined to battle against the Lord.
This evil trinity is the world, the flesh and the devil. We need to face the
facts, recognize their tricks and come against their intents to detour our
lives.
Because we are living in days, in which there is much
abuse by those who pretend to do the work of the Spirit, as is seen on
television and in other media and which penetrates into all Christian circles,
I want to dedicate the first part of this book to exposing and unmasking this
deceit. After that, we will continue to study that which Jesus taught in the
Gospel of John, in order to recognize the work and the ministry of the Holy
Spirit. We will also go briefly to the book of Acts to see the examples that
God has left with us, as to how the Spirit worked among the early Christians
and how He related to them.
Now, we will begin in the epistle of Paul to
the Galatians, where the apostle, full of zeal, deals with the spiritual
enemies that a Christian must face, which are completely opposed to the work of
the Spirit.
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