The Kingdom of God is at Hand

The time of waiting is completed.  The Kingdom of Jesus Christ is now at hand. 

So change your life, and believe this Good News.

Jesus Christ returned centuries ago and nobody paid attention, nobody gave Him notice.  Just as there were many who tried to personally gain from His ministry in Galilea only to turn on Him when they discovered He would not fight to restore the throne of His ancestor David - there have been many who have tried to turn what Jesus taught at His second coming to their own advantage.  There have been false prophets who claimed His words as their own, but twisted them so as to corrupt them for their own ends.  There have been so called intellectuals who have made a distinction between Jesus and the teaching He completed during His second coming on the grounds that His return is all about “the truth” and “enlightenment”, but once again these are just looking for an angle to personally gain from what they have discovered, so that they can sound smart, win in the petty economic struggles of earthly existence, and delight in the ignorance of those who have not read what Jesus taught.  All in all, Jesus has been surrounded by unbelieving, self-absorbed, power hungry, wealth and position seeking people ever since He returned in person to finish what He started over 2000 years ago.  Just like His 12 disciples arguments over position, power, and influence - those who have come across the news of the second coming have completely missed its primary point.  And so, over 200 years later, the world is still waiting for the kingdom that God is already setting up!

So, repent!  Hear the Good News and change your life!  For the kingdom of God is here, right now, and you can be a part of it.  And come, be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ and spread the Word that He is alive, He is God, He has come again, and He is and will always be right here, right now, ready to save.

Intimacy is the Key to Healing, Happiness, and Success

You can’t compel love.  A person held in a relationship against their will would never be said to be in love with the one holding them there.  However, when Jesus was asked, ”Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?”

Jesus answered, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. A second likewise is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:36-40)

The American Heritage Dictionary says that a commandment is “n. A command; an edict.”  However, in the Bible commandments are less like commands and more like the negotiated terms of a commitment or contract.  Just as a marriage is a commitment between one man and one woman that has specific terms of faithfulness, support, and care — our relationship with God can be a committed relationship that will be successful according to the terms that we expect, maintain, and dedicate our lives to.

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, just like I have loved you; that you also love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35)

Jesus is not compelling our love.  He is actually not even commanding our love.  He is providing, sustaining, and empowering our love by consistently being there for us, blessing us, and providing for our happiness and success.  He is keeping up his part of our relationship with Him — meeting us where we are and loving us with everything that He is. 

However, just knowing Jesus loves every human being isn’t enough, because when we don’t love Him in return even His infinite love and omnipotent presence is ineffective in its attempt at blessing us.  This is why He so passionately wants people to love Him — because love is always a two way street.  One way love is ineffective until it is received and reciprocated.  And so the all powerful creator of the universe says, “Love me so that I can bless you!  Give me the opportunity to show you what I can do for you!”

It is God’s passionate joy to give you every good thing from success in business to good health and fulfilling relationships.  He wants to bless your life with intimacy, peace, and contentment.  He wants the best results possible in every situation that is facing you today, because He already loves you with everything that He is and everything that He has — and that’s everything. 

The entirety of creation was designed to bless you, because God loves you.  He created you so that He could bless you, and now He is telling you these two keys to success in life - Love God and Love Other People Just Like God Loves Them.

Intimacy.  Real, lasting, deep, and passionate connections between human beings.  Intimacy is what matters the most to God.  Intimacy can heal the body.  Intimacy can heal the spirit.  Intimacy can solve the hatred, anger, depression, anxiety, and every other sin facing you today.  Because intimacy is the presence of God.  Intimacy is the result of love received and returned.  Intimacy is the connection that God is looking for that enables His blessings, and His awesome will to be done.

Every Believer is a Priest

Setting apart “Holy Men” is not Biblical.  God’s vision for the human race is that every human being will know Him, feel His love, understand His priorities, see His vision for their lives, and study His Word prayerfully for answers to their life’s questions.  The Christian priesthood, in copying the Aaronic priesthood of the Old Testament, set itself up as a class of mediators set apart to keep their view of the Divine before the eyes of people.  But this feature of religion is now outdated.  Today we have the opportunity to embrace God’s vision for the future as it was declared in Jeremiah 31: 

Behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: not according to the covenant that I made with their ancestors in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; my covenant that they broke, although I was a husband to them, says Yahweh. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says Yahweh: I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people: and they shall teach no more everyone their neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know Yahweh; for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says Yahweh: for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin will I remember no more.

God calls every individual to walk side by side along the road of life with others, to give counsel and encouragement, to study and teach His Word for those less educated in its message, to worship and praise Him together in communities, to witness important life events such as marriage and death and teach the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s supper, and to lead others by means of the gifts of vision, perception, and wisdom to discover more of the blessings that God has in store for all people.  These gifts are what set apart the pastors, the preachers, the ministers, and the priests – and these are all roles that any believer can take if that is where they are called by God and gifted to serve.

Man or woman, young or old, every believer is a priest following in the footsteps of Jesus Christ who is the only teacher, the only priest, the only mediator, the only God.

“And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.” (Joel 2:28-29)