Mark 3
Mark 3:14 He appointed twelve to be with him, to be sent out to teach.
WHERE ARE THE WORKERS?
What was true in Yeshua’ day 2,000 years ago is still true in our day. Our world is filled with people searching for the truth, yearning for Adonai, and stumbling in a gloom of spiritual darkness. There is nothing “wrong” with these people; they are still ripe for the picking.
Whether they realize it or not, people want to get picked. Everyone wants to know that life has meaning and purpose and that they have a heavenly Father who loves and cares for them. We don’t have to “ripen” a Buddhist or a Hindu or a Muslim or anyone else for the harvest. They are already ripe, and have been for 2,000 years.
There is a time to sit at the feet of Yeshua and enjoy His presence but there is also a time when we are sent out to preach this gospel of the Kingdom.
Mark 3:14
He appointed twelve…that they might be with Him, and that He might send them out to preach.
NICK AT NIGHT:
Nicodemus, a respected Hebraic religious leader, came to Yeshua seeking the Kingdom. Yeshua told him that he needed to be “born again” John 3:3
A rich young ruler came to Jesus seeking the Kingdom: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Mark 10:17
A Samaritan woman who had been through five husbands did not even know she was looking for the Kingdom until she met Yeshua while drawing water from a well outside her village. There He told her of “living water” that He could give her that would satisfy her thirst forever and become “a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:10, 14). She replied, “Sir, give me this water…” (John 4:15)
People everywhere are looking for the Kingdom, even if they don’t recognize it by that name. That is why the harvest is ready. All they need is for someone to show them the way.
BALANCING LIFE, WHILE LIVING IN TWO KINGDOMS:
As believers we face the daily challenge of living in two kingdoms at once: the Kingdom of heaven, where our citizenship lies, and the kingdom of this world, where we currently reside. The fact that these two kingdoms are often in conflict adds to the challenge.
Mathew 22:17-22 17 So tell us your opinion: does Torah permit paying taxes to the Roman Emperor or not?” 18 Yeshua, however, knowing their malicious intent, said, “You hypocrites! Why are you trying to trap me? 19 Show me the coin used to pay the tax!” They brought him a denarius; 20 and he asked them, “Whose name and picture are these?” 21 “The Emperor’s,” they replied. Yeshua said to them, “Nu, give the Emperor what belongs to the Emperor. And give to God what belongs to God!” 22 On hearing this, they were amazed; and they left him and went away.
HAVING THE IMAGE OF A KING:
Yeshua’ answer to His enemies’ question was simple yet contained profound truth. As a Kingdom man, Yeshua recognized that all governmental systems have legitimate claims and demands of their citizens.
Every earthly kingdom has its own tax system. Because the coin used for paying the tax to Rome bore Caesar’s picture, it meant that Caesar claimed it as his own. He was the king, and he was simply calling for that which was his. Whatever bore Caesar’s image belonged to Caesar.
In the same manner, whatever bears Adonai’s image belongs to Adonai. As beings created in the image of Elohim, we belong to Elohim, and He can claim us in a way no earthly kingdom can. If “Caesar” asks for our money, we should give it because paying taxes is one responsibility of citizens of a free country, but if he asks for our first allegiance, that is where we have to draw the line.
DANIEL AND THE KINGDOM:
When the king overstepped his authority and demanded of Daniel an allegiance that was rightly due to Abba alone, Daniel quietly but deliberately refused. By his actions Daniel was saying to the king, “You command my time, my money, my labor, and, in matters of state, my allegiance, but you do not command my soul. My soul is stamped with a deeper image, the image of one who demands of me the highest allegiance of all.”
YOU AND THE KINGDOM
You may work in an office, and perhaps your boss comes to you asking you to do something that you know is not right. It may be unethical or even illegal. What should you do? If you are committed to Kingdom principles, you should respectfully but firmly remind your boss that although he can make demands of your time and your labor while you are on the job, he cannot make demands on your character.
Once you sell your character and integrity for the sake of your job, then your boss will own you. Remember that you have a deeper image on you and answer to a higher authority because you belong to another Kingdom.
Such is the challenge of living in two kingdoms. Each makes demands on us every day that require choices on our part. As long as those demands do not conflict, everything is OK.
CHAPTER THREE PRINCIPLES
• As ambassadors of Christ, we represent our Father’s Kingdom on earth.
• We cannot be effective citizens of the Kingdom of God and continue to think democratically.
• Right thinking always precedes right acting.
• We need to lay aside our democratic mindset and start thinking like Kingdom citizens.
• The end will come when the gospel of the Kingdom has been preached throughout the world.
• The specific hour of Christ’s return is in God’s hands, but the general timing of it is in ours.
• The problem lies not with the readiness of the harvest but with the availability of harvesters.
• The Kingdom of God represents power.
• People everywhere are looking for the Kingdom, even if they don’t recognize it by that name.
• As beings created in the image of God, we belong to God, and He can claim us in a way no earthly kingdom can.
• In matters of the spirit, God demands undivided allegiance.
“God made the country and man-made the town.”
Shema Selah this is the time that He has given us to return to the kingdom of heaven!! https://www.facebook.com/fiveam.prayer/videos/1506659269412184/?l=8442611090611440338
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