Episode overview: Dr. CJ and I on Babylon, Kingdom, and the discipleship the Lord is calling us back to. Replay linked below. Okay, y’all. Dr. CJ and I went live again, and we did what we always do. One question, no notes, and then we just went. The question I brought was this. Which system are you actually operating in? Because I hear it all the time. One comes to me, loves the Lord, building a business, serving faithfully in church. And she or he starts telling me about the funnel they're running, or the strategy they bought, or how they're supposed to grind through this season. And I’m sitting there like, yikes, that’s pretty Babylonian. Not because they are bad. Because nobody ever presented that there was another system. We say “Kingdom” like it’s a word. Like it’s the next wave, the apostolic movement, the prophetic movement, whatever we’re naming this year, right? But Kingdom isn’t a movement that comes and goes. It’s a government. God is a God of order. It’s not a movement. It’s a government. Dr. CJ framed it prophetically, and I want you to hear this part. There’s a shaking happening in the body right now. Hebrews 12:26-27 tells us God will shake what can be shaken so that what cannot be shaken remains. And so many of us are rebuking the enemy over the shaking in our marriages, our businesses, our churches, our jobs. But what if it’s not the enemy? What if it’s the Lord? I’ve been saying this for nine months now. It’s alignment. It’s like a chiropractic adjustment for the whole body, and adjustments don’t always feel good. So how do you tell the difference? You test the spirit against the Word (1 John 4:1). Dr. CJ walked us through the fruit of the Babylonian system: confusion, deception, pride, idolatry (Revelation 18:2). And we know God is not the author of confusion (1 Corinthians 14:33). So if your business, your ministry, or even your Sunday is running on confusion and control, that’s information, okay? Now let me get real with you for a second. I’ve been in ministry over 28 years. And there were so many Sundays I sat in service thinking, I really don’t want to be here. I don’t like the taste of this. I don’t like the structure. And I thought something was wrong with me. Like, am I crazy? Am I backslidden? Am I rebellious? And the Lord said to me, it’s because I didn’t create this model. This is not what I intended it to be. That sent me into years of study, way before my doctorate. And I found out I wasn’t crazy. Maybe that’s you. You’ve got the clients, the team, the vision, the wisdom. Then you sit in the pew and feel like you’re not really doing ministry unless you’re behind a pulpit. So you start thinking, maybe I’m supposed to build a church. Maybe I need to be ordained. Maybe the restlessness means I’m not submitted enough. Hold on. Wait. Because what Dr. CJ laid out next explains a lot. Around AD 313, Constantine issued the Edict of Milan, making Christianity legal in the Roman Empire. By AD 380, under Theodosius, it became the official religion of the empire. Church and state became one thing. Being against the church meant being an enemy of the state. And Constantine brought everybody in, every religion, every practice, because he wanted to know what was going on and he wanted control. That’s a mixture, y’all. And a lot of how we still do church- the hierarchy, the building as the center, the platform, the performance- carries that DNA. Not the ecclesia. Not the body of 1 Corinthians 12. The empire. So that tightness you feel in the four walls? That pull toward the marketplace that you were told was the flesh? It might not be rebellion. It might be discernment. You might be one of the dually anointed, built to carry the Kingdom into business and ministry at the same time, and nobody ever told you the model you were trying to fit into was never His. It might not be rebellion. It might be discernment. So let’s talk about what this asks of you. Because I don’t want you walking away from this thinking the answer is to leave church and go do your own thing. That’s not what we said. Dr. CJ landed this so well. We never want to be in a place where we forsake the assembly (Hebrews 10:25). And we never want to be in a place where the Lord says, I never knew you (Matthew 7:23). Both. Not either. The way out of Babylon isn’t a new building. It’s discipleship. And here’s the difference, because we mix these up. Bible study, honestly, you can do that on your own. That’s independent study. Discipleship is doing life. Jesus didn’t hold a Wednesday class. His disciples ate with Him, traveled with Him, slept where He slept. They watched Him. And Dr. CJ pointed out something I love. Jesus made fewer statements and asked more questions. He let people arrive at the answer through what they were living. That’s discipleship. Even Paul got frustrated with the status quo. In Acts 19, he left the synagogue, took the disciples with him, and taught daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus for two years (Acts 19:9-10). Out of that one room, the Word went through the whole region. That’s what mega actually looks like. Not one big room. Multiplication. You disciple, you release, they run their own, and the model stays biblically sound. So why don’t more leaders disciple? Matthew 23:4. They tie up heavy loads and put them on people’s shoulders, but won’t lift a finger to move them. Discipleship lets you get close. Close enough to see whether the leader is actually walking what they preach. And a lot of leaders don’t want you that close. But, and this is the part that hit me, Dr. CJ took us to Matthew 23:15. It’s not only the leader who carries responsibility. The one sitting under that teaching carries it too. Jesus says they make their convert twice as fit for hell as themselves. That’s a different kind of double portion, y’all. Not the one we’re asking for. So you have a responsibility. You can’t be a baby bird anymore, waiting for somebody to drop it in your mouth Sunday and Wednesday. Those days are over. Be like the Bereans, who received the Word eagerly and then searched the Scriptures daily to see if it was so (Acts 17:11). Test the spirit. Test the word. Walk with it. And how do you test a spirit? It’s the weight. I had this conversation the same morning we went live. Somebody can say a thing with all the conviction in the world, and there’s no weight on it. It’s not how you say it. It’s who’s in you when you say it. Now let me get practical for a second, because I want this in your week, not just your notes. First, look at your decisions. Before you sign up for the next program, take the next speaking slot, or say yes to the next ministry ask, ask yourself which system it was born in. Was it born in control, comparison, and pressure? Or in order, peace, and the Spirit? You already know the fruit of each one. Babylon builds with heavy loads. The Kingdom builds with people you actually walk with. Second, and this is the one I want you to sit with, Dr. CJ said something about readiness versus preparedness. So many of us are trying to be prepared. Prepared is striving. Prepared is your body running hot at 3 am, rehearsing, bracing, trying to get ahead of God. Wait, let me say that better. Prepared is trying to be ready for something you can’t see. Ready is already standing in Him. Readiness lives in rest, because you’re not performing for a deadline you don’t know. Nobody knows the day or the hour. So you can stop bracing. He gave us this picture of a popsicle. Time is the popsicle, and it’s melting whether you enjoy it or not. Some of us are standing there holding it, watching and waiting for the next thing, and when it’s all gone we’re just holding the stick. Don’t miss your popsicle, y’all. The Kingdom of heaven is at hand. Right now. Not when the next strategy works. One more thing, because it came up at the end and people will take it left if I don’t say it. Dr. CJ reminded us that Joanna, one of the women who funded Jesus’ ministry out of her own means, was married to Chu… This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tanyatenica.substack.com/subscribe