Defining Success by Kingdom Standards

When you look at your church and its core values and vision how would you define success?

How would you compare the success of your church's core values and vision with the priorities of Jesus and the teachings of scripture?

When people meet you or the people that attend your church do they want to come and see what Jesus is doing among you?

Has your church gotten stuck in a cultural or generation version of the Christian life that is no longer appealing to those seeking Jesus?

One place to evaluate success in the local church is to examine the priorities of Jesus and the New Testament writers. Another way to evaluate Biblical success is to study the lives of people in the Old Testament who were considered pleasing and favored of God.

Scripture points to two specific areas that make a person pleasing to God in the Old Testament.
1. The first is having 'a heart after God' 1 Sa 13:14: But now your kingdom will not endure; the LORD has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him leader of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command." NIV.

2. The second is obedience to God's Word. 1 Sam 15:22: Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. NIV

Jesus also came 'to do the will of the Father' powered by the Holy Spirit.

1. In fact Phil 2:5-11 says that Jesus humbled or emptied Himself. 'Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. NASU'

2. He operated by the father’s authority and the Holy Spirit's power so that he would be the perfect model for us. Jn 17:4 “I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do. NASU

3. Mt 3:16-17: 16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased." NIV

The next two places we need to look are the command of Jesus and teaching of the Apostles.

1.First, to continue His work by making disciples of all nations. Mt 28:19-20, Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."NIV

2. Second, to equip God’s people. Eph 4:11-13, And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. NASU

If you evaluate what we are doing and compare it with these verses, how is your church doing? Is the next generation of leaders flourishing among us or are they being driven away or held in captivity to our old ways of doing things?

We are commanded to be making, equipping and releasing into leadership the next group or generation of disciples on a continual basis.

We should follow the model of Paul and continue our relationship as partners and co-laborers with the next generation of leaders as we release them to lead and make disciples of all nations.

This will assure them of support and help them to continue the work that Jesus began to do and teach us about! We will need to allow them their vision and their God inspired methods. New wine needs new wineskins! God is raising up young Davids and Debras. They should be doing Great exploits for God and not starting God's work over again.

Can it be said of us that we are equipping the next generation to do great and mighty things and become men and women of valor as they do the will of the Father, empowered by the Holy Spirit in our world today?

IF WE CAN SAY YES, THAT IS KiINGDOM SUCCESS!




You will hear Him say
'Well done you good and faithful servant!'

Copyright © 2008 Wayne Newcomb

The Priorities of The Kingdom

Our Primary Purpose Today as followers of Jesus of Nazareth is to have:

1. A Fresh understanding of Our Calling.
2. Participation in What Jesus Began to Do and Teach, Acts1:1."

All that Jesus did flowed out of His relationship with the father and His willingness to do the will of the Father powered by the Holy Spirit. We must have that same model if we are to please Him and be useful to Him. This model consist of:

1. Our active seeking first the Kingdom of God and Loving the Lord with all our mind and heart and strength.
a. To give Him pleasure and to esteem Him as our first love with a daily relationship that keeps Him first and our life in Him fresh and alive. The visions, plans and programs He has put within us to accomplish will fail without His life flowing freely each day. His life in us must be renewed by a daily relationship in His presence and His Word with times of deep worship and constant life giving prayer.
b. We must also have strategic encounters with Him if our zeal is to be kept properly focused and our spiritual health maintained.

2. Our participation as catalyst for proclamation and bringing forth the Kingdom of God in others. God has given us the gifts, experience, anointing and calling for:

a. Being a Catalyst in Making Disciples of All Nations

This calling has four key aspects:
1. Equipping believers to move from a life changing experience to living a life that is changed and growing in God's grace, His Word and Spirit.
2. Discipling those who have been changed to become life changers who's life in Jesus is a catalyst, which causes others to want a life changing relationship with God.
3. Training and Releasing a new generation of believers to live as passionate Spirit filled disciples and followers of Jesus Christ, so that, the proclamation of the Good News is made known to every people group throughout the Earth.
4. Mentoring and Coaching new and existing leaders to fulfill their calling to "Do What Jesus Began to do and Teach."

These key aspects are founded in having, the Heart of the Father, the Mind of Christ and the Power of the Spirit.

b. Being His messenger and vessel for the outflow of His majesty and grace and power requires that we remain sensitive and available to each opportunity the Lord provides for the expression of His life and truth toward others so that we do not miss the blessing and joy his work through us.

1. We must always remember that His ways are not our ways and that they are as far above our ways as the heavens are above the earth.
2. We must seek Him in every endeavor remembering that we cannot rely on yesterday's victory or anointing. We must seek His wisdom and walk in His presence with each new challenge.
3. He may reveal His ways to us with His power and might or the still small voice.

The Holy Spirit speaks with great power in Ephesians 4 where we see that the ministry offices are given to the church to continue what Jesus began to do and teach and that every believer is to be a part as described in Romans 12 of the things that Jesus began to do and teach.

Eph 4:11-14
11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as
prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12
for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of
the body of Christ; 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the
knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature
which belongs to the fullness of Christ. NASU

Ro 12:1-13
Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
3 For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith. 4 For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, 5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. 6 Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; 7 if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; 8 or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.
9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; 11 not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; 12 rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, 13 contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality. NASU

So let us boldly and passionately:

1. Seek first the Kingdom of God

2. Do the work of the Kingdom; Raise up, equip and release Disciples of all people groups and nations.

3. Build up one another

4. Seek to Become mature to the full measure of Christ!

It's all by His Grace and Power

Equipper
Copyright © 2008 Wayne Newcomb
http://www.equippersnetwork.com/

Kingdom Dynamics

The Kingdom of God is a relational Kingdom made possible by God the Father our creator and the Life, Death and Resurrection of the Jesus the Messiah. He has restored our relationship with the father through His shed blood and empowered us by His resurrection and the outpouring of the Spirit of God into our lives.

This relationship has two primary functional elements, the vertical and the horizontal. In His presence daily we adore and cherish him and out of this adoration of Him naturally flows our ambassadorial or representative role in which we become kingdom catalyst in the lives of others.

All that Jesus did flowed out of His relationship with the father and His willingness to do the will of the Father as He was empowered by the Holy Spirit. We must operate out of that same model if we are to please Him and be useful to Him in doing all that Jesus began to do and teach. These two elements of our relationship with the King are described in more detail in the following sections.

1. Vertical: Seek first the Kingdom of God and Love the Lord with all our mind and heart and strength.
a. To give Him pleasure and to esteem Him as our first love with a daily relationship that keeps Him first and our life in Him fresh and alive. The visions plans and programs He has put within us to accomplish will fail without His life flowing freely each day. His life in us must be renewed by a daily relationship in His presence and His Word with times of worship and constant prayer. b. We must also have strategic encounters with Him if our zeal is to be kept properly focused and our spiritual health maintained.

2. Horizontal: To be a Catalyst for the proclamation and bringing forth of the Kingdom of God in others. Our role as an catalytic ambassador and witnesses is one in which we act as a stimulus to cause others to become partakers in the Kingdom of God and thus have this twofold relationship with Him and become;

a. Leaders in Making Disciples of All Nations This calling has four key aspects:
1. Equipping believers to move from a life changing experience to living a life that is changed and growing in God's grace, His word and spirit.
2. Discipling those who have been changed to become life changers who's life in Jesus is a catalyst, which causes others to want a life changing relationship with God.
3. Training and Releasing a new generation of believers to live as passionate disciples and followers of Jesus Christ, so that, the proclamation of the Good News is made known to every people group throughout the Earth.
4. Mentoring and Coaching new and existing leaders to fulfill their calling to "Do What Jesus Began to do and Teach."

b. Sensitive and Available to the King within each opportunity He provides for kingdom ministry so that we represent Him and His kingdom in such a way that others are motivated to come into relationship with the King, thereby expanding the Kingdom by making disciples of all nations.

Jesus ministry and instructional model was a relational one. He imparted truth by both teaching and doing what he taught. He had the disciples go with Him, walk with Him and be with Him daily. They experienced daily in the context of a relational model the coming of King and the Kingdom of God. It was not theory or speculation.

Jesus ministered to people in the context of their lives. His ministry and teaching made sense to the people on a practical level and to those whose heart was open to the Spirit and truth of God's Kingdom as He revealed it to their inner man.

Today, if we will seek to birth Kingdom life in every aspect of our daily life and our gatherings as believers it will be easier to be those who are Making Disciples of All Nations as outlined above.

Seek to be a Kingdom catalytic agent today, causing others to seek first the Kingdom of God! Copyright © 2008 Wayne Newcomb

Webster's Dictionary Define a catalyst as follows:

Catalyst cat·a·lyst
Pronunciation: \ˈka-tə-ləst\
Function: noun
Date: 1902
1 : a substance that enables a chemical reaction to proceed at a usually faster rate or under different conditions (as at a lower temperature) than otherwise possible
2 : an agent that provokes or speeds significant change or action

Catalytic Cat·a·lyt·ic
Pronunciation: \ˌka-tə-ˈli-tik\
Function: adjective
Date: 1836 :
causing, involving, or relating to catalysis — cat·a·lyt·i·cal·ly \-ˈli-ti-k(ə-)lē\ adverb

Artwork: The Power of Prayer by Danny Hahlbohm @http://www.allposters.com/gallery