"ON EAGLES’ WINGS MINISTRIES"
“Oneness with God—the transaction is done” September 2015—part 7
There was a time in my life, when I complained that I was born too late; and this was while I was still in school. But some of my school mates were having girlfriends and boyfriends. Some of the young lads were riding brand new bicycles, and having money to buy ice cream sodas, jerk pork, and coconut candies; while I looked on, or looked away. I felt that the world was passing me by.
On our way home from school, (walking 2 miles each way) while we were playing hide and seek, the other girls and boys were taking part in the game, while I was given the task of holding the book bags. It seemed that I was too young to participate in the actual games. When I accepted Christ and began to blend in with the “converted crowds” again I felt out of place and even too naďve to understand how Christian games are played.
I used to sit in total amazement and listen to preachers preach their way up among the stars, while like a chicken that cannot fly, I made myself content to remain with my feet firmly fastened to the ground. As the time drew near for me to make my first visit to America, I began praying, asking God what sort of ministry would I be able to bring to America, seeing that all of the powerful ministries that came to Jamaica were from America.
Seemingly, by the time I stepped on that air plane and got airborne, a ministry had been birthed within me. To my total amazement, what the Lord gave me to share in this country was quickly embraced by one congregation after another. Soon, my name was associated with revivals; and when I established my own local Assembly in Norfolk, Virginia, I determined that a people would be produced who lived and understood “above and outside the norm.”
By then, I understood that each of us does produce after our kind: so the congregation must reflect what I am and who I am as their pastor. My practice was that whatever truths God shared with me, I passed on to the people, because my philosophy was that if it is good for me, it must be good for the congregation also. Before long, I noticed that my greatest obstacle and opponents were members of the clergy, who saw me as a threat to what they have spent years building for themselves.
However, my intentions then, and now; is never to compete with ministers: only to minister as the Lord gave me utterance. Today, I join Paul in saying: “A dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me.”1st Corinthians 9:17. Dispensation in this case is like being given a peg of an orange. After all these years, I now find myself teaching truths that were hidden from me for many years.
But what is rewarding to me is that many people reading these writings are being stirred and being blessed along the way. It is as though they had been waiting for years holding these truths inside their bosom, but not hearing them being preached or being taught on a wide scale. I began understanding that I was not born too late after all: I was born right on time, for the purpose that God intended for me to fulfill, before the world began. I began to concur with Paul who wrote: “But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace, to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood.” Galatians 1:15, 16.
The lesson that continually resonates in my spirit is the quote from the words of Mordecai to Queen Esther. “And who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” Esther 4:14b. It seems to me that God does not have thousands of Sons of God piled up against each other like the membership of our mega churches. I believe that we are placed strategically where the needs are likely to be, and where the ministry will be most needed. I have said time, and again in sermons that while God is preparing a ministry, he is also preparing a people to receive that ministry. Thus, there must be a parallel growth within the time frame set by the Lord himself. Trouble usually results when one faction moves away out of its set time. Even in the birth of Christ we read: “But when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law.” Galatians 4: 4. Another truth that I have learned during my years of seclusion and banishment from main stream Pentecostal Ministries; is that we must learn—have been learning the power of the “Creative Word” that God used to create the worlds. He spoke and it was done, he commanded and it stood fast. Psalm 33: 6. So first of all, you must decide on a personal basis if you have come to the kingdom for a time such as this. Since each ministry is intended to accomplish a specific task, there should not be any form of competition, because it is ONE Spirit that motivates and inspire. Joseph was called to acquiesce to a crisis in the kingdom. Daniel was called to the fore to acquiesce to a major crisis in the kingdom, at a point where the king was about to kill all his wise men, soothsayers, and astronomers. Samson was called into service to deal with a conflict that Israel had with the Philistines. For every time, season and task, God always had a man (a ministry) slated for service and designed specifically to meet that need.
But that person has to be molded and shaped into the vessel that will be supple and obedient to the breaking and molding process. To act prematurely is to fall prey to the enemy as in the case of Moses. He had spent 40 years learning the ways and culture of the Egyptians: in so much that the bible said he was a mighty man in Egypt in words and in deeds. Acts 7: 22. So at about the age of 40, he went out and tried to force the issue, only to find that he was out of touch with God’s schedule. He had to spend another 40 years in the desert, unlearning all that he learned in Egypt, so that when God knew he was ready, he politely asked to be excused because he cannot speak.
Notice that God refused to use the language and culture of Egypt that Moses knew so very well. This brings us to the subject we are about to study: in fact, we have been studying it for some months now. A brother emailed me after receiving his copies of the recent newsletters, and noted that we are saying now; that which fifty years ago would have been counted as blasphemy: but in fact is giving life to the body.
Oneness with God is not our own invention, born out vain imagination or human ego. It is a truth that was well thought out by God himself: and to engraft us into his heavenly family, he himself became earthy, meeting us on the plane to which we were lowered. The gospel of John begins by explaining that: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
This is a testimony as to God’s high bar to which we could not attain by ourselves, or upon our own merits. Not only did God have to lower the bar: he also had to provide us with an escort upon whose credentials we could re-enter our original place in him. Being cognizant of our plight, and being willing to acquiesce to the need of bringing back his creation to himself we read: “And the Word (which was God) was made flesh (just like we are) and dwelt among us.”
The word “dwelt” really means to be tabernacled with us or in us. So in essence, God himself (the Word) took on flesh, and came to dwell with us. Here is an extended version of what happened and why. “For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” Hebrews 2: 14, 15. A preacher in Birmingham, England once said that just as God the Word was made flesh in Jesus Christ, so HE must also perform the same process in us. Where did John take us in our study of the Word? He declared that as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on (IN) his name.
And here is how that process works: “Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” John 1: 1,11-14. We have mentioned the fact in previous writings that the born again experience enables us to be made partakers of the divine nature. 2nd Peter 1:4. Pray tell me, my dear Friend; what is the finished product intended to be? Here is a double barrel approach that must seal forever God’s truth outlined in scripture and executed by the Lord Jesus Christ. As many as received him (God-the Word) to them gave he power (authority or the dunamis much like a dynamo of God) to become the sons of God. But ladies and gentlemen doesn’t this idea of becoming the sons of God also allude to the fact that these sons are products of the Holy Spirit?
We should not lose sight of the fact that these sons being mentioned here, are not adopted as we practice legal adoption here in the United States. It quickly brings me back to the emphasis that Jesus placed on the new birth. Marvel not Nicodemus, you must be born again. Are you getting a hold of these truths? I am not cooking up an alien stew here! I am not trying to put into scripture ideas and concepts that are not actually written in your bible also. Why did Jesus insist on the new birth? Because we all know that human genes, family traits and characteristics cannot be passed on to someone who is simply adopted into a family: it must be by birth! But Bro. Kennedy did you not read what Paul said to the Romans? He said that the whole creation, and us included are groaning waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
That is correct: Except for the fact that the Greek word used for adoption in this verse is huiothesia which means the placing as a son. When Jesus came up from the waters of baptism and the Father acknowledged him as his Son; that was his huiothesia, (his adoption) meaning that he had become of age and is now being anointed or authorized to conduct his Father’s business. (The establishing of the kingdom of God.) So the adoption that Paul referred to signifies our coming of age, and us maturing and becoming competent enough to conduct the dynamics of God’s kingdom. In many cultures in Paul’s time, up until the age of adoption that is usually set by the father, (see Galatians 4) a son had to turn over his salary to his father, and the father decided how it will be spent.
When the son reaches the age of adoption set by the father, a celebration was organized to which the town’s officials, neighbors and friends are invited to attend. It is much like a “coming out party” for young ladies stepping out into society. At this celebration the son is declared grown and adopted, or approved as being mature and able to take major part in the running of the family business. John in his gospel said that we who received him (The Word) were given power (authority) to become the sons of God, and this process was not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. John 1: 13.
This is not a process that enables one to be voted into the class of sons by a special panel of elite church officials; or by being faithful to the local Assembly, and remain on the “good side” of the Board of Trustees, or the Deacon Board. This is entirely God’s prerogative that does not require that any one of us sign off on the deal. Let us look at John’s version of the born again process once more, as if to lay down markers and sign posts that point the way one must take to be born into God’s family. John was definitive in pointing out the truth that this birth into God’s family as his sons, is not born of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. What we are offered in this Divine Order, is not “joining church” the next time the preacher announces from the pulpit, that the doors of the church are now open.
Since I am not originally from the United States, allow me to say that when I first visited in 1969 and ministered in many churches, at first I was a little surprised when pastors opened to door of the church after the sermon, and if there were respondents who came forward and got baptized, they were given the right hand of fellowship right there and then. John isn’t talking about joining the church of my choice after I have done a bit of comparison shopping for a local Assembly wherein I can feel comfortable and at ease. This latter scenario marked the unravelling and down fall of the church of the second and third century. Pagans were welcomed into the church without showing any true sign of conversion. That is why John the Baptist rebuked the masses who rushed down the banks of the Jordan to get baptized, perhaps seeing it as a new fad. He boldly announced: “Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance.” Matthew 3: 8. In other words, John was saying that if they wanted to be baptized, they should produce fruits, or proof of their repentance (fruits worthy for repentance.)
It is sad to notice that in many cases these days, crowds simply “join church” much like getting membership in a social club. We don’t want to stand on the corner and criticize the hundreds of people filling up the church parking lot on Sunday morning. We cannot forget that God warned us, that he looks at the heart, and not our outward appearance. However, I was in a firebrand service some years ago, and while preaching, the bishop asked for the show of hands of all those who are filled with the Holy Ghost. Dozens of hands went up, to which the bishop said: “I don’t believe it! I cannot believe that there are so many Holy Ghost filled people here, and the city is not being turned upside down.” Actually, this underscores the intent of the Lord in bringing many sons into his glory by way of the new birth that John espoused in his gospel. From the Gospel of John, we turn to the Epistle of John where he continues to address the issue of the sons of God. I like his bold out spoken narrative as he expound on divine truths as they impact our personality, our well-being, and our true mission in the kingdom of God.
“Beloved, now are we the sons of God.” Please put that away in your spirit, and maintain it as a present reality!! Irrespective of turmoil, ups and downs in our personal life and circumstances. In spite of health problems, domestic problems, law suits, and children who are running rampant on the streets: one thing stands firm above all of these passing clouds: right now, where we are, Beloved now we ARE the sons of God. I chuckle some when I hear lay people (believers at large) and even fire-brand preachers emphasizing how we are not sure what we are going to be, so we have to wait until he appears. To counter-act that mentality, I usually offer this hypothetical scenario to illustrate my point. Let us say that you only have $50 which is less than half of the amount you need to buy groceries. Your spouse comes home looking to sit at the table and have dinner.
With no dinner being served, the question is “Where is dinner?” In this case, the wife explains that she only has $50 which is only half of the amount needed to buy the groceries. The husband quickly suggests, trying to suppress his dismay: “Honey, why don’t you go to the super market and buy the bare necessities with the $50; and we will catch up with the rest later?” In the mean-time, while we work something out, we need to be eating! God does not hold us responsible for talents or gifts we are going to receive; so the general consensus is for us to use what we already have. Here is the point of interest! “And it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.” This is an excellent and powerful promise indeed! Notice that John emphasized: “But we know.” There is no hint of uncertainty in this statement!
But what are we supposed to do in the meantime? Are we going to live in defeat and remorse, wavering like a ship that is tossed by the winds? Here is my take, and my sincere admonishment to the body of Christ. Whatever we are going to be when he appears, must wait until he does appear. But in the meantime (right now! Right where, and who you are)—Beloved now are we the sons of God—and as they say in the movies, you can take that to the bank. But here is a golden nugget of truth that I need to share with you.
The bible said when he shall appear: not when he comes to earth, and I am convinced that when you begin to see him as he is, he has appeared to you, and the more you keep him in focus, is the more you continue to become like him. Paul did due diligence when he wrote to the church saying: “But we all, with open face (uncovered) beholding as in a glass (a mirror or looking glass) the glory of the Lord, are changed (are being changed) into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” 2nd Corinthians 3: 18. What has been the cause of most Christian’s slow spiritual growth in Christ?
I like to say this over and over again; that the general practice that pervades Christendom is that we tend to see him as we are. In doing this we have removed the goal line; and managed to obscure the person of Christ; thus failing to partake of his perfection on a daily basis. I like the song that encourages us to: “Turn your eyes upon Jesus; look full in his wonderful face: and the things of this world will grow strangely dim, in the light of his glory and grace. You become a part of the object that you constantly gaze upon; so in practice, begin to see HIM AS HE IS—not as you are: and if you do this, before long you will be pleasantly surprised to discover that you are becoming like him, here and now, because he is not obscured by your own shadow.
Some years ago I was in a sale meeting at one of the top hotels in Washington, DC. The gentleman conducting the meeting asked us to look steadfastly on the circles that he is going to shine on the blackboard from his projector. After looking on the circles on the black board for a certain length of time, he assured us that after he turned them off, for a while we would still see them on the black board, and we did.
There reality is that if we look upon certain things for any length of time, the effects upon us are clearly visible. That is how it works in Paul’s letter above. We must look with an open face. That means that we must rid ourselves of vain traditions, and doctrines that have served their purpose and have lost their reason to still exist. But it is strange that looking in that mirror, Paul suggested that we would see God’s glory (not our own selves looking back at us which is normal) and as we keep looking upon his glory, we are changed into the same image from glory to glory. Can you appreciate the enormity of what the Holy Spirit is sharing with us? After filling our cups and extra containers with this water of life, can we go back, or be content to remain lukewarm?
Ladies and gentlemen! I don’t want to be mean or judgmental in any way: but the truth is that the greater percentage of what we deem to be the church, have no clue of what God is doing in this our day. As we said before, our oneness with God was his own idea to begin with; and to bring it out of the invisible realm to the visible, he took on flesh as we are. So he lowered the bar since we simply could not aspire to the heights of the heavenly bar. He became US, so we can become HIM in a fare exchange at Calvary. (I once did a tape called: Calvary Was A Trading Post. It is no wonder that an old man exclaimed: “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: for mine eyes have seen thy salvation which thou hast prepared before the face of all people.” Luke 2:29-31.
When you see him as he is, he has appeared to you, and you become like him; as we are being changed from glory to glory by the workings of the Holy Spirit.
Royce O. Kennedy
Please be reminded to make your gifts payable
to Royce Kennedy and not to the ministry. Thank you!