Tag Archives: Kingdom Of God

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Oh, my...this has been around a while...I'll add some to the end of it.

1 John 3:1-3: "Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure."

Ephesians 1:5 ...he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—

Mark 10:15 "I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it."

Our sermon on Sunday was on the passage in Mark and the person who spoke gave examples of what that might  mean.

Children are not by nature clean beings.  My daddy always says, "a boy is a noise with dirt on it."  On that day, when Jesus was speaking...nobody was clean.  They had traveled on the dusty roads and had been sitting in the hot sun all day.

When we come to the Father, we come to him as broken and messy children.  We may not have a clue where we're going, but like a child, the Father just picks us up and puts us where we should be.

We bring nothing with us.

Job 1:20 "Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return.

We don't bring our works, our faith, our love.  All that we have, the Father has given.

 

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I've been reading "Grounded in the Gospel" - a book that teaches the "old fashioned way" of using catechisms and confessions to teach people about what we believe and why.

I don't know how to do a chart in wordpress, so I'll write out this piece that really struck me.

The premise is that most catechisms (whether planned or not) follow a 3-piece structure

  1. Learning
  2. Worship
  3. Action

We proclaim Christ

Who is

  1. The truth
  2. the life
  3. the way

and who is our:

  1. prophet
  2. priest
  3. king

Each one of us is called to be his:

  1. Disciple
  2. worshiper
  3. servant

Together, with all the saints, we are

  1. the pillar and foundation of truth
  2. the temple of the living God
  3. The body and bride of Christ

We are called to live in light of

  1. the Faith once for all delivered
  2. The new and better covenant
  3. the Kingdom of God

And are called to exercise

  1. faith
  2. hope
  3. love

The summary of our response to Christ

  1. Taught by the Truth
  2. and liberated by the Life as we
  3. walk in the Way