Living as Kingdom Citizens

I am blessed to be an American. Living in the land of opportunity makes me thankful. Being a citizen of this country leaves me with very little excuse if I don’t follow the plan of God for my life.

There’s very little chance that I could lose my life for proclaiming God’s Word on the streets or from house to house in this country.

Chances are I won’t be arrested, interrogated, or detained for trusting in Christ as my Saviour. That’s absolutely something to be thankful for.

Something even more powerful and freeing than my US citizenship is my citizenship in the Kingdom of God. It’s because of that citizenship that I can keep my US citizenship in perspective.

Many believe their US citizenship trumps everything. Even some self-proclaimed Evangelicals preach and teach from an earthly citizenship perspective rather than the heavenly perspective.

Kingdom citizenship doesn’t require you to weigh-in on every earthly political issue. Sometimes, it’s best to leave that stuff to the pundits.

Is that to say that Kingdom citizens should never deal with the political fray to uphold Kingdom values? Of course not. But we must carefully and prayerfully stay above the fray, from a Kingdom perspective.

In Philippians 3:20, Paul says that our citizenship is in Heaven. In Verse 19, he points out that the enemies of God have earthly thoughts and ideals.

Please don’t have more in common with verse 19 than you do with verse 20.

If we are thinking and dwelling on earthly matters from an earthly perspective more than we are from the Kingdom perspective, something is wrong.

Paul said, “We eagerly await a Saviour from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.”

Everything is under His control. How incredible is that thought?

If I truly believe everything is under His control, why would I waste my time on earthly matters and perspectives?

Kingdom people should be compassionate, caring people who love the least of these. We should never approach an issue from a perspective of pride or prejudice.

Christians have dual-citizenship.

Just remember which of the two is most important.

Rise up, Kingdom Voices!

If there’s ever been a time for God’s people to reach out to a diverse and desperate culture that time is now.

I know the world appears hopelessly lost. I realize it looks like there’s no help in sight. But it only appears that way because the church as a whole is not in her rightful place.

In Isaiah 58, God speaks to the prophet telling him to “cry aloud, spare not! Lift up your voice like a trumpet! Tell my people their sins.”

What were those sins? The sins of God’s people were many, but God was specifically calling out those who served Him with selfish motives. The people had a spirit much like Cain did in Genesis 4. Offering something of little worth to God and expecting a massive reward for it before grumbling when God had no respect for their offering.

The lifestyle that God has chosen is the Kingdom lifestyle—a lifestyle that includes breaking chains and yokes off of the oppressed, sharing with those in need, feeding the poor, clothing the naked, and actively meeting the needs of those within our community.

We’ve seen Kingdom work in progress on world news lately. With the Ebola crisis hitting Africa hard, there has been high profile coverage of missionaries putting their lives on the line actively pursuing God’s call. This obedience has also been seen in places like the Middle East, where men and women of God risk their lives daily to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a culture bound with religious chains.

This Kingdom attitude needs to be the rule, not the exception. Unfortunately, the focus in American Christendom appears to be bigger, better worship experiences from a chosen few mega-ministries. It appears that our pursuit of the “good life now” has replaced Kingdom efforts at changing the future of our communities.

It’s time to rise up, Kingdom voices! We must lead the charge in this hour.

True Kingdom voices have to speak up. It’s time to say something. Challenge church as usual. Be respectful, but rock the boat a little bit.

Speak out on social media. Start a podcast. Lift up your voice for true Kingdom principles. Find hurting people and serve them.

Be the hands and feet of God in the community and the workplace He’s placed you in. Actively pursue after God. Intercede for deliverance on behalf of those who are bound.

It’s a desperate hour and you are needed.

Rise up.

Kingdom Building in the Slums

Fresh out of seminary armed with a vision and a heart for souls you hit the ground running in the community to which you are called. Hopefully, you build a pretty solid foundation over several years and before you know it, your church plant is growing.

Chances are, that's your dream. No fault in dreaming. I'm sure many, if not most, church planters have had a similar dream at some point. It's easy to dream that way. And that's certainly reality for a few. 

There's a segment of ministers, however, who dream differently.

This segment of planters and/or pastors long to reach the lowest of the low, the poorest of the poor. In other words, the least likely for astronomical growth and self-support segment.

I have some experience in this area. I serve in a church that my dad planted almost 20 years ago in what would be considered a bad part of town.

Our church is in that part of town where you catch someone breaking into a parishioners vehicle during a worship service. It's also that part of town where families turn up in droves to receive food assistance four times a week.

We're still there–offering emergency assistance and attempting to meet the spiritual, physical, mental, and emotional needs in one area of Chattanooga, Tennessee's inner-city.

There are ministries who are attempting to offer the same kind of aid in more desperate parts of the world.

Living Bread Ministries is one such group. Living Bread's mission is to plant missional churches among the global poor and equip them to care for their communities.

Specifically, Living Bread reaches out to the favelas or shanty towns of Brazil.

Ever heard of Brazilian shanty towns? The best favela in Brazil would make Chattanooga, Tennessee's worst housing project look like Beverly Hills. Take our most crime-ridden housing project and subtract running water, electricity, police presence, and basic building structure.

According to LBM's founder and president G. Patrick Hubbard, there is no organized vision to plant churches among the very poor. But, he continues on his blog, "there should be."

Rather than focus on what the global church isn't doing, however, let's focus on what Hubbard and Living Bread are doing.

Since 2004, LBM has planted eight missional churches among the urban poor in the least evangelized region of Brazil. According to its official website, however, one of LBM's goals is to spark a global movement for church planting among the poor and needy.

In other words, Hubbard and Living Bread are all about advancing the Kingdom of God in the farthest reaches of the earth.

There was someone in the Bible who had a similar purpose. His name was Jesus.

In one of the premier Messianic prophecies, Isaiah penned the words:

'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

In the book of Luke, Jesus took the pulpit of the local synagogue and read that very scripture to the religious crowd. The crowd promptly ran him out of town and would have killed him then and there had God's plan allowed.

While the crowd was ticked at Jesus' assertion that He was the fulfillment of that prophecy, outreach to the poor has never been popular among the overly religious.

True Kingdom building is an uphill battle and Living Bread is building the Kingdom in some of the least evangelized and most desperate parts of our world.

That's God's dream.



Visit livingbread.org. Look at, pray for, and consider supporting the work that Patrick and Barbara Hubbard are doing among the desperately poor.