We Are All Called to be Prophets (8)

Welcome to Cummins C, your podcast for finding truth in a world of chaos brought to you

by Living Waters of Bide Ministries.

With host and founder Richard Case and co-host and retreat leader, Kathy Raconi.

Join us every weekday at this time to discuss news, spend time in the word, and receive answers

to your personal questions about living life and God's truth.

And now your host, Richard Case.

Good morning, Kathy.

Good morning.

Here we are.

We are, believe this will be airing the 3rd of March, Tuesday the 3rd, and we're actually

taping this in February.

So we've looked forward to particularly when I'm in Colorado, you're in New Hampshire.

March just starts to be a good spring's coming.

And so that's a good thing.

We're talking about what it means to operate in the prophetic.

We are called to be prophets.

We are called to assist others in our community, to build our community, and to have our spouse

and our friends and our inner circle serve in that same place.

It's not just a unique gift that a few people get.

He says, no, everybody is to be operating in that mode to hear what I have to say, contribute

what I have to say to each other.

And again, what the purpose of it is to discover God's will.

So that we know that we know that we know, here's what you said, and here's the step that

you want me to take.

And then we would encourage each other, be faithful to that step, which should be fun.

So we talked last time about Christ opened the door, literally the door to the throne room

where he said, now everybody has the privilege of coming.

Don't waste that opportunity with boldness and confidence.

You come with an authentic heart.

You'll get rivers of life.

You'll get light, truth, understanding, and the power and the might that comes with it

to be in the right place for God to deliver it.

He says to us that, I want you to understand, you actually all have an interesting role,

which is to serve as a priest, which is kind of a foreign thought to most people.

Because we look at, you know, in our culture, it's, well, a priest is a pastor.

Right, those who are called to ministry.

Called to ministry.

And okay, good.

Those are, I'm glad they are, and we enjoy that.

And therefore they think, I'm not.

So I'll let them pastor, and I'll just, you know, mostly sit around and listen, and I

don't really actively do much.

Sometimes a bunch of us serve, but he said, no, you're all called to be a royal priest.

So go to 1 Peter 2, verses 4 to 10.

Sure.

Says, coming to him as to a living stone rejected, indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious.

You also as living stones are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood to offer

up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Therefore it is also contained in the scripture, behold, I lay in Zion, a chief cornerstone,

elect, precious, and he who believes on him will by no means be put to shame.

Therefore to you who believe he is precious, but to those who are disobedient, the stone

which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone, and a stone of stumbling

and a rock of offense.

A stumble being disobedient to the word to which they were also appointed, but you are

a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, by his own special, his own

special people that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness and

end to his marvelous light.

Yeah.

So he does say something that's kind of important is that as the high priest and the one

that was both the sacrifice is that it's served as a foundation and a stone that either

helps you to gain the beauty of the life because of it, or it becomes a stumbling block.

Right.

Okay.

Now think of just a simple thought of what is a stumbling block.

Something that gets in your way and you trip over.

Yeah.

Exactly.

It's that simple.

There, you know it's there and you trip over it.

You try to resolve it on your own because it got in the way of my life or my agenda.

And so he says now, if most people come to that foundational stone, they recognize, oh,

this is the basis of building my house.

I want to stay here and follow him in the building of my house.

Right.

And it's not a stumbling block.

It's a foundation of, okay, I get it.

I'm going to build my foundation on him and I want to.

I don't stumble over it.

I rejoice and read it again.

It's kind of interesting.

But you know, look at the read that last verse, the last nine and 10, yeah, but you are

a chosen generation, a royal priest to the holy nation, his own special people that you

may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness and into his marvelous light,

who once were not a people, but are now a people of God who had not obtained mercy,

but have now obtained mercy.

So he said, you are a royal priesthood and you're going to proclaim the beauty of the

foundation of Christ.

And I'm going to serve as a priest, which he gives an indication here is one of the things

you're called to do is proclaim that you get to participate in the life of God.

And you're privileged to do that because why you are not, you can be, will be, might

be perhaps you are a royal priesthood.

In other words, one of my roles and one of my roles, your roles, the next person's role,

every believer's role is to understand I've called you to be a royal priest.

It's not some of you.

It's not only the educated, it's not the ones that just went the seminary.

Every one of you are to serve in that role.

Why?

Because that's what I elevate you to is to be a royal priest.

Okay.

Now, it says so.

And it says you're to proclaim the privilege of that life.

Okay.

In order for me to serve as a royal priest, my first question would be, what does a priest

do?

Really?

Because I have my view of it, which God says, yeah, you don't have a good view of it because

you're looking at structurally how you operate within a pastoral staff or...

And culturally what has been around you with that, yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And then, too, he says you're to proclaim that life.

Mm-hmm.

Okay.

Your next question would be, well, what life is that?

And if I'm to proclaim something by definition, what must be true of me?

Then I need to be experiencing it.

Yeah.

That's the beauty of it all, is that, see, I don't want you to teach people about

that life.

I don't want you to proclaim it because it's emanating out of you of what that life

is about.

And we have, we have such a privilege of that because we have these leaders to be a leader

in our ministry by definition.

You have to be experiencing it.

Mm-hmm.

And it's really simple to understand that.

And there's people along the path that, yeah, I'd like to become a leader because they

think of, they have leadership skills and, or I have teaching skills, I would like to,

I like what you guys are doing, and I'd like to be able to teach that.

And we say, great, that's fantastic.

However, we don't teach about it, we experience it, we experience it, and all we do is share

what we experience and invite people to do the same.

So by definition, we all have to be experiencing it just to get to that place of saying, okay,

and God says, yes, you now can give it away.

And the only reason you can give it away is that you're actually having it.

Right.

Okay.

We had people, this last week, we had 38 of them in the room for a week, you know, getting

in the word and processing.

But, and we had some new people that were particularly Gen Zers and a few new leaders that

have demonstrated that they're living it out.

This was their first experience with that group.

Mm-hmm.

That's fun.

Yeah.

And so you and I know that one thing that we recognize when we get together is there's

in a joy, a element of just sinking up together the rejoicing of the life that we're experiencing.

We share that openly, and it's not what did I do, it's what did God do.

Yeah.

There's such a purity of declaring His faithfulness, right?

Right.

Right.

And they are, see, they are declaring and proclaiming the life.

And when that happens, particularly with a group of people that all have that heart is

there is such phenomenal, beautiful joy that comes out of it is every single moment

we're together.

It's joyful.

It's, it's fun.

We have laughter, we have sharing, we do help each other.

And there are no egos in the room.

There's no egos.

Just looking to God.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And where there's no egos and we're just enjoying it.

And the newbies, they recognize that.

They said, my gosh, I've never experienced being with a group of people that proclaimed

the life of God.

Like you guys.

And we're not faking it.

It's just, it's just overflowing.

You know, and he says, why?

Well, because we're all priest.

Right.

And they, they now understand, oh, that's their role is to experience it in proclaim it

as a priest.

And so we have to understand, okay, what does that mean?

How do I step into that place and in the prophetic is such a big place?

Okay.

So go to computer one, one to four.

And he kind of tells us a key element of that.

Sure.

It says, I'm impeter, a bond servant and a possible of Jesus Christ to those who have

tamed like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.

Grace and grace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God of and of Jesus our Lord.

As his divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through

the knowledge of him who called us by his glory and virtue, by which we have been given,

by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises that through these,

you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the

world through lust.

Yeah.

So he says that as you do this, you will start to participate in God's divine nature.

Okay.

Now, as you service a priest, he says you have to proclaim your experience with me, which

is on my transformation of you into experiencing, participating, having my denied divine nature

in you.

So that's why Paul could say it is no longer either live, but Christ who lives in me.

He was, he was experiencing that divine nature.

He said, so as a priest, you will experience that divine nature and you'll be being transformed

into my image and in the characteristics of who I am.

And you'll recognize that you'll receive the precious promises that I issue.

Okay.

And we recognize that as a priest then, my role is to understand the promises.

What are you speaking to me?

And then how can I receive that and walk into it?

So as a priest, he said, first and foremost, you have to be in that position where you're

hearing my promises.

You're understanding how to understand clarity and steps and you're experiencing the fulfillment

of my promises.

He said, then as a priest, your role will be to assist others to do what?

The same thing.

Right.

Okay.

So if I'm going to help you do that, who do I have to connect you with?

With God.

You have to learn to abide, which is why we call our ministry a abide ministries, is

all of the depth of what we do, all emanates from learning first, what it means to

abide.

Why?

So you can receive the divine nature and experiencing the promises of God.

And you can't get that through me.

Say, I have to connect you and then walk with you into what God does in your life because

I'm serving as a priest to bring you to that place.

And I know something.

If you come to that place, what will you become?

A priest.

A priest.

Because why?

Well, that's our calling.

And I'll know it when you can proclaim that life.

And then you understand, oh, I've got to bring other people to that same place.

And it just goes on and on and on and on and on and on.

And we're all serving as priests because when we first learn it, we don't even know what

that means.

And we, it would be a foreign thought to us.

So I'll never be a priest because I think, well, that means I'm in full-time ministry.

And he says, that's not what I'm talking about.

I'm talking about your position as a world priest.

And then he tells us, yeah, I will say it's not what we're talking about from a vocational

standpoint, but it is what we're talking about from a life standpoint.

Okay.

We are all called to explain the difference.

So, you know, one, you're getting paid for, but the other is calling.

And we are walking in full surrender to him.

We are in full-time ministry.

Our lives should be reflecting, we become the visible expression of an invisible God.

And that does not check out when we're at the grocery store.

It doesn't check out when we're in a conversation that's difficult to have.

It doesn't check out for any number of things.

24-7, we are in full-time ministry because we are his and we are called to be his priest

and his representation here on the earth, but that requires walking with him.

Is there any then distinction between if you're a layperson, you know, working and a pastor?

Is there any distinction?

Well, I do think the Bible lays out, though, parameters and qualifications for elders

and deacons and pastors that we cannot dismiss.

Those are things as you're called into vocational ministry that are very much requirements.

Yet at the same time, we are all called to be this when we're walking with him.

Yeah.

There is that being in business is not worse than being in full-time ministry.

Right.

Or less.

Yes.

It is a different platform.

It's a different platform and a different place that God says, yeah, I'm calling you to be

a pastor.

I'm calling you to be a full-time minister.

Absolutely.

Mm-hmm.

Interesting enough, it works both sides and that is this.

If you're in business, I need you to be a full-time minister all the time.

See, your whole life becomes the ministry.

And it's not sometimes you ask, sometimes no.

It's a compartmentalized.

It's that.

Okay.

Now, as a pastor, if you only think of your job as a functional job, you actually could

be in there, but you're actually not serving as a full-time minister.

Right.

Right.

Yeah, you're doing the work of ministry, but you're not proclaiming the life that God

has for you.

Mm-hmm.

And saying, yeah, that's your place.

But are you serving as a royal priest and declaring claiming the life of God?

Are you experiencing the life of God?

Right.

And so it's kind of interesting.

And then he tells us, you know, something cool here, go to 1 Chronicles 23, verses 12 and

13.

Sure.

It says, the sons of Kohoff, Amrin, Ezhar, Hebrew, and Uziel.

Oh, there you go.

Beautiful.

Excellent.

Sure.

For it all, the sons of Amrin, Aaron, and Moses, and Aaron was set apart.

He and his sons forever, that he should sanctify the most holy things, to burn incense

before the Lord, to minister to him and to give the blessing and his name forever.

Yeah.

Okay.

So, he tells us something really interesting.

And he says, okay, I want you to understand the role of a priest.

And he kind of describes it here with, you know, Aaron and the family and the Levites.

He says, what are you to do?

And go ahead and read, you know, that verse 13 because it says, this is what you're all

called to do.

Okay.

It says, the sons of Amrin, Aaron, and Moses, and Aaron was set apart.

He and his sons forever, that he should sanctify the most holy things, to burn incense

before the Lord, to minister to him and to give the blessing and his name forever.

Okay.

So, he said, your focus is actually toward God first.

Mm-hmm.

Is, you bring sanctification, and we're going to see here what that looks like.

You are to help them understand that you bring offering and offering as sacrifice that

surrender so that you surrender to hear God's voice.

Mm-hmm.

And then you will minister to who?

To him, to God.

To God.

See, the primary ministry is to God is to, I am going to be here actually ministering

to you, God, and how would we minister to God?

Well, by being in his place, listening to his voice and enjoying the promises of God,

as I surrender my will.

I delight myself in him, and that actually ministers to God.

So in other words, he rejoices that you're here, you're in communion with me, you're

abiding with me.

I get to speak with you, and we have fellowship together.

And he said, that ministers to me.

Yeah.

And I think we can't, it's easy to miss the weight of that statement to minister to him.

How beautiful it is that truly we can minister to him.

You know, I mean, that's just such a privilege, such an honor to be able to think, you know,

to think he created us, and we minister to him as well as him ministering to us.

Yeah, absolutely.

That's incredible, right?

It really is.

And then he says that you would pronounce blessing in my name, okay?

So if I am going to pronounce blessing over you and see the thought here isn't a general

blessing, which is, and we kind of hear this in prayer, God, would you bless Kathy, right?

Without any thought about what that means is that I hope you bless Kathy.

Right.

He says, no, you're going to pronounce a blessing.

The blessing is going to be my promise that I'm leading her to the covenant so that she

receives the blessing and becomes a blessing.

And there's a will to that.

There's a place for that.

There's a specific to that.

You are pronouncing that, which means if I'm pronouncing that over you, what do I not

know?

I know God's will.

I'm receiving God's will.

And my role as a priest is to have you come to the place where you receive it.

And he says, now remember, I don't want you to set it up that rich you receive it until

Kathy.

Right.

I want Kathy to receive it.

Your role is to, as you confirm that, help her receive it.

And that is your role, right?

He's to bring God's will to her by bringing her to me and together in unity confirming

it my will.

Yes.

Yep.

So how fantastic is that?

What a privilege, right?

Yeah.

And he said, you're all called to do that, which means I will be living this out.

I'll be receiving it.

And when I go to the throne room and I'm looking for clarity and wisdom, he said, bring

other priest with you and let them serve as the priest to you.

Right.

So what I want to do is serve is that to others and see how beautiful it is.

That's where I work.

It's not like what you're higher than me.

You're rather, I get to join you, you get to join me and I welcome you to join me.

Absolutely.

Well, because you're serving your role and I get to discern God's will.

How fantastic is that?

So Heavenly Father, we show, we understand that we're all called to be royal priest.

It's a purpose.

It's a beautiful thing that we have a privilege to.

May we receive what that means, live it out, that we will be with you.

We will minister to you and then we will proclaim the blessing toward others.

And we pray and receive that we learn how to do that well together in Christ.

Amen.

Amen.

Well, thanks so much for sharing rich and thank you listeners for joining us.

If you have questions from today's broadcasts and them into us at questions at abideministries.com

and we look forward to seeing you next time.

Yep.

We'll see you then.

All right.

Thank you for joining us for today's episode of Cummins C, your podcast for Truth in a World

of Chaos, brought to you by Living Waters of Bide Ministries.

Send us your questions and comments and tune in tomorrow for more answers to your personal

questions about living life in God's truth.

Remember, God's will is best and none better.

His truth brings peace in this world of chaos.