INTRODUCTION Is God doing a new thing in the times we currently live in? Or is God simply doing what He has been doing from the inception of time? Scripture says, "Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert." -Isaiah 43:19 While it may seem as though God is doing a new thing, He is not. It is simply that He is introducing us to the next phase of His already grand plan. When God is doing something new in our lives, it sometimes requires us to step into the unknown, which may feel uncomfortable, scary, and even unpleasant, initially. We might be tempted to hold on to the life we know where everything is familiar. But, we need to let go of the old, trust God, and embrace what He is doing; otherwise, we will miss out on all the good things God wants to do to us and through us. He wants us to live our best life in Him, and He has provided everything we need to fulfill our destiny operating as Kings and Priests in the Kingdom of God. When most people familiar with the Bible hear the word king, they usually think in terms of Old Testament. In similar fashion, when they hear the title priest, they may think in terms of Old Testament, New Testament, and maybe even modern times. Usually, though, kings and priests, bring to most minds the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, the good kings embraced the words of God's anointed priest. They valued the Word of the Lord that was given by the prophet. They governed God's people in cooperation with the priest. It was a pairing that reigned in Old Testament accounts. There were the wicked kings in Scripture who attempted to do whatever their flesh wanted. Needless to say, that didn't work out well for them. Throughout Scripture, God declares that He is perfect in all of His ways. He has no reason to change His methods or His desire for His creation. The Word of God has been given to all mankind as a roadmap to understand God's ways, His actions, and His desires. Before the world of technological evolution, when we went on a road trip, we had a tangible map and directions. Like a roadmap, the Word of God is the blueprint, design, master plan, and systemic strategy. The Word contains insight and direction to guide us toward divine timelines, inspired goals, and resources. In corporate cultures today, a roadmap strategic planning technique is utilized to place a project's goals and major deliverables, tasks, or milestones on a timeline, all grouped in a single visual representation or a graphic. From the beginning of time as we know it, God has conveyed His thoughts and ideas in no uncertain terms. Interestingly enough, it is through man's ways and understanding that they are led to believe that God is constantly changing. This could not be further from the truth since His Word says He will never change. God's overall plan and purpose for man has been the same since creation. It is through our individual experiences that we arrive at a place of continuous change brought about by our culture, customs, and traditions. Considering mankind's current and past cultures, customs, and traditions, we find that none of these things have ever brought man to a satisfied state or condition. That is because outside of pursuing the plan and purpose of God, man cannot be satisfied. God's Word declares in Proverbs 19:21, "There are many devices in a man's heart; nevertheless the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand." Consequently, it would greatly benefit us to make certain that our plans, purpose, and the intention of our hearts line up with God's original perfect plan and desire. There is no better plan known to humanity than God's plan for each of us. God created us to be freewill creatures, and we can choose as we please. "All things are lawful to me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any." -1 Corinthians 6:12 Christ did not set us free so that we can do whatever we want to do. Christ sets us free so that we can do whatever God wants us to do. Apostle Paul's message does not proclaim individual or communal license. The practical application is to choose to do the thing that will profit. By introducing God's order of Kings and Priests, it is my earnest hope that this teaching will propel you to an enriched understanding of the relationship the Lord has afforded us as believers to share in the Kingdom of God and His complete plan of success. He is a successful God! The Kings and Priests Concept: We will discover that the concept of Kings and Priests is as foundational to the believer as salvation itself. This is because the concept of Kings and Priests is woven into God's original plan and purpose for mankind. This is not new revelation by any means; it is simply revelation (fixed prophecy). To say that it is new revelation is to say that God had to come up with a new idea to add to His already existing plan. That would imply that God is not perfect in all of His ways. Not only is God perfect in all of His ways. His ways will remain perfect whether we acknowledge them or not. We gain an advantage in life when we decide to come to know and understand God. Scripture encourages us to seek wisdom and knowledge, but we are cautioned to remember to gain the essential understanding of how the knowledge and wisdom will work together. This is what the concept of Kings and Priests is all about. It is about understanding how the Kingdom of God operates. It is not only important to know what the Kingdom is doing today, but it is also important to understand how it worked before the creation of mankind. A significant factor in understanding the concept of relationship between Kings and Priests is the realization that it brings us to a place of experiencing the satisfaction of pleasing God in the way He desires. As the Body of Christ, we can then begin to worship God in spirit and in truth. When I first gave my life to Jesus, I started going to church and seeking the Lord so that I might live the life that He had called me to. I quickly began to notice that some things were not adding up for me in the church I attended. Occasionally, the things I heard and saw troubled me, and they did not seem to line up with God's Word. I had both heard and believed that God loved me and wanted me to live a victorious life. Not to sound critical, but there were so many conflicting views, and there was what people said versus what I saw them do. It was on many different levels and it was concerning. The issues were associated with non-denominations, specific denominations, and even denominations within denominations. If that wasn't enough, there were opposing views and beliefs within organizations. The irony was that I would later learn that many were very sincere and were convicted by their beliefs. They all loved the Lord. Still, there seemed to be a continental divide amongst God's people. This troubled me, because I knew that God had extended mercy and grace to us all despite everything that we go through. The Lord called me to pastor in 1990, and it was in 1996 that the Holy Spirit began to minister to me about specific Kingdom of God subject matter. First, He spoke to me regarding Kings and Priests! The second topic He ministered to me was The Four Streams of Wealth. The Lord began to instruct me how to build my life, family, and ministry upon the biblical principle of creative order. This would not only be very difficult, but it would require a lot of hard work, perseverance, and sacrifice for more than twenty-five years. During this period and season in my life, I felt every emotion and imagined every thought; there were feelings of loneliness, abandonment, failure, fatigue, trauma, betrayal, and discouragement. The idea of Kings and Priests is not a subject that the Lord would allow me to receive by the reading of His Word alone. It was very clear from the onset that this would require much study, prayer, observation, evaluation, and calculation in order to gain the necessary insight. Like Moses, I would first have to struggle on the backside of mountain; like the prophet Jeremiah, I would have to deliver a message no one wanted to hear; and like King David, I would have to continually prove the call through both success and failure for more than twenty-five years. I worked full time as a general contractor (king), a biomedical engineer (king), and a full time pastor (priest). On average, I worked sixteen to eighteen hour days. I did not quite understand it then, but I now know it was required to truly understand the passion and nature of both offices. Both offices had to come together and serve the Kingdom of God in synchronization. Some might ask, "Apostle Chris, was all this really necessary?" I would simply answer them by saying, "During the last 25 years, I have prayed and studied the word of God concerning king and priest." I have served the Lord as both in the temple and the marketplace, and He has blessed me to succeed and prosper beyond anything I could...
