Bill Winston - The Kingdom Within You
The preacher uses 2 Corinthians 3:18 to show how beholding the glory of the Lord in the Word changes us into His image from glory to glory by the Spirit, sharing his childhood story of being transformed by Superman to illustrate true faith transformation through meditating on God’s Word.
Beholding the Glory of the Lord
Look what he says here. This is 2 Corinthians chapter 3, and look at verse 18. But we all, with an open face—say, «Open face.» Say, «Face time”—beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
Alright, now. So what did I do? Every day I went and looked at TV. Now, we didn’t have a television at that time. The neighbor had one. So I went up and knocked at the neighbor’s door. I was in elementary school and I said, „Hey, you know, can I look at your television?“ She said, „Oh, you want to look at Superman again?“ I said, „Yes, ma’am.“ And she brought me in.
Under the Influence of Superman
I looked at Superman and I took that television and put it right up in my face. I mean, I didn’t want to miss anything he said or did. This was Monday through Friday. Faster than a speeding bullet. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. More powerful than a locomotive. Come on. Somebody knows what I’m talking about.
So what did I do? I kept getting that. I kept getting that. Now, did they have a picture? See, right down there on your left, at the bottom. Everybody else got on the basketball uniform. But that’s the kid. Right down there. Are you following what I’m saying?
Changed by What You Behold
Now, I’m not kidding you. What happened is this: when you look in that book a long time and begin to meditate on what it says, you are changed into the same image from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord. So I kept looking and kept changing.
Now, all of a sudden, what happened? Kellogg’s Corn Flakes came out with a promotion that they said, „If you send a box top with $0.50, we’ll send you a Superman shirt.“ That was for me. I’m just telling you that because you don’t attract what you want—you attract what you are. So when you build something inside, you are designed to attract that. Lord have mercy.
Attracting What You Are
So I know the promotion came from my believing. I believe it. I don’t care what you say about it. You can’t argue with me. So what happened? I sent in that box top, got a Superman shirt. And the next thing you know, I’m feeling good. Really. I’m feeling like I can whoop somebody. I mean, I’m just a little guy. I feel like, hey, let me look around.
And the next thing you know, it felt so good that when I pulled it on, I felt different. So I said, „I need another one and another one.“ So every day I was going to school in a Superman shirt. Fresh. The Bible says, „Put on Christ.“ Now you gotta hear what I’m saying, because what I’m telling you is how we function and we are designed to be made.
True Faith Makes You Act Differently
So then I got my mother’s sheet and I started running around the house. She caught me with her sheet. She spanked me and so forth. Put me out and so forth. That’s okay. Because when you’re really walking in true faith, the God kind of faith, you’re under the influence.
Turn over here to Mark’s Gospel, chapter 3. Look down here at verse 21. „And when his friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him. For they said, ” He is what? „Beside himself.“
If you look that up in the CEV translation, here’s what it says: „He’s crazy.“ He’s crazy. And I believe that’s one reason why we don’t see miracles. Because people are not yet under the influence. They haven’t gotten enough face time. They haven’t meditated that Word enough for that Word to transform how they think.
Under the Influence of the Word
And I’m saying this to you: I was under the influence. Now, it took me over. There’s a place in faith that you are no longer holding on to the promise, but the promise is holding on to you. It switches. And you don’t have to spend all day saying, „I believe I receive.“ None of that. You’ve passed that stage. Now you are under the influence.
And when you are, what I said is, „I’m going to fly down to Windell’s house.“ So I got up on the roof of the garage. Let me come over here because this is… I want this. Now, you stay with me, because I’m talking to everybody in here. Because I’m about to take you to airplanes and shopping malls and so forth. Because it’s the same principle.
Faith Must Come from God’s Word
I got up on that garage. I said, „I’m going to fly down to Windell’s house.“ Come on. I had everything on. I had everything ready. I jumped off. And where did I go? Straight down. Why? Because it wasn’t the Word of God. It wasn’t. All faith only comes from the Word. Not TV.
And I’m telling you right now that God is no respecter of persons. Let me share something with you. I want to quote this individual. His name is Brother Jesse. „The most important thing in your life is what you believe about your future.“ He preached that in our church. I preached it because I was drawing something. And when I draw it, you got to preach it. We’re going to cover impartation here in just a minute.
The Kingdom Within You
The most important thing in your life is what you believe about your future. Now if you’ll look, there’s a couple of places I want to go. To Luke’s Gospel in chapter 17, verse 20. „And when He was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, He answered them and said, ‘The kingdom of God cometh not with observation. Neither shall they say, Lo here or lo there. Behold, the kingdom of God is’“ Where? „Within you.“
Now this kingdom is in you as your supply. Because everything you would need or want in this life, God has already provided. And watch this: loaded it in you. In the kingdom. So when He sends you somewhere, you don’t need to beg somebody for anything. Everything that you ever need in an inexhaustible supply has already been provided and given to you in the kingdom. Yeah, I’m loaded right now.
Living from the Inside Out
Now, what am I loaded to do? I’m loaded to go places and create things. Alright. I’m living from the inside out. Say, „Living from the inside out.“ So how am I going to act? Glory to God. Is based… Oh, Lord, I don’t want to jump ahead of you.
Let’s go to Genesis chapter 1. Genesis chapter 1 and verse 26. „And God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the fowl of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.’“ I like what Charles says: „We have dominion over creeps.“
„Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the fowl of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth.“ So you and I have dominion.
Be Fruitful and Multiply
Wait a minute. Adam had dominion over all the earth. The next verse. Verse 28. „And God blessed them, and God said unto them, ‘Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.’“
Now watch this. Verse 26 told you the what: you are to have dominion. Verse 28 told you how you’re going to do it. You’re going to be blessed and you’re going to be fruitful. And you’re going to do what else? Multiply. And what else? Replenish the earth. And what else? Subdue it.
Now I put those down here. And if you are making notes, this might be something good for you to make notes of.
What It Means to Be Fruitful
Fruitful means to produce. It means to produce. I am going to produce something. Now, there’s something that I’m going to produce that is going to come out of something that is not already produced. So I’m going to produce a chair out of this tree. Produce. Glory to God.
You just look up the word. Sometimes I put it down here. Produce has to do with bringing forward. This is 1828 Webster’s Dictionary: bringing forward. Another word for that is create. Create. I’m going to bring it forward. It’s something that’s not seen or manifested yet, but I’m going to bring it forward. See, I gotta see a chair in a tree. Are you with me here? I’ve got to see milk in a cow. I gotta see an egg in a chicken.
Poverty Comes from Lack of Production
Now, this is very important because people are not poor because they have no money or a job that pays much. They are poor because of what they fail to produce. They are poor because of what they fail to create.
See, if you look at the Scriptures and look at Psalm—I’m just going to read it—Psalm 82. And this is, I’ll never forget, as Charles Capps was teaching this one time and it just clicked. Everything just clicked. It’s Psalm 82 starting verse 1. „God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods.“
Now, if I look at that in the Hebrew, it says, „Elohim stands in the midst of the Elohim and judges among the Elohim.“ That’s why he goes on down in verse 6 and says, „You are gods, all of you are children of the Most High.“ You have this nature. Come on. He wants you to have His thoughts. Am I right about this?
Multiply and Replenish
So produce. Now, here’s the thing about that. Let’s go back to Genesis chapter 1 again. „And God blessed them, and God said unto them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, replenish the earth and subdue it.’“
So be fruitful means to produce. Matter of fact, we have a measure called the Gross National Product, and it’s a measure of what has been produced by a set group of people who are members of that particular nation. The gross national product. So produce.
So we got to produce, and we’re going to bring forth—we’re going to create with that. Watch this now. He said, „Be fruitful.“ Then he also said that we are to multiply. Now this multiply has to do with whatever you produce; you are going to increase that production. In other words, you’re going to make it and make it again and again and again—multiply.
And then He says, „And replenish the earth.“
Replenish Means to Distribute
Now replenish—one of the reasons I have that—is to perpetually renew and to supply, but it means to redistribute. So I’m going to produce something that I’m going to eventually distribute, and I’m going to distribute that. If I get inventory and it sits in my company and is not distributed, I’m going broke. Now this applies to a business or a ministry.
Brother Copeland is producing teachings. What is he doing? Bringing it forth. This is some of the stuff he’s never preached before. Where is he getting it from? He’s getting it from God now.
And subdue it. Subdue it means for you to dominate the market.
Dominion in the Marketplace
Now let me wake you up to something. You better get a hold of that word dominion, because Amazon got a hold of it. Amazon has plans to take you out of business. Don’t look at me. I’m telling you, they have in their plans to rule this market, control the market share. That’s their plan.
Now, wait a minute. He told us to do this. He told us you’re supposed to be the leader in your industry. You look at Joseph’s life. All three of those. All right. All four of those.
Alright, let’s go on. Alright, so Genesis chapter 2. And look what He says in verse 7. „And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.“ A speaking spirit like God. I think if you look up the Hamas translation, I’ve got a set of those, and it is a speaking spirit. Okay. You’re a speaking spirit like God.
The Garden as a Prototype
Now what? Let me keep going next. And this is verse 8. „And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.“
Alright. Now this garden, I believe, was a prototype. What’s a prototype? Prototype means it’s a picture of how the rest of the earth should look. But God only made it geographically, having boundaries. So He put the man in there and now blessed him. Why? Because that’s the same power God used to create the universe. He put it on a man so that the man can bring forth a Garden of Eden everywhere he went.
So you are made to create your world. I don’t care how bad it is. They’re trying to fix it with green. They’re trying to fix it with windmills. They’re trying to fix it all kinds of ways. But the blessing was given to fix the curse. And it’s the only thing that can genuinely fix it.
Creating Your World from the Inside
So here, this man is like God. God blessed him. Now He’s sending him. Put him in the garden. And now he’s going to create the garden—increase—everywhere he goes. Okay. He’s going to turn it. And you can look at a reference for you found in Ezekiel chapter 36 verses 33 through 36: „Turn waste places into the Garden of Eden.“ You can look at Isaiah chapter 51, verses 1 through 3 about Abraham.
Alright. Now in verse 16 of Isaiah chapter 51, it says, „To plant the heavens.“ Glory to God. Are you with me here? I got to go a little deep now, but I’m going to tell you something that’s inside of you. Because he’s saying that we’re to live from the inside out.
I’m saying that the reason why a lot of God’s people have not gone and done the things that God wants them to do is because they don’t know how they’re made. They don’t know that things inside of them have heat. They’re loaded. You can put Fort Worth in you. You can put the United States of America in you. Because when you’re doing it in the Spirit, it has no mass to it.
The Kingdom Supply for Others
Come on. It has no time to it. See, it’s already what? When Jesus came in Matthew 14, He healed a man who was blind, lame, maimed—people with no arm, no leg. Now, Jesus got him a leg. Now, how did He get a leg? Because the leg was in the kingdom.
You’ve not only got a supply for you, but you’ve got a supply for anybody that you’ll come in contact with who needs to see the kingdom.
In John chapter 10, verse 9, He said, „I am the door.“ This is what Jesus said. And He said, anybody who comes to me, they’ll go in and out and find pasture. Now wait a minute. Where are they going? To find pasture. Through the door. But He’s not the pasture. He’s the door.
You’re introducing them to the door. So when people come and receive Christ, they go through the door. But when they get through the door, they go out and get their inheritance. They get every thought—have mercy—everything that God has for them that was there before the foundation of the world is in the pasture.