Kingdom of God

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The Kingdom of God

Mark 4:30-32 NKJV
30 Then He said, “To what shall we liken the kingdom of God? Or with what parable shall we picture it?
31 It is like a mustard seed which, when it is sown on the ground, is smaller than all the seeds on earth;
32 but when it is sown, it grows up and becomes greater than all herbs, and shoots out large branches, so that the birds of the air may nest under its shade.”

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© Fleming, Donald C. "Commentary on Mark 4:32":
"The parable of the mustard seed foretells the expansion of the kingdom, as seen in the remarkable growth of the church. From small beginnings it grows to a vast community that covers the entire earth (Matthew 13:31-32)."

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God's signet ring

The Church ~ God's Signet Ring

Beloved of God, I greet you in the Name of our Lord Jesus. (Rom. 9:25)🤗💞

My message is from Haggai. Seeing as we are going through a drought in Cape Town, it is a very apt message. In Haggai the Lord punished >>His people<< with a drought because they were neglecting to rebuild His temple that was in ruins, but they were very busy fixing and beautifying their homes.

In those days God's presence was with them in His temple.

God also accused His people of being defiled.

So I was thinking how can I apply this to today and our drought and it came to me that today the Lord is not concerned about temples built with hands, but with us, His body, the living stones whose bodies are His temple. What are we neglecting?

We are so busy with ourselves and our own lives. Our focus is on uplifting ourselves, making life better for ourselves and in our busyness, we may neglect to do what Jesus commands us to do.

We are to uplift others, the poor, our own families, to lend a helping hand, to encourage, to bear one another's burdens. To use our own resources and money to help others, but sadly many believers in Christ do not, they only focus on self, building our own kingdom, not a care about others and the troubles they are going through.

But there is good news even though the Lord our God punished His people with a drought, He also encourages them. It is written in Haggai that the Lord stirred up His people to start rebuilding His house. The Lord also promised His people to be strong, that He is with them, that His Spirit will remain among them, that they are not to fear. (They were afraid when prophet Haggai told them what the Lord said regarding His temple in ruins and that they are doing nothing to rebuild it.)

So let us as the body of Christ have willing hands to do the work of God for He works through people. God's Spirit is not in a building anymore, but IN US and He will not leave us to our own devices when we cry out to Him to help us, to show us the way, to provide for us so that we can be a blessing to others. His Spirit will stir us up and strengthen us to do what is required, He will bless us with all we need to do His will. He only requires faith, obedience and willing hands. We have a task to make His presence visible in this world that we live in.

God refers to Zerubbabel as His signet ring, for He has chosen Zerubbabel. We are God's chosen and we are His signet ring! So let us as His signet ring make His mark in this world.

May this drought be a wake-up call to the Christians in Cape Town, but also the church all over the world, that we are to be about our Father's business and do what Jesus commands us to do. Clearly, God is not happy with many of the things that we as the church are doing and neglecting to do and it is clear from Revelation in the letters to the 7 churches, the dead church, the lukewarm church, the corrupt church, the compromising church, the loveless church. The persecuted church and the faithful church are the only ones not warned by Lord Jesus to repent.

And through all the letters, apart from warning them to repent or else, the Lord also praise the good things they do and encourages them. So do not fear, but let us repent of any sin in our lives and from neglecting to do what Jesus commands us to do. God bless His church.