deb H and kingdom ways

http://www.preachingtoday.com/illustrations/

We get immersed in the world.

What I want to talk about is what it is to live as kingdom people.
Discipleship.
Critique and see some of the obstacles that keep us from living like kingdom people.
Challenge ourselves to be more christ-like and more free.
There ought to be a quality about us who follow Jesus that make people look twice at our lives.

1) Distorted views of Jesus
God created man in His image and then man returned the favor."
Not "nice" but loving all the time. Real. We have domesticated him. Trapped inside a church. Sanitized. Rubbed people the wrong way. Not all the social graces. not smiley happy and say nice things to each other. Jesus was authentic and real. HOLIEST MAN on earth. But he was deeply loving. All the unholy were drawn to him even though they ran from the religious.
Holiness is inside out. Moralism is outside. You are... Embrace those images and remove the unhelpful ones. Self image is attached to purpose. If you think purpose is 'ahole' then that is how you will act. Or if your identity is something good you will live in that and aim at that.

2) View of Self- deeply impacts us as people. Can limit our freedom. Replace old negative labels or identities with things that God says about us.

3) View of Others
"First thing you can say about any human being on the planet?"
Do we think of others as sinners who need to be saved first or As people who have been made in the image of God had have fallen short and need to be saved. It is a primary truth. In God's image first before the fall. Then the sin.

4)Romantic love- different types of love (4 loves)
Permeates our society. For good and for bad. Fed to us through all the media; movies, books, music. Good feeling type of love. Consumeristic type of love. Problem is that it has so saturated our society that it is the love that we hold as the ideal love.
Romantic love will get you to the alter but it is not romantic love that will take you the distance. We need another type of love for this. ex "after three years 'we're out of love. We're thinking of divorcing. We've fallen out of love.' They had fallen out of romantic love. But the sad thing is that this is exactly the time that real love can be expressed.
EX. Dogs are abandoned 6-8 weeks after Christmas. They had this romantic, lovely image of a puppy and they go and poo all over the place. When the reality hits we freak out. Isn't that terrible?
(Sacrificial or)faithful love. Will keep us in relationships. Foundational of all love. The type of love that Jesus loves us with. We need to receive this love from him. He asks us to love other in this love. How does this work? There is no situation in which you can not love someone. You can always love.

5) How we spend our money
Stewardship. Trust in money or in the Father.
See Foster- Money, Sex, and power.
2nd most talked about topic by Jesus is money. Do we attach value to it beyond it's worth. Observe Rich don't have any more to gain by getting more money. More cars, clothes, etc than we need. We are consumers. It is a blind spot. Seductive.
*Identity, purpose, meaning, and belonging now make consumerism an official religion. "She was worked to death making things that we try not to call shit."

6)Status Anxiety- Everyone wants to be noticed, to get attention. we begin to measure our self worth against one another. We climb over each other to get noticed. When we are on the same level we are happy but we are not satisfied with being the same or having enough. We get status anxiety.

7)Family- nuclear family as an idol- if only we could get back to that everything would be alright. If we are 1st concerned with this unit we can loose the social justice that we are called to. Safety and comfort over calling and looking after than more than your own. There are a lot of lost out there with no family to call their own. Let your family be a reflection of the kingdom and of heaven.




Peace- Not just the antonym of war. Shalom. "So Gideon built an altar to the LORD there and called it The LORD is Peace." Judges 6:24 "Yahweh-shalom"

Colossians 3:1-17
Scripture
"Rules for Holy Living

1Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is youra life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

5Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.b 7You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 11Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.

12Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

15Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. 17And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."
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