Tag: Kingdom of God

Why Am I Reading This?

John 20-21

Jn20

Saturday, June 3

If you are in high school, you have asked this question sometime this year. If you are in college, the question probably gives you flashbacks of finals. If you are like me, you are 300 pages deep in a 400 page textbook by the time the question comes up. By that point, you are too doggedly determined to put the book down. “By gum, I’m gonna finish it!” the stubborn, stalwart voice in my head says.
Truthfully, it is a great question. When we ask, “Why am I reading/watching/listening/responding to this?” we ask a bunch of questions at once. What do I hope to gain from this? How will this knowledge inform my future actions? In what way does this information or content contribute to my mental, emotional, physical, spiritual, or financial success and well-being? And the answers to “why am I reading this?” may be diverse. Maybe, like us college & graduate school students, you read something simply to gain the information from it for a test or project. Maybe you are reading to make wiser decisions in the future. But beyond these questions, which we ask of ourselves, this is also a question we ask of the author. We are also asking, “Why did you write this?” Why did J.R.R. Tolkien put pen to paper and craft some of the most iconic stories ever? (Lord of the Rings) Why did C.S. Lewis tell of magic (The Chronicles of Narnia), of angels and demons (The Screwtape Letters and The Space Trilogy), and teach through his lovable, accessible, British way (Mere Christianity)?
In the Bible, this question doesn’t get answered too often. The Book of Job doesn’t tell us why the author wrote it. Sure we have very informed guesses, like, “The good and righteous will suffer. That is the way of this world.” But never once does the author tell us WHY he (or she) wrote the text. The authors of Matthew, 1 Kings, and 1 Chronicles, similarly did not take the time to tell you why they wrote. Again, there is a case to be made that the purpose can be found, like “to record history.” But then, why is Matthew’s account of Jesus’ life so different than John’s, and why do 1 Kings and 1 Chronicles differ so greatly in their retelling of the same events? (There are answers to these questions. They are not easy answers, but they help us in understanding the text, if we are willing to do the work.)
All this is to point to two of my favorite verses in the entire Bible, John 20:30-31. If you have never memorized a verse in your life (John 3:16?), seriously, start with these two in John, because they could basically sum up the ENTIRE NEW TESTAMENT. Actually, there is a case to be made that the ENTIRE BIBLE could be summed up in these beautiful words.
John 20:30-31 –  Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of His disciples that are not written in this book.  But these are written so that you may believe Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and by believing you may have life in His name.
The author of John completely acknowledges he left things out. It doesn’t matter to him that every single detail down the line be absolutely perfect. He does not even begin to suggest that he told the story in chronological order. There is no way to make the Synoptics (Matthew, Mark, Luke) and John compatible, with one single “correct order of the life of Jesus.” That isn’t the author’s point. The author didn’t write this Gospel to give us another “play-by-play” of Jesus’ life.
What the author does say, the reason why he put his pen to paper, what the Spirit was doing in him when it moved in and used him to write down words through the authors hand and brain, is so that YOU may believe. You reader. Not another “you”. I’m talking to you. These signs, these teachings, this crucifixion and death are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. The author cares about how you deal with this. See, if at the end of the day you are done reading John and you say “Jesus was a really good man” or “Jesus was a wise teacher” then YOU’VE MISSED THE POINT. The point is not that Jesus was a pretty cool dude, or that he was a man who died for what he believed in. He was inaugurating the Kingdom of God by coming, and that we can choose to be a part of God’s Kingdom now; in other words, he is the Messiah. He came to live a perfect life, overcome the world, and be the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world; in other words, he is the Son of God. Any other reading of John is a mistake. It is wrong. Jesus is not just another good leader, good religious teacher, good dude. He is the Messiah, the Son of God, the Only Begotten Son.
If you end up believing in WHO Jesus is, in WHO he pointed us toward, in WHAT he was doing by ushering in a new way of being, then you have hit the point of the message of Jesus. You understand what the author of John was doing in all these many chapters, in signs, teachings, moments with the Savior. Moreover, by believing in Jesus, you will have life in his name, eternal life, abundant life now that can’t help but last forever! I hope that is where you find yourself today. The reason why I write so much about John is because I love it. I am a mess. I am a broken and sinful mess. But there are a couple things I know. I see these signs, these miracles and this death and resurrection and I have to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. And because I believe, I know that I have life because of him. I didn’t earn it. I don’t deserve. But I’ve got it. Come, you who are also undeserving, just like me. You sinners like me. You broken messes like me. Jake, like John, calls out “Believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and by believing, you too can have life in his name!”
In Christ,
Jake Ballard
(Photo Credit: https://biblia.com/bible/esv/John.20.29)

Go Plant Some Trees!

Luke 12-13

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Friday, May 19

I like three things more than most anything else, sailboats, stars, and trees. No particular reasons other than I am fascinated by how they work and what they look like. My interest in trees started when I was young when I learned from my Grandpa Ben that trees grew from these tiny little things called acorns. It was and still is amazing to think something so small has such great potential.

Jesus uses this illustration to compare the mustard seed to the kingdom of God. “It is like a mustard seed which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air perched in its branches..” Luke 13:18-19 Something that seems so small now, will eventually grow to be very large and influential in this world. Just like the man in this illustration where he took the seed and planted it in his garden, we too must plant the kingdom in our gardens. In other words, the kingdom lifestyle should be obvious in our lives. Though the kingdom will be fully established when Jesus returns it is our responsibility to live as if it is a reality now, and see to it that it grows.
I think its crazy that Jesus gave us the responsibility to grow the community of Kingdom citizens. With that said, what are you waiting for – go plant some trees!
-Jesse Allen

Some Peace in this Crazy World

Luke 6-7

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May 16, 2017

Have you ever prayed for your enemies? Not to make you feel guilty if you haven’t but I think it’s a good habit to start. My reasoning behind this relies on the fact that the kingdom of God will be peaceful, and if we are to be a part of the kingdom of God why not pray for that peace now? You might think praying for peace is different than praying for your enemies but I don’t think there is that big of a difference.

 

But prayer is one thing, what about actions? Can we love our enemies with our actions? Jesus seems to think so, and even demands that we do it in Luke 6:27-36. He even gives a couple examples, one of which is prayer.

 

Why should we do this? Well, other than to be obedient to Jesus, which is emphasized in verses 46-49, it is because God has been intentional in reaching out to us. Yes, at one point in time, we were against God, and yet he still gave his Son for us. He was merciful to us, even when we might have hated him. Luke 6:36 “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”

 

I encourage you today to read through this section of verses. Write down how you could love those who you may consider enemies. Your answers may surprise you, and if you follow up by doing some of the things you write down, you might find that loving your enemies isn’t all that hard. Who knows, you might even create some peace is this crazy world.

 

-Jesse Allen

thechristiantaco

 

My Life Purpose

Luke 4-5

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May 15, 2017

Have you been on youtube lately? If you have I’m sure you may have heard this on one of the ads before your video. “Do you know your life purpose? Do you know your destiny?” (Yes, Tai Lopez has made it into my Fuel Devotion.) But regardless of who asked these questions, they are good questions to ask and to think about.

Jesus knew his life purpose, we see this in Luke 4:43 “I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose.” Jesus was sent so he could preach the message about the coming Kingdom of God. We know today that he did that very well considering how big Christianity has become. I believe this has something to do with the fact he called other people to join him in preaching this message.

We can see Peter, James, and John joining Jesus after he tells them they will be fishing for men in Luke 5:10-11. “. .they left everything and followed him.” Peter, James, and John thought they were going to be fishers of fish their whole life. But plans changed when Jesus called them to be fishers of men.

For the entirety of my senior year of high school, I wanted to become a full-time firefighter. I was already a volunteer at my local Fire District and had already taken Firefighter 1 and 2, plus EMT-B training. It was a done deal, I was set on making it a career. Well, all I can say is be careful what you wish for because I am becoming a full-time firefighter. Someone once told me that “To be a Pastor is to be the ultimate firefighter.”. Here I am freshly graduated from ABC about to do a pastoral internship. I guess I became a firefighter after all, huh?

Just like Peter, James and John were fishermen, they kept their job title but the job was different. They thought they knew their life’s purpose and destiny but God, through Jesus, had directed them to the ministry of preaching the kingdom of God. Have you thought about your life’s purpose lately?

-Jesse Allen

Go

Mark 14-16

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Friday, May 12

As we started our journey through the book of Mark on Monday we saw that Jesus was all about the gospel of the Kingdom of God. Now as we come to the end of Mark we see Jesus is still about the same work. He is seated with his disciples and tells them in 14:25, “Truly I say to you, I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the Kingdom of God.”

 

We see later in chapter 14 that he was “deeply grieved” and asked that God would “remove this cup.” Death was not what he wanted even in this situation, knowing what was coming, he still said, “not what I will, but what you will.” Jesus knew the prophesies, he knew the suffering he was about to face, yet still he sought the Kingdom of God. Jesus, along with his passion for the Kingdom to be fulfilled, is our inspiration to follow the will of God. We must “seek first the Kingdom of God”(Matt 6:33). It is of utmost importance.

 

Even after Jesus was crucified and was raised from the dead He still focused on the Kingdom. He told his disciples to “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.”(Mark 16:15) We are to preach the gospel of the Kingdom of God to all around us no matter how popular the message is or isn’t.

 

-Bill Dunn

 

(Photo Credit: http://dailybiblememe.com/tag/mark-1615/)

What Was Jesus About?

Mark 1-3

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Monday, May 8

When you think of Jesus what do you think of? The cross? The suffering? The Resurrection? Feeding 5000? There are a great many things that Jesus accomplished while He walked this planet 2000+ years ago. Whatever Jesus choose to spend His time doing we should also spend our time doing.

 

As we begin to read from the Gospel of Mark we see that Jesus did a great deal of healing, and this resulted in crowds coming to Him. When people gathered to Jesus, he made teaching a priority. In chapter 1 verses 14, 15 it says, “Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’”  Later in verse 38 He says, “Let us go somewhere else to the towns nearby, so that I may preach there also; for that is what I came for.” Jesus clearly states that the reason He came was to preach and teach to bring people to repentance, “for the Kingdom of God is at hand.”

 

Sometimes Jesus shared the word verbally and other times he shared it in action. Regardless of where Jesus was or who was around He was always focused on sharing the gospel of the Kingdom of God, in whatever way He could. We need to take after Him, after all we call ourselves CHRISTians. Not only that but also in chapter 3 verse 14 it says that, “He appointed twelve, so that … He could send them out to preach.” The twelve were the first disciples, we are the disciples today. Take the time to preach the gospel message in everything you do!

-Bill Dunn

 

(Photo Credit: https://dailyverses.net/mark/1/15)

Refined or Destroyed

Zechariah 11-14

zechariah 13

Tuesday, April 25

The book of Zechariah brings a message of hope to the Israelites but also a dose of reality. The final chapters focus on two key elements: the coming Messiah and the Kingdom of God. Zechariah prophesies of a hope and salvation of the coming Messiah (Jesus, shepherd) but also of his rejection by the Israelites. He prophesies of a coming Kingdom where God will rule, but also the tribulation that will unfold for those that don’t believe.

 

Zechariah 13:7-9 says 7 “Awake, sword, against my shepherd,

against the man who is close to me!”

declares the Lord Almighty.

“Strike the shepherd,

and the sheep will be scattered,

and I will turn my hand upon the little ones.

8 In the whole land,” declares the Lord,

“two-thirds will be struck down and perish;

yet one-third will be left in it.

9 This third I will put into the fire;

I will refine them like silver

and test them like gold.

They will call on my name

and I will answer them;

I will say, ‘They are my people,’

and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.’”

 

Powerful words from a powerful God.

Here are the three things I took from Zechariah 11 – 14:

  1. God has a plan – some of which has already unfolded (Jesus’s first coming and the Israelites rejecting him).
  2. His plan is still playing out and yet to unfold (Jesus’s second coming and the Kingdom established)
  3. You and I have a role in His plan. Part of that role is to accept and believe in God’s plan with the faith to live it out. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Zechariah makes it clear that God has the plan.  It’s your choice to be a part of it or not. To be refined by fire or destroyed by fire is up to you. In the end I say, the Lord is my God.

-Elleigh Dylewski

 

(Photo Credit: http://w3ace.com/stardust/scripture/verse/Zechariah_13:9)

God’s Watchman to A Generation

Ezekiel 1-4

ezekiel 1

Sunday, March 19

Ezekiel was a priest in Israel during a tumultuous time in their history.  The Northern kingdom had been decimated by the Assyrian empire and its people scattered and assimilated resulting in a complete loss in their identity as a distinctive people of God.  The Southern Kingdom of Judah was now being systematically taken apart by the Babylonians.  Ezekiel was among the early members of Judah’s elite leaders who were taken captive to Babylon.  Ezekiel was now a priest living in a foreign land where he had no access to the temple of Jerusalem and the religious symbols that helped shape his life and give him meaning and purpose.

In today’s readings God comes to Ezekiel in a series of visions.  These visions  are recorded as a type of scripture known as apocalyptic- where something is revealed or unveiled.  In addition to portions of  Ezekiel there are apocalyptic passages in the books of Daniel, Isaiah and Joel.  God reveals what is going to happen as He brings an end to the present age preparing the way for the age to come or coming Kingdom of God.  You will notice some similarities between Ezekiel 1 and Revelation 1 and 4.

Ezekiel’s description sounds like something in a science fiction movie- 1:27-28 says: “ I saw that from what appeared to be his waist up he looked like glowing metal, as if full of fire, and that from there down he looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded him.  Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him.  This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. When I saw it, I fell facedown, and I heard the voice of one speaking.”

Imagine if, for a brief instant, God permitted you to have a vision of himself in all of His glory.  You would probably struggle to find the right words to communicate what you saw.  So it is with Ezekiel.  He is overcome by the glory of God and he falls on his face.

The whole of Ezekiel is surrounded by the image of a holy God.  But God’s people, Israel, have been disobedient to God.  Ezekiel is appointed by God to serve as his “watchman” (3:17) for the people Israel in captivity.  His mission is to warn God’s people of their sins and to call them to repentance.  Ezekiel 2:7-8: “You must speak my words to them, whether they listen or fail to listen, for they are rebellious.   But you, son of man, listen to what I say to you.”

The job of a watchman is to stay awake, keep one’s eyes open, and warn if anything dangerous or illegal is taking place.  It might also include a warning to those who are tempted to trespass.  Ezekiel’s job was to warn God’s people about the consequences of their sins and the coming judgment of God.  God tells Ezekiel essentially: “you need to warn the people about my coming judgment.  If they don’t listen to your warning, then they will suffer the consequences, but if you fail to warn them, then I’ll hold you responsible for their sins.”  God was letting Ezekiel know that he had a mission, to share God’s word with people.  If the people didn’t listen or heed the warning, it was on them, but if he refused to give the warning it was on him.

As followers of Jesus Christ today, we are called to be priests in this world.  Like Ezekiel,  we are living in an age where much of Christianity has been decimated by a massive turning away from God and people are scattered and assimilated into the world resulting in a complete loss in their identity as a distinctive people of God.  And like Ezekiel, we are to keep watch and issue warnings to the people of the world.  As with Ezekiel, sometimes we will warn people and they won’t listen.  If that’s the case, it’s on them.  But if we fail to do our job and give the warning, then it’s on us.  People won’t always like what we have to say- prophets and priests are sometimes labelled as intolerant and not very popular, but that should not prevent us from doing the work God has given us to be His watchmen to our generation.  (Note: our job is not to be the judge, it’s not our place to condemn the world, but to tell them what God tells us to tell them, which is the Gospel.)

-Pastor Jeff Fletcher

My name is Pastor Jeff Fletcher.  I’m one of the old guys.  I first attended what is now FUEL (then it was called National Camp) back in 1977 and I’ve been a camper or on the staff for most of the past 40 years.  I’m a graduate of Oregon Bible College, (Now ABC) and I’m completing a Master’s Degree from Eastern Mennonite Seminary.  I’ve pastored Churches in Illinois, England, Louisiana, South Carolina and now Virginia.  My wife Karen and I have eleven children and 4 grandchildren and my daughter, Karee Anne is getting married this Saturday, March 25.  In addition to pastoring a Church I also work as a hospital chaplain.  I am passionate about bringing the message of God’s loving presence to people who are hurting and in need of hope and purpose in life.

Death Swallowed Up

Isaiah 22-25

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Saturday, February 11

I am writing to you guys now, after I took a 6 hour class with Sir Anthony Buzzard on the Kingdom of God as the Gospel.  Therefore, I can’t help but write about the Kingdom today.  One thing that has really shed light for me is that the gospel of the Kingdom is throughout the whole Bible.  It is not just a New Testament idea.  In fact, the gospel was even preached to Abraham from God (Gal 3:8).  It is evident that the gospel of the Kingdom was important to Jesus as he preached about the Kingdom his whole ministry (Matt 4:17).  I knew that Jesus did not come up with the idea of the Kingdom on his own, but I was not aware of how prevalent it was in the Old Testament.  The Kingdom is found all throughout the Old and New Testament.  In our reading today in Isaiah, there indeed is scripture on the coming Kingdom.

Isaiah 24:23 is prophecy about the Kingdom.  The talk about the moon and the sun is similar to the passage in Matthew 24:29 when it talks about signs of the second coming.  Then actually in the Kingdom, the LORD along with Jesus will reign.  There is some dispute as to whether this verse is referring to God reigning on Mount Zion or Jesus.  In my opinion, it does not matter too much.  What matters is that God through Jesus will reign.

Isaiah 25:6-12 is then a beautiful passage on the Kingdom.  One of my favorite verses in the whole Bible is Revelation 21:4.  Isaiah 25:8 is very similar to that verse in Revelation.  In the Kingdom, there will be no more death or tears.  What a comfort that is.  This idea helped comfort me through the loss of my grandpa.  I was devastated to lose him as he was my biggest role model in my life.  I greatly looked up to him.  He inspired (and continues to inspire) me to pursue pastoral ministry like him.  We all experience similar losses to this.  Let Isaiah 25:8 and Revelation 21:4 be a comfort to you.

The Kingdom should be the focus of our lives.  It was surely the focus of our Savior Jesus Christ.  Most people perceive the gospel to be the death and resurrection of Christ.  That is only a part of it.  Christ didn’t even speak of his death and resurrection until Matthew 16:21.  That is about two thirds of his way through his ministry.  What was Jesus preaching before then?  That answer is found in Matthew 4:17, the Kingdom.

-Kyle McClain

(photo credit: http://www.spiritradio.ie/word-for-advent-isaiah-258/)

 

What’s Your Motivator?

Isaiah 10-13

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Wednesday, February 8

As we continue on with Isaiah, we also continue on with scripture about judgement.  The book of Isaiah as a whole can be split into two sections: judgement (1-39) and restoration (40-66).  Therefore, if you aren’t a fan of this judgement variety, then just stick with it and the restoration will come at the close of Isaiah.  However, even if you aren’t a fan of the judgement material, valuable lessons can still be learned from it.

When reading the judgement material throughout Isaiah, I get a bit tense.  I get tense because the judgement that is coming for so many is severe.  We see the sin of Israel and the surrounding nations causing God to become angry with people, and in reading Isaiah, we are assured that God’s wrath will come out sometime.  The following snip-it’s from this reading give a sense of the kind of judgement coming: “the LORD will utterly destroy,” “shall be cut off,” “destroy both soul and body,” “anger will be directed to their destruction,” “kill the wicked,” “destroy its sinners,” “destruction from the Almighty,” and “fierce anger”.  This is what is coming for those who do not turn their lives over to God.  Furthermore, from Isaiah 13: 6, 9, and 22 we know this day is coming soon.  Although turning our lives over to God to escape this punishment should not be our main focus or motivator, it is still a motivator nonetheless.  I know personally, I do not want this punishment that many will receive.  We know many will receive this destruction as God says, “I will make people more rare than fine gold,” (Isaiah 13:12).  Last time I checked, there wasn’t just a bunch of fine gold laying around.

Yes, escaping a severe punishment that many will receive is motivation to give our lives to God.  However, the greatest motivation of all is found in chapter 11, and that motivation is the Kingdom of God.  One thing the Church of God as a whole is great at is keeping the focus on the Kingdom of God.  One of the great Kingdom prophecies is found in Isaiah 11:6-9.  This passage describes the peace that will take place in the Kingdom.  It describes that a nursing child will play over the hole of the cobra.  Last I checked, no parent in this present age won any parenting awards for leaving their babies next to cobra holes.  However, in this future Kingdom, there will be no death, mourning, crying, nor pain in the coming Kingdom.  The earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD.  The Kingdom is a never ending celebration.  I know that I want a part in this.  To do this, we must turn our lives over to God.  Let the hope of the coming Kingdom drive you in growing closer to God every day of your life.  The reward for living a life for God is beyond imagination.

-Kyle McClain

(Photo credit: http://www.verseoftheday.com/en/11092012/)