A new week, a new challenge!

Every morning, when I wake up, I have a worship song in my mind. I have had this for years now. I believe that it's extremely important to start and finish a day by giving honor and praise to God, regardless of your daily circumstances. The bible says in Hebrews that Jesus is the same, today, yesterday and forever. He never changes, he's perspective and thoughts, his love and righteousness are the same, regardless of the circumstances. Today we are experiencing the pouring of his love and kindness but a time will come that his righteousness will take place and He will come back to judge the the world, to judge mankind based in their response to God and to Him as savior of the world. today, we have the opportunity to hear his voice and walk with Him. Heb 4:1616 So let us come boldly to the very throne of God and stay there to receive his mercy and to find grace to help us in our times of need.(TLB). Amen!

A little about me...

Well, here I am again on the net! Of course, I am always connected to the net but I haven't had something like this for a long time, I guess the last time I had a postage like this it was when Geocities had just come out with its free webhosting service and I, of course, needed to be on the edge of my pursuit to better ways of communicating. But it takes a lot of energy and time to keep something like this running. I'll try to keep it updated as much as I can...
Anyway, we live in Norway and both my wife and I are ministers working at a local pentecostal church in the city of Porsgrunn. You can check it out if you want to:
www.porsgrunn.no/ITFPRG/knginter.nsf/web/bdEngelskInformasjon.
I am excited to start posting my book on the net and I hope that it will bless and challenge you as we learn to be citizens of the kingdom of God. Have a great day!

The Basics of the Kingdom - Introduction

The decision to study the chapters 5, 6 and 7 of the Gospel according to Matthew came out of desire to see, in a more clear way, the role of those who have received the adoption of God through Christ thus having the privilege of entering the kingdom as a new child of God.
As we teach our children to become good citizens, passing on values so they can be productive in society, we should also bring the same efforts in a concrete and tangible way into the reality of those who entered the kingdom of God. It is of utmost importance to impress into their hearts that even though we live in this world we are not of this world; we belong to a different realm, with different values and standards.
In these chapters we will find all the resources we need for the basics, the fundamental rules for our living on this world as children of God, fully functioning as citizens of God’s kingdom. The difficulty that many have encountered as they become new children of God is that there is very little emphasis on how to reeducate our minds in the new values that we are suppose to live from that point on.
Proverbs teaches us that for lack of counseling, teaching, or vision the people will be lead astray (Prov.11:14). Unfortunately, this has been the reality of many congregations, who in a way have received brand new spiritual “babies” but have not taught them a new way of thinking, new standards and values.
Since the new ones have no new base of values being passed on to them, whenever there is a situation where their character is put to test they will rely on their previous experiences and worldly standards and values, this is what Paul calls relying on the flesh, a lack of resource or a new thinking of what to do as citizens of the kingdom when are tempted and challenged by the daily struggles of our lives. Jesus knew that before He could reveal deep truth about Him and the Father, in order to establish a NEW KINGDOM, it was necessary to bring a whole new thinking, a full contradiction to the normal “logic” practiced in the “Kosmos”, the world system.
The apostle Paul teaches us that the message of the gospel is craziness for those who perish. It’s impossible to understand the logic of the kingdom without full reliance on the Holy Spirit; only through Him we are able to start grasping the reality of the kingdom in our own lives. The evidence of a new born child in the Kingdom, born of the Spirit as Jesus told Nicodemus, is consisted of three things: Recognition, confession and proclamation.
First we recognize our imperfections, our original state, our fallen nature, calling upon God as we humble ourselves throwing away the pride that so much has corrupted us and taken us so far from our creator. Second we confess Him as the only one who is able to restore us from our fallen nature, restore us to the fullness of what He intended for us from the beginning. Confess with our mouths His sovereignty and Lordship over our lives and embracing the Salvation He has offered us from Calvary. Third we proclaim His works in our lives; we proclaim to the world the great things that the Lord has done to us. As we proclaim we also worship, entering in an attitude of praise and gratitude. These three things must be part of our lives, every day, it is the essence of who we are, who we become as we embrace our new citizenship in Christ.It is my desire that through this course the people of God, no matter how long they have been in the Kingdom may understand in a deeper way our role as Citizens of the Kingdom of God in this world.

Chapter Two - “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”

As we can see, Jesus continues puzzling our minds with some contradictions, compared to the patterns and standards of this world system. The genuine question may rise: How can we be blessed when we mourn? How can we see blessing in a time of loss?
The world sees mourning as a loss, as a state of sorrow for something that can never be recovered or seen again. The world only knows one kind of mourning, the mourning that Jeremiah portraits in his book when he writes about Rachel’s cry refusing to be comforted for loosing her children for they are no more (Jeremiah 31:15), a feeling of helplessness and lack of hope, not having the ability of seeing what’s beyond. In the Kingdom, the mourning occurs when we, in an attitude of repentance and sorrow for acknowledge our fallen nature; recognize how far we have been away from Him. It’s when we, as citizens of the Kingdom, by the Holy Spirit, become convinced of sin, righteousness and judgment and respond to His calling for repentance, a turn of direction, without looking back. In the kingdom we receive hope again, the assurance that as a consequence of our act of repentance, we can see beyond the sorrows of this world and hope for a greater and better future prepared by Jesus for us (Romans 8:22-24).
The world mourns with remorse, cries for its loss but continues in the same destructive path that led them to very same loss they now mourn and suffer. They look at the situation, they feel sorry but they do nothing to change, they continue, relying on them selves. Take a look at Judas Iscariots, for example, the bible says in Mathew 27:3 to 5 that he was REMORSEFUL, he was sorry for what he had done to Jesus, he even tried to fix it, but in the end his remorse led him to a destructive path, to death. Paul in his second letter to the Corinthians, chapter 7 and verse 10 says: “For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.” (NKJ). The sorrow of the world led Judas to his death for he was not truly repented of his sin. On the contrary with Peter, though he had lied, denied the Lord Jesus publicly, when confronted in his actions he repented and never walked in that path again. The godly sorrow led him repentance and salvation in Christ Jesus.
Now, the mourning of the world is also based in condemnation, God’s judgment upon mankind, the salary for sin, death sentenced to every man who has fallen short of God’s glory. The condemnation that is upon the world comes from the act of one man, Adam, by his act all of mankind was condemned and if we continue under the Adamic filiation we will remain condemned. But we in the kingdom we mourn with the confidence that as we cry out to God, as we pour out our hearts to Him, as we confess knowing that God will restore us, as we repent, we turn away from the destructive path without looking back, we are comforted by His Spirit, we are lifted up and the “glory of the latter house becomes greater than the first”. The difference lies in where you stand. If you are in Christ, there’s no condemnation, but the conviction of the Spirit, as He convinces us from sin, righteousness and judgment. Allowing ourselves to be under the Lordship of Jesus will then makes us realize that our mourning will not lead us to sadness or hopelessness but the assurance that we will be comforted by Him (Isaiah 12:1). Though we might find ourselves in a position that has brought sadness into the heart of God, we know that He will bring the comfort we need through forgiveness and restoration. Condemnation will always put us down and will try to keep us there, where conviction will bring edification and restoration.
Do we mourn like Rachel, in a desperate cry, in hopelessness, or do we mourn like citizens of the Kingdom, that no matter the circumstance may be, He will bring comfort to our hearts, restoration and joy. In the well known commentary from Adam Clarke, we can read the following: “…true joy must be the fruit of sorrow”. We can only experience God’s comfort and joy once we have been through the process of sorrow, the process of recognition of our natural fallen nature.Blessed are those who mourn, they shall be comforted. The assurance of Jesus comes to tear down the strongholds of desperation and helplessness, with the certainty of His presence, comfort and love.

Chapter One - "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Jesus starts his sermon on the mountain with a very strong statement: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven”, Matthew 5:2. The first question that comes to mind is: What is to be poor in spirit? And why our inheritance in the Kingdom is directly connected to that? To be poor in spirit means to recognize your own spiritual poverty; that we were deprived of God from the day we were born (Rom 3:23), recognize that the essence of the Kingdom means to put aside our self dependence, self reliance and lay ourselves at His mercy and grace. It’s not by works, self righteousness, but by dependence in Him.
Dependence is not a word we like to use, as proud humans we like to think that our achievements are solely done by our own “competence” and efforts. In the Kingdom is the total opposite. The less you depend on your self the more space will be for the Holy Spirit to work on you. The Lord Jesus is the ultimate example of that. He came to earth, as man and God, but the Bible says that He unclothed Himself of His glory, becoming man like you and me. The path that would lead Him to the cross was the path of humility. Like a lamb going to the slaughter so was our Lord to the cross.
Satan tried to tempt Jesus with pride. If you take a look on the chapter 4 of Matthew you will see that Satan continually tried to bring doubt into Jesus’ heart about His divinity, His power and glory. He was constantly saying if you are the Son of God…tempting Him to use His own power and stop relying in the plan that had already been laid out before Him. Jesus had the power to do whatever He wanted but He didn’t dare to take the short cuts that Satan had presented Him. He chose the way of Humility, put aside His own will and let the will of the Father be done.
In order for us to understand or start grasping the thinking process of the Kingdom we must do as our Savior. The bible says: Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God! Do we want to understand the heart of God? We start by humility, putting aside our pride and allowing ourselves to depend on Him. That’s why the world can’t understand the kingdom of God because their values are based on the spirit that rules their system. Satan started out his rebellion against God allowing pride to be born in his heart, he wanted to place his throne above God’s but the Bible tells us that God does not trade His glory with no one.
I believe that sin itself comes out of a prideful heart, an attitude of self reliance and independence. When we decide that we are the rulers of our own life, we say that we do not need anyone else, we then enter the path of self righteousness, loosing the ability to see the grace offered to us through the humbling sacrifice of the Creator of the universe. To understand the Kingdom, we must enter the door of humility, following the same path and example as our Lord and savior. Only then we will be ready to see grace as it was intended to be seen, feel His mercy in the way it is supposed to be felt, like the prophet Ezekiel as He was exposed to God’s glory, knelt down, humbled himself, recognized his inadequacy. Only through that we will be able to learn the code of the Kingdom. The journey to the heart of God starts with humility, as He humbled himself so we, as His new children, citizens of His Kingdom, ought to do the same. Humility is not a sign of weakness but a sign of God’s character in our lives. As we apply humility in our daily lives we become blessed because we start absorbing in our hearts the character of God, we start the process of becoming like Him. Humility is not a curse but a blessing.
“Theirs is the Kingdom of heaven”, Jesus said. When we apply humility as part of ourselves we create a sense of belonging and identity, a sense of possession. In order to belong to the Kingdom, to be heirs of His riches, to have access to the privileges, we must know that it is our responsibility to make the decision of choosing humbleness as the first step in this journey into the heart of God.

Dennis Da Silva