Are you a student or a doer?

Luke 17:20-21

I’ve often referred to Crossroads Baptist Church in the Woodlands as a kingdom minded church and also Oakwood in New Braunfels, and I believe many who hear this said are in the same mindset as these Pharisees, who are asking Jesus when the kingdom of God will come.  “Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.” (Luke 17:20-21)

They were hanging on to Joel 2:28-31, “And it shall come to pass afterward

That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions.

And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days.  “And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: Blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord.”  And to some degree a little of that at a later time at Pentecost, and yet it was all in the future, and they had the exact representation of God standing in their presence and would not accept Him. 

And that was then but what about today, for the same Jesus has said to each of us who are called by His name the following; “In that day you will know that I am in the Father, and you are in me and I in you.  Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me.  And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”    

Anytime a group of believers assembles with the understanding “Christ in me the hope of glory,” and ask the Holy Spirit to have free will in our worship and our actions, and are willing to go and do all that is ask by the Spirit of God, they are about the kingdom of God.  But the Pharisees were guys like many in our churches, they longed for the next Bible study, they were students of the Scriptures, but many were not doers of the Scriptures.   Are you a student or a doer?

The kingdom living does not happen in a building we call the church, it happens in our homes, with our neighbors, with our families, and in the workplace.  At Oakwood we have a saying and it is the heart of our leadership, for us to Intentionally Engage our Community with the Love of Christ.  When we do that with the right heart attitude we are being kingdom minded.

From our Back Porch,

Bob Rice