Kingdom Ready Blog

From a biblical perspective, the notion that God will one day establish His kingdom on earth is extremely well-attested, enjoying support from both Old and New Testaments, from both historical books and the prophets, from Paul’s epistles and the Gospels, and especially from the Bible’s last book. God’s plan is to make everything wrong with the world right, to restore creation back to its original Edenic glory, to defeat evil and death once and for all, and to usher in an eternal age of peace and joy on earth. Rather than exploding, nuking, or dissolving the earth, God wants to fix it up—like an antique car—until it shines with its original glory.

Alright, time for me to get back on track and start the New Year right with a post in Week #1!  So here we go with something short & easy.

Before Christmas I uncovered in a packed-away attic box – a TON more pamphlets, books, leaflets, and other treasures of theology that my parents had collected back in their day.  There’s a ton of stuff from individuals, Advent Christian publishers, The Restitution Herald (in Oregon Illinois), and the Layman’s Home Missionary Movement.  This particular one here is from the Layman’s – or LHMM for short.  There’s no copyright or published date on it so I’m not sure from when it originates.  But I’d guess from the 1940′s – 1960′s.  I saw the title listed on another site associated with the LHMM, but not the actual content of the piece.  Therefore I thought I would re-publish it to the world-wide-web for all to enjoy.

101 is a slang term that means “basic introduction”. Many in our society use the term, especially in academics, when designing short courses to introduce students to the basics of a given subject.

Eg. “Geometry 101, Physics 101, Chemistry 101, Biology 101, etc…”

Within Christendom, there are many evangelists, preachers and pastors who are trying their very best to present Christianity and the Bible’s primary message to a lost world and to those who have questions and are seeking to know about God. Sadly, many of these ministers have failed to accurately convey, even the simple facts of the faith. The results are half-converts, living without any sense of purpose, lacking vision, ignorant of God’s plans; they live without a spiritual compass in their life.

What does the phrase, “I’m only human,” mean? We use these words when someone has just made a foolish mistake. For example, a husband who has forgotten to leave the toilet seat down is awakened in the middle of the night by a rather indignant wife in a fury over such an inconsideration. He replies groggily, “I’m sorry; I forgot; I’m only human.” The phrase is used to express something we feel deeply about humanity in its present condition. We are flawed creatures who often forget, make mistakes, and act selfishly. “I’m only human” means others should not expect too much from me since I am limited and “prone to wander” as the hymn put it. This sentiment is reinforced by the narrative in Genesis 3 about our fall. Through an act of rebellious disobedience, our first parents fell short of the glory of God and in so doing contaminated our species. By noting how the lifespans in Scripture show a decidedly downward trend, we gain the impression that over time humankind has continued its descent as it continues to degenerate from generation to generation. We are sons of Adam and daughters of Eve who tend towards selfishness and rebellion. Holiness and self-sacrificial love are not “natural” for us; we have to work hard to resist our “flesh.” Even with maximal effort, we are complete failures without external help from God through His spirit. Ungodliness, however, comes without effort as if intertwined in our very DNA. When we think of being human, we think of our current fallen state.

To understand this term, one must also seek to understand other closely related phrases, like sons of men and children of men. Firstly, all of these terms are applied to mankind in general. These terms indicate the difference between God and the human race. The phrase son of man is the strongest way to distinguish between deity and humanity!

Psalm 115:16 (usage – children of men)
Consider the contrast between God and mankind: God dwells in heaven; man dwells on the earth.

Psalm 145:10 – 13 (usage – sons of men)
Here’s another contrast between God and mankind: God is big, strong, powerful and eternal; man is small, weak and temporal.

I think the title says it all. The world as we know it is battling with hopelessness. Everything in our society these days has become uncertain. Nothing is guaranteed. Hence many are living in fear and misery. All they see is a pitiful life with no end in sight. Sometimes they wish death would take them and be rid of this little existence. How about when this begins to creep into the church? Today, I want to speak on the subject of hope and its importance in our life. Hope is an integral part of Christianity and each of us must learn about it and live it out.

Matthew 22:1-14 ( NASB)

Before the Kingdom comes, a terrible time of darkness, violence, and tribulation will come. Just when it seems that all hope is lost, Jesus will come in the clouds, resurrect his followers, and establish his reign on the earth. For the first thousand years, Jesus will rule the earth from Jerusalem. During this time, many regular people will also be living. Thus, it will be the responsibility of the followers of Christ to function as priests to these people and administer the government. While this new theocracy is proceeding, the earth itself will be restored, like an antique car, to its former state of perfection (the Garden of Eden). After the thousand years, everyone who was not part of the first resurrection will be judged, Satan will be destroyed, and then God Himself will come perpetually to dwell on the earth with His children.

In the last two article I wrote I talked about feeling the emotion, pain, and feelings of other. Also how the root of this stemmed from Jesus and his ministry. I would like to relate more as to what kind of affect Jesus should have on us especially with his departure from Earth. Yet Jesus still has an ever growing connection to mankind. It seems that the question is always, are God and Jesus present, or is it because we just allow them to exist simply in our minds? Are they physically present? How real is the presents of Yahweh (GOD) and the roll and presences of Yahushua (Messiah) Jesus our Lord and Savior? I ask is the weight that we put on knowledge sacrificing our actual spirituality? Is the weight that is put on analyzing the scripture, with our own minds drowning or at least quenching the spirit with in us? The verses below present an interesting view. Is the Love of God present in our lives, which includes our Love for God, and our belief in His son(Or Faith In), our belief in who he was and what was his mission was will directly affects our purpose and mission in life, and most important our status to the coming Kingdom.

This is a phrase that has been heavily thumped to us by churches, ministries, denominations, pastors and the like. The warning and pleading to take hold of truth and discard tradition. You’ve now got books, sermons, documentaries and websites that all use this phrase as their title and label. What does this all mean? What is the message behind this phrase? How are we to respond to it all?