The Head, Not the Tail

The Head, Not the Tail
by Steve and Joan Driessen


The River Church

God has been reminding me lately of the many ways in which we are, and are called to be, the head and not the tail. Deuteronomy 28:13 says that we will be exactly this if we obey God in everything.

What is obedience? One aspect of it is stepping out when God says “Step out,” even if we have no idea what, if anything, will happen next. In that very act of stepping out we become the head, and what happens next follows us.

2 Kings 4:1-7 tells the story of a woman who had nothing in her house but a little oil. The word of God came to her through Elisha the prophet: “Pour oil into as many jars as you can find.” She poured and poured until she ran out of jars. Then, and only then, did the oil stop flowing. Most of the time, we want to wait until we can see gallons and gallons of oil before we start filling jars. But in our obedience we actually step into headship, and our pouring precedes the appearance of the oil.

Mark 6:35-44 describes Jesus’ feeding of the five thousand. Beginning with five loaves and two fish, Jesus blessed them, broke them, and told the disciples to start passing them out. Not only were all five thousand men (and their families, so the crowd was much bigger) fed, but twelve basketsful of food were left over! It’s hard not to take a pretty big gulp when you have only a few plates’ worth of food and you begin to distribute it to five thousand. But the disciples obeyed God, and the food multiplied as they served it.

The principle runs through Scripture. Malachi 3:10-11 teaches that our tithe precedes the pouring out of blessings, and Mark 16:17-18 names signs that will follow those who believe. In each case we pour, feed, sow, walk – step out and obey – and not only the wonderful things God wants to do, but even the provisions to do them, follow.

Scripture reading: 

 Deutronomy Chapter 28:  Blessings for Obedience and Curses for Disobedience

Rejection on the Grace of God Brings Cursing

As taught in the Tabernacle, there are boundaries of the grace of God. Rejection of grace has dire consequences. Here, in the words of the Lord God, is a warning for all who reject Bible Doctrine. They will be equated with Mt. Ebal, a mountain of cursing. Further, the curse is for those who do not obey, which is different from disobedience. Ignorance is no excuse. Those who refuse to expose themselves to Bible Doctrine will suffer the same fate as those who hear the teaching and refuse to obey. Negative volition to Bible teaching will lead to cursing for the individual and for the nation. The warnings in Deuteronomy were being given to Israel both individually and collectively.


The rest of  Deuteronomy Chapter 28 is a prediction of how the people will disobey God. They will follow other gods. This is exactly what happened to Israel. They eventually followed other gods. The generation that left Egypt all died in the wilderness with the exception of Caleb and Joshua. They died the sin unto death without ever reaching the Promised Land. Later both the Northern and Southern Kingdoms of Israel were destroyed when they followed other gods. "Other gods" refers to idolatry, the worship of Satan and his demons.

Principle: If you are not obeying God, you are obeying other gods.

For most people, the warning here is meaningless. The principle is the same today as it was in Israel. Those who do not obey Bible Doctrine are under the power of the Cosmic System. They will be influenced and succumb to the power of Satan's Cosmic System. They will obey the devil and false gods. Everyone has a choice: Divine viewpoint or cosmic viewpoint. There are only two sources of inspiration, God or Satan. And mankind's thinking is definitely inspired by one or the other.

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PROPHECY IN THE NEWS: SYRIA OPPRESSION




Isaiah17: Destruction of Damascus

In the last days, the Bible tells us of a horrible series of events that will take place in the lands of Israel and Syria. One of these events is the disappearance of Damascus as one of the premiere cities in the world. The oldest continuously inhabited city on the planet, Damascus has witnessed at least 5,000 years of human history, and some historians believe the city actually dates back to the seventh millennium BC. In fact, Paul was on the road to Damascus when Christ first appeared to Him, an event that transformed not only his life, but the course of human history....

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