Build His Kingdom Here

Am I Building My Kingdom or am I building His Kingdom?

It is easy to lose focus.  Even as I write this, I am having to force myself to be focused; there are so many things fighting for our attention in this ADHD instant world that we live in.  When Christ called us to salvation, our eyes were opened.  They were opened to the sin around us, the were opened to the sin in us, and they were opened the great great power He has to overcome and forgive us of that sin. How quickly and often we can forget about that great work that Christ has done in us and the great power that lives in us, that we are partakers in - “having escaped from the corruption that is in the world”.  

If our eyes have been opened to the greatness and goodness of God then we should try to model Christ in everything that we do for the sake of building His kingdom.  We do this through every aspect of our life, so our life screams out, “Christ is Lord”.  If I am being honest, and why should I not be, I am not there yet.  There are many aspects of my life that scream, “Jonathan is Lord”; there are many aspects of my life that scream, “My family is Lord”; even furthermore there are many aspects of my life that loudly scream, “money is Lord”.  Many times I am more concerned about building my kingdom, my families kingdom, and my financial kingdom, than I am building His Kingdom.  

In 2 Peter, Peter says that if I am not pursuing the qualities that scream “Christ Is Lord”, I am keeping myself ineffective and unfruitful for the Lord - furthermore if I lack these qualities then I am nearsighted, blind, having FORGOTTEN the truth my eyes were opened when I was saved.  Peter then says, I need to be therefore highly concerned with making sure to make much of the Lord, to building His kingdom now.  

It is easy to lose focus on what is important; as sad as it is to say, it is easy to forget the great power of salvation of Christ; to lose the joy of our salvation.  It is easy to lose focus that building our Kingdom will accomplish nothing, while building Christ’s Kingdom will accomplish forgiveness and everlasting life in other’s lives.  

Our kingdoms: ourselves, our families, our money - it all pales in comparison to the great love of His Kingdom.  

Let’s be about building His Kingdom today.  

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

2 Peter 1:3-11

Faith Like A Child

Faith Like A Child

Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom 

of God like a child shall not enter it.

Luke 18:17

My daughter, Mackenzie, is a three-year-old who is full of life, energy and excitement.  It is amazing to watch her learn new things and oftentimes quite humorous to see how she processes them.  Before every meal and at bedtime each night we end each of our prayers with “Amen, To God Be All the Glory”.  This has become a standard to her on how one is supposed to end a prayer.  It is has been humorous to see her correct her Sunday School teachers saying, that they forgot to say, “To God Be All the Glory”.  Meanwhile they try to figure out what this three-year-old is saying, since it is not always completely understandable.  

Mackenzie attends the preschool held at the Methodist Church in the town where we live.  A few weeks ago, she came home concerned, worried, and upset.  When my wife and I asked her what was wrong, she said, “Pastor David does not know how to end a prayer”.  I assumed she meant that he had simply forgotten to say, “To God Be All the Glory”, however she continued, he ended his prayers saying, “(Ahh-men)" instead of "(Ae-men)."  She was worried how someone who was a pastor could miss this simple task.  So Mackenzie, with the mind of a child begin to pray for Pastor David every night, that God would teach him how to correctly end a prayer.  

Yesterday, when I picked Mackenzie up from pre-school, it was all Mackenzie could do to contain her excitement as she told me, that “God had taught Pastor David to end his prayers correctly with "(Ae-men)."  Being an adult and not particularly in the believing mode, I tried to interpret what she was saying by asking, “So did you bug him to say that?”, or “Was he trying to make you happy?”.  Mackenzie continued, that, no God had been the one who had taught Pastor David this; He had answered her prayer.  It then hit me, this was Faith Like a Child.  Even though I don’t know what caused Pastor David to end his prayers like this, in my daughters mind, this was God doing exactly what we had been teaching her - answering her prayers.  

I wonder how many of us would have callused hearts in this situation, to think well God didn’t truly answer this prayer, trying to rationalize what had happened, instead of simply exclaiming that God had answered a prayer.  In this moment, my daughter became the teacher and I became the student; she reminded me of a child-like faith that doesn’t reason, or try to explain, but that trusts in God.   

Be encouraged today that the Lord does indeed hear your prayers, and He is at work in answering them.  

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer,

believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

Mark 11:24

The Depth of the Father's Love Is Overwhelming

We often sing a song in corporate worship entitled, “How Deep the Father’s Love for Us”, the text is awfully powerful.  I think that the text is so powerful because it calls us to grips to the depths of God’s love.  The only way that we can remotely understand and comprehend the depths of that love, is through the understanding of the depths and severity of our own sin.  The text actually combats our natural and sinful inclination in which we are tempted to think more highly of ourselves than we ought to.  Though while none of us would readily admit it, we more often than not, live our lives as if we have something to offer God, that there is something that God somehow needs from us.  While the reality is, as the song says, we are “wretch”, people of a despicable character, who undeserving have been made a treasure. 

Furthermore, the reality that this text continues to reveal, is that this undeserving grace did not come without a price, it did not come without a cost.  There was much pain physically and emotionally, as God who was fully human experienced not only physical torture, but humiliation as well.  This grace did not come without a price, it was our guilt upon His shoulders, it was our mocking voices who were crucifying Him, it was our sin that brought Him death, which brought us life.  This is the depth of the love of the Father, this is the depth of our wretchedness, this is the depth of our salvation. 

Therefore as redeemed wretches, what can we boast in apart from Jesus Christ?  Apart from Him we have nothing to offer, we bring nothing to the table; we brought guilt upon His shoulders, He gave us life.  Why should we gain this undeserved grace, this reward?  Our only response can be that Jesus Is Lord!  Christ died for the ungodly. 

Anthony Carter states this point well in an article at Ligonier.org:  “All because of the love of God. Christ left heaven. He laid aside glory, concealing His majesty. He subjected Himself to the creature’s scorn, outcast from a world He created. He suffered demonic attack, lies, and public ridicule. Friends forsook Him. He was brutally beaten, stripped, and put to open shame. Spat upon and slapped, publicly and shamefully executed, He assumed the guilt and punishment for every sin we ever committed. He reconciled us to God and secured our acceptance before God. Why? Because justice demanded it and our justification required it. Because He loved us even before we ever knew Him or understood what He was doing.

Thankfully, now we do.”

How Deep The Father’s Love for Us!

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5:6-8

     

Are Resolutions Only For The New Year?

Are Resolutions only for the New Year?  

Happy New Year!  This is a phrase that we often say to one another around this time of year, although time is continual, with the restarting of the calendar, this time of year can bring an attitude and hope of a “restart”, newness, and freshness. Often time around this time of the year people make resolutions or they resolve themselves to a commitment of sorts for the new year.  Often times these resolutions consist of loosing weight, becoming more organized, or being more financially responsible.  While these are not bad goals, they are however temporal.  

In 2010 and 2011, just as many of you, I experienced the loss of loved ones.  Death is always a good reminder that life is not forever, it is a gift which should not be wasted.  Therefore each of these years of losses have led me to think, “what should the Christian resolve to do?”.  Not in the sense of a resolution due in part to a New Year, but a resolution that defines ones life.  I answered the question at the beginning of 2011 with the answer that I wanted to resolve not to waste my life.  If each breath is a gift from God, I want each breath to be given back to God for His Glory.  This has been a good phrase for my family as we go about our day-to-day lives with the continual question, “how is what I am doing bringing Glory to God and not wasting my life?”.    

As we experienced the death of another loved one in late 2011 I begin to think more upon the question of what should not only I resolve to as a Christian, but what should my family resolve to as a Christian family?  What legacy do I want my family to be remembered and known for?  Therefore in late 2011 Natalie and I begin to pray and commit ourselves that we want to be known as a family who loves God, hates our sin, and loves others more than ourselves.  This is the legacy that we want to hold ourselves to as well as our children to.

What are your goals for yourself and your family?  I learned through a leadership class I took this year that goals must be held for daily objectives to be accomplished.  What are your overall goals for life?  Do you talk about them with your spouse or children?  Although resolutions are not limited to the new year, this is a perfect opportunity to discuss and bring up how you and your family can better Glorify God this year through setting long-term goals that define your daily objectives.  

I love you all, covet your prayers, and am in prayer for you always,

Jonathan