Living in the Kingdom XXIII

Sunday 02/28/16

Series: Living in the Kingdom XXIII

Message – Unified in Purpose XIV

Living in the Kingdom

United with God in Purpose

As a focus point for our teaches we are looking at being united with God in how we pray and we have generated a short list of key aspects of prayer that are consistent throughout scripture with those whose walk with God were noteworthy.

Fervency in prayer
Praying with respect to God, His will & His way
Steadfastness in faith – sterile way of saying that our trust in God as we come to Him in prayer is coupled with patience.
Prayer with is Persistence in Hope
Being filled with JOY!
Sincerity in prayer.

Now we’ve illustrated these points as they were lived out in the lives of people like David, Jacob, Elisha and in the life and prayers of Jesus Himself.

We are on the last statement made by Christ’s prayer this week

For Yours is the Kingdom, power & glory forever….Let it be!

Last week we looked at the kingdom, this week we will be looking at the POWER!
Christ had just asked the Father … “In Your power, don’t allow us to be made subject to your enemy but deliver us from his power that it’s greater than our own and from his kingdom of darkness into Your Kingdom.

For or Because…Yours is the Kingdom, Yours is the power & Yours is the glory forever….Let it be!

The word for Power used in the Lord’s prayer was dunamis – which is inherent achieving power.

Jesus’ prayer culminated in a statement which completely encapsulates the entire Christian life and gospel message.

Yours in the kingdom – the rule and the reign.

Yours in the power – The ability to rise above the enslaving power of sin, darkness & death and be freed into the kingdom of obedience, light & life. It is God’s power which enables man to live sin free, honorable lives in Christ.

Yours is the glory – We will talk about this next week.

In this first reference I am quoting from Wuest since his translation pays special attention to tenses which are very important in this passage.

Rom 1:16-17, “(16) For I am not ashamed of the Good News. It is God’s power which is at work for the salvation of every one who believes–the Jew first, and then the Gentile. (17) For in this Good News a righteousness which comes from God is being revealed, depending on faith and tending to produce faith; as the Scripture has it, “THE RIGHTEOUS MAN SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.”

Eph. 5:8-10, “(8) For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (9) (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), (10) finding out what is acceptable to the Lord.”

Eph. 3:14-21, “(14) For this reason, on bended knee I beseech the Father, (15) from whom the whole family in Heaven and on earth derives its name, (16) to grant you–in accordance with the wealth of His glorious perfections–to be strengthened by His Spirit with power penetrating to your inmost being. (17) I pray that Christ may make His home in your hearts through settled relational trust; so that having your roots deep and your foundations strong, in love, you may become mighty to grasp the idea, (18) as it is grasped by all God’s people, concerning what is the breadth and length, the height and depth– (19) yes, to attain to a knowledge of the knowledge-surpassing love of Christ, so that you may be made complete in accordance with God’s own standard of completeness. (20) Now to Him who, in exercise of His OWN power that is at work within us, and is able to do infinitely beyond all our highest prayers or thoughts— (21) to Him be the glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, world without end! Amen.”

Col 1:9-13, “(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; (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; (11) strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; (12) giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. (13) He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,”

Col. 3:5-11, “(5) Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. (6) Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, (7)in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them. (8) But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. (9) Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, (10) and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, (11) where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.”

Php. 3:7-11, “(7) But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. (8) Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ (9) and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; (10) that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, (11) if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.”

2Tim. 1:7-8, “(7) For the Spirit which God has given us is not a spirit of cowardice, but one of power and of love and of sound judgement. (8) Do not be ashamed then to bear witness for our Lord and for me His prisoner; but rather share suffering with me in the service of the Good News, strengthened by the power of God.”

2Tim. 3:1-17, “(1) But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: (2) For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, (3) unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, (4) traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, (5) having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! (6) For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, (7) always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. (8) Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith; (9) but they will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all, as theirs also was. (10) But you have carefully followed my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, perseverance, (11) persecutions, afflictions, which happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra—what persecutions I endured. And out of them all the Lord delivered me. (12) Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. (13) But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. (14) But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, (15) and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. (16) All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, (17) that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

Again the problem in our day is an over emphasis on the work of Christ in our spirits to the neglect and even denial that there is an ongoing work in our souls and flesh. This is the dangerous heresy of today and one that is finding it harder and harder to exist in the light of scripture which is why these movements are going through great pains to call the inspiration, the inerrancy and the infallibility of scripture into doubt.

Next week we will look at scriptures which explain the glories which follow the Kingdom and the Power…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.

If you have been spiritually fed by this ministry and wish to give, we truly appreciate that and you may do so here, but all outreaches of this ministry are FREE for you and anyone to enjoy at no cost.

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!