Learning to Teach & Proclaim the Kingdom
Bill Crenshaw from Rock Ministries in Texas gives us an insight into the real world application of Order of Jacob’s Well Kingdom teaching
A very short five months ago, I met Brother Mike in Houston, Texas when I was invited to hear his teaching on the “Kingdom of God”. At the time I shared with a good friend, that I felt a bit stagnant and worn down honestly and was looking for something…. but not quite sure what though. Maybe a freshening from the Lord, something new, a pick me up, or really anything, please Lord? While Mike was teaching about the Kingdom that evening, my heart was drawn in like water to a sponge. I had never heard anything quite like it. It was so powerful, beautifully simple, yet ties so completely to what Jesus did while here, and what Jesus taught his disciples to do.
After reading two of Mike’s books over the next six weeks, I connected with Mike directly and soon found myself being mentored by him weekly in Kingdom dynamics and living daily in the Kingdom. He was pouring into me his experience, understanding, and personal adventure in discovering the kingdom more fully and living the kingdom life. Mike shared how Jesus uses him and others today to heal many by proclaiming the kingdom is always near and raising people’s expectations from Jesus, who never changes. However, as we all know, learning is one thing but putting it into practice is quite another. The time had come.
Proclaiming & Teaching the Kingdom in Africa
One of the doors God opened in Africa three years ago was in Uganda. The Rock Ministries (www.therockminisries.org) is now actively engaged in inspiring and training believers to share their faith, make disciples, and reach their own people group. God connected me to Congolese refugees, that number over 1,000,000 now living in Uganda due to decades of civil war and upheaval in their beloved Congo. I had already scheduled a trip to Uganda in early March 2023, and after Mikes training, clearly knew more faith and trust was needed for kingdom walking. The first step was frightful in some ways yet, God had always shown up before if I did my part. You see, I grew up in a church that has a great heart to share the gospel (very thankful), but miracles were not something expected today.
I had scheduled three days to teach and proclaim about the “Kingdom of God” inside the Kyaka II refugee camp in western Uganda which contains 137,000 refugees. We trained in the morning with over 200 house group leaders, then had a service in the evening where healing was offered. We would share the gospel inviting people to come to Jesus but also now offer to pray for healing. Proclaiming the Kingdom is simply declaring what God & Jesus has already done, thanking Him for abundant grace, the cross, life abundantly and so on. It is full of thanksgiving prayers. One woman on the last night came forward for healing and limped badly up to the podium with a cane. She was 80 pounds soaking wet, and shared she has been in great pain for 12 years.
I asked her what she wanted Jesus to do for her and she said “heal my leg”. I asked may I look at it, and when I did, her knee was close to the size of a grapefruit. I then began to proclaim thanksgiving prayers as Mike had taught me. These prayers together with declarations that elevated the expectations (faith) of people so they could more readily receive the healing already given by Jesus. I came back to her after a while and asked how was her leg feeling? Through an interpreter, she said, I am not sure but “something is moving in my leg down there”. I was so excited and continued praying. Her name was Christine, and she walked down the stairs and back to her seat with no limp or cane. Jesus completely healed her that evening, Praise the Lord.
Where does the Kingdom Movement go from here?
The “Kingdom” is a major topic / theme that Jesus taught, preached, and lived. Jesus also told his disciples in Luke 10:9 to “heal the sick and tell them ‘the kingdom of God has come near you”. To phrase it another way, when the kingdom came near, sickness and demons had to go. I have recently experienced this in Uganda. Paraphrasing from the bible, Jesus says in Mark 16:15-18 that “signs and miracles, will accompany believers as they preach the gospel.” In Luke 12:32, Jesus says “ “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom”. What is this gift that God, our Father, has given us?
Moving forward, I see a new hunger developing for understanding and walking in the kingdom life, as that is truly where God wants us all. As believers, we must learn to live daily in the kingdom life. It is a faith adventure for us as we yield areas of life to God’s will. Jesus is always there with each of us and wants us all to experience today the “kingdom life”. God’s people, the church, see the “kingdom life” in the bible but at times struggle to answer the question “How can I live that way?”. These thoughts and desires, while not spoken sometimes, resound in many brothers and sisters’ hearts all around the world.
So, it seems we need a renewed understanding and path to again “walk in the kingdom” like in the early church. It is not terribly complicated, as untrained fisherman did it over 2,000 years ago, right? Maybe over the centuries, we, as the church, have focused more on other doctrines or processes and unintentionally lost our understanding of the kingdom? I believe God is calling many people all around the globe, to rediscover something old yet still fresh, still powerful ….. the kingdom life. Young people today are infatuated with the supernatural today more than ever.
Bill. You can contact me via email at: bcrenshaw@therockministries.org