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Discover how the kingdom of heaven empowers every believer, male and female, to walk in full apostolic authority and inherit all God has promised.
In this seventh installment of the Building God’s Kingdom series, the pastor delivers a bold and scripturally grounded message on the role of women in ministry, the structure of apostolic authority, and the dangers of religious tradition. Drawing from Mark 7:13, Ephesians 3:1-7, Acts 1:20-26, Galatians 1:1 and 2:1-5, and Acts 26:16-18, the message challenges the cultural and religious biases that have long suppressed women in the church. The pastor shares a powerful true account of two women ministers who entered war-torn Albania to establish a hospital, demonstrating that God’s calling knows no gender boundary. He then traces the apostolic foundation of the New Testament church, contrasting the twelve apostles chosen under law with Paul’s heavenly commission, and exposes how Judaizers, Gnostics, and false brethren sought to infiltrate and weaken the early church. The historical example of Augustine’s premature elevation to bishop is used to illustrate the cost of bypassing spiritual maturity. Throughout, the pastor calls believers to shed tradition, receive their full inheritance in Christ, and stand firm in the freedom of the kingdom of heaven.
Mark 7:13, Acts 1:20-26, Acts 26:16-18, Galatians 1:1, Galatians 1:6-7, Galatians 2:1-5, Galatians 4:1, Ephesians 3:1-7, 2 Corinthians 12:1, Hebrews 1:1-2, Proverbs 6:16-19
One of the central confrontations of this message is the long-standing tradition that restricts women from ministry roles. The pastor makes clear that this tradition, far from being biblical, mirrors exactly what Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for in Mark 7:13: using human custom to make the Word of God powerless. The account of prophet Linda Sutter, who at the very first service prophesied in detail the three buildings, radio station, and tower of the church, stands as living proof that God speaks and moves through women with full apostolic precision. The kingdom of heaven, the pastor insists, has no gender ceiling.
The story of Linda Sutter and a companion hitchhiking into civil-war-torn Albania captures the raw apostolic spirit this message champions. Refused entry by their driver, they entered on faith, were picked up by four Muslims including an official connected to the Albanian Ministry of Health, and sang worship songs that so moved their hosts that doors opened supernaturally. A free building, government-paid utilities, and eventually a fully equipped medical clinic built by women became the fruit. This account is not presented as extraordinary but as the normal outcome when tradition is stripped away and believers walk in obedience to a kingdom assignment.
The pastor offers careful biblical groundwork explaining why Matthias had to replace Judas. In Hebrew numerology, eleven represents confusion while twelve represents complete government. The qualifications in Acts 1:21-22 were specific: the replacement had to have accompanied the disciples from the baptism of John through the ascension. Paul, by contrast, was chosen not through men or by men but directly by Jesus Christ from heaven, as stated in Galatians 1:1. This distinction matters because Paul carried a unique commission to unveil the mystery of the church, a reality hidden in prior ages but now revealed by the Spirit to holy apostles and prophets.
The historical detour into the life of Augustine serves as a sobering pastoral warning. Saved out of the Manichaean cult, Augustine brought unresolved spiritual baggage into the church when he was appointed bishop only two years after conversion simply because people loved his speaking ability. The result was that monastic thinking, secret-society culture, and the separation of the sexes as a spiritual hierarchy all crept into the early church through him, laying foundations for Catholic monasteries, poverty vows, and the subordination of women. The lesson drawn is direct: no amount of gifting substitutes for the formation that comes only through time, suffering, and deep encounter with God.
The pastor frames the gospel of the kingdom as inherently inclusive by nature. Citing the angelic announcement of Luke 2 that good tidings of great joy shall be to all people, he argues that any gospel which benefits only a select group is by definition a cult. Whether that exclusion targets women, Gentiles, or the economically disadvantaged, it betrays the character of Christ. Galatians 1:6-7 is applied directly: those who twist the truth about who can participate in kingdom life are perverting the gospel, not protecting it. The kingdom of heaven belongs to every born-again believer without condition of gender, ethnicity, or social standing.
The closing thrust of the message calls believers to reject every beggarly tradition and receive the full inheritance Christ secured. Using Galatians 4:1, the pastor reminds the congregation that an heir who remains spiritually immature lives no differently than a slave, even though they are lord of all. Wealth and riches in the house, kings and priests reigning on the earth, and the power to bring God’s will into every sphere of society are not prosperity excesses but kingdom realities. The call is not to heap wealth on personal lusts but to receive God’s provision with godliness and deploy it to grow the church and advance the kingdom.
This message argues emphatically yes. Ephesians 4:11-13 lists the five-fold ministry gifts without any gender restriction, and Paul declares in Galatians 3:28 that in Christ there is neither male nor female. The restriction of women from ministry is identified in this sermon as a human tradition that makes the Word of God without effect, not a biblical command.
Jesus tells the Pharisees in Mark 7:13 that their human traditions were nullifying the power of Scripture in people’s lives. When the church adopts customs that contradict or suppress what God has actually said, believers are robbed of the transformation, freedom, and power that the Word was designed to produce in them.
Acts 1:21-22 establishes that the replacement for Judas had to have been present with the disciples from the baptism of John through the resurrection and ascension of Jesus. Paul did not meet this qualification and was not chosen through the same process. His apostleship came directly from Jesus Christ from heaven, as he states in Galatians 1:1, making his commission distinct in purpose and method.
Ephesians 4:11-13 states that the five-fold ministry gifts, including apostles and prophets, will continue until the church comes into the unity of faith and the knowledge of the Son of God. Since that unity has not yet been achieved, this message teaches that all five offices, including apostle and prophet, remain active and necessary in the body of Christ today.
This sermon explains that the kingdom of God has always existed and encompasses all of God’s rule, while the kingdom of heaven refers specifically to the current administration of that rule through Jesus Christ, who is seated in the heavens. When believers are born again, they enter the kingdom of heaven, receive a new heart, and are placed under the grace administration inaugurated by Christ.
Augustine was appointed bishop only two years after his conversion, before he had been adequately formed in the faith. Having come out of the Manichaean cult, he unknowingly carried over its emphasis on secrecy, separation from society, and the subordination of women. These ideas seeded the development of Catholic monasteries, poverty vows, and a hierarchical view of gender in ministry that still influences parts of the church today.
The Judaizers were infiltrators who taught that faith in Christ was not sufficient for salvation and that believers also needed to submit to Old Testament law, including circumcision. Paul confronts this directly in Galatians 1:6-7 and 2:1-5, calling it a perversion of the gospel and a form of slavery that robbed believers of the freedom they had received in Christ Jesus.
According to this message, water baptism is a public declaration of submission to the government of the kingdom of God and to those who administer it. This is why Jesus insisted on being baptized by John the Baptist in Matthew 3, even though Jesus was greater: he was formally submitting to the current earthly administrator of the kingdom in order to fulfill all righteousness.