The King and His Kingdom. Part 2a.

The King and His Kingdom Video

Session 2a

In previous sessions we’ve looked at the Kingdom of God and how it is that as we obey God’s principles, (or His Government), we are blessed by Him (Psa.1:1-4). We also saw that as we drift out of His principles in our day, God is not able to bless us – this is because His Government is indisputable, irreversible, and final. We see in the books of Zechariah and Daniel, that His government, or another expression for His word or law, is beyond debate or question, whether we agree with it or not! (Zech.14:9; Daniel 2:44).

God desires to bless you and me on a daily basis, but if we do not adhere to His principles, His own government prevents Him from doing so. If He were to bless someone who is acting outside of His Government, then He would be obliged to even bless the accuser of the believers, the devil – a situation He cannot have!

The more we obey these principles, the more we feel the character of God in us, and the more we walk in His authority.

These Godly principles need to be real in our lives. If they are not real, practical and easily understood, then our daily walk with the Lord becomes a farce – an act for the world – which we struggle to maintain in our strength on a daily basis. No – our relationship with God needs to be a true reflection of blessing to us and those around us.

In our daily lives, we will not be perfect in our display of God’s principles. As we miss the mark with God, provided we are truly sorry, we receive forgiveness. As He forgives us, God intends for us to learn from the error of our ways and His amazing grace will help us to continue our day, without guilt.

If the Lord’s principles are near to our minds on a daily basis, it will help us to walk closer to Him – help us to be more aware of the path to glory.

Let’s take a look at some of these Godly principles which make up God’s government and see how we measure up to them. Perhaps this will give each one of us an indication of why we are not being blessed by God as much as we could be?

Please remember there are many more principles in His word than what we are looking at in this session. Let’s try and prayerfully sit with the Lord on a regular basis, asking Him to reveal others to us, so that we become more aware and more blessed.

Mat 5:13 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.”

Are we being an example for the Kingdom of God on a daily basis? How do we reflect God at home and work? And what about in our daily relationships – family and work colleagues?

Mat 5:25 “Make friends quickly with your opponent at law while you are with him on the way, so that your opponent may not hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you be thrown into prison.”

Do we have any issues with others that have been left unattended? The scripture says deal with it now or it may turn into something worse.

Mat 5:27 “You have heard that it was said, `YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY’;

Mat 5:28 but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

The Lord shows us here that sin has been committed in our hearts even as we think about doing something wrong. This, before we have physically done anything!

Mat 5:37 Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.

How do we answer others in our daily communication? Deceitfully – or truthfully and to the point. Interesting that Jesus says “anything beyond this comes from the evil one”!

Mat 5:42 Give to the one who asks you and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

Do we feel the need to judge how others are going to use that which we give them, instead of just giving and allowing God to be their judge?

Mat 5:43 You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’

Mat 5:44 But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,

Rom 12:14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.

How did we react the last time someone was negative towards us in our day – did we pray for them or get angry with them?

Rom 12:16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.

It’s very difficult to live alongside others if we are proud and conceited. We will always feel that we are superior.

Rom 12:17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody.

Rom 12:18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.

Rom 12:19 Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.

How many times when we are offended by another do we want to take revenge? God says it’s His job to judge and avenge others.

Rom 13:1 Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except God, and those which exist are established by God.

Rom 13:2 Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God, and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves.

It’s very easy for us to disobey or be deceitful to those in authority over us. Mankind may not see – but God does! Are we receiving condemnation from God because we disobey those He has put in authority over us?

Php 2:4 not looking each of you to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others.

Php 2:14 Do all things without murmurings and questionings:

Php 2:15 so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world.

Going about our daily tasks without having negative comments or thoughts is very difficult. God says we should see where we can serve others instead of criticizing them. 

In your group now, please read the following three sections of scriptures out aloud together. At the end of each section, pause and discuss for 10min what you have read together. After your 10min discussion, read the next section.

SECTION 1

Rom 14:13 Therefore, let us not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this, not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother’s way.

Rom 14:19 So then let us follow after things which make for peace, and things whereby we may edify one another.

1Co 10:32 Give no occasions of stumbling, either to Jews, or to Greeks, or to the church of God:

1Co 13:4 Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant,

1Co 13:5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered,

1Co 13:6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;

1Co 13:7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

1Co 13:8 Love never fails…

Rom 12:15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.

Rom 12:20 On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”

SECTION 2

2Co 9:6 Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.

2Co 9:7 Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God, loves a cheerful giver.

1Pe 2:15  For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men.

1Jn 3:18  My Little children, let us not love in word, neither with the tongue; but in deed and truth.

Pro 11:15  He who is a guarantor for a stranger will surely suffer for it, But he who hates being a guarantor is secure.

Pro 11:28  He who trusts in his riches will fall, But the righteous will flourish like the green leaf.

Pro 12:1  Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, But he who hates reproof is stupid.

Pro 12:15  The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, But a wise man is he who listens to counsel.

Pro 13:18  Poverty and shame will come to him who neglects discipline, But he who regards reproof will be honored.

Pro 14:29  He who is slow to anger has great understanding, But he who is quick-tempered exalts folly.

SECTION 3

Pro 15:1  A gentle answer turns away wrath, But a harsh word stirs up anger.

Pro 15:6  In the house of the righteous is much treasure; But in the revenues of the wicked is trouble.

Pro 15:27  He who profits illicitly troubles his own house, But he who hates bribes will live.

Pro 16:7  When a man’s ways are pleasing to the LORD, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.

Jas 1:23  For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror;

Jas 1:24  for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was.

Jas 3:8  But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison.

Jas 3:9  With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God;

Jas 3:10  from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way.

Php 2:3  Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves;

Mat 5:11 Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.

Rom 8:6  For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace:

Php 3:20  For our citizenship is in heaven; whence also we wait for a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:

Remember – as we adhere to these principles daily, we will be blessed. I pray that the Lord has ministered some ‘pearls of wisdom in this session. These Godly principles for our daily lives are very difficult to adhere to if we try in our own strength.

As we enter into the Kingdom of God here and now, we have acknowledged that our old sinful nature (the engine that drives us to sin), has died and been buried with Jesus. Let us begin to walk in the new resurrected nature that God has given us.  This is the nature that is able to walk daily in God’s principles.

Please join me next week, for PART 3, where we will start to look at the roles God would like us to fit into. Be blessed during this coming week – I look forward to being with you soon.

If you feel this article has value, please send this link to others. Writings are meant for people, not for dormant files in our computers. Often, sharing them results in positive changes in the lives of individuals and communities.

“…time with the Master…”

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The Power of Debt

Buried for my sins or resurrected for my life?

The Power of Debt

I was having a chat with my son the other day and he asked me, “Dad, if you lived your life over again, would you change anything?”

I had a little chuckle, knowing there would probably be a number of things I would do differently. However, without any doubt, I replied, “I would certainly live my life without debt… all my 45 some years of working life, I had debt of one sort, and I now see how much time and stress I went through to pay it back…on the treadmill of debt payment – day in and day out”.  

Had I not chosen to use debt, I realised things would probably have been a lot more difficult, but one thing is for sure…. I would have had a lot more peace of mind.

The scriptures are very clear when it comes to debt – NO debt – not any kind of debt – except to owe others love. Proverbs says those who borrow become a slave to their lender. Think about this. As we borrow money – or anything else – we have to pay it back. Immediately we complete the borrowing transaction, we put a yolk around our necks and begin the treadmill of repaying. Interest rates can go up and borrowing conditions can change but as slaves, we are powerless to complain.

As people go about their daily lives, some appear not to be concerned about their commitment to repay, while others are deeply troubled and find themselves worrying about the fact that if they lose their jobs, they have no means of meeting their commitment. Worry is borne out of the fear of not being able to repay. Are we one of those who are constantly walking around with a dark cloud of worry over us? More than likely debt is the cause.

The accuser of the brethren, the devil, has a wonderful time with this topic. Fear does not come from the Lord. Fear is a great tool for the accuser. In Ephesians, we see how easy it is for us to “indulge in the desires of the flesh and the mind”. How easy it is for us to fall victim to fearful thoughts. Fearful thoughts cause us to worry. Worry will lead us into depression. Worry will make us physically sick.

How many times have we prayed asking God to bless and prosper us, when we continue walking outside of His principles by making more debt? It simply cannot make sense to God to prosper those who do not obey Him. Would you keep giving money to a compulsive gambler who consistently squandered it?

DEBT FREE = FEAR FREE.

So what can we do to get out of debt? As with any negative situation, we first need to acknowledge that there is a problem. Next we need to ask God to partner with us in order to find a solution. We need a renewal of our thinking. If we continue to do the same things in our life, we will end up with the same results. Different results require different inputs. “Lord please change me”.

With the leading of the Holy Spirit, write down a plan of how you can begin immediately to reduce your debt. Implement the plan and be disciplined to stick to it. This requires us to pay attention to the battle which will be present in our minds – the battle to try and get us to stay with our old way of thinking. However, we see in Romans, that we are no longer slaves to our old way of thinking. Believe this verse by faith and be diligent to “stick to the plan”.

As you make up your mind to commit yourself to this challenge, God is faithful to bless your obedience. Immediately you acknowledge your wrong and commit to getting away from it, His blessings will flow and what may seem an impossible hill to climb, will be complete before you know it!

Fear will no longer be part of your life and you will truly feel the power of the peace of the Lord daily, as you walk in Him.

From: “…time with the Master…”

If you feel this article has value, please send this link to others. Writings are meant for people, not for dormant files in our computers. Often, sharing them results in positive changes in the lives of individuals and communities.

“…time with the Master…”

The New Covenant.

Another thought provoking and God-inspired article by Vivi.

 Why is it important to understand what the New Covenant means? – so that we can make a free-will, quality decision to enter into covenant with Jesus

God is a covenant-keeping God and it is good to understand exactly what His New Covenant means, because the New Covenant takes us – as someone jokingly put it: “out of the death column and into the birth column!”

We are all destined for the ‘death column’ – not only do we have physical, perishable bodies which don’t go on forever but the Bible tells us that the ‘wages of sin = death’ and if we continue to live a life of sin, we are all destined to die spiritually as well physically.

Sin separates us from God.  He warned Adam that if he disobeyed, he would die.  The devil has always tried to deceive us into believing that God’s word is not true!

God’s Word is true and as He loves us, His creation, so much He made the way for us to get back what we had lost.  He made the way by ‘becoming flesh’ i.e. He came to earth by being born as a human, although without a human father, (like Adam) but unlike Adam, He did not deserve death because He did not sin! 

He was the only human who had not sinned and therefore He did not have to pay ‘the wages of sin’ – He was the only human who did not have to die!  

Remember, God told Adam not to eat the fruit from the tree of the ‘knowledge of good and evil’ – God wanted us to live forever without ‘knowing’ (often means ‘experiencing’) or tasting evil.  Jesus, in His humanity was the only human who lived the way God intended us to live, without knowing evil. 

Jesus certainly came across evil, all through His earthly life.  He came against evil all the time.  Scripture tells us: ‘He came to destroy the works of the devil’.  He came up against sickness, disease, hunger and pain, fear and death and He destroyed them each time, bringing about healing instead of sickness and disease, provision instead of hunger and deliverance instead of pain and fear – life instead of death.

He was showing us all the time He walked on this earth that He had come to reveal God – the love and power of God was in everything He did and the wisdom of God was in everything He said!  Do you remember Jesus telling us that the thief comes ’to rob, kill and destroy’ – and He, Jesus comes ‘to give LIFE – and that more abundantly’.  Jesus was God in the form of a human so that He could shed His own blood to seal the New Covenant with us to give us what He had – eternal life!

The problem is most of us don’t even understand what a covenant is all about!  We are brought up in a ‘civilized’ culture that knows nothing of blood sacrifice and even our theologians don’t like to mention blood. 

However, God teaches us from His Word that ‘without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness for sin’.  Jesus chose to go through death as part of the covenant.  His words were:   ’This is my blood of the new covenant which is shed for many for the forgiveness of sins’.  Even in most of our churches, when we have communion, the word ‘covenant’ is left out and some churches don’t even have the blood – symbolically of course, Jesus had lifted the cup of wine, called the cup of redemption after the Passover meal and He said: ‘As oft as you drink it, do this in remembrance of Me’.

He broke down the barrier that separated us from Him, namely sin, by taking the punishment on Himself – and made it possible for us to be redeemed, i.e. delivered out of the bondage of sin.  Some people say He ‘paid’ for us, but that is not a good explanation because it implies that we are just ‘bought merchandise’!    The Lord made us much more precious than that!  He gave us the freedom to choose whether or not we wanted to be redeemed and He does not force anyone into His Kingdom.

If we choose to confess and repent of the sin which has separated us from Him, He forgives us and we become His children.  We can receive His love and we can love Him and receive our redemption and our freedom from the bondage of sin. 

We are no longer on a one-way road to death but can believe and KNOW that there is life after death.  Jesus said so!  He said: ‘Whoever believes on me, though He dies, yet shall he live’.

When Jesus removed the barrier that separated us from God, He also made the way for us to live in harmony with each other.  Now we can really love God and each other.  We can follow His example of always talking to God before we make any decision – and then do it God’s way.   We can live with the right attitude, i.e. not even wanting to sin.   Jesus came to earth to make the way back to God because everyone had sinned and was destined for the death column!  Now we can get into covenant with Him and be born again!

Born of the spirit, so that when we die physically, we go right on living in the spirit – not separated from God, but we will find that we will be with Him!  His New Covenant was confirmed with His blood to forgive many – ALL those who enter into covenant with Him!  The way we get into covenant with Him, is to receive what He gives us and to give Him what is ours!  What an uneven swop!  But He loves us so much, He doesn’t mind – He designed it that way!

Jesus ratified the New Covenant with His blood which means He sealed it because he really meant it and will not break it.  We have an awesome Father God who revealed Himself to us in time and space in Jesus.  The ceremonial law was the parable, or picture He painted to show us how strongly He felt about sin.  Jesus told us that He did not come to change the law – but to fulfill it and He did.  He became the sacrifice to redeem us or get us back from the evil one who robs, kills, and destroys.

Let’s get into covenant with Jesus, our covenant-keeping God, who loved us so much He shed His own blood, so that we would be able to get into covenant with Him and live with Him forever!  Instead of being lost, lonely and afraid of the unknown, let’s climb onto His lap and ‘seek His face’ (like a child tugging at his father’s beard for His attention).

He waits for us to do that, He gently draws us by His Holy Spirit and when we understand what a covenant relationship is and respond, we give Him joy!  He said even the angels in heaven rejoice over one sinner who repents.  It’s awful to think of how He suffered, but it’s wonderful to know that He thinks we are worth it!

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The A’s, B’s, and C’s (below) of understanding the New Covenant are relatively easy, but we need to also understand the danger of the D’s.  The devil is the ‘father of lies’ and the ‘master of deception’ – lies are easier to detect than deception!

The devil can make bad things look good and inviting  – remember how he deceived Eve?  First he cast doubt on what God had actually said, then he told her that the fruit would make her like God!  The deception of darkness, drunkenness and divorce have trapped very many people…and as a result many lives have been broken.  Praise God that He is our Healer and nothing is too difficult for Him!

The A’s are:  If we call Him Adonai (Lord) we must give Him our All

The B’s are:  If we believe, it should be evident in our behavior

The C’s are:  To get into Covenant means commitment

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