A booklet written about my continuing journey of discovering who Jesus Christ is.

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Discovering the Lord Jesus Christ “As He Is” Today (Kingdom Dynamics: The Power to Overcome)

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Kingdom Living

As each day goes by I realize more and more that Christ was sent by the Father to teach all those who have ears to hear and eyes to see the Good News of the Kingdom.
The Gospel of the Kingdom teaches us how to live a sanctified and holy life according to God’s plan. Being a follower of Christ means that we humble ourselves to live our lives according to the example Christ lived in the gospels.
The Old Testament begins the story that culminates with the New Covenant through Christ with the apex being Gods Kingdom established on earth.
Life can be an adventure as we, as citizens of the Kingdom, learn how to live this life as Christ lived his.
Let our prayer be “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven “.

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As each day goes by I realize more and more that Christ was sent by the Father to teach all those who have ears to hear and eyes to see the Good News of the Kingdom.
The Gospel of the Kingdom teaches us how to live a sanctified and holy life according to God’s plan. Being a follower of Christ means that we humble ourselves to live our lives according to the example Christ lived in the gospels.
The Old Testament begins the story that culminates with the New Covenant through Christ with the apex being Gods Kingdom established on earth.
Life can be an adventure as we, as citizens of the Kingdom, learn how to live this life as Christ lived his.
Let our prayer be “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven “.

Kingdom Living

I would say the highest and purest ethical system was laid out by Jesus Christ in the Sermon on the Mount.

After the Sermon on the Mount Christ demonstrated the ethics of the Kingdom of God by way of his life.

Today it is up to true Christians to rise up oand begin to live the standards of God’s kingdom and glorify our Father in heaven.

This is the challenge that faces all true Kingdom Citizens.

Kingdom Living

If we desire to walk in the way, the truth, and the life we must follow the example Jesus Christ of Nazareth set in the Gospels.

Matthew 11:28-30

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

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KINGDOM OF HEAVEN QUOTES

“We have an unshakeable kingdom, the kingdom of God. We have an unchanging Person, Jesus Christ. Then we’ve got the gospel. And it’s a total gospel, for man’s total need.

Modern man is empty, and crying to high heaven for something to fill that emptiness. Nothing can fill that emptiness except the unshakeable kingdom, the unchanging Person, and the total gospel.“

— E. Stanley Jones

“The kingdom of God is to live in the midst of its enemies and His children must be ready for what that means for their lives. —- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

“The kingdom of God doesn’t play by our rules. “Many who are first, “Jesus says, “will be last, and many who are last will be first”. And, whether you’re first or last, everything we receive is purely by grace-by God’s unmerited favor.

–Winn

“What did Jesus preach? What was his gospel? Availability of life in the kingdom of the heavens, the kingdom of God, NOW…

– James Catford

“The word of the kingdom is the story of the Bible.”

– Dallas Willard

“God’s plan for enlarging His kingdom is so simple – one person telling another about the Savior. Yet we’re busy and full of excuses. Just remember, someone’s eternal destiny is at stake. The joy you’ll have when you meet that person in heaven will far exceed any discomfort you felt in sharing the gospel.”
-Charles Stanley

“The gospel is less about how to get into the Kingdom of Heaven after you die & more about how to live in the Kingdom of Heaven before you die.”

• Dallas Willard

“Eternal life is the Kingdom walk.”

-Dallas Willard

“The word kingdom here means reign. The petition is the expression of a wish that God may reign everywhere; that his laws may be obeyed; and especially that the gospel of Christ may be advanced everywhere, till the world shall be filled with his glory.”

-Albert Barnes

http://www.kingdomlink.wordpress.com

Booklet on the Magi – available on Amazon

Available on Amazon

https://a.co/d/11LIiFy

Great historical information about God’s reign through the ages as he worked with the Magi

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Reflection First Sunday of Lent Cycle A

Deacon Joseph Pasquella

Advent is apocalyptic.

Perhaps you’ve never thought of it in that way. But today’s readings are revealing. I say “revealing” because the word “apocalypse”, from the Greek word apokalupsis, means “to reveal” or “to unveil”. Unfortunately, it has become primarily associated with destruction and violence. But even that understanding is somewhat accurate – even if it only hits part of the target.

Today’s Gospel reading, from Matthew 24, is one of three “little apocalypses”, the other two being found in Mark 13 and Luke 21. These discourses by Jesus about coming events are complex and difficult, in part because they use methods of Old Testament prophecy in speaking of the future, in part because they refer to both the destruction of the temple (AD 70) and the return of Christ at the end of time. One reason for this is that the destruction of the temple by the Romans was, in a very real sense, the end of the world for devout Jews since the temple embodied God’s covenant with the Jewish people and was considered the dwelling place of God’s glory. Jesus himself is the new temple (Rv 21:22), the fulfilment of everything the Jerusalem temple pointed towards, but most importantly the radical, transforming and eternal communion of God with man.

Speaking to his disciples on the cusp of his Passion, Jesus exhorts them, “Therefore, stay awake!” These are words worth repeating to ourselves throughout the season of Advent. Wake up! Rouse yourself! Be alert! Why? Because the King is arriving. The adventus – the “arrival” or “coming” of the Lord – is fast approaching. “So, too,” Jesus told the disciples, “you also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.” A big problem, as Monsignor Ronald Knox pointed out, is simply this: “We want our Lord to come, but not just yet.” Like Augustine, we find ourselves torn between wanting to fully commit ourselves to Christ while also holding on to those things that keep us from him: “Give me chastity and continence, but not yet.” Advent is a challenge against comfort, a call to stay awake, an invitation to confession.

“The drama of Advent”, wrote Knox in his book Lightning Meditations, “is that when we see everything going wrong with the world, we are tempted to be indifferent about it all.” This drama is also a paradox. Non-Christians (and, alas, many Christians) think that such focus on eternity keeps us from being committed to doing good in this world. But the Apostle Paul would have none of that false notion. He warned the Christians in Rome that they must awake from sleep and “throw off the works of darkness” so that they could “put on the armour of light” and conduct themselves properly. Holiness does not grow when heaven is forgotten; on the contrary, holiness on earth is the fruit of heaven growing within us. Such growth cannot and does not take place without destruction and violence: the dissolution of darkness and the death of sin.

Let’s go even further back, to the prophet Isaiah, who wrote of a coming time when all nations would stream towards the house of the Lord. Isaiah recorded a promise of salvation and a warning of judgement. This great work of salvation, however, requires humility and repentance. Walking in the light of the Lord only happens when we accept both his judgement and his mercy, acknowledging our desperate need and his gracious gift.

“Advent is the end of the Old Covenant,” explained Fr Hans Urs von Balthasar, “which genuinely looked for God’s coming.” The advent of the New Covenant took

place two thousand years ago. But God’s coming also takes place at every moment, which is why St Paul wrote of the nearness of salvation while warning against the darkness of sinful pursuits. And it will be completed at the final advent, the second coming, which is why Jesus exhorted the disciples to be prepared at every hour for the hour – the hour of revealing, of his Second Coming.