Living in God's Kingdom: Peace, Forgiveness, and Blessings

Devotional

Day 1: Living in Peace Without Offense

Living a life rooted in God's kingdom means embracing His law, which brings profound peace. This peace is not about avoiding conflict but engaging with the world without anger. It transforms our interactions, even in mundane situations like traffic, into opportunities to bless others. By living without offense, we can stand for what is right without being clouded by anger, allowing God's peace to guide our actions. This approach helps us to see every encounter as a chance to extend God's love and grace. [00:22]

Psalm 119:165: "Great peace have those who love your law; nothing can make them stumble."

Reflection: Think of a recent situation where you felt offended or angry. How can you approach similar situations in the future with God's peace, turning them into opportunities for blessing?

Day 2: The Divine Power of Forgiveness

Forgiveness is a divine act that acknowledges God's control over our lives. By forgiving, we release the burden of revenge and allow God's goodness to flow through us, responding to evil with blessing. This act of forgiveness is a miracle, a divine intervention that empowers us to face challenges with grace and love. It is a daily adventure, a moment-by-moment decision to live in the kingdom of God, where we are empowered to face challenges with grace and love. [06:19]

Colossians 3:13: "Bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive."

Reflection: Identify someone you need to forgive. What steps can you take today to begin the process of forgiveness, allowing God's goodness to flow through you?

Day 3: Prayer as a Partnership with God

Prayer is not just a ritual but a partnership with God. It is an active engagement where we align our actions with His will, seeking His guidance and strength in all things. By talking to God about what we are doing together, we surrender our daily challenges to His will. This surrender is not passive but an active engagement with God through prayer, where we align our actions with His will, seeking His guidance and strength in all things. [09:39]

James 1:5: "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him."

Reflection: Consider a challenge you are currently facing. How can you actively engage with God in prayer about this situation, seeking His guidance and strength?

Day 4: Becoming a Conduit of God's Blessings

Living a life of blessing means putting God's cause and the good of others first. By doing so, we become conduits of God's grace, extending His love and mercy to those around us. This is not just about doing good deeds but about being a channel through which God's blessings flow to others. By putting God's cause and the good of others first, we live a life of blessing, extending God's love and mercy to those around us. [15:38]

1 Peter 4:10: "As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace."

Reflection: Think of someone in your life who could use a blessing today. How can you be a conduit of God's grace to them, extending His love and mercy?

Day 5: The Power of Benediction

The blessing from Numbers 6:24-26 is a profound expression of God's love and delight. By sharing this blessing with others, we bring peace and hope into their lives, willing their good under God's invocation. This blessing is a profound expression of God's love and delight in us, and it is something we can share with others, bringing peace and hope into their lives. [27:22]

Numbers 6:24-26: "The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace."

Reflection: Who in your life needs to hear a blessing today? How can you share the benediction from Numbers 6:24-26 with them, bringing peace and hope into their lives?

Sermon Summary

In today's message, we explored the profound concept of living a life rooted in God's kingdom, where peace and forgiveness are central. The journey begins with understanding that true peace comes from loving God's law, as highlighted in Psalm 119:165. This peace allows us to live without offense, not by avoiding standing for what is right, but by doing so without the cloud of anger. This approach transforms our daily interactions, even in mundane situations like traffic, into opportunities to bless others and live in the Spirit of God.

We delved into the idea of living from God, which means taking our life from Him and surrendering our daily challenges to His will. This surrender is not passive but an active engagement with God through prayer, where we talk to Him about what we are doing together. Prayer becomes a partnership with God, where we align our actions with His will, seeking His guidance and strength in all things.

Forgiveness is a crucial aspect of this life. When we forgive, we acknowledge that we are not in control, but God is. This act of forgiveness is a miracle, a divine intervention that allows us to respond to evil with goodness and cursing with blessing. It is a daily adventure, a moment-by-moment decision to live in the kingdom of God, where we are empowered to face challenges with grace and love.

We also discussed the importance of blessing others, which is the positive side of dying to self. By putting God's cause and the good of others first, we live a life of blessing, extending God's love and mercy to those around us. This is not just about doing good deeds but about being a conduit of God's grace, allowing His blessings to flow through us to others.

Finally, we reflected on the power of the benediction from Numbers 6:24-26, a blessing that we can give to others, willing their good under God's invocation. This blessing is a profound expression of God's love and delight in us, and it is something we can share with others, bringing peace and hope into their lives.

Key Takeaways

1. 26 is a profound expression of God's love and delight. By sharing this blessing with others, we bring peace and hope into their lives, willing their good under God's invocation. [27:22]
** [27:22]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[00:22] - Living Without Offense
[01:01] - Embracing God's Kingdom
[01:42] - The Illusion of Control
[02:51] - The Miracle of Forgiveness
[03:22] - Living from God
[05:33] - Trusting God in Challenges
[06:19] - The Power of Forgiveness
[09:39] - Prayer as Partnership
[10:50] - God's Work in Our Lives
[12:42] - The Role of Prayer
[15:38] - Blessing Others
[20:12] - Sharing the Gospel
[27:22] - The Benediction's Power
[34:07] - Extending Blessings to Others

Sermon Clips

"Great peace have they who love thy law, nothing shall offend them. To be able to live without offense would be a wonderful gift, wouldn't it? And in order to do that we don't have to stop standing for things or seeing to it that what is right has done, we just do it without the fog of anger that envelops us normally." [00:22]

"Forgiveness is a miracle, we just have to accept that and so then from forgiving, we move on to living from God. The whole idea of living from God, we are taking our life from God, and when we do that then we find the reality of this, and we find that it's quite actually, you know, I've experimented with it." [03:10]

"When you are not forgiving you are essentially saying, 'I am running this show, I'm running this show, and I will see to it that they are punished.' I will see to it God says no, no, don't revenge yourselves, don't respond in kind, respond to evil with goodness, respond to cursing with blessing." [06:23]

"Prayer is fundamentally talking to God about what we're doing together. That's what prayer is, a lot of other things involved in it, that's the center of it. And if you don't agree with that just look at the model prayer that the Lord gave us, it's about life, it's about what we're doing together." [09:36]

"Death to self means putting first the cause of God and the good of others, and we go out in blessing. When we do that we turn our lives over to do what is good. I don't know if you've ever bothered to just read what Paul, for example, says about doing good, he just won't get off of it." [15:38]

"Living from God leads right into the life of prayer because prayer is where we do business with God. Prayer is fundamentally talking to God about what we're doing together. That's what prayer is, a lot of other things involved in it, that's the center of it." [09:39]

"When we bless someone we explicitly will their good under the invocation of God. We explicitly will their good under the invocation of God. That makes sense to you in other words, we don't just say it in our hearts now, we go out in action or word, we explicitly will their good." [27:22]

"The Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you, the English of that is may the Lord smile at you, may he beam at you. Do you ever see someone's faces beam, beaming face, little children often grandparents looking at little children, things and that's what they have beaming faces." [29:56]

"May the Lord delight in you, we are to seek the face of God, to have the face of God turned away from us is a terrible thing, to have his face turned towards us is a great thing. So may his face shine upon you and be gracious to you, that's mercy, be gracious to you." [29:56]

"The Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you, the Lord be gracious unto you, the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Now I'm going to ask you if you can do it, to say this to one another." [31:27]

"You can give that to people, you can do that and if you do Mission Viejo may catch on higher, because I'll tell you what people are looking for in every direction you experienced in that moment of blessing and you can extend it to those who are unpleasant and unkind." [34:07]

"This is the reality of the gospels, it is the reality of Christ's people, and all we have to do is do it, just do it." [35:02]

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