What are you doing with the information I’m giving you about the Kingdom of God? Are you content to just have the knowledge or are you putting it into action to please the King?
Let me say it like this: Are you in the car driving toward the kingdom, where you experience all the potholes and difficulties…as well as all the blessing and protection offered by the King? Or are you content to just look at the map as I tell you what it’s like out on the road?
Just coming to church on Sunday’s to listen to me will not change your life. But engaging with the King to find out what His plan is for your life will. This is where the rubber meets the road. This is where you have to make a life altering decision.
Until you put this kingdom knowledge into action, it will do you no good. The difference between knowledge and wisdom is application.
Applications or Apps on your phone allow you to do lots of things, but if you never use them, they do you no good. The phone is loaded with them, but they can’t help you if you don’t use them. The basics came loaded on the device when you got it. Others have to be downloaded as you need them.
We all understand the concept that computers have an operating system installed, a foundational set of rules by which they function. And a computer can only run applications that have been designed for that operating system.
2 Corinthians 5:17 ”17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
When we are born again into the kingdom, the King downloads a new kingdom operating system into us through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. We are a brand new creation, not meant to function using our old system. We are not just a refurb of our old self, we are a brand new creation.
Too many Christians have the new kingdom operating system installed in their life, but are still trying to function using software applications designed for the world. They can’t figure out why the christian life they are living doesn’t look like what the Bible says it should. Where is the blessing?
The foundational rule of the world’s operating system and apps is that everything is based on what you want. The foundational rule of the Kingdom’s operating system and apps is that everything is based on what the King wants.
Your life does not look like what the Bible describes as a blessed kingdom life, because you are still trying to get what you want. You’re just trying to use the kingdom’s system to get it. It does not work like that. Your blessing is found in doing what the King wants done.
You can’t run the world’s programs on the Kingdom’s operating system. They are not compatible. But here’s something that you may not realize. Kingdom apps are cross compatible.
If you use kingdom principals in your life, they will work even if you don’t have the kingdom operating system in your life.
Kingdom principles are like keys. A key will open a lock, regardless of who is holding the key. When the Bible says in Proverbs 15:1 “A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” That principal applies to both the Christian and nonChristian. The key of using “a soft word” to defuse a heated situation works regardless of your spiritual condition.
But again, it doesn’t work the other way around. if you are a Christian and you continue to use the world’s programs, you’ll stay in a state of sluggish performance or even locked up completely, not able to move your life forward without a complete system reboot. That is what is happening when you see the same people going to an altar to pray for forgiveness for the same things over and over.
Maybe you need a fresh install of the Kingdom operating system if you want a life that is full of purpose and fulfillment. We have to have the hard drive wiped and reload the proper operating system. Your soul is the combination of your mind, your will and your emotions.
Your soul gets input from your body. Your soul deposits that information into your spirit. You have to hear something 7 times for it to be permanently written onto your hard drive or spirit.
Your body gives ur soul the info and the soul sends it to the spirit to judge. If you send the wrong stuff often enough, that is what gets written and it’s very difficult to erase.
You have to overwrite the old code by living by the kingdom principles that Jesus taught during His ministry here on earth.
As we begin to break down this idea of having a renewed mind, there are three characters involved in this little production that we need to take a closer look at. We have to reveal their motivations so we can understand what is happening. They are the Flesh, the mind and the Spirit.
Ephesians 2:1-5 “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—“
Imagine your flesh is here, your spirit is over here and in the middle between them is your soul (mind). Before you asked Jesus to forgive your sins and be the Lord of your life, your spirit was dead. The first verse of the scripture we just read says you were dead in your sins. The real you, a spirit, the you that lives in this body.…was dead. We think of our body/flesh as who we are, but that’s not even close to being correct.
Think about it like this: Astronauts have to have a space suit. They need it to live in space, but you would never describe the space suit as the astronaut. If the astronaut is back on earth and the space suit is just laying on a table, you wouldn’t say there’s Bob the astronaut. You’d sound crazy if you did that. Your body is just an earth suit. You need it to live here on the earth. Your body will no longer be necessary when the real “you” leaves the earth. You are not your earth suit. You live in your earth suit while you are on earth.
For years, your flesh and mind were running around together doing whatever made your flesh happy. If your flesh wanted it, your mind would justify why you should have it. Doing what your flesh wanted is what got you into trouble, because there was no one to stop the two of them or even give them a reason to pause.
But then one day you heard the message of Jesus and you chose to surrender to Him. At that point your spirit man came to life. Suddenly there is a third guy involved. A third wheel that has shown up to ruin the fun, or so your flesh would have you believe.
How many times have you seen a character in a show that has a devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other? As crazy as it sounds, that is basically what is happening when our spirit comes to life in Christ. You see, up until that point, your flesh has never had any competition for who influences your mind. But now there’s this new guy who is alive with the spirit of God and has a totally different perspective on what choices your mind should be making.
Your flesh and mind have been together doing whatever your flesh wanted for a long time, so your habits have been set through your choices over that period of time.
Romans 7:24-25 “24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.”
Your flesh can’t be saved, and it won’t stop trying to convince you to make bad choices. So we defeat it by starving it of its influence over our mind. As we seek God through His word, our spirit is strengthened and our flesh is weakened.
When we accept that Jesus is our Lord, the Holy Spirit lives within us, and God’s plan for Kingdom expansion continues. If the Holy Spirit lives in you and you are in a room…the kingdom is in that room! The different areas you are moving in right now are potential kingdom territories…and the King wants them all. Every family, workplace and neighborhood that you are a part of, are all areas that God has given you influence over…for His Kingdom expansion.
You have to understand that God placed you in those areas for His glory and not just your own benefit. The job you have is so much more than a paycheck, it is a kingdom assignment that you are supposed to use for the King’s glory.
Let’s back up for a minute so we can understand how this kingdom expansion assignment starts. We’ve talked about the idea of accepting Jesus, but what actually happens when you accept Jesus into your life as Lord? You are born again…spiritually.
We’ve all heard that phrase. Being “born again”, but what does it mean? Is it more than just something christians say to make us sound weird? Because it does sound weird. As a matter of fact, the first time it’s mentioned in the Bible, it got a curious response.
John 3:1-6. “3 Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; 2 this man came to Jesus at night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus responded and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus *said to Him, “How can a person be born when he is old? He cannot enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born, can he?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which has been born of the flesh is flesh, and that which has been born of the Spirit is spirit.”
It’s a strange concept for sure, but let’s look at it through a kingdom lens and see what it reveals. Jesus told Nicodemus, he had to be born again. Here is why that is a significant statement. Sin entered the world thru Adam and you were naturally born into sin because you are a blood relative of Adam. We were natural born citizens of earth. That’s how you have citizenship in a country, you are born into it. You are considered a “natural born citizen”.
So we all begin life as a natural born citizen of the earth, with a fresh install of the world’s operating system. But after accepting Jesus, The King says we have been born again into a new kingdom citizenship. We are now kingdom citizens with a new kingdom operating system. We are to operate as citizens of Heaven.
Philippians 3:20 “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we eagerly wait for the Savior, the lord Jesus Christ.”
Ok, so our citizenship is no longer earth, it is now in heaven. But does that really matter? Yes, and this is why. Citizens have rights, benefits, and also responsibilities.
John 1:12 “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe on His name.
We are now children of the King. And as children of the King, He is responsible for our care. The reputation of a king is established by how well he takes care of the citizens in His dominion or kingdom. We have benefits as citizens of the kingdom.
This is why Jesus taught us that we should not worry, because our Father knows what we need and if we are seeking His kingdom first, He will provide all we need. If we worry, we are putting ourself in the position of God and trying to make sure we are taken care of. And instinctively we know that is not within our power, so we worry about how to do it. But it’s not our responsibility to begin with.
The Kingdom operating system does not come naturally. Our flesh wants to operate in the worlds system
Romans 12:2 “2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Do not be conformed to this “world’s operating system” but be transformed by the upgrading of your thoughts. We must think differently in order to function differently. And we can only think differently by having the word in our heart. As our thoughts change, our behavior will change. And that’s what I’m trying to do when we get together here. I’m giving you the information to enable you to change your thinking.
So let me ask you again. What are you doing with the kingdom information I’m giving you? Are you looking in the mirror and then ignoring what you look like? Are you ready to start driving yourself or will you just keep looking at the map?
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