Introduction To Rediscovering The Kingdom

Exodus Chapter 20




Today we are walking in: Introduction To Rediscovering The Kingdom




Today we look to the word- REMEMBER- H2142- Zakar--a primitive root; to mark (so as to be recognized), i.e. to remember; by implication, to mention; (make) mention (of), be mindful, recount, recorder, remember, make to be remembered, bring (call, come, keep, put) to (in) remembrance, still, think on.




Testifies.............................

Genesis 9:15
And I will remember H2142 my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.

The prophets proclaim...............

Malachi 4:4
Remember H2142 ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments.




The writings bear witness.............

1 Chronicles 16:12
Remember H2142 his marvellous works that he hath done, his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth;




REDISCOVERING THE KINGDOM


PREFACE


The greatest threat to the future of the world is religion. Nuclear weapons, terrorism, SARS, shifting governments, military coups, and AIDS are simply tools used by religion. More wars have been fought in the name of religion than any other influence. Millions have died over the past 2,000 years under the destructive hand of religious zeal. Misplaced and misguided religious passion has produced such historical scars as the Crusades, the Inquisition, ethnic cleansing, and the horror of the Holocaust.


Why is religion so powerful and controlling? Why is it more powerful than politics, military arms, and scientific advancement? Because religion is not just a social, cultural, political, or ideological factor; instead it finds its power in the personal chambers of the soul of the individual. Within the soul we discover the source of the private motivation that forms perceptions and behavior. Man is more willing to die for the sake of his religion than for any political, social, or ideological reason.


Religion is as old as mankind, finding its roots in the private recesses of the human spirit. Every culture, no matter how old or far removed, has developed some form of religious practice that attempts to satisfy an elusive vacuum in the pit of the human soul crying out for reason, purpose, and significance. For mankind, life on planet earth has been nothing more than a long tedious march down the road of time, with each new generation searching for something they cannot define. The long chains of civilizations have left undeniable imprints on the pages of history—evidence for our generation that the search continues. From the secrets etched on the walls of ancient caves to the grand archaeological monuments to the remnants of the great empires, man marches on seeking to find himself and make sense of his world. Man’s travels through this world have produced a tapestry of religious practices and ideologies that only serve to create more problems than they solve.


A brief look at our modern, sophisticated, technocratic, cyberspace age world of today can be the source of fear, depression, discouragement, insecurity, and uncertainty. From the archaic world of the cave men and bush hunters through the progressive succession of agrarian cultures, to the advent of the industrial revolution leading to the scientific age of postmodernism and the computer age, we are still no better than nor different from our ancestors of old.


The only difference seems to be the sophistication of our tools and weapons. We are smarter but not wiser; we live longer but not healthier; we have more but enjoy less; we can go to the moon, but we cannot go home to a good family; we have access to more information but know less about life. Tragically, we protect whales, but kill our children; we improve the quality of our food but produce less healthy strains for our consumption; we have more religion but less love; and we blame others for our choices as we look to ourselves for solutions to the problems we create.


The 21st century seems to be more uncertain than all the previous centuries in history. Planet earth is spinning through the solar system like a spaceship without a compass as it travels on a course to self-destruction. On this long march of humanity, mankind has invented and developed a variety of systems and social structures in its attempt to grapple with the realities of life on our global spaceship. Over the centuries we have watched the creation of a variety of governmental systems including demigods, dictatorships, monarchies, and tyrannies, as well as the theories and practices of socialism, democracy, communism, and imperialism. Each of them has had an opportunity to try to make life better and more “humane” on our great planet. However, wars have increased rather than decreased, weapons of mass destruction are more available than ever before, and fear for safety and security is greater than ever before in history. All governments—even the best form we have developed, democracy—have failed to realize the world we keep searching for.


Two of the greatest tragedies of our modern history were World War I and World War II, when millions lost their lives at the hands of their fellow planet-dwellers. After World War I, various leaders joined together and made a promise that it would never happen again. They created the League of Nations, an organization dedicated to promoting world peace and initiating reasonable solutions to human conflicts. However, this pipe dream ended in the explosion of World War II.


After that conflict ended, world leaders made a second commitment, determining once again to never allow mankind to spiral down into the death-dealing clutches of international war. This commitment gave birth to the United Nations, a world body dedicated to making and keeping the peace around the world. Yet, more wars have been fought since the formation of the United Nations than before its creation. Today, as wars continue to ravage our planet, the United Nations itself, along with its purpose and usefulness, is under serious scrutiny.


I find it ironic that most of the current wars and tensions are products of, or strongly influenced by, religions. Where do we go from here? What do we do? What is the answer? Why can’t we just live together? Why is mankind so frustrated? Why do our cultures keep clashing into each other and why are our children on the streets killing one another?


These are the questions that this series is attempting to answer. The solution to our dilemma is somewhere in the middle of our search. It makes sense to conclude that if our world has no answers to the questions it asks and no solutions to the problems it creates, then it might be wise to look to another world for help. Rediscovering the Kingdom answers this very proposition. I am not talking about some weird, impractical, illusive, metaphysical notion of a pie in the sky, but rather a reasonable, tangible, human-friendly solution that responds not only to our unspoken desires about life here on earth but beyond.


This series is about you and your passion to understand life. It is about your search for control over your circumstances and destiny. It is about living life to its fullest and about reconnecting to your true self. You were created not just to exist but to live a fulfilled and significant life. This series is about that life—your life! Join me as we seek to discover an alternative reality at the end of man’s long search for truth.


HIDDEN TREASURE


The old lady was dressed in what seemed like seven dresses. Her fingers were exposed despite the fact that she wore a pair of life-worn gloves. She pushed an old shopping cart that testified that it was her mobile home, and she lived at the mercy of the elements. Her face showed the wear and tear of years of living. She was bent over, looking in a garbage can, searching for life- sustaining remains discarded by the more fortunate of society.


Suddenly, she shot up out of the barrel and shouted, “I found it. I found it!” There between her thumb and index finger she held the most beautiful pearl.

I ran over to her and asked if I could help her. She smiled and shook her head with a confidence I did not expect from one in her status of life. Then she proceeded to tell me the story of her life that still impacts me today.


She told of how she was born into a wealthy family and that her grandfather had left a treasure for her before she was born. During her infant years a fire had destroyed her family home, which was once on the site where the barrel of garbage now stood. The result was that her family lost everything, including the chest that held the treasure from her grandfather. She came to that spot every day to search for that treasure. Many people who knew her story would give her handouts to wear and leftovers to eat. But she said she believed that if she ever found that one treasure, then she would have all of her needs met and be able to repurchase the property lost by her family and rebuild the family house that was destroyed.


Today was her lucky day—she found the treasure. For many years she had only heard about it and had descriptions of it, but now she actually had it. Her life was changed that day, and her search was over. She regained her status and position in life and gave up all her life’s struggles for the sake of that one treasure.

It was a pearl. May you find your own pearl in these teachings.


MATTHEW 13:44-47


The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.


“An idea is more powerful than an army.”


INTRODUCTION


There is nothing more powerful than an idea. Ideas created and now control the world we live in. When an idea is conceived it is called a thought; when a thought is conceived it is called a concept. Concepts are the material that dreams are made of and they serve as the substance for living and interpreting life. Everything humans have made or invented was first preceded by an idea. As a matter of fact, inventions are often called one’s “brain- child.” In essence, the mind can be impregnated by ideas that develop into concepts that become visions that produce reality.


Concepts are to life what the blood is to the body. Perhaps this is what the great king Solomon meant when he wrote over 3,000 years ago, “As a man thinks so is he.” You are and become your concepts. Psychologists describe our value and estimation of our life by the nature of our “self- concept.”


Concepts rise in value as we consider our perception and interpretation of life. Human communication is solely dependent on concepts. We can only understand life to the degree that our concepts are correct. As a matter of fact, the purpose and goal of communication is to transfer your ideas and concepts from your mind to another mind. Therefore, communication is only successful when the sender’s concepts are received accurately and properly understood by the receiver and vice versa.


If your ideas are wrong then your concepts are wrong, and consequently, your understanding will be inaccurate and incomplete. You can only understand properly if your concepts are in alignment with your ideas and your ideas must be based upon The Most High Yah’s dynamic truth. The original concept is always in the mind of the sender. In this state of the thinking process it is called a “precept.” Simply put, a precept is “an original idea.” Therefore, in order to understand the original concept, you must have a clear grasp of the precepts of the sender of a message. The heart of understanding is precepts and concepts. Error is a product and a result of what is called “misconception.” In reality, the receiver misunderstood the concept of the sender.


This series will fail in its purpose and intent if I do not successfully convey and transfer my precepts, concepts, ideas, and thoughts to you the listener. So let’s proceed in exploring the critical concepts that lead to the answer to man’s search for meaning.


THE LONG SEARCH FOR THE IDEAL


In every generation, since the beginning of time, the dream of a utopian society has motivated and sustained the passion of mankind, producing highly developed cultures and social systems as they moved forward in this pursuit. The driving force and desire for the perfect world finds its way into every civilization and has been the source of inspiration that has led to the invention of philosophical ideas, social infrastructures, and even religions, all having some kind of impact on our contemporary communities. This force is centralized in man’s search for the ideal.


Passion for the ideal produced in many ancient cultures the dream of a messianic vision. This is the belief that somewhere in some distant future from some unknown place a person would come who would provide the answers to all our problems. He would establish the “ideal world” free from pain, hatred, fear, poverty, and other social ills—a world of peace, love, joy, and harmony among all mankind.


This search and desire for an idyllic world is the source of the development of the concept called “ideology.” Ideology is the most powerful energy that has impacted the lives of people over thousands of years and continues its effects to this very day. An ideology is the formulation of ideas and thoughts that have been pondered, developed, refined, defined, and formalized. These ideas are also defined as a philosophy, or “a way of thinking.” Some of these “formalized ideas” have produced “schools of thought,” which became the foundations of theoretical and ideological premises for the creation of systems of governing communities, societies, cities, nations, and the world. On the negative side, some of these ideologies have been the source of injustice, destruction, oppression, mass poverty, depression, and social terror.


These ideologies have carried a variety of labels, and over thousands of years they have emerged, submerged, and then reemerged in succeeding generations. Some of these labels are quite familiar even in our generation: imperialism, socialism, communism, dictatorship, humanism, deism, democracy, monarchy, and communal living. Many of these have been tried, revised, integrated, revived, and have been the source of many social experiments.


Yet, no matter how much man has tried to recreate his world, the fulfillment of his hope and desire for “utopia” still eludes him. Our most recent attempts have led to the advent of the ideology of “individual freedom” and the admirable concept of “self-determination” and “a just society,” which we have termed in our modern civilization as “the democratic ideal.” Despite the fact that this is the most civil form of national governance and social relations within a society, even this has not manifested the utopia its founders dreamed of.


The motivation and inspiration for the pursuit of the civil society and the democratic ideal is the concept of “freedom.” The pursuit of personal freedom is the strongest motivator in Western social consciousness. This desire to be free to pursue one’s personal dreams and to maximize one’s potential is the foundation of the democratic ideal and is embraced as the ultimate standard of a free society. However, the societies and communities that have tried this noble “freedom” experiment are still plagued with the inconsistencies of inequality, racism, prejudice, injustice, corruption, jealousy, suspicion, competition, abuse, neglect, and a clear disparity between the “haves” and “have-nots.” In the end, mankind has become imprisoned by his pursuit of freedom.


THE SOURCE OF THE DESIRE


We are all the same and searching for the same thing. What makes us different is the route and systems we implement and develop to find what we are searching for? Simply put, all people are the same and looking for the same answers to the same questions.


The human search for Ultimate Reality is natural and common to all human cultures—even the self-acclaimed atheist inherently believes that, at the very least, there is someone or something out there not to believe in. Even in the most primitive societies we find this expression of desire to seek, find, and understand a Supreme Being as evidenced in the creation, development, and practice of some form of religion.


However, the question confronts us: from where did this natural desire and need to seek for a higher power originate? This internal soul-searching irritation—that there must be a reason and design for the universe and creation—must have a source. The “long search” for reality obviously implies that something is lost. It is impossible to search for nothing. Therefore it is my contention that the very nature of man’s soul search indicates that something he previously possessed is missing.


It also seems that this need to search is not a choice but a necessity. The search is personal as well as corporate. Perhaps the best way to find what is missing and what we are searching for is to identify what you need or desire. For example, thirst implies the need for water, hunger implies the need for food, and tiredness implies the need for rest.


So, we can identify what we lack by what we naturally desire and thus recognize our need. We will discuss this need of mankind in succeeding teachings. However it is important to at least acknowledge its existence and overpowering control over all mankind and to also appreciate that this deep need controls and dictates man’s behavior, both individually and corporately.


IDENTIFYING THE NEED


I have come to the conclusion that the common pursuit of all humans is the pursuit of power, the desire to possess the ability to control one’s circumstances and destiny. I know this may shock you and perhaps cause you to go into denial. Most of us would not want to admit that we desire something as frightening as power, but the reality is that this is the basic desire in every human heart.


When I use the term power, I am not referring to the tyrannical, oppressive, dictatorial control of people, but rather the ability to control one’s own circumstances and environment. It is this lack of control over our daily lives, situations, and circumstances that makes us feel so helpless and live as victims of life. For most of us life is simply a daily struggle as we try to stay afloat in a sea of uncertainty and pressures of all sorts. At the same time we wrestle with a sense of dignified slavery to the institutions of our societies.


Our desire and passion to gain this power to control our circumstances and environment is the motivation for our behavior. We strive to gain positions of influence in order to accumulate financial wealth. We seek the power that money promises us: political and spiritual power, the accumulation of status symbols, superior knowledge, and many other forms of controlling dispositions. I believe this pursuit for power is simply the pursuit of dominion over life.


This human preoccupation and desire for power and dominion is also the fuel for man’s obsession with progressive development in all disciplines including political science, social science, biological science, technical science, spiritual research, economic research, and all other aspects of the human experience. The result of this power search is found in the long human march toward modernization. Over the past 6,000 years mankind has tried and continues to try to control and tame the environment through the inventions of primitive and modern instruments. For example, in science he tries to stop the aging process, improve the quality and length of life, and produce every type of pill to solve a myriad of problems. Ultimately his greatest challenge is to prevent the reality of death.


Yet no matter how far man thinks he has progressed, the ability to achieve dominion and power over life and death on earth still eludes him. In fact, in light of all the uncontrollable social ills, health epidemics, military conflicts, political unrest, economic uncertainties, religious clashes, and destruction of the environment, it seems as if man’s advancement is an evolution, backward in time.


This human failure to achieve control and mastery over his environment and circumstances has left him with a deep desire for a brand new world. The human spirit longs for a world he can control where circumstances are at the mercy of his will. This is the greatest human desire. This is also the source and motivation of religious and spiritual development and practice. In every religion we discover the component that promises power to control circumstances and even death itself. This explains why the deep dark secret practices of witchcraft and spiritism are so attractive to millions; they promise power over people and circumstances.


The human spirit is possessed by this desire to dominate, rule, and control the personal private world and the environment. Man is in search of the ultimate governing power of dominion. The desire for power is inherent in the human spirit. To understand this desire for power, it is necessary to understand the original purpose and design of mankind and the assignment for which he was created.

https://youtu.be/2B4dZLhRicE