Kingdomology

expanding the love of Christ & Kingdom of God the world over

Kingdom Living

A Kingdom Fit for Men!

Jun 18

Posted by steve in Just Life, Kingdom Living | No Comments

William Merrill, 1867-1954

I’m excited to be back with my friends at The Crossings this Sunday. In honor of Father’s Day, I’ll be teaching from 1 Corinthians 16:13-14 which is a great and challenging text for dads. One of the illustrations of the study is a hymn written in 1911 by William P Merrill entitled, “Rise Up, O Men of God”.  Enjoy!

Rise up, O men of God!
Have done with lesser things.
Give heart and mind and soul and strength
to serve the King of kings.

Rise up, O men of God!
The kingdom tarries long.
Bring in the day of brotherhood
and end the night of wrong.

Rise up, O men of God!
The church for you doth wait,
her strength unequal to her task;
rise up, and make her great!

Lift high the cross of Christ!
Tread where his feet have trod.
As brothers of the Son of Man,
rise up, O men of God!

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Memorial Day Lessons from Shughart and Gordon

May 30

Posted by steve in Kingdom Living | No Comments

Today is Memorial Day in the US and while Christ followers have to keep central the reality that they are part of a bigger kingdom, the Bible still teaches us to give honor where honor is due.  Memorial Day is such an occasion for that. On one hand, I’m not a fan of taking a Sunday morning church gathering and turning it into an American Patriotic service.  Yet, on the other hand I do believe we can still give honor and recognition to those who have given the greatest sacrifice.  In addition to that, as Kingdom citizens I believe we can learn some things from fallen vets and I think this clip from the Movie Black Hawk Down is illustrative of that.  Some of you may remember the actual events from 1993 in Somalia.  But in short, SFC Randall Shughart and MSG Gary Gordon willingly and purposefully gave their lives to save Black Hawk pilot Michael Durant.  Lesson?  As Kingdom citizens, we are to put Christ and others first.  If you’ve wondered why authentic Christianity can sometimes seem lacking in the west, I believe it’s because we have forgotten something that Shughart and Gordon understood to the very core of their being.  They knew that it was not about them, but others.  So this Memorial Day, remember those who have fallen to save others.  Remember the Christian Martyrs who gave their lives for Christ over the past 2000 years.  Above all, remember our call as Citizens of the Kingdom of God to “deny ourselves and take up our Cross daily and follow Him.”  What can you learn and implement from the example of Shughart and Gordon?

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Difficult Love!

May 20

Posted by steve in Kingdom Living | No Comments

Well I’m getting stoked about my sermon for this upcoming Sunday.  We’re at the midpoint in a series at The Crossings called “The New Agenda” taken from Colossians 3:1-17.  The whole crux of the series deals with living out the new life we have in Christ.  The theme of this third installment in the series will be one of “Putting On” the new life of Christ.  Toward the end of verse 14, Paul exhorts us to put on love which binds everything else together and that makes a lot sense.  When you think about it, by purposefully loving others, we naturally cover all the facets of what it means to treat others from a Kingdom perspective.  But how and who are we to love?  Read the rest of this entry »

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Pondering Politics and Piety. Part III.

Mar 2

Posted by steve in Kingdom Living | 6 Comments

If I were to entitle this post anything else, I suppose it would be something like, “The Last Will and Testament of a Young Republican.”  That’s right; I was once a Young Republican a long time ago. But things are different now and it doesn’t have anything to do with age.  Now before my “Lefty” friends out there get all excited, you need to know that I’m not defecting to your political party either. Rather I’m pressing the cancel button on the whole system as far as my involvement goes.  While this doesn’t mean I’m never going to vote on issues I believe in, it does mean a drastic and purposeful decision to refrain from direct political involvement and commentary.  Even on my Face Book page I’ve listed the “Kingdom of Heaven” for my political views.  As followers of Christ we have to keep in mind that we’re part of His eternal Kingdom which supersedes the greatest Kingdoms of men.  But is this stand of total avoidance too radical?  After all, it would seem from the scripture that politics is a freedom issue.  We even noted in Part I. of this series that we can’t separate the sacred from the secular and this would apply to politics as well.  Yet considering the transitory nature of this realm, I do believe that this is an issue that Christians should seriously wrestle with.  As for me, I’ve drawn the line in the sand to abstain and here are at least four reasons why. Read the rest of this entry »

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Super Bowls and Super Church!

Feb 4

Posted by steve in Just Life, Kingdom Living | 2 Comments

This week America will be watching the Super Bowl in Dallas and though my team won’t be in the game, I’ll be getting together with friends Sunday night to take in the match.  While it’s going to be fun watching the game, it would sure be a whole lot more exciting to actually be able to play in the game.  (Which is what the Dallas Cowboys are feeling about now)  But when you think about it, what we have in the Super Bowl is a select group of professionals out on the field playing while the rest of us chug our cokes, eat our nachos, and dream of a big day when we could be in a big game.  But that’s the point: they play and we watch.  Read the rest of this entry »

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Pondering Politics and Piety. Part II

Jan 25

Posted by steve in Kingdom Living | 2 Comments

Tonight the President of the United States is slated to give his annual State of The Union Address.  I’m not sure which one will be more fun to watch; his speech or the bantering on Face Book that will follow.  When it comes to dialogue on politics, it’s interesting to see all the Christ following friends I have who sit on opposite sides of the political aisle.  They claim allegiance to Christ, but are polls apart in politics.  But that will be part of our discussion next week when we wind this subject down and look at some of the personal reasons why I don’t swim in this pool much anymore.  It is also worth noting that Jesus actually spoke very little about politics even though Conservatives and Liberals claim Him as their guy at times.  In fact, we see virtually nothing of Jesus giving a commentary on the Roman government of his day.  That’s because the mission of Christ is beyond that of any temporal regime.  Yet we noted in Part I. that as citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven we’re not to cloister ourselves away from society, but rather to influence it.  So what does the Bible say about our relationship to the Kingdoms of this world?   Here are some pointers we should consider and while my list below is not exhaustive, it’s something to start with.  Read the rest of this entry »

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“Share Fair” Success!

Dec 15

Posted by steve in CHURCH, Kingdom Living | No Comments

I was blessed to be part of the Crossings “Share Fair” 2010 event this past Saturday.  To me it was just another wonderful example of a local body of Christ putting their faith into practice by coming up with creative ways to serve their extended community.  The “Fair” was a great success this year as we gathered donations and gifts and networking with a local school, were able to get them into the lives of families in our area who are struggling.  A HUGE thanks goes out to Larry Foster who handled the goliath share of the details which made everything come together.  I also want say thanks to everyone who helped with the setup, teardown, and serving throughout the day.  In all, “Share Fair” was just another reason why you rock Cypress Crossings.  So keep up the good work and have a MERRY CHRISTMAS!

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Pondering Politics and Piety. Part I.

Oct 31

Posted by steve in Just Life, Kingdom Living | 2 Comments

Well we’re just a couple of days away from a huge election here in the US and I figured now was a good time to address an issue that a lot of folks are thinking about: how are true followers of Christ to respond to political issues?  While political discussions are not the purpose of Kingdomology, we still live on this side of eternity and we do move in and out of political relations as with any other aspect of day to day life.  Authentic followers of Christ don’t shut themselves up in a monastery, but rather engage the world around them with the love of Jesus.  So with that, I want to start this discussion by addressing a serious misunderstanding which is rampant in our day of Politics verses Piety.  Read the rest of this entry »

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Please . . . Something more than Better!

Sep 16

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I got a new book from a friend the other day to look over and I think it has some potential.  The Next Level takes an honest look at the struggles in our lives and points out that we have a choice to either see them as a prison or as a testing ground in which God can develop our character.  The author outlines his plan by examining the tests of 31 biblical characters and then brings some application to our lives.  It’s not a bad idea and fits nicely into a month long devotion plan.  But I was a bit disappointed early on when I saw what is so prevalent in countless spiritualized self-help books today.  In part of the introduction, one of the authors describes his church as a place where they want to help people be “better husbands and wives, better parents, better children, employees, friends and neighbors and ultimately, better people.’”  Better people?  I read that and thought: I don’t want to just be better.  I want to be different; radically different.  I want to have a change that is way above anything a simple 5 or 10 step plan can accomplish.  I want transformation. Read the rest of this entry »

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Thoughts on Terry’s Tirdae and Quarrel with the Quran.

Sep 9

Posted by steve in Just Life, Kingdom Living | 1 Comment

I wasn’t planning to weigh in on Terry Jones and his plans to burn a boat load of Qurans this Saturday; September 11th.  But when I saw a number of folks commenting about it on Face Book this morning I changed my mind.  I hardly ever dive into politics anymore and may actually blog about that decision in the future.  But I do want to discuss current issues of the day and relevant ways citizens of the Kingdom of God can respond to them and process them.  On this issue, it would seem that “Pastor” Terry is a bit misguided here in interpreting exactly how Jesus would have handled the situation and what the spiritual ramifications are.

To begin with, I find the whole thing humorous if not sad on at least three points.  Read the rest of this entry »

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