Life Learning Series

To come closer to a person relationship with God, in the Kingdom of God, we need to listen. Once we have listened, then we need to absorb the message. And once we have absorbed the message, then we need to personalize it for our unique relationship with the Father, and with His Son. A certain woman of the day of Jesus caught the understanding of this need, and she acted upon it. This woman acted upon the need, even though her sister criticized her for doing so.

Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word. But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.

(Luke 10:38-42) Then, once we have listened to the LORD and to His Son; after it has been absorbed, we need to be open to the intervention that has been placed in the kingdom of man as an extension of grace from the Kingdom of Heaven; particularly, as comes to us through so great a cloud of witnesses. It was placed in our existence for our continued personal development in the Kingdom of God. As the Scripture tells us . . .

– Explore the Kingdom of God:  Part Nineteen –

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Now, each one of us needs to take some time to explore our own need. To begin the process, take a moment to absorb the following Scripture.

And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.

As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.

(Revelation 3:14-21) In light of that Scripture, let us consider only our position in the LORD. Let us be selfish, for a moment.Ooh; somebody is feeling hyper-religious, aren’t they?

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What is this stuff about being selfish,” they ask. “Of course that can’t be right. Everyone knows that we should be ready to perform our service to God in the same fashion as was done by the prophets and apostles of olden times. For instance, we need to perform as recorded in this Scripture; don’t we,” they ask, with a look and a tone that bespeaks assurance that they are speaking absolute truth. They speak as one who is sure that the entire world will say, yes, to what they have just pronounced.

To add to the inevitability of receiving the, as they think, only possible response, yes; they resort to authority. Wherefore they continue, by saying, “Please pay attention to these words: seeketh not her own.” Then they try to bring the full weight of their authority to bear, as they quote Scripture.

– Explore the Kingdom of God:  Part Eighteen –

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A key part of our assignment from the LORD is that we achieve transcendence. Scripture tells us how this is done.

If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.

Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.

These things I command you, that ye love one another.

If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.

(John 15:7-19) At the start of the New Age, the people received a clear vision of the potential for transcendence of the human condition. This clear vision was embodied in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ. However, the vision is not limited to the time of the start of the New Age; during the time of the unfolding of the Old Testament, the vision was there, too. At that time, the vision was being pressed forward by the people of God, as they progressed through time to join with the waiting New Testament, in a time that had not come yet. Jesus Christ witnessed to this spanning, Old to New, of the potential for transcendence in mankind.

– Explore the Kingdom of God:  Part Seventeen –

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Knowledge, in and of itself, is marvelous. But, knowledge is even more fulfilling when we can see that what we know and what we do with what we know will endure. Throughout history, there have been questions, and even assaults, on the durability of the way of the LORD. These questions-and, sometimes, assaults–persuade us that we have a better way to follow, in the LORD’S way. Simply put: things that have a history of new assaults against them, have a history of endeavor. This is so because when the history stops being formed, there will be nothing new to assault. This is the type of knowledge that will withstand even the fiercest of nay saying, such as are those psychological barbs that are directed at God.

There are times when some of us say that God does not exist. To that group of people, I dedicate the following Scripture. These are the declared atheists. This Scripture is not just for those people who use the label, atheist. This Scripture is also for folks who declare that God is not a part of a particular situation or circumstance. This Scripture is for those situational atheists, too.

To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.

The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people as they eat bread, and call not upon the LORD.

(Psalm 14:1-4) This foolishness, of disavowal of God, is not a new thing. In the Beginning, Cain practiced it, in a subtle way. Cain had a pair of God-fearing parents, and, through them, he gained an understanding of the presence of the LORD. At his birth, Cain’s mother, Eve, showed her zeal for the LORD. This is the kind of zeal that can serve as a strong motivator for a child, persuading him or her to seek to serve the LORD.

– Explore the Kingdom of God:  Part Sixteen –…

Yes, perfection in man in the Kingdom of God is possible. Scripture gives us an example.

There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil. And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters. His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east. (Job 1:1-3) Scripture also contains a declaration that requires us to strive to move in the LORD’S performance, as unto perfection. Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

(Matthew 5:43-48) Though we could rest in this motivation to Be ye therefore perfect, let us go further. Let us meditate on the one who is both the author of the right and righteous method of performance in the Kingdom of God, and the only complete example of right and righteous perfection, in the LORD: Christ.

– Explore the Kingdom of God:  Part Fifteen –

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Some preliminary words may be needed here, to set the stage for an expression that we will stress in much of the following writing, even more than we have done in prior pieces. The expression is, the Lord Jesus Christ. To some of the members of the human race it might be easier for them to handle the expression, Jesus of Nazareth. In this group, there may even be some members that are comfortable with the expression, Jesus Christ, since they recognize that the word, Christ, is actually a designation of the authorization of his mission, and not a part of his earthly name.

We use the expression, Jesus Christ, because a large part of the physical and now completed mission of Jesus of Nazareth was to begin the process of the Lord Jesus Christ’s onward and eternal service to God as a focal point for the forward progress of man, in righteousness, in the New Age. So, on the authority of the following Scripture, we ask you to be comfortable with the functional use of the expression, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. The Pharisees therefore said unto him, Thou bearest record of thyself; thy record is not true. Jesus answered and said unto them, Though I bear record of myself, yet my record is true: for I know whence I came, and whither I go; but ye cannot tell whence I come, and whither I go. Ye judge after the flesh; I judge no man. And yet if I judge, my judgment is true: for I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me.It is also written in your law, that the testimony of two men is true. I am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me.

Then said they unto him, Where is thy Father? Jesus answered, Ye neither know me, nor my Father: if ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also.These words spake Jesus in the treasury, as he taught in the temple: and no man laid hands on him; for his hour was not yet come.

(John 8:12-20) In the Kingdom of God, our tool for bringing performance from promise as an extension of preparation is as described by the Lord Jesus Christ, in this declaration….

– Explore the Kingdom of God:  Part Fourteen –

Preparation gives us the opportunity to utilize the promise that the LORD has invested in us. Speaking of opportunity in the Kingdom of God, this, too, is on a sure foundation. It is also a long-standing and proven foundation, which we revere as being ancient of days. For, opportunity for mankind, in the Kingdom of God, was made evident in the Beginning: the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden.

These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground. But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.

The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.

And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia.

And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria.

And the fourth river is Euphrates.

And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

(Genesis 2:4-15) Even after the incident of Adam, opportunity was re-placed for mankind (and it is ever available to us as we move in the Kingdom of God). Its re-placement is expressed thusly: seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.

– Explore the Kingdom of God:  Part Thirteen –

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In order to be confident that we are an heir to promise, in any environment, we need these three things: potential to excel, opportunity to try (with some leeway to falter, or, even, fail), and the assurance that we are in a stable environment. Let us look at each of these necessary things, in our environment. The beginning of the environmental construction has foundational principles, such as Jesus Christ described in a lesson that he gave to his disciples.

Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven: Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.And he spake a parable unto them, Can the blind lead the blind? shall they not both fall into the ditch?

The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master.

And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but perceivest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Either how canst thou say to thy brother, Brother, let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye, when thou thyself beholdest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother’s eye.

For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes.

A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.

(Luke 6:37-45)

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The stable environment is really our first requirement for belief in promise; for, if we cannot visualize stability, then we will proceed in the following fashion.

– Explore the Kingdom of God:  Part Twelve –

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There are two truths of the Kingdom of God that we want to highlight here. The first truth is that we owe our existence to God. The second truth is that God has, shall we say, obligated Himself to maintain our welfare. The second truth is the one that fuel this discussion of promises. The second truth is highly important to both our well-being and the recognition that God is consistent in His Entire Kingdom. We can rest in this truth because there is a simple fact of existence that attaches us, unbreakably, to God: we are His, and we are subject to both His care and His rule.

The word of the LORD came unto me again, saying,What mean ye, that ye use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge? As I live, saith the Lord GOD, ye shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel. Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.

But if a man be just, and do that which is lawful and right, And hath not eaten upon the mountains, neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, neither hath defiled his neighbour’s wife, neither hath come near to a menstruous woman, And hath not oppressed any, but hath restored to the debtor his pledge, hath spoiled none by violence, hath given his bread to the hungry, and hath covered the naked with a garment; He that hath not given forth upon usury, neither hath taken any increase, that hath withdrawn his hand from iniquity, hath executed true judgment between man and man, Hath walked in my statutes, and hath kept my judgments, to deal truly; he is just, he shall surely live, saith the Lord GOD.

(Ezekiel 18:1-9) As interactions–including interventions, along with intercessions, and even when they are spontaneous–provide the glue that binds us to God, in the Kingdom of God; promises are the grainy things inside the interactions that give them their stickiness. Before we proceed, we need to take a good look at the diversity that is in the word, promise. In our world, there are promises, and there is promise; these two need to be kept separate.The word, promise, is a double-edged sword: on the one edge are promises; on the other edge is each entity’s promise. Entities’ promise is best expressed as: the potential for evolution, leading to advancement. We will explore both of these aspects of intervention, as revealed in the kingdom of God; each in their own topic, and in their appropriate place in the flow of enhancing our understanding of the Kingdom of God. Here, let us start with the promises of the Kingdom of God. Of course, we will not try to cover all the promises, here; but we will explore a representative sample. First, let us state the bedrock that supports all the promises of the Kingdom of God.

– Explore the Kingdom of God:  Part Eleven –

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Before we delve into spontaneity, please think about the alternatives: intervention that requires action on our part versus intercession that is done without our involvement. A particular figure of history said it this way, “God helps those who help themselves”. Sometimes that is true; however, sometimes it is not. For instance, in a certain event, the intervention for the sake of the wayward kings that reigned in Israel, from time to time, was preceded by an inspiration for the king to humble himself before the LORD. The following is Scripture that describes king Ahab’s humility in a petition for intervention, and lets us see the disposition of it in the Kingdom of God. First, the king was given ample reason to turn his heart toward humility. And yet, the king was also too corrupt, it seems, to merit a good return from the LORD as an answer to the king’s humility.

And the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, which is in Samaria: behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, whither he is gone down to possess it.And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the LORD, Hast thou killed, and also taken possession? And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the LORD, In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine.

And Ahab said to Elijah, hast thou found me, O mine enemy? And he answered, I have found thee; because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the LORD. Behold, I will bring evil upon thee, and will take away thy posterity, and will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel, And will make thine house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, for the provocation wherewith thou hast provoked me to anger, and made Israel to sin.And of Jezebel also spake the LORD, saying, The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel. Him that dieth of Ahab in the city the dogs shall eat; and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat.

(1 Kings 21:17-24) However, even with a corrupt beneficiary, still the LORD gave the humility greater weight than the corruption.

– Explore the Kingdom of God:  Part Ten –

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