KINGDOM

A Necessary Focus – part 3

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Keys of the Kingdom

Here we go the last section of this article, it is my concluding thoughts on the reason why we must proclaim the same message of Jesus Christ – Kingdom of God, we will complete this session with the implications if we agree in any way on the thoughts presented happy reading and i trust you will be stirred as I am to see the Kingdom of God in fullness in your home, town, city, and world!

-The message of the Kingdom of God  empowers and involves everyone, it stimulates the world changes (entrepreneurial, leaders, managers, politicians, statesmen and women) that come into the churches to come on board.   When these world changers are told that their highest calling is to minister for two hours on a Sunday it disengages them. The Kingdom of God gives the why of our salvation.

-This message brings about the necessity for every believer to search the scriptures so that they might have a voice to their particular marketplace, ensuring a demand to think biblically and gain an ability to speak into their world.

-This Kingdom message brings about a world view and challenges each minister not to continue to preach a therapy gospel making people feel good, but takes each servant of God and empowers them in their works of service with all its challenges.

-The message of the Kingdom of God would release the creativity of God, releasing writers, actors, artists. Once again the church preaching the kingdom of God would become the founders of universities, hospitals and our governments would be affected by this kingdom message, because the people of God are bringing kingship and rulership after possessing the gates of the Worlds once again (Genesis 17:5-7)

-The Kingdom of God proclaimed, will deliver our preaching from being a single message dealing with life after death which alienates world changers  sending them into the world with a feeling that their gifts were not appreciated by the church. The message will deliver us from only nurturing platform, ordained preachers to appreciating and endorsing people called to our culture as profits like Joseph –  Genesis 37 to 50 and economists will save the nation; Daniel –  Prime Minister profit brought national transformation, as well as city bodybuilder such as Nehemiah

  • Proclaiming Kingdom message will empower parents to “ bring up the child in the way they should go” discipling them to be ministers of the kingdom.
  • A Kingdom viewpoint  empowers the theologians just see an entire view of both Old and New Testament to bring about a model, to see and establish judicial laws and thus herald the coming of the Kingdom as a means of bring a relevant structure to our society
  • The kingdom of God demands a reinterpretation of many passages from the scriptures that have been traditionally practiced with an individualistic application, it demands a corporate body application.     Luke 4 passage is a great mandate declaration of King Jesus and it has been used to release individuals that have been oppressed and held captive yet it cannot be just for the deliverance of the individual, it has at its central core a Kingdom concern for justice in re reading Isaiah 61 we see that communities and cities are lifted by a Kingdom message not just individuals.

If we take up the message of the kingdom, and agree in any way in the list outlined, it has an implication on you and I as the readers, it has practical hands and feet that have daily implications on each of our lives.

The message of the kingdom of God has therefore brought:

  1. An understand that being born again is not about going to heaven but more about bringing the Lordship of Christ to the whole cosmos.
  2. An  understanding the word doesn’t have spiritual and non-spiritual things but brings us to a place of realization that everything is spiritual whether in the unseen or in the material world and we must bring the will of God. Paul was not Christ the “ word made flesh” which must have an implication that flesh is not evil.
  3. An understanding that the ministry of Ephesians 4:11 are equipping ministries for life and its marketplace to fill up all things, Christ all in all (Eph 4:10-12)
  4. An understand “ that God so loved the world”  has an implication which is much more than the and about the redemption of the “cosmos” –  world
  5. An understanding that the people of God, the ecclesia is to be the primary agent of the kingdom to be salt and light in this world, to realize that your light resides in darkness and is not hidden away (Matthew 5)
  6. An understanding of the body of Christ is to nurture world influences and changers not just to find a place for ourselves.
  7. An understanding of the Christ as the king of the Earth as well as the head of the body – The church.
  8. An understanding that we as the Christ must be in our world, not delivered from our world. The kingdom means being immersed in our cities and serving our cities and not anxiously waiting to escape and be delivered from our world, hence seeing our Sunday gatherings as a respite, a temporary escape from our evil world, but understanding that God and his Christ loves this world that we have seen as evil for far too long.
  9. An understanding that  the scriptures were never written as a book about heaven but more about heralding the kingdom of God and therefore the stewarding of Peoples and nations and the Earth
  10. An understanding that we have an ultimate call, not for revival but for Reformation which ultimately will bring Restoration

We discovered that the scriptures are blueprints for people, grouping people in localities, forming faith communities, to be first in the household of faith then moving out to structure society and be salt and light, bringing Christ to our world.

We have before us the challenge of society, realizing that it will either be under the rule of godless human religions and biblical traditions, or under the rule of the kingdom of God, we have the responsibility to preach, teach, and be the hands and feet to the message of the kingdom of God

Embrace – Announce – Herald the Kingdom of God

A Necessary Focus – Part 2

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Eye Eye!

A Necessary Focus – I wonder with what mind are you reading these crafted thoughts, with an open mind or a preset mind, a perception that is heavily walled and set, I pray that you mind find a freedom to hear the voice behind the printed words and hear the Spirit through the few words on this electronic page.

I have taken time to write not to give me something to do, as we all have enough on, or with a hope that I get better at writing, but with a conviction that what I pen has significant weight in our day to bring a now gospel impact that will transform people to become world changers, transformers.

I admit that I am a bit of a science fiction buff, I like the films and programs and am looking forward to the next sequel in the Transformed film due out the end of June 2011.    How ever that film will cost million and make millions and pass on but these words will bring around transformation when we take on its focused message, the single life style and message of the Christ and make it the first cause of our lives, this is why I write to be a TRANSFORMER and to inspire others to TRANSFORM their life, home, street, community and world.   TRANSFORM WITH ME AS YOU READ ON.    These words will not pass by like the film but will bring about the goal of times work

As previously mentioned I am laying out my reasons why I proclaim the Kingdom of God, I trust this will firstly clarify my own thoughts, secondly I trust it will be of benefit for those who read.    My appeal is that we once again strongly announce, herald and preach the Kingdom of God with open hearts, not as those who have heard it before, or done it in the past, got the tee-shirt, rode the ride, but with new eyes looking and listening again.

Here are my reasons I trust that you will join and agree with me:

– It is only the Kingdom of God that seeks to release all of God’s people, that are part of the ecclesia, to serve as ministers in his kingdom in their works of service set for us all before the foundation of the earth. We understand that the Kingdom message empowers people to take up their various callings, to mature in their roles in the marketplace. The Kingdom has need of educators, politicians, economists, social workers, factory workers, builders, lawyers, etc.

-The Kingdom of God saves us from misrepresenting the cross for individual redemption, rather the kingdom understanding brings back the focus of the cross to the purpose of reconciling, bringing back all things, including the created order back to God’s full purpose (Col 1:20)

-The proclaiming of the Kingdom of God cannot be done holistically outside of releasing the Holy Spirit which will bring a wave of creativity with it. The first “day of Pentecost” let me suggest is when the Spirit hovered and in the beginning was sent forth at the creation of all things (Genesis 1, 3). The Holy Spirit is still hovering in creativity in the image bearers of God as we work and function in our marketplaces. To proclaim the kingdom without the Holy Spirit  would not be a full Kingdom message.  Therefore to preach the Kingdom is to be the spoken word that releases the Holy Spirit, to be the “Let there be” once again.

-This message is the only message that Jesus, Paul and John the Baptist preached it is also the primary focus of the New Testament (Matthew 3:2, 4:17, Mark 1:15, Acts 28:31)

-The kingdom of God is the only message that is generational. It connects all the seeds throughout the Scripture (Genesis 3:15 – seed of the woman; Galatians 3:29 – seed of Abraham who would become the church; Genesis 12:1-3 –  children of God who called to bless the families of the Earth; Genesis 17:5-7 – rulers of the kings of the earth;  Genesis 22:17 –  possesses the gates of our enemies, this only outlines an application that our children’s children should be engaged in our world and the practical affairs of this life are to be under the influence and blessing of the kingdom.

-The Kingdom message demands the church to consider its collective stewardship to manage the cosmos and the Earth, it challenges us not to preach escapism but to be accountable for the world that he has planted,  to extend and increase the garden of God. For we are the first garden, i.e. the garden of our lives under the order of God (Kingdom of God) that we are to take the seeds of our lives and go forth and rule extending the garden into our families, streets, communities and marketplaces.

–If the ecclesia, the church, the called out ones of God would once again embrace and preach the message of the Kingdom of God it would most definitely result in cultures being transformed, cities being transformed, and Reformation would come to the nations.

The nations of the world do not need governments, PM’s, presidents, or healing crusades but primarily they need the people of God to be in government, the apostolic government would bring the King in order, therefore allowing the rule of God to root out corruption. By preaching the kingdom of God and making it practical, wisdom for building and for the restructuring of nations under the rule of God would soon follow.

– Psalm 2 outlines the inheritance of the Messiah which the Kingdom of God continues to announce. Jesus died to redeem all nations and people groups not just the individual this sits along with our inheritance of saints (Eph 1:10-11, Matthew 28:19) being commissioned not just to reach individuals but to disciple all people groups and disciple nations,  once again we will see all nations baptized and born again  as outlined in the narrative of Jesus’s conversation with Nicodemus they “might see the kingdom of God”.

 

Here is another 8 reasons added to the 3 already outlined in Part 1 still have a few more to challenge you with let me know whats it stimulating in you!

A Necessary Focus

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Focus

In all our travels I have gained a sense of what the Holy Spirit is highlighting in various places, in saying this, I am fully aware that it is impossible to say ‘the thing’ ‘the one thing’ that people often want to hear of what God is saying, as I believe just as we are introduced to God speaking in the book of Revelation he is shown to be speaking seven different things to seven different churches in one region, therefore it is impossible to say the one thing he is saying,  but we can have some grasp of the constants, truth or focus that is being spoken or seen in many places across our globe. Seeing what is presented in many places, I think we should pay attention to this as “things are confirmed in the mouth of two or three witnesses”.

Sandra and I travel to the USA, Africa, India, Sri Lanka as well as in the UK and I would have to say that in all the noise of debate regarding the various aspects of truth that come and go, alongside the things we make the ‘fashionable sayings of Jesus’ as I call them, if there are such things, yet the church does appear to have its fashions, also the cyclic experiences and insights that come around every decade or so, there is, I believe, in our small world a sense of God’s focus on the one message that Christ carried and proclaimed.

I believe that until we grasp hold of this central message of Christ we will be confronted constantly by the Holy Spirit, until we embrace it in every possible way, through confession, teaching, and practice the central message of the kingdom of God will be spoken out constantly in the heavens.

In the opening chapters of the book of Hebrews we are told that God has spoken in these last days, making these words important for the last days, our days, and he has “spoken in his Son”, his Son, the Christ of God being the King that brings his kingship which means the Kingdom of God is on the front burner in the last days along with all the related details and implications.

Therefore it is imperative that we teach, preach, and practice everything possible to bring about the domain of God, “Heaven coming to Earth”.   We are encouraged to pray “your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven” but it is not enough to pray, we must pray and work until our world is one with Christ, which is kingship and rule. To some degree the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Heaven, the same thing, is still to come to Earth, but on the other hand, heaven has already come in those who have welcomed Christ into their lives and they have to extend the kingdom rule of God. It’s about bring the implications of the Kingdom to bear in the cosmos first in our lives.

My aim in writing is to lay out the reasons why I proclaim the Kingdom of God, I trust this will have two implications, firstly it would clarify my mind and secondly I trust it will be of benefit for those who read.    My appeal is that we once again strongly announce, herald and preach the Kingdom of God with open hearts, not as those who have heard it before,or done it in the past. Got the tee-shirt, rode the ride, but with new eyes looking and listening again, before we all get lost in a sea of a ‘church only message’ or ‘church gospel’ which is around us all, but step up to re state the ONLY message of our Christ, the Kingdom of God.  Once again the message is required to be announced to empower, advance and deliver the people of God and our world.  Here are my reasons I trust that you will join and agree with me:

-The Kingdom of God reconnects us to the purpose, the why of all creation and the activity of God our Father. It confronts  us with a narrative of Scripture rather than getting lost in our fashions, fads, “now words”  but keeps is rooted in the ultimate purpose of God giving the reasons the cross, the ecclesia, the call of God in bringing everything under the rulership of Christ (Ephesians 1)

-The only message of Christ – the Kingdom of God gives Christ his proper place as King of Kings, the proclaim of the Kingdom and the rulership of God. To separate the gospel from the Kingdom is to take the Christ out of our message. ( BOY DO I WANT TO SHOUT THIS FORM THE ROOF TOPS)  In separating the Gospel from the king to only introduce people to a gospel that deals with an escape into the next life. To have a message without the kingdom is to deny the prophecies that speak of Jesus as the ruler of nations (Genesis 49:10, Psalm 2:9-11, 110:1-3, Isaiah 9:6, 7 Daniel 2, 4, 7). It is to bring a covenant with the father made with creation into practice.

-This sole message is the connection to the original mandate spoken to all humanity through Adam in Genesis 1:28, this passage must be seen as the starting point of the kingdom mandate, that of Christ proclaimed with the church continuing its proclamation.

NOW THAT IS JUST THREE REASON FOR YOU TO FIRST THINK THROUGH MORE TO FOLLOW I HAVE A GOOD LIST FOR YOU TO CONSIDER!    
WATCH THIS SPACE!

Let GO – part 2

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We began in PART 1 by looking at the art of Letting Go and considering the challenge us all but actually realising that it is a skill we need to learn “Letting Go”, some statements I made where:

“Letting Go helps me to make the most of now and enables me to move on with people, it is not about what I have to get right,  but more about can I let go to move upward”.

“The way we let go of the now determines our ability to take hold of what is coming around the corner.        There are questions that would help us learn and let go, I would like to  share a few thoughts that are produced by each.  The questions that would serve us all well to ask each other and more than that ask ourselves.
  • “Is there a fine line between control and influence?   And how do you know the difference”

One of the challenges of Letting Go is the issues of “control” we focused on and which we will continue with to conclude the though

Becoming an influence

Now that we have established that control is in actuality a personal agenda or a set of expectations packaged at the expense of others, what then is influence?        It is certainly not asking or seeing people taking on situations via delegation, but when they are not getting it  or not doing things your way,  interrupting them  by taking the reigns away from them.        This Is the behaviour of a control freak rather than that of an influence.

Influencers understand the importance of not robbing others of their experience which in turn allows them to grow.  Trying to control every little aspect of life and the life of others does not work for any one.

Control robs you of the chance to truly live, to be truly alive, to be truly passionate, have you ever felt I wish I could be as passionate as others with God?  Do you find you excuse yourself from apathy or lack of lustre due to time, our environment and situation keeping you so busy, keeping a handle on your selves that you convince yourself that you are not  like that, but in truth it is control that has robbed you the freedom to be fully passionate in who you are..

We are not designers we are not to be Chief Executives or CEO’s of the universe overextending ourselves with the minute details of others lives this was not in the original plan.

Becoming an influence requires a commitment to maintain healthy boundaries with ourselves and with those we love

Try this, be honest with your self

•                Identify key responses and behaviours within your day life that stem from control rather than influence

•                Each time you are tempted to ‘control’, ask yourself ‘What am I afraid of loosing?

•                What personal agenda am I trying so desperately to preserve?

•                Actively manage what your life could be like if you would allow others the opportunity to own truly their own growth process and master their personal learning curves

•                Commit to becoming an influence and exchange your stress, needless worry and fear with peace and joy

Let Go life will flow better!

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