Kingdom Relationship
(This Weekly Prayer Summary was written by Esmi Lukman, from the CBC English Prayer Ministry, and edited by Brigitta Tedja)
#relationshipseries
Watch the sermon here.
The title of Pastor James’ sermon is “Kingdom Relationship”. He started with a quote from Doug Stringer stating, “The Kingdom of God is built on relationships.”
The context of his preaching is based on the following:
1. What does a relationship look like within the kingdom of God?
2. What is the significance of a relationship within the kingdom of God?
3. What do our relationships with one another look like within the context of the kingdom of God?
1. Relationship with God
We need to be spiritually born again.
This is the story of Nicodemus, a Pharisee, and a teacher of the law, who came to Jesus in the middle of the night to know more about Jesus.
John 3:3-7 AMP “Jesus answered him, ‘I assure you and most solemnly say to you unless a person is born again [reborn from above — spiritually transformed, renewed, sanctified], he cannot [ever] see and experience the kingdom of God.’ Nicodemus said to Him, ‘How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born, can he?’ Jesus answered, ‘I assure you and most solemnly say to you unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot [ever] enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh [the physical is merely physical], and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be surprised that I have told you, ‘You must be born again [reborn from above—spiritually transformed, renewed, sanctified].’”
We need to be born again to enter the kingdom of God!
Because when you are born of the spirit, you are born INTO the family of God.
This is the initial relationship that God has brought you into, the entry point of the kingdom.
God Wants a Relationship with You! God Wants Us to Know Him.
We do not serve a distant, foreign God. Our Heavenly Father or “our Father in Heaven” is not meant to be a concept of a distant or irrelevant God.
In the Jewish culture and traditions, there are 3 types of heaven
The heavens are meant to be known as the dwelling place of God Almighty but also the very atmosphere around us that you breathe in
Goes from the reaches of things beyond time and space and is the very air that we breathe that is carried to each of our cells
The translation of heaven could more accurately be described as the atmosphere
This is the level at which He wants to be in a relationship with you
He knows you. He wants you to know Him
God decisively invaded humanity on the cross and has repeatedly presented Himself throughout human history with the single aim that you would seek a relationship with Him.
This relationship with my Heavenly Father, my Savior, my King and my Lord is the basis upon which other relationships are founded.
2. Spiritual Over Natural
John 3:6-7 AMP “. . . unless a person is born again [reborn from above — SPIRITUALLY transformed, renewed, sanctified], he cannot [ever] see and experience the kingdom of God.”
“Born of water and the Spirit”
The spiritual realm does not just mean “intangible” - it means the authentic thing that goes beyond the natural.
The spiritual does not merely mean intangible or unseen, not real
The temporary vs. the eternal, natural vs. spiritual
The temporary will fade and make room for the permanent. Which of the two is more REAL?
2 Corinthians. 4:17-18 NKJV “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
The flesh is temporary, but the things of the spirit are eternal
They are MORE real than that which will fade away.
3. Sons of God
Romans 8:13-17 NKJV “For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.
This illustrates the basic point, the starting point of our relationship within the kingdom.
You are born again → born of the spirit and not flesh → born into the family of God → heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ. Kingdom relationship looks like family. God works and speaks through relationships.
The Kingdom of God is Built on Family:
God chose His Son to take care of business
To make us sons and daughters, brought into the family of God, redeemed and purchased with the blood of His own Son
God, the Father has brought us into a relationship with Him through the act of an existing relationship, His Son
You are children of God and a family of God within His kingdom.
Kingdom Relationship: Christ the Mediator
What does a relationship look like with others within the kingdom? As a part of this family, what are the rules of engagement here?
Pastor James shared his experienced with Pastor Peter Roselle from New Jersey and how he mentored and built a relationship with him.
Pastor James quoted Dallas Willard, a USC philosophy professor, stating that, “Among those who live as Jesus’ apprentices there are no relationships that omit the presence and action of Jesus. We never go ‘one on one’; all relationships are mediated through Him. I never think simply of what I am going to do with you, to you, or for you. I think of what we, Jesus and I, are going to do with you, to you, and for you.
Jesus Christ is the mediator what connected all of us together.
1 Corinthians 12:12-14 NKJV “For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. For in fact, the body is not one member but many.”
Colossians 1:18 NKJV “And He is before all things, and in Him, all things consist of. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.
Colossians 3:3-4 NKJV “For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.
The passage referred to you as dead and Christ came alive in you. His passion, His desire, His will, His purpose, and His provision came alive when you yielded your life to Jesus Christ.
Colossians 3:5-11 NKJV “Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them. But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him . . .”
I am renewed in the knowledge of the image of my Creator
The more I look at the One who created me, the more I am transformed into His image
Colossians 3:11-14 NKJV “. . . where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ IS ALL AND IN ALL. Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.”
“Human love has little regard for truth. It makes the truth relative, since nothing, not even the truth, must come between it and the beloved person. Human love desires the other person, his company, his answering love, but it does not serve him.” I am a brother to another person through what Jesus Christ did for me and to me; the other person has become a brother to me through what Jesus Christ did for him. This fact that we are brethren only through Jesus Christ is of immeasurable significance.” What determines our brotherhood is what that man is by reason of Christ. Our community with one another consists solely in what Christ has done to both of us. I have community with others and shall continue to have it only through Jesus Christ.” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer)
The greatest act of service I can give others is to be like Christ and lead them to Christ.
Relationship in the kingdom of God does not consist of merely friendship or acquaintance.
Prayer Points:
Pray for a deeper understanding of having a relationship with God, that is to be born again in the spirit and to enter the Kingdom of God
Pray for a divine revelation that we do not serve a foreign God that is distant. God, in fact, is so close to us in the atmosphere, time, space, and air that we breathe
Pray for the hunger to know Him as God’s desire is for us to know Him as our King and Savior
Pray for a renewed mind and knowledge of the image of our Creator so that we will look more of the One who created us
Pray for the willingness and compassion to become brother and sister for others so that we can be mediators to bring others into the knowledge of Jesus