Kings, Priests and Ambassadors: The Kingdom of God in the Marketplace

By Paul Nedoszytko

Have you ever felt a stirring within your soul, a quiet voice whispering, "There has to be more"? In a world where identity is often reduced to mere labels and roles, "Kings, Priests, and Ambassadors" invites you to rediscover the profound truth of who you are in the eyes of God. This book isn't just about being a part-time Christian, confined to the pews of a Sunday service—it's a rallying cry to embrace your identity as a king, ruling and reigning with Christ; as a priest, standing in the gap and interceding for the broken; as an ambassador, carrying the message of reconciliation into every sphere of society. Prepare to be challenged, inspired, and empowered to live out your divine calling from the pulpit to the marketplace, for you are destined for more than mediocrity—you are destined for greatness in the kingdom of God.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: May 22, 2024
• ISBN: 9781445734385

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

Are you hungry for another move of God? If you are, do you have a sense what that might look like? Do you have a prophetic inkling of how this awakening might differ from previous moves of God over, say, the last 100 years or so?

If we look back at the twentieth century, something of a pattern begins to emerge. We start our overview in the opening decade of the century in a humble church in Azusa Street, Los Angeles in 1906. There the fire of the Holy Spirit fell in such force that the walls were covered in the wheelchairs and walking sticks, hearing aids and spectacles, of those who had been supernaturally healed. This was emphatically a movement in which people fell in love with the person and power of the Holy Spirit, with his works and his ways. This wave would even drench the more traditional churches during the Charismatic Renewal.

During the 1960s and 70s, another great move of God began to sweep through America and, like the Azusa Street revival, to the ends of the earth. This was called the Jesus movement and here the emphasis was very much on Jesus. The predominantly young people known as the Jesus people advocated a return to the simple, more ascetic lifestyle of the original followers of Jesus. They pioneered informal love songs to Jesus – Jesus music - that impacted later global movements like Hillsong Church. The Jesus people believed in signs and wonders, which would have a huge influence on the early pioneers of the global Vineyard Church. In addition to all this, we should also include Billy Graham’s faithful preaching about Jesus (see chapter 9).

Towards the end of the century, in the mid-1990s, a new move of God began in a church in Toronto. This movement, which came to be known as the Father’s Blessing, included the work of the Spirit and the wonders of Jesus but focused mostly on the revelation of the Father and the healing that comes when a person is immersed in His amazing love. Millions descended on the church from all over the world. Many were exhausted pastors on the edge of suicide, burnout, or throwing in the ministry altogether. Most testified to extraordinarily immersive and saturating waves of the Father’s love, bringing about healing of hearts and bodies, so much so that they transitioned from the exhaustion of surviving as orphans to the elation of thriving as the adopted sons and daughters of the Father. To say that this move of God had a dramatic effect on worldwide Christianity would be a huge understatement. Like the previous two moves, it was both history-making and world-changing, leading to a springtime for the Church.

Perhaps now we can see a pattern. The first move caused us to fall in love with the Holy Spirit. The second with Jesus. The third with the Father - the three Persons of the Trinity!

Shifting the Focus

If the twentieth century saw many rediscovering a passion for the three Persons of God, the twenty first century will see us rediscovering God’s vision for the Church. I am convinced that the next move of God – whose hour is not only coming, but now is – will focus on our calling as Christians to reclaim the true purpose for the Church which is to go into all the world and proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom and to demonstrate that with works of power.

What I’m talking about here is moving from the Great Commandment to the Great Commission. The Great Commandment, also known as the Love Commandment, must always come first. Jesus described it in Mark 12 when He was asked what was the most important of all God’s commandments:

Jesus said, The first in importance is, ‘Listen, Israel: The Lord your God is one; so love the Lord God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence and energy’. And here is the second: ‘Love others as well as you love yourself.’ There is no other commandment that ranks with these."

The unique revelation of God in Jesus Christ is that He is the Father who loves us dearly and this love is made known to our hearts by the Holy Spirit. The Christian God is accordingly Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and our calling is to love this Triune God and then to share that love with those around us. He was always meant to be known intimately. His longing from the beginning was that He should be our Papa and that we should be His daughters and sons. In the twentieth century, we saw three great moves of God reconnecting people in love with the Spirit, the Son, and the Father. Without this foundation, the Church can never be either a healing family or a holy bride. The Great Commandment must always precede the Great Commission.

What then is the Great Commission? Jesus gives us the answer in Matthew 28:18-20:

God authorised and commanded me to commission you: Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I’ll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age.

The Great Commission is a divine imperative for the Church. Christians are not to stay in church buildings bidding the lost to come to them. We are to go to the lost, carrying the fire of our love for the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Church’s mandate is not to stay indoors and wait for the lost to come into God’s house (the old view of revival). Our calling is to head out into the unconverted world and infiltrate it with the startling and luminous love of God, acting as salt and light wherever we set our feet. This means not only looking up at God in the worship place but looking out to the lost in the marketplace.

From Church to Marketplace

We can see this shift beginning to happen even in the last decade of the twentieth century in ministries dedicated to the marketplace. People like Ed Silvoso, whose faith was forged in the white-hot furnace of the Argentinian revival, began talking about the importance of being anointed for business. Others, such as Os Hillman, pointed out that at least 85% of the Christian workforce spends 60-70% of their waking hours in the marketplace, or in what he called the 9 to 5 window. No wonder then that by the early 2000s, Billy Graham was beginning to say, I believe that one of the next great moves of God is going to be through believers in the workplace. In the 2020s, we are seeing the truth and fulfilment of this prophecy.

The reason I have written this book is to inspire Christians to understand what the new move of God is all about. It’s about a complete recalibration of the church. It is a shift from merely meeting in church on a Sunday to bringing the Kingdom of heaven to the workplace on a Monday (and, indeed, throughout the rest of the week).

Jesus has called us to be culture changers not seat-warmers. Put another way, He has not called us to go to church but to be the church. Even the Greek word translated church tells us this is the case. It is ekklesia, which means a community of those who have been called out – not called out of the world but called to go out into all the world and make disciples of all nations.

We do this best when we demonstrate through our work lives that God’s kingdom is better than any other kingdom. Why? Because God is a king whose throne is founded on righteousness and justice. When we bring the culture of heaven into the marketplace, we usher in a righteous kingdom – a culture where we do what is right, and where everyone is treated fairly. People respond positively to this when they see it. Why? Because God’s kingdom works!

The Great Shift

My own story in many ways maps this transition in what the Holy Spirit is doing. From childhood, I always knew there was more to life than met the eye and I went on many adventures looking for it. For me, ‘religion’ held no attraction, and the Church was a place full of ‘goody two shoes' who pointed the finger and told me that I was a sinner and had to join their ‘club’ to go to heaven. Harsh, I know, but that was my experience at that time. All my searching for the truth and purpose for my life was finally answered when I met, surrendered to, and fell in love with The Truth. The Truth turned out to be a person by the name of Jesus. What a glorious day that was!

During that time, I worked in corporate finance, banking, and insurance at a senior level. God really blessed me even though I thought my success was purely down to my talent and hard work. I achieved everything I set out to do, and yet every success was empty. I had all the material trappings of an achiever, but I was unfulfilled inside. The accolades and prestige of position were also wearing thin. I had traded my family life for ‘shiny objects’ and the praise of my colleagues and peers. I was a workaholic striving to maintain the facade of confidence, competence, and corporate status. I hated my life and what I had become.  My life was a mess, my family was falling apart, I felt alone and ‘owned’ by the corporate lifestyle to which I had bowed down to. After sixteen years, I left to start my own consultancy. I was desperately hoping that my independence would bring peace back into my life and to my family. Little did I know that I had simply swapped one master for another. I was still looking for peace and joy in all the wrong