By Every Word

Gospel

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Apr 152010

So what does the word “gospel” mean?

Religion would explain the gospel as this: “Jesus coming to die on the cross.” That’s what you have heard, yeah?

But, let’s quit listening to tradition and actually study the word.

Gospel comes from the Greek word “euaggelion” pronounced
‘yu-ahn-ge-le-on’ . It literally means ‘good tidings’ or ‘good news’. Please read the above again… make sure you understand this definition for gospel. It’s important to understand because if we use a word incorrectly then the message can be marred from it’s original meaning.

[Quick-Thought]
You ever had someone you knew, who used a word in a sentence where it didn’t belong? You knew what word or meaning they were trying to get across but they didn’t use the correct word.
Example: Someone is explaining to you how much money they have made in their stocks and they say “I’m making a lot of money because of this comparable interest thing.” Then you quickly add “…you mean compound interest?”
You would only know what they meant because you had previous ‘correct’ knowledge. But if you had no idea about stocks or investing- you would think they were right and ignorance would have been passed on to you. Now we have two people using an incorrect term. How dangerous a “well delivered error” can be. Think about it… many religions, with some having only slight differences in their beliefs; But even slight deviations can be absolutely wrong.

So, gospel means “good news”. What good news?… What is the good news?…

Can it be that religion has misunderstood, misrepresented, miscommunicated the “good news”? Well if gospel means good news- then there are a lot of things that can be good news. Right? Remember what the meaning of ‘gospel’ is, not what religion has taught. Jesus used this word when He was on earth based on our definition of the word. He would not have used a word for some brand new meaning that no one would understand. So let’s look at the scripture containing this word.

Matthew 4
23) And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.

I have purposely emphasized what we usually read from this verse. And then everyone says “I go about preaching the GOSPEL!”.
Well… what is it? You have stated you preach the good news, so what is the good news? Come on, Come on- tell us the good news.

Can you imagine reading the newspaper and seeing these headlines.

“A TERRIBLE THING HAS HAPPENED”
“A NEW THING HAS HAPPENED”
“WE HAVE A GREAT STORY”

That would make no sense, because you have told us nothing in this headline. So the fix to these above would be this.

“TITANIC SINKS”
“HUBBLE TELESCOPE TAKES FIRST PICTURES”
“MAN RISKS OWN LIFE TO SAVE NEIGHBOR”

Now we have the headline defined and not just a declaration.

So, what is the good news? If we say, without the understanding, “I preach the gospel!” then we have left off the definition for our declaration of good news. So let’s look at what Christ says is the “good news”.

Matthew 4
23) And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.

Ahhhhh! There it is! Jesus went about teaching and preaching the “good news”… of the kingdom! That was the good news he was preaching! If I got a job making twice as much as I make now- that would be gospel (good news). If my son was accepted for a full scholarship to any college in America paid in full; That would be gospel!

So the important thing to remember is to read the bible carefully. We have allowed some words to be defined for us by tradition. We have made the word ‘gospel’ mean all of these other things. Just because a word becomes synonymous by tradition, does not make it correct. Study the word, then get knowledge of the words. Make sure you understand the definition for a word. Check several reparable sources. An incorrect definition of a word can be detrimental to your understanding of the rest of the book, its meaning, and its message. So with all thy getting get understanding. (Proverbs 4:7)

So if you preach the gospel- preach the gospel Jesus Christ preached… the gospel of the kingdom.

Who We Are – Lesson 3 – Kingdom Study Series

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Apr 132010

Lesson 3 dives, just slightly, into Who We Are. Have you ever asked yourself “Who am I? – Why am I here? – Is there a reason for my existence?”

Well, there’s good news… The good news is the good news. The kingdom is the good news. God’s purpose, since the beginning, has been to establish a kingdom on earth with his children ruling under his headship. Through us God wants to impact the earth with his will. Remember the “Lord’s Prayer”?

…thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth just as it is in heaven…”

So you have a purpose, a reason to wake up excited to live! Your father is king and you are an heir. He’s just waiting for you to return to him, so you can begin to live out your purpose he predestined you for!

In this lesson we cover some of the exciting scriptures that satan does not want you to know about. Law that reveals God’s purpose for you, and can unlock your understanding that you were born to do something great! After all, you were made in his likeness and in his image… it’s time we start acting like it.

Setting Goals

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Apr 072010

Every year, around January 1st actually, we have this practice we usually do. We see a brand new start, a fresh outlook, a renewed zeal for doing something in our lives. You may have called this a “New Year Resolution”. It’s an amazing thing actually. We have many days we wish we could do again, and we could really just restart the next day-and let it be a brand new day- but many times we carry over yesterday’s hurts and failures over into the next day and continue to let them control our attitude and outlook.

But there is something different about a ‘new year’. I can’t explain it but, even those who usually drag each ‘let down’ with them day to day are able to get the feeling that they have a fresh start finally. There isn’t a difference from December 31st to January 1st in weather, circumstances, situations, length of days, or anything that is dramatic or observable. It’s just a change in our mindset. So we can actually control this mindset thing.

But, let’s talk about goals for a moment. It’s great to have a feeling of a new start or a new beginning, but what happened to the resolutions of the previous year? There must be something that triggered us to be so anxious for the new year to come so we could start over… right? If we fulfilled all of our resolutions from the previous year we would feel… AWESOME… yea? So somewhere during the year we must have lost our way to meeting our goal. And every year we wind up missing the goal and putting all of our hopes and aspirations into the next year. So we have to change something in our ways in order to get the desired result.

[Related Story]
Dave Ramsey on one of his radio shows was talking about a time when he had a new years resolution to workout. He hired a trainer and was excited to get started. But during his first day he and his trainer had to wait longer than normal wait times to get on a machine. It slowed the process down a lot. The trainer told him not to worry, they would all be gone by Valentine’s Day. And he was right.

So what caused them to give up? Well, I have a theory and I also have a truth.

[Theory]
We have something in mind we want to do- we fail early and spend the next 9-10 months waiting for the next year. So that’s 2 months of success and 10 months of procrastination. The next year comes and we are so unhappy with last year’s results that we try again but we try to go even bigger because we want to make up for lost time. This ends in failure most of the time again. I call this “resolution debt”. The feeling we owe for time missed or opportunities that have passed.

[Truth]
The most important thing we can do though is something very simple. It’s actually more important than working towards the resolution itself. When you have something you want to achieve you need to set a… goal for your… goal. Setting a number goal gives you something to work for. It makes you push harder, faster, and do whatever is necessary to get there when you can see you are closing in.

[Example]
You say “I want to read more books this year”. OK, good luck with that. But if you say “I want to read 2 books a month”. Well now you have something to work for. See if you don’t set a number to reach you will end up doing what the rest of the resolution imitat…, ummm setters,do- you will procrastinate. You will ‘feel’ behind the first month and decide to catch up the second month, but then it’s gone too until your “resolution debt” is so overwhelming you give up until the next year.

It’s time to set numbers to those desired results- after all that’s what will make it a result to be desired.

Now let’s see what the kingdom’s position is on this, shall we?

{Exodus 26}
Here is God’s instruction to Moses on the building of the tabernacle. Read it and look at the specific plan God has to see a ‘desired result’. This is very important, as you actually see this from God throughout the bible. He is very clear. You never see God say in this chapter “I want some curtains!” No no no- he is precise in his thinking. He says in verse 8:

⁸The length of one curtain shall be thirty cubits, and the breadth of one curtain four cubits: and the eleven curtains shall be all of one measure.

Precise!

God also shows us how important it is for us to reach goals- and what to do to prevent from being stopped.

{Phillipians 3}¹³Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,

So He says to forget the past, and keep your eye on the potential. You can never birth the potential inside of you if you are constantly looking to the past .

{Hebrews 3}
¹⁴For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end;

WOW! This is so important- you can’t lose momentum. Believe me, when you set a goal the devil is going to want to come and mess it up. It doesn’t matter what the goal is. He knows you were made in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26) and he wants to see you fail- not achieve goals. Because when you do, you’re acting just like your father!

I have so many other scriptures I could reference (James 5:11, Hebrews 6:11) but I have two more I definitely want to get in your mind.

{2 Corinthians 11}
¹⁵Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.

This is so true- sometimes we think it’s going to be easy getting results, but it is hard work but soooo worth it. You might just get more out of the journey to the result, then you do from the result itself…

…and one of the most important scriptures I believe to this is…

{Genesis 11}

⁴And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven;

Now this one is so good. These people set a goal with a specific desired result (heaven). They were working against God though- so let’s see what God says…

⁶And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.

God even recognizes the power he has put in us when we set our mind to something. It’s just a kingdom law. God made it this way- and so the king had to put an end to the rebellion. So the mind is a powerful thing. The tongue is also a powerful thing. (James 3)

So think of some desired results you want in your life. (1 month goals, 6 month, 1 year, and 5 year) Then layout numbers to these goals. (Example: I want to lose 8 LBs within the next 30 days) Then go for it! Set sub-goals on the way there if it’s something big you are working to achieve. This may be how many calories to take in, or what you need to do in order to have your degree in 5 years. Just Do it!

Now write those goals down on paper so you have to look at them everyday and face the reality of how you are doing. Also speak the goals out loud. (Remember there is power in the tongue) Be so committed to what you want to achieve that it doesn’t matter what people think- you tell everyone what’s going to happen. That is exercising dominion over your life! That’s kingdom!

God’s Original Intent – Lesson 2 – Kingdom Study Series

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Apr 052010

This is Lesson 2 from the Kingdom Study Series. In this lesson we focus in on the scriptures that show God’s original intent for the earth. God did not make man just to have something to do. He is a purposeful God. He does everything with a purpose in mind, with a plan, for a desired result, for a reason. We have made God’s original purpose religion. This means we have made God’s priority preaching sermons, singing songs, clapping, praying for the sick, getting people to go to church, paying tithes, giving offerings, and many many more things. But these things are not God’s priority. These are things that occur naturally when we ‘truly’ seek the kingdom. The current mission of the church are these ‘things’ instead of the kingdom. We don’t understand kingdom and so we skip it and go for the things… But without an understanding of kingdom- we do these things in vain. See in religion you give tithes (you do right?) but the offerings you say in your heart- “I’ll give more (offering is anything above the tithe) IF… If the preacher gives a good message, if we have a special guest, if they sing a song I like, if they work my emotions, if they make me cry.” We may not like to admit this, but many times it’s the truth.
But in a kingdom we give the tithes because it’s the law and we give offerings because we have come before the King. It has nothing to do with the pastor, evangelist, singer, or special guest. It’s for the King. And you would not come before a king and give him change.

Think about this… If you come before the President of the United States on his birthday, what kind of gift would you bring? You would not bring him something you bought at a dollar store. It would not matter how much you made a year, you would get whatever money you could scrape together in order to get him something that would ‘impress’ him. You would want to leave an impression in him. But with the president you would not get anything in return… (Will go here later)

So we learn in this lesson the importance of understanding that God’s Original Intent was bringing the kingdom of heaven to earth. Once we understand this- the natural desire is “I have to understand this kingdom stuff”. And you do- because that’s where results manifest, that religion promises but never delivers.

What We Lost – Lesson 1 – Kingdom Study Series

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Mar 282010

The first video lesson on the kingdom of God. In this lesson we start by laying out the framework of the bible. The bible is not a religious book; and this can be something hard to get through our head… or out of our head rather. In order to really understand the bible we have to understand what the real message of the bible is: It’s a book about a kingdom, a king, and his royal family in the earth. When we start to understand that Jesus came to restore the authority back into man’s hands- we can move away from vain religious practice- and start living as the sons and daughters of God today. People are supposed to see us, and know what it’s like to live in the kingdom. We are a blessed people! When everyone is in recession- we’re moving higher, when everyone is struggling- we’re thriving. The kingdom is spread in the earth because people start to see it working in our lives and they want to be apart of what it is we have. Religion has attempted to do this but has failed and has only divided us. Jesus never came to bring a religion, but the kingdom of heaven.

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