Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Your Kingdom Come

Last night at the Hillsong United worship event, one of the leaders from Hillsong gave an amazing 10 minute message about the Kingdom of God. It was a great summary of the essence of Jesus' teaching about the Kingdom. I hope to hit the highlights.

The kingdom of God is his sovereign rule and reign. It exists fully in heaven. The kingdom of God came to earth when Jesus, the Son of God, took on human flesh. He went about preaching "Repent, for the Kingdom of God is here!" I HIGHLY recommend this article to you--in less than two easy pages, it summarizes what the author took two seminary classes to explain to me: The Kingdom of God.

After Jesus ascended into heaven, His Spirit came to be IN us. God the Father dwells in heaven, and Jesus is at his right hand, but the Spirit of God lives inside of us. In this way, heaven is here on earth. We are God's kingdom, his body, his church. Jesus taught us to pray "Our Father who is in heaven, may your name be hallowed ("your name" means "you" in this particular instance; "hallowed"--revered, honored, feared). "Your Kingdom Come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."

Here's the thing--not only are we to pray that God's kingdom would come, but we are to make it so. We are his ambassadors (2 Cor. 5:20). Because we have his Spirit in us and he works his purposes through us, we bring heaven to earth. We are to proclaim the Kingdom of God every day by our words and our actions.

This happens when you and I lay down all that we are--everything--and give it to Him, and ask Him to be our everything. Almost every song last night spoke about surrendering ourselves, and wanting nothing more than to be what God wants us to be, and do what He wants us to do. Will we not just sing it, but live it?

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Sunday Mind Dump

It's late but I'm a little juiced from watching Magic/Cavs game three. Might as well start there...
--was certainly not the most fun game to watch, there were bad calls on both sides
--Dwight needs to watch his elbow and his composure
--We've GOT to take game 4, unfortunately I won't be able to watch it as I'll be at the Hillsong United concert.

--Really enjoyed the cuteness of Aidan today. He's such a great little boy, and brings so much joy into our lives!
--Thankful for Aidan's Uncle Don who watched him last night on date night

--This morning I preached at Grace Fellowship about "The Best Investment You'll Ever Make." It was great!
--Tons of people were gone--the first sunny day in a week, plus memorial day. I hope many of you will take advantage of the podcast!
--I hope that if you are a person who serves at Grace, that you were encouraged today, that you went home with a fresh perspective on why investing in other people MATTERS, it matters to God!
--Thank you to many for the prayers and encouragement--I don't preach often, but I'm really OK with that because God has called Pastor Mike to preach and lead us. When I do, I need your prayers, and I felt them today.
--I really hope you're on board in this fasting challenge--Anne and I are fasting until dinnertime tomorrow. Looking forward to whatever God might want for us out of it!