New Wineskin: The Structure of Israel 10/07 by Kingdom Citizens | Blog Talk Radio

New Wineskin: The Structure of Israel 10/07 by Kingdom Citizens | Blog Talk Radio

The Church and the 2012 U.S. Presidential Election

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Drawing the Youth to the Church

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The Order of the Church

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Obedience and Witnessing

Modeling Kingdom Discipleship Today’s Focus: Obedience and Witnessing Scripture: Acts 1:8; John 14:12; Romans 10:17; Exodus 19:5 Greetings Kingdom Citizens In the last words of Jesus to the disciples before His ascension back to the Father, Jesus told them after the Holy Spirit has empowered them they will be witnesses unto Jesus. We said in a previous message that the works that we do will be a testimony and evidence that Jesus is the Messiah and the Son of God. John 14:12: Verily, verily I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. So Jesus came and laid the foundation for the sons of God and since that time and the time of His return, the sons will continue from age to age maturing in preparation for the return of the Lord. These disciples were witnesses of the fact that Jesus did only what saw and heard the Father do. Now just as the Spirit of God led Jesus, the same Spirit will lead His brethern in the exact same manner, teaching and discipling us to do what we hear and see the Father do. What an amazing concept to discipleship. This means that there has to be some gifting to teach people that they can hear God and there is. This gifting is called the prophetic. Why is it important to be able to hear God and know it is God? Romans 10:17: So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. So it is to build our faith. Jesus says that His sheep will hear His voice and hearken unto Him. All throughout the Old Testament, especially at Mt. Sinai when God was offering the children of Israel the first covenant, look what He says: Exodus 19:5: Now therefore , IF YOU WILL OBEY MY VOICE, INDEED AND KEEP MY COVENANT, THEN YE SHALL BE A PECULIAR TREASURE UNTO ME ABOVE ALL PEOPLE: FOR ALL THE EARTH IS MINE: Notice God makes an emphasis to obey His voice. See there was no Bible then so they had to learn the voice of God and hear Him through the messengers he ordained at that time. So when Jesus tells the disciples to go and teach others to observe all things he has commanded, just like Jesus gave the disciples verbal directions, the disciples will teach others in the same manner. So when we talk about the Great Commission we are putting an emphasis on the process of hearing the word of God and obeying His directions. If we do this, then we do not have to worry about sin because the Spirit knows no sin and if you are walking in the Spirit then you are walking in righteousness. In understanding the Great Commission and our role in discipling the nations, we have concluded that to obey all that Jesus commanded was to do what we hear and see the Father doing. This means the mature sons of God are to walk among makind demonstrating that it is possible to walk like Jesus did, listening and obeying the Father moment by moment. As we demonstrate this, others are to learn and this is the process of discipleship. When we walk in this manner, the Spirit of God can draw men unto Himself and we, as the sons of God teach them by our life that we live and how we regularly obey the Father. Why is this not the case today for the most part? The reason this is, because the leaders in the churches themselves are not followers of Jesus. Many are not concerned with making disciples as they are with getting members and converting them to their church doctrine and culture. So when we speak in this manner of "doing what we hear and see the Father doing" it is almost taboo and impossible in their mind to do this. Why? Because the culture does not permit this and the culture only permits the pastor to teach the flock to follow him or her. Hence we have people growin the church doctrine and ways and never really learning what it means to hear the Father and obey His voice. If the leaders do not know how to do this, how can we expect the flock to do it? There must be a change in culture and mindset in the church for this to be the reality. At Our Father's Service, Calvin Calhoun

Understanding Obedience in the Commission

Modeling Kingdom Discipleship Today’s Focus: Understanding Obedience in the Commission Scripture: Matthew 28:18-20; John 5:19; John 14:8-11 Greetings Kingdom Citizens When Jesus told the disciples to teach others to observe or obey everything that He has commanded, this has been misinterpreted in the sense that we need to teach people to obey everything in the Old and New Testament. Now think about this, could you imagine having to obey everything listed in the Old and new Testament? People would just turn away and go back to being a straight sinner because that would be extremely hard to do, and some has. Now here is a question, Jesus is obviously telling them to do something that He showed them to do and he is asking them to do that and show others. Jesus in His ministry did not walk around with scrolls under his arm and then when a problem arose, He pulled them out to find the absolute scripture and then quote it. Jesus did not do this. This is what Jesus did: John 5:19: Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily Verily I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He see the Father do: for what things soever He doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. Jesus only did what he saw the Father do and Jesus only said what He hears the Father say. This is called obedience and worship because Jesus is fully submitted to the Father and has given up the right to rule Himself to do His Father's Will and so the Father loves Him and shows Jesus what He is doing. It is only by the Spirit of the Father in Jesus. John 14:8-11: Philip saith unto Him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? HE THAT HATH SEEN ME HATH SEEN THE FATHER; and how sayest thou then , Shew us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? THE WORDS THAT I SPEAK UNTO YOU I SPEAK NOT OF MYSELF: BUT THE FATHER THAT DWELLETH IN ME, HE DOETH THE WORKS. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake. Jesus gave the Father a place in time as a vessel in which the Father can live and impact His Will upon the earth. Jesus consciously hears what the Father is telling Him to do and that is the thing that He is doing. He does this moment to moment and day to day. Jesus is being led by the Spirit of God and this is a confirmation that He is the Son of God. Hence obedience is not just obeying the commandments, but obeying directions. This is the way of life we are called to live as sons of God. This is a intimate lifestyle to live and this is opposite of church culture that looks for a commandment and do it and think we are pleasing God. In this thought process we are the ones who decide what God is actually doing in the moment because we are the ones who are apply the word to some situation. The four gospels are a testimony of an existing relationship between the Father and the Son and it records a truth that Jesus only did what He saw the Father doing. Now this opens up and entirely different avenue to teaching discipleship that we have rarely heard of. In the next message we will look at obedience and it's correlation to witnessing. Peace, Love and Grace from the Father, Calvin Calhoun, Jr.

Defining Discipleship

Modeling Kingdom Discipleship Today’s Focus: Defining Discipleship Scripture: Matthew 28:18-20 Greetings Kingdom Citizens In the last message we left off discussing how religion has made the Great Commission about teaching the ways of the institution and making disciples of the institution rather than disciples of Christ. Now let’s start defining discipleship. Jesus gives the disciples a clear command in Matthew 28:20: “Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you:” So a disciple is someone who obeys the Lord Jesus in everything. Very simple. Now we have read it to be teach them to obey everything the Lord has commanded but what has happened is there is has been an extensive emphasis on teaching rather than obeying. So when we give the information, we assume they are obeying. Do we see the difference? When you obey the Lord Jesus Christ, you show that you are a witness unto Him. Now let’s look at this word witness because there is such a misconception about witnessing and there is no way you can witness anything without obedience. Acts 1:8: 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 Judea, and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the Earth. Now when we read this, there is a clear process that the disciples had to go through before they can be a witness unto Jesus. That process is laid out right here in Acts 1:8. First you must be empowered by the Holy Spirit. This is one of the four doctrinal baptisms. This is called being baptized of the Spirit. Now remember the disciples received the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in John 20:21-23 when Jesus blew on them. Now Jesus still tells them to go to Jerusalem and wait to be empowered. So a true witness of Christ must have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit as well as be empowered by the Holy Spirit. Next Jesus tells them after that, they will be witnesses UNTO Jesus. Now what does it mean to be a witness unto Jesus? Well let’s look at this from a natural perspective. Suppose Jesus was sitting in the defendant’s chair and they call you to the witness stand. When you sit in the witness stand on behalf of Jesus to defend Him you must not only be able to testify with your words but also bring evidence of your testimony. When you do this you prove Jesus is who He says He is. 1 Corinthians 4:20 speaks that the Kingdom of God come not in word but in power. Power is the seen evidence of the King and the Kingdom. If we desire to be witnesses works must follow our words and also our faith. Faith itself comes from hearing and hearing by the Word of God. When you trust in and believe in the thing that God told you to do, you obey and comply with that very command and that is what makes a disciple a disciple is obedience to the Lord. Look there are many people who can speak of the Lord, but how many have been empowered to manifest the power? We must get back to submission and obedience because these are the essence to true discipleship. The student cannot be greater than the Master. We must learn our place and as the Lord instructs us and matures us, we then can go out and effectively represent Him and teach others, like He taught us. Peace, Love and Grace, Calvin Calhoun, Jr.

Religious Church Perspective of the Great Commission

Modeling Kingdom Discipleship Today’s Focus: Religious Church Perspective of the Great Commission Scripture: Matthew 28:18-20 Greetings Kingdom Citizens It is my sincere prayer that we really grasp this and start filtering this problem out of the church and the Body of Christ. The doctrines of men and the doctrine of Christ are two seperate and opposite things. Paul told the sons at Philippi the let this mind that is in Christ Jesus also be in you. Hence we as the sons of God should be operating in one mindset and that is Christ. Any other mindset is a enemy of God. Now let's look at how the Great Commission is being misinterpreted and leading to ineffective results that do not produce mature sons but disciples of religion and denominations. In Matthew 28:19-20 Jesus tells the disciples to baptize people and then teach them to observe everything that He has commanded. What tends to happen in this process is after baptism we take the person and teach them the doctrines of our church and what we have grown up with. By teaching them this, the knowledge they receive is percieved to them as becoming true disciples of Christ. The current process presents itself in the manner of inviting people to come into your church and your environment and they will teach you the traditions of the scriptures that those who are already "members" have embraced. So in actuality what are we making them disciples of? We are making them disciples to the denominational traditions and interpretations of scripture. This is why it is so hard when the Lord calls you out or shows you something that go against the denomination or tradition to tell it without getting extreme backlash. It is because the truth threatens the tradition and no one really wants to admit that they have been doing something wrong for fear of looking bad in the people's eyes. But at what expense do we keep this pride? At the expense of the maturation of the sons of God. Now do not get me wrong, people are well intentioned but if we are truly disciples of Christ then we should be able to accept correction and repent no matter how long we have been doing it. Many denominations have disciplines, rules or a book of guidelines that they have to maintain order. Nothing is wrong if it does not contradict or mis-interpret the word of God. Funny, i can remember my wife telling me a story of how she would ask questions of why we do certain things in the church. Now she would genuwinely ask why because she wanted to know and the adults would try to shun her and try to just say this is the way we just do it. Now that did not sit well with her because as she grew up she believed and learned that we should always understand what we are doing and why we do it to make sure that we are doing that thing in it's proper context. But people who question things such as traditions are usually frowned upon and shuned as "rebels or radicals". Jesus was considered that very thing to the religious institution and the very teachings of Christ upset the order and religious ways of the Pharisees. In the next message we will look at what a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ is? We will look at the Commission and see what the Lord said and what He expected because He is the source and we are to follow Him, not tradition. Love and Grace from the Father, Calvin Calhoun, Jr.

Foundation of Discipleship

Modeling Kingdom Discipleship Today’s Focus: Foundation of Discipleship Scripture: Matthew 28:18-20; Psalm 2:5-7 Greetings Kingdom Citizens Now we have discussed and taught about the need for discipleship in the House of God and it is this process that is used to mature the sons of God. Now let's start with a foundation, de-construct it and then bring it back for understanding. Matthew 28:18-20: And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in Heaven and in Earth. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and lo I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. This is the Great Commission that Jesus gave His disciples after the resurrection. Now when we look at the foundation of discipleship we are clearly talking about the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the foundation of our discipleship. How do we know? Jesus said in Matthew 28:18 that "All power in given unto me in Heaven and in Earth". Now this means Jesus has all power and authority in Heaven and Earth. He is the King! He is the sovereign ruler. Jesus was making a decree and declaration of his Kingship when He made that statement but look at that again. It says the power and authority was GIVEN UNTO HIM. But by who? The grace was given to Him by the one who was discipling Him? Let's look at Psalm 2 for the answer. Psalm 2:5-7: Then shall He speak unto them in His wrath and vex them in His sore displeasure. Yet have I (Father) set my King (Jesus) upon my Holy Hill of Zion. I (Father) will declare the decree: The Lord (Father) hath said unto me (Jesus), Thou are my Son (Jesus); this day have I (Father) begotten thee. So it is the Father that empowers, declares and anoints Jesus as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. This is why Jesus has the word "Christ" attached to His name to declare that He is the Anointed One. Now to say the He has all power and authority is to say that He is the source of the power and authority in the Kingdom of God. Through Him and His power and authority are we even able to effectively work and participate in this Commission. It is only by Him because He is the one who commissions you when it is time to go. When man does the commissioning it should simply be a confirmation of a work that you are already doing. Moreover Jesus must be Lord over your life before you can even think about discipleship. You had to repent of your sins, declare Jesus to be Lord and believe that God raised Jesus from the dead before you can enter into the Kingdom of God and begin your growth through discipleship. In the next message we will look at how some people view the Great Commission and how it is not fulfilling the truth of the Commission and diminshing true discipleship. Peace, Love and Grace from the Father, Calvin Calhoun, Jr.