God Likes You & Me!

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Psalm 1

How well God must like you—-you don’t hang out at Sin Saloon, you don’t slink along Dead-End Road, you don’t go to Smart-Mouth College.

Instead you thrill to God’s Word, you chew on Scripture day and night.

You’re a tree replanted in Eden, bearing fresh fruit every month, Never dropping a leaf, always in blossom.

You’re not at all like the wicked, who are mere wind-blown dust—Without defense in court, unfit company for innocent people.

God charts the road you take.

The road they take is Skid Row.

What a statement in the opening line of this psalm, some one that God likes!

This person that God likes has a few characteristics which the writer very simply outlines for us.

The person that God likes:-

  • Thrill at God’s word – and chew on it day and night
  • They are a Tree planted – Genesis 1 ref placed and planted by God as in Eden’s Garden
  • Bear fruit every month – they are constant
  • Always blossom they are always ready to transform and change, with a promise of more to come, they are in a constant spring condition always ready to produce
  • Has their Road charted by God there is nothing haphazard in their life.

The theme of this psalm is the happiness of the godly and the judgment of the ungodly.

The psalm can also begin in this way…….“O the happiness of the man.”

 

No matter where we turn in the Bible, we find that God gives joy to the obedient (even in the midst of trial) and ultimately sorrow to the disobedient. God sees but two persons in this world: the godly, who are “in Christ,” and the ungodly, who are “in Adam.” ( 1 Cor. 15:22,49)

The Person God Blesses

From the beginning of creation, God blessed mankind (Gen. 1:28); it was only after sin had entered the world through Adam’s disobedience that we find the word “curse” (Gen. 3:14–19).

It has always been God’s desire that mankind should enjoy His blessings. Ephesians 1:3 tells us that the believer in Christ has been “blessed with all spiritual blessings.”

How rich we are in Him!  It is however sad to say, many Christians do not “possess their possessions”  and in so doing they fail to enjoy their blessings in Christ.

In these verses we have a description of the kind of person God is able to bless.

A person who is separated from the world

The Christian life is compared to a walk (Eph. 4:1, 17; 5:2, 8, 15). beginning with a step of faith in trusting Christ and growing as we take further steps of faith in obedience to His Word.

Walking involves progress,  we progress as we applying the living word of God to our  daily life. It is possible for the believer to walk “in the darkness,” outside the will of God (1 John 1:5–7).

The people God blesses are careful in their walk: though they are in the world, they are not of the world.

A person who is saturated with the Word

Those whom God blesses are not delighted with what pertains to sin and the world; they delight in the Word of God. It is their love for and obedience to Christ the Word that brings blessing on their lives.  The people God blesses not only read the Word daily, but they study it, memorize it, and meditate on it during the day and night. Their mind is controlled by the Word of God. ( Josh 1:8)

Because of this, they are led by the Spirit and walk in the Spirit. Meditation is to the soul what “digestion” is to the body. It means understanding the Word, “chewing on it,” and applying it to our lives, making it a part of the inner person.  Jer. 15:16, Ezek. 3:3, Rev. 10:9.

A person who is situated by the waters

Water for drinking is a picture of the Holy Spirit

The believer is here compared to a tree that gets its water from the deep hidden springs under the dry sands. This world is a desert that can never satisfy the dedicated believer. We must send our “spiritual roots” down deep into the things of Christ and draw upon the spiritual water of life. (Jer. 17:7–8, Ps. 92:12–14). There can be no fruit without roots.

Too many believers are more concerned about the leaves and the fruit than they are the roots, but the roots are the most important part. Unless we as believers’ spend time daily on our relationship with Christ through prayer and the Word, and allow the Spirit to feed us, we will wither and die. The believer who draws upon the spiritual life in Christ will be fruitful and successful in the life of faith. When Christians cease to bear fruit, it is because something has happened to the roots (Mark 11:12–13, 20; Luke 13:6–9).

Irrigation of Gardens

He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.

Several commentators call attention to the fact that the Hebrew words palge-mayim, here rendered streams of water by the NIV and rivers of water by the KJV, literally means divisions of waters, and most likely refers to the favorite mode of irrigation in some ancient Middle-East countries.

Canals were dug in every direction, and through these canals the water was carried to all the vegetation. Egypt was once covered with these canals, and in this way the waters of the Nile were carried to every part of the valley through which the river ran. Some gardens were so arranged that water was conveyed around every plot and even to every tree. Allusion is probably made to this custom in Ezekiel 31:3–4 where Assyria is spoken of as a cedar:

“The waters nourished it, deep springs made it grow tall; their streams flowed all around its base and sent their channels to all the trees of the field.”

We don’t know that this ancient custom existed as early as the time of Job, but Job 38:25 seems to indicate it:

“Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain, and a path for the thunderstorm, to water a land where no man lives, a desert with no one in it, to satisfy a desolate wasteland and make it sprout with grass?”

Solomon says in Proverbs 21:1—“The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases.”

The figure of speech used here is an allusion to the eastern method of irrigation in which several canals were dug from one stream, enabling the farmer to direct a stream as he pleased by a simple action.

A person who chooses the right company and delights in the right employment.

To many it appears a small matter who you choose for your associates. But, if you consider how much we are influenced by the sentiments and examples of others, and what awful consequences will follow from the conduct we pursue, we shall see the necessity of selecting those only for our friends, who, we have reason to believe, are the friends of God. Lets not then rank the talents of men, and still less their gaiety and dissipation, attract your regards; but let the piety of their hearts and the holiness of their lives, be their highest recommendation to your friendship. Choose for your companions the excellent of the earth, and such as excel in virtue.

Six verses of pure insight and instruction  on how to be a happy life-giver, fruitful tree, full of blossom, consistent and constantly growing, learning and changing.

Let us be those who are nourished and sustained, who fully enjoy the house of God and the creation temple all around us.

Let us be thrilled at the placing and planting of God, into His stability and strength, with no lack.

It’s Dismay to Astonishment

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Have you ever been dismayed?  …… thinking and expecting something only to discover that what transpires is completely different?

Mark 15:42 – 16:7

Jesus Is Buried

42 When evening had already come, because it was the preparation day, that is, the day before the Sabbath,

43 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.

44 Pilate wondered if He was dead by this time, and summoning the centurion, he questioned him as to whether He was already dead.

45 And ascertaining this from the centurion, he granted the body to Joseph.

46 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.

47 Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses were looking on to see where He was laid.

Chapter 16

The Resurrection

1 When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices, so that they might come and anoint Him.

2  Very early on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen.

3  They were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?”

4  Looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away, although it was extremely large.

5  Entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting at the right, wearing a white robe; and they were amazed.

6  And he said to them, “Do not be amazed; you are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who has been crucified. He has risen; He is not here; behold, here is the place where they laid Him.

7 “But go, tell His disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see Him, just as He told you.’

Astonishment Awaits YOU!

It’s a resurrection encounter –  Be Amazed  and never loose it.

How many times in your life when you thought everything was over have you experienced a resurrection encounter?     Take a moment to call to memory the times God has shown up for you and turned your thinking around.   Every encounter has within it an element of faith, and a call to step forward believing.

And, having entered the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right, clothed in a long, stately garment, white. And they were utterly amazed.

They were amazed, let God amaze you today, let Him pour fresh hope into you and reinvigorate your passion and zeal for His kingdom.

Having been amazed they could no longer remain as they were, It was not enough to be spectators; they now had to become ambassadors and carry the word to others.

“Come and see! Go and tell!” is the resurrection responsibility (Matt. 28:6–7).

The product of amazement is come and see go and tell

This was the same outcome for:

Moses, when turning aside to see the bush, come and see go and tell,

the blind man of John 9, I was blind now I see = come and see now go and tell

Paul on Damascus road – come and see go and tell.

Come and see – Go and tell!

“You can see for yourselves that the place is empty.”

Now—on your way. Tell his disciples and Peter that he is going on ahead of you to Galilee. You’ll see him there, exactly as he said.”

When we have an encounter in the spirit dimension it has an implication in our natural lives.    The astonishment of resurrection has to move to a place of productivity.

We are to go with a message a message of resurrection, life and hope.

Even though for these ladies what they saw in the tomb was a place of emptiness they were to go and speak of fullness and life.    This is where faith is involved, we may have seen something in the spirit realm which at this moment in time does not fully relate to our situation, but we are to go with faith proclaiming what we have seen and speak out , speak into the empty and void places and see resurrection life spring forth in every corner of our globe.

Go and Tell….. you can only go and tell when you are convinced yourself, when faith has arisen within you and you have been transformed by what you have seen.     What we see, what amazes us will transform us, we can not remain the same when we have seen something deeper or greater about the Christ and His kingdom.

Take time today to be amazed by your Father.

Kingdom Expectancy

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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



It’s crumbling: ALL CHANGE!

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In the last few weeks what challenges we have seen all heralding World Wide change.   Changes focused especially for the UK with the forthcoming election and world-wide travel.

Two historic events right before us, filling the UK 24 hour news channels, with many words and pictures filling out the same news time and time again, repeated every 15 minutes, really very little new news made much.   We are seeing the art of making little information go a long way, and in it all Changes are certainly being heralded.

On the one hand we hear of a change that has been spoken about for quite some and is much-needed, so industry and the medial tell us, the adjustment in the aviation industry.    A volcanic Cloud halts over 1 million people from travelling by air, keeping them locked up in airport terminals, with little facilities, preventing them from reaching their destinations and others in a holding pattern at holiday destinations.    This same cloud hits the slow economy and will affect the already struggling airline companies, with up to £200 million losses per day.  We will see the long required rationalisation of the industry, with the small being swallowed up by the big.    What ever your view we will see a global change in air travel, brought about by this natural event, an eruption of the volcano in the land of Fire and Ice, Iceland.    With all our technical and modern ability a natural creational event brings us to a halt how ironic, when the world thought it was in control a high level wind and little weather change showed us different.

On the other hand we are witnessing a political historic event, the first public televised debate on British Television with the main Political Party Leaders making their positions known.

Change:    This will change the preparation of future candidates, their training, the expectations placed upon them, and their ability to stand in front of millions of viewers at any given time.    Transforming our politics to celebrity status and making politicians, celebrities.

Change: People are now making decisions based on TV performances rather than on substance or policy.  People are being won over by charisma, the way the politician looks into the camera lens and connects with the audience, the use of body language, what about the policies?

Change: Who is there to govern?

Change: Adjusting my financial position often just in the immediate, and yet what about the long-term?

Change:  the relationship of the British public with a flat HD ready screen, a relationship with him or her of the celluloid type,

Change:  Will we be trapped and find ourselves in a 16:9 box?  Or will we be free to herald a greater change, that of the closing of an age.    Will we see the church lost to celebrity status in an “I’m a Celebrity, get me out of here” church organisation style, seeking either escape from reality or platform status?

I will not get caught up in this moment, the prediction addiction sickness that some people of God seem to suffer with.  Getting caught in predicting what the wind, volcano, particles in the air, and planes, all mean, trying to say it’s prophetic.   Being prophetic is much more about interpreting Gods view rather than prediction.   As with all prophetic there is only one view and one goal, just as the Father has, this view is called the Son of God the Christ King.   So lets see what does it all say about Jesus.

Change:  In all this the great change we see this “The King is coming”.

The kingdom, like solar rays of the new age, is being heralded, coming down from the horizon.      A Horizon filled with one view, a man, not just any man, but a distinct man.     Acts 17:31 tells us of a day coming that God has ordained, when a “man” (NASB) who He “has appointed” to bring a change, not only to bring it but he is the change factor.   He is the archetype of the change “appointed” in the Greek the word is ’horizo’ where we gain our word horizon from, he is our horizon in everything.    To be the standard, the herald of the change, this man marks out the boundaries and limits of all creation.   He created it, he beings the plumb line of life and character, he explains all even the Father (John 1:18).     This is real change, we see it coming and it has a World Wide, creational impact.   For we see him, “the Man “as the Christ of God.      The King heralding in his Kingdom

“The King is coming”

During our age it is about the powerful and permanent breaking in of the government of God, God in our age, “the coming Kingdom”, “the Kingdom already here”.    God in our age showing up, better still revealing himself in places and people with the one aim of preparing a people for this coming age; a Kingdom Age.     In our living, loving, relating, finance, business, relationships, and family lives

The King is coming.

God in our age is bringing change, changes to they way we think, the way we love, the way we interact, the way we relate to establish a Kingdom.

The King is coming

It’s a time when the old age is dying, it is breaking down and a new age is being born.   From the picture in Daniel 2 to now, when the “…Stone… …cut out by an invisible hand”, hit the statue (Daniel 2:34 Message) we have been watching a Kingdom taking its place.  The stone shattered a then established Empire, for an Empire has always been in the heart of man and mankind’s aim is always to create an Empire to rule.

The question for you and I is will you be a part of a Kingdom or an Empire, submitted or Caesar,  Christ’s cause or your own cause, will you become 1st of a new order.

Luke 2:1 introduces us to the decree of an Empire and then again Luke 3:1. Our Empire model, a string of those called “tetrarch”.   The word tetrarch just means the number four, representing mankind in all the four corners of the earth, human government, empirical order.       Since man gave away his rule Empire has always wanted to establish itself, a hierarchical rule with mankind supreme in all and being governed by a head.

It’s no coincidence that even in Old Testament pictures mankind is depicted with four faces, four aspects, could this be directing its self to the same thought that men and women of old had to deal with in the midst of all cultures, yet God was to be their King not a Caesar, a loving, giving, Father who would be their all.

The passage in Luke 3 opens with the presentation of the “tetrarch”, the rule of mankind, its priesthood established and a “…word of God came to John…” then Verse 23 we have a small word “began”, “…when he (Christ) began…” such a small word yet packed full of intention of purpose, of Kingdom power.     This “began” heralds the stone of the Prophet Daniel hitting an Empire, Kingdom and Empire will always be at the forefront of our fight.    Who rules, who governs, a Caesar, mankind or the Christ, a political, business, sports, celebrity or even a church leader.   Is it to be His mission or our goals and visions, our plans or His kingdom, our models, or His family, our prediction addiction to end times, or his Kingdom breaking in to a world winding up.     The building of religious church with its organisation or the messy dynamic multiplying Kingdom of God extending itself through lives of transformed people and into creation

He “began” a simple word which in its original form, not like a University Challenge question master saying because I began the question I will finish, or even how we start something but translates into “to ruler over, reign over, to be chief, to lead, to rule, to take its first place”.   Jesus did not start a project an event or a mission at that hour but took first place in all creation, in rule order, the stone uncut by human hand!

In Luke 3:1 we have the gathering of the Empires Rule, the Celebrity Rule, Popular Rule, Self Rule; it was a gathering of all who ruled with human authority at its highest.    It seems as if the chapter deliberately begins with V 1 & 2 outlining earthly authority, the whole weight of political and religious Empire, then we have this eternal pivotal point of “…He began…” he became first in order and we close the chapter with a list of Christ’s genealogy leading back to the “…Son of God…”, this Kings lineage goes right back to the Father of all.   Empire pronounced and a simple beginning of a Kingdom of the Son and the “sons of God” established.

Ever since this stone hit the Empire we have been watching the crumbling of every system around us, communism, capitalism, every system, secular and religious all crumbling as a new Kingdom breaks through.     Cracks appearing in all systems until the Kingdom emerges in fullness, at the very point of the cross the stone struck with its force, and every financial, political, social system was finished, until now we have been bringing forth a new Kingdom, the Kingdom of his Christ!

“The King is coming”

The people of God the “…called out ones…” the church, has been quietly hitting against every system since the stone struck the statue all those years ago, heralding a day when the King will fully take his place of Rule.

It is not enough however to see it out there, we have to work with it inside us and bring adjustment to our attitudes our appetites our tongue our mind and our actions, these adjustments are as much the kingdom breaking through as are the adjustments to world systems and old orders giving way to a coming King.

We see a generation in labour pains, in transition, as a people we straddle the boundary of time and eternity, tomorrow people today, kaleidoscope together today’s generation, making it ‘s changes  to show another design.     This generation is busying itself in mission, in transforming society not as a historic repeat, as many historians would say; after every move of God some 30 years on social responsibility hits, but this action comes as an outcome of a Kingdom message.   As an implication of what we have seen over the last 30 years that we must bring redemption to our world, to see creation brought out of its inability to complete (Romans 8:18-25).    Creation subjected to futility against its will, the Father not allowing creation to finish its course until the “…sons of God take their place…” and creation itself receives of the freedom that these citizen of an age to come live by “freedom”.      The Kingdom brings with it a people who have inside themselves a God ordained ability to complete what God has begun as his ambassadors in creation.

We stand as two moral systems, two value systems, two different philosophies of life, but we are not the only ones in history to straddle two times.    2000 years ago at the point of Christ’s birth,   He experienced similar, but in microcosm. The same conflict and pressure was evident as something new was about to break forth in the earth just as there is in this the third testament.

Between the Old Testament & the New Testament there were 400 years of silence, a time for dreamers and the faithful of the faith.

Isaiah had spoken 700 years before that a Messiah – a deliverer would be born, Malachi spoke some 300 years earlier and said that Elijah would return coming as a forerunner to the Christ, sent as a messenger to herald the arrival of Christ.

400 years down from the silence began two families, ordinary enough families, normal, one of religious order and the other of humble craftsmen they  fuelled the dreams and provided the flesh along with a fresh hope to an oppressed people.

When Jesus and John were born a ripple of reaction spread throughout Israel.  John first disturbed a family priesthood, and silence was produced in the temple.       When Jesus was born, murder was breathed as the Empire reacted to a simple challenge by an infant; the empire was threatened, and so reacted as Empires do. Ripples of reaction spread throughout Israel, but then 30 more years of silence, life slipped back into oppression, Simeon had declared he had seen the light of the Gentiles but the excitement now had faded and things once again returned to normality.    Children played, work went on, the temple strengthened its oppressive hold, and Caesar controlled totally becoming stronger and stronger.     As time went on, perhaps the disturbance 30 years earlier was dim to some but to those who had lost loved ones may be not

Then, “there was a man sent by God” out of the desert, out of obscurity he emerges.

“…A Man…”

It is important it says a man, to prepare Gods way…. You are important to prepare Gods way in this generation. For out of the silence a man, the corporate man of God is still to make its appearance, a corporate man sent of God to herald a King.

Word became flesh and dwelt among us, God locks himself into man, the limitless one becoming self-limited, assuming human limitations.   His covenant with man demanded his union with man.

Jesus will inaugurate the Kingdom John the last of the old order, Jesus first of new and Empires, systems fall.

A change today for a corporate man, the man the sons of God, the bride church, to herald the way:-

To deal with its separatism, its characterless, to come away from celebrity to the Christ to become the word fleshed out moving out of a community.

To complete creation, and be Christ in our communities, to have the character and measure to contain the gifts and callings of Christ.    To be the hands, eyes, ears, feet of Christ to explain the Father to our world

The King is coming

To Rule to change inner hearts, to be those who seek the Kingdom of God, who love the Christ, and see themselves as Gods instruments, the apple of His eye, and give all they have to extend the Kingdom, not just the church, to bring in the new order and see it established through their lives.

The King is coming

To stay away from a church system that becomes a business, that can so easily feel so right and yet is still an Empire, but to be the herald of the Kingdom.

The King is coming