Prayers of Thanksgiving
“And they sang a new song with these words:
“You are worthy to take the scroll and break its seals and open it. For you were slaughtered, and your blood has
ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. And
you have caused them to become a Kingdom of priests for our God. And they will
reign on the earth.” Rev 5:9-10 (NLT)
Yes, darkness
is in our world today. “Old Scratch” the
devil continues to give us trouble. But
God is still shining His Light into our world. The Kingdom of God
“All of creation is in relationship with God
the Creator, and for reasons unfathomable to me as much as I imagine they are
to you, God has decided to stick with it. The animal skins God provides to
clothe Adam and Eve is God sticking with it. The Rainbow is God sticking with
it. The Covenant is God sticking with it. The Wilderness is God sticking with
it. The Promised Land is God sticking with it. The Prophets are God sticking
with it. The Judges are God sticking with it. Jesus is God sticking with it.
Those Disciples are God sticking with it. Pentecost is God sticking with it.
Revelation is God sticking with it.” Shroyer
1. Thankful
for past blessings.
“He has
delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the
Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the
forgiveness of sins.” Col
“One day the
Pharisees asked Jesus, “When will the Kingdom of God Kingdom of God
The Kingdom of God
Pentecost came with God’s Power being poured out on
all flesh.
“And of His fullness we have all received,
and grace for grace. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and
truth came through Jesus Christ.” John
1:16-17 (NKJV)
2. Jesus is Coming Again!
“For as the
lightning that flashes out of one part under heaven shines to the other part
under heaven, so also the Son of Man will be in His day. But first He must
suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.” Luke 17:24-25 (NKJV)
"The day is coming when He will make noise,
He will flash like lightning, lighting up the sky from one side to the other.
So shall the Son of man be on His Day, the Day that He will make noise.
And when one thinks of the perseverance of many Christians, who struggle to
raise their family - men, women - who care for children, care for grandparents
and arrive at the end of the month with only half a dollar, but who pray. There
is the Kingdom of
God Kingdom of God
3. Mustard-seed Christianity.
“Another
parable He put forth to them, saying: "The kingdom of heaven is like a
mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, which indeed is the
least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and
becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its
branches." Matt 13:31-32 (NKJV)
The Kingdom of God
4. We are
growing and being transformed.
“The only letter of recommendation we need
is you yourselves. Your lives are a letter written in our hearts; everyone can
read it and recognize our good work among you. Clearly,
you are a letter from Christ showing the result of our ministry among you. This
“letter” is written not with pen and ink, but with the Spirit of the living
God. It is carved not on tablets of stone, but on human hearts.” 2 Cor 3:2-3 (NLT)
“Now the Lord
is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But
we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are
being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the
Spirit of the Lord.” 2 Cor 3:17-18
(NKJV)
Transforms
us. Christians are new in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17), and are transformed by
their direct access to God. God’s Spirit
is involved in this (2 Cor. 4:6); and none of this transformation was available
through the old covenant. God is working
His great Plan. Jesus is the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world.
“Until John the Baptist, the law of Moses
and the messages of the prophets were your guides. But now the Good News of the
Kingdom of God
