Build People Not Platforms

As I woke up this morning and was thinking about my week, those I had to disciple, the platforms we were building online; the Lord interrupted my thoughts with this important statement, “Build people, not platforms.” He followed up the statement by saying, “You don’t build the Kingdom of God like you do a business.” I was initially stunned by this revelation but knew in my heart that what I heard made sense. It is so important to be on the same page as Yahweh. When you build a platform, it can become about you building an audience. If we make it about building an audience then we will become man-pleasers being influenced by the masses instead of influencing the masses by the Holy Spirit. We can unintentionally be caught up in building numbers online, likes, algorithms, and seeking to be known. In order not to fall into the trap of building platforms instead people we need to get our priorities correct. Yeshua exhorts us to, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”Matthew 6:33

Many years ago, I had an encounter with Yeshua on the living room floor of my friend’s house. I had just prayed some repentance prayers over my family and myself when suddenly I was in the throne room of the Lord Almighty. As I lay there prostrate on my face I can see Yeshua’s sandals approaching; I was too afraid to look up. The fear of Yahweh was all over me. I heard Yeshua say, “Serve me only, do not go back to the Kingdom of men.” As I came out of this vision my immediate reaction was, “Wait! What? I was serving the kingdom of men instead of the Kingdom of Yahweh?” I can’t express the disappointment I felt when I heard that. Days afterward, I continued to ponder on the meaning of this. Here are some questions that I had to ask the Holy Spirit to get a proper perspective on what He was trying to show me.

Where is the Kingdom of God?
“Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; ²¹ nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.” Luke 17:20-21
In this verse, Yeshua says that the “Kingdom of God is within people.” We see that Jesus’ primary function when he began in ministry was to invest his time in the lives of twelve men. He walked with these men, counseled them, taught them scripture, corrected them, and eventually left them to continue growing what He had started. Just one disciple (Peter) was able to grow the church by 3,000 people in one day after He had been filled with the Holy Spirit.

How do you build the Kingdom of God or His Church?
This same disciple (Peter) states the following: You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 2:5
We build the Kingdom of Yahweh one life at a time. The other function of Jesus’ ministry was to minister to the broken, sick, and oppressed. This was his primary mission as stated in his first opening statement or sermon in a church service.
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; Luke 4:18
If you don’t have time for people then you shouldn’t be in ministry. Ministry is about people and serving them. We get into error if we believe that people should be serving us and our interests or helping us build our personal kingdom/business. I once heard a Pastor say this from the pulpit, “What’s in it for me?” This was his mantra. When I had initially visited this church I had a vision of yellow barrels that had the words written on them,” Caution Toxic Waste!” It was not long after that the church closed down. If you are a minister with this type of mindset; please know that it’s toxic to you and the people around you. It is contrary to the mindset of Jesus.

 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, ⁶ who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, ⁷ but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. ⁸ And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.  Philippians 2:5-8

In conclusion, Jesus said, “And I, if I am ^[a]lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.” John 12:32 If we lift up Yeshua then hungry people will gravitate towards us naturally. He is the bread of life. It’s like offering a hungry crowd food. You don’t have to ask twice they will come. However, if we lift up ourselves by trying to build a platform or church nobody will come. We cannot satisfy the hungry. We cannot in our own selves do anything outside of what He tells us or His power or grace. We need to remain in Him. Remember this is not a competition in gaining recognition. Yeshua did not have social media platforms. He had love. This will always be the key ingredient to building the Kindgom of Yahweh.