Kingdom Ready Blog

I get devotional thoughts from a pastor-friend of mine named Steve Taylor, many on this board may know him as well and this particular one really struck me. The link to his blog is http://www.kingdomdreamer.blogspot.com/ this particular blog was posted on May 29.

The urgent need is to simplify. In this fast-paced, high-tech age simple priorities have been buried under mountains of complexities.

“Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.” (Mark 10:15)

I was recently having a conversation with a good friend of mine.  And he mentioned that he was having trouble understanding the true meaning behind Jesus’ phrase in Matt 5.17: “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.”  I have to agree it is very hard to get just right.  We have to do justice to Jesus’ full relationship with his Jewish religion in his time.  And we have to understand the saying as the first Church did – which allowed Paul to not walk in line with every aspect while still remaining “in the fold” to the other Jewish-Christians that did continue to walk in line with the law of Moses.  For starters, I have to say that in his Jewish Commentary on the New Testament, David Stern gets the first few bells rung right on tune:

Recently, I have been reading The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. The book was published in 1937 in Munich, Germany. The church had to a large degree lapsed into a doctrinal pride based on Luther’s view that justification occurs by faith alone apart from any works. Bonhoeffer writes with passion and confronts this luke-warm mentality. Though he confronted his fellow countryman in an effort to bring revival to the church, sadly, Bonhoeffer failed, and the church was whisked off her feet by a zealous new leader–Adolf Hitler. As time went on the church became more and more afraid of opposing the Nazi regime and Bonhoeffer and a few others eventually broke away forming “The Confessing Church” which opposed Nazism publicly. I find his words surprisingly relevant to the state of Christianity today.

I was in a program at a church in Pleasant Hill, Ohio -which is (quite conveniently I might add) called Pleasant Hill Church of God- that was designed by the Youth (at the time called R.O.C. –reaching others for Christ) called ROCFest. We played music loudly and all sorts of things that young kids like to do. What really struck me about last years program was the particular verse we chose as “This Year’s Verse” (which in itself makes me a little uncomfortable to call a verse “This Year’s Verse”): Matthew 16:24.

The following sermon was preached last Sunday by Victor Gluckin at Living Faith Christian Church. The message cut “Churchianity” from true Christianity like a knife. Following Jesus is more than just attending a meeting an hour a week. It is more than just mentally assenting to a list of doctrines. It is more than having an emotional experience during the worship songs. It is more than mere behavior modification. We need to “be Jesus” in the easy situations but also when it is unpopular, awkward, or dangerous. Click the play button below to watch this rousing and timely presentation of true commitment to and identification with the Messiah.

In Matthew 10.22 Jesus says the following.

“You will be hated by all because of My name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved.”

What comes to mind is how offensive the gospel, and the commandments of God and his Messiah are. How offensive is it to say that there can only be one right way? There is a huge gay-rights movement in America today; try telling one of them that their sexuality is a sin against God. That’s being intolerant of other people’s life styles.

I’ve been reading CS Lewis’ Mere Christianity recently, and I wanted to share, what I think, is a terrific way of looking at sin and progress in our lives. Often times we do sin and ask for forgiveness, and, hopefully, earnestly take repentance seriously. I think this small passage helps us understand why each time of temptation is significant:

This summer a few of us went on a two week evangelism road trip. Most of us did little 15 minute sermons, among them was JohnO. He taught from the first three chapters of Revelation, which is Jesus’ message to the Churches Asia. I thought of this randomly this morning and read the chapters before school.

His message to the church in Laodicea stuck out in my mind.

When I read the record of Jesus’ last hours before he was taken captive, one thing that really sticks out to me is the scene in the Garden of Gethsemane. We see the disciples falling asleep when Jesus really needs them. When we hear or read about it, we think “surely I wouldn’t sleep when Jesus needed me!” However, the truth of the matter is that we are sleeping. The Church of Jesus Christ whom Jesus left talents to, is for the most part burying them in the ground. Everyone likes to say, ” I have the spirit!” We’re also supposed to be the salt of the earth! The light of world! The bond slaves of Jesus! Where is our light? I imagined that light Jesus described as a huge lighthouse on the top of the hill, and all we’re doing is lighting match! As quickly as we light the match the wind blows it out. Leonard Ravenhill in his book “Revival God’s way,” he says the following.

I came across a quote recently from Leonard Ravenhill. He was talking about Sin and he said the following.

“It’s not the ability to never sin again, it’s the ability not to sin. It makes all the difference in the world.”

I just wanted to see what everyone thinks about sin. How often does a person that has accepted Christ sin? Do you think that at a certain point you can be sinless in this life? These are things I’ve been wondering.