The Kingdom Increases with indisputable evidence. 

Mark 16:20 ( Message Translation)

And the disciples went everywhere preaching, the Master working right with them, validating the Message with indisputable evidence.

Can we come to a place today, where we are confident to know that the master is working right with us, that he is along side our work and declaration.     That he awaits the words we speak in order that he might work right alongside us.

Authentic ministry is when the master works alongside you.

Can we simply step into the confidence of this, with the immediate walking of a faith that says,  ‘I speak’, ‘he works’ then the  ‘validation’ and ‘evidence ‘are the products.

Validation confirms that we are about the Father Business.

What a powerful experience  for all involved….“…the Master working right with them…” O Lord that this would become our daily experience.      Our work and ministry would become the working together of my words alongside my Lords validation, what a privileged position.   God  has  planned for interaction, becoming one with his people,as they preach, He will be right there working with them.    In this, the minister also becomes the sign sent from God and validated by him.

Isaiah 18:18 Behold, I and the children whom the Lord has givenme are for signs and wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion.

In these verses we read that we will become the children of signs and wonders, these children will be signs and wonders in themselves and will also be given to seeing signs and wonders around them.      Is What we read in Marks gospel and in our lives today the re contextualising of this passage that “…Master working right with them…” causes them to be a sign and wonder?

Jesus has now taken up more fully his heavenly priesthood in the order of Melchizedek, his ministry continues in another realm, as High Priest and Advocate for His people (Hebrews 7–10; 1 John 2:1–3).

He is now seated at the right hand of God ,the “right hand of God” being the place of honor and authority (Ps. 110:1; 1 Peter 3:22).

One of His heavenly ministries is that of enabling His people to do His will

Hebrews 13:20–21 May God, who puts all things together, makes all things whole, Who made a lasting mark through the sacrifice of Jesus, the sacrifice of blood that sealed the eternal covenant, Who led Jesus, our Great Shepherd, up and alive from the dead, Now put you together, provide you with everything you need to please him, Make us into what gives him most pleasure, by means of the sacrifice of Jesus, the Messiah. All glory to Jesus forever and always! Oh, yes, yes, yes.

We read here of the wonderful active working together of the Father and the Son.

• He put us together
• He provides all we need with the goal of pleasure to the Father
• He makes us into something, transforms us into people who give the Father “most pleasure”

How amazing, the single sightedness of this, it is not just to bring down the devil so to speak or to bring in the Kingdom, although the kingdom is our message, but to put us together, give us all we need and make us into the people who bring him pleasure – the sole aim of man is to bring pleasure to the Father.

How can we not bring pleasure to him as he puts us together, he provides for us and he makes us, nothing of our work and labour, it is only his making of us.

The signs authenticated their message. This task of proclaiming the gospel and spreading the kingdom is still our life and ministry, carrying on today through disciples empowered by the risen Lord, with their message being validated through the Godhead.

Hebrews 2:4(The Message Translation) “All the while God was validating it with gifts through the Holy Spirit, all sorts of signs and miracles, as he saw fit.”

With God standing alongside us  to validate our message with indisputable evidences, who can excuse any failure to become the man or woman God intends us to be?

Reach out today and live in that Sign and Wonder understanding.

Right or Wrong

What side will you take?

Which one shall I chose?

Who will you stand with?

Life is full of choices they bombard us every day for attention from large challenges to small incidental choices that make up the day, tea or coffee, is it toast or biscuits, this way or that way some times choices of opposites and some times so slightly different that it can be complicated.    Choices of benefits to you personally, choices that benefit the whole wider community, choices that cost you but are for the greater good.  O my word life is full of them!

We also know that from the onset of Gods dealings with humanity, in the account of early Genesis, that he also offers choices.    Looking at the story of Adam the Father seeks to mature his sons by bringing before them choices, so that we can learn what it is to be led by the Spirit (Romans 8:14).   Adam is given a choice of trees to eat from and directed in his choice yet he made the very opposite choice. Since the beginning God has brought moral choices to you and I as a process of our maturing as his sons.     We are even told in Hebrews 5:8 that Jesus who had grown in favour with men also and “learned obedience through suffering” even the Christ had choices set before him, through his overcoming choice He brought to you and I the entry to a face to face relationship with the Father.

Yet within the pages of the bible there are choices offered and some times a different answer is presented and necessary.    When you read the opening chapter of the book of Joshua I suggest one these necessary different answer is being presented.   But let me commence by starting with offering to you a new “beginning” to this familiar account of the battle of Jericho.    We all consider the story commencing in chapter six with God telling the Israelites to walk around Jericho for seven days before the walls “came tumbling down.”    Showing us that there is a time for a “shout of faith” on one day and the long walk of 6 days of “silent faith”, we all like the shout but what about the silent faith, that’s for another article.   Let me suggest to you that the actual story beginnings  at the end of chapter five.   In Joshua 5:13 we are introduced to a simple setting that is often missed, Joshua is “near the city”, he is not at a safe distance but the picture opens up in a risky place for an enemy commander to be.     What he was doing there?      He is not at a safe distance he has found himself near his enemy and as he draws near he is about to encounter the realm beyond the moment.   Is it not often when we feel the imminent danger the nearness of threat that an encounter is on the way?     Was he on a reconnaissance mission?    Was he studying the city walls, trying to come up with a plan of attack?

Suddenly, Joshua is interrupted when he looks up and sees a man in front of him not any man but one with “drawn sword“.  Battle ready and Joshua His battle instincts triggered, Joshua walks forward with a challenge: “Are you for us or our adversaries?”

How does the man answer? “Neither, but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.”     “Neither”

Joshua’s as many of us was clear in his mind he saw two options for us or from them, but that “neither” blew his for and against, friend-or-foe sides out of the water.      The passage reveals that it is not just a man but God who was in front of Joshua— and God isn’t bound by “option A or option B” thinking.    As the story unfolds we find a strange picture being described as a shoe less commander near the enemy in the middle of holiness as God outlines His plan.

Do you like me often get lost in your mind on what comes before us with “this or that” which is “right or wrong” and the whole moment is summed up with making my choice.  we move from circumstance to people also become either “friends or foes”. I can only choose between ‘option 1 or 2’, ‘door 1 or door 2’.      Sometimes we even come knocking at God, trying to get Him to tell me which option He’s going to identify with.      Joshua’s story reminds me that God may be replying to my “This or that? questions with, “Neither.”      What does that mean to me, just maybe, perhaps it is better I recognize His presence, take off my shoes, and stand still for a while on holy ground.      Not to get religious, but the very place where your foot is standing now, in every day moment is holy ground, this is constantly the ground of God, and therefore holy ground.    Has not heaven come to earth in you, heaven has come to reside in you, to remain in his temple, you are the temple of the Holy Spirit, the residence of Christ, you are always standing on holy ground.    Then avoid making somewhere outside of you as holy and disqualifying yourself, thinking too little of yourself, God has chosen to make his residency in this human life, is this not part of salvation?   Heaven has come to earth inside you.    Otherwise we will live always chasing heaven and never arriving.    Realize heaven has taken up residence in you “Christ in us the hope of glory”.     This encounter is to prevent us getting lost in the debate of sides “whose side are you on”, but more bout getting a third perspective, so that He your heavenly Father can outline a perspective we would have never considered otherwise.

“Neither” is often the Fathers view when we offer our predicament, or situation, friend or foe arguments, which way is it this or that and the answer is “neither” let me show you my option.      Listen for your “Neither” to have heavens option

 

Mark 15: 38 – 47
And Jesus uttered a loud cry, and breathed His last.
And the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.
When the centurion, who was standing right in front of Him, saw the way He breathed His last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”
There were also some women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the Less and Joses, and Salome.
When He was in Galilee, they used to follow Him and minister to Him; and there were many other women who came up with Him to Jerusalem.

Jesus Is Buried

When evening had already come, because it was the preparation day, that is, the day before the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea came, a prominent member of the Council, who himself was waiting for the kingdom of God; and he gathered up courage and went in before Pilate, and asked for the body of Jesus.
Pilate wondered if He was dead by this time, and summoning the centurion, he questioned him as to whether He was already dead.
And ascertaining this from the centurion, he granted the body to Joseph.
Joseph bought a linen cloth, took Him down, wrapped Him in the linen cloth and laid Him in a tomb which had been hewn out in the rock; and he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb.
Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses were looking on to see where He was laid.

Joseph of Arimathea, a highly respected member of the Jewish Council, came. He was one who lived expectantly, on the lookout for the kingdom of God. Working up his courage, he went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body.

Here very simply stated we find the constant challenge of life, which could have a deep impact upon the way we live. This man lived as part of the existing, historic, established system and yet he had something deeper within him that brought him out !

“…He was one who lived expectantly, on the lookout for the kingdom of God…”

These are the internal conditions that the Kingdom of God seeks out within us as we give ourselves to the growing, working yeast like, seed which although we do not understand, grows within:-

Lived expectantly

On the lookout for the Kingdom of God

These are two attitudes we should always find in a person, once the Kingdom has taken root. There will always be that cry from within, when will it be? This is always in the heart, as the King fills the heart with eminent passion.

Could this be a key to finding, identifying and knowing fellow Kingdom travellers? This age has struck within us a die pattern that we cannot ignore.

Lived expectantly

On the lookout for the Kingdom of God

What a way to live life, why not try it, “live expectantly”, truthfully there is no other way to live. Having cultivated an attitude that is expectant, so we can live with expectancy. This is a different kind of life, living with an expectancy, waiting for the next moment that pulsates with life in you, with anticipation in your breath, each action and movement saturated with expectancy. Expectancy can have a tendency to disappoint, especially if we live with set expectations, however living with an attitude of expectancy with no set pattern in mind, that is the way to live fully.

Can I encourage you to try it “Live expectantly and look out”, with an expectation that focuses you outward, watching and waiting.

We should nurture our expectancy as a Child with the “…have we arrived yet…” attitude, seeking to develop and cultivate our anticipation of the kingdom, through encouragement and work. We consistently work towards this cultivation through our choices, choices of listening, seeing, looking,and being focused only on the Kingdom.

We recognise and anticipate the imminence of the coming kingdom upon this world in its fullness

I suggest that if we do not cultivate this Kingdom seed within we will be given to everything else, chasing after things that only offer immediate gratification.

Expositors tell us that Joseph was not a councillor of the provincial town of Arimathea, which would have been mentioned, but a member of the grand council of Jerusalem, the Sanhedrin.

He, in company with these devout women, was expectant of the Kingdom of God. The same authority says of the word “boldly”, a graphic word, in Mark, only, giving a vivid idea of the situation.

A councillor of honourable estate. A senator or member of the Sanhedrin of high standing, rich.

Looking for the Kingdom of God The very same words are used in Luke 23:51 by Luke of Simeon and Anna (2:25, 38). These two also looked for the Kingdom.

Joseph had evidently taken no public stand for Jesus before now.

Boldly, becoming bold. It is the glory of Joseph and Nicodemus, secret disciples of Jesus, that they took a bold stand when the rest were in terror and dismay. That is love psychology, paradoxical as it may seem.

Joseph of Arimathea.
We know nothing of this man’s former history. We do not know how he had learned to love Christ, and to desire to do him honor.
We know nothing of his subsequent history after our Lord left the world.

We are told that he “was himself waiting for the kingdom of God,” and that at a time when our Lord’s disciples had all deserted him he “went boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body” (verse 43), and buried it honorably in his own tomb. Others had honored and confessed our Lord when they saw him working miracles, but Joseph honored him and confessed himself a disciple, when he saw him a cold, blood-sprinkled corpse. Others had shown love to Jesus while he was speaking and living, but Joseph showed love when he was silent and dead.

Let us take comfort in the thought that there are true Christians on earth of whom we know nothing, and in places where we should not expect to find them.
No doubt the faithful are always few.
But we must not hastily conclude that there is no grace in a family or in a parish because our eyes do not see it. We know in part and see only in part, outside the circle in which our own lot is cast.

The Lord has many “hidden ones” in the church who, unless brought forward by special circumstances, will never be known till the last day.

The words of God to Elijah should not be forgotten, “Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel” (1 Kings 19:18).1

What will bring you forward?

“Of Arimathea” designates Joseph’s birthplace, a city of unknown location.

He was a member of the Council, another name for the Sanhedrin. In fact he was a “prominent” member. Mark here uses a term often found in ancient inscriptions honoring some individual.

The observation that he was “waiting for the kingdom of God” along with his willingness to go “boldly” before Pilate to ask for the body indicates that he had a serious level of interest in Jesus.

The NI leaves out the word “also” in “who was also himself waiting for the kingdom of God”

Like the women of v. 40–41, Joseph was “also” waiting for the kingdom. (The other Gospels indicate that Joseph was a secret disciple: Matt 27:57; Luke 23:50–51; John 19:38).
His need for “boldness” may refer both to possible recrimination from his fellows in the Sanhedrin and from Pilate. The Sanhedrin members would consider his sentiments heresy. Pilate might consider them seditious.

Waiting for the Kingdom brings a need for boldness, having to stand, on occasions it also brings confrontation. It brings us out and puts us into places that we , causing us to put on boldness. A boldness that has its root in the Kingdom of God.

Are you waiting expectantly, for the Kingdom, watching eagerly and putting on boldness to proclaim it?

Live expectantly

On the lookout for the Kingdom of God