Seeking First the Kingdom: What Does it Mean?

Most Christians are familiar with Matthew 6:33 "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." However, there is a wide discrepancy as to what this means. The question that needs to be addressed is "what is the kingdom of God"? In scripture we find references to the "kingdom of heaven", as well as the "kingdom of God. In the New Testament there are at least 27 references to the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God. In several parables Jesus told us what the Kingdom of Heaven is like; a man who sowed good seed, but his enemy sowed weeds; a mustard seed which, though very small, produces a tree or bush capable of providing a perch for the birds of the air; and yeast that is folded into a measure of flour. With this background, we can assume that the kingdom of heaven is a kingdom in which the will of God is done immediately and gladly by all it's inhabitants. It is a kingdom where love prevails. It is a kingdom where God reigns supremely without question. To seek such a kingdom is to do our part to make this true even here on earth. ("Your will be done, Your kingdom come") To pray that phrase is to say "I'm willing to do Your will and to seek to bring Your kingdom on earth by living according to Kingdom Principles such as the Beatitudes and the Great Commandment.

Thinking Outside the Church Building

Many years ago Ralph Neighbor drew attention to the fact that most of our church programming is based on getting people inside our building. The truth of the matter is, if we are to ever be successful getting them into our building, we're going to have to go outside the building to find them. In Matt. 28:19-20, Jesus commanded us to "Go and make disciples of all nations..." We are not commanded to "invite them", or even "bring them". He said "Go". The literal translation of that is "as you are going". Therefore, our disciple making is to take place as we are going about our normal traffic pattern of life. When we connect to people where they are, and build meaningful relationships, it is then easier to get them to accompany us to church.

This being true, the purpose of our time "in" church should be preparation for going outside the church and doing the work of ministry there. Everything that happens in the building; Worship, Bible Study, Fellowship and Prayer should be preparing us to go into the world, where the people are, and communicate the love of Christ in tangible ways. We must remember that it is Jesus who builds His church, and that God "adds to the church those who are being saved". It sounds as if they are being saved elsewhere and then God puts them in the church to be trained to go back into the world and repeat the process that brought them to the church initially. Think about it...and share with me your thoughts in a comment.

God is In Control

I have several friends who are extremely upset over the situation in our country. While I understand and appreciate their concern, I refuse to let it dominate my life. Daily I remind myself of the truth of Proverbs 21:1 "A kings heart is a water channel in the Lord's hand; He directs it wherever He chooses." Before you think that this is a cop-out on my part, stop and realize that the ultimate fate of this nation is not in the hands of the politicians, but rather in the hands of Almighty God. Even before I've done my part in voting and have spoken my mind through communication with elected officials, the most important thing I can do is pray for our nation. I've made a covenant with God that whenever I wake up during the night that is my call to prayer for our nation. Primarily I pray for repentance beginning in the halls of government and moving throughout the nation. I'm using Ninevah as my example. I'm asking God to send a prophet or prophets throughout our land with His strong message, and I'm asking that the response will be the same as in Ninevah. Just as God used Darius the Mede (in the day of Daniel) and Artaxerxes (in the day of Nehemiah) he can use a current president and elected officials to accomplish His purposes. My word to believers in our nation is "PRAY, PRAY, PRAY and OBEY, OBEY OBEY." God is in control!!!

Pharisees Alive and Well

The recent furor kicked off by Brit Hume's statements on a Fox News panel just highlights the point that Pharisees are still among us. Even those who claim a personal relationship with Christ have gone out of their way to lambaste Hume for daring to suggest that Christianity is superior to other religions of the world. Here are my questions to these folks.

1. In what other religion is there a Savior who bled and died for the sins of mankind?
2. What other religion has a leader who rose from the dead and lives today "ever making intercession for the saints"?
3. What other religion offers forgiveness to those who confess and repent of their sins

My take on the reason so many have tee'd off on Hume is that either they are under conviction because they recognize the truth of what he said, or (if they are believers) they are convicted because they don't have the guts to publicly acknowledge their faith. I'm reminded that Jesus warned that those who denied Him before man, He would deny before the Father.
I'm also aware that God's Word tells us that He does not want "any to perish, but all to come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9)
I'm so pleased and proud that a brother in Christ who has been given a platform from which to speak had the courage to speak his convictions without being afraid of what the PC's of the world would think. May his tribe increase.

2010: So What?

Here I was feeling like a slacker because I had not updated my blog in several weeks. Then I checked on some blogs that I follow and found that I had a lot of company. It seems that in the hustle and bustle of the holidays, going all the way back to Thanksgiving, many people got caught up in the day to day "stuff" and blogging took a back seat. I feel better.
That being said, I want to address a few random thoughts that are buzzing around in my head, in no particular order.

• Football coaches are far too serious for their own good. If they approached life like Bobby Bowden and Joe Paterno, they would live longer and enjoy life more.
• The Purpose for Christmas is lost in the frenzy of gift-buying-giving-receiving.
• The best ideas for New Year's resolutions are found in Philippians 2:1-11.
• If I'm still alive then there is more for me to do be and become.
• To paraphrase the Apostle Paul in Philippians 3:13 "But learning from what lies behind..."
• Prov. 21:1 "The king's (president's) heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; He turns it wherever He will."
• The Great Commission will never be accomplished until the Great Commandment is learned and applied in the church.

There! I feel better. May 2010 be the best year yet as God continues to "conform us to the image of His Son" Romans 8:29.

Primal; A Quest for the Lost Soul of Christianity

In his new book, PRIMAL, Mark Batterson takes the reader far beneath the surface of the words of the Great Commandment as given by Jesus in Mark 12:30. With a mixture of personal experiences and broad research, Batterson challenges the reader to think very much outside the box. In his own words, this is "a re-imagining of the four primal elements detailed by Jesus in the Great Commandment." As with his earlier books, IN A PIT WITH A LION ON A SNOWY DAY, and WILD GOOSE CHASE, these are not "easy reads". I found myself pausing time and again to think through what I had just read. Loving God with all one's heart is, according to Batterson, primal compassion; with all the soul is primal wonder, with all the mind is primal curiosity and with all the strength is primal energy. The beauty of this book is that it will challenge the reader to delve more deeply into their own personal relationship with God and to get in touch with the primal part of their own faith. I can say with assurance, you won't be the same after reading this book.

Standing in The Gap

Perhaps the saddest verse in scripture is found in Ezekial 22:30 "And I sought for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the breach (gap) before Me for the land that I should not destroy it, but I found none."
Israel had sinned against God, and He sought an intercessor to "stand in the gap" between Him and Israel, and sadly, there was not one. The next verse tells the sad end of the incident "Therefore I have poured out My indignation upon them, I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath. I have returned their way upon their heads, declares the Lord God."
I firmly believe that this same situation exists in America today. We have deliberately sinned against God, and are in the cross-hairs of His wrath. Unless there are intercessors who will step between America and the wrath of God, we may well experience His wrath. For the past few weeks I have promised God that when I wake up during the night, I will intercede for America before I go back to sleep. My plea to Him is that we will be like Ninevah when Jonah finally preached there. From the king to the common man there was grief over their sin, repenance and returning to God. Oh that this would be true of our nation.
Intercessors arise!!! Be willing to stand in the gap and build up the wall. Until the wrath of God begins to fall, there is still time.