TRANSFORMATION OF THE CHURCH: 4. CHARACTERISTICS OF KINGDOM PEOPLE

HUMILITY

In today's world, humility is misunderstood, and perceived to be a weakness.

The best definition I can come up with is, 'putting Jesus first'. While this may seem a strange definition to many, it encapsulates what true humility is all about. For when we put Jesus first in our lives, by definition, personal position and pride takes a back seat. Additionally, the more we put Jesus first, the more the needs of others come ahead of our own. This is reflected in the wisdom of Jesus as to the greatest commandment of them all:

34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37 Jesus replied: ”‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:34-40)

The whole Bible therefore, is based around the concept of humility. True humility is not a weakness, a wishy-washy deference to everyone, letting the world run roughshod over you, as people think.

Rather, true humility is service, service (love) to God and service (love)to others. It is a positive action, not a negative reaction. Humility, service and love are intimately intertwined.

The day, when I was working in the fields tending my flowers, that the Lord 'asked' me to go into ministry, He gave me the name, 'Walking With Jesus Ministries'. People now say what a brilliant name it is. Well, it was His idea, not mine! I would probably have followed the norm and called it 'David Tait Ministries'. But I think that you might be able to see, as I now can, that the focus would have been in the wrong place. Upon David Tait, not upon Jesus. God knows so much better than me!

Unfortunately, under the 'kingly' church system, we often place more emphasis upon the king bringing the message of Jesus rather than looking to the true kingdom king, Jesus Himself. We look up to the pastor, teacher, evangelist, prophet or apostle and place them on a pedestal. A pedestal from which, I hasten to add, we pull from under them very readily if we perceive they make a mistake, or we don't like the message they bring!

Surprisingly, it actually takes the strength of humility to preach or teach the true words of Jesus without fear or favour. For the truth is not popular. Never has been, never will be. Once we are prepared to be unpopular, along with His message, forgoing the approval of people in preference to that of God and His Word, then we will know we have developed humility in our life.

Kingdom people, as we have mentioned before, are God centred, focused upon Jesus, prepared to promote others, particularly Jesus, ahead of themselves. Jesus always placed the Father first, even unto death!

39 Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”(Matthew 26:39)

Such sacrifice, such humility, still today, is the way of the kingdom.

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FROM THE WORD

GETHSEMANE

"Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.” He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.” When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing. Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour is near, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us go! Here comes my betrayer!”" (Matthew 26:36-46)

BEFORE THE SANHEDRIN

"Those who had arrested Jesus took him to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the teachers of the law and the elders had assembled. But Peter followed him at a distance, right up to the courtyard of the high priest. He entered and sat down with the guards to see the outcome. The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for false evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death. But they did not find any, though many false witnesses came forward. Finally two came forward and declared, “This fellow said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days.’” Then the high priest stood up and said to Jesus, “Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?” But Jesus remained silent. The high priest said to him, “I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.” “Yes, it is as you say,” Jesus replied. “But I say to all of you: In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.” Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, “He has spoken blasphemy! Why do we need any more witnesses? Look, now you have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?” “He is worthy of death,” they answered. Then they spit in his face and struck him with their fists. Others slapped him and said, “Prophesy to us, Christ. Who hit you?” (Matthew 26:57-68)

THE CRUCIFIXION

"As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross. They came to a place called Golgotha (which means The Place of the Skull). There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it. When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots. And sitting down, they kept watch over him there. Above his head they placed the written charge against him: THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS. Two robbers were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!” In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the King of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” In the same way the robbers who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him. (Matthew 27:32-44)

THE DEATH OF JESUS

"From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?”—which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “He’s calling Elijah.” Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a stick, and offered it to Jesus to drink. The rest said, “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.” And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus’ resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people. When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!” Many women were there, watching from a distance. They had followed Jesus from Galilee to care for his needs. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons." (Matthew 27:45-56)

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DAVID'S DOODLINGS

RELIGION, REVELATION AND GOD'S KINGDOM

1061. God reveals, while religion conceals.

1062. Religion is not a church but a mind closed to change.

1063. Revelation is from without, while the heart of religion is birthed within.

1064. Revelation sows, religion mows!

1065. Religion is not the church, but the church too easily becomes religion.

1066. Religion kills, God upskills.

1067. Religion is a gathering of like minds, God's kingdom, one of godly natures.

1068. Religion insidiously enters the church through repetition.

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CRANWELL'S CARTOON

13 On that very day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three sons, entered the ark. 14 They had with them every wild animal according to its kind, all livestock according to their kinds, every creature that moves along the ground according to its kind and every bird according to its kind, everything with wings. 15 Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered the ark. 16 The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. Then the LORD shut him in. (Genesis 7:13-17)






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TUESDAY TEACHINGS

GOD AND MAN continues...

We complete our look at the sin that prevented Moses from entering the Promised Land by considering its spiritual implications for us today.

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LAUGHING AT OURSELVES

***Blessed are those who can laugh at themselves for they shall never cease to be amused***

*** "Those who can't laugh at themselves leave the job to others." ***

771. THE QUORUM
The Chairman of the Finance Committee kept arguing that the meeting could not be convened for lack of quorum. Finally he asked one of the Ministers present to lead in a prayer. Tired of all the haggling, the Minister intended to lessen the tension with a little humor when he prayed: "Lord, we thank You for Your Word that says, 'where two or three are gathered in Your name, they have a quorum'. . ." The meeting was promptly convened!

770. INADEQUATE
When the ark came to rest on Mt. Ararat the occupants were more than ready to leave. Noah made one last sweep and found a despondent snake in the hold -- "Why are you sad and why haven't you left?" asked Noah. -- "Because I'm so inadequate" replied the snake -- "Inadequate?" queried Noah -- "Yes" continued the snake, "The Lord commanded that we go forth and MULTIPLY and I'm an ADDER!"

769. THE LORD'S PRAYER
When in second grade, a child decided to write the Lord's Prayer to post on his bedroom wall (and impress his mother).

He didn't understand her uproarious laughter at his attempt until years later when he ran across the faded page with the child's writing: ".and lead a snot into temptation"

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FACTS FOR FUN

LAST WEEKS QUESTION: The strongest muscle in our body is found in
our leg, arm, hand or head?

ANSWER: In the Head! Yes, the strongest, and also most troublesome,
muscle in the body is the tongue! (James 3:1-12) (Words fail me!)

THIS WEEK'S QUESTION: What do selenologists study? Butterflies,
traffic density, the moon, vibrations or indigenous cultures?


Answer Next Week.

SOME FUN FACTS

465. STIFF PAPER?
Starch is used as a binder in the production of paper. It is the use of a starch coating that controls ink penetration when printing. Cheaper papers do not use as much starch, and that is why your fingers get black when you rub your morning paper. (Rub-bish!)

466. LUCKY TO SPEAK ENGLISH
There are over 40,000 characters in Chinese script. (Memorising 1 per day, it would take 110 years to learn them all!)

467. MODERN TECHNOLOGY
'The Adventures of Tom Sawyer', written by Mark Twain, was the first novel ever to be written on a typewriter. (Handwriting started to deteriorate from that point – my excuse anyway!)

A WORD PUZZLE FOR YOU

Make another word from this word using all the letters.

REFUNDED

Answer at the end of A David Musing

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BIBLE QUESTION - YOU BE THE JUDGE!

16) Where did Jephthah live?

A - land of Uz
B - land of Israel
C - land of Canaan
D - land of Tob

Source: www.biblequizzes.com

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IF ONLY I'D THOUGHT OF IT!

"""OTHER'S SAYINGS TO ENLIGHTEN, AMUSE, OR BEMUSE"""

!!!!!!! 22. Divide big jobs into little jobs. If God took six days to create the universe, can you hope to do any better?

!!!!!! 23. When you find yourself rushing and anxious, stop. Ask yourself "WHY?" you are rushing and anxious. The reasons may improve your self-understanding.

!!!!! 24. Take time to read the Bible. Thoughtful reading is enriching reading.

!!!! 25. Direct your life with purposeful choices, not with speed and efficiency. The best musician is one who plays with expression and meaning, not the one who finishes first.

!!! 26. Take a day off alone; make a retreat. You can learn from monks and hermits without becoming one.

!! 27. Pet a furry friend. You will give and get the gift of now.

! 28. Work with your hands. It frees the mind.

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GREAT GROANS!

128. TIED UP
A piece of string walks into a bar, and the bartender says to him, "Hey buddy! We don't serve pieces of string here! Can't you read the sign?" And kicks the piece of string out of the bar.

So the piece of string sneaks back into the bar, and sits down, and the bartender catches him. "Hey buddy! How many times do I have to tell you? Get outta' here!" And kicks the piece of string out again.

So the string is outside the bar, and decides to create a disguise for himself to get inside. So he ties his head in a knot, and roughs up the end on top and walks confidently
back into the bar and sits down. The bartender walks up to him handing him a drink, and looking suspiciously at him, says "Hey... weren't you that piece of string I kicked out
of here just a little while ago?"

And the piece of string replies "No, I'm afraid not!"

129. THE JERSEY
David Beckham, the famous English soccer player, is teaching his new son Romeo the finer points about soccer. After a while Romeo asks his Dad what number he should have on his uniform when he starts playing for a team.

David replied "Wear 4 out there Romeo."

130. OLD AGE
Many people assume that Earl Gray tea got its name by being the favorite of that English earl. However, it seems that there is a small town in Wales named Earl Gray where the town's citizens are getting concerned about the ability of their mayor to continue in office.

The incumbent was initially elected in 1972 and she has run unopposed in every election since. Unfortunately, her age now hinders her from getting about. What the citizens are saying is that . . . the Earl Gray mayor, she ain't what she used to be!

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BIBLE TRIVIA

ABRAM...

is the first Bible character who can be connected, even if remotely and speculatively with recorded world history. There is no specific proof of him, other than in the Bible, but his life story contains the first clues that the biblical world he lived in was the world as history knows it.

Adapted from: '1001 Surprising Things You Should Know About The Bible' MacGregor & Prys

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NIGERIA: The crowd grew to 425,000 people

425,000 people gathered to hear the Word of God. It is amazing, that during this whole event over 1,500,000 people attended.

But something happened the night before I have never seen in my entire ministry! Mrs. Regina Attah came with her 3 children 12, 10, 7 to the meeting all three children totally blind; Umeka for 8 years, Chinwendu for 2 years and little Chukwudi for 1 year. When I prayed for blind eyes to open in the name of Jesus, all three children received perfect sight at the same moment, “at the twinkling of an eye”, so to speak! It is almost not to be believed, but everything was checked out with great care. Please have a look at the picture above taken by Oleksandr Volyk. The crowd went wild for joy.

Faith is the link with God, not aesthetics. And faith does not end in faith but in tangible blessings. Faith is not fantasy - it is the end of fantasy! As for preaching an emotional Gospel, it cannot be avoided! If the Gospel is not emotional, then nothing ever was. Sensationalize the Gospel? There is no need! God made it sensational! This is what we see and experience.

Thank you, our precious partners, for your prayers and your sacrificial giving to keep this harvest of souls going.

Yours for a Blood-washed Africa

Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke and the whole CfaN Team.

Source: The Outreach Files: October 08. beautifulfeettaskforce.injesus.com

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DAVID'S DOWNLOAD

A REVELATION OF……. 3 KINGDOM AGES OF GOD

An excellent tool to help better understand Bible history and God's plan for mankind throughout the ages. Kingdom ages, that is! And to get a glimpse of the kingdom yet to come and how we can participate in it.

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WAXING LYRICAL

Have just seen the first Christmas ad on TV. Surely another Christmas cannot be coming yet!

What does Christmas mean to you?

CHRISTMAS TIME

Christmas time comes but once a year,
To be happy, you drink lots of beer!
Putting your gifts on the credit card,
Then come the repayments, oh so hard!

But Jesus came on Christmas Day,
Forever more to show the way,
How to enter into God's glorious presence.
In the ultimate of all Christmas presents!

So this Christmas, for some cheer,
Party less, put aside the beer,
And enter into the Holy Place,

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A DAVID MUSING

Our elections have come and gone, and like all countries that have had polls over the past year, there has been a change of government. Our woman Prime Minister of the past 9 years (the second woman PM in our history) Helen Clarke, of the centre-left Labour Party, was defeated by the centre right National Party, led by John Keys. The opposite change to the US, but a confirmation that it is a time of change, rather than a swing to the right or the left, worldwide.

What saddened me, but truly is a reflection of New Zealand society today, is that in their last TV leaders debate, both our potential leaders stated that they did not believe in God, while both claiming to live by Christian values. Desire the benefits without the commitment! The best way to win votes here too!

I just thank the Lord that the kingdom is ruled by Jesus, not politicians. "Your kingdom come, Your will be done in earth as it is in heaven".

Until next week...

MAY GOD BLESS YOU AND YOU BLESS GOD.

His servant and yours

David Tait

Today's 'Word Puzzle' Answer: UNDERFED

TODAY'S 'BIBLE QUESTION': 16) D - land of Tob (Judges 11:3)

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ABOUT US

WALKING WITH JESUS MINISTRIES is a non-profit, non-denominational, Bible based ministry located in Hastings, New Zealand. A ministry dedicated to developing discipleship, fostering unity amongst God’s people to achieve the Great Commission, and in doing so, preparing for Christ’s return. It is securely based upon the foundational principles of the Apostles Creed while recognising the wide and rich diversity of beliefs amongst Christians in other areas. In accordance with the Lord’s direction, materials produced by the ministry are available, free of charge, to genuine enquirers upon request. The ministry is solely funded by donations, as the Lord provides. A list of materials available (plus some fun!) is obtainable and freely downloadable from our website
wwj.org.nz or by contacting us as follows.

Walking With Jesus Ministries
7 Bull Street
Ahuriri
Napier
New Zealand

Phone: (06) 835 0567 International (+64) 6 835 0567

Email: enquiries@wwj.org.nz
Web: wwj.org.nz

Our role is to bless and encourage those in ministry while promoting co-operation and unity of direction amongst the body of Christ, as emphasised 3 times by Jesus in His longest prayer, immediately prior to His arrest and crucifixion. "… so that they may be one as we are one." (John 17:12, 21, 23-4) Our website is currently being developed to encourage your participation one with another, to share resources, and to enable you to promote events and items of interest to the body as a whole – and have a smile while doing it!

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