Archive for the ‘The Kingdom of God’ Tag

“Jesus: ‘Look, I Am Making Everything New!'”


Scripture: Revelation 21:1-8


Introduction:

It is not just the work of Jesus that saves us, but Who Jesus IS as our Resurrection, plus what he has done, that saves us! As The Resurrection He was making things new inside our humanity even as he was killing our death in his Incarnate life!

Theological Theme:

In short, we believe:

  1. God, Who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is Love; and God Loves You. (If Jesus wasn’t the Father’s Son then we’re not loved!)
  2. The Father made plans to include you in his Love and Life forever, through Jesus, and in the Spirit. (If Jesus wasn’t the Father’s Son then we aren’t included in God’s Love and Life!)
  3. The Son, Jesus, Accomplished the Father’s Plan 2000 years ago, and IN HIM Who is united to our human nature, we are Forgiven and Included in His Relationship with His Father. (If Jesus wasn’t the Father’s Son then God’s plan isn’t accomplished in him, our nature is still corrupt and headed to eternal death, and we’re not forgiven!)
  4. The Holy Spirit invites You to Believe this Good News; and in Believing, to Enjoy and Freely Share it with others as the Adopted Child the Father Always Wanted! (If Jesus wasn’t the Father’s Son, then he couldn’t send the Holy Spirit Who he said was vital for us to receive if we wanted to enter the Kingdom, be righteous, have peace, and be saved!)

If Jesus was someone other than THE One who takes us to the Father and sends us the Holy Spirit, then what he did would have no meaning or ability to get us into a relationship with the only God there is: the Father, Son, Holy Spirit God!

Christ Connection:

We’re not waiting for our bodily resurrection before Jesus becomes the actual King over everything! Jesus, the Resurrection and King, wasn’t talking about making things new simply in the age to come in the future, he was talking about beginning to make all things new right now!!!!

We don’t have to wait for Jesus to make all things new fully and finally! He is already beginning right now to make all things new!!

“For me the most radical demand of Christian faith lies in summoning the courage to say yes to the present risenness of Jesus Christ.” (and everything else that Christ already is right now even though we can’t see it!)

“For me the most radical demand of Christian faith lies in summoning the courage to say yes to the present risenness of Jesus Christ.”

– Brennan Manning

We get to go into the resurrection alive! We get to rise from death before we rise from death!

Missional Application:

Jesus is so near and available that just as he walked among people in his day calling for a response to him, he is right now calling for people to make an immediate response to him! His Kingdom on earth has already been inaugurated, just not consummated! It has started, it just hasn’t finished, but behold He’s already making all things new, so we call on people to believe and receive this Good News and relationship with Jesus!!

We also remind people that there are real consequences to accepting or rejecting Jesus when he approaches us! Overlooking these serious warnings also has an effect of minimizing the meaning
and significance of what Jesus has done and is doing. If there are no real consequences to our encounter with God and his grace in this life then our responses to him are relatively meaningless and insignificant. Presuming upon God’s Grace is a Rejection of God’s Grace!!

The Father, Son and Holy Spirit God is not trying to wait to be King over everything, and especially you, he’s wanting you to receive and live under His Kingly Lordship Now!

“God loves you so utterly and completely that he has given himself for you in Jesus Christ his beloved Son, and has… pledged his very being as God for your salvation….Jesus Christ died for you precisely because you are sinful and utterly unworthy of him, and has thereby already made you his own before and apart from your ever believing in him. He has bound you to himself by his love in a way that he will never let you go, for even if you refuse him and damn yourself in hell his love will never cease. Therefore, repent and believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour.”

-T. F. Torrance, The Mediation of Christ, 94.

Photos compliments: outreachmagazine.com

No One Can – Except The Lord Jesus!

Part 1A

Part 1B


Scripture: 1 Corinthians 3:16


Introduction:

We’re in the season of Lent, biblically, walking with the historic Jesus as he fights for us against everything that is against us, including the evil that exists in this present evil age! And rather than just focusing on “giving something up” or even “taking something in”, we proclaim to you the Gospel of Someone, namely Jesus, and the Father-Son-Holy-Spirit-God revealed in Him. We proclaim not ideas to you but Someone Who loves you, meets you, and acts on your behalf that you might know Him, call on Him and participate in His action with Him! And in announcing Him we announce His Kingdom that is breaking in now and that will take over everything fully someday! And we do it with him as a source of your encouragement, and reorientation, and warning! We keep calling on you in participation with him to repent and believe this Good News and to enter, by grace through faith, this active relationship with Jesus and the Father you were created for!

Theological Theme:

In Jesus’ conception, life, suffering, death, resurrection and ascension we see the great mercy of God to give us all time to see him, to learn of him, accept him, know him, rethink/act, and join sides with him before he returns for His final judgment! There is coming a point-of-no-return for everyone, including you, at some point! And the questions stand before you: 1.) Who do you say Jesus is? And Whose are you? and Whose world/creation is this?

Christ Connection:

In the light of Who Jesus is Revealed to be, and what he has accomplished on our behalf that
every person might share in his relationship with his Father by the Spirit (John 17:3, John 16:13-
15), you must not underestimate the priority of the Who question. As “Christ”ians we don’t
believe that just anyone could be and do who Jesus is and what he did in his birth, life, suffering
and death, resurrection, ascension and coming again. We don’t believe that just anyone
could achieve the same outcome/s. Jesus is the unique and only Begotten of the Father
(John 3:16). He is the only human Mediator between God and man (1 Tim 2:5). He is the only
one to whom every knee will bow and tongue confess that he is Lord (Phil 2:9-11) This
“Who” is in contrast to the popular “What?”, “How?”, “When?”, “Where?” and “Why?
questions that often claim priority in our lives. (You know what we mean: What will be done about these
troubling political and social issues!? How long will the world continue to suffer racial
discrimination and injustice!? When will this physical, mental or emotional pain end!? Where is that stimulus check??? Where is the man or woman with the real leadership solution to this COVID mess, and why is it taking so long to get understood, organized and solved!? (this year we especially felt the pressure of those questions and issues.)

Missional Application:

Because this is the Son’s world, the Father’s world, and the world of the Holy Spirit, and They, in Christ have done everything to give us life and godliness – and have done everything to pull off every good thing for us, we share this Good News with everyone we can, inviting them to place their trust in God and be his fully devoted son or daughter by the Spirit, in participation with Jesus!

Photos compliments: quotesbeste.blogspot.com, Dr. Gary Deddo,

I, Yet Not I, But Christ In Me!

I, Yet Not I, But Christ In Me!, Part 1A, 03-07-2021
I, Yet Not I, But Christ In Me!, Part 1B, 03-07-2021

Bible Verse: Galatians 2:20


Introduction:

The primary goal of God, Father, Son and Spirit is that you share in His Divine nature and relationship as a GIFT! This time of Lent can help you remember this basic point and foundation of the Christian Faith. We remember the gift Jesus gave us of giving up so many things and becoming poor in the desert that we might become rich in his victory over evil’s temptations! He now shares with us the gift of participation in his victory over temptation and sin that we might share in the unobstacled and rich relationship he shares with his Father!

Theological Theme:

“You, yet not you, but Christ in you” is the only Christian Gospel we have!

Christ Connection:

In the light of Who Jesus is Revealed to be, and what he has accomplished on our behalf that
every person might share in his relationship with his Father by the Spirit (John 17:3, John 16:13-
15), we must not underestimate the priority of the Who question! As CHRIST-ians we don’t
believe that just anyone could be and do Who Jesus is and what he did in his birth, life, suffering
and death, resurrection, ascension and coming again! We don’t believe that just anyone
could achieve the same outcome/s! Jesus is the unique and only Begotten of the Father
(John 3:16). He is the only human Mediator between God and man (1 Tim 2:5). He is the only
one to whom every knee will bow and tongue confess that he is Lord! (Phil 2:9-11)

Knowing Who Jesus IS, do you see the qualitative difference the Who question can have on your faith, hope, and love? Regarding the politics and social issues of this world, Whose world is it? Regarding
all physical, mental and emotional pain, Whose body and soul is it? With regard to COVID and
the disturbance of death it has brought to far too many in this world, Whose Resurrection from
death was it that makes all alive? Jesus! Which means there is nothing Jesus has allowed that he can’t redeem!

Missional Application:

In the Holy Spirit Jesus sends to us, we seek to proclaim this Good News of the transformation of the world to all who will hear and receive it by grace through faith:

Rev 21:1-7 CSB: “1Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first
earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 I also saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem,
coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband.
3 Then I heard a loud voice from the throne: Look, God’s dwelling is with humanity, and he will
live with them. They will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them and will be their
God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; grief, crying, and
pain will be no more, because the previous things have passed away.
5 Then the one seated on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new.” He also said,
“Write, because these words are faithful and true.”6 Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the
Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will freely give to the thirsty from the spring
of the water of life. 7 The one who conquers will inherit these things, and I will be his God, and
he will be my son.”

Photo Compliments: pinterest.com

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