Kingdom Place

Description of the early church - 130 AD

2012-01-12T21:43:00.000-08:00

"They dwell in their own countries simply as sojourners.... They are in the flesh, but they do not live after the flesh. They pass their days on earth, but they are citizens of heaven. They obey the prescribed laws, and at the same time, they surpass the laws by their lives. They love all men but are persecuted by all. They are unknown and condemned. They are put to death, but [will be] restored to life. They are poor, yet they make many rich. They possess few things; yet, they abound in all. They are dishonored, but in their very dishonor are glorified.... And those who hate them are unable to give any reason for their hatred."
-Author Unknown 130 AD

James Ryle Pt 3

2011-08-08T16:42:00.001-07:00

James Ryle Pt 2

2011-08-08T16:40:00.001-07:00

James Ryle Pt 1

2011-08-08T16:37:00.000-07:00

TESTIMONY

2011-03-27T21:52:00.001-07:00

Carnal Church

2011-03-27T21:40:00.000-07:00

worship

2011-03-27T21:37:00.000-07:00

2011-03-27T21:33:00.001-07:00

David Platt... Jesus is...

2011-01-09T15:48:00.000-08:00

David Platt, SBC 2009, Part 4.flv

2011-01-09T15:43:00.000-08:00

David Platt, SBC 2009, Part 3.flv

2011-01-09T15:41:00.000-08:00

David Platt, SBC 2009, Part 2.flv

2011-01-09T15:40:00.000-08:00

David Platt, SBC 2009, Part 1.flv

2011-01-09T15:39:00.000-08:00

The Gospel Demands Radical Sacrifice

2011-01-08T21:39:00.000-08:00

Radical by David Platt

2011-01-08T21:37:00.000-08:00

The Birthday Party

2010-08-03T19:47:00.000-07:00

NZ

2010-08-03T19:23:00.001-07:00

RW

2010-08-03T19:20:00.001-07:00

JW

2010-08-03T19:16:00.000-07:00

JHT

2010-08-03T19:14:00.000-07:00

John Piper - Make War

2010-07-08T19:37:00.000-07:00

Crazy Love Chapter 10

2010-07-08T19:31:00.001-07:00

Crazy Love Chapter 9

2010-07-08T19:31:00.000-07:00

Crazy Love Chapter 8

2010-07-08T19:30:00.002-07:00

Crazy Love Chapter 7

2010-07-08T19:30:00.001-07:00

Crazy Love Chapter 6

2010-07-08T19:30:00.000-07:00

Crazy Love Chapter 5

2010-07-08T19:29:00.000-07:00

Crazy Love Chapter 4

2010-07-08T19:28:00.001-07:00

Crazy Love - Chapter 3 (Fathers Love) - Francis Chan

2010-07-08T19:28:00.000-07:00

Crazy Love Ch.2 | Francis Chan

2010-07-08T19:27:00.000-07:00

Crazy Love Chapter 1

2010-07-08T19:26:00.000-07:00

BURN 24-7 GLOBAL PROMO VIDEO

2010-07-08T17:30:00.000-07:00

Campus America

2010-07-08T17:24:00.000-07:00

The Faith of George Mueller

2010-04-27T17:16:00.000-07:00

I dare you to pray this

2010-04-27T03:49:00.000-07:00

Polycarp

2010-02-16T17:47:00.001-08:00

Wesley

2010-02-06T10:46:00.000-08:00

Brees

2010-01-31T17:07:00.001-08:00

Haiti

2010-01-26T03:28:00.000-08:00

Perfection of God

2010-01-23T19:11:00.000-08:00

Would you want heaven...if...

2010-01-21T17:43:00.001-08:00

Revival Hymn

2010-01-20T18:24:00.001-08:00

A Man Called Norman

2010-01-20T17:50:00.001-08:00

Worship

2010-01-20T17:42:00.001-08:00

24-7 PrAYer LInkS

2010-01-20T16:37:00.000-08:00

Prayer as a Movement: An introduction to 24-7 Prayer

Prayer as Community: Convers Community, Germany

Prayer as Mission: 24-7 Prayer Ibiza, Spain

Prayer as Justice: Kelly Greene in Boystown, Mexico

Prayer as Creativity: Tribe in Oklahoma, USA

A Recovering Ditto-head Speaks…

2010-01-20T09:32:00.001-08:00

(Not that anyone cares but here a few thoughts….)]

Let me begin by saying, I have tasted the Kool-Aid. In college I listened to Rush Limbaugh daily. I read his books. I was a proud republican. I believe Tony Campolo has referred to himself as a “reluctant democrat, I am a “reluctant republican.” I fully recognize that what I am to say will offend everyone. My faith in God has caused me to define and in some instances re-define unique perspectives on several issues. Also, I would to preface this article by saying it is NOT intended as an attack on the republican party. It is an attack on the belief that the republican party speaks for God.

Let’s tackle the sensitive issues…

ISSUE #1 Abortion
I am 100% pro-life. This separates me from many visible republicans. I am so pro-life that it in many ways in non-negotiable to me. I find it odd that both first ladies in both Bush presidencies were pro-choice. However, George H.W. Bush was pro-choice until Reagan selected him to be vice-president. I know Reagan was persuasive but that’s impressive. Furthermore I am tired of the argument that “conservative” presidents are needed for “conservative” Supreme Court nominees. The reality is that of the nine Supreme Court Justices we have, six were nominated by republicans, and an additional 2 republican appointees have retired. The score is six to three and Roe v Wade still exists.

We try to ignore organizations like Republicans for Choice and Democrats for Life because they blur the lines of what we want to believe.

ISSUE #2 Intolerance
The word intolerance makes me nervous. Just as I can separate a Tennessee football fan’s allegiance to his team from the person, I believe we can separate what the Bible calls sin from the person. I believe we can truly love the sinner and hate the sin.

"Neither party should be defined by pandering to the outer reaches of American politics and the agents of intolerance, whether they be Louis Farrakhan or Al Sharpton on the left, or Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell on the right."
—Senator John McCain

I am not a fan of Falwell or Robertson but I am a huge fan of their (our) God. Would McCain accuse me of being an agent of intolerance, too?

ISSUE #3 Hypocrisy
I find it interesting how the republicans were making an issue over every action of Hillary Clinton while ignoring the fact that Nancy Reagan consulted a psychic while in the White House. We examine every word and action of Obama and overlook McCain’s profanity.

Today several friends were posting on Facebook about Scott Brown winning in Massachusetts. These friends are pro-life conservatives who love seeing Kennedy’s seat going to a republican. The problem is they are more excited about the label he wears than the substance he brings. He believes that marriage is between a man and a woman, but refers to the currently legalized same-sex marriage in his state as a settled issue. He supports legalized abortion calling Roe v Wade the “law of the land.”

Am I a republican? Yes, reluctantly. They are the lesser of two evils. However, as a friends loves to say, “That still makes them evil.” While I am not ready to go that far…They are far from godly. I hate taxes and the proposed health care reform scares me, BUT those are not my main issues. Righteousness, Holiness, and Justice are my tripping points. As Christians, I believe, we must pay our taxes (AS JESUS DID) and live on a higher level than politics.

TC- Kingdom of God

2009-08-30T19:38:00.000-07:00

JP - The Gospel

2009-08-24T21:03:00.001-07:00

JP - Health and Wealth

2009-08-24T20:41:00.001-07:00

JW - Discipleship

2009-08-24T19:54:00.001-07:00

JW - Worship

2009-08-24T19:52:00.000-07:00

PRAY NOW

2009-01-25T05:52:00.000-08:00

free from the monster

2009-01-25T05:50:00.000-08:00

Idolatry

2009-01-24T15:04:00.000-08:00

Most people define “idolatry” as the worship of a physical object as a god. Is idolatry simply a “God-substitute” or can it be something that distracts us not just from God but His intentions, His heart, His pleasures…

RANDOM RANTS - 2009

2009-01-24T14:45:00.000-08:00

I am discovering insight (not necessarily truth) from a lot of places. God is messing with my sources. I am discovering the pride, arrogance, and greed of America on FOX NEWS. I am finding an America that is hungering for “a substance hoped for not yet seen” on CNN and NPR. Neither snapshot is truth. Neither source is truth. God is truth and the solution to all insights.

I can be watching some random television show and God show me the underlying hurt of the sequences that I am viewing. Unfortunately, the tragedy of the revelation is that He is not portrayed as the solution. We must fight. We must fight for the glory of our God and for the tears of his cherished creation.

God is connecting me, using some very unlikely tools, with the hurt and pain of others. As a result, intercession is exploding. Life is becoming a series of stories. Every story is becoming a picture of life with God or a picture of life without God. I find myself crying during comedies and laughing in dramas. I am discovering the joy of God in Him being in the story and the absolute passion of God to be in the story.

The themes in my life that I can not shake are Justice, Truth, Trust, and Intercession.

I am tired of misplaced trust. I am tired of misused theology. I am tired of “mis-focused” perspective and expression. They are all missed opportunities and all church issues.

Evil and sin represent a need for God. If I flee from oppressive areas, I disqualify myself as an agent of freedom.

Spurgeon Quote

2009-01-11T14:27:00.000-08:00

"There is a goodness, a willingness, a powerfulness, a force, an energy in all that Jesus does that makes him to be the best possible Shepherd that can be."
Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Timely Quote

2009-01-06T21:54:00.001-08:00

"In my opinion, the great single need of the moment is that light-hearted superficial religionists be struck down with a vision of God high and lifted up, with His train filling the temple. The holy art of worship seems to have passed away like the Shekinah glory from the tabernacle. As a result, we are left to our own devices and forced to make up the lack of spontaneous worship by bringing in countless cheap and tawdry activities to hold the attention of the church people."
A. W. Tozer

justice video

2008-10-18T09:28:00.000-07:00

Holiness

2008-10-18T09:12:00.000-07:00

a thought concerning HOLINESS from John Piper

Consider now the story of Uzzah. The ark of the covenant was being carried in a cart. This was not the way it was designed to be carried. It should have been on the shoulders of priests. When one of the oxen stumbled the ark looked like it was going to fall. Uzzah keeps it from tipping in the mud. God's reaction was not, "Thank you, Uzzah!" No, God killed Uzzah instantly. Uzzah believed that mud would desecrate the ark, but mud is just dirt and water obeying God. Mud is not evil. God's law was not meant to keep the ark pure from the earth, but from the dirty touch of a human hand. Uzzah presumed his hands were cleaner than the dirt. God said no.

http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/ConferenceMessages/ByDate/1980_Holiness_and_Justice/

america

2008-08-08T10:04:00.000-07:00

"I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever."
Thomas Jefferson.

40 wrestlers

2008-07-13T05:37:00.001-07:00

In the days of Nero, the Emperor of Rome, there was a ban of Elite Soldiers known as the "The Emperor's Wrestlers." These men were the best athletes in the Roman Amphitheater, and the bravest soldiers in all of the Roman army. The wrestled for the Emperor against all who challenged them. Before each contest they would stand before the Emperor's throne and cry out "We the wrestlers, wrestling for thee, O Emperor, to win for thee the victory and from thee the victor's crown."

One year, in mid-winter, there was a rebellion waged in Gaul (France), the Emperor sent for his wrestlers and told them to go to Gaul to end the war that was raging on. This brave group of wrestlers left Rome under the command of Vespasian the Centurion.

While in Gaul rumors spread to Rome that many of the Emperor's Wrestlers had become Christians. When news of this reached Nero, the Emperor, he sent a message to Vespasian, and made this decree; "If there be any among your soldiers who cling to the faith of the Christian, they must die!"

It was in the dead of winter that Vespasian received the message while his soldiers were camped beside a frozen lake in Gaul. Vespasian assembled his troops and asked, "Are there any among you who cling to the faith of the Christians? If so, let him step forward."

Forty soldiers instantly stepped forward two paces, saluted and stood at attention. Vespasian was stunned! He had not expected so many soldiers and such select ones. They were his finest and his best. Vespasian said, "Until sundown I shall give you time to recant and to deny your faith."

At sundown the soldiers were again assembled together and Vespasian asked: "Who still clings to the Christian faith, even if it means death?"

Again 40 soldiers stepped forward and stood at attention. Vespasian pleaded with them long and earnestly to deny their faith, but not one soldier would deny Christ.

Vespasian did not want these men he loved, respected, who fought side to side together, die at the hands of their fellow wrestlers, so he had them strip naked. Vespasian reluctantly said, "The decree of the Emperor must be obeyed, so you shall stand out on the frozen lake, exposed to the elements until you freeze to death. Should you recant and deny Christ, the fire will remain burning on shore, and by returning to the shelter of the fire, you will be denouncing Christ and you shall live."

The forty soldiers stripped out of their clothing, fell into four columns of ten each, and marched towards the center of the frozen lake, and to their death. But they cried out what they once chanted in the arena as they marched; "Forty wrestlers, wrestling for thee O Christ, to win for thee the victory and from thee the victor's crown."

All night long Vespasian stood by his campfire and watched those forty brave wrestlers out on the ice as they slowly succumbed to the elements. As they grew weaker and weaker, their cry grew fainter and fainter; "Forty wrestlers, wrestling for thee O Christ, to win of thee the victory and from thee the victor's crown."

As morning drew near, one figure overcome by exposure left the frozen lake, and came to the edge of the fire and renounced his Lord. Vespasian could hear faintly from the frozen lake; "Thirty-nine wrestlers, wrestling for thee O Christ, to win for thee the victory and from thee the victor's crown."

Vespasian was moved, and God touched his heart. Vespasian ripped off his cloak, helmet and armor and ran down upon the frozen lake and huddled with his men, and again they chanted; "Forty wrestlers, wrestling for thee O Christ, to win for thee the victory and from thee the victor's crown."

Theses were young, strong, powerful, vibrant men. They did not choose to please themselves or even others. The were committed to please the Lord! Are you?

"...your hearts must be fully committed to the Lord our God, to live by his decrees and obey his commands..." (1 Kings 8:61)

"So then, those who suffer according to God's will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good." (1 Peter 4:19)

Copyright (c) 2000, 2001, TTNL Reprinted with permission

Wilberforce

2008-07-12T19:55:00.000-07:00

Although the apathy of some Christians and the wickedness of society are discouraging, we should pray and remain confident. William Wilberforce was a great Christian philanthropist and vigorous opponent of the slave trade in England during the early 1800s. As he surveyed the terrible moral and spiritual climate of his day, he did not lose hope. He wrote, “My own solid hopes for the well-being of my country depend, not so much on her navies or armies, nor on the wisdom of her rulers, nor on the spirit of her people, as on the persuasion that she still contains many who love and obey the gospel of Christ. I believe that their prayers may yet prevail.” Within a few years after he made this statement, the country he loved experienced one of the greatest revivals in modern times, bringing salvation to thousands and producing widespread social changes.

Answered Prayer

2008-07-12T19:45:00.000-07:00

In 1934, Mordecai Ham preached in Charlotte, NC, and a great awakening took place. A farmer was deeply concerned about the meetings, so he invited a group of his Christian friends to come spend a day in prayer at his farm. As they prayed, they felt compelled to ask God to raise up a man from their city to carry the gospel to the ends of the earth. Although they didn't see an immediate answer to their prayer, the great awakening had begun. The farmer's teenage son was converted during the crusade, and that boy--whose name is Billy Graham!--has indeed carried the gospel to the ends of the earth.

A NEW CREATION By: T. Austin-Sparks

2008-06-21T20:53:00.000-07:00

Becoming a Christian is something far more than adopting a set of doctrines and teachings and theories and ideas, practices and forms. It is coming into a new world, a strange, to us faraway, world, for which we have naturally no capacities at all. They all have to be given to us, and we have to start all over again, learning new ideas.

Well, that may sound simple, but it is not simple in practice. We stumble scores of times every day over that. Christ offends us and He alone knows how we offend Him. It is like that every day. That is the Christian life being transformed. It begins with this new creation, this union, this coming into, not the second Adam, but the last Adam. Everything is finished in Him, there will not be a third, there will not be any more. This is final.

We pass from Adam as type to Christ the Antitype, and then to ourselves in Christ. Adam was constituted pre-eminently with capacity for Divine relationship. Union with God in Christ is spiritual. The medium of union with God in Christ is the human spirit. Man was constituted with a spirit because God is Spirit, and the human spirit was that which made it possible for man to have union and communion with God. The link between the human spirit and God the Father, in the Son, is the Holy Spirit. Union with Christ is all a spiritual matter. That is why we have become a new spiritual being. In the last Adam, in Christ, the union with the Father and the communion with the Father were perfect, but this was by reason of His human spirit I am speaking of Him now in incarnation-by reason of His human spirit and the link of the Holy Spirit: so that His union with the Father was a perfect union. He lived, walked, spoke, acted and laid down His life, in perfect oneness with the Father. Everything was received by Him from the Father: He even had to obtain from His Father authority to lay down His own life. The oneness was complete, but it was wholly spiritual.

Now, in our coming into Christ, into the new creation-our human spirit being quickened and renewed and restored to its place, and we receiving the Holy Spirit to be the link between our renewed spirit and Christ relationship with God is immediately established. All that sense of God's remoteness has gone. One of the blessings of conversion or regeneration, of coming into Christ and receiving the Holy Spirit, is that the sense of God being far off, remote, inaccessible, has all gone. He is near, very near, very real. Union has been established.

And then by an established spiritual union-that is, a renewed spirit linked with the Lord by the Holy Spirit-becomes the basis of an entirely new world, that world being Christ: a new world, a new creation, a spiritual world, a spiritual cosmos, where we begin again to learn, to Yearn, to learn from infancy everything as new. Much harm is done to the spiritual life by not recognizing that. Christianity has become such a system, such a way. "Get saved; get busy!" and that is Christianity, and much of our phraseology has taken the meaning of an earthly system. For instance, "Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven" has become a bit of liturgy, and its meaning as heaven's way of doing God's will has been lost to view. The Holy Spirit, if He had His way, would be causing us to act as we would not act naturally, and speak as we would never speak naturally, and think as we would never think naturally, as though in another world altogether-often to our own amazement that we should ever talk or think like that. That is not the way we are made. Yes, but we are being made all over again; it is another world, this creation which is in Christ Jesus. Everything is now spiritual.

From: Union with Christ.

Dudley Hall On The Kingdom

2008-06-21T20:50:00.000-07:00

"The responisbility to permeate and influence every aspect of society with kingdom truth and power is ours. And with obedience comes fulfillment. The cure for lackadaisical, passionless, and purposeless Christians lies here. As long as our concept of being a Christian is limited to attending church, serving on a board or committee, giving a little money, and following a few rules, we are doomed to boredom at best."

- Dudley Hall

Count Ludvig Nicklaus von Zinzendorf

2008-06-15T04:41:00.000-07:00

Some people look at you like you're mad when you talk about praying non-stop for a week, a month or a year. But a crazy bunch of people called Moravians, living hundreds of years ago near Dresden in Germany, did something that makes 24-7 look tame. In fact it was a visit to their village 'Herrnhutt' in August 99 that really began the whole 24-7 prayer chain.

It all began on 13th August 1727. An amazing young leader (with the catchy name; Count Ludvig Nicklaus von Zinzendorf and a very dodgy haircut) had allowed a bunch of refugees to build a village on his land. But they began to argue and back-bight and after 5 years of this, Zinzendorf got fed up. He gathered them all together in the church building to apologise to one another, to break bread and to pray. You might expect this to be an amazing meeting, but it was a lot more than that...

As they confessed their sins to one another, the Spirit of God fell with incredible power upon them. So great was this outpouring that the prayer meeting continued for a hundred years without stopping. 24 men and 24 women determined that the flame of intercession should burn at the heart of their community continually, and so they divided themselves to pray in succession around the clock. The number of intercessors actually increased as the years rolled on, especially amongst the children, generating a power centre that radiated to the ends of the earth for more than a century.

More than 3000 evangelists were sent out from that small village in the 200 years following that momentous night, taking the gospel to most countries in Europe as well as the Americas, Asia and Africa. It seems likely that some of the Moravians even sold themselves into slavery in order to reach the West Indian slaves with the gospel. John Wesley was one of their many converts and 'Mad Moravians' aflame with the gospel, keep popping up in obscure contexts and far-flung countries like a delightful motif running through 18th Century missions.

It all goes to show what can happen when we pray... Some of you might just have started a prayer meeting that will never end!

-copied from www.24-7prayer.com

MLK Quotes

2008-04-13T18:29:00.001-07:00

Martin Luther King, Jr. Quotes

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."

"The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists who are dedicated to justice, peace and brotherhood."

"Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable... Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals."

"Negro's great stumbling block in the drive toward freedom is not the White Citizens Council or or the Ku Klux Klanner but the white moderate who is more devoted to order than to justice."

God Quotes

2008-04-13T18:26:00.000-07:00

God loves each of us as if there were only one of us. ~St. Augustine

A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word, 'darkness' on the walls of his cell. ~C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain

My Take on the Emerging Church.

2008-04-13T18:22:00.000-07:00

I have had several people ask me recently for my opinion on what some call the emerging church. I believe the Church that Jesus returns for is not the Church as we see it today. God will "grow us up" into a mature, spotless bride. Therefore, there will be changes.

What does scare me is change for the sake of change. I am tired of people trying to "package" God. I am weary of program-driven strategies for church growth. Culture-current has a nice ring, but maybe culture-relevant is more appropriate.

What I hunger for is a Church that encourages its singers to sing, its musicians to make music, its artists to draw, its dancers to dance, its writers to write. I dream of a place where believers can come and express love and adoration through the giftings that God has entrusted to them.

In my mind I hope the emphasis of the Church of today and tomorrow is God. I pray that man is secondary. Its not about how I can benefit from a "new and improved church," but how God may be glorified through it.

Please go to www.kingdomplace.homestead.com and read or listen to "The Lunatic Fringe" for more about what I see the Church becoming.

Justice Thot!

2008-04-13T17:59:00.001-07:00

God said righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne (Psalm 97:2). Righteousness essentially means rightness. Justice means to make right. If these are foundational to his reign, how can we separate them from our Christian walk? We must declare righteousness and do justice. We have no other choice.

they asked us (Paul and Barnabas) to remember the poor, the very thing I (Paul) was eager to do. GALATIANS 2:10

Attention all forerunners

2008-03-03T19:57:00.000-08:00

"When you lead the pack, you can get shot in the back!" --Dudley Hall

What better way to go...

Sabre Rattling

2008-03-03T19:32:00.000-08:00

Watchmen... assume your rightful place... posture for battle... FIGHT!

I am tired of sabre-rattling for the sake of sabre-rattling. May the only rattling sound be the wind coming off of a deliberate swing.

The Time Is Now!

2008-03-03T19:26:00.000-08:00

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because He has set me apart and equipped me to preach the Gospel to the poor; He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to announce to the prisoners you are free, and to the blind, you will see again, to free those whom tyranny has crushed, and to PROCLAIM THE YEAR OF THE LORD'S GOOD PLEASURE IS COME.