I have stayed out of the social media discussions on politics because it’s generally counterproductive and usually creates nothing but parroted cliché or comments in ignorance. So I’m not writing for everyone who knows me so you have another chance to defend Trumpism or your liberal politics.

However, two symbols that were numerous in the protest and attacks on our Capitol made me so emotional that I lost sleep over it: Jesus signs and the Confederate battle flag.

All those Confederate flags:

My family is from Cherokee heritage and while I’m not active in tribal or cultural events, my mom’s family spoke Cherokee at home. She was half Cherokee and endured some of the most hateful racism and prejudice you can imagine as a young woman growing up in Eastern Oklahoma.

So I’ve tried to preach and teach in a redemptive way that prejudice and racism and sexism has to be rooted out of the heart of an authentic Christian. God, the Holy Spirit, really will do that if he dwells in a person’s heart. These racist flags being marched into our Capitol without shame made me sick. Yes, I know the history of the flag… but it makes the blood of some people run cold who are not White Southerners like us. Whatever that flag means for you… Proud Southerner, your heritage, Dukes of Hazard fan… Whatever it means to you, to African American and other minority groups, it says white supremacy and hatred based on your race. If it speaks that to my brothers and sisters then what could possibly motivate you to carry it? It has no place in “One nation, under God.”

I read the report this morning of Trump rioters at the Capitol who tried to take down the American flag flying outside and replace it with a Trump flag to the cheers of the mob. Speechless on that one…

The other symbol, the signs and shirts invoking the name of Jesus, is even more concerning for me.

I am supposed to be in charge of the education process of our church’s district here in West Texas. We have 83 active students in our studies program. (a record high)  I want to say to all future and current ministers of the gospel: Aligning yourself with political parties, cultish political personalities, newly converted famous people and athletes, etc. will never end well. It will hurt the cause of Christ and delegitimize our message of hope. Trumpism has harmed the cause of Christ in our country. God doesn’t need politics or fame to redeem the hearts and homes of people.

We are not called to change the face of politics in this nation or any nation. We are not called to overturn Roe v. Wade as reprehensible as killing unborn babies should be to every authentic person of faith. We are not called to find Trump and America in prophecy and make predictions of how God is going to use him or some other leader to bring a revival to America. (Yes, there are pastors even in our tribe doing this.)

I know as ministers and church leaders we are always tempted to find a cause that might just make us relevant in our culture and community again. But, please understand that we are called to make Christlike disciples in the nations. We are called to love and serve and be the hands and feet of Jesus in the unseen places of our cities and the unnoticed homes in our communities. Pastoring in this day not glamorous. It is hard work and it’s less appreciated than ever in America. Pastors are viewed with suspicion by the unchurched person. We’re increasingly treated like second rate, ignorant rednecks by academia on one side and cancel culture thinkers on the other. The current American expression of the church and Christianity seems more and more fleeting and it is an unnerving moment in Church history for us all. But God will always do a new thing to bring the authentic Gospel to people in ways they can hear and receive it. We’re called to find ways to connect people to his life-changing message and Presence. Always… And it will never happen through politics and certainly not through this politician.

Please leave your Jesus sign and t-shirt at home if you are going to riot, desecrate the Capitol and commit horrid acts in the name of a particular politician. Pastors, please don’t preach the virtues of anyone except Jesus. I’m amazed when I read how so much of the German Church supported Hitler and twisted Scripture passages to legitimize or even make prophetic the Nazi movement. Trump is not Hitler, but Trump is not in the Bible. Neither is Biden or the next leader who comes along. Period…  Stop getting sermon material from YouTube videos and fringe prophecy preachers. Dig into the Word and the tried and true message that we are called to preach and live. Love people. Teach the basics because our people don’t know the basics anymore. Preach Jesus simply, clearly and with Power.

Does anyone not understand this week why the peaceful transition of power built into our Constitution is not optional or negotiable?  I am certain now that Trump has used the disenfranchised, evangelical Christian sub-culture to gain power and give him the ability to claim to have the moral high ground. Maybe I’ve been wrong all along about him being a charlatan who fell into the ultimate personality cult opportunity. But this appears to be who he really is.

I know how much we want someone to confront the old establishment politics of our government. I hoped that was what would happen with a non-career politician in office. I am pro-life, for lower taxes, for maintaining freedom of religion, and a lot of the conservative policies you can name. I’m thankful for the constitutional jurists placed on our Supreme Court. I can persuasively win the argument on those issues with almost anyone who really wants to have an exchange of ideas. I understand that, as conservatives and Christians, we feel like we’re losing the culture war. But the Church and her ministers have no business supporting a politician from the pulpit and much less someone who is willing to destroy democracy for his own purposes or to feed his narcissistic personality disorder. The end does not justify the means for the church in this one, brothers and sisters. There is a better, more difficult but legitimate Way.

Let’s work to identify and embed the church in this point in history with the message of hope and holiness, not with a message of division and hatred over cultural policies. Be known behind the scenes for what we stand for, not to be recognized in public for all the things we’re against. Whoever is elected the leader and whatever path our form of democracy takes in the future; we must fulfill our calling and never fix our eyes on chasing influence through politics.

Praying in the early hours for our nation and for our churches.

A follow up but related question might be this: Why is the church growing exponentially in Communist China and countries like Sudan and Bangladesh and diminishing at an alarming rate in America? There are some simple but primary activities in the churches in other countries that are afterthoughts in the American church at large. Maybe those things will work anywhere! Just a thought…

There is a kind of politics that makes me hate my brothers and sisters. It isn’t conservative or liberal. It doesn’t belong to one political party or the other. But it is entirely incompatible with authentic Christianity. In this culture, it’s nearly impossible to keep your focus on the goal we’re supposed to be focused on. Do you remember the goal of real Christianity? Let’s think… is it to create a nation ruled by one religious viewpoint? Nope. Theocracy was an Old Testament thing. Ummm… Maybe the goal is to win the God argument! Nope. I like reading apologetics, but publicly outthinking and calling out evil-doers and atheists doesn’t seem to be doing much for Christianity in America today. Maybe Paul was on to something when he said even if you win the debate but don’t authentically love, then you’re like an incessant gong or clanging cymbal. (See 1 Corinthians 13) Those Christians are like the kid on the church drum set who keeps banging the cymbal while you’re trying to have a conversation after church! It sure gets your attention, but it makes dialogue impossible and it’s just annoying. I feel like I’ve been listening to the kid banging on the cymbals for months now!The goal of authentic Christianity… the focus of the life of a Christ-follower… it to become Christlike. He is not changing the world through politics. He is changing the world by loving people through you and me. Accepting, caring, serving communities of people who love God and love people is what God’s grace and Presence produces. It’s time to get back to what we are supposed to be about. Love you guys! Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. – 1 John 4:20 (NIV)

There is a kind of praying that God answers with peace that is beyond our understanding. I don’t know about you, but that sounds really good right now! Then that peace “guards” our hearts and minds in Jesus. And our hearts and minds need guarding!

What does it mean to have peace “guarding” your heart and mind? (Clue: It has something to do with grace and presence.)God doesn’t answer this prayer because we “name it and claim it” with a certain amount or level of faith. There is a place for prayer requests, but what God most wants to provide is far better than the external answers to prayer we think we need from him today.

⁶ Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. – Philippians 4:6-7 (NIV)

Today, I have spent some of my morning in Amos chapter 5. I want to say I’ve been “meditating” on it, but it feels more like brooding over it. Amos came with a message from God for the Northern Kingdom. He wasn’t invited to a religious or policy forum. He was yelling this in the streets. It was a warning that the injustice would destroy their nation. It did. And it sounds like a message for America today.

Let his words sink in:

⁷You twist justice, making it a bitter pill for the oppressed. You treat the righteous like dirt.

¹⁰How you hate honest judges! How you despise people who tell the truth!

¹¹You trample the poor, stealing their grain through taxes and unfair rent. Therefore, though you build beautiful stone houses, you will never live in them. Though you plant lush vineyards, you will never drink wine from them.

^12bYou oppress good people by taking bribes and deprive the poor of justice in the courts.

¹³So those who are smart keep their mouths shut, for it is an evil time.

¹⁴Do what is good and run from evil so that you may live! Then the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies will be your helper, just as you have claimed.

¹⁵Hate evil and love what is good; turn your courts into true halls of justice. Perhaps even yet the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies will have mercy on the remnant of his people.

²¹“I hate all your show and pretense— the hypocrisy of your religious festivals and solemn assemblies.

²²I will not accept your burnt offerings and grain offerings. I won’t even notice all your choice peace offerings.

²⁴Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice, an endless river of righteous living. – Amos 5 (NLT)

We’ve “twisted justice” for a long time… Here are some of my unfiltered thoughts from this morning:

It’s not that we are still ignorant of the ugly soul of racism in our nation. We’ve all heard the narratives and seen the underbelly on our own screens. Up to today, most people just haven’t chosen to actually do anything about it beyond shameful silence. Maybe we just don’t know what to do.

I don’t need to read another book, article or FB post to gain a deeper understanding of white privilege. I live it. We all have to take righteous actions over the long haul that will begin to create opportunity not prefaced by race.

Don’t mistake reverting back to silence as healing. Jesus, the Wounded Healer, brought authentic healing that forever changed the real people he touched. But in the process, he loudly revealed and confronted the very heart of the brokenness within the community.

Don’t mistake the absence of protest for peace. Shalom, biblical peace, meant that all things were as they should be. Peace is not just that we put a stop to protests while injustice and unrighteousness continue. The path to authentic peace is not always a peaceful path. Jesus even said we would misunderstand real peace. “You think I’ve come to bring peace…” (See Matthew 10:34)

Don’t think there is a quick fix to systemic problems. Racism doesn’t disappear when we have a summer of protest or post some stuff online for a season. It is deeply complicated and not entirely knowable to its owners. God will painfully dig it out of the hearts of his people who didn’t recognize it was there.

Don’t think destroying American Democracy will fix the future for anyone. We have a process that provides the opportunity for righteousness to exist and for authentic justice to prevail over time. Engage the process. Hold the overseers of the process accountable. Repair the process before it breaks entirely.

Don’t think government will save us from ourselves. It can’t do that. “We the people…” doesn’t work as a societal construct if we the people are not righteous people.

Don’t think the “mighty river of justice” in Amos 5 means retribution against historical perpetrators of injustice and their descendants today. If that’s what it means, then it will sweep us all away because we all descend from injustice around here. What rushes in like a flood creates the righteous living we should all desire.

Do admit that the “good ol’ days” were not good for everyone. Ask my Native ancestors who survived the Trail of Tears or your neighbor of a different race today. Let’s work toward “good new days” together. It can be.

Do understand that most authentic Christ followers are trying to listen and are willing to take action if we know it’s right action. That is Christlikeness, right?

Do remember that hope is not found in positive thinking, police reform or new political constructs. Hope has a name… A name above every other name… Because he alone has the power to change hearts. He alone is the source of life changing, forgiving, loving, amazing grace. I wish for more marches in our cities proclaiming hope.

Keep praying, listening, loving, doing real righteousness and untwisted justice.

Brown University made a decision this week to prevent its own assistant professor, Lisa Littman, from publishing her research article in a peer-reviewed journal. Professor Littman did a study on “sudden onset gender dysphoria.

Gender dysphoria occurs when a person feels and/or identifies as a gender they were not born with. Crossing gender lines is not new, but the sudden onset of gender dysphoria was very unusual. I say “was” because, recently, many young people are suddenly deciding they are the wrong gender without any previous indications they were struggling with their gender identity.

Professor Littman’s research was a search for answers for the huge increase in numbers of cases and the sudden onset factor. What she found is that the chances that a young person, especially women, will suddenly decide that they were born the wrong gender is affected by peer pressure and online influences.

I am not making a judgment about transgender people. We have plenty of that flowing around our online culture already. My heart hurts for young people dealing with this struggle and especially those who have had extreme, life-altering surgery hoping to find their way forward.

I’m just amazed that we need research to discover the obvious! It’s obvious that culture is a powerful influence. It influences us whether we know it or not. Our world will press us into its mold if it can. (See Romans 12:1-2)  Peer pressure will shape our identity if we don’t securely choose to identify with Jesus!

Cultures can be good influences if the culture is good! Every local church has its own little powerful culture. The Early Church had a discipling, evangelizing, fellowshipping, loving, serving, Spirit-led culture. It wasn’t perfect but it was an amazing counterculture to the world around it. In the 4th Century, the church became the official religion of the Roman Empire. Patriarchy and institutionalism changed things. Women were no longer equals in pastoring and leading the church. Church leaders started wearing the same kind of robes as the Roman Court did. And ritual took precedent over Presence. The unbiblical ideas of celibacy, clergy class distinction, and hierarchies set in. The church morphed into something far removed from the Kingdom culture God wanted.

The world still presses into the church. So I’m thinking about the future for our church and the kind of culture we want to work to create at WWCN. We’re not the Early Church and shouldn’t try to be. But, the world presses in and presses us into its mold! Culture operates like swimming in the ocean when currents are strong. You think you’re swimming one direction only to discover culture has carried you the other direction!

I don’t claim to have it all figured out. I do know that we need solid anchors that negate the cultural currents we exist within. We have to be purposeful and intentional  in order to bring Kingdom culture to our world without becoming part of the world’s culture.

Here are the basic anchors that hold us fast. Together, we’ll love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength at WWCN. And we’ll also love people like Jesus does. (Matthew 22:34-40) We will get better at making disciples of all nations by bringing them to Jesus and teaching them how to really live for him. (Matthew 28:16-20) And we’re going to do it in the power of the Holy Spirit rather than trying to make it happen ourselves. (See Acts 1-2)  So it will require unity and prayer and sacrifice but it will be fun and exciting and abundant!

The question is, “How, exactly, do we create the Kingdom culture where we are?” That’s a question Jesus is pleased with. He even included it in his example prayer:  “Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10)

Let’s get started becoming that discipling, evangelizing, fellowshipping, loving, serving, Spirit-led culture together where we are now!

I pray that you’ll have power to comprehend how huge God’s love really is and just how much God loves you.

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Mark Ramsey

Yesterday was my “day off.” I also took a break from listening to the news and commentary on the political scandal of the day and just focused on little things like reading a good story, cooking a nice meal, talking with people I love and watching a good college basketball game. It was a really good day! In the break, I determined that I must have “scandal fatigue.” There are so many things to be angry about my angry tank is nearly on empty and I need a day off just to refill it if I’m going to continue living angry. There are just too many things to be angry about! Just sayin’…

My respite made me realize how toxic the public discourse has become for me as a consumer of it and for our culture. It’s heartbreaking to me to see “freedom of speech” turn into freedom to hate. And this does not bode well for a society’s future.

It leaves me asking myself, “How did we get here?” It’s complicated, of course. But I have a thought to share. Maybe I need to give you a trigger warning here before we go on.

TRIGGER WARNING: I’m going to write about God and naturalism a little bit. So, if this subject gives you anxiety you may want to prepare yourself if you choose to keep reading. But keep reading…

In our culture, choosing a side or a group to identify with has become a higher priority than listening and reasoning with each other. If you watch enough FOX or CNN news, you start to think only in terms of liberal versus conservative, anti-immigration versus pro-immigration, pro-abortion versus anti-abortion, progressive versus traditional and sadly, Black versus White. We are so attuned to choosing left or right we have totally forgotten there is an up and down!

The voices receiving air time for right and left create anger and protest. If the person doesn’t create enough anger, the news anchor or comedian or radio host will do their best to get them to take a side or stir anger within the interview. Angry sells. Candidates and office holders seem bent on creating angry responses today. We have protests against the violence and criminality of public officials constantly now. Isn’t it strange that many of those protesters against violence turn violent themselves? Directing public discourse with Twitter is not a good idea, by the way. Sound bites and tweets feed our anger. But that is where we are. It will make us angry or depressed if we let it.

If you want to know where I stand on a certain cultural issue, I’ll be happy to share my thought process and why I believe what I believe about that issue. But I’ll also listen to you if you think differently about it. I will not attack you personally when I feel like your view starts to make more sense than mine. I will not resort to quoting Bible verses at you as a defense for my lack of knowledge. And I hope you will listen with the same kind of willingness to think together about important things. Sometimes, we need time to think and research and even pray before we explain what we think. I’m fine with that. I need the same grace. Go ahead and think… then come back to our discussion. Wouldn’t that be a cool way to do things?

There have always been some illogically angry voices in our public discourse. That’s the price you pay for free speech. But that was once the exception not the rule. Now it seems like all we hear! So how did we get so far from culture where respect and sincere discussion was the norm?

I’m going to use a Bible story to illustrate because that’s what pastors do…

There was a moment in the Old Testament book of 1 Samuel when the old prophet named Samuel was coming to the end of his life. He had been the connection to God for the people of Israel and he appointed his sons to take on that role for the nation. The people demanded a king “such as all the other nations have.” Maybe they should have taken a closer look at how that had worked out for those other nations!

The question the story poses is, “Why didn’t God want them to have a king and why did it lead to the ruin of the nation Israel?”

I’m not arguing politics. This is not a discussion about the “biblical” model for a government. This is not about whether America was once a theocracy but now it’s a godless place. You can correctly say that we are still a Christian nation because of the presence of so many Christians in our culture. But that is the wrong argument for a nation to be having in the first place. Jesus himself didn’t say, “Go and create Christian nations.” He did say, “Go into all nations and make disciples…” (Matthew 28)

We didn’t start as a Christian nation because our government decided to create a Christian theocracy. This nation was decidedly Christian because of the personal freedom to seek God and because of the presence of so many incredible Christian people at all levels of society and government. Those “self-evident” truths found their way into our founding documents and systems of government because of those people and their faith. It hasn’t resulted in perfection but is has served us pretty well up to today. You want to try something other than religious freedom?

Let’s go a little deeper than yes king versus no king or the argument for a Christian nation or a secular one. The problem with demanding a king was not that Jehovah God has control issues. He doesn’t. What they wanted was a change in the god they worship. In my generation, our nation has made a rapid and definite shift in which god we worship as a people, too.

Everyone has a “god” they ascribe to or worship. Naturalism is the god of this age. There is one big problem with making science your god. Modern science is entirely designed to answer the question, “How does this work?” So its disciplines are almost all deconstructive by nature. In other words, science breaks things down to understand how things function.  That’s why you dissected that frog in 7th grade!

Faith has something to say about the “how” questions but it is focused on the question, “Why?” Faith can be dissected, even physiologically like a frog dissection, but it can’t be experienced through deconstructing its components and causations. Most people think science and faith are in conflict because they are on the opposite ends of some imagined spectrum for worldviews. They are not even meant to answer the same questions! They can’t. I have an idea… how about we take a break from placing everything on “different ends of the spectrum” for a while?! That isn’t the place where real reason and helpful discussion start. If anything, science and faith should reveal knowledge useful to each other and empower each other. At the core that conflict doesn’t exist.

What god did Israel replace God with when they demanded a king instead of living in the freedom and protection God had always promised them? They chose the god of autonomy. The king protects them but each person wants to be a “law unto themselves.” Naturalism makes a poor god because it leads to that same god called self-rule. In fact, it’s an even more ancient thought than that king story. In the Creation and Fall of Man story of Genesis, Adam and Eve are not just tempted by pretty fruit. The great temptation they eventually give in to is this, “You won’t really die from this! You get to be your own god! You even get to define good and evil for yourselves!” A lot of religions and worldviews promise that same thing. One faith debunks this notion.

I am trying not to preach, but imagine my best preacher voice for a moment here, “Let me tell you! Yes, living like this really will kill you! (And probably before you die physically) You are going to make one pitiful god for yourself! Defining what’s good and evil on the fly will ruin your life!” Amen, brother Mark! Can I get a testimony!?

I’m not saying atheism is a vast conspiracy to wipe out Christianity and destroy our nation. It isn’t. It’s a worldview held by an increasing number of good people. What we see happening is a natural result of autonomy and denial that is as old as Creation itself. The seething anger we see in our culture is the symptom of serving self, denying our own brokenness and defining good and evil based on our own opinions or feelings. It’s the same deception humankind has struggled with forever.

If claiming our own rights is the focus of our existence then the public discourse of a culture reflects that. Nothing makes a person angrier than attacking their god in public. And when my god is ME then watch out! There is a better way for us to live. Just sayin’…

There are some things that are always true. Not just true for me or true for you, but always true. Naturalism can explain how I think something is true in my little brain. Faith is the heart evidence of things you can’t see or measure or dissect.

There are some things that are and should remain very valuable to us but we are devaluing them as a culture. There is one thing so valuable that he is worth giving your very heart, soul, mind and strength. In fact, he demands that. I’ve never been sorry I discovered the “self-evident” truth author and built my life around that unchanging Truth. Life is different when you go from knowing how to exist to knowing why. I don’t have all the answers but I know I’m looking in the right place for them today.

Do you get it? The battle is not over a Republican or Democrat king or a certain issue or cause. It isn’t left versus right or whatever versus whatever. The battle is for the hearts of the people God loves. (That’s all of us) Where the hearts of the people go, the soul of a nation will follow.

There is a life that is bigger than your cause or your rights or your intellect. When your heart is restored by God’s grace, you can live from your heart with authentic freedom, not just political freedom. Give heart, soul, mind and strength to serve the only King worthy of that.

Grace and Peace,
Pastor Mark

Think about this question…

Are we from nothing, created by nothing for nothing or are we from someone, created by someone for someone? (Vince Vitale’s question) Either one is the result of something incredible that must have occurred to create our existence. I think the two origin beliefs are almost equally amazing: A huge, impossible cosmic accident occurred or an all-powerful, Creator God designed it!

The great difference in the two ideas about where we come from is represented by the outcomes. One naturally brings purpose, meaning, peace, coherence, and contentment. Strange… It appears that even that outcome itself has all the marks of something that was designed to produce that better kind of life!

“Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.” (Westminster Shorter Catechism, 1647)  I hope you are not trying to build a life without embracing your “chief end.”

Grace and Peace,

MR

 

My friend Chris shared this testimony with me this week about how living in the Kingdom works. Chris describes himself as a “faith minister.” What he means by that is that he doesn’t receive a salary for the ministry he does for a local Christian coffee house here in Denton, Texas. He lives by faith in God.

Just a few days ago, he and his wife were talking about the fact that their credit card balance was creeping up over five hundred dollars. She has a new job starting soon but she was concerned about their financial needs in the present. Chris felt led to pray that God would give them five hundred dollars and increase their faith in the process.  That’s a bold and specific prayer!

Chris gets up at 4:30 a.m. most mornings to go to the coffeehouse to pray for an hour before it opens. One day this past week, before he got up, he heard something rattle their front door. When he went to investigate, there was no one there. He got ready, kissed his wife and headed out the door. When he opened it, an unmarked envelope fell to the ground. He picked it up and found a note inside that thanked him and his wife for being such amazing examples of faith and it had a simple Scripture quote, “Love your brother…” It also contained… You guessed it!… Five hundred dollars!  God doesn’t always answer us immediately and precisely the way we pray. But if you are not living the Kingdom life, you never see the miraculous in your own life.

So, for 2018, my main New Year’s resolution is to seek the Kingdom of God first. Will you make it yours?

What would it mean to start seeking the Kingdom first? What can you do that will bring the Kingdom’s reign and rule and power and values into your home and life?

Beyond lip service or a theory, here are some ways to actually do what will bring the Kingdom to to bear in your life in a transformative way this year.

What to do so the Kingdom of God can grow in you this year.

1. Get off the throne.

A kingdom has a king and if it’s you then it’s certainly not the Kingdom of God operating in your life.  The world’s system says you need to take control of your life. The Kingdom says anyone who wants to be in charge of their own life will lose it.

If you want a savior and a servant but you want to tell him what to do, then you are canceling the power of the Kingdom of God in your life. It’s like saying “It’s about me!” or “I am above you, Holy Spirit!”

So let’s start here. Pray to him right now:

“Lord, I am so thankful that you are my Savior.  I want you to also be King of my life. In order that your Kingdom may become my life. Amen.”

2. Put the Kingdom first. (Matthew 6:33)

I made a commitment a long time ago to make Jesus the Lord of my life. The Holy Spirit did change my heart and transformed my life. And in my decisions, he has continued to be Lord. But I still have a couple of problems.

First, I’ll let my desires decide what I do or how I act instead of Holy Spirit. My desires are not evil but they are still present and they don’t always align with the Kingdom. I think that’s called “living according to the flesh” instead of living according to the Spirit. (See Romans 8)

My other problem is my brain! My heart has been changed by the grace of God. Sanctified wholly. But my mind still struggles with un-Christlike thoughts. I’m bombarded by ungodly and just simply wrong messages all the time. This world constantly tries to press me into its mold. That constant pressure is its nature! So, my mind needs consistent and constant transformation if I’m going to see the Kingdom operate in my life! Sanctification operates both in a critical moment and a lifelong process.

The question I need to ask then is, “How do I put the Kingdom first?” What does “first” mean?  I sound like Bill Clinton saying, “It depends on what the meaning of ‘is’ is.” What sounded like a ridiculous statement was actually a very intelligent perspective on how language works. That was just a very poor moment to try to be so smart!

First is a word with a richer meaning than you would think. Putting the Kingdom first can mean…

1. First chronologically – If that is the case, we should start our day or activity with the Word and prayer. We should start first with our thoughts centered on Him and the principles of the Kingdom.
2. First in priority – We should make the KIngdom the most important thing in our lives. How do you do that? Ask these questions, “Does this increase the Kingdom? Does this please the King?”
3. First in quality – “Live a life worthy of the calling you have received.” (Ephesians 4:1) Give the Kingdom the best of your time, your resources, your creativity and your effort. Do your best work for the Kingdom!

If you want to see the Kingdom grow in your life, what do you get up tomorrow and do differently then? You need the Holy Spirit to help you in the process of renewing your mind. One way He can do that is to help you create a thought filter for your mind.

2 Corinthians 10:5 declares that, “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

So if I have a selfish thought, my filter has learned to say, “No you don’t, you wrong thought! Obey Jesus. Put him first!”

If I have a lustful thought, my Holy Spirit filter says, “Oh no you don’t! Obey Jesus… that would dishonor him and my wife and my family.”

A failure thought… Not going there! Obey Jesus… Apart from him I can do nothing… I can do all things through Christ!

Discouraging thoughts… I don’t think so! Obey Jesus… He said we would have struggles in this world but he has overcome this world. And I am his.

Angry thoughts… Nope, been down that road! Obey Jesus… Love your enemies and pray for them he said.

Fear? Nah, I’ve learned to choose trust and rest…

Confusion? Hey! I may look confused, but I’m just waiting on the Lord to direct me!

“We take EVERY thought captive…”  Can that really be done?  Yep… But not with counseling or self-discipline or will power. That filter only develops through the practice of living in the presence and power of the Holy Spirit through prayer.

God will not practice mind control on you and I don’t know how. Sometimes I wish I had that Jedi mind control thing! I would fix your thoughts on good things for you!  God never overrides your free will, but he will help you if you ask him to.  So let’s ask!  Pray this…

“Lord, I am so thankful that your Word and the fellowship I have is transforming my mind. I want the Word to dwell in me powerfully. I will do my part by reading it, obeying it and studying with my brothers and sisters. Holy Spirit, I want you to help me stop every thought at the door to my soul and make it obey Jesus. Amen.”

3. Look for ways to allow the Kingdom to grow.

The Kingdom is wherever Jesus rules and reigns. How do you expand the places where he rules and reigns? How does that happen? Here are some ideas:

1. The Kingdom expands whenever someone comes to Jesus. Will you commit, not just to help someone or be an example to those around you, but to actually tell someone about Jesus with someone this year?
2. The Kingdom expands whenever someone serves in the name of Jesus. Jesus’ disciples heard some people preaching in Jesus’ name. Evidently, they were having some success, too. The Twelve were jealous and told them to stop that! Those people were not part of their little Jesus band! Jesus got onto them and said, “Don’t stop them! If they’re doing Kingdom work, then we’re on the same team!” So we don’t hate on the Baptists or Methodists or Episcopalians! We’re on the same team.

Will you serve him this year?  Can you inspire others to serve with a Kingdom perspective?

The Kingdom grows when you simply live in love. A few people I know are so filled with the love of God that the atmosphere changes when they enter the room with you. Many of those same people don’t even know it happens. But it does… And the Kingdom can grow naturally through you when you live in love.

So here’s one more prayer commitment I challenge you to pray this year:

“Lord, I am so thankful for you letting me partner with you to build the Kingdom where I am. I am unworthy and incapable on my own. But I believe the promises you made.  And I love you, my King. So, open my eyes to see the opportunities to help your Kingdom grow. And fill me with your loving presence until it is overflowing love to others. My greatest desire is for you to use me to build your Kingdom here. Amen.”

 

 

 

History professor and author Michael Grant describes Jesus’ focus on the Kingdom of God like this:

Every thought and saying of Jesus was directed and subordinated to one single thing …, the realization of the Kingdom of God upon the earth.”  (Jesus: An Historian’s Review of the Gospels, pp. 10-11)

The word, “kingdom,” appears one hundred sixty-two times in the New Testament. The majority of those passages describe the Kingdom of God or contrast it with earthly kingdoms.  Matthew alone has thirty-seven references to kingdoms.

Many of Jesus’ parables were called “Kingdom Parables” because they were meant to illustrate how the Kingdom of God operates.

Jesus preached mainly about the Kingdom. (See Matthew 4:17, 23)  When asked to teach his disciples to pray, he included a prayer for the Kingdom to come to bear on the here and now.

So, the understanding the Kingdom and being a Kingdom person is not just important. It’s central to your life in Christ.

Ten Things to know about the Kingdom of God:

1. It’s invisible but more impactful than any visible earthly kingdom.

2 Corinthians 4:18 explains, “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

2. The Kingdom is already present.

Luke 17:²⁰One day the Pharisees asked Jesus, “When will the Kingdom of God come?”  Jesus replied, “The Kingdom of God can’t be detected by visible signs. ²¹You won’t be able to say, ‘Here it is!’ or ‘It’s over there!’ For the Kingdom of God is already among you.”

The present Kingdom of God was not to overturn Rome and restore Israel’s fortunes like everyone believed it would. It is not going the plan to “Make America Great Again!” The present Kingdom of God is not a certain political agenda coming into power. It is the power of the risen Christ becoming present in real ways.

3. The Kingdom is not the church.

Jesus and his disciples were not preaching about the church when they were preaching the Kingdom. His disciples had no clue how the church would work or be organized. The local church should be a place where the Kingdom is in operation.

4. The word kingdom in Greek means “to rule and reign.”

That simply means that wherever Christ rules and reigns, there his kingdom is present.

5. When Christ rules and reigns in a heart, the Kingdom is present wherever that person goes!

We are ambassadors for the Kingdom, the conduit of his love to the world and even the “fragrance of Christ” wherever we go as Kingdom citizens. (2 Corinthians 2:15)

6. The Kingdom has a different set of values and rules.

The Kingdom of God has a surprisingly different economy.  The world puts ultimate value on wealth and physical pleasure and even rationalizes using people or abusing the planet to get what it values. The Kingdom values holiness and relationships and faith and obedience.

7. The Kingdom’s main operating principle is love.

Religion has produced some of the most selfish and hate-filled people and actions that will ever exist in our world. The Kingdom of God produces the most selfless and loving people and actions the world ever sees.

“Jesus does not call us to do what he did, but to be as he was, permeated with love. Then the doing of what he did and said becomes the natural expression of who we are in him.” – (Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life in God)

8. The Kingdom is where the dynamic and powerful presence of God operates visibly.

Although the Kingdom is invisible and without a palace, a court or a physical seat of power, it’s effects are visible everywhere for anyone seeking it.

9. We’re supposed to seek the Kingdom first. (Matthew 6:33)

When we do this, all the other things the world seeks first will be added to our lives in God’s time and in his way. If we love money, use people or seek our own selfish desires first, then those things that were meant to be rewards and blessings feel like burdens or even curses.

10. The Kingdom transforms the lives of its citizens.

Watching people take the Oath of Citizenship to become American citizens is a moving scene. It has the promises of individual human rights and participation in democracy. But nothing rivals the transformational moment when a person chooses Jesus as their Savior and King!

Here’s a bonus thought about the Kingdom of God:  A kingdom must have a King if it fits the definition of the word. In the Kingdom of God, you are not that king.  

(Please continue to Part Two for the practical plan for allowing the Kingdom to come in your life this year!)