THE IMPORTANCE OF THINKING "KINGDOM SONSHIP"
February 20, 2011
MF
Blume
Let’s
talk about KINGDOM thinking..
Last week we mentioned that KINGDOM thinking is very rare amongst
Christians.
- We
think DICTATING TO PEOPLE when the word DOMINATION comes to mind.
- We
think more like slaves and servants being whipped more than sons and
daughters ruling.
WE WILL NOT ENJOY KINGDOM UNTIL WE CHANGE OUR THINKING.
Matthew 17:24-18:3 Complete Apostles' Bible (24) When they
had come to Capernaum, those who collected the temple tax came to Peter
and said, "Does your Teacher not pay the temple tax?" (25)
He said, "Yes." And when he entered into the house, Jesus anticipated
him, saying, "What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the
earth take customs or taxes, from their sons or from strangers?"
(26) Peter said to Him, "From strangers." Jesus said to him,
"Then the sons are free. (27) Nevertheless, lest we offend
them, go to the sea, and cast in a hook, and take the first fish coming
up. And when you have opened its mouth, you will find a coin; taking
that, give it to them for Me and you." (18:1) At that time
the disciples came to Jesus, saying, "Who then is the greater in the
kingdom of heaven?" (2) Then Jesus called a little child,
and set him in their midst, (3) and said, "Assuredly I say
to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you
shall by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.
CONVERTED!
- CHANGE!
- TRANSFORMED.
- CONVERTED
in GREEK means to turn completely around!
- REPENT!
(STREFO)
We need to trash our concepts of twisted kingdom thinking away and rise
up and grab hold of SONSHIP and DAUGHTERHOOD and DOMINATE our flesh and
devils and sin – NOT EACH OTHER – and rise up and be the
CHURCH that Christ paid for in REINSTATING A KINGDOM OF SONS OF GOD!
Jesus showed TRUE KINGDOM thinking as follows:
John 13:3-5 KJV Jesus knowing that the Father had given all
things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to
God; (4) He riseth from supper, and laid aside his
garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. (5) After
that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples'
feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.
Notice the need to mention that He knew the Father gave all things into
His hand before we read how he washed their feet like a SERVANT.
- That
is a powerful statement.
- It
emphasizes his incredible confidence.
- That
is KINGDOM CONFIDENCE.
- KNOWING
– imagine KNOWING beyond any doubt that God put ALL THINGS IN
YOUR HANDS.
- And
of all things we find Him washing his disciples’ feet!
- What
is the Bible trying to say?
When a person can wash someone’s feet knowing all the while that
they are in an AWESOME POSITION of power and Authority, it proves THEY
DO NOT CARE WHAT OTHERS THINK.
- Their
confidence is not garnered FROM PEOPLE.
- If it
was garnered from PEOPLE, the last thing Jesus would do is wash
disciples’ feet.
- He
would be doing things to earn respect.
- Performing
wonders before their eyes to get them to respect Him.
- Reminds
me of David, whose heart was like God, when he danced before the world
when the ark was brought into Jerusalem.
- His
wife gained her respect and reputation and identity from PEOPLE, so she
was appalled at her husband, the kingdom, dancing like a fool.
2 Samuel 6:20-23 KJV Then David returned to bless his household.
And Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David, and said, How
glorious was the king of Israel to day, who uncovered himself to day in
the eyes of the handmaids of his servants, as one of the vain fellows
shamelessly uncovereth himself! (21) And David said unto
Michal, It was before the LORD, which chose me before thy father, and
before all his house, to appoint me ruler over the people of the LORD,
over Israel: therefore will I play before the LORD. (22)
And I will yet be more vile than thus, and will be base in mine own
sight: and of the maidservants which thou hast spoken of, of them shall
I be had in honour. (23) Therefore Michal the daughter of
Saul had no child unto the day of her death.
If Jesus is SON OF DAVID, would not we be in the position of QUEEN?
- And
notice the BRIDE is insulted and appalled.
- Just
like the devil going after EVE to make her doubt herself.
TRUE KINGDOM THINKING does not get bothered by PEOPLE not being
impressed with us.
- HE
KNEW GOD put all things in His hands, and was only concerned with what
GOD thought.
- Notice
it speaks of GOD AS FATHER.
- John
13:3-5 KJV Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things
into his hands
- You
have to understand GOD AS FATHER and you HIS SON AND DAUGHTER, to get
this confidence.
- When
you are able to do a menial task like wash someone’s feet and
still hold confidence that GOD PUT ALL THINGS IN YOUR HAND, you have
victory over what people think and do not base your self esteem on
their opinions.
- YOU
do not get affected in the least by what people think no matter how
menial a task you perform.
- You
truly are focused on the most important thing in life --- what God
thinks of you.
- This
sets you free from living up to people’s expectations.
- Living
up to people’s expectations causes you to doubt yourself
depending on the FICKLE moods of others.
- How
confident can you get in a world of people like that, when you are
trying to impress them?
- Jesus
did not even care if people KNEW all things from God were in His hands.
- He
did not have confidence in Himself by people confirming his position to
Him.
- Nobody
had to be impressed with Him at all for Him to know the Father put all
things in his hands.
What a statement.
- HE
KNEW all things of God were in his hands.
- And
KNOWING that he calmly and casually washes everyone’s feet.
- He
was not PROUD and the type of person who COULD NOT wash someone’s
feet since he was GOD’S SON.
- So we
find that he was CONFIDENT AND HUMBLE.
- THAT
is true confidence.
- If we
can only be confident by seeing people impressed with us (We’re
so dependent on the thoughts of others), then the last thing we would
do is wash feet.
- Do a
servant’s job!
- But
although we are NOT servants, we can TREAT EACH OTHER as servants, when
we have TRUE KINGDOM UNDERSTANDING.
What a revelation of how KINGDOM is not twisted and abused in our
minds, so as to get us to treat each other like dominated
good-for-nothings.
- People
who have a distorted view of KINGDOM think they should DOMINATE each
other.
- But
TRUE KINGDOM concept is when you act like a servant to each other
– as far from dominating them as can be – and have the
confidence that what people think does not affect your true dominion,
so you do not mind being servant to all.
The same propensity we have to IMPRESS people that we are in the
KINGDOM, so we perform before THEM, is also the cause of why we treat
people BADLY as well, in order to be kings and dominant ones.
- God’s
Kingdom is so far from that “crud” that Jesus showed us
TRUE confidence in the Kingdom is being servant to all.
Matthew 3:16-17 KJV And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up
straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto
him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting
upon him: (17) And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is
my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
Matthew 4:1-3 KJV Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the
wilderness to be tempted of the devil. (2) And when he had
fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.
(3) And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son
of God, command that these stones be made bread.
Notice that the devil is trying to make Jesus DOUBT HIMSELF.
- IF
YOU ARE…
- The
devil was not wanting to know if Jesus was Son of God.
- HE
KNEW IT!
- But
Jesus just heard the Father’s WORD tell Him he was the
Father’s Son and the Father was well pleased with Jesus.
- Jesus
had not preached, not done one miracle yet, and did not even face the
devil.
- BUT
THE FATHER WAS WELL PLEASED.
AND THAT is what the devil attacked.
- The
devil was trying to instill doubt in Jesus’ mind, and was
twisting the way Jesus should really think if He was Son of God.
- What
has TURNING STONE INTO BREAD got to do with proving we are sons of God?
- It’s
like the devil was trying to get Jesus to think of PERFORMANCE in order
to be confident that He was SON OF GOD.
- In
fact, the devil was so far off the mark of what it takes to be the Son
of God – and I think the devil did that on purpose –
because we later read these words from Jesus.
Matthew 7:9-11 KJV Or what man is there of you, whom if his son
ask bread, will he give him a stone? (10) Or if he ask a
fish, will he give him a serpent? (11) If ye then, being
evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more
shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask
him?
Jesus’ whole point is speaking of how much the FATHER loves us,
and wants to give us GOOD THINGS.
- So he
compares how much none of us would give a stone to our son if he asked
for bread with how evil we are in comparison to the Father, in order to
show how MUCH MORE the Father LOVES US and will never in a million
years give us anything like STONES when we need bread.
- The
Father was WELL PLEASED WITH JESUS before Jesus ever fasted and was
attacked by the devil.
- He
was well pleased with Jesus as HIS SON, before Jesus did anything to
prove to Himself He was Son.
- So it
was a royal test to see if Jesus would STAND ON WHAT THE WORD SAID
ALONE, and not succumb to doubting Himself and seeking to DO SOMETHING
to prove He was the Father’s Son, and a wellpleasing Son at that.
Jesus is telling us that we must not seek to perform in order to have
confidence in ourselves that we are God’s Sons.
- Instead
of doing something like turning stones to bread to prove He was Son of
God,
Jesus proved it is NOT PERFORMANCE that we require, but KNOWLEDGE of
WHO WE ARE.
Notice the Lord’s PRAYER about talking to our FATHER.
Matthew 6:9-11 KJV After this manner therefore pray ye: Our
Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. (10) Thy
kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
(11) Give us this day our daily bread.
GIVE.
- Jesus
said IF WE ASK FOR BREAD, we will get it from the FATHER!
- Notice
He is coupling together the concept of HOW MUCH THE FATHER WANTS TO
GIVE US SOMETHING that we need only ASK, whereas the devil tried to Get
Jesus stuck on PERFORMANCE.
- The
devil DOES NOT WANT YOU TO PRAY AND ASK.
- So he
gets you defeated before you even get to asking, by making you THINK
PERFORMANCE.
- What
you DO pleases God, he tempts.
- Having
TRUE faith that we are HIS SONS, is ASKING FOR BREAD SIMPLY BECAUSE HE
IS OUR FATHER AND LOVES US SO MUCH WE NEED ONLY ASK.
- Thinking
we have to PERFORM to please God means He does not already love us and
we have TO DO to get Him to love Us
- But
before Jesus DID, he was told he was wellpleasing by the FATHER, and
JESUS STOOD ON THAT WORD.
God is giving you HIS WORD today as well.
- STAND
ON IT.
- DO
not seek to impress God by performance.
- Do
not cut yourself off from God’s love by thinking you must perform.
- Proving
you are the SON OF GOD is not lowering yourself to performance, nor to
impressing others, but being confident HE LOVES YOU AND YOU NEED ONLY
ASK FOR SOMETHING TO GET IT.
The prodigal son expected to SERVE to be in his Father’s house.
- Be a
servant.
- That
is how much the world has messed our minds up.
- He
thought to get back in his father’s house would be to serve.
- But
the father loved him aside from any thought of serving.
- He
loved him just because he was born to him!
- BIRTH,
not WORTH!
Do not allow the devil to make you think of performance and serving God
in order to garner God’s love for you so He looks at you like His
son.
- Put
it in the devil’s face that YOU KNOW BETTER THAN THAT.
- YOU
KNOW that HE LOVES YOU WITHOUT PERFORMANCE.
- You
know this so much that you simply know you need ONLY ASK, and appeal to
His ALREADY PRESENT LOVE for what you need JUST BY ASKING.
Performing in order to get bread from the Father is not believing the
Father already loves you for WHO YOU ARE.
- And
if you do not believe God loves you for who you are, then you think he
does not care for you when you are not performing for Him/.
- So
all the times you are not performing for Him, you ARE DOWN ON YOURSELF.
- THIS
IS THE LACK OF CONFIDENCE AND DOUBTING YOURSELF THAT HE WANTS.
- Because
if you are down on yourself, you do not have the CONFIDENCE you need to
see KINGDOM COME!
- THAT
IS WHY SATAN ATTACKS YOU SO MUCH IN YOUR CONFIDENCE.
- He
knows that FAITH is CONFIDENCE.
- And
without confidence in ourselves, we do not think God hears us and
therefore God cannot answer our prayers, so we will DOUBT He will give
anything we ask.
- And
that is all the devil needs to squash the KINGDOM AUTHORITY YOU HAVE.
- So
when you ask for KINGDOM TO COME and God’s will to be done in
earth as in heaven, you need to know He is YOUR FATHER who loves you so
much, you need not perform but simply know that who you are – His
greatest love – is all that needs to motivate him to give you as
SOON AS YOU ASK!
- But
you have to ask.
- ASKING
is so simple when love is involved.
- It is
all that is needed.
- And
you show TRUE KINGDOM faith when you KNOW all you need do is ASK since
HE IS YOUR FATHER.
- That
is why even the term FATHER is noted before you ask for KINGDOM TO COME.
So if the KINGDOM COMING is the paramount purpose for us in this world,
and it is the greatest threat the devil has from us, then he is going
to attack what it takes for you to have the faith and confidence you
need in order to PRAY THE KINGDOM HERE.
- So he
attacks your SONSHIP.
- Just
like He did with Jesus.
GAIN CONFIDENCE IN YOUR SONSHIP in the KINGDOM!
- This
way the devil will not be able to squash your faith and hinder you from
bringing the KINGDOM HERE as God created us to do!
- THAT
IS WHY JESUS SPOKE SO MUCH ABOUT OUR KINGDOM SONSHIP.