A Resident of The World

God has a problem. He’s got too many Benedict Arnolds. Yeah, he does. We no longer need double-minded Christians. I love the way Gideon said it in Judges 8.22-23. When they call on Gideon, Gideon, we want you to be our political leader. We want you to lead us, because we need a great leader here. Gideon said, you better check on the Lord. You need the Lord to lead you. And the mess that our society is in, our culture is in, our country is in, and our world is in, when we look at one problem after another problem after another problem, we better get the Lord back in this.

And that’s the church’s job, to bring God back in it, to do it with the right spirit, with the right attitude, to do it with legitimate unity, to do it based on truth, but to do it. You hear that? He said, look, you’re going to have to get Jesus in his proper role here. Jesus made it plain. All authority is given unto me in heaven and on earth. Matthew, chapter 28, 16-20, he said, look, I’m in charge here now, but Christians don’t believe that. We believe the world’s in charge, the president is in charge, the Congress is in charge.

No, no, no. Jesus is in charge. Remember God’s philosophy of history? Ephesians 1-10. God’s goal is to summarise all things. All things, he says, ought to be summarised in Jesus Christ. He concludes verse 22 and 23 of Ephesians chapter 1. He is the head of all things, but he’s only been given to the church. So God is going to decide what he does in this country. He’s going to decide what he’s going to do in any country based on what the church does. So as you’ve heard me say many times, if we don’t fix the church house, we can forget the White House.

If we don’t fix the church house, we can forget the House of Congress. Why? Because God works through the church to the principalities and the powers and the authorities in the culture. Galatians 1-4, he has delivered us from this present age. You don’t have loyalty here, you have a responsibility here. You are to be in the world, but not of the world, but your ultimate loyalty is not here. You know, Spain had what was known as fifth columnists. Let me tell you about fifth columnists. When they were going to invade a country a year before the invasion, they would send in people to become part of the culture.

So doctors would become doctors in the culture that would be invaded sometime later. Lawyers would become lawyers. Teachers would become teachers. Families would set up shops in the culture. Business people would set up shops in the culture. You see, they would set up shops in the culture. You know what they were? They were saboteurs. They invaded the culture, but they represented Spain. So they were setting things up for the big invasion. They were called fifth columnists because Spain marched in four columns. But the fifth columnists who were sent in early were to set things up for the big invasion.

That’s what’s going to happen when Jesus comes back, but he has some fifth columnists. Folk, he sent in ahead of time. You and me, your family, and my family, your church, my church, he sent us in ahead of time to set it up. We are his fifth columnists who’ve been sent in to set things up for the big invasion. When he comes to set up his earthly kingdom called his millennial reign, you and I are here to set it up. Are you setting it up, or have you become part of the culture and lost sight of your true citizenship back in Spain, or in this case, as part of the kingdom of heaven? You know, I’m in cowboy country and we got different kind of fans, you know? We got the casual fan.

They watch some games sometimes, or parts of games sometimes, and if the game is not going well, they’ll turn off the television because they’re fair-weather casual fans. But then you got committed fans. I mean, they buy tickets. They’re going to watch the game win or lose because they’re committed to the Cowboys. Then you got fanatics. These are the fanatics, you know? These are seasoned ticket holders. These will come rain or shine. They’re going to defend the Cowboys because they all in all the time. They read the stats. You know, they do all the fan gaming.

They are all in because they become fanatical. That’s what God’s got. He’s got casual followers. They go to church maybe. Then you got some committed ones. These are the ones. They’re going to make church most of the time. They’re going to bring their Bibles, and they have learned Christianese to the max because there is a level of commitment. But then those are fanatical Christians. These are committed disciples. Jesus is all up in there. It’s Jesus in the morning, Jesus at noontime, and Jesus when the sun goes down. When life is good, it’s Jesus.

When life is collapsed, it’s Jesus. During the day of their faith, they’re following Jesus because they don’t care what the culture says about their team. They don’t care about what the culture says about who they’re following. They are going to be unmistakable followers of Christ. When it comes to taking your stand in the culture, you must understand Jesus’ name is always on the ballot. You say, but I don’t know who to vote for. Jesus’ name is not on the ballot. Oh no, wrong. His name is always on the ballot because remember, you’re a kingdom independent.

You’re a kingdom citizen. So that means Jesus goes in with you, and you’re taking Jesus into consideration not only when you vote, but how you roll after the vote is over, and the decision is made on who won and who didn’t win because Jesus was on the ballot. You’re only going to live for the kingdom anyway, so there’s no Jesus is not on the ballot. Your allegiance is to him, and your vote for him must be clear. There is no undecided voter when it comes to a Christian. No, I’m voting Jesus.

That means I can go this way or that way, depending on what the issue is, because I have taken my stand with him, because I’m a radical follower of Christ, because my citizenship is not here. He says your citizenship is in heaven, and so now what are you going to do? Are you going to take your stand, or are you going to play church? You’re just going to go through the motions. Am I just going to go through the motions, preach because it’s Sunday? I’m going to take my stand and challenge the flock to take their stand with the right heart and the right spirit, but with clarity that this is God’s perspective on whatever the issue happens to be, and that’s how we roll.

That’s what we do. I do it my life, my family, my church, and my civic duty. That’s how I roll. So what are you going to do? What am I going to do? What are we going to do? First of all, you’re going to be publicly known as a citizen of heaven. You don’t mind. You don’t mind saying in the right way with the right heart, my first allegiance is to the Lord Jesus Christ. Don’t even say God because that’s vague. Let’s get specific. My first allegiance is to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now we know which God you’re talking about, the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ.

So you’re going to be unapologetic about your commitment and allegiance to what he says in verse 20, the Lord Jesus Christ, because that will get Jesus’ attention. Then you’re not only going to be a good churchgoer, but you’re also going to engage the culture. You’re going to bring a Christian influence on the sphere of your influence. You’re going to be concerned about what the school is reading your children, and whether those books are consistent with a Christian worldview, or whether they’re trying to force unrighteousness down the throat of your children.

You’re not going to back away from that because you are a Christian parent and you are responsible for the education of your child. They’re on loan to that school. They don’t own them. You own them. So you want to make sure that it is consistent with your worldview and not in competition or in conflict with it. You’re going to challenge the evolutionary theory when it challenges creation. Yeah, you are. You’re going to make sure that God is not dismissed because you represent another kingdom. You’re going to go to the city council meetings. You want to hear what’s happening in your community, and whether there are unjust practices that are not being addressed in your community, whether there’s evil happenings that need to be reversed.

You want to make sure that the police are handling things in the right way, but that the citizens are also responding in the right way. Because you don’t play favorites. You play kingdom. So you take your stand as a citizen of heaven, bringing it, drawing it down to earth, and you vote based on the will and the word of God. You take your stand. Churches don’t just preach pie in the sky sermons, as though they don’t have anything to do with the world in which we live. We challenge people how not to be doctors, but to be God’s representative in the medical field.

So the medical field sees what God looks like when God helps hurting people, that lawyers are not just lawyers, that God’s representative in the bar association. So the bar association gets to see what God looks like when God tries a case, that teachers are not just teachers, that God’s representative in the educational field. So the educational field sees what God looks like when God teaches a lesson, where business people are not just business people, but that God’s representative in business. So that the business world sees what God looks like when God cuts a deal.

When housewives and homemakers are not just homemakers, that God’s representative in the home, to make sure that the home reflects the character of God, where men have defined their malehood, not by the culture, but by what God says a man ought to be, and the responsibility of a man spiritually, and how he ought to lead his family and relate to his mate and raise his children. We are trying to create kingdom people who are citizens of heaven and not mimics of the culture. When we do that, when we go that way, let’s get this straight.

There’s no salvation in politics. We’ve been acting like politics is the saviour. Boy, if we get the right person in, we’re going to be saved. You don’t get it. We don’t get it. If God is not postured properly, it doesn’t matter who you elect, it is the absence or presence of God in an environment. That is why the more secular you become, the less God you will see, the less God you will see, and the more chaos you will deal with. So the church better shake up, wake up, and get up, so that we can see what God can do if Christ does not come through a church where the citizens understand where our true citizenship lies.

We are visitors on earth. This is not our final home. We’re passing through. We have an assignment as people who represent our homeland of heaven in this location temporarily on earth, and we will be measured by how much of heaven we brought into history. So let’s not become so comfortable on earth that we forget this is a temporary dwelling location on assignment from our homeland to fulfill his purpose in history, and as his representatives assigned by him to this earth, we ought to be bringing his governmental rule, its principles, policies, and influence to a world desperately in need of the government of heaven to guide the politics of earth.

Thank you for joining us in this exploration of a resident of the world. Until next time, remember to keep the faith, stay strong, and continue to shine your light in the world. To hear these daily devotions of your daily bread, please log on to goddessgovernment.com. Goodbye, and may your faith always lead the way. [tr:trw].