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MAY 27, 2022

In our previous blog, we examined the sources of influence in our lives — friends, family, church community, media, entertainment, etc.

All of these influences are better described as culture. Culture can be defined as the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group. It is defined by the shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterize that group. 

The challenge with that approach to our beliefs is that it is not stable. It constantly changes. Can anyone dispute that the attitudes, values, goals and practices of our nation and our world have changed constantly over your lifetime? Our beliefs must be established on a Culture that is based on Truth and does not change. Truth is not situational. It does not change with circumstances. 

As Citizens in the Kingdom of Jehovah God our Creator, we must not be swayed by the Kingdom of Darkness and what we see around us. Our Citizenship is of a nation whose government and its community and culture do not change. It is the only place a person on planet earth will ever find a stable government and a community and culture where the values, the laws, the moral standards, the ideals, the norms and the true spiritual authority that is constant and it does not change. Humanity longs for this place and we have been charged to deliver this (Heaven) to earth and to show this Kingdom to those who dwell here. How serious is this? How important for humanity?

Read Romans 8: 19-22 KJV/NLT:

Where are we Citizens? Are we in this world but not of this world? Are we showing forth His praises until He comes? Are we living a life of victory different than those around us? Do they see the Kingdom Government of our God demonstrated in our lives both in our community and our culture?

For the earnest expectation of the creature is waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God. The entire of creation (humanity) groaneth and travaileth in pain together.

What are we telling them? What are we showing them? Or, are we the ones being told and shown? All of humanity is looking and longing for the Kingdom. The Kingdom has been given to us. It has been placed inside of us; God has called us to be Kingdom Birthers. Everywhere we go we must share the Good News of the Kingdom of our God. As Dr. Munroe has said, the Kingdom was God’s big idea from the beginning. It is a powerful thought. It is the idea that will change our world into the Kingdom of our God. Share the Good News.

Ideas are powerful.

The Influence and Impact of Ideas:

1. The most powerful force on earth is an idea
2. Everything on earth is the result of an idea
3. Everything began and begins as an idea
4. Ideas produce everything
5. Ideas are more powerful than death
6. Death cannot kill an idea
7. Ideas cannot be destroyed
8. Ideas multiply when attacked
9. Ideas submerge and reemerge
10. Ideas are the source of belief
11. The world is ruled by dead men’s ideas
12. Ideas are stronger than death

Dr. Jerry Horner used an illustration appropriate here. Place a boat in the water and it floats. Place too much water in the boat and it sinks. Place the Citizens of the Kingdom in the world, and they will rise above it. Place too much of the world in the Citizens and they sink.

MAY 20, 2022

One of the greatest challenges we ever face is the choice of those with whom we choose to associate. Probably some of the most traumatic circumstances I have ever faced in my life are dealing with the impact of those with whom I have chosen to associate. Here are a few:

1. My Church – The Church I grew up attending
2. My Friends- Many I had known most of my life
3. My Work- It did not take me where I believed God wanted me to go
4. My romantic attachments – lovely and beautiful, but not who God had chosen for me
5. My Pastor- a man I loved, believed in and cared much for, but his heart was unclean and his motives impure
6. Family members – Sometimes may have difficulty seeing who we have become because they remember who we were

And there are many more. How many traumatic experiences have you had because it was necessary to change an association?

With whom we associate is very, very IMPORTANT. It influences and directs and determines our DESTINY, and the destiny of posterity. Examples – Good and Bad:

• Adam/Eve – ultimately everyone born after them
• Moses/Joshua
• Elijah/Elisha
• Paul/Timothy
• Jonathan/David – Mephibosheth
• Samson/Delilah

What is our belief? Where did we get our belief? What is an Idea? Where do our beliefs and ideas come from? What makes us who we are?

Dr. Myles Munroe, the late master teacher of the Kingdom, provided his thoughts about our ideas and the source of our beliefs. These observations are worthy of consideration and evaluation. They are as follows:

Our beliefs are developed by the ideas to which we are exposed. The process can be outlined like this.

1. An original thought is a precept
2. A conceived precept is an idea
3. A conceived idea is a concept
4. An accepted concept becomes a conviction
5. An accepted conviction becomes a belief
6. An accepted belief becomes our ideology
7. An accepted ideology becomes philosophy
8. An accepted philosophy becomes a lifestyle

Understanding the source of our beliefs is very, very important. It is so easy, so natural to absorb our beliefs almost as if by osmosis from our surrounding – our Family, our Friends, our Church, our Schooling, our Government, the Media. Many people do this and never consider if what is being said or portrayed is correct. Why? It was what my Parents believed, and they did alright.

But sometimes it becomes necessary for us to step back, take a full account of the beliefs of those around us, and make the decision of whether to continue to allow those beliefs and people to influence us, or to move on from those associations.

MAY 13, 2022

Foundational Scripture: Psalm 1

“Oh, the joys of those Who do not follow the advice of the wicked or stand around with sinners, or join in with scoffers, but they delight in doing everything the Lord wants, day and night they think about His law, they are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season without fail, their leaves never wither and in all they do they prosper.”

Association, definition:

• To associate
• To link or connect in the mind or imagination
• To keep company, mix socially
• A companion, comrade
• Following or accompanying, concomitant (naturally together}
• To bring into friendship
• A friend who is frequently in the company of another, drinking companion, comrade in arms, soul mate

With whom do you associate?

• Those to whom you listen
• Those with whom you spend your time
• Those with whom you share your thoughts and ideas
• Those with whom you value the time spent together

It is said that time and words can never be recalled. It is said that time is our most valuable asset. There is a saying that says, “What I do today is important because I am paying a day of my life for it. What I accomplish must be worthwhile because the price is so valuable.”

Jim Rohn, one of my favorite life teachers, has much to say about the time we are given and how we choose to spend it. His observations are so simple and so fundamental, and yet so profound. I find myself saying, “Yeah, I have thought of that or I know that.” The next question that naturally follows and begs to be answered is “Why haven’t I done something about it?” or more importantly, “What is wrong with now? What am I waiting for?” And I am sure I am the only person who says, “I am, just not now.” The timing is not right, or I have to do this first, and THEN, I will… and before I know it, a great amount of time has passed and I have yet to respond to the obvious awareness that I have and know that is waiting and begs to be addressed.

Today, I challenge you to think about how you are spending your time, and with whom you are spending your time. Ask Holy Spirit God to speak to you, and give you insight into the ways you are spending time, and the people you are associating with. Open your heart to hear whether adjustments need to be made in your life. 

We will pick back up on this thought next week.

MAY 6, 2022

How does the Mountain of Economy and/or Business function today in consideration of what the Kingdom System of our God declares is right and what is just? As a business person and entrepreneur all of my life, I have firsthand knowledge and actual experience on this Mountain.

In our Constitution, the scriptures, there are many places where our God’s view on business or commerce is presented. In the parable of the three servants, God Himself as Jesus Christ addresses how our God looks at business in the Kingdom.

Parable of the Three Servants

14 “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of a man going on a long trip. He called together his servants and entrusted his money to them while he was gone. 15 He gave five bags of silver[a] to one, two bags of silver to another, and one bag of silver to the last—dividing it in proportion to their abilities. He then left on his trip. 16 “The servant who received the five bags of silver began to invest the money and earned five more. 17 The servant with two bags of silver also went to work and earned two more. 18 But the servant who received the one bag of silver dug a hole in the ground and hid the master’s money. 19 “After a long time their master returned from his trip and called them to give an account of how they had used his money. 20 The servant to whom he had entrusted the five bags of silver came forward with five more and said, ‘Master, you gave me five bags of silver to invest, and I have earned five more.’ 21 “The master was full of praise. ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together! [b]’ 22 “The servant who had received the two bags of silver came forward and said, ‘Master, you gave me two bags of silver to invest, and I have earned two more.’23 “The master said, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!’ 24 “Then the servant with the one bag of silver came and said, ‘Master, I knew you were a harsh man, harvesting crops you didn’t plant and gathering crops you didn’t cultivate. 25 I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth. Look, here is your money back.’ 26 “But the master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy servant! If you knew I harvested crops I didn’t plant and gathered crops I didn’t cultivate, 27 why didn’t you deposit my money in the bank? At least I could have gotten some interest on it.’ 28 “Then he ordered, ‘Take the money from this servant, and give it to the one with the ten bags of silver. 29 To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away. 30 Now throw this useless servant into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ -Matthew 25:14-30 New Living Translation (NLT)

This is an account of how our God has designed business and commerce to function in His Kingdom on the earth, our governing authority. In the beginning of this story that Jesus Himself was sharing, He began with the declaration that “the Kingdom of Heaven is like this.” He said that the Kingdom of God experience was to be our first priority and what we pursued before anything else. The Kingdom experience in Business – as in everything Kingdom – is about profit and profit is described as success.

2 Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. -3 John 2 King James Version (KJV)

Interesting here is the description that each of us receive talents or gifts “in proportion to their abilities.” Success is not comparable. Success is measured by what we do with what we are personally given. Everyone is given unique abilities before we enter time on the earth that are specific to us. Our charge is to recognize and to identify the abilities that we have received from our Creator and our Designer, and to maximize their impact and their influence on the earth for ourselves, for our Family and for humanity. 

This is prospering: increasing and making a profit. This describes the Kingdom plan, His way of doing and being that is correct for us. Profiting is described as being good, and not profiting is described as the result of laziness and having no personal worth. 

APRIL 29, 2022

Over the past several blogs, we have been discussing Kingdom Justice, and how far off our present-day systems of justice are from that standard. But let’s make it a little more personal now.

Why should you be interested in the administration of our Legal system and the integrity of our Government? Why should you care? 

Because the foundations for our peace and for our security are entirely founded on our belief that we live in and are part of a just and a fair system, and that our Government exists to provide governance where justice is central to all they do. No outside factors of wealth, power, or position give advantages to anyone. We are all treated with dignity, respect, and with equality no matter our socio-economic or power status. This is important.

In a previous blog (read it here), I discussed the examples of Jesus, Martin Luther, and Martin Luther King, Jr., who each shaped history by standing up to forces of corruption and injustice in their day. So my question now is where is the Kingdom person, the one who will prophesy the Word of the Lord today? 

I declare and I decree that that person(s) is already present, on the scene, and ready to act to restore the Government of Heaven, the Government of our God to its rightful place to replace the evil systems of this world. The present evil systems that rule in our world will be replaced. The Government of Heaven will soon occupy the throne of the Legal Systems and the Government of this world.

If the Holy Spirit God has shown you by His Word and by His Spirit that you are to represent the Kingdom (be a birther) and to present the Kingdom System of our God to the Kingdom systems of this world, then I encourage you to prayerfully reflect upon the seven points we discussed regarding Jesus, Martin Luther, and Martin Luther King, Jr. in the previous blog. Then write out your answers and your personal understanding of your personal actions to each of these seven statements. Here they are again for your consideration:

1)   They heard the Word of the Lord from the Lord

2)   They came declaring the Word of the Lord to all of humanity

3)   They identified the injustice and presented the cure

4)   They took an active stand for right/justice

5)   They stood knowing the consequences for them could be horrific

6)   They valued the outcomes as being worth the personal risk, they stood firm and declared the Word of the Lord.

7)   Society and Culture was changed because of their actions