Jesus Is Lord of All

April Teaching Letter from Rick Renner

Dear Friends,

Merry Christmas and greetings in Jesus’ precious name! Christ came into this world “in the fullness of time” to redeem mankind from sin and to reconcile us to the Heavenly Father (Galatians 4:4,5). And what a great salvation it was and is that God wrought for us in Christ (see Hebrews 2:3-18)! Denise and I and our family wish you a warm and wonderful Christmas season and the best new year of your life in 2022.

Today I want to talk to you about opportunities and adversaries, but first I want to say thank you for being such a faithful partner with our ministry. As I told you in my letter last month, our ministry is bursting at the seams, and I am so humbled that God would use Denise and me, our family, and our team to minister to the many people who are reaching out to us every day.

Every soul is precious, and it is our heartfelt desire to convey that truth to every person God brings to us — that they are precious to Him and to us. And your gifts are so vital to our ability to touch every one of these treasured souls! So today I want to say a special thank you for all you do with us to take the trusted teaching of the Word of God to people in Russia and all over the world. From the depths of our hearts, Denise and I THANK YOU!

This month is the last month of the year — and I know you are probably preparing for Christmas and many different kinds of gatherings. But in addition to Christmas, it’s also almost 2022. As we come to the end of this year and to the beginning of a brand-new year, the Holy Spirit keeps telling me to “stay on track” with the assignments He has given us. I hear Him saying that even if we hit bumps along the way, everything will be all right if we’ll just stay on track and maintain our God-assigned territory — the many opportunities and assignments He has given us to inspire, strengthen, and equip believers with the sound teaching of the Bible.

But I’ve learned over the years that opportunities and adversaries usually go together — and today I want to encourage you to undergird yourself so that you can stay on track with what God has asked you to do this month and in the coming year.

Over the course of our ministry, we’ve had many great, effectual doors open to us to do the work of the Gospel. I’ll never forget when I received an opportunity to minister on television in the former Soviet Union. It was as if a great door had suddenly swung open to an entire vast territory — a door that had never before been opened for anyone else — and I knew I was experiencing something miraculous. By faith, Denise and I stepped through that door and began to preach the Word of God on television in this spiritually starved corner of the world.

Given the former socialist-communist campaigns against the Gospel in this particular region, this opportunity was as miraculous as the Jordan River dividing for Joshua and the children of Israel. But with this great open door also came a slew of adversaries, specifically dispatched by Satan to instill fear and doubt into my heart. The devil desperately wanted to prevent me from touching the lives of spiritually oppressed people, so he positioned evil people with insidious plans to try to block my view of what God had in store for our ministry.

I’m telling you that it was like the children of Israel looking at the Promised Land from the far side of the Jordan River. From that perspective, they saw only the fruitful land of blessing that lay before them. But once they entered the Promised Land, they had to fight giants of every kind before they could possess that land and enjoy the blessing. In much the same way, if Denise and I had taken our eyes off the Lord during that tumultuous period — or if we had focused only on the problems and forgotten about the fruit we were pursuing for God’s Kingdom — I’m sure we would have backpedaled to get out of the situation!

But we knew this was a God-given opportunity and worth the fight, so we fixed our gaze squarely on the Lord. Girded with the armor of God and the power of the Spirit, we pushed through every obstacle and possessed the ground that God called us to take. As a result, millions of souls began to hear the Gospel for the first time. We knew that only God could have opened this door!

In First Corinthians 16:9, the apostle Paul wrote about the strategic doors of opportunity that open for the Gospel and the adversaries that usually accompany them. He said, “For a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries.” Notice that Paul used the words “great,” “door,” “effectual,” and “is opened” to describe the opportunity that had been set before him.

The word “great” in this verse is translated from the Greek word megale, which means gigantic. The word “door” is the Greek word thura, which typically refers to a door, but in this context, denotes a rare opportunity. The word “effectual” is the Greek word energes, and it depicts something that is powerful and ready to be set into motion. Finally, the phrase “is opened” is the Greek word anoigo, which describes something standing wide open. In other words, the door in question couldn’t be any more open! Thus, an alternate translation of Paul’s words in First Corinthians 16:9 could be rendered, “A gigantic, powerful opportunity is already set in motion and standing wide open….”

Paul continued by saying, “For a great door and effectual is opened unto me….” You see, Paul knew that the particular door he was referring to had never been opened to anyone else, and he stood in awe of the unprecedented opportunity. Walking through these kinds of doors is impossible without divine assistance, and Paul was fully aware of God’s role in the matter. That is why he specified that this door had been opened “unto me.”

Paul’s prayer request in First Corinthians 16:9 was not for a door to open because it had already opened. His prayer request was to receive God’s wisdom to deal with the numerous adversaries who were trying to come against him. Paul used the Greek word antikeimenoi to describe the vast number of “adversaries” that were sent to attack him. This Greek word describes something that was piled high and lying all around him. In other words, he was dealing with more than a few minor opponents. On the contrary, it felt like opposition was stacked high on every side!

I’ve learned that the enemy will try his best to keep you from stepping through the gigantic doors of opportunity God desires to open for you. Satan is afraid of what will happen when “his” territory is invaded by someone fully equipped with a full arsenal of spiritual weapons. So know this: God will open doors for you — but He needs you to make a determined decision that you will walk through them, no matter the opposition, with the help of His Spirit.

By opening the door, God has already done His part, which would have been impossible without His assistance. Now He beckons you to come, dressed in the whole armor of God and in the power of His Word — and proceed through that effectual door into new territory. It may look like enemies are everywhere, but it is simply a fact that the devil and his forces flee and collapse when they are subjected to a show of strong faith!

As I mentioned earlier, many great and effectual doors have been opened to us over the years to do the work of the Gospel. In each case, we knew these doors were unique to us and had never before been opened for anyone else. And just as Paul experienced opposition, there were plenty of enemies that came against us with each opportunity. But because we obeyed God, the devil was forced to move out of the way, and we walked right into the virgin territory that God had opened for our ministry.

Even if you think your situation looks threatening right now, I want to tell you that God is with you. He wants to supernaturally open new doors for you — doors that have never before been opened for you. He is not beckoning you to walk through these doors so you can fail. He is with you every step of the way, and He will empower you to defeat every foe and bring Him glory in that new territory that is yours to possess in Jesus’ name!

Your open door may be an opportunity to shine the light of God’s Word and God’s love to your family or friends during this holiday season. It may be a door that will open to you in the new year. Regardless of when it is or what it is, the same God who opens doors will empower you to walk through them — and then He’ll be right with you to give you the wisdom and strength needed to overcome any giant that tries to meet you on the other side.

I know this is not a typical December, “Christmas-style” letter, but this is what was on my heart to share with you today. I want you to always know that if we can join you in prayer, we would be delighted to do so. To be honest, we are praying for you anyway, but when we are alerted to know exactly “how” to pray, it increases our effectiveness as we pray for you. So if you have a special need, please either call or write to let us know how we can get in agreement with you for God to show Himself mighty to you according to Jeremiah 33:3, which says, “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.”

And please pray for us as we continue marching forward by faith to push back darkness, to shine the light of God’s Word, and to take territory for the Kingdom of God. Together — as partners — we can make a difference in the lives of throngs of people who are crying out to God for help. They are waiting for God to respond to their prayers, and God wants to use us — you and us together — to bring them the answers they desperately need.

But before I close, I want to say we are specifically asking God to do something special for you this month and before the end of the year. I don’t know what it is, but that is what we are praying. We are asking God to do something special that will bless your life! And please, please pray for us as we continue pushing ahead to build our studio in Moscow, to finalize the purchase of our new headquarters in Tulsa, and to continue to minister effectually to every precious soul Jesus brings to us!

Merry Christmas!

We love you and thank God for you!

We are your brother and sister, friends, and partners in Jesus Christ,

Rick and Denise Renner
along with Paul, Philip, and Joel and their families|

 

Dear Friends,

This month, I want to talk to you about the resurrection and exaltation of Jesus Christ and what that means to you and me. In the midst of current difficult, trying times in the world, the message of Christ’s victory over Satan and the kingdom of darkness — in our stead and on our behalf — is a message we need to hear and hear again!

Not only is the Church worldwide celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ this month, this month also marks the 30-year anniversary of the first legal celebration in decades of Easter in the former USSR. And the Renner family was right there for the reviving of that holiday celebration! We moved to the former Soviet Union 30 years ago, and on Sunday, April 26, 1992 — in Latvia, where we lived at that time — the first LEGAL EASTER in approximately five decades was celebrated in that nation!

Can you imagine living in a world where people don’t know about Easter? That was the socialist-communist world we moved into with our family 30 years ago. I tell all about that first legal celebration of Easter — and more — in my new autobiography called, UNLIKELY. (If you don’t already have this book, it can be ordered at renner.org.)

This month, I would normally write to you from traditional verses about Easter, but this year, I wanted to write to you from Ephesians 1:22, where Paul wrote that after Jesus was raised from the dead, He was gloriously exalted above all. That verse says, “And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church.”

Paul’s choice of words in this statement is very powerful, so today I want to take a moment to unlock the original Greek language for you to fully understand this amazing verse.

The first part of this verse says, “And hath put all things under his feet.…” The word “under” is a translation of the Greek word hupotasso, which is a military term meaning to subjugate or to dominate. It described forcibly subduing a conquered people and putting them in their place, but Paul’s use of this word in Ephesians 1:22 tells us that through Christ’s death on the Cross, His subsequent resurrection, and His ultimate ascension on High — God literally put every foe that ever existed UNDER Jesus’ feet.

Paul elaborated on this in Philippians 2:9-11, saying, “Wherefore God hath highly exalted him, and hath given him a name which is above every name: that at the name

of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.” Nothing in the universe is more highly exalted than Jesus Christ. His throne rules above all — above all human authorities, military authorities, and spiritual authorities. There is simply no one who rules higher or more majestically than Jesus.

Jesus is so exalted “above all” that Revelation 1:5 declares He is “the prince of the kings of the earth.” This means He rules above all the affairs of mankind. It means that no matter what political party, president, or ruler holds power — or what verdicts the courts mete out — Jesus Christ’s ultimate authority over the kings of the earth remains uncontested. Others may command an earthly sphere of influence for a limited time, but Christ’s rule supersedes and outlasts them all.

But notice Revelation 1:5 says Jesus is “the prince of the kings of the earth.” The word “prince” is the word archon, a Greek word that denotes one who holds the highest and most exalted position. That emphatically means Jesus is truly Lord over all. The word “kings” is a form of the Greek word basileuo, which means to rule or to reign. However, the form of the word used in Revelation 1:5 not only refers to human kings or rulers, but also to governments, which tells us Jesus’ power is greater than any human government. Human governments may think they are in control, but Jesus is exalted far above them, and He is the One who ultimately calls the shots. And in time, every opposing force will be eliminated, and Jesus will remain high and lifted up!

Revelation 1:5 boldly proclaims that Jesus is the most highly exalted King and that He possesses supreme power and authority — more than any ruler or government that will ever exist in the earthly sphere. Even in the darkest hours or the bleakest situations, evil will always be thwarted by the prevailing power of Jesus Christ. Approximately 2,000 years of Church history have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that darkness doesn’t have the power or authority to silence the voice of Jesus Christ and His Church. As the King of kings, Jesus holds the highest seat of power, and He possesses dominion over all. Human kings and governments come and go, but Jesus’ Kingdom is everlasting and supersedes all others.

As I reflect on our family’s experiencing the collapse of socialistic-communism — a form of atheistic government that tries to outlaw and eliminate God — I remember that it came and went, proving once again that evil forces may try to blow in, but they surely always blow out. And when they are gone, Jesus remains seated in His highly exalted position, establishing that His Kingdom is completely without end! Because of His resurrection, He is above all; all things are under His feet; and He truly is the Prince of the kings of the earth!

THIS is the One we serve! Say amen!

And Jesus is Lord over any situation you may be facing right now! Even if it seems like a bad circumstance is trying to hover over your life, it will eventually go. But please let us know how to pray for you, and we’ll agree in prayer for that situation to submit to the name of Jesus and to change quickly for your sake and to the glory of God! That situation will bow its knee to the lordship of Jesus Christ! So please…let us know how we can pray for you.

Never forget that we are here for you — and we are so thankful for you and your partnership with our ministry. Together we are shining the light of God’s Word to dispel

darkness in people’s lives. What you are doing as a partner is more important than I know how to express. We are so thankful to God for you!

Before I close, I encourage you to take time to pray about who you can take to church with you this Easter to celebrate Christ’s glorious resurrection. This is a perfect opportunity to tell a friend, “Hey, come with me to church to celebrate Easter.” This may be the very moment that person repents or rededicates his or her life to Christ — and perhaps finds a church home with you — amen?

We really do love you and thank God for you!

We are your brother and sister, friends, and partners in Jesus Christ,

Rick and Denise Renner

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