Living in the Kingdom XVII

Sunday 01/17/16

Series: Living in the Kingdom XVII

Message – Unified in Purpose VIII

Living in the Kingdom

We have now covered four MAJOR keys to living in the Kingdom and will be adding one additional one today. We’ve attempted to illustrate these points in and through the lives and writings of various people in the Bible… Elisha, King David, Jacob, Jesus…etc. As such we have two more passages to look at today for illustration purposes. Then we will begin to tie it all together after we add our fifth and final key.

Psa. 130:1-8,

“(1) Out of the depths I have cried to You, O LORD; (2) Lord, hear my voice! Let Your ears be attentive To the voice of my supplications.

(3) If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? (4) But there is forgiveness with You, That You may be feared.

(5) I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, And in His word I do hope. (6) My soul waits for the Lord

More than those who watch for the morning— Yes, more than those who watch for the morning.

(7) O Israel, hope in the LORD; For with the LORD there is mercy, And with Him is abundant redemption.

(8) And He shall redeem Israel From all his iniquities.”

Prov. 20:22,

“(22) Do not say, “I will recompense evil”; Wait for the LORD, and He will save you.”

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As I said, we’ve covered four MAJOR keys to living in the Kingdom and today we will be adding a new one.

Pray with fervency like Jesus or Elisha
Pray with respect to God and His will like David & Jesus (daily bread, …AS we forgive our debtors, for Your great name/goodness sake…etc.)
Faith w/ patience like David
Persistence in Hope – Like Jacob (or Joshua/Caleb)

These are great, but how ARE they keys to living in the Kingdom? I mean look at these people and their larger than life…lives!

Jesus & Elisha faced political and religious attack, famine, plagues & death
David – faced life-threatening opposition from kings & his own countryman.
Jacob…Joshua & Caleb – faced wresting matches with God & man, and standing strong in the face of hundreds of thousands of those who were against them.

How do our lives in any way compare with theirs? How is it possible that something that was needed to defend kingdoms, stop plagues and turn the tide of political and/or religious attack fit me in my situations and the purposes God has for me?

Well, to discover this let’s go back to Paul’s prayers to see what he says and we will also make a quick pit stop in Hebrews to discover how this applies to some of the BIGGEST purposes God has for us today….

Col 1:1-23,

“Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, (2) To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are in Colosse: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

(3) We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, (4) since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints; (5) because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel, (6) which has come to you, as it has also in all the world, and is bringing forth fruit, as it is also among you since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth;

(7) as you also learned from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, (8) who also declared to us your love in the Spirit.

(9) For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;

SO THAT…

(10) that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;

That you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him: Second, Paul prayed that they would live according to the same knowledge they received, living out a walk worthy of the Lord.

This is a familiar pattern, repeated over and over again in the New Testament. Our walk is based on our knowledge of God and our understanding of His will.

(11) strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy;

The writer of Hebrews said,

“but you have need of patient endurance, that after you have done the will of God you may receive the promise.”

…then he goes on to give multiple examples of men and women who lived dedicated lives of faith with patience intending to culminate in using Christ as an example from which we may draw our STRENGTH – lest we become weary and faint, rather than continue in long-suffering with Joy.

We had to end here rather than actually dive into these passages, but we left with the cliffhanger, that all the patriarchs lives were seen culminated in Christ, Who is set forth by the writer of Hebrews as our example, the source of our strength and the one to Whom we must look to initiate and develop our relational trust in Him.

Take away points

Pray with fervency
Pray with respect to God and His will
Faith w/ patience
Persistence in Hope
JOY!

We are encouraged to pray always.
Because prayer is communion with God, it should never be a chevalier experience, but felt deeply and passionately.
We need to pray with God’s goals in view, not just our own. Prayer should be kingdom focused, not self-focused.
We need to trust in Him, believe that even though He may tarry, He will answer – so persistence and patience are our soul’s best friends in prayer.
JOY JOY JOY! The enemy tries to make it about you and NOT about intimacy with God – this robs us of our joy and turns our prayers (communion) into self-seeking. Remember the exhortation James gave us, “Count it all JOY my brethren when you fall into various temptations, KNOWING that the testing of your trust produces patient endurance.”

Blessings!

I hope this teaching will challenge you and encourage you to place your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

You have a special place in God’s family & kingdom. If you do not know Him, please use our ‘Contact Us‘ page and reach out so we may have the privilege of introducing you to the Lord. Attendance at our church will NOT even be mentioned nor will money.

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Blessings!

Pastor Mark

View posts by Pastor Mark

Hi my name is Mark and though I am opposed to titles, I am currently the only Pastor (shepherd/elder) serving our assembly right now.

I have been Pastoring in one capacity or another for nearly 30 years now, though never quite like I am today.

Early in 2009 the Lord revealed to me that the way we had structured our assembly (church) was not scriptural in that it was out of sync with what Paul modeled for us in the New Testament. In truth, I (like many pastors I am sure) never even gave this fundamental issue of church structure the first thought. I had always assumed that church structure was largely the same everywhere and had been so from the beginning. While I knew Paul had some very stringent things to say about the local assembly of believers, the point of our gatherings together and who may or may not lead, I never even considered studying these issues but assumed we were all pretty much doing it right...safety in numbers right?! Boy, I couldn't have been more wrong!

So needless to say, my discovery that we had been doing it wrong for nearly two decades was a bit of a shock to me! Now, this "revelation" did not come about all at once but over the course of a few weeks. We were a traditional single pastor led congregation. It was a top-bottom model of ministry which is in part biblical, but not in the form of a monarchy.

The needed change did not come into focus until following 9 very intense months of study and discussions with those who were leaders in our church at the time.

We now understand and believe that the Bible teaches co-leadership with equal authority in each local assembly. Having multiple shepherds with God's heart and equal authority protects both Shepherds and sheep. Equal accountability keeps authority and doctrine in check. Multiple shepherds also provide teaching with various styles and giftings with leadership skills which are both different and complementary.

For a while we had two co-pastors (elders) (myself and one other man) who led the church with equal authority, but different giftings. We both taught in our own ways and styles, and our leadership skills were quite different, but complimentary. We were in complete submission to each other and worked side-by-side in the labor of shepherding the flock.

Our other Pastor has since moved on to other ministry which has left us with just myself. While we currently only have one Pastor/Elder, it is our desire that God, in His faithfulness and timing, may bring us more as we grow in maturity and even in numbers.

As to my home, I have been married since 1995 to my wonderful wife Terissa Woodson who is my closest friend and most trusted ally.

As far as my education goes, I grew up in a Christian home, but questioned everything I was ever taught.

I graduated from Bible college in 1990 and continued to question everything I was ever taught (I do not mention my college in order to avoid being labeled).

Perhaps my greatest preparation for ministry has been life and ministry itself. To quote an author I have come to enjoy namely Fredrick Buechner in his writing entitled, Now and Then, "If God speaks to us at all other than through such official channels as the Bible and the church, then I think that He speaks to us largely through what happens to us...if we keep our hearts open as well as our ears, if we listen with patience and hope, if we remember at all deeply and honestly, then I think we come to recognize beyond all doubt, that, however faintly we may hear Him, He is indeed speaking to us, and that, however little we may understand of it, His word to each of us is both recoverable and precious beyond telling." ~ Fredrick Buechner

Well that is about all there is of interest to tell you about me.

I hope our ministry here is a blessing to you and your family. I also hope that it is only a supplement to a local church where you are committed to other believers in a community of grace.

~God Bless!