Bringing the Kingdom to Earth

Bringing the Kingdom to Earth

On Fri-Sat we went to Pastors' class on Lifesteps and it was very encouraging for me to see all of us together in the class because we have a common cause. We all got together to be encouraged to seek the Lord for the healing of our hearts and homes, bringing Jesus in us to our assembly (church) and our community. The teaching was great and I thank God for what He is doing in us.

The Lord spoke to my heart on Friday morning about some of the things we shared in class. It was about bringing His Kingdom to our land. As I spent time with the Lord on Friday, He put in my heart to listen to this new message by Graham Cooke which I had taken from the internet the night before. It was his conference in Perth, Australia. It was just an excerpt from his message which I got, but it was enough to bring me to tears as I was listening "Yes, Lord, oh make a way for us to reach out to our community in our gifts".

Graham was sharing in his message (I will paraphrase what he said) that we need to bring the kingdom to our nation (land, communities) reminding ourselves that grace is the way to do it. We fight sin, religion, legalism, anger with grace, not by looking for others' sin. Because the Bible teaches that we fight evil with good. Our job is not to revile against sin but to promote grace. It is God's kindness and goodness that leads people to repentance, so He shows His goodness and kindness to others and by that leads them to repent.



God bless you,



Elana

I can't think how many times I pointed at people's sins, especially when they hurt me. When these arrows fly and shoot right at my heart, right in the place where there is already a wound and my flesh reacts. My Lord, forgive me because I have pointed to others' sins. Help me to promote Your grace.I would like to share with you part of Graham's message.
It touched my heart and answered questions I had regarding reaching out to our community. I've been asking the Lord for a long time now "Lord, how can I reach out to people in the store, at the clinic? Lord, what do I say to them? Heal them and bring restoration in broken areas of their lives, Lord".

I know that the best way to share the Lord is just to be who I am and let the Lord touch hearts. I have learned from Pastor, I'd better talk to the Lord about people before I talk to people about Him. But there is more, Lord.

This message stirred my heart and showed me simple ways to bring the Kingdom of our Lord to our land. Graham shares how he reaches out to people in his neighborhood using his spiritual gifts. When I heard what he shared, something in me was ignited into flame and I pray this flame will ignite you as well.

We reach out to a dying world that desperately needs answers to questions, and we have the answer. We have neighbors who are sick, people around us who have lost their jobs, single parents, divorce, separation, abuse, violence, poverty, homelessness, gambling - how do we deal with it right here in our neighborhood?
Graham Cooke shared as he asked the question, what if our biggest problems in our land are not crime, drugs, poverty, gambling, divorce etc. but the lack of goodness?
If we "overcome evil with good", as the Bible says, then why is evil winning in our land? Why are there more sick people, more crime, jails? It's because the church is too busy reiling at sin and pointing to it, trying to eliminate it, than to overcome it with good. Our job on Earth is not to pull down the strongholds of the enemy, but to bring God down to our land. We are here to bring down the biggest territorial Spirit ever whose name is Jesus Christ. God is on the third Heavens, the enemy is on the second heaven and human beings are on first heaven.
Graham asked, what happens if we pull the enemy down? Who do you think he is going to fall on? So, why are we pulling him down to Earth and inviting him to destroy lives?
Our role is to bring the King down to Earth and when He comes down He will deal with the enemy who is under him. We don't want to pull the enemy down to Earth. We want to focus on the Lord and seek Him and His Kingdom first. We don't seek the enemy, or sin, we are God seekers.

In order for the King to come to our midst we have to provide the same environment that's in Heaven, also here on earth. We need to preach the gospel of the Kingdom.In other words, if the kingdom is about grace, kindness, love, healing, generosity, power, wisdom and the supernatural - than this is what we need to bring to our land.

How can we do it?Graham said, by giving them a radiant idea of God. We need a renewal of our passion for Jesus and a revival of compassion for the lost. We need to turn society upside down reaching out by acting out who we are in Messiah". We are here to bring reconciliation to the world because the enemy has already been judged. There is no more judgment on the world because Jesus took all the judgment upon Himself on the cross.

Do you think Jesus was judged enough on the cross? Do you think there is an ounce of judgment or wrath left that God needs to still deal with?

God brought upon Him the fullness of His wrath and He dealt with sin including the sin of the world. This means there is no more wrath or judgment left until the Day of Judgment. Right? If God still has some wrath left this means Jesus did not do His job on the cross. That His death was not enough so God still needs to bring wrath on Earth. It would mean Jesus dies for nothing, but this is not so.

Jesus’ death dealt with all the sins of the world until a day comes when the open door for Heaven shuts and the Lord will judge again. Meanwhile were living in a time of much grace as the Lord reaches out to those who do not know Him yet. He made us ambassadors of reconciliation to show the world who He is and what life in His Kingdom is like.
The world is reconciled to God; the door is open for everyone to come in so they can go free. It does not matter how evil you are, the door is open for you to discover God. There is no obstacle, it was removed by Jesus. The credit card company in Heaven has sent free credit cards to all humanity. All they need is to pick up the phone and call the Manager who is the Lord and sign in. Graham says to people as he shares with them, "Let me show you what that means. Let me show you what that reconciliation looks like. Let's get your body healed, life restored, mind renewed, kids off drugs. Let's get you to enjoy life because these are the benefits of the Kingdom.

Graham then shared how he reaches out to people in his neighborhood. This is the part that touched my hart the most.
When Graham prays to God for his community (maybe you're also praying for your work place, school or friends) he walks in his neighborhood and asks God:
"Which houses, You working on, Lord?".
As he walks, he writes down the number of the houses God is working on and at home as he prays He asks the Lord:
"What is going on in house 707? What are You doing there, Lord?”
Graham shares that he wants to do what God is doing. He has no business going to houses and knocking at doors where God is not working.
The Lord uses Graham's gift of prophecy to reach out to his neighbors as He shares with him words of knowledge.What spiritual gifts do you have and how can you use them to reach to your neighbors? Graham then writes it on a card with his own name and phone number. He knocks at his neighbors' door and introduces himself: "Hi, my name is Graham and I am a Christian. Listen, hey, I've been praying for your house the other day and I believe God speaks today, so I believe God told me something, there you go. Have a nice day".

Then Graham hands the card to the person. In the card he wrote down what God said.

One time it was a neighbor who was unemployed for two years and had lost all hope in finding a job. The Lord told that mean to buy the paper, look at a specific add, and call because He is going to give him that job. This neighbor could not believe Graham, but as he shares, it happened as the Lord said. He got the job with a company he had worked for and they hired him on the phone. He called Graham to meet with him.

What do you think this guy was thinking? Isn’t it amazing how God can invade our neighbors’ homes in such a radical and amazing way, and rock their world?

Imagine if we each used our gifts to reach out to our community? If we each came with some kind of Heavenly gifts, healing, or prophecy (and I believe you do not need to be a prophet to hear from God) to bring these heavenly gifts to our neighbors.

1 Corinthians 12:7-11 NASB 7 But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8 For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit; 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 and to another the effecting of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another the distinguishing of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills.

Imagine if we brought the supernatural Kingdom of God to our work place or schools?
Oh, my heart is on fire.
Lord, raise us up to bring Your Kingdom to our neighbors through our gifts as well. Let us know what our gifts are, train us, help us to hear You and show our neighbors what living in Your Kingdom really means.
Graham then goes on sharing that his neighbors call him back asking him:
"How did you know this stuff?" How did he know what they were going through?

"I don't know anything" he says, but I know somebody who does”.


They ask him to come back and he meets with them and shares:

"You just got a radical introduction of God and I am just showing you what His Kingdom is about. What are you going to do about it?. You just had a personal invitation by the King who invaded your world and knew you needed a job, (healing, help, money, babysitting, a ride, an answer, to be set free).

Whether you come to know Him or not, God wants you to have a good life. That's His nature. This is what He is like".


Then he lets them make their decision and does not push God to their face. He lets the Holy Spirit do the work in their hearts as he keeps praying for them.This is the good news, that God has opened a door for all to come in and it's by His kindness to our neighbors that He reaches out to them and helps them return (repent).
Graham added and said that we need to build a church full of people who are completely convinced of the goodness of God, who have experiences God, knowing His brilliance, kindness, generosity, wisdom and confidence. Imagine if we each bring our own personal experience with God to reach to our neighbors and provide answers for the problems and let them taste the Lord's Kingdom? I would add and say that we ourselves need to experience God for ourselves so we can have that confidence, knowing "this is who My God is, and this is what living in His Kingdom means".

Graham added and said, we need leaders today who could introduce us to the nature of God and would model that in how they lead. This is how Jesus led. He showed us pre-cross what is possible for us to do post-cross. He showed us what is possible in our relationship with our Father. Jesus was introducing us to all the possibilities of Heaven in the Kingdom.It is not what you know, but Who you know that can make you an influential model in your neighborhood, work place or school.
The Israelites were living in Egypt, in institutional slavery all their lives. They had no idea what freedom means or feels like. All they dreamt about was to survive the day, feed their kids another meal, pay the bills, not to be beaten today. They were dreaming about survival, but God was dreaming about giving them houses they never built, vineyards they never planted and wells they never dug.To rescue a nation from bondage today, nations would send an army with tanks and spend millions of dollars. God in His world send one man with a stick and a stutter to save a nation.

God wants to do the same today, for you and for our neighbors and coworkers. He does not only want to set free, but to bless our land and bring healing, restoration and His Kingdom to Earth, just like it is in Heaven.

God can send you to rescue your neighbors, just talk to Him about them and ask Him what He wants to do.

Think about how our "Common Cause" ministries can bring the Kingdom to our land. How you can be creative, use the spiritual gifts the Lord has given you, and....... go.

We have good news of great joy which is for all people.

Luke 2:10 NASB But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people;

Romans 10:15 NASB …. "HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO BRING GOOD NEWS OF GOOD THINGS!"


Please pray that the Lord will raise His bride to bring His Kingdom to the world in ways that only the Lord can do. Let it be in ways of bringing His supernatural power by His Holy Spirit and through our gifts, to bring healing and restoration, His life and hope to a dying world here in our neighborhoods. Let it be good news to our neighbors. News that touch their lives and hearts. News that will rock their world and they will say "how did you know? how can I know your God" and we will point to the only One who can save and loves them, our Lord Yeshua, Jesus, the King.