ARE YOU A SUBJECT OF THE KINGDOM?
When the Roman centurion said to Jesus that he did not deserve to have Him come under his roof, he was saying that he believed in Jesus and put all of his trust in Him.
Jesus responded by saying, “I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. I say to you that many will come from the east and the west and will take their places in the kingdom of heaven. But the SUBJECTS OF THE KINGDOM WILL BE THROWN OUTSIDE, INTO DARKNESS, WHERE THERE WILL BE WEEPING AND GNASHING OF TEETH” (Matthew 8: 11-12).
Subjects of the kingdom are those who deny faith and who work through the intellect and preach a gospel without the cross and the second coming of Jesus.
Subjects of the kingdom are those who deny the work of the Holy Spirit and call those who accept the work of the Spirit “Charismatics”!
Jesus was referring to faith that stands alone. If you are still questioning this scripture, listen to this: “without faith it is impossible to please God.”
Why is faith so important? Hebrews 11:1 says, “Faith is being sure of what you hope for and certain of what you do not see.” So, faith is divided into two areas, both critically important to our spiritual growth: physical and spiritual. Faith comes from within, believing that you actually will see what you hope and expect to have in your life. Without this type of faith you will not dream, hope and expect. If you are a Methodist pastor and do not believe and expect God to move, He will not move. The other area is the spiritual area, which consists of those things not possible to see or touch. So faith, begins with the physical and ends with the spiritual.
You believe with your physical eyes and you move toward the inner eyes and greater faith begins to grow. NOW, FAITH COMES BY HEARING! HEARING THE WORD. Now, tell me this: how can you have any faith, if it comes by hearing, when sermons consist of stories are being told without the Word?
How can our people grow in faith when the name of Jesus is not even said in a Sunday morning sermon? How can faith come to your life when you stay with the PHYSICAL FAITH AND NEVER MOVE TO THE SPIRITUAL FAITH?
My brothers and sisters, you need the HOLY SPIRIT to tell you about the Word! You need the Holy Spirit to show you the Revealed Word!
Come on! Stop worshipping a church organization and praise the Lord in your church! Stop being a conference “rat” trying to get a better appointment and serving with faith! Enough is enough! Be filled with the Spirit of God!
Rick Bonfim
Man, that is so right!
Comment by David Vandenberg — January 3, 2010 @ 9:52 pm
Preach it, Pastor Rick!! Faith can not come without the truth of the Word being spoken and taught by believing preachers and elders, and then heard by the people. And God Himself promises He will teach us – if we ask Him – and believe He will answer (I John 2:27; John 14:26; Matthew 7:7-8). He promises to reveal Himself and His Word if we truly love Him and obey Him. We are sanctified by His Word, His truth. And we know we cannot please God without faith, yet I’m not sure we even know what faith is anymore. You describe it beautifully – THANK YOU! Bless you!!
Comment by Sandra Snell — January 4, 2010 @ 2:29 pm
Amen, Rick!
Comment by Doug — January 4, 2010 @ 2:56 pm
Hey: We are Blessed with a NEW Priest and he is preaching the gospel and teaching our church the Love of Jesus and we were a church filled with love of Jesus before he came BUT he is bringing it more alive to each of us and our church is really growing. This is a great place to worship and it does help to go to some conferences, as a lot of people are reached out side of their comfort zone. Like your conferences if people did not go there they would miss out of things that they do not learn elsewhere.
Comment by Janette — January 4, 2010 @ 6:33 pm