EVEN BEFORE WE COULD "BELIEVE" JESUS CARED

"By You I have been upheld from birth; You are He who took me out of my mother's womb.  My praise shall be continually of You."  (Psalm 71:6)

Someone once asked me if I was a Calvinist or Arminian.  I said that I am an Arminian/Calvinist.  Neither had the "whole truth."

Hence, our text.  Could it be that you and I are here not because our fathers and mothers wanted us here, but because God wanted us here.  Regardless, it is for sure that our Lord Jesus, "....took me out of my mother's womb."  And, Jesus has been sustaining me, "....from birth."

Whether the Godhead determined our birth or picked us up coming out of our mothers' wombs, it is God who has been caring for us, yes, even before we surrendered our hearts to Jesus.  He just cannot help being God.  

Father, in Jesus' Name, I thank You that You knew and cared for me before I knew and cared about You.  Amen.

When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

Hebrews 12:2

SOME THOUGHTS ON THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN/GOD

"Another parable He spoke to them: 'The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened.'"  (Matthew 13:33)

The concept of Kingdom is broader than the concept of the Church.  The Church is the, "household of faith," the Followers of Jesus Christ.  The Kingdom knows no bounds, no limitations, no exclusivism.  It is found in Jesus' Words, "You are the light of the world," and, "You are the salt of the earth."  Notice, "world," and, "earth," in other words, everything, everywhere.  

Our Lord Jesus teaches us in our text that His Kingdom, "The Kingdom of Heaven," is a "take-over" Kingdom.  It started "hidden" in Jesus Christ, in the administration of the Godhead, then spread in His Followers until the whole world is, "leavened"------ governments, schools, businesses, etc.

Everywhere you and I go, e.g., everywhere we work, attend school, buy merchandise, in short, live our lives, is Kingdom land.  The old hymns says that Jesus' Kingdom is, "from shore to shore."  I say to you and me today what I said decades ago to a Kingdom (Christian) School graduating class.  "Here is the interpretation of the 'Great Commission:'  Go into all the world and take over."

Wherever you and I are now, wherever you and I will be tomorrow is, "The Kingdom of Heaven...at hand."

Father, in Jesus' Name, I pray that you help me and my friend to have a greater understanding and walk in what is, "The Kingdom of Heaven."  Amen.

When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

Hebrews 12:2

JUST WHAT IS THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN/GOD?

"....For the Kingdom of Heaven is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit."  (Romans 14:17)

The Church has by and large missed the whole message of the Kingdom of God/Heaven.  Just notice its rejection for the evangelical preference of, "born again," in John 3:3 & 5.  "Jesus answered and said to him, 'Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God....Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God."  Notice that seeing the Kingdom and entering the Kingdom is the main point.  The, "born again," is to get us into that Kingdom.

I am sharing some insight into the Kingdom of Heaven from a passage in E. Stanley Jones' book,  The Unshakable Kingdom and the Unchanging Person.   

"I was speaking in a cathedral in West Germany on the kingdom of God.  On the front seats were prominent German leaders.  As I spoke they kept pounding their benches with their fists.  I was puzzled.  I did not know what it meant--- was it for me or against me?  But at the close they revealed what the beating of the benches meant: 'You seem to sense why we turned to Nazism.  Life for us was at loose ends---- compartmentalized.  We needed something to bring life back into wholeness, into total meaning and goal.  We thought Nazism could bring that wholeness.  But it let us down, let us down in blood and ruin.  We chose the wrong totalitarianism.  We now see that what we were seeking for was the kingdom of God, but we didn't know it.'"

Father, in Jesus' Name, help me to live the Kingdom of Heaven/God, not just read and talk of it.  Amen.

When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

Hebrews 12:2