Kings Don't Beg: Living as God's Royal Priesthood

Sermon outline

You are already chosen, a royal priesthood with the life of God inside you, so stop begging, stop envying, and start thinking, speaking and giving like a king.

1. Be glad for others: appreciation opens the door to miracles

   Some people receive easily from God while others struggle, and the difference is often the heart. Rejoice when someone buys a car, gets promoted or testifies of healing as if it were yours, because whatever you sow you reap. Be a blessing to someone, forgive quickly, and God will cause His face to shine on you without you even praying.

   Illustration: He has found that when he prayed for a breakthrough nothing happened, but when he simply did something kind for someone, God gave it right back within days.

   “A lack of appreciation is a blockage to miracles into your life.”

   • John 4:24
   • Galatians 6:7

2. You are chosen, a royal priesthood, right now

   1 Peter 2:9 is not a goal but a done deal: you are chosen, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, already in God's presence. God chose ordinary people with messy lives so He could show them mercy. Do not wait to be perfect before God uses you; use what is in your hand now, because He will finish the work He began.

   Illustration: A house with one broken window is still a solid house that can shelter people in a storm: say 'I'm under construction'.

   “Don't wait to become perfect for God to use you.”

   • 1 Peter 2:9
   • John 15:16
   • 1 Corinthians 1:27
   • Philippians 1:6
   • Exodus 4:2-4

3. Aaron, the model of our priesthood

   Aaron, the first high priest, was a shadow of Christ our High Priest and a model of the nation of priests who serve God in Christ. The way God told him to come into His presence on the Day of Atonement teaches New Testament priests how to come in. He says there are ten things Aaron did and he will deal with only one today.

   “Everything that Aaron did, everything God commanded him to do, it was a shadow of something to come.”

   • Hebrews 5:1-6

4. Discern the Lord's body: eat the Lamb

   The small church at Corinth had many sick and some dying early because they did not discern the Lord's body. Israel, a congregation of three million, applied the blood and also ate the lamb, and there was not one feeble among them in the wilderness. When you take the bread and the cup knowing what they represent, the life of Jesus is made manifest in your mortal flesh.

   Illustration: Food you eat is digested and becomes part of your blood, skin and bones; in the same way the lamb became part of the Israelites, and their shoes did not wear out in the desert.

   “When they partook of the meat of the lamb, they discerned the Lord's body.”

   • 1 Peter 2:24
   • 1 Corinthians 11:29-30
   • Exodus 12:7-8
   • Psalm 105:37
   • Deuteronomy 29:5
   • 2 Corinthians 4:11

5. Bones of His bones: the life of God is in you

   We are members of His body, His flesh and His bones, so the Zoe life of God is in you. Meditating on this, not screaming and shouting, is how power flows when you pray for the sick. Because you are born of the incorruptible Word, which is quick and powerful, you cannot be kept in lack and you are sharper than people think.

   Illustration: He calls people forward and ministers to them quietly, meditating aloud, 'I'm in Him, He's in me', to show that the power comes from revelation, not volume.

   “When you stretch forth your hand, it's not your hands. It's his bone there. It's his flesh there.”

   • Ephesians 5:30
   • 1 John 4:4
   • Romans 8:1
   • John 10:10
   • Romans 5:20
   • 1 Peter 1:23
   • Hebrews 4:12

6. Living stones who will never be put to shame

   As living stones built into a spiritual house, believers are precious to God and offer spiritual sacrifices through Christ. However others treat you, forgive and walk away rather than fight, because the one who trusts in Him will never be put to shame.

   “I don't care how vicious is the attack against you. You will never be put to shame.”

   • 1 Peter 2:4-6
   • Acts 5:1-11

7. Kings don't beg

   Revelation 1 says He loves us, freed us by His blood and made us kings and priests, a present fact. Meditate on 'God loves me' until inferiority is gone. Kings give to beggars but do not join them; they ask, tell, give and bless, and come boldly to the throne of grace. The king's mentality does not depend on the bank balance, so start training yourself now.

   Illustration: Chickens peck on the ground and eagles fly; never ask a chicken what it thinks of an eagle, because they live in two different dimensions.

   “Kings never beg.”

   • Revelation 1:4-6
   • Hebrews 4:16

8. Humility is an attitude of the heart, so enjoy someone else's success

   Humility is not cheap shoes or a rusty car, and a man in a nice suit is not necessarily proud. When you are bitter about someone else's success, God cannot let you succeed; when you celebrate it, you attract His blessing. Start where you are and think like a king.

   Illustration: As a new convert he bought plain suede shoes to look humble until the Lord told him humility is an attitude of the heart. Later, driving a brown VW with a hole in the floor, he obeyed the Lord, went up to a church member with a new Mercedes C-Class, and congratulated him from his heart; two years later he drove a brand new one himself.

   “When you are bitter about someone else's success, God cannot allow you to be successful.”