Seek First The Kingdom of God no. 34

“When he comes, he will show that the world is wrong about sin, about righteousness and about judgment — about sin, in that people don’t put their trust in me; about righteousness, in that I am going to the Father and you will no longer see me; about judgment, in that the ruler of this world has been judged” (Yochanan (Jhn) 16:8-11). The world is wrong about sin, about righteousness, and about judgment. It sure is. And Christians have to be concerned that our views of sin, righteousness, and judgment are still right. Too often we adopt and adapt our understanding of sin, righteousness, and judgment to better align with our lives in the world. Too often our sinful nature corrupts our ideas of righteousness and judgment, leaving us with a distorted view of who the Father is without viewing Him through the revelation of the Son and the guidance of the Spirit of Truth. A little later in this conversation, Jesus explains, “. . . when the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own initiative but will say only what he hears. He will also announce to you the events of the future. He will glorify me, because he will receive from what is mine and announce it to you. Everything the Father has is mine; this is why I said that he receives from what is mine and will announce it to you” (Yochanan (Jhn) 16:13-15). We need the Truth of the Spirit through the revelation of Jesus, however, too often we discard His Truth. Too often we don’t take Him for what He says. Too often we want to forget His teaching BUT He told us all these things, “. . . so that you won’t be caught by surprise” (Yochanan (Jhn) 16:1). And sometimes we act surprised when folks tell us who Jesus is or when He shows us who He is or when we get a revelation of awe about who He is. We act surprised like we didn’t know all along. Like the Truth wasn’t obviously there all along.

“Grace and truth have met together;

justice and peace have kissed each other.

Truth springs up from the earth,

and justice looks down from heaven” (Tehillim (Psa) 85:11‭-‬12 CJB). Grace, Truth, justice, and peace are all interwoven together with the love of God. We see grace and truth all over this world. He reveals these things all around us and through so many different situations that I need not even give any examples because you already have a few in mind. Justice and peace are what we receive from Heaven. Without looking for Him in our earthly lives, we will not see His grace and mercy in action. We need grace to deal with people in love and truth to reveal how we should live. Without looking above for a right relationship with Him, we will not see His justice and peace. We need assurance of His justice for all to live at peace with one another. Too often we seek to bring our own justice to the world and that leaves little room for peace. Too often folks strive to bring peace by perverse manners rather than awaiting His justice. Far too often we don’t listen to the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount and instead resort to the ways of the Hebrews. We too often forget that Jesus sets things into alignment in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus corrects the faulty ideas of the Hebrews and helps them move forward in right relationship. BUT too often we forget, “Don’t judge, so that you won’t be judged. For the way you judge others is how you will be judged — the measure with which you measure out will be used to measure to you. Why do you see the splinter in your brother’s eye but not notice the log in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the splinter out of your eye,’ when you have the log in your own eye? You hypocrite! First, take the log out of your own eye; then you will see clearly, so that you can remove the splinter from your brother’s eye” (Mattityahu (Mat) 7:1-5). And too often we are very quick to judge each other without turning that discerning judgment on our own lives. Are we living in grace and truth? Are we seeking His justice and peace? Are we seeking His Kingdom?

Seek first His Kingdom which rests on the foundation of love.

Grace and Shalom to your home. The Kingdom of God is now!

I love you. I forgive you. Have a blessed and abundant day!

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoKingButChrist #EmbraceTheWithin #SeekFirstTheKingdom #NotMyWayYHWH

Seek First The Kingdom of God no. 29

“Arise, shine [Yerushalayim], for your light has come, the glory of Adonai has risen over you. For although darkness covers the earth and thick darkness the peoples; on you Adonai will rise; over you will be seen his glory. Nations will go toward your light and kings toward your shining splendor” (Yesha 'yahu (Isa) 60:1-3). God is light to a world filled with darkness. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was unformed and void, darkness was on the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God hovered over the surface of the water. Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and God divided the light from the darkness” (B'resheet (Gen) 1:1-4). And just like in creation, God’s light will dispel the darkness that is over the earth. We just need to go toward the light and turn from the darkness. “From that time on, Yeshua began proclaiming, ‘Turn from your sins to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near’” (Mattityahu (Mat) 4:17)! Turn from our sins to God. Turn from darkness and embrace the light. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. All things came to be through him, and without him nothing made had being. In him was life, and the life was the light of mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not suppressed it” (Yochanan (Jhn) 1:1-5). His light shines in the darkness. His light overcomes the darkness. And, in turn, we need to embody that light, “You are light for the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Likewise, when people light a lamp, they don’t cover it with a bowl but put it on a lampstand, so that it shines for everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before people, so that they may see the good things you do and praise your Father in heaven” (Mattityahu (Mat) 5:14-16). That is all of us that need to be His light. He wasn’t just saying that to His disciples. He wasn’t just saying that to folks that followed Him. He was telling everyone that they were the light. And we can all be light to the darkness. And we are warned, “And this is the message which we have heard from him and proclaim to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him — none! If we claim to have fellowship with him while we are walking in the darkness, we are lying and not living out the truth. But if we are walking in the light, as he is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of his Son Yeshua purifies us from all sin” (1 Yochanan (1 Jo) 1:5-7). And I need to take that warning seriously. I can’t walk in light and darkness. I can’t love and hate. I can’t be a peacemaker and bang the drum of war. I can’t be meek and want glory for myself. I can’t be the things of God and the things of the Goyim. I have to choose light or darkness. And too often we take goodness and light and push it to the side for the moment because being like Jesus isn’t practical. It isn’t popular to be based on His foundation. But if you want to know why folks think church folks are hypocrites, it is because they expect Christians to be based when, all too often, they are just church folks. They fail to be like Jesus, like the Messiah, like the Christ, and they all to often act like He isn’t enthroned and gave the path to being the light of the world. Too often they are not based on Him. Too often they are based on the world. And He warned about this as well, “So, everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a sensible man who built his house on bedrock. The rain fell, the rivers flooded, the winds blew and beat against that house, but it didn’t collapse, because its foundation was on rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a stupid man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, the rivers flooded, the wind blew and beat against that house, and it collapsed — and its collapse was horrendous” (Mattityahu (Mat) 7:24-27)!

Why are churches falling apart? Why is attendance decreasing? Why are folks dechurching? Dude, I can’t blame them. I see too often the hypocrisy and I will always shine a light on that darkness. Hypocrisy was a driving force for me to leave church. Church folks have a weak foundation that is easily exposed by the slightest rain or wind of life. Christians are foundationally sound. And Christians are not blown about by the winds of the world. They aren’t supporting the next cause or the next thing of the world. Christians stand for Him and stand in His light. It is no great mystery why churches are failing, it is because folks are failing to be based. And people want Truth.

Seek first His Kingdom which rests on the foundation of love.

Grace and Shalom to your home. The Kingdom of God is now!

I love you. I forgive you. Have a blessed and abundant day!

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoKingButChrist #EmbraceTheWithin #SeekFirstTheKingdom #NotMyWayYHWH