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Sunday, April 02, 2017

Kingdoms


As bro Taylor gave us a message this morning…
I thought about certain moments in my favorite movies where the master, king, teacher, leader, lord confides in those he considers a true friend, brother, son.
Jesus says in John 8:35 “Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever.”
When we give our lives to Jesus we become a son/daughter to God.  We became family members to an everlasting kingdom.
Jesus also uttered these words, “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.” John 15:15
Our Lord and Savior Jesus confides in us does He not?  He shares with us the mysteries of God to encourage and elevate our thinking/understanding beyond the pretenses of this world’s ideologies-walls that surround us.
We become ambassadors of Christ.  Our authority, rights, desires, needs come from God who is the source of all good things- His good, pleasing and perfect will.  We desire joy, peace, God’s gracious and merciful love, wisdom and we receive without limit as we yield everything - soul, heart, mind over to Him.
We are God’s domain after all… for He has translated us by His Spirit and blood.
The kingdom of God (not always ushered in with visible signs) comes in the knowing He has changed us supernaturally inwardly.   And with our continual hope and trust in Him we will be continually established in what God has intended in Himself.
Think about that last phrase for a second… “And with our continual hope and trust in Him we will be continually established in what God has intended in Himself”.
We “are” because of Him. 
For in us Jesus Christ’s Spirit (the Holy Spirit that reveals the deep things of God) lives in us…. We get to everyday by our choice to participate in the everlasting, renewing, strengthening things of God or not.
Robin Longstride, in the 2010 Robin Hood movie, speaks….
“If you're building for the future, you need to keep your foundations strong, laws of the land enslave the people to a king who demands loyalty but offers nothing in return, I've been to the South of France, Palestine and back, you build a kingdom the same way you build a cathedral from the ground up!”      
We used to serve the kingdom of darkness.  We used to serve the prince of darkness- Satan.   We willing participated in darkness and even let the tormentors of fear, hatred, lust and depression come sit at our table.  That kingdom never offered us peace. That kingdom never offered us peace.   That kingdom never offered us grace, mercy and undeserved love and privilege.  It was weak and faulty and always making us thirsty and hungry.  And we know that dark kingdom will be destroyed with time itself when the everlasting kingdom comes and takes its place.  A kingdom without time. 

A kingdom whose foundations are strong because they are set on God himself- Jesus Christ.
“And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What's more, you are his holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God.” 1 Peter 2:5

God is saying,  “Come…. mediate, confide and trust in Me.  Trust in my Son, Jesus Christ, as Lord and Savior.  The one who opens our eyes to see, our ears to hear, and sets us free from those things that want offer us nothing but enslavement.   And as we yield, trust, confide in God and His word- He gives us thought provoking, encouraging and elevating things of Himself…
Things that enrich, revive, liberate and last forever for the child, friend, priest of God.
Things that we can pass on and share with others- others who are endangered of an eternal doom because they are serve a kingdom of darkness instead of Jesus Christ who is the truth, the way and the life.  John 14:6
          

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