A Kingdom of Priests

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A Kingdom of Priests

• Adrian Warnock
• Jubilee Church

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A Kingdom of Priests

• To him who loves us and has freed us from our
  sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests
  to his God and Father, to him be glory and
  dominion forever and ever. (Rev 15-6, ESV)

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A Kingdom of Priests

• "Worthy are you to take the scrolland to open
  its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood
  you ransomed people for God from every tribe and
  language and people and nation, and you have made
  them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they
  shall reign on the earth. (Rev 59-10, ESV)

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A Kingdom of priests

• What is a priest?
• Priests through the ages
• We are
• the temple of God
• the reflected face of God
• the arms of God
• Our response

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What is a priest?

• Intermediary between God and man
• Temple was out of bounds for all but a few
  priests
• Offered sacrifices to God
• Carried the ark, the symbol of Gods presence

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The Temple- open for all

• When Jesus died curtain was torn in two from top
  to bottom so all can come into presence of God
  (Mat 2751)
• But did they fix the curtain?

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Middle Ages

• Special priests Fathers
• Bible only available in Latin
• The church amassed money and power persecuted
  opponents
• Gross error taught- give us your money and you
  will be saved (nothing new under the sun!)

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Reformation

• The doctrine of the priesthood of all believers
• Bible available to all- to judge the teachings of
  the church
• But The Pastor substituted for The Priest

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Dont call anyone Pastor

• But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have
  one teacher, and you are all brothers. And call
  no man your father on earth, for you have one
  Father, who is in heaven. Neither be called
  instructors, for you have one instructor, the
  Christ. The greatest among you shall be your
  servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled,
  and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. (Mt
  23.5-12)

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The Brethren

• Rediscovered body ministry
• Open participatory worship
• Churches lead by elders
• No full time workers
• Lack of leadership

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Restoration churches

• Leaders who serve
• A group of elders one of whom leads
• Relationships between churches for accountability
• Participation of all church members in ministry

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Are you equipped for ministry?

• And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the
  evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip
  the saints for the work of ministry, for building
  up the body of Christ, until we all attain to
  the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of
  the Son of God (Eph 410-13)

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How are we to be equipped?

• All these ministries function primarily by
  preaching teaching. Preaching aims to equip us
  to do the acts God is calling us to do
• It was said of Finney 'When he opened his mouth
  it was like aiming a gun, when he began to speak
  the bombardment began!
• 'disturb the comfortable comfort the disturbed
• God only had one son and he made him a preacher!

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How are we to be equipped

• You know that I have not hesitated to preach
  anything that would be helpful to you but have
  taught you publicly and from house to house
  remember that for three years I never stopped
  warning each of you night and day with tears.
  (Acts 2020,31)
• Teaching is public, from house to house and 11
• We are changed by the people we spend time with
• Character is more important than gifting

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We are the temple of God

• You yourselves like living stones are being built
  up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood,
  to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God
  through Jesus Christyou are a chosen race, a
  royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his
  own possession, that you may proclaim the
  excellencies of him who called you out of
  darkness into his marvellous light. (1 Peter
  25-10, ESV).

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We are the temple of God

• We are Gods dwelling place on earth
• We together bring the presence of God
• Which stones are you next to?
• Dont be jealous of others who seem more
  connected than you
• Seek God for closer relationships for the purpose
  of bringing glory to Him
• Reach out to the many, expect real closeness with
  a few
• Dont wait for others to reach out to you

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The face of God (2 Cor 37-18)

• Now if the ministry that brought death, which was
  engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so
  that the Israelites could not look steadily at
  the face of Moses because of its glory, fading
  though it was, will not the ministry of the
  Spirit be even more glorious? If the ministry
  that condemns men is glorious, how much more
  glorious is the ministry that brings
  righteousness!

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The face of God (2 Cor 37-18)

• For what was glorious has no glory now in
  comparison with the surpassing glory. And if what
  was fading away came with glory, how much greater
  is the glory of that which lasts! Therefore,
  since we have such a hope, we are very bold. 13We
  are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his
  face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it
  while the radiance was fading away..

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The face of God

• And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the
  Lord's glory, are being transformed into his
  likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes
  from the Lord, who is the Spirit. (2 Cor 318)
• Christian literally means little Christ -people
  will only usually only encounter Jesus through us
• The church should reach out more, well YOU are
  the church.

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The arms of God

• 3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord
  Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the
  God of all comfort, 4who comforts us in all our
  troubles, so that we can comfort those in any
  trouble with the comfort we ourselves have
  received from God. (2 Cor 13-4)
• We have spoken freely to you Corinthians, and
  opened wide our hearts to you. We are not
  withholding our affection from you (2 Cor
  611-12)
• We must receive help from others and be willing
  to give help to others
• Freely you have received, freely give

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The arms of God

• She opens her arms to the poor and extends her
  hands to the needy. (Prov 3120)
• No matter your situation, there is always someone
  worse off than you, so you can help
• This will put your own problems into perspective
• You will also discover it is impossible to give
  without receiving much more in return
• It is more blessed to give than to receive
  (Acts 2035)

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Our response

• Not to be passengers but driving the progress of
  the church
• Not consumers but producers
• Not part of the problem but part of the solution
• Dont ask what the church can do for you but what
  you can do for the church
• Dont say The Church really should be doing
  something.- maybe YOU should be the one doing
  something. But be prepared for no or not
  yet!
• Start making friendships with an edge

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Our response

• In a growing church we are all needed to fulfil
  the mission
• We must desire service with our focus on how
  others feel we can help them not My Ministry.
• Ask elders or cell group leaders How do you feel
  I can serve? Serve even in areas that you dont
  feel gifted if asked.
• We can all be exercising spiritual gifts...
• and demonstrating agape love - love for Jesus
  sake.
• You cant choose your family

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Three groups to respond

• Those who have been around a long time and do a
  lot- be encouraged look for others to train and
  hand onto
• Those who have been around a while but still see
  self as consumers- its time to join the
  priesthood! Even the newest Christian can serve
  in some way
• The downtrodden used to having it all done for
  you- retrieve your dignity and seek ways to serve

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What can I do?

• Everyone a leader in a glorious chain of
  discipleship- What you have heard from me in the
  presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful
  men who will be able to teach others also (2 Tim
  22).
• Daniel Bedingfields statement of purpose - "To
  seek after truth and the Being who created this
  universe and to be as other-centred as I can.
• We can all care for others