GREENE STREET LETTERS: Kingdom Dynamic

Sunday, June 8, 2014

Kingdom Dynamic

Mark 1:14-15
Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the Kingdom of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel."

The Kingdom of God....God's dynamic rule and reign here on earth.
The Kingdom is here. We see it every time someone is prayed for.
We experience the kingdom dynamic every time someone is delivered from the bondage of sin.
We see it every time someone is healed. We, as followers of Jesus, are called to extend and carry this kingdom dynamic out into the market place...into our communities and towns. There isn't an agenda behind this call. No hidden motives or political positioning. There is just the love of God that should drive us to want to see others freed from the kingdom of darkness.

I John 3:8 says that the reason Jesus was manifested here on earth...or the reason He appeared, was to destroy the works of the devil. In doing so, He frees people to become disciples of His kingdom. He, in turn, empowers them to go out and make more disciples.

That is where my heart is, to make disciples. To help equip people so that they can follow Jesus on their own. That they become able to "hear" God and follow what He is instructing them to do. To be able to trust God's Holy Spirit as He teaches them and, as they move out into the place God has called them to.

It's all a part of the "Kingdom Now/ Kingdom Not Yet" view of God that has made more sense to me as I have studied it. We see glimpses of God's power and His Kingdom rule as we minister and pray for those we come in contact with. At Vineyard Recovery, we are experiencing this right now.We have two people we are praying for, and have been for some time. One of them, an older gentleman, has cancer and seems to be recovering and getting better. The other, a young woman, has cancer and is not getting better. In fact, her cancer is spreading and the prognosis is not good. This is the part of Kingdom work that we scratch our heads and ask, "Why, God?" I wish I knew the answer to that. I wish I could tell you in some sort of neat package as to what is going on. I can't. I can tell you this. If we quit praying for those who are sick, then no one is ever going to get healed.

When you look into the book of Revelation, you get a wonderful picture of the Kingdom of God in its fullness. Revelation 21:4 / And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. Unfortunately, we don't see this dynamic in our world at this point, do we? No. But we do see glimpses of it. We do see some who are delivered and some who are healed. We are able to participated with God and see salvation come to others. We are able to pray effectively and break the demonic presence in the lives of some.

We see brain tumors disappear.
We see kidney's healed.
We see digestive problems removed.
We see insomnia taken away.
We see family relationships restored.
We see salvation to those who have lived their entire lives on the outside looking in.
We see joints and muscles relived of pain.
We see back joints put back in place and pain removed.
We see women who previously not been able to conceive, give birth to beautiful babies.
Such is the kingdom of God.
I never go into a situation where I am going to pray for someone, knowing what is going to happen.
IN fact, such things usually are accompanied with a lot of "O God...O God...O God...O God!" prayers. I realize that I am just a conduit through which God can work. It is His presence...It is His power...and it is His purpose that is being played out in this situation. But I will go. I will not have any answers to give other than, "Boy, this God......He truly is something else, isn't He?"
He loves us when we are healed.
He loves us when we aren't, and are left with a million questions as to why not.
If you can wrap your head and heart around how much God does truly love this world, it can change the way you view life. It really is all about the Kingdom of God here, but the kingdom not yet.

God on you....
mb

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Looking At The World Through Cracked Lens

As ol' Paul wrote in his Corinthian letters.."We see in part and we know in part." Now what piece of this bit of wisdom do we not get? I wish to not run around acting and trying to be some sort of Biblical G00-Ru (I meant to spell it wrong). Or a sage of sages.

I simply want to be able to communicate some of what God has given to me. Why? Do I think what I get is better than what you may have received from Him? Nope. But I do think encouragement comes when we share our daily story of struggle and victory in an effort to encourage each other.

Thanks for letting me share.

Time to soldier on..

mbb

Our Statement of Faith

We believe that God is the eternal king. He is an infinite, unchangeable Spirit, perfect in holiness, wisdom, goodness, justice, power and love. From all eternity He exists as the One Living and True God in three persons of one substance, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit equal in power and glory. we believe that God created mankind in His image, male and female, for relationship with Himself and to govern the earth. Under the temptation of Satan, our original parents fell from grace, bringing sin, sickness and God's judgment of death to the earth. Through the fall, Satan and his demonic hosts gained access to God's good creation. Creation now experiences the consequences and effects of Adam's original sin. Human beings are born into sin, subject to God's judgment of death and captive to Satan's kingdom of darkness. We believe that Jesus, God's Son, was sent to this world, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin, Mary, fully God and fully man in one person. He is humanity as God intended us to be. Jesus was anointed as God's Messiah and empowered by the Holy Spirit, ushering in God's kingdom reign on earth, overpowering the reign of Satan by resisting temptation, preaching the good news of salvation, healing the sick, casting out demons and raising the dead. Jesus' atoning death on the cross took God's judgment for sin which we deserved as law-breakers. Jesus' resurrection and ascent back to heaven opened the door for those who received salvation to begin a relationship with God.

Little Nets Into Deep Waters

Fishing nets were designed for one purpose only. To catch fish. Nets are no good if they stay on the boat. Nets serve no purpose if they are never used. I think maybe God sees us this way. We are all created for a purpose (by the way, the creator gets to define what our purpose is). Any other use besides the one we were created for does us no good. But when the creator places His hands upon us, casting us out into those scary, dark places with deep waters, it is then we can see the reality of our purpose. He knew there would be a catch waiting for us. I think I will be the net God has called me to be.

The Twelve Steps

As a community of people in recovery, we affirm that our higher power is Jesus Christ. He did for us what we could not do for ourselves. Just as God told the children of Israel He was going to give them a promised land, He has revealed to us that He desires to give us a "Promised Life." When Israel got to the promised land, God instructed them to go and in a possess it, fight for it and claim it. In recovery, the 12 Steps are the directions given to us on how to fight, possess and claim this promised life.

Sunday, June 8, 2014

Kingdom Dynamic

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THE REALITY OF THE NAME OF GOD