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Keyword: ‘"Matthew 11:11"’

Greater

May 16th, 2012 Comments off

Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

Matthew 11:11

He prophesied of Jesus’ coming, saying,

Truly, I give baptism with water to those of you whose hearts are changed; but he who comes after me is greater than I, whose shoes I am not good enough to take up: he will give you baptism with the Holy Spirit and with fire:

John 3:11

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Discipleship

April 7th, 2012 Comments off

If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

Luke 14:26

There are many ways to approach discipleship in Christ, but one thing is assured.  Unless your obedience is carried to the extreme, it is not Biblical Christianity.

Discipleship begins at the cross.  It begins at the laying down of everything of this life, and that of following the Master.  From start to finish, it must be about absolute trusting and dependence upon the Shepherd for everything. Read more…

Out of the Heart

January 31st, 2012 Comments off

God blessed them and said to them, Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.

Genesis 1:28

This is the first command of the Bible.  God told man to fill the Earth, and rule over it.  Man was created to be a servant, to serve the will of God under His authority, and to have sovereignty over all the Earth.

In the fall, this image got corrupted.  Man’s image became broken, corrupted, and he could only rule with what was in his heart.  What originally was designed to be a ruler ship out of a pure and upright heart has turned, over the centuries has time and again demonstrated man’s corruption.

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The Church of the Beyond, vol. 2

January 25th, 2012 Comments off


The Church of the Beyond, vol. 2

Living in The Way

 

By Benjamin F. Hoogterp

Paperback: 260 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace (January 12, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1468184334
ISBN-13: 978-1468184334
Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
Release Date: 1.12.12

Available on Amazon.com.

Description:

Truly I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist! Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and violent men take it by force. For all the prophets and the Law prophesied until John. And if you are willing to accept it, John himself is Elijah who was to come. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the market places, who call out to the other children, and say, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’ For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon!’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.
Matthew 11:11-19

Living in the Kingdom life is life according to the words of Jesus, the Master. He alone is the one with the words of Eternal life, and to disregard them is to do so at one’s own peril. Many are the attempts to rebuild the church of the first century, but few connect the words of the Gospels, the life of faith, and outpouring of His Spirit with the foundation stones, the apostles that Jesus raised up. The church was founded upon Christ as the cornerstone and these men who knew His words, and because of it, it stood through even the shaking of the religous structures of that day.
Today is the day to rebuild, to restore, and to reform. It is the day of revolution. In a day when everyone has their own ideas of how to live the “Gospel”, we do well to return to the book, and look again at these Eternal words from our Lord. Why should we call Him that if we don’t? And, if our walk does not end up looking like His, how far has the apple fallen from the tree?
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Superlative

January 22nd, 2012 Comments off

Superlative: [O]f the highest kind, quality, or order; surpassing all else or others; supreme; extreme: superlative wisdom.

via Dictionary.com

It is almost a wrong label to call the Kingdom superlative.  It is Beyond that.  John the Baptist was the superlative of human attainment.  A life of solitude, of extreme separateness and consecration to the Lord was his.  Jesus gave the man this testimony, and the comparison to the Kingdom.

Truly I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist! Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

Matthew 11:11

John was a man, a prophet, of the Old Covenant, under the law and order of Moses.  He signified the demarcation point between Old an New Covenants.  As the Law came through Moses, and Grace and Truth came through Jesus Christ, the exchange between the two marked the transition from the age of the Old Testament and the coming of the Messianic Age.

The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John; since that time the gospel of the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it.

Luke 16:16

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Moving in the Anointing

November 3rd, 2011 Comments off

 Who is blind but My servant, or so deaf as My messenger whom I send?
Who is so blind as he that is at peace with Me, Or so blind as the servant of the LORD?

Isaiah 42:19

When all around fades, and the only thing left is Him.  When all background noises, and all distractions are stripped away, and you are only His flame (Psalm 104:4).  When you see nothing but His purpose, and hear nothing but His voice.

There are many ways to move in the Kingdom’s power, but Jesus didn’t just come with a few simple nuggets, a few quick keys that might improve your ability to flow in the Spirit.  His teaching wasn’t “pointers” for ministry, it was a yoke (Matthew 11:30).

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How far can you go?

October 2nd, 2011 Comments off

Truly I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist! Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

Matthew 11:11

Somewhere, we have picked up some really heinous ideas and called them wisdom.  Take John…  He lived in the wilderness his whole life, fasting and praying, and preparing for Messiah.  He was to be the messenger, and he was to prepare the way for Jesus, so through him, all the world might be saved.  This was his mission, his job, and he knew it.  He knew it so well, that when Jesus’ “ministry” started to outshine his own, he didn’t even care.

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What ever happened to the Kingdom?

August 23rd, 2011 Comments off

What ever happened to the Kingdom?  Jesus said,

But if I cast out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

Luke 11:20

We have lost sight of the Kingdom.  Jesus came to set the captives free.  We can prophesy, we can cast out demons in His name, we can do might works and miracles, but we have lost the Kingdom.

I am not waiting for another dispensation for some grandiose allotment of power and authority from heaven.  Jesus declared sufficiently, after His passion and resurrection, that ALL authority in Heaven and Earth was His (Matthew 28:18).  We are not waiting for God to flip a switch in heaven; He already did that.  All we are waiting for is for the switch to be thrown in us.

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