027 Commentary on Kingdom Role

 

Notes for Commentary on Episode 29

 

 

 

Guest: Scheduling Conflicts Arose

Garret: Medical Issue made him unavailable

 

 

Everything, that is, EVERYTHING, in the kingdom of God is rooted in and based upon faith.

 

Let me hammer this home once again; faith consists of these three things:

  • Believing God is who He says He is
  • Believing I am who God says I am
  • Believing God will do what He says He will do

In reality, it is more than believing, but knowing as a certainty.

 

This needs to be the foundational understanding for the abundance of our heart. It will be needed to support all beliefs and repel all false doctrine.

 

We will come to see that we are the kingdom, woven together with all God has established in heaven and on earth. We will realize the position and authority we have been given by the Lord. We will then be able to live out our destiny, both now, and throughout eternity.

 

We need to develop the mindset that we are the carriers of the kingdom to a world that is in need of all that the kingdom has to offer: salvation, forgiveness, healing, deliverance, eternal life, etc.

 

This is illustrated in the instructions Jesus gave to His disciples as He sent them out to the world.

 

 

“Heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’”

 

Luke 10:9 ESV

 

 

The healing of the sick is a move of God in compassion and love which is truly a portion of the kingdom of God. And for us today, the followers of Christ, children of God, the indwelling Holy Spirit is likewise a portion of the kingdom of God.

 

Another portion of the kingdom of God we carry is eternal life. This world and the life we live in it is only the beginning to what we will experience. And fortunately the remainder will be without the sin and suffering and death we see today as Satan will no longer be an issue with which we need to wrestle.

 

Satan is first cast into the pit for the one-thousand-year millennial reign of Christ and His body of disciples. After a short time of release he will be “thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur” and there he “will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”

 

In this life we are to be trained in the ways of God and in kingdom principles. We are to walk in obedience to the call and commandments of God given to us. As we have discovered, God values obedience over sacrifice.

 

 

And Samuel said, “Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of
rams.”

 

1 Samuel 15:22 ESV

 

 

Obedience, first and foremost, comes in obeying the commandments of Christ. He lays out the two commandments that we are to obey, and in them the whole of the law and the prophets are fulfilled.

 

 

“As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.
These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than
this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you.

 

John 15:9-12 ESV

 

 

We have the love of God. Do we abide in His love? If we keep His commandment to love one another we do. Is our joy full? If we keep His commandment to love one another it is. Are we His friends? If we keep His commandment to love one another we are.

 

That passage is a repeating of the commandment given to the disciples after Judas had left the Passover meal to betray Jesus.

 

 

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love
for one another.”

 

John 13:34-35 ESV

 

 

And that is even a follow-up on what Jesus had previously said when speaking to the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

 

 

And He said to them, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: you
shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

 

Matthew 22:37-40 ESV

 

 

The two commandments here, if we keep and obey them, will cause us to remain in His will and on track for our destiny.

  • Love God
  • Love one another

We can not fulfill these commandments and sin at the same time.

 

While everything in the kingdom may be rooted in and based upon faith as its foundation, love is the operating system by which the will of God is carried out. Even the judgment of God is carried out in love. When wickedness is judged and the sentence is carried out to its destruction, it is done for the love and life of the one who trusts God. Wickedness and evil have no place in the kingdom of God. When our acts are judged, it is for our sake, reigning us back into the spot where we can abide in God’s love and where our joy can be full. God, in love, protects His friends, His children, His co-laborers in the kingdom. Because the judgment of God is based in love, it is righteous, and is for the good of the kingdom.

 

We have seen that much of this is the same for every believer. What of our individual destinies or purposes in the kingdom of God? What are our individual roles in the kingdom in this lifetime?

 

While we ought to spend the greater amount of our time dwelling on unity rather than individuality, we are each called to a certain role. Without focusing upon, developing, and achieving the broader role, we cannot achieve the personal role to the heights to which we are called. The individual role requires a depth of relationship found only in intimacy with God which is achieved through obedience to the commandments of loving God and loving one another. If we do not begin there, and accomplish that, we will find only frustration when seeking the individual destiny, or the will of God for my life on this earth. Remember, love is the operating system for what is done in the kingdom of God. Also, we must carry out that love in faith, the foundation upon which we operate in the kingdom of God. The love and faith fuel the hope we have in eternal life. That promise that we look forward to and long for.

 

 

So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

 

1 Corinthians 13:13 ESV

 

 

Love being the greatest of these is where we really need to focus our intention and efforts. In doing so, we will soon realize we are walking out the will of God for our individual lives as Holy Spirit leads us and guides us through the loving events and activities of our lives. He will lay burdens, longings, and desires on our hearts, and through them He will lead us into that good and perfect will of God for our lives.

 

Seventeen verses specifically mention “will of God” in the ESV translation. Some describe things like Paul being called to be an apostle by the will of God. We will look at some here that describe the will of God for us.

 

 

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.

 

Romans 12:2 ESV

 

 

For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor,

 

1 Thessalonians 4:3-4 ESV

 

 

See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the
will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit.

 

1 Thessalonians 5:15-19 ESV

 

 

For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.

 

Hebrews 10:36 ESV

 

 

For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living
as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

 

1 Peter 2:15-17 ESV

 

 

And receive the promise for doing the will of God.

 

 

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world – the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes
and pride of life – is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

 

1 John 2:15-17 ESV

 

 

I will conclude by sharing the thoughts of Curry Blake, with John G. Lake Ministry. I heard him comment on this in a video I recently watched in which he was teaching on healing. He diverted from his teaching for a few minutes to mention his thoughts on our calling.

  • We were predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ
  • The “best you” that God made you to be is Jesus
  • “that’s not my calling” – no, you don’t have a separate calling
  • Having your own calling is not true
  • Gifts and callings of the Lord are not revokable?
    • Realize he (Paul?) was talking about gifts and calling
    • Plural gifts of the Spirit, singular calling
  • The word calling means invitation
  • God’s gifts to you, yes, He does not pull those back
  • His calling is not for you to be an apostle, your calling to be a prophet
    • That’s not what he was talking about
    • It was His invitation to you to be with Him
    • When He ordained the twelve, He ordained them that they may be with Him
    • Your function in the body of Christ is one thing, but your calling is to be like Him
    • Your calling is to walk with Him, not to be somebody
    • The word “callings” is not found plural in the bible

So, there is something to study and figure out in this area.

 

Remember, these are study notes – my notes as I study. These are start points for you to study through a topic and receive revelation to your spirit from Holy Spirit. Reading the bible is a good thing as we get the word of God into our spirit. It is also required that we read the Scripture in order to properly study Scripture and the ways of the kingdom of God. But we are instructed to study the word of God, not merely read it. If we study properly, we will be reading Scripture. Reading Scripture is not the same as studying. Time is required for thinking, for meditation on the word of God. Follow the leading of Holy Spirit and discover revelation that you had not seen though you may have read a portion of Scripture many times.

 

 

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

 

2 Timothy 2:15 ESV

 

 

Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a worker who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.

 

2 Timothy 2:15 NASB

 

 

Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

 

2 Timothy 2:15 KJV

 

 

Study and be eager and do your utmost to present yourself to God approved (tested by trial), a workman who has no cause to be ashamed, correctly analyzing and accurately dividing
[rightly handling and skillfully teaching] the Word of Truth.

 

2 Timothy 2:15 AMPC

 

 

The word “study” may not be a direct translation of a word in this verse from the Greek, however, the rest of the verse is highly unlikely to be fulfilled without studying rather than merely reading.

 

Paul gave this counsel to Timothy whom He mentored as a pastor, and it is good advice for all of us in making disciples.

 

 

Command and teach these things. Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. Until I come, devote yourself to the
public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. Practice these
things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress. Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your

 

hearers.1 Timothy 4:11-16 ESV

 

 

The word “practice” in verse 15 is Strong’s Greek #3191, meaning to care for, practice, study.

 

It is to study or ponder or meditate upon. These things need to be resolved in the mind. Used by the Greeks in meditative pondering and the practice of orators and rhetoricians.

 

We must take care how we handle the Word. Study and use the whole council of God, the whole of Scripture, in searching out a matter. Refer back to Romans 12:2.