How We Operate in the Invisible Realm
by Dutch Sheets
Dutch Sheets Ministry
Watchman’s Intercessor Assembly 2011
Christian International Ministries
The following 5 verses are to be read as a single concept. As I looked up the version quoted and the individual scriptures, I found them referenced together as a footnote in the NASB as well. The 5 scriptures are Ephesians 1:3, 1:20, 2:6, 3:10, and 6:12. Dutch Sheets’ main point in his talk was we are to operate in our authority as the ecclesia—the church—His government on earth.
Matthew 16:18 “I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. 19 “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.”
“church” ekklesia:
1) a gathering of citizens called out from their homes into some public place, an assembly
a) an assembly of the people convened at the public place of the council for the purpose of deliberating
b) the assembly of the Israelites
c) any gathering or throng of men assembled by chance, tumultuously
d) in a Christian sense
1) an assembly of Christians gathered for worship in a religious meeting
2) a company of Christians, or of those who, hoping for eternal salvation through Jesus Christ, observe their own religious rites, hold their own religious meetings, and manage their own affairs, according to regulations prescribed for the body for order’s sake
3) those who anywhere, in a city, village, constitute such a company and are united into one body
4) the whole body of Christians scattered throughout the earth
5) the assembly of faithful Christians already dead and received into heaven
“ekklesia” from “ek” (of, from, out of, by, on, with) and “kaleo” (call, bid, be so named, named)
We Need to “GET THIS”
Dutch urged the listeners to put all 5 Ephesians verses noted above as one concept.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.
As sons and joint heir of His kingdom…
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. (Mt. 5:9)
“For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. (Rom. 8:14)
“For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. (Rom. 8:19)
“For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. (Gal. 3:26)
We Have the Keys of the Kingdom
Isaiah 22:22 “Then I will set the key of the house of David on his shoulder, When he opens no one will shut, When he shuts no one will open. A cross reference to this verse is Revelation 3:7 “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write” He who is hold, who is true, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, and who shuts and no one opens…”
Key
in Greek is kleis, Strong’s #2807
1) a key
a) since the keeper of the keys has the power to open and to shut
b) metaph. in the NT to denote power and authority of various kinds
Mark 12:35,36 And Jesus began to say, as He taught in the temple, “How is it that the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David? “David himself said in the Holy Spirit, ‘THE LORD SAID TO MY LORD, “SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND, UNTIL I PUT YOUR ENEMIES BENEATH YOUR FEET.”‘