Bill Winston - The Word of the Kingdom
Now, the kingdom of God is this government that contained everything that mankind would need, this kingdom. And so now, Jesus was preaching this kingdom and demonstrating the power of this kingdom which he brought with him. And when he taught in Luke 17, you can put it up there, and Verse 20, "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: And neither shall he say, Lo here! or, lo there! behold, the kingdom of God is within you".
So it's an invisible kingdom at this point. Understand, in the days ahead, in the millennium, it will be a physical kingdom when the city of God will come down out of heaven and sit upon the earth. But now, it is an invisible kingdom, and God put you and I in the earth in that kingdom. And we showed you that over in Colossians 1. And we'll just start reading at Verse 12. "Giving thanks unto the Father which has made us meet", or able, "to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light". Say, "In light". "Who has delivered us from the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son".
So we have been delivered out of the kingdom of darkness, and we are now in a new kingdom. And everything we need or desire in this earth will be in that kingdom. And one of the things about it is that this kingdom functions, we appropriate the things that God has given to us by faith. We have to get them by faith. So in that kingdom is our healthcare. In that kingdom is our economy, our wealth. In that kingdom is our joy and our peace. In that kingdom is our strength. In that kingdom is our blessing. Everything is coming for us and is in that kingdom.
Now, without the kingdom of God and the teaching of the kingdom, that you and I then are left with insufficient truth to overcome the enemy. That many times what has happened is we've been taught about the Gospel of salvation, but we haven't been taught about the Gospel of the kingdom. And I would submit to you that one of the things that's missing is the teaching of the Gospel of the kingdom. It's how to live in that reality. See, if you know enough, then Satan is defeated. Because he said, "My people are destroyed for the lack of knowledge". See, wasn't money, wasn't positions, wasn't anything. And in this, we've got to learn now how to come into that kingdom, because it says here that we are saints in light.
See, that kingdom is a kingdom of darkness. We're in light. And this dark system is the Babylonian system. The light system is the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven system. Now, those are two different systems. Now watch this. Praise God. In those systems, we have two different ways of speaking. We have two different ways of thinking. We have two different ways of acting and responding. Now, these two kingdoms, one of them is inferior, the other one is superior. Which one do you think is superior? The kingdom of light. See, it's superior. See, but because we have been trained in a dark system, there is a way that seems right. But let's read it here, Verse 12. "There is a way that seems right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death".
Let's look at Matthew 13:10. "And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speaketh thou unto them in parables? And he answered and said to them, Because it is given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. But to them it's not given". They don't understand that. You go home and tell your cousin that you're tithing. He said, "What is that"? "I'm giving 10 percent of my income to the church". "What"? You follow what I'm saying? Why? Because you're from two different worlds. Glory to God. You're from another world. Don't be trying to run spiritual revelation truth and think somebody who's completely controlled by the devil is going to understand you.
See, I wondered why I called the guy in the newspaper. I said, "Why did you put that? I didn't say that". "Oh, I thought that's what you said". I said, "You know, I didn't say that". Well, that might be what he heard because the devil twists stuff in his mind. See, I can't get mad at him. We're speaking two different languages. See? And Jesus had to correct him. He said, "Wait a minute now. Now, I know you've got some haters out there. But do good to them that hate you". And I know some of God's people say, "What? Ugh, ain't gonna, I'm"... Say it again. We've got to understand, that's low life. And it seems right. But the end of it is going to be death to you.
You know, I wrote something down here. Let me see if I can find what I wrote down here because I see some of y'all need to be convinced. The Word of the kingdom gives us the ability to operate on a superior level that can cause us to overcome and be triumphant in every situation. And this Word of the kingdom is designed to fix anything in this earth that is out of line with the kingdom of God. That the Bible says the seed is the Word of God. That's Luke 8:11. And then it says that the seed is incorruptible. That's I Peter 1:23. And then it says, "In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God". So the seed is incorruptible, and the seed is God.
Now, name me something God can't do. So if you've got any kind of situation, if I can just pour a little bit of this Word into it... Say, "Amen", to that. It is designed to bring it from chaos to order. It is designed to take it through a miracle exchange and bring it back in line with heaven's government. This right here. And so you're in here now, hearing me preach the Word of the kingdom. But I said last week that Satan has set up his world. Lord have mercy. Can I do this? Can I do this like this? I want you to put something right here, because we're coming back. We're talking about the Word of the kingdom.
Let's go over to Hebrews, Hebrews 1. Hebrews 1. See, I made a discovery that words are powerful. The Bible says, "Death and life are", where? It's in the power of the tongue. And the Bible says, when you have a wrong thought, I showed you in Proverbs 30, put your hand over your mouth. Why? Because of these words coming out of here. Look what it says here in Verse 1. "God, who at sundry times and", in Hebrews 1:1 "and diverse manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, have in these last days spoken to us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things". Now, Charles B. Williams' translation says this: "Jesus is the lawful owner of everything". I'm a joint heir with him. I don't know about you, see. "By whom also he made the worlds; who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high". So he is holding all things by the word of his power.
Now, this is what I'm saying. I'm saying that words are what made this planet. Watch this. Words are what's holding this planet. Satan has created another world. Darkness. And he's used words to do it. I'm telling you now, this is a revelation. And as long as he can get people with words, and say his words, the words of the kingdom of darkness, he can keep his kingdom in place. Words are the very foundation of everything you see. Think about it. If you're going to do a contract, it's got words on it. It doesn't make any difference. Words, words, words. Words were the original technology. Praise God. And in this, words are the things, death and life are in the power of words. It was words which separated the two groups who were to go into Canaan. The people who spoke an evil report didn't go in. The people who spoke a good report went in. What made the difference? Words.
When we were studying the life of Jacob and what made his body age like that, it was the words he spoke. And I'm telling you, the words are at the very foundation. The problem is, many of God's people don't believe it! He said, "Whosoever shall say to this mountain: be thou removed, be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe the words that he speaks will come to pass. He shall". Lord have mercy. You're balking on me. Put it up there on the board. Put up there Mark 11:23. I want you to see this. I want you to learn to master words, and your days of suffering, lack, whatever it is, are over, because words are just that powerful. What words? The words of the kingdom. That will uproot anything in your life and in anybody else's life.
You've got kids that are not acting right, you believe in words, speak them over that girl. Look what it said, "For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say to this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatever he saith". Those are words. Those are words. Put up there, please, on Matthew 12:34. "O generation of vipers, how can you, being evil speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks". Keep going, next verse. "A good man out of the good treasure of the heart brings forth good things".
Where are the good things in your life going to come from? Your heart. How do they get there? By words. Words deposited them there. And once those words come to fruition inside, you speak them out, and they will change a situation in your life. Ooh-wee! Come on. All right. I didn't mean to do all that, but... Now, here's the deal. So words. So both use them. But this is low life down here. And the enemy tries to use words of darkness to get you to express yourself. He set up a system on it. And people use the words, "I'm dying to go. You make me sick. I'm catching a cold". Who in their right mind would want to catch a cold? But watch this. We don't think about it because we've been trained in darkness. But once you see, "Wait a minute, hey, first of all, a cold has no business coming on me".
Now, how did I get that? I got words of light. I had to go over to Psalm 91, come on. Come on over there with me. And I had to rebuild an image on the inside of me. Verse 10, "There shall no evil befall me, neither shall any plague come nigh me. For he has given his angels charge over me, and they keep me in all my ways". Now, I'm supposed to say that. What the enemy has tried to do is tried to get us to speak wrong words to express ourselves, words of darkness. You cannot alter the kingdom of God to fit your lifestyle. You've got to alter your lifestyle to fit the kingdom of God. Jesus always spoke the words of God. It was the word of the kingdom. And he always spoke them no matter what the situation was.
Now, let's just go back there real quick. Let's go back to... where did I tell you? Matthew 13, please. Verse 18. "Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower. When anyone hear the word of the kingdom and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catches away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the wayside". Now, where is this seed going to be sown? In the heart. Now, he's not talking about your blood pump. But he is talking about the spirit of a person, and that the Word is sown in their spirit. And your spirit is designed to produce everything you need, and it's the ground that the Word of the kingdom is deposited in to bring forth first the image then the reality of what you've just sown.
We are where we are because of what we think. God, many times, characterizes himself as an eagle or as a lion. Eagle vision. Lion attitude of mind. Because an eagle can see. And he can see a quarter at the length of two football fields. He can see it in the ground. He's got extremely high vision. He can fly very high and see all the way down there, small objects. So he can see. But a lion has an attitude about it. See, here's what I'm trying to tell you. There's an attitude that you have to have. And that attitude is the same attitude that Jesus had. He's called the "Lion of the tribe of Judah". Say, "Amen" to this.
And this lion is in the jungle, fearless. He's not the tallest one; giraffe, so much bigger. He's not the fastest one; cheetah is much faster. He's not the biggest one; hippopotamus and elephants. But he doesn't see an elephant and think, "Elephant". He sees an elephant and thinks, "Dinner". Are you following what I'm saying? It's his attitude. And so he goes around, and he roars. But you can almost feel the vibrations of it. Say that one time. See there, can't you feel something?
Now, he's not the biggest, the fastest, or the tallest, but he thinks he is. And what I'm telling you is, you've got to see situations and have a certain attitude about who you are! I looked at what kind of attitude you should have in terms of how you see yourself, because this is the way God sees you. Now, I'm talking about, you've been delivered out of the kingdom of darkness. You're in the kingdom of light. You're a brand-new creature. Here's what God sees you: He sees you unique. There is nobody else that's been gifted with what he gifted you with. When he made you, he broke the mold.
Part 2
There's a story I used to tell and you might've heard it before, but there was a woman and she had gotten married. She was fixing some dinner for her husband, new marriage. She had a roast. She cut the end off, put it in the pot, put it in the oven. Now her husband asked her, said, "Sweetheart, I noticed that you cut the end off the roast and put it in the oven. Why'd you cut the end off of it"? She said, "I don't know. Mama did that". She said, "Let me call Mama and find out. Mama, I cut the end off the roast but I saw you do it all the time. Why did you do that"? Mama said, "Baby, I don't know. Big Mama did that". They called Big Mama. "Big Mama, we noticed you cut the end off the roast and put it in the pot and cook it. Why'd you cut the end off the roast"? "Oh baby, I cut the end off the roast because the pot was too small".
People in the church do stuff, watch this, and have lost a revelation of why in the world am I doing that. Because they have and has become tradition, it has no power. It doesn't do what it's supposed to do. Let me read you some of these things. People have lost the revelation of the blood of Jesus. That used to be a teaching. The Bible talks in Romans chapter three about faith in the blood. The blood of Jesus is so powerful, watch this, you can plead the blood over your child before they go out and this one witch that switched said they tried to get close to this child but the blood was over this child and they couldn't even get to them.
Not only that, the blood cleanses your conscious. That means people who have been abused when they were young, I mean molested and so forth, many times they grow up with a consciousness of that it starts affecting their future and their life. They can take the blood, watch this, and purge all thoughts of that. The blood will do that. Not only that, the blood will speak. When you're in trouble and you see things coming on you that are impossible, just confess what God said. That confession goes up to heaven and the blood that's on the mercy seat also cries out the same thing and because of two witnesses, God will move on your behalf. The blood. Not only that, how about the name of Jesus? Somehow we'll drop a piece of paper and say, "Oh Jesus".
Well, see I don't know whether that person really knows the power of that name, because when you really know the power of that name you just don't throw that name around, because when you speak that name, demons tremble. How about communion? Communion ain't just drinking some wine or some juice. Communion is healing time. Communion is deliverance time. Demons cannot stand communion. How about impartation? I'm talking about laying hands on somebody. That is a way of the ordination and so forth. A person can lay hands on somebody and the gifts that are in that person will flow into this person and this person never went to school to get them.
I'm talking about supernatural. How about praise? Praise is very significant. People come to praise but people who don't know God don't know the value of praise. For the Bible says praise will still the enemy. No, you got to look that up in the Amplified. Praise will make the devil shut up. I'm talking about the enemy speaking into your mind saying, "You're going to die. Oh, you got a heart attack coming. Oh, look what they saying about you. People don't like you, so forth". That's the devil's talk. You need to start praising God. Not only will praise God do that, praise will launch angels. Angels will launch on your behalf because of your praise. Praise is the way that you bring God right down into your situation.
I'm talking about praise. How about favor? Lord, have mercy. Favor ain't fair. Folks, favor is a powerful thing. In other words, you're not going to go any higher than the favor of God enables you to go. If you look in this Bible even in Luke's gospel and Luke chapter 2 it says in verse 52, "And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man". If Jesus had to have favor don't you think you might have to have favor? Favor determines the limits of your destiny. Favor is something that God gave you to enable you with the grace of God to do what God's called you to do. One encounter with favor is worth a lifetime of labor.
Folks, I declare favor every day. "Father, I thank you that favor is on my life producing supernatural increase, promotion, restoration, honor, increased assets, greater victories, recognition, prominence, preferential treatment, petitions granted, policies and rules changed and battles won which I do not have to fight. The favor surrounds me like a shield". How about the woman named Esther? Esther, she couldn't be called into the king's palace unless the king sent for her, but Mordecai said, "Esther, you got to go up there because you are sent for such a time as this". Esther put on her royal robe and donned herself with her royal apparel and stepped into the king's chamber and the king pointed his scepter at Esther. "Esther, what is it that you want? I'll give it to you, up to half my kingdom".
I'm talking about when God gives you favor, people that don't like you will give to you. If you place the value of favor that God intended, it will take you places that your destiny has been predetermined. It'll give you strength. It'll give you speed. It'll give you promotion. I'm telling you, favor was on Noah. Favor was on Joseph. Favor was on Gideon. Favor was on Abraham. Favor was on David. Favor was on Solomon. Favor was on Daniel. Favor is on me. Praise God. That's why I got raised up. This is your year of God's favor in your life. How about prayer? Just plain old prayer. I won't go to these scriptures but you can write them down.
This is Luke chapter 9 verse 51 through 56. What happened was the disciples noticed... Man, I didn't mean to preach that hard. Disciples noticed that people didn't come out to Jesus's meeting. One of the disciples said, "Master, call fire down on them and burn them up". Jesus said, "Wait a minute. You don't know what spirit you're of". They went to another village. Now why didn't the people come out. The people didn't come out because somebody didn't pray. They didn't pray for that village. Jesus prayed for Jerusalem. The Bible says he set his face to go to Jerusalem. Wherever you're going, pray there first. Got it? Pray there first. You can do that.
Command your morning, it says in the book of Job. Don't just get up and start walking. Pray first. Then your steps will be ordered by the Lord. Isn't that a much better way to live? Prayer. He said, "Lord", in Luke chapter 11 verse 1, "teach us to pray as John taught his disciples to pray". John had a meeting out in the wilderness and people came by the hundreds. Folks, when you don't pray they stay away by the hundreds. You know, we got newspapers and flyers, all kind of TV ads, but they didn't have that back in that day. All they had was prayer. I'm telling you, somehow we done got away from prayer. We think TV promos are going to do it. Folks, it's prayer that does it. Say amen to that.
The Word of God is the Word of the kingdom. The Word of the kingdom comes with power. Lord, isn't that good preaching right there? Turn back to Micah, "For thou Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel whose going forth had been from of old from everlasting". But thou Bethlehem Ephratah. Now this is Bethlehem. Bethlehem was a place that Jesus was born but it wasn't any Bethlehem. There's a Bethlehem in England. There's a Bethlehem in the United States in one of our cities, but it ain't called those Bethlehem's. He's talking about a specific spot in this Earth that Jesus was going to be born, Bethlehem. Got it? That is the word of the kingdom given by a prophetic utterance of the prophet. Got it?
Now let's go to Luke's gospel. Look at Luke chapter 2. Look at verse 1, "And it came to pass in those days that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed, and this taxing was first made in Quirinius when Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to be taxed, everyone unto his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee". Now that's where Joseph was. "Out of the city of Nazareth unto Judea unto the city of David which is called", what? "Bethlehem because he was of the house of the lineage of David". He came out of Bethlehem so he's going to have to go back to Bethlehem to pay the taxes. "To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife being great with child. It was that while they were there the days were accomplished that she should be", what? "Delivered, and she brought forth her first born son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn".
Now let me just clear this up first. This is not my message but let me clear it up. Swaddling does not mean raggedy. It has to do with tightly wrapped garment. The reason why they were in a stable is because there was no room at the Ritz. They weren't there because they had no money. They were there because there was no room. Why? Because everybody was coming to pay taxes, but how did they get there? I know faith. We know faith and all of it, but how did they get there? Caesar Augustus made a decree that everybody's going to have to come back to their hometown to pay taxes. They had to come back, but Mary just happened to be, what? Great with child. Isn't it interesting how he made a decree at a time she was great? Is this the right bunch I'm talking to now?
Now isn't this something, that now they come back and it just so happened he came out of Galilee. That's where they were living. It just so happened when they got back they couldn't travel any further. Mary had to come forth. They needed a room somewhere but the rooms were taken up so that got into a manger and that's where they had this child. Are y'all with me? What made Caesar issue a tax at this time? I submit to you the Word of God. Folks, once you release the Word, back off, because the Word is about to go to work. The Bible said the Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. Quick means alive. When you release that Word everything comes with it. Why? Because in the beginning was the Word.
The Word was with God and the Word is God. God goes to work on your behalf. My point to you is notice Jesus spoke to that fig tree. He didn't stand around to see if the fig tree was going to drop, did he? What did he do? He went on and took care of business. Why? Because once you release the Word in faith like these prophets did, even though it was hundreds of years before, something happened in another generation. I'm saying you got here because somebody prayed for you, was probably your great great grandmother and that Word will not return void. You didn't get in here because of your own good thoughts or your own whatever. You got in here because somebody prayed for you. Jesus said pray that the Lord of the harvest will send laborers into the harvest. Notice, you've got to even pray that God sends somebody to get somebody saved. Say amen to that.
Folks, we can pray and angels start working on our behalf. I'm saying all kinds of things happen when you pray. Prayer is a powerful thing, but when you pray don't pray, "Lord, prop me up on the leaning side". He don't want to hear nothing about that. You pray the Word of God and when you pray the Word of God angels watch over that Word. Angels make sure that Word come to pass. You going to have what you pray. I said you going to have what you pray. Don't think you're just sending up a scatter shot. Once you pray, once it leaves your mouth it's a done deal. I said once it leaves, I'm going to bring faith and prayer back into this church, that when you pray you know something going to happen. I mean the devil wants to distract you from everything but he trying to keep you from getting on your knees because when you break them knees down Jack, something about to happen.
The devil knows he's about to give something up. Some money is about to come into your hands. That sickness is about to leave your child. I'm saying that job is coming in and Jesus will be glorified. Well, do you understand what I'm talking about? These are things we've got to get back to. Folks traditionally have thought of prayer is what they say. "Oh, I tried everything else. Well girl, why don't we pray? Oh Lord, has it come to that"? Has it come to that? You should've prayed the first time with your narrow self. You should've prayed the moment you had a problem. Pow!
Folks, I'm going to tell you, some of y'all in here right now because somebody prayed for you. Watch this. Watch this. You don't want to be here but the word is the controlling factor. Isn't this wonderful? The last thing, turn to Mark chapter 4. He says, verse 14, "The sower soweth the word". Verse 26, "And he said, so is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground, should sleep and rise night and day and the seed is going to spring and grow, he doesn't know how. For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear and after that the full corn in the ear, but when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle", why? "Because the harvest is come. And he said, whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God or with what comparison shall we compare it"?
He's comparing it with something. "It's like a grain of mustard seed, which when it is sown in the earth is less than all the seeds that be in the earth, but when it is sown", what does it do? "It groweth up", and what does it do? "Becometh greater". The Word of the kingdom. Satan tries to get you to sow words of the kingdom of darkness. Words of the kingdom of darkness? "Girl, you make me sick". That's words of the kingdom of darkness. You know you don't want to be sick but you've been taught to say that. "Oh man, I'm just dying to go". Dying? Why you got to die to go? You don't need to die to go.
Now, see, you think those words don't have any power to them but they hold you back from your destiny because words are authority in the Earth. Satan waits on your words. We got to always speak the words of the kingdom because those words are going to empower you and move you forward. Satan's words are designed to contain you, make you stay right where you are. Say amen to this. You got two sets of words. You always want to speak God's Word. How do you get God's Word? Out of his book. Speak something in line with what God says about your life.