Job Training for the Kingdom of God

Pretty familiar phrase, two words put together in our day and age, job training. Many of us have been through, maybe more than once, job training for particular jobs. So it's part of society, it's part of the programs, it's part of the employment field, and all of that. Job training. So let's just talk about job training today.

But let's talk about it in a very specific way. Let's talk about job training for the Kingdom, the Kingdom of God. You know, I've heard people say, I don't know what I'll be doing in the Kingdom. I don't know what I'm good for. I don't know where I'll fit. And I've also heard sentiments expressed such as, I don't know what my job in the Kingdom will be, so how can I train for it?

How can I prepare for it? How do I prepare for a job when I don't know what that job will be? Now, obviously, if it's a corporation or a business and they were putting out for job applicants and all, and you showed up to apply for a job, and you said, well, what will I be doing? We don't know. Will I get into training? Well, yeah, we think we'll give you some training. Well, what will I be doing? What will I be trained for? We don't know.

That would be crazy. So it's pretty logical for someone to think or say, well, I don't know what my job in the Kingdom will be, so how can I train for it? How can I prepare for it? How do I prepare for a job when I don't know what that job will be? Well, maybe those concerns can be addressed by answering the question, how am I being trained for it? Job training. Job training for the Kingdom. Well, it's about its concern, so let's talk about it today and maybe clear up some of those concerns.

So if you want a title, same as the subject, Job Training for the Kingdom of God. Job training for the Kingdom of God. First, let's lay out some very important fundamental facts. Whose Kingdom is it? If we're job training for the Kingdom of God, whose Kingdom is it? Well, Revelation 11.15. Love this Scripture. Revelation 11. So clear, so straightforward. No wiggle room in it. It says what it says. You can sink your eye teeth into it.

Revelation 11, verse 15, And the seventh angel sounded, the seventh angel is the one with the seventh trumpet, and there were great voices in heaven saying, the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord.

When Georgia belongs to God, when the United States belongs to God, when Russia belongs to God, when China belongs to God, when all these kingdoms come to belong to God because He subjugates them, the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and it is Christ. They're now owned by Him and He makes the major changes that must be made. And of course, today is the fourth and on the seventh will be keeping the day of trumpets, which is the holy day of the seven trumpets, the day of the Lord.

And the seventh, it's the time of the seventh angel, includes the seventh angel who makes, who does this sounding, and this announcement is made in the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ and He shall reign forever and ever. The fathers and Jesus Christ. And back in the book of Daniel, Daniel 2, verse 44, you know, you would expect that if the Bible is written by the same being, and that's God, that you would find consensus between the Old Testament and the New Testament.

That you would find things that are mentioned in the New Testament that were also mentioned in the Old Testament. Or in the Old and the New, that you would find some things that are duplicated, because it comes from the same mind, and it's the same plan, and a unity of plans. And Daniel 2, verse 44, and in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed, and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, and it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.

The God of heaven will set up a kingdom. And, of course, it blends perfectly with, obviously, what we read in Revelation. The kingdom belongs to the Father and the Son, and they who own that kingdom are going to share ownership with the saints. Again, to me, extremely encouraging verses in Daniel 7, in three verses in Daniel 7, verses 18 and 22 and 27.

Daniel 7, verses 18 and 22 and 27, verse 18 of chapter 7. But the saints of the Most High, that's you, and that's me, and that's us. And it's those like us who have gone on before, and it's those who will be added to us here between now and the time Christ returns. But the saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom and possess the kingdom. We're talking about ownership. Possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever. And then in verse 22, Until the ancient of days came, and judgment or rulership was given to the saints. Rulership! That's what judgment means there.

To the saints of the Most High, and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom. And then again, repeats it again, the third time here in verse 27. And the kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdom, under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey Him. Luke 12, 32. Luke 12, verse 32.

The kingdom belongs to God and Jesus Christ. They're going to share ownership of it with us. And Christ says here in Luke 12, 32, Fear not, little flock. Fear not! We see in our day and time the tool that's been most used in society around us and is being used is scare the people to death. Fear is the key. Scare them to death and you can manipulate them. You can move them as a mob in the direction you want them to go. And Satan has always practiced fear. And Christ says, fear not. Don't fear. Fear not, little flock. Why? He says, For it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. It's His pleasure to give us the kingdom. So since the kingdom belongs to the Father and Son, since they're going to share ownership with us, wouldn't they be preparing us for such? Wouldn't they be directly involved in our job training? We're very familiar with John 14. It rings the bell when we read these verses here in John 14. In John 14, verses 1 through 3, Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house, in His government, are many mansions, many offices, many responsibilities, many places, many opportunities. If it were not so, I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be also. I go to prepare a place for you. The focus is on preparation. Many times people read it, and they put the focus on place, place, place. In one sense, you know, He's preparing a place. But the focus is more on preparation, getting them ready, because He's already told them what their place will be. You realize that? The disciples, the ones that are actually the audience in front of Him at this time, when He's saying this, the audience that's right in front of Him, that particular audience right in front of Him at the moment, they've already been told what their place will be. Save Matthew 19. Let's go back there. Matthew 19, verses 27 and 28. Matthew 19. See, as He's standing there speaking those words in John 14 to James, John, Peter, those gentlemen have already been told what their place will be. Okay, verse 27. Then answered Peter and said to him, Behold, look, we've forsaken all. We follow you. What shall we have therefore? Where's our place? What do we receive? What have we assigned, so to speak? And Jesus said to them, Truly I say to you that you which have followed Me in the regeneration when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of His glory, you also shall sit on twelve thrones judging or ruling the twelve tribes of Israel. They already had been told what their place in the kingdom would be. So that was not a mystery. But was Peter, at the time Christ said what He did in John 14, was Peter ready to sit on a throne over a tribe of Israel in the kingdom? No. In fact, remember Christ told Peter, when you are converted, which didn't happen to Acts 2, strengthen your brethren, He was carnal. He wasn't prepared to sit in the place that He had already been told, This will be your place. Again, I say, the way it's worded, people sometimes focus on the place and don't realize that, yeah, God has a place and He will arrange a place for us, but He also must go about our preparation for that place. But the real focus has to be on our preparation, our job training.

Zechariah 14, remember, He also said to them that, Where? Where? I am, there you may be also. And we're told in Zechariah 14, verse 4, And His feet shall stand in that day on the mouth of olives. The very first piece of dirt that His foot will touch upon will be on the mouth of olives. And the whole series of events will place Christ, verse 9, over all the earth. And the Lord shall be king over all the earth in that day, shall there be one Lord in His name one. And again, just the beauty of the statement, the absolute tremendous encouragement of the statement in chapter 8, Zechariah 8, verse 3. Thus says the Lord, I am returned to Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. And Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth, and the mountain of the Lord a host, the holy mountain. Fundamental to our job training for the kingdom is God's faithful involvement in our preparation. This is why Peter said what he did in 1 Peter 4.19, 1 Peter 4, verse 19. Wherefore, let them that suffer according to the will of God, who pay a price because they do the right thing. Let those who pay a price, who suffer who pay a price because they're doing the right thing, because they're doing according to His will, the will of God, commit and trust the keeping of their souls, their beings to Him, in well-doing as unto what? A faithful creator. And this is why Paul said what he did, and again, we're very familiar with it in Philippians 1.6, that he which has begun a good work in you will finish it. He won't get tired of doing it. He won't stop. He won't back out. He will stay with it.

And this is why Paul said what he did in Hebrews 11.6, Hebrews 11 and verse 6. But without faith, it is impossible to please Him, for He that comes to God must believe that He exists, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.

When you look at scriptures like that, faithful creator, we'll finish the work in you, not going to back out on you, a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Those phrases, those statements, those scriptures take in and include job training preparation for the Kingdom.

Let me ask us a question. Do we have to understand everything that is going on in and with our life for God's preparation to be taking place? Do we have to understand everything that's going on in and with our life before God can do His working?

It says working dependent on our being able to understand everything that's currently happening regarding our life, that is, before any training can occur.

Does God's training of us depend upon us being totally aware at all times of everything that is going on with us? Can God work His work in us with or without our knowledge of what's happening and why? Well, of course He can, and many times does. Joseph is a prime example of that.

Joseph, the example with Joseph, answers those questions. Look at Genesis 45. Genesis 45, verses 1 through 8.

Genesis 45, verses 1 through 8.

Then Joseph could not refrain himself before all of them that stood by him, and he cried, "'Cause every man to go out from me.' And there stood no man with him, while Joseph made himself known to his brethren." And he cried aloud, and the Egyptians in the house of Pharaoh heard.

And Joseph said to his brothers, "'I am Joseph. Does my father yet live?' And his brothers could not answer him, for they were terrified.

And Joseph said to his brothers, "'Come near to me, I pray you.' And they came near, and he said, "'I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt.' And now therefore, don't be grieved nor angry with yourselves, yes, that you sold me here, for God did send me before you to preserve life." God was working something out. For these two years has the famine been in the land, and yet there are five years in which there shall neither be earring nor harvest.

And God sent me before you to preserve you of posterity in the earth and to save your lives by great deliverance. So that was not you that sent me here, but God. And he has made me a father to Pharaoh and Lord of all his house and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt." God didn't have to make the brothers jealous. They were. He didn't have to make them envious. They were. He didn't have to make them carnal. They were. And he utilized what was in them to work it to get Joseph down into Egypt. And Joseph didn't know that's what was going on. He just knew that his brothers put him in a pit. And then they pulled him out and sold him, and he went as the slave into Egypt.

He didn't know what the big purpose was. He didn't know what he was being trained for. He got framed by Potiphar's wife, thrown in prison. He wound up being forgotten in prison. Thirteen long years. He didn't put it all together. He didn't understand there was some tremendous job training going on. He was being prepared for a place, a certain placement.

Of course, in the meantime, and Joseph found this out when the brothers came down and he tested them. He found out that they were sorry for what they had done. They'd repented. And if they could have turned the clock back and done it over, they wouldn't have done it. They'd come to repentance. There'd been a lot of pain and suffering that had gone on with their father and all. Anyway, Joseph had no true, real idea what was happening. But God was preparing Joseph to be a physical Savior for his people. A type of Christ in that sense, but a physical Savior for his people. And God was preparing Joseph for power by giving him administrative opportunities and training. But most of all, by creating in him a deep heart of love and humility. But when God began God's direct job training on Joseph, Joseph had no true idea what was really going on and why. You know, you think about it. It was only after being given the job that God had trained him for that he truly began to understand. But here's a very important point. Throughout his training, and that's this, he kept faith in God. He kept faith in God. He continued to do what was right. He continued to do what was right throughout his training, no matter how hard it got, no matter how hard it was at times. Peter says this in 1 Peter 1, verses 6 and 7. 1 Peter, chapter 1, verses 6 and 7. Peter says, That the trial of your faith, the testing of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perishes, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory, and of course, the fullness of that, obviously, at the appearing of Jesus Christ.

That section can absolutely be applied to Joseph. Joseph is highly trained for the kingdom of God. And whatever job God gives him. See, there's no Scripture that I'm aware of that tells us exactly where Joseph will be placed in that kingdom.

We know he'll be there, and we know I have a very high responsibility, but he's trained for wherever it is that God has in mind. And what about Moses? Did he understand that God was doing a direct job training program with him? Did that fill his mind? Oh, I'm being trained. I'm being trained by God. You know, at age 5, I'm being trained by God. At age 10, I'm being trained by God. At age 20, I'm being trained by God. I'm in a job training program. Was that part of his thinking? No. It's interesting. First, God saw to it that he was trained for 40 years. That's a pretty good stretch of time.

For 40 years in men, materials, and organizational abilities. Notice Acts 7, verses 20 through 24. Acts 7, verses 20 through 24. Verse 20.

In which time Moses was born, was exceeding fair, and nourished up in his father's house three months. Got to be there three months. Three-month-old babe. And when he was cast out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up and nourished him for her own son. God wanted him planted in the house of Pharaoh. He wanted him raised in the house of Pharaoh. He wanted him trained in certain things like men, materials, and organizational abilities. And Moses, notice verse 22. And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians.

You're part of Pharaoh's house. Theoretically, he could have been in line to be Pharaoh someday. You got taught everything they knew about math, history, sciences, whatever they knew, whatever wisdom they had, whatever was available to the elite of Egypt. Moses had access, not only had access to it, but would have been taught it, tutored it, and all. And was mighty in words and in deeds. And when he was full forty years old, full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel.

And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him and avenged him that was oppressed and smote the Egyptian.

It goes on to say, for he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them, but they understood not.

Now, maybe he understood some of his things, but it says that when he was about forty, that's when something came together in his mind and he visited his brethren and he kind of got it in his head. I guess at that point, I'm supposed to deliver you.

I've got this training, men, materials, organization abilities, I'm a general, I've led the armies of Egypt, I can do this.

So maybe he understood some of it, but he certainly did not understand all of it that was going on at all. Verse 26 through 30, Then Moses fled at this saying and was a stranger in the land of Midian where he begat two sons.

And when forty years, forty more years were expired, and he's eighty, there appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai an angel of the Lord and a flame of fire in the bush.

Now you think about it. First of all, God saw to it that he was trained for forty years in men, materials, and organizational abilities.

And then for another additional forty years, what did he spend his time doing? For as long a period of time as he had been in Egypt, which was an additional forty years, same length of time, he was trained as a shepherd.

He worked with sheep. He kept the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law. God put, God ingrained, God instilled, because God's involved in his job training, as shepherd's heart in him.

God directly trained Moses for a job then and also for the future for the kingdom. And it is interesting and it is significant that in the vision of the Transfiguration in Matthew 17.4, in that Transfiguration of Christ being pictured in vision in the coming kingdom, that there's two individuals that are pictured in vision because they're going to be in the kingdom there with Christ. One is Elijah, the other one is Moses. Moses is obviously trained for a very high and heavy responsibility in the coming kingdom of God.

And God was responsible for his training. What was Moses responsible for? Why don't you go to Hebrews 11? What was Moses responsible for? Hebrews 11 verses 24 through 29. Beginning in verse 24, by faith, Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, is staining the approach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt. For he had respect to the recompense of the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king. For he endured as seeing him who is invisible. Through faith he kept the passover and the sprinkling of blood.

The sea that destroyed the firstborn should touch them. By faith they passed through the Red Sea, as by dry land, which the Egyptians, trying to do, were drowned.

Moses was responsible for keeping faith. If God is responsible for our job training, then what are we responsible for? Keeping faith? Joseph kept faith. Moses kept faith. The apostles kept faith. All of the successfully trained people of God down through the ages have kept faith. If we have faith, we know that God will do his part. We don't doubt that.

Faith got tested in 2020. It got tested severely. It's been tested in 2021, and it's being tested. And it will be tested in 2022 and 23. And the closer we get to the end of the age, the more faith will be tested.

If we have faith, we trust ourselves into his hands, knowing that he is a faithful creator. Like Peter said, if we have faith, we know that God knows what we should be and where we'll best fit in his kingdom.

And he goes about seeing to that. He knows what is a part of us that should not be a part of us and how to go about chipping it away. So it's not a part of us.

And he knows what is missing from us that should not be missing from us, that should be a part of us, and how to go about putting it there.

This life is our training ground. It's made up of events. It's made up of happenings. It's made up of experiences. It's made up of circumstances.

It is made up of friend, and it's made up of foe, of positives and negatives.

And for us the first fruits, it's made up of God's Holy Spirit present with us. It's also made up of the spirit of the devil pounding on us any and every which way that it can.

But this life can be expressed as the good, the bad, and the ugly, because all three of those elements are contained in this human life.

And God can, and God does, utilize all three of these for our development, for job training, for the Kingdom.

And because of that, it's not always easy, is it? Not always easy at all.

James 1, verses 2 through 4. James 1.

Verse 2, My brethren, My brothers, count it all joy when you fall into different trials, knowing this, that the trying of your faith, what is it that is on trial more than any other single thing?

That the trying of your faith, you keeping faith, not collapsing, works patience.

But let patience have her perfect work, her complete work, her mature work, that you may be perfect or mature, that is, an entire, that is complete, wanting or that is, lacking nothing.

It works a good work. I go back to Peter's words in 1 Peter 1 and read again what we've already read, 1 Peter 1, verses 6 through 7. We are in you greatly rejoiced, though now for a season, and you know, this life is a season.

The season for some is 70, for some it's 81, for some it's appreciably more, for some it's appreciably less than 70.

For a season, if need be, you're in heaviness through manifold, various, many trials. That's the trial of your faith, which being much more precious than of gold that perishes, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the peering of Jesus Christ. That it's still intact, it's there, it's been increased, it's grown, and it's there. That's why Peter said what he did in 1 Peter 4, 12, if we just go over to chapter 4 here, and verse 12, he says, Don't think it's strange concerning the fiery trial, which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you. It's not weird, it's not strange, because God's job training is going on in you. Those of the millennium will not be trained under the same conditions we are. Those of the eighth day of the last great day will not be trained under the conditions that we are. We have a very corrupt society. We live in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, world. We live at a time when the God of this world, the kingdom has belonged to Satan for the time being.

He's allowed free reign, sometimes in more ways than we might realize. We live at a time when the job training that is upon us as first fruits is some very involved training.

And nobody ever will be more heavily job trained for the kingdom than the first fruits who are of this age, because we are the foundational, fundamental ground floor of the kingdom, forever, endeavor, endeavor. Think it not strange, because God's job training is going on in us, and God is just as involved in our personal job training for the kingdom of day as he has been in the past with each and every one of his people. Now, the difference being this. Magnitude of position, magnitude of responsibility can and will vary, yes. And thus, magnitude of type and intensity of training will too. I never was told by God to take my son and sacrifice him, and I never will be. Now, I'm told not to put him before God. He becomes an idol. And God is second, and I'm an idolater, and I'm a sinner. I'm told not to put him before God.

But I've never been told to take my son and sacrifice him, and I never will be. And if somebody were to come to me and say, Mr. Bean, I have heard a voice telling me to take my son and sacrifice him like Abraham, I would say, you asked Jesus Christ to rebuke that demon. That's the voice of the demon you're hearing. You're not hearing God. That's not God. That was a one-time thing God did, and there's a reason why Abraham is called the Father of the Faithful.

And, of course, when God saw that he literally would go through with it, God stopped him in time to prevent it actually being carried out. So the magnitude of type and intensity of training is going to vary. So you and I don't walk in the same size arena as Joseph, do we? Our arena is not as big as Joseph's arena. Or Moses. Our circle of life isn't as big as theirs. But we walk in an arena. Each and every one of us walks in an arena. And no matter the size of it, there's plenty of opportunity for training and development.

There's more than enough opportunities in our own personal arena, regardless of size, for job training for the Kingdom of God. And God works in that circle. He works in that arena with us. There's more than enough opportunity. If you look at Luke 16, and I realize there's more to be taken from this verse, out of this verse, extracted from this verse, than I will in this message.

But I do want to read it and touch upon it. I said there's more than enough opportunities in our own personal arena, personal circle, for job training for the Kingdom. Luke 16, verse 10. He that is faithful and that which is least. Well, I don't have as big an arena as Joseph. I don't have as big an arena as Moses. My arena is pretty small. In fact, as far as I'm concerned, compared to those arenas, it's tiny. It's little. It's little bitty. Well, guess what? It doesn't matter what size you think it is, that your tracks cover the circle you make, your connections in life, people, loved ones, family, friends, job, etc., etc., etc.

He that is faithful and that which is least. This is how God computes it, is faithful also in much. There's nothing about the size of the arena that can negate job training. Matthew 25, 21. Matthew 25, verse 2. Again, the parable of the talents. The one that was given five talents, and of course, the same with the one that was given two talents. Now, there's a big difference between five talents and two talents. I mean, it's a pretty good differential there between five and two. But the guy with five, he had more than the one with two, but the guy with five did well with what he was given to do with, and the one with two did very well with what he was given to do with.

And so, in verse 21 and in verse 23, too, for that matter, they each with a much different measure or amount. And you want to call an arena, you want to call it a circle, opportunities. They each did what they should with what they had, what they were given, and they each heard, Well done, you good and faithful sermon.

It's not the size of our arena that counts the most. It's how we responsibly conduct ourselves in that arena. In our own personal arena, there will be good, and there will be bad, and, yeah, there can and will be ugly. In this life, in our arena, we will have the ongoing challenge of keeping faith, keeping faith. We will have to continually put into action our belief, our belief that God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. And that's key, that we really believe that God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

And with all the people, and with all the events, and with all of the circumstances, with all of the forces and factors that will be in our arena, it will be a constant and a continuous challenge to put and to keep God first. But as we do, guess what? The most important part of our job training for the Kingdom takes place. Because just as with Joseph and Moses, and you think about it with Joseph, and you think about it with Moses, God trained them in certain physical ways with training, with structure and organization and men and materials to a degree.

But what also had to really be put there was a shepherd's heart. By the time the brothers came down to Egypt, Joseph had a shepherd's heart. And Moses, when he came back to Egypt at age 80, he had a shepherd's heart. Because this is the most important and crucial part of our job training, that God develops in us with our cooperation with Him, a shepherd's heart. See, I could stand here and I could tell you what you're going to be doing in the Kingdom. Now, you might say, well, what you're going to tell us is generic in one sense, but yes, it may be in one sense, general, but it's also very specific.

If you go to Revelation, I mean, I know what we're going to be doing, and you do too. You may not have thought it out in your mind as much as you could, but it's like in Revelation 1 and verse 6, and has made us. This applies to all firstfruits. It applies to Moses. Now, in that transfiguration, there stood Moses in vision and Elijah. So we know they're going to have very heavy responsibilities in the coming Kingdom, but this verse here applies to them and to us. We're all included in this statement, and has made us kings and priests unto God and His Father.

And then that's repeated in chapter 5 and verse 10, where it says, "...and has made us unto our God kings and priests, and we shall rule on the earth, and we must be shepherds at heart." That's the most important part of our job training. And what are kings and priests? Those are simply administrators and educators with the power to carry out that administering and educating. It has to do with leading and teaching and helping and walking beside and guiding and directing and keeping things going in the right direction and working with people and all. And as far as whatever particular additional gifts, talents, abilities that we might say, "...well, I don't have that, and God wants to add that," he can make that a permanent part of your being forever as a glorious spirit being when that time comes.

It's not hard for him at all. There will be various levels of magnitude with those responsibilities. I think that's obvious. And I cannot tell you or anyone what your level will be. I don't even know what my level will be. But I will be a king and a priest. I will be a governor and an educator. I will be administering and leading, and I will be teaching and instructing. And how I look forward to that. But I can tell us that at every level, no matter what the magnitude of power and responsibility, every position will be filled with a shepherd's heart.

That's the heart of love and humility and gratitude. Because in God's job training of us, there's nothing more important and crucial and necessary than that. Job training for the kingdom, keep faith, and continue to responsibly respond to God no matter what the circumstances are. And your job training will be completed. God will see to it.