The last post explored the key Kingdom paradigm: "The kingdom of God and all of its resources are within ME everyday, all day, all the time, in every place."
Some more key thoughts about the Kingdom that are foundational:
- Every spiritual gift can be expressed through me as God wills
- I have constant access to the Spiritual Leader of my life
- The kingdom of God within me is more real than anything in this world, including religious systems or institutions
- The kingdom of God is a life-force in me not a religious system, order, organization, or gathering
- God has designed me for mission and purpose– to be lived out counter-culturally– within community– a kingdom purpose not a church-organization purpose– a kingdom purpose not an institutional purpose
- Personal obedience to God is more important than serving the needs of an organization/institution. The latter is an easier substitute that doesn’t require engaging with God
- My purpose is to go (taking my gifts and kingdom life where God sends me) not to stay and build
- My "covering" is to hear and know the will of God– my sheep hear my voice– confirmed by those I live in community with
- Solitude, not going to church, will release the Kingdom life in me that I am meant to live in. Community life will reinforce the life that God releases through solitude. Community, of any kind, cannot release kingdom life in me; it can only nurture and support what is already in me through solitude and personal worship (vis a vis the life of Jesus).
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3 responses to “More Kingdom Thoughts”
“Solitude, not going to church, will release the Kingdom life in me that I am meant to live in. Community life will reinforce the life that God releases through solitude. Community, of any kind, cannot release kingdom life in me; it can only nurture and support what is already in me through solitude and personal worship (vis a vis the life of Jesus).”
This is my favorite line from this post. I was in a discussion with my mom about attending/not attending church…My parents are in between right now. They have attended a traditional church for over 30 years and are right now trying to find their place. I on the other hand have been involved with several kinds of “churches” and believe HC to be one of the better ways of doing things, i.e. building genuine relationships.
The Kingdom life that did in fact come from times of solitude and personal worship enabled better opportunities to build better, deeper, stronger relationships. Simply “going to church” never enabled me to accomplish this.
I don’t think I’ve ever really understood why we (generally speaking) feel that it is our “duty” to attend a church service in a building somewhere. Or even why we feel that it is pleasing to God when we do so in the traditional ways that we do. Lately, as I have attended a more contemporary (not HC or po-mo) gathering with my father-in-law, I feel that much of my time spent there is wasted on sitting while someone speaks for about an hour. (please don’t take that as an arrogant statement)
Over the past few years being in various type gatherings (including IC’s, Po-mo’s, and HC’s) the HC is where my life was transformed the most. It’s where I learned the most in relationships, built stronger relationships, helped others develop better relationships upward and outward. These things are the essentials to life transformation in community, and Roger is correct, it all begins with solitude time with the Three in One.
Could we dare to dream and imagine what it would be like if this was a waking reality in the life of every believer…awake from your slumber O children.
me and my family also believe the kingdom is here i have heard no one speak this i would like to know your thoughts on the day of pentacost my spelling is not good