Arm-in-Arm

Hello my dear Beloved family!

What an enormously glorious time we were able to share with each other this past Sunday. Not only were we able to learn truths about the King and Kingdom, BUT we also were able to experience it together as a family!

Dr. FC Grant has said, “It may be said that the teaching of Jesus concerning the Kingdom of God represents His whole teaching. It is the main, determinative subject of all His discourse. His ethics were ethics of the Kingdom; His theology was theology of the Kingdom; His teaching regarding Himself cannot be understood apart from His interpretation of the Kingdom of God.”

These truths that have not been properly highlighted and enumerated in the past in the churches of our Lord are now being highlighted and embraced by folks like you and I. This brings great and abundant joy to my soul as I literally watch how you amazing saints are learning with open and desirous hearts. It was especially impactful for Pastor Ryan to express the benefits of having a prepared heart just before worship. That short exhortation led us into powerful and tangible manifestations of the Kingdom breaking into places among us that were not open prior. This is the epitome of the labor of love that the leadership team presses into daily to see among you, the objects of our prayer and affection.

The culmination of how our loving King continues to expand and expound the Heavenly reality of the Kingdom is the primary focal point of the Glorious Gospel that has so eternally impacted each of us. As Jesus stated in Luke 12:29-32:

And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind. For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you. Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

This message was so vitally important to our Lord that He even spoke of these truths after His resurrection to the first church for many days as illuminated by Acts 1:3:

To these He also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God.

The Kingdoms of this world are not currently controlled by our King, but He desires to rule and reign everywhere, to bring these gracious effects to all lives. We have heard many say, “God is in control of everything… nothing could happen unless God wills it,” but these statements stand in stark contrast to scriptural truth. For example, in the great temptation of the Lord, satan reveals that the Kingdoms of this earth are his to give to whom he wills.

Luke 4:5-8
And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him, All this power [AUTHORITY] will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered (to hand over, to give or deliver over, to betray) unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

Now the enemy has a SERIOUS problem… YOU and I are standing arm-in-arm against his plans with our conquering King and saying emphatically, “NO!” Every time you and I embrace in submission and humility the will of our Father, we take territory for the Kingdom. Wherever the Lord’s will is done is one more place the enemy loses a stronghold to cause death, thievery, and destruction. Can you see the importance and power there is for our God as we embrace His love and plans? What a glorious time to be alive and bringing other people to life!

Beloved, I pray that these truths and encounters are accomplishing in you exactly what the empty cross has stood for. We are the people who WILL live in the Finished Work of the Cross for the rest of this earthly life and on into eternity! Can I get an AMEN somebody?!

This weekend we will take even more territory for our King as we fellowship around Healing Sunday. Please prepare your heart, and invite your hurting and sick neighbors to see what the Lord has done!

I love you greatly!
Steve