But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

Acts 1:8

Unto the farthest measure, marker, and beyond.  To least of the least, to the last of the last.  Paul said that it was the apostles that were carried away like those condemned to die.  Every day they faced martyrdom, elements, desolation, and infirmities of the flesh.  And, every day, the Lord strengthened them.

Unto the uttermost parts of the Earth.  Unto the farthest of the far, and then some.  The last mile can seem the most expensive, but it is the most profitable.  What is the price of one soul?  What is the price of eternal judgement?

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Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.

Matthew 5:17-18

For too long, our theology has been laid out by theologians, and not by children.  Ask any eight-year old what it means that the Kingdom of Heaven is like leaven hidden in dough means, and they’ll tell you that it means, more or less, that the Kingdom of Heaven is like leaven!  It takes a real grown-up to tell you, after reading the words of Jesus, that the Kingdom of Heaven is anything other than what He just said it was.

What does the Kingdom resemble?  A little bit of yeast!  (Matthew 13:33).  What must we do to have life within ourselves?  Eat and drink His blood (John 6:53).  Simple, eh?

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Lord, I commit to you all the way.  No holding back, no part of this life which is over.

You said that I am crucified to this world, and that is what I am.  No part of this world is worthy of you, so I take nothing of it before you.  Into your hands, I commit my spirit.

There is nothing this world has to offer.  I hate it, with all of it’s corruption.  While I may be in it, I am not of it.  For I have died.  I am crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I that live, but it is Christ that lives in me.  The life I live, I live by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.  Galatians 2:20.

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Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.

Matthew 7:6

The Scriptures are sufficient for the Christian life.  They show the way of Salvation, Jesus Christ, and they instruct in righteousness, fully equipping the man of God for every work of service.  The Scriptures are not the sum total of everything knowable about God of course, for Jesus Himself said that He had much more that He wanted to share that He couldn’t, because it would be too much for His disciples (John 16:12).  The Holy Spirit is here to guide us into all truth.  But, when that comes, the object is not necessarily to write a new book about it.

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For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

Matthew 7:8

You cannot have the Kingdom without a laid down life.  How many have heard this testimony, or had it themselves.  At the end of your rope, when you can’t take it anymore, maybe things were very grim, and God showed up in awesome ways.  The break-through of insight and revelation comes, the out-pouring of necessary power comes in like a flood, and He demonstrates Himself as the Lord of the Breakthrough (2 Samuel 5:20).  How many have had this experience of God showing up as their deliverer, only to wonder where He is the next moment?  To be overwhelmed with His goodness, only to be found back at the point of desparation, or worse, gross error or compromise from not realizing you had continued on without Him and missed a turn.

Or, perhaps a little more rare in this generation, how about standing up for what is right, and feeling the pressure, only to have the Father demonstrate His ability to deliver in the midst of persectuion?  Realizing that not everyone appears to come through such tests–having God deliver them with such power.  Whether visible or not quite so dramatic, do we know the experience where He shows up so that His Kingdom is vindicated?  Yet, the next day, to be in the same predicament as the day before?

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Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him.

Mark 11:23

Faith preaching gets a bad name these days.  Somewhere along the line, in the culture of today, in a large degree the church in the West, the church has taken up the concept of a supernatural faith as almost a negative thing.  It is not a surprise, really, for the carnal mind will always be at war against true spirituality.  And hence faith, because faith does not align with the carnal intellect but with the spirit of a man, seems peculiar.

Jesus’ words are clear, however.  The disciples were rebuked time and again for their unbelief, their lack of faith.  This word, unbelief, is simply anti-faith.  It is the same word, unbelief, doubt, lack of faith, that is simply the Greek word for faith (some form of the word “pistis”) with the prefix “a-”  attached.  Where all the variants of the words translated “faith”, “believe”, or “trust” all come from the same Greek word.  The Greek word for unbelief, transliterated into English, is “apistis”.

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In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

Genesis 1:1-2

God spoke, and there was light.  His Word entered creation, and light was over the vast expanse of the deep.  God approved of this light, and as He separated light from dark, there was day and night.  The first day.

God created the skies, and the lands beneath.  His Word set the boundaries for the sea, so that it might only come so far.  His Word called forth, and it came into being.

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Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.

Luke 1:1-4

Luke wrote that his readers, Theophilus then and us today, would know the certainty of the things taught.  The events that are important to us for our faith have been patiently and carefully researched and recorded for us by the hand of Luke.  Luke, a Physician, was meticulous in details such as names and places, and his work stands is both divinely inspired scripture and noted as historical by historians as its facts line up with other historical markers.

The primary focus of the Gospel, the Gospel of the Kingdom (Matthew 24:14), is the Kingdom, is the faith Jesus demonstrated through His life as who He was, and the work crucifixion in working our salvation.  Without the cross, there would be no salvation for us.  Without His birth, it never would have gotten started!

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In reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.”

John 3:3

It takes faith to see!  Faith is not the definition of being born again, but is a requirement for it, therefore, faith is a prerequisite for seeing.

Consider miracles.  Jesus said that there will be many who had done many great miracles but were not know by the Lord (Matthew 7:22).  The apostles, even Judas the traitor, were casting out devils in His name, yet not all had come to the consistent walk of faith. If the word “faith” in your vocabulary only means miracles, then something is grossly missing in your understanding of the Kingdom.

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The church must change.  And, by this, I do not mean the way many people mean that it must change.  The church must go back to her roots, back to her source, and back to her faith!

The church is no longer what she once was even a decade ago.  She is filled with the sins of the world, and carried along by every wind of doctrine that comes along, good or ill.

Not all churches are bad, but many are struggling under the load of the filth of this world, simply because of it being brought into the church.

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