Living In The Kingdom Of God August 29, 2024

 

Living In The Kingdom Of God August 29, 2024 Greetings to all God’s people around the world, I’m sure we have all heard and maybe said, why am I going through this, why is God “allowing” this to happen to me, and it some cases it has diminished our faith. Several things have been shared this past week. Keep in mind that there are two parts to the soul and thus two parts, physical and spiritual to every aspect of our lives. Jesus conveyed many truths by way of parables. A parable is defined as an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. That is why many people and at times his own apostles came to him asking, “What is the meaning of that parable.” A preacher gave a message about “The Stewardship of Self,” and asked the listeners “Where do You Live.” There is a town in Georgia named, “Between.” So people who live there, when asked where they live say, “I live in Between.” The next question is, Where do we live, spiritually? Do we live in between God and the world? If so, that might be the reason things do not always go as we think they should. At the Healing Hearts meeting last Sunday, Sister Mary Lou Kennon had the devotions. She read the beatitudes “Blessed are all they that do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled with the Holy Ghost.” She asked us, what were we hungering and thirsting after, righteousness or things of the world. (Healing Hearts is a support group for those who have lost a husband or wife.) Some thoughts from a book entitled “21 Reasons Why Bad Things Happen to Good People” Written by Dave Earley, Chairman of the Dept. of Pastoral Leadership for Liberty University and Liberty Theological Seminary. "I had not prayed for a long time because of what happened to my sister. My prayers ran into the same old "dead end." Why did God let this happen? Remember these truths: 1. God is under no obligation to give us an explanation for suffering. 2. God HAS given us plenty of explanation if we will only look for it and accept it. 3. God can do more than one good thing through the bad things that happen to us. 4. God knows what it is to suffer and He knows how to help us in our suffering. The reasons 1. The Reason no one wants to hear: Worldly assumptions vs the Scriptures: A. The world is full of suffering and evil. B. God created the world C. Therefore, God is the one to blame. Genesis: 1:1-3 2:1 God created the world and said it was all GOOD! Genesis 7:40 God gave man his agency to choose what he would do. Adam and Eve chose the wrong tree. Because man has agency he often chooses wrongly and wrong choices have consequences. 2.To Win an Unseen Victory Job 1,2 1. To Expand Our perspective of God Job 42:1,2 2. To Deepen Our humility before God Job 42:3-4 3. To Produce Greater intimacy with God Job 42:5-6 4. To Prepare Us to Receive far Greater Blessings Job 42 5. To Prepare Us for Higher Promotion Genesis 50:20 6. To Prepare Us for the Miraculous 2 Chronicles 20 7. To Increase the Testimony of God Daniel 6:25-27 8. To Bring Us to Himself Acts 16:9-34 9. To Stretch Us for Greater Growth Romans 5:3-5 10. To Remind Us that we are not home yet. Romans 8 11. To Shape us more like Jesus Romans 8:28-31 12. To Remind Us that we are the Body of Christ I Corinthians 12:12-14 13. To equip us for Further Ministry 2 Corinthians 1:3-5 14. To Remove our self sufficiency 2 Corinthians 12:5-10 15. To Expand our evangelistic efforts Philippians 1:2-18 16. To Promote us to greater glory Philippians 1:21-22 17. To Give us Further Instruction Hebrews 12 18. To Call Us to Increased Prayer James 1:5 19. To Refine Our Faith 1 Peter 1:6-9 "THE ULTIMATE CASE OF BAD THINGS HAPPENING TO THE BEST PERSON TO EVER LIVE ON EARTH, WAS WHEN JESUS CHRIST WAS CRUCIFIED FOR MY SINS!" As we continue in the confusion and turmoil of today’s world, we must remember that God has a plan and when we follow God’s plan we gain the benefits. When we ignore or refuse to comply with God’s commandments, we reap the consequences. So, if and when things just don’t seem to go “right,” check and see where you are living spiritually and what you are hungering and thirsting after. That is not to say we will not have difficulties, but we will have the assurance that God is in control. God bless Paul Gage