Matthew 6:33
But seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you.
Taken from the VBI Course, The Kingdom of God - 1.
The Kingdom of God is the fundamental theological framework of the Vineyard movement.
The very person of Jesus in scripture unifies everything we read. Jesus came announcing the kingdom. His parables help to explain the kingdom to those he taught. His miracles validated what He said and became evidence announcing the kingdom. The proclamation that the kingdom was here but not yet unites the whole flow of truth written in the Bible. God has indeed invaded time and space to take back that which was lost to the devil.
If I could do one thing in my life, it would be to come to an understanding of the kingdom of God. Not as a set of principals or dogmatic rules to live by and under the influence of, but rather it being more like air. We take it in and it sustains life. It becomes a part of us. Such is what I think Christ desires of us. Sometimes we actually treat the kingdom like "air". It is all around us (and in us) we know we need it but we don't think to much on it. The kingdom of God is first played out in our lives as we have these "divine" appointments with the Holy Spirit, or God's intervention into our time and space. Through our salvation, God's kingdom becomes real and, in my opinion, the amount of the kingdom I see and understand is in proportion to the amount I surrender to His will and leading.
In recovery, the catch word is POWER. When we speak of Power, we are speaking of the presence and person of Jesus Christ. He breaks into our personal life and affairs. Everything about us is invaded by Christ in an effort to awaken us to the reality of our need for His rule and reign (Lordship) over us. The Kingdom living inside us.
We are not called to be a passive people. Nor are we called to be spiritual "bullies". Our call is advance the rule and reign of God through His love that we experience by the work of His Holy Spirit. Not love like the world has created, but the Agape love of God which speaks truth and is willing to turn loose of those who will not receive it. We, as followers of Jesus, have been called to live by the power of the future age when we will see the kingdom of God completed. This power that is given to us by God is manifested to those who are living under the curse and power of sin. We proclaim the truth of the cross, backed by the POWER of God's Holy Spirit.
Derek Morphew, writer of the VBI Course KINGDOM 1 writes Those who are followers of Jesus live by the powers of the future age while the powers of this age continue around us. The kingdom calls to us from the future and breaks in on us. It is worth selling all we have to purchase this one pearl of great price. Let us respond therefore to the word of Jesus to "Seek first the kingdom of God."
God on you.....
mb
No comments:
Post a Comment