A Kingdom Of Preists Series

A Kingdom of Priests

Adrian Warnock

Jubilee Church

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 1:5-6, ESV)

A Kingdom of Priests

* "Worthy are you to take the scroll

and 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 5:9-10, ESV)

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

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 God’s presence

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 27:51)

* But did they fix the curtain?

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!)

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’

Don’t 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)

The Brethren

* Rediscovered ‘body ministry’

* Open participatory worship

* Churches lead by elders

* No full time workers

* Lack of leadership

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

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 4:10-13)

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!

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 20:20,31)

* Teaching is public, from house to house and 1:1

* We are changed by the people we spend time with

* Character is more important than gifting

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 Christ……you 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 2:5-10, ESV).

We are the temple of God

* We are God’s dwelling place on earth

* We together bring the presence of God

* Which stones are you next to*

* Don’t 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

* Don’t wait for others to reach out to you

The face of God (2 Cor 3:7-18)

* 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!