The Headship of Jesus, Part 1 - Derek Prince

our theme tonight which will be in two sessions is the headship of Jesus those words may be not very familiar to you I personally believe that in the years that lie ahead there's going to be an increasing emphasis in the body of Christ on the headship of Jesus I'd like to give a little background to what I'm going to be saying tonight about God's plan for winding up this age there is a passage in Acts chapter three which seems to me to give a very clear outline of God's program to close the age it doesn't mean that we know everything but it does give us a kind of outline these words were spoken by the Apostle Peter to a crowd of Jewish people in Jerusalem but in a sense that addressed to all of God's covenant people this is what he said acts 3:19 through 21 repent therefore and be converted or turn back to God that your sins may be blotted out so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord and that he may send Jesus the Messiah who was before appointed for you whom heaven must receive and I add and must retain until the times or the period of restoration of all things which God has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began or since time began you see this is a theme of all God's prophets it's the climax of the age it's the climax of all God's purposes of redemption and Peter I don't know whether he was conscious of it but he outlined the steps that will lead up to this climax and I've often said you can summarize them in four English words all of which begin with the letters R II so if you have your Bible in front of you you could look at it and we'll see how many theologians we have here this evening the first one is staring you right in the face what is it repent repentance you see whenever God's people get away from him and lose out and miss God's blessing there is one essential move back to God which you cannot omit there's no other way back to God but repentance now when we repent and meet God's conditions God blesses us with re-freshing that's right that's a stimulation it's a new upsurge of life a lot of people have been refreshed in the last two decades but many of them haven't realized that refreshing is not the end purpose of God it's just a step on the way and so we go on to verse 21 where we get the next word that begins with re which is restoration that's right restoration of all things and then by implication it's not there it says heaven must receive Jesus the Messiah until the period of restoration of all things and in that period of restoration of all things the implication is he's going to leave heaven and come back to earth as king to reign in glory so the key word there is return let's say them together shall we repentance refreshing restoration and return that you don't have so many bumper stickers here in this country but in the United States people are kind of bumper sticker cure crazy and one of the ones that some Christians put is guess who's coming back which is quite good it stimulates people to think I'm sure than other people haven't the faintest idea who's coming back but I think we know now over the years I think I've been privileged together with some of you to witness phases of restoration I think very clearly there has been a restoration of spiritual gifts which has given rise to what has been come known as the charismatic movement the word charisma is the standard Greek word for spiritual gifts so the charismatic movement is the movement in which spiritual gifts have come forth now it's not the first movement the Pentecostal movement went before it I had the privilege sometimes a rather doubtful privilege to be part of that movement too so one thing that is being restored is the spiritual gifts the supernatural gifts of the Spirit I think that's important because I don't believe anything can really fulfill God's purpose until we have the supernatural restored God doesn't operate just on the natural plane I once read through the book of Acts which has 28 chapters and which I consider to be the inspired picture of what the church should be like and I asked myself this question what would it be like if every reference to the manifestly supernatural we're to be removed and when I say manifested supernatural I'm not talking about things like the new birth which is supernatural but it's not manifest its internal it's invisible but things that can be perceived by the senses so I read through the book of Acts asking myself what would have to be left out you know what I discovered not one of the 28 chapters would be left intact not one so in a sense it is not accurate to talk about New Testament Christianity without the supernatural element and then I believe also being restored are what we call the ministry gifts which are listed in Ephesians 4:11 apostles prophets evangelists and teachers also being restored and in the same category in yet a little different is the ministry of elders who are the leaders of the local congregation about 15 years ago I started teaching about elders because I saw it there in the pages of the New Testament and I thought if it's in the New Testament it ought to be taught generally speaking the reaction people at that time was elders what are elders now there's been a tremendous change because today you can go to almost any city where the Word of God has come at least in the Western world and people talk about the elders the elders of the city the elders of the church so things are developing but the theme that I want to deal with tonight I believe is another major aspect of restoration and that is the headship of Jesus let's consider for a moment what the New Testament has to say about this in Ephesians chapter 1 that glorious prayer there of the Apostle Paul he closes with a declaration of what God did in demonstrating his power in the resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ and let's just take the last three verses of Ephesians 1 God exalted Jesus far about all principality and power and might and Dominion and every name that is named not only in this age but also in that which is to come then it goes on he put all things under his feet it's important to know that everything is under the feet of Jesus to this time and then it says he gave him God gave him Jesus to be head over all things to the church which is his body the language is so accurate God put all things under the feet of Jesus but when it comes to the headship of Jesus of the church he gave him he's God's gracious gift to the church as head and his head not over some things but over all things now I have to say that I don't believe this revelation has penetrated to most of the body of Christ at all I'm going to try to explain some of what's involved in it then infusions chapter 4 Paul talks about the purpose of the ministry gifts and he begin we'll begin in verse 14 that we should no longer be children tossed to and fro and carried about with every word of doctrine by the trickery of men in the cunning craftiness by which they lie and wait to deceive do you know some people who are tossed to and fro and carried about with reworded doctrine I'm afraid there are many on them what's interesting is that Paul says God gave apostles prophets evangelists pastors and teachers that we should no longer be tossed to and fro in other words until these ministries are operating in the church I think people are going to be tossed to and fro and then it says going on in verse 15 but speaking the truth in love may grow up in all things into him who is the head Christ so again the headship of Jesus over the body is affirmed and our spiritual development is to grow up in all things into him and notice the phrase all things twice he's head over all things to the church and we ought to grow up in all things to him as our head and then in Colossians Paul returns to this theme there's a very close parallel in many ways between Ephesians and Colossians let me say to you just about in parentheses if you are in touch with people who have been involved in cults or are involved in cults people have been involved in yoga for instance and can recognize Jesus as a guru but find it hard to recognize him as the Son of God now I can understand that because I was in that condition myself before I was saved I've been deeply involved in yoga and when I was challenged with the gospel and the presentation of Jesus Christ I simply was not able to acknowledge him as son of God and Messiah until I had a tremendous deliverance that was the first deliverance I was ever in it was the middle of the night was in an army barrack room I was flat on my back on the floor and I have no idea how many demons came out of me but many and the moment that yoga demon left I knew that Jesus is the Son of God I didn't have any more doubt but there are multitudes of people involved in all sorts of counts today and why I'm saying this is because if you want to help them I think the best book in the New Testament is Colossians Colossians was written to people who were in danger of becoming involved in counts and when you've grasped the presentation of Jesus in Colossians you can no longer think about him as a guru he's the Great Creator he's the sovereign Lord so let me just look at what Paul says in Colossians 1:18 he Jesus is the head of the body the church that's exactly parallel with what he says in Ephesians 1 who is the beginning the firstborn from the dead that in all things he may have the preeminence the first place there's a very beautiful analogy there which some of you may not have noticed Jesus is the head of the body and he's the firstborn from the dead so the resurrection is viewed as a birth out of death now in a natural human birth what's the first part of the body that normally emerges the head and so in this birth out of death which is the resurrection the first part of the body to emerge was the head and when the head emerges that's the guarantee that the body's going to follow alright so he's the he's the head the firstborn from the dead and then in Colossians 2 verses 18 and 19 Paul says that no one defraud you of your reward you see this is the problem with cults they defraud people let no one defraud you of your reward taking delight in false humility you know only eating vegetables and things like that I mean if you want to be a vegetarian that's fine but don't make a religious issue it taking delight in false humility and worship of angels intruding into those things which is not seen vainly puffed up by his fleshly but religious mind and not holding fast to the Hale having lost connection with the head sea from which the whole body fitly joined together grows so one of the things we have to bear in mind is every member of the body has to have a direct personal connection with the head never let any human minister come in between you and the head human ministers can help you they can guide you they can inspire you they can warn you but you have to have your personal connection with the head let no one ever cheat you out of that so that's a little of what Paul says about the headship of Jesus no since the head is taken from the physical body and believe me I'm no physiologist my only claim is in world war two I was a nursing orderly class - that's not very high I could have become a nursing orderly class one but because I was a corporal my rate of pay was high higher than a nursing orderly class one so they never arranged promotion they promoted the people who weren't corporals you understand if you don't know the way the British Army thinks I can empathize with you it's strange all right but anyhow very very simply unprofessionally what does the head do for the body this is my simple answer first of all the head receives input from every member as I understand it every part of the body has a direct line to the head secondly and I think this is the vital issue the head makes decisions it acts on the input that it's received and it makes decisions but it's decisions are in the interests of the whole body they're not simply the response to the plea one member like you may be hanging from a cliff with nothing below you and your fingers are aching and you want to let go and your fingers say let me let go and the head says no you can't let go because the rest of the body will go with you see so the head makes decisions but they're not necessarily the decisions that every individual member would want thirdly having made the decision the head initiates the action it decides what to do and fourthly having initiated action and in a sense turned the members loose the fourth thing it does is it gives ongoing direction it doesn't back off totally from the situation and say well that's it but it just as it was supervises the members carrying out the decision that the head has made now I believe that all those apply wherever the Bible speaks about headship and furthermore I believe actually headship is the principle of government that's portrayed in the Bible I hope I won't shock you if I say that the kingdom of God is not a democracy see in the last fifty or hundred years democracy's become so fashionable in some parts of the world that everybody assumes it's the right form of government let me offer you the comments of Plato on the five forms of government I don't often quote Plato but I think he's so right here and it's so in line with the Bible he says there are five possible forms of government number one monarchy the rule of one good man and he says that's the best number two aristocracy which is the rule of a few good men which is second best number three is democracy which is the rule of the people which he says is the weakest of all forms of government he also says about democracy if pastry cooks and doctors had to compete for the votes of children who would get the most votes then going further down there's oligarchy which is the rule of a few bad men and right at the bottom is tyranny the rule of one bad man really I personally feel you know that said it as far as that's concerned and what does the Bible present to us monarchy and but he's a wonderful King because he's going to share his rule with people he's trained to rule with him so it's monarchy and aristocracy but in his not democracy I don't believe any church should be run as a democracy if you I don't know how I've got into this because I was I did specialize in Greek philosophy for years but let me say democracy originates in Greece and Greece is the origin of humanism if you want to trace humanism back that's where it started I bet I'll make a prediction and I could easily be wrong it's happened before I believe that Bible indicates the age is going to end with monarchy restored according to the book of Revelation at least in in a large measure and I believe one reason is that people are getting so lazy and so irresponsible they really don't want the responsibility of making their decisions in Iran they just want somebody who like the Roman Emperor who provided bread and circuses fill our stomachs keep us entertained and you do the worrying that's really the essence of it well as I say there's no extra charge for them now let's consider the the operation of headship and I want to turn to passage that I think really says the all in one verse Roman first Corinthians not Romans first Corinthians 11 verse 3 Paul says but I want you to know almost every time Paul says I want you to know or you should not be ignorant my observation is most contemporary Christians are ignorant in other words the church hasn't changed in that respect I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ the head of woman or the wife is man or the husband and the head of Christ is gone now change the order and go from the top downwards you have a chain of authority that starts in heaven and ends in the family God is the head of Jesus Christ Christ is the head of the husband and the husband is the head of the wife now I believe that is the divine pattern of government it's government by headship there are in the end of the Bible and in the Book of Daniel a number of strange creatures with more than one head but not one of them is a creature that comes from God God designs all creatures to have one head a many headed creature is a monstrosity now there are two ways we can look at this statement we can look at the relationship between God and Christ or we can look at the relationship between Christ and the man or between the man and the wife but I would like to begin by looking at the relationship between God and Christ because in that we find the perfect pattern God the Father is the head of Christ what does that mean according to my explanation it means that the father receives input from the son the father makes the decisions the father initiates the actions and the father gives ongoing direction now I believe if you look at the picture of Jesus ministry that's exactly how it was let's look at two passages in John's Gospel John chapter 5 verses 19 and 20 to start with and remember we're looking at this as a pattern of what it means to be under headship because Jesus was under the headship of the Father and Jesus says in John 5:19 most assuredly I say to you the son can do nothing of himself but what he sees the father do for whatever he the father does the son also does in like manner for the Father loves the Son and shows him all things that he himself does and he will show him greater works than these that you may marvel known as the son initiates thing he does nothing of himself he only does what the father initiates and he follows the pattern that the father has said now I invite you to study the Ministry of Jesus and I believe you'll find there is not one exception anyway Jesus never initiated anything here always the initiative came from the father you see this question of initiative is very very important then we look in John 5 and verse 30 Jesus is speaking again he says I can of myself do nothing as I hear I judge and my judgment is righteous because I do not seek my own will but the will of the Father who sent me so again he says I can of myself do nothing I am not the one that initiates anything and he said that's not merely true in what I do but it's true in the judgments I make and he says my judgment is righteous it's reliable it's accurate because I don't judge anything myself I only received the father's judgment I have learned the hard way that it's very unwise for us to make our own judgments when I'm confronted with the situation I have to acknowledge that I'm one of those people I immediately think of about three different ways to handle and only by long practice have I learned not to make my own judgments but to wait and hear what God has to say believe me your brothers and sisters you'll save yourself a lot of trouble and heartache if you will not jump in and do the first thing you think of but wait to hear the Lord's judgment what does the Lord say I'm quick to respond to people in a way people come up see I think people think like I do and I say what I mean I mean I don't have a double meaning anything so I if I if I say if I'm say something I mean it when I'm discovered lots of people are not like that I can't adjust to them fortunately I have a wife who helps me she says do you think he really meant what he said you didn't know what it was really in his mind so it's disastrous for me to make my own judgments and it takes humility and patience doesn't it to wait for the Lord's judgement one thing I think I'm learning is I say I take nothing for granted any longer nothing nothing whatever it's got to be based on something specific a scripture of Revelation established facts so Jesus only judged as the father revealed it to him the father was his head you see and then you go to John 14 verse 10 and you find it really summed up there Jesus is speaking to his disciples John 14 10 do you not believe that I am in the father and the father in me the words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own authority or but that's not really a good translation I do not speak of myself I don't know why in this translation the same phrase is translated differently in different places don't let me get you involved in that the words that I speak to you I do not speak of myself but the Father dwelling in me does his work so who's the source the father that's right the words that Jesus speaks or spoke the father gave him the works he did it was the father dwelling in him that did the work what's that that's headship perfect headship that's the pattern that Jesus said let me just challenge you with something which is a little beside it but nevertheless very relevant if you look in John chapter 20 verse 21 after the resurrection when Jesus appeared for the first time to his disciples in a group John 20:21 he said to them peace to you as the father has sent me I also send you put that together with what we've been saying jesus said the words that I speak to you the father gave them to me so if if Jesus sent us as the father sent him we should say the words I speak to you Jesus gave them to me Jesus said it's the father dwelling in me that does the works so we ought to be able to say it's Jesus dwelling in me that does the words jesus said if you've seen me you've seen the father we should be able to say if you see me you've seen Jesus see that that a gang is headship once your eyes are open to this truth it's really central to the success of the Christian language alright now that I want to take this a step further and talk about the headship of Jesus over the church this is the crux of this subject look for a moment with me if you will in Ephesians 5 verse 23 Ephesians 5:23 and this whole passage is an unfolding of God's plan for Christian marriage but it also unfolds Christian marriage as a pattern of the relationship between Christ and the church it has a double application and Paul says here for the husband is head of the wife as also Christ is head of the church and he is the savior of the body notice the parallel which was there in 1st Corinthians 11 also verse 3 the parallel between the relationship between Christ and the husband the husband and the wife in Christ and the church so Christ is the head of the church now what does that mean what should it mean it should mean that Jesus receives input from the church when we run into trouble we don't look for our own solution we communicate with the Hayne all right my my right hand would get into a lot of trouble if it didn't wasn't directed by the head that's why some of you get into trouble you're not being directed by the head you're acting as if you were autonomous you want secondly Jesus makes the decisions for the church the church shouldn't make its own decisions thirdly Jesus initiates the actions of the church and fourthly he gives ongoing direction and when he initiates action the members should respond to his initiative does that give you a picture of the relationship between Jesus and the church that's the relationship of headship when when the scripture says Jesus is head over all things to the church that's the picture that we should form in our minds that's the relationship that should exist between Jesus and his church is that the relationship that actually now exists between Jesus and the church I heard secondhand about a meeting of John Wimber somewhere in which she done did what he sometimes does God's people together to pray in little groups for one another and a Catholic lady was asked what she wanted to pray and she said I wanted to I want to have the same feeling for the church that Jesus has blessed it was a dangerous thing to save and after that every time that word church was mentioned she burst into tears when John Wimber was in Britain about a year or two ago his message wants from Jesus I want my church back can you identify with that see let me give you a little parable here's this fine Christian family father mother than three wonderful children and one day the father sees this old sitting on a bench in a park shivering dirty ragged underfed unshaved and he takes pity in him pity on him so he brings him home they found a room and a bed for him they get him cleaned up they buy him some new clothes and they say you can be a member of the family you can join in with us and he begins to get well fed and respectable but after a while he begins to take over the family he begins to tell the wife how she ought to cook to discipline the children and in general to act as if he were the head of the house do you see the parable we were the sitting on a bench in the park Jesus took us into his family cleaned us up fed us cared for us and after a little while we get so arrogant we say Jesus I think you should do things a different way if you want to know what I think this is how you ought to bring up your children how many Christians are busy telling the Lord had to look after his children you need to bear one thing in mind when you criticize God's children you make him angry see a father can say what he likes to his children but let somebody else talked about those children that's different you see my parable does it apply now I want to come particularly to the area of taking the initiative which i think is is the crux of the whole issue what I want to say is this God is only committed to complete what he begins if God hasn't begun it he's under no obligation to complete it let's give you a number of scriptures revelation 21 and verse 6 while we could read verse five because this comes from the throne revelation 21:5 and six then he who sat on the throne said behold I make all things new and I think that must have been such an astonishing statement that John the Revelator paused and so he said write for these words are true and faithful it's you can trust me it's really going to be that way and he said to me it is done I am the Alpha and the Omega the beginning and the end those are two titles that God reserves from self Alpha and Omega beginning and in but what I want to say is this if he's not the Alpha don't expect him to be the Omega if he isn't the beginning don't expect him to be the end God is not committed to to complete anything that he hasn't begun understand if we take the initiative out of God's hands and make our own decisions and our own plans the end will be frustration because God will not endorse what he has not begun in Hebrews 12:2 we have the same truth again Hebrews the twelfth chapter the second verse looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith and my margin here says the originator and perfecter of our faith it's exactly the same truth again if he hasn't originated he won't perfect it he's only committed to perfect that which he has originated and then the same thought again in Philippians chapter 1 verse 6 being confident of this very thing that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ see my conviction is that if you are really sure God began it you can be confident he'll complete it but if you don't know for sure that he began it you'll never have the confidence that he'll complete now this has become extremely real for Ruth and me in our ministry I think almost every time we pray about our ministry I end up by saying God we're confident that what you have begun you will complete and I think Ruth would be a witness we are more and more cautious not to get involved in anything which God hasn't initiated and that has meant many changes in our attitudes and our reactions I'd have to tell you honestly I am afraid of being involved in something that God hasn't initiated in 1983 found remember rightly right at the end of the year Ruth and I took a holiday on the west coast of Florida which is a good place to take a holiday and we used to talk about vacations you know the American form of speeches vacation when a vacation means when you don't have anything to do that's the essential meanings from the same word is vacant which is all right I mean it's good for people not to have anything to do sometimes but we felt that was the wrong word for our times away so we call them holidays and you know what a holiday is it's a holy day that's right and for us we're very particular about holidays God has shown us that it's a sin never to take a holiday it's not virtue it's not spirituality it's slavery you check Israel's calendar as God ordained it and you see how many holidays they had to take there were no options we are usually in Israel about the beginning of the Jewish New Year and for about the first half of that month it's difficult to get anything done because people are all taking holidays and their God ordained holidays they're not holidays because somebody wants to be lazy in their holidays because God has said you take a holiday this is just by the way but as I say there's no extra charge many many committed Christians follow the practice of tithing of giving God a tenth of their income I don't believe that it's actually commanded in the New Testament but I think it's a very good practice actually I think for the Christian the tenth is only the foundation it's not the roof but what about God's demands on Israel's time did you ever stop to think about that he demanded one day out of 7 a higher proportion that he demanded of their material possessions how many people in the church today really give God one day and out of seven that's why one reason why there is somebody nervous breakdowns so many frustrated frantic people so many busy people who never get the job done now I would not claim that Ruth and I always do this but basically I would say we have learned if we take time for God we do much more in the remaining time than we would if we hadn't taken done for God God didn't you know God was the first one that rested God worked and God rested I have a friend who's a Palestinian Arab and the owner of many restaurants and he's really good at getting people to work he has a message on work but he says God didn't work because he had a family to support and God didn't rest because he was tired it was on a much higher level in it God worked because he's a creator and why didn't God rest well I mean I'll offer you mind you I think God rested because he wanted to enjoy what he'd created and if you never take time to enjoy what you've created you are in a miserable condition now let me ask you this - I didn't this isn't part of my outline let's just come in but which takes more faith for a Christian to work or the rest which to rest that's right you know why Israel didn't enter into rest because of what unbelief that's right why can Christians not rest because of what unbelief that's right you diagnosed your problem all right you see relaxation comes when you know God initiated I was saying we went away for a holiday and we take our holidays very seriously we put them in our itinerary and their Justice fixed as armed commitments for meetings and we discipline ourselves to take holidays so we went away and our ministry was in trouble financially we weren't in debt but our expenses were exceeding our income by about twenty thousand dollars a month and that you can't go on for long like that and when we were away and waiting in God's presence God said I don't want you to sell your material so much I want you to give it away because the people who really need that material can't afford to buy it they don't have the money or they don't have the exchange so we began very small-scale I think we chose 25 leaders known to us in eight nations and we said we are willing to give you this material this teaching material if you will promise to make good use of it and we had various ways to check on the use that we made we didn't just throw it out last year we gave material to 1,400 leaders in a hundred nations and in that period we have given away two hundred thousand books cassettes and videos now I say we it's not our personal income it's the people in the body that stand with us and you know what we're in a much sounder position financially now than we were then it was a step of faith but when I'm going to 20 emphasizes God initiated when we went back and told our staff they were shocked took a while to convince them that we'd really heard from God I think there was a tremendous lesson for us if God initiates he'll see it through on the other hand looked for a moment in Philippians 2 verse 16 and I'm only going to read the latter part of the verse Paul says that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain dearly beloved I want to suggest to you if you were doing your own thing I'm working on your own plan and your own projects in that day I'm very sorry to tell you you will discover that you've labored in vain and run in vain now I'm probably nearer to Eternity than most of you here and for me this is a very serious manner I've devoted nearly 50 years of my life to serving the Lord and I don't want to end up with a zero when I stand in front of God Paul wanders you can pile up material wood hay stubble but there's coming a fire that will consume it in an instant you'll be saved I think the New International Version says like a soul escaping through the flame but all your works will be burned up and it is my personal conviction everything that God has not initiated will be burned up because it's contrary to the principles that he's laid down the principle of headship No in my loving and gracious way let me ask you a few probing questions to round this off let's make some personal application I think I mentioned before for five years I trained teachers in Africa for African primary and intermediate schools and they had to make up a lesson plan on certain stages but the end ones application check that the children have really learnt the lesson and I can remember so many of them I poor student teachers they failed on the application just forgive me for a moment it's so vivid to me but I remember a young man he was teaching a lesson on sanitation to give it a very respectable title or as they call it the keenya long drop and he had a beautiful lesson plan and wonderful diagram on the board and when he finished he stood there with his arms folded waiting for me to approve but I tiptoed around the class and I looked at what the children had got in the exercise books it didn't have any relationship to what he had on the board so I had to deflate him say you taught all right but they learn nothing so let's have the application shall we for a little while I'm going to ask you a series of questions how much has God really initiated in your individual life just mentally run over the things you're involved in right now the things you're giving your time and strength and ability to and say has God initiated them let me let me give you a thought from Psalm one many of you familiar with the beautiful words of Psalm 1 blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly not stand in the way of sinners nor sit in the seat of the scornful but his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law he meditates day and night he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth his fruit in season his leaf will not wither and listen whatever he done will prosper that's an unconditional promise of success you've got to measure success by Bible standards not contemporary American culture success is not necessarily driving a Cadillac or a Mercedes it's a much higher level of success than ever rightly understood God promises success to a person who meets certain conditions which are stated there are three negative conditions and two positive the negative conditions are not walk in the counsel of the ungodly not stand in the way of sinners and not sit in the seat of the scornful the positive ones are delight in the law of the Lord meditate in his law day and night and God says the person who does that will succeed in the deepest and truest sense when he stands before Jesus in eternity he will not have a lot of wood hay and straw to be burned up now I want to point out to you that key the thing where it all begins is where do you get your counsel from because you cannot get your counsel from the wrong source and prosper so where do you get your counsel your advice your direction from you realize that you have right of access to your head who is called the wonderful counselor are you availing yourself you know in the business world people play very launch sums of money money for letters from quote experts telling you where to invest well what about consulting the real expert what about getting your counsel from the wonderful consumer it's going to demand for most of you some pretty radical changes some of you will have to stop doing some of the things you're doing I don't mean you've got to go out and stop tomorrow but I mean that there'll be a process of adjustment and if you do it faithfully I want to tell you after about six months or a year one day you'll lean back and sigh say oh thank god I'm free from a lot of pressures that never did me any good what is it that motivates us is it keeping up with the Joneses is it doing what everybody else done you look at the people around you most of them are not happy the people that don't know the law in Israel I'd have to say you see very few happy people when Ruth and I walk down the street in Jerusalem just looking ourselves people turn around and look at us because they're not used to seeing happy people why do I say that what I mean is their counsel isn't doing them much good don't follow them you've got access to a much better source all right that's the the next question how much has gone really initiated in your home especially husbands and fathers who is the source of activity in your home who directs your program can you say I heard from God and he showed me then in your church how much is God really initiated or in the church I maybe I don't know I'm cause I'm British and British prone to be critical I have to admit that I've tried to deal with it myself for years we have the impression it's our job to go around and tell everybody else how to do things now I hope God has delivered me from that but I'd have to say that in most churches I don't think people ever think in terms of hearing from God they've got a program this is the way it's done 11 o'clock on Sunday morning etc and you know whether God is in it or not it's really almost irrelevant am I being cynical your church praise God may be different there are churches that are very different but you take the general spectrum of Christianity today it's exceptional that God has initiated something is that right alright now let me point out to you that we're talking about restoration the restoration of the headship of Jesus let's leave the whole church out for the while and let's talk about our individual lives yours mine if we have gone wrong what's the first step to putting things right what was it repentance how many of you would say brother Prince and a lot of what you've been saying I do need to repent would you raise a hand if that's true you don't have to do it I'm not trying to get hands up alright let's let's pray together shall we father we come to you now in the name of Jesus and we have to acknowledge that all of us in many ways have ignored the claims of Jesus headship over our lives and over his church Lord we want to say tonight give us grace to repent to change our way of doing things we're sorry Lord forgive us we pray in Jesus name

Channel: Derek Prince

Views: 69,997

Rating: 4.8462696 out of 5

Keywords: the headship of jesus, Headship of Jesus, the headship of christ, sermon on authority and power, sermon on authority of the believer, sermon on authority in the name of jesus, sermon on submitting to authority, authority god has given us, god given authority sermon, god given leadership, god has given us authority, bible study on authority, bible study authority of the believer, bible study on authority and power, Bible study on authority in the name of jesus

Id: 10bqqUZtz0s

Length: 58min 15sec (3495 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 11 2013