Happy Easter!

Hi Gang,

Today's Good Friday!  It was 2000 years ago that Jesus died on the cross that first Good Friday. But isn't that such a strange name for the day Jesus died?  Well, it's because of all the great things Jesus released for us on that day: open access to God, salvation, forgiveness, kingdom authority, the Holy Spirit, etc. 

This Easter, we're going to have a great service and hopefully we'll be podcasting and possibly vodcasting (Video Podcast) our Easter service. 

A few weeks ago, the Lord gave me the Easter message.  And like most Sundays, I can't say everything I want to communicate in that short time on Sunday.  So, I post those thoughts here. 

This Easter I believe the Lord is telling us that we will never understand what's happening in our lives or in His kingdom apart from his words to us. Easter Sunday I will share about when God speaks to us as He spoke to Mary Magdalene.  But God also speaks through His word.  Check out Luke 24:13-35. Those men on the road to Emmaus did not understand what was happening in their lives or the kingdom apart from Jesus explaining it from the Scriptures. 

We all want to know God's will for our lives because we want to follow His plan. We beleive He has our best interest in mind.  So stay close to Jesus, keep listening to Him speak to you, and remember the Scriptures. 

Love & Blessings!

pastor arlen

Kingdom Response

Luke 5:17-26 gives us a good picture of how people react or respond to God doing a new thing.

In Isaiah, God told us that he would do new things and that his thoughts are higher than ours. But somehow when we see something new happening, our first reaction can be to judge it. That's what the Pharisees did in this story. Yes they were trained, and yes they knew the Scriptures. But they were not in touch with the God of the Scriptures.

It's His power that was present with Jesus that enabled Him to heal and even to forgive sin.

At the end of this chapter we see the correct response to God's work and to the miracles of God. "Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God."

Friends, God is continually doing new and more wonderful things. Let's stay in touch with Him. But never lose the sense of awe and amazement at what God does. And He will do more and more because we cannot put God in a box much less keep Him there. And let's give praise to God.

Through praise we can command a blessing from God. And praise is the pathway of breakthrough in our lives.

Blessings!

Pastor Arlen

The Old vs. The New

The gospels mark a major shift in God's work in the world.  The Old Testament looked forward to a day when the Messiah would come.  The turning point of the gospels is that the Messiah has come and he is changing everything. 

Read Luke 5:12-14.

In thte Old Testament, if you were to touch a leper like the one in the story, you would become "unclean". But from here on, when someone touches an unclean person, they become clean.  People have refered to this as the power of holiness. 

The kingdom of God is here and it's changing all the rules.  Are you willing to "touch" someone who is unclean or unacceptable in the name of Christ? That's what Jesus would do.  He would eat with sinners, cheaters, and prostitutes in order to communicate the life and love of God. 

Blessings,

Pastor Arlen

If the Kingdom has come...

Jesus proclaimed that the Kingdom of God has come. So why don't we act like it?

I'm not sure where this is going for me personally or for our church, but there's something about Jesus' ministry that I can't shake.

Read about how he called Peter: Luke 5:1-11.

Jesus, operating under a powerful word of knowledge told Simon to go into the deep water and put their nets down. There they should not have caught anything. That isn't the place to get fish. but they catch more fish than ever before and it spawns a reaction from Simon. "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!"

Jesus doesn't care about his sin. He calls him to follow and immediately he leaves all and follows Jesus.

Are we supposed to be doing this kind of stuff? Wouldn't it be easier to call people to follow operating under the same annointing as Jesus? Does this take more faith to live in the supernatural rather than rely on "worldly principles" of evangelism?

Just a thought,

Pastor Arlen

A Moment to Praise

Hi Gang, here's an awesome worship song. Written by a Catholic worship leader. Enjoy!

=)

Pastor Arlen

What is "Normal Christian Life?"

Here's the question I've been thinking about for the last couple of days... Is Jesus our example of the "Normal Christian Life?" We have bumper stickers that say, "What would Jesus do?" But we don't really believe we're supposed to do what Jesus did. In terms of moral choices, yes. But in terms of miracles and listening to the Father's instructions, no. My old Sunday School teacher used to joke about this too. He would say, "What would Jesus do?... walk on water." And in some way, he was implying that we are not to do as Jesus did. But is that correct Kingdom thinking?

Pray about it and consider it. What really did Jesus do?

In Luke 4:23-44 Jesus tells his listeners...

There are lots of needs around. Some people God specifically calls to meet other people's needs in supernatural ways like Elijah did.

Jesus models casting out demons.

Jesus "rebuked fever" and released service from Simon's mother. (This is a powerful point if you can receive it.)

And in prayer, Jesus receives direction and guidance from God that contradicts what is happening. Miracles are happening here and God tells Jesus to go elsewhere.

This is more to think about in considering the Kingdom.

Blessings!

Pastor Arlen

The Correct Use of Kingdom Authority

As I started on this journey of thinking about the kingdom, it occurs to me that Jesus was our best example of what it means to live in the Kingdom. He lived out "Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." And as such, everywhere He went lives were changed. People received healing because there's no sickness in heaven. Demons were cast out because demons don't dwell in heaven.

And shouldn't we have the same authority? We'll get to some of my favorite stories later, but as we move through Luke, I noticed something I hadn't noticed before.... The correct use the kingdom authority.

Read Luke 4:1-22.

While this seems like two separate stories: Jesus' temptation and Jesus teaching at the temple. I submit to you that perhaps they are connected by the kingdom.

Notice that when Satan tempts Jesus he says, "If you are the Son of God..." Indeed, Satan is saying that because Jesus is the Son of God and his realm and reign is in heaven and has kingdom authority... turn the stones into bread; trade worship for the kingdoms of this world; jump off the temple to test God.

As I read this again, I thought, is what the devil wants the correct use of kingdom authority? Use your kingdom authority for personal needs? Use your kingdom authority to gain worldly authority? Use your kingdom authority to test God's presence with you?

Then in the next scene, Jesus teaches in the temple and reads the passage of Isaiah where it says,

"18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,

Because He has anointed Me

To preach the gospel to the poor;

He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,

To proclaim liberty to the captives

And recovery of sight to the blind,

To vset at liberty those who are oppressed;

19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”

The New King James Version. 1982 (Lk 4:18-19). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

It's as if Jesus was making the point that the reason he had kingdom authority and the reason for the Spirit's presence with him was to bless others. That is the correct use of kingdom authority.

Something to ponder and pray about. Does this apply to us as Christians? I believe it does. But we have to change our whole understanding of what it means to live the Christian life and how much power and authority we have through the Holy Spirit dwelling in our lives.

=)

Pastor Arlen

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The message Jesus' preached when He was on the earth was the Kingdom.

Have you thought about the Kingdom lately?