Series: Other Speakers
Sun am 17 July 2011 – Shane Egypt
1 Cor. 10: 2-4; Gal. 4:6-7; 1 Sam. 22:1-2; 1 Sam. 27:1; 1 Sam. 30:24-25; 2 Sam. 2:1,3-4;
2 Sam. 5:1,3:
God has led us over the years – precept upon precept, line upon line. God wants us to be a covenant community. The Kingdom of God is about relationships; bone-to-bone. It is about a kindred spirit; self-interest has to go. We have to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. We are not called to sacrifice our individuality, but our individualism – this will cause a pioneering thrust. Help one another – strength is not for status but for service. A covenant community, reflecting kingdom values, doesn’t function in a vacuum – it’s relational, a caring community with a shepherd’s heart; a spiritual family – not an institution with a constitution. Spiritual fathering is for spiritual maturity; biblical discipline through faith and love. We are to bring our purposes into alignment with whatever God wants – without enforcement or legalism, but with Father God presiding. There is an empowering love for our next generation.
Remnant doesn’t mean ‘exclusive group’ or ‘special elect’ but a representative group. Every joint supplies; we are active living stones, equipped to be conquerors; people of destiny and purpose living under a new government. A many-membered body, called for ministry, equipping the saints’ movement, to activate the judgements of God in the earth. The world is looking at the church and evaluating our lifestyle. When we isolate ourselves, we come to dangerous ground – spiritual death is waiting for you. Our significance comes from what we’re a part of. We have a corporate inheritance. We need to help others – to walk this road together. An arrow has a thrusting point; but we are all connected to the arrow. We are a people of destiny. There is a Judah anointing in the earth.
Are the tumultuous events of the 21st century (the dismantling of kingdoms) isolated from the momentum of the corporate Son, maturing in the earth? Is there a connection? The corporate body (the Son in the sons) is advancing; the gates of hell will not prevail against it. We are starting to take our position. The unity among us and the fathers is critical for the survival of the next generation.
We need to be influencing our surrounding cultures – the kingdom needs to impact society; touching heaven to change earth. God comes to judge His household first – then through us He judges the world. There is a transition in the heavens; God is waiting for a corporate man to come to the throne – to touch Him, and touch our surrounding community and cultures. We should not be isolated from the world. There needs to come a practical outworking of the gospel. The word needs to become flesh again. The health of the church should not be evaluated by its seatingcapacity, but by its sending capacity. How relevant are we in today’s world? We need to be a seven day a week kingdom community activity centre.
And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God (Gal. 4:6-7). Partake of the grace anointing; building a royal family from the Father’s position. The spiritual dimension needs to reflect on earth. God needs a vessel to work through; the firstborn bringing many sons to glory, executing the finished works and being conformed to the image of the Son – the Son in the sons. We are not the only body that will bring a corporate momentum; it’s togetherwith various households.
So David departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam; and when his brothers and all his father’s household heard of it, they went down there to him. Saul was hunting David to kill him. If God starts something in the earth, the old order wants to stop it! When we are in the purposes of God, He will honour His word and bring the resources. David builds up an incredible wealth. When they went after the Amalekites to recover what had been taken, two hundred men who were too exhausted to go with them were left behind. After the battle, some of the ‘wicked and worthless’ men who had gone with David didn’t want to share their wealth with those who had stayed behind. David made a decree, saying those who stayed behind and looked after the baggage have the same share as those who have gone into battle and recovered their resources. (1 Sam. 30:24-25).
There was a time when the men of Judah came and there anointed David king over the house of Judah (2 Sam. 2:1,3-4).Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, “Behold, we are your bone and your flesh” (2 Sam. 5:1). God is now bringing this covenant community together. There is a purpose. There are troublemakers and evildoers amongst them, but a picture is emerging – a household coming together and transitioning from the place they were – Moab – to this beautiful place called Hebron. So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and King David made a covenant with them before the LORD at Hebron; then they anointed David king over Israel (2 Sam 5:3).
A family at Hebron destined for Zion. As a covenant community, we are connected to the grace gifts. We are thrusting forward together and God is saying, ‘Hebron is not the place, Zion is the place.’ David is no longer a captain, but a messenger from God – anointed as the king by everybody in the household. They are not disconnected anymore; they see themselves as a family. They’re now enquiring from God and hearing from Him clearly. Zion was still in captivity; they still had to go in and conquer. David is the sent one, the king. He’s now connected with the graces that God has given to him and they recognise this in one another.
God deals with self-preservation. A seed is not buried – a seed is planted. It cannot be killed. When it comes into the right environment, it germinates. The key is death, burial and multiplication. Christ says, “I will bring many sons to glory.”