Kingdom Nuggets

Where We Are on the Timeline of History (2)

By Lanny Swaim

 

And there shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every high hill, rivers and streams of waters in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall.  Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound.

Isaiah 30:25-26

 

Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.  After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.

Hosea 6:1-2

 

While the Old Testament prophets prophesied primarily to Israel, many of their prophecies have an application to the New Testament Church.  I believe this is the case with the scripture verses we began today’s teaching with.

 

Almost immediately after the beginning of the seventh day (millennium) of/since creation, the United States was attacked and the twin towers in New York came crashing down.  This signified a time of testing for individuals, the Church, the United States and the world.

 

But this was not a trial involving judgement that brings condemnation.  Rather, it was a trial involving judgement that brings awakening and reformation.  While Isaiah 30:25-26 speaks of the great slaughter when the towers fall, the rest of these two verses speak of streams of water and the moon being as bright as the sun and the sun being seven times brighter than normal, equal to the light of seven days.

 

The mention of seven days in these verses signifies that these prophetic verses are for the seventh day (millennium), which is the day we have now crossed the threshold of.

 

Verse 26 goes on to say that in that day (this day) God will bind up the breach of His people and heal the stroke of their wound.

 

The sixth chapter of Ephesians speaks of putting on the whole armor of God.  Isaiah 30:26 indicates there has been a breach in our armor, which has allowed the devil to breach our armor and successfully attack us.  However, a thorough study of this verse indicates that it was God who inflicted the stroke that caused us to be wounded.

 

Hosea 6:1-2 says that it is God who has torn and smitten us.  Perhaps you find it hard to reconcile that a loving God would inflict such grievous wounds on His people, and while there is a sense in which we have allowed it by not being fully clothed with our armor, Hosea clearly indicates that it is God who has torn and smitten us.

 

But then there is the possibility that we have simply been attacked by the devil.  If you are my age you may remember an old TV comedy show, The Flip Wilson Show.  Flip had a routine where he was always saying, “The devil made me do it.”  Sounds like most Christians to me.  It’s so easy to blame the devil when in reality we are our own worst enemy.

 

In my experience, I can see how God has actually used the devil to test and try me. 

 

For four years after 9-11 I went through very intense and severe testing and trials, like others I know.  The first two years I rebuked the devil a lot, before I came to understand that the process I was going through was to empty me of self and cause me to mature. 

 

What a major revelation when I realized I had been rebuking God.

 

So, while there is a sense in which our own shortcomings allow attacks from the devil, it is actually God who orchestrates these tests and trials because sometimes we are totally unaware that those shortcomings even exist.  When that is the case, it takes drastic measures on the part of God to bring us to the end of ourselves, a place of total surrender, when we allow Him to begin to rebuild us not only in His image, being His representatives on the earth, but in His likeness, possessing His character. 

 

Children have to be taught right from wrong, and until they are taught, often by being chastised, they are unaware of their shortcomings.  If we are to mature spiritually we too must be chastised by our heavenly Father.

 

Without chastisement we won’t mature into sons (mature children having nothing to do with gender) and are actually bastards (see Hebrews 12:6-8).  Drastic terminology but true.

 

In our next teaching we will look deeper into how our loving Father disciplines us, even at times using the devil to accomplish His purposes in us.

 

Kingdom Nuggets

Where We Are on the Timeline of History (3)

By Lanny Swaim

 

Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.  After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.

Hosea 6:1-2

 

For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.  If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons [mature children]; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?  But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.

Hebrews 12:6-8

 

In our last teaching we looked at how God sometimes and perhaps often uses the devil to chasten us.

 

Just a few years ago I would have had a very hard time accepting that reality.  But the chastening I endured for four years after 9-11 and more recently the last six months of 2022, along with studying scripture, comparing scripture with scripture, has made me aware of and enabled me to embrace this truth.

 

Isaiah gives us insight into and confirmation of this reality.

 

Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy.

Isaiah 54:16

 

I form light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

Isaiah 45:7

 

Isaiah leaves no room to doubt that God created the devil to destroy.

 

Destroy what?  Anything in us that separates us from intimacy with God and that separates us from His plans and purposes for us.

 

We’ve been taught that the devil (Satan) was once an angel in Heaven, named Lucifer.  This assumption is based on Isaiah 14:12.

 

How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!  How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

 

Lucifer is a proper name invented by the translators of the King James Bible.  The Hebrew here is simply light bringer or shining one and is not a proper name.  A thorough study of this entire chapter reveals that this verse is referring to the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, in a figurative way and not to a fallen angel who became the devil.

 

The devil was never named Lucifer and was never and angel in Heaven.  He was created by God to be the devil (the waster to destroy).

 

When I first learned of Isaiah 45:7, which states that God creates evil, I had a hard time with that one too.  But if He didn’t create it, where did it come from?  The devil creates nothing.  He is incapable of creating anything.  God is the creator.  The devil only counterfeits what God has created.

 

So God must have created evil with a purpose just as He created the devil with a purpose.

 

Having said all this, we should be aware that the devil does at times appear to act independently of God and on his own.  We need discernment to know when we are being confronted with those times, as we do have authority over the devil to cast him out.  The verse following Isaiah 14:16 confirms this.

 

No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn.  This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.

Isaiah 14:17

 

We definitely have authority over the devil, and we defeat him either by enduring the tests and trails of life and overcoming them and him, or by simply using our authority to cast him out, depending on what the occasion calls for, which we have discernment to determine.

 

However, I should point out that the clarity of that discernment comes with maturity.

 

As we are chastised by God, enabling and causing us to mature, the authority He has invested in us functions in greater proportions.  However unpleasant the process of chastisement may be, the results are worth it.

 

There is a remnant of the Body of Christ today who has been experiencing this process rather intensely and severely, being prepared and positioned to be at the forefront of the greatest spiritual awakening the world has ever known, which will literally change the nations.

 

Surely we were born for such a time as this!

​

Kingdom Nuggets

Where We Are on the Timeline of History (4)

By Lanny Swaim

 

Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.  After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.

Hosea 6:1-2

 

In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old.

Amos 9:11 (emphasis added)

 

The tabernacle of David, which preceded Solomon’s temple, housed the manifested presence and glory of God, as did Solomon’s temple.

 

Today there is a new tabernacle/temple, but it is not a building made with hands; it is a people.

 

In the first century AD Jesus began building His Church, but during the first century false doctrine crept into the Church and many departed from an intimate relationship with the Lord, resulting in the seven letters to the churches in Asia found in Revelation, chapters two and three.

 

Then in the fourth century AD, the Roman emperor Constantine made it legal to be a Christian in the Roman Empire, and seventy years later Emperor Theodosius made it law that all Roman citizens had to be Christians, ultimately marrying Church and state, an act of spiritual adultery, divorcing the Church from her head and bridegroom, Jesus.  The Roman Catholic Church established a hierarchy where the Pope replaced Jesus as the head of the Church, and the Dark Ages followed.

 

Then, in the sixteenth century the Protestant Reformation began, which righted some of the wrongs of the Catholic Church, but left the unscriptural clergy/laity system and many traditions of man intact.

 

In Amos 9:11, the tabernacle of David represents the apostolic Church, which by the end of the first century AD was spiraling downward and then in the fourth century AD became almost nonexistent except for numerous remnants down through history who have been on the cutting edge of restoration.

 

Many in these remnants have been severely persecuted, often tortured and killed.  In the archives of the Catholic Church is documentation that at least twenty-five million believers were martyred by the Catholic Church, being accused of heresy.

 

All this took place in the first two days (millennia) of the Church, which Paul prophesied in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-3.

 

That day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

 

The falling away is referring to the establishment of the Roman Catholic Church with the Pope replacing Jesus as the head of the Church, made possible by the legalization of Christianity in the Roman Empire.

 

In John 12:34 Jesus said that a seed must be put in the ground and die in order to bring forth fruit.  We see this biblical principal at work in the falling away that produced the death of the apostolic Church of the first century.

 

But down through history God has been in a process of restoration, line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little (see Isaiah 28:9-10), until we arrived in this new millennium, the seventh day since/of creation and the third day of the Church, which is that day spoken of in Amos 9:11.

 

In previous Kingdom Nugget teachings, we have looked at how September 11, 2001 (commonly known as 9-11) began a time of testing that is producing maturity in at least a remnant of believers, the forerunners of the restoration of the apostolic Church born in the first century and the fulfillment of Amos 9:11.

 

I find it incredibly interesting that this verse is 9:11.  While the chapters and verses were added to scripture long after the original texts were written, it appears God even uses chapter and verse numbers to confirm prophecy.

 

This leaves me in awe of the God we serve and are getting to know intimately.  He is everywhere and can be seen in everything, always confirming the truth we are journeying into.

 

This is the day [the seventh day of/since creation/the third day of the Church] which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.

Psalm 118:24

 

Hallelujah!

​

Kingdom Nuggets

Worship Requirements

By Lanny Swaim

 

The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth:  for the Father seeketh such to worship him.  God is a spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

John 4:23-24

 

What does it mean to worship the Father in spirit and in truth?

 

The Greek word for spirit in these verses is pneuma and means to breathe or blow and air in motion.

 

Genesis 2:7 tells us that when God formed Adam from the dust of the ground, He then breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.  So a biblical definition of pneuma (spirit) is the breath of life.

 

Hence, we have a wind blowing in the upper room when believers were first baptize with the Holy Spirit in the second chapter of Acts.

 

So, there is a connection between God breathing the breath of life into man and the wind when believers were baptized with the Holy Spirit.

 

To worship in spirit means to worship from the position of being filled with the breath of life that comes directly and only from God Himself, accessed by New Testament believers when they have been baptized with the Holy Spirit.

 

To truly worship in spirit our worship must be initiated and led by the Holy Spirit.

 

To better understand this concept we need to look at the meaning of the word worship.  If we don’t understand what it means to worship, how can we worship in spirit?

 

The Greek word that translates as worship is latreia and means adoration or loving devotion.  It is taken from the Hebrew word abode.

 

Abode in Exodus 40:35 is transliterated as shekinah in English, meaning the abiding presence of God.  We often speak of the shekinah glory of God manifesting, sometimes during times of corporate worship, often appearing as a mist or cloud and sometimes even as fire.

 

However, that glory may simply be an awareness of His presence, which is more than emotion or feeling.  It’s tangible.  It’s real.  And it is spiritual.

 

I have experienced it and heard of it manifesting in other ways, such as a sweet smell coming into the room, as gold dust appearing on people and things, as rain being felt and the smell of rain, as oil running out of people’s hands or foreheads, as feathers or jewels appearing, as people falling out in the Spirit and laying enraptured on the floor, etc.

 

So if true worship involves the abiding presence of God as His glory is manifested among us, it is more about something He does than something we do.  Our outward expressions of worship such as singing, praying, raising our hands, dancing etc. are just that: outward expressions of what dwells in us because God abides in us as we abide in Him. 

 

Worship is an abiding; a place of dwelling (abode), where we are in God and He is in us.

 

And, it’s a place of being led by the Holy Spirit.

 

It is more about who we are than what we do.  What we do is simply an expression of who we are.

 

When Jesus made this statement, recorded in John’s account of the Gospel, He didn’t stop with worshipping in spirit.  He added and in truth.

 

The Greek word for truth is aletheia or altheia and means disclosure.  Disclosure means revealed, evident or not hidden.  It also means factually or reality.

 

So while worship is a place of dwelling in God and Him dwelling in us, enabling us to be led by the Holy Spirit, we also need an understanding of truth, which cannot be arrived at intellectually but comes by revelation from the Holy Spirit.

 

In John 14:6 Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life.”  He went on to say, “No man comes to the Father but by me.”

 

So when we speak of worship as dwelling in God and His dwelling in us, we are not only talking about God the Father.  We are also referring to dwelling in Jesus (the Son) who is our way to the Father, and who literally is truth. 

 

However, the truth that Jesus is must be revealed to us by the Holy Spirit not only as the person that Jesus is, but as the written Word that He is, which entails doctrine.

 

As you know, doctrine is perhaps the main thing that divides the Church.  However, if truth is in fact truth, then there is only one truth found in the person Jesus.  So to know truth as it translates into doctrine is a journey we are all on as we are getting to know the Lord Jesus.  We may say we know Him, but in reality we are getting to know Him.

 

So, to worship God in spirit and in truth hinges on our knowledge of the truth.

 

Am I saying that we must have a complete knowledge of the truth in order to participate in worship?  Certainly not!  But I do believe that our ability to worship Him effectively requires that we remain teachable and continue on our journey into the truth, fueled by a hunger to know Him intimately.

 

We are seeing this in the outbreaks of revival that are taking place throughout the world today.  Thousands and possibly even millions are being enraptured in the Spirit of worship issuing simply out of an intense hunger for Him.

 

God is manifesting His presence among the worshippers in spite of their probable doctrinal differences or lack of doctrinal understanding.  They may be new believers who haven’t been exposed to doctrine at all. 

 

This is a sovereign act of God, and as it continues and grows God will sovereignly place apostolic teachers in position to teach correct doctrine and preach the Gospel of the Kingdom, which is going to entail a new reformation of the Church.

 

We are on the threshold of the greatest spiritual awakening the world has ever known, which is going to greatly impact the nations.

 

And we will worship in spirit and in truth, not just when we come together corporately to do so, but as a way of life.

 

Surely we were born for such a time as this.

 

Glory to God!

​

Kingdom Nuggets

Invading Hell

By Lanny Swaim

 

I say unto thee, That thou art Peter [Petros], and upon this rock I will build my church [Ekklesia]; and the gates of hell [death] shall not prevail against it.  And I will give unto thee the keys [authority] of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

Matthew 16:18-19

 

Peter (Petros in Greek) means rock.  Peter’s given name was Simon, but Jesus renamed him Peter.

 

In the verses preceding Matthew 16:18-19, Jesus asked His disciples who men were saying He was.  They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah and others.”  Then Jesus asked them who they thought He was.  Simon replied, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.”

 

Jesus told Simon that he hadn’t come to this conclusion intellectually, but by revelation from God the Father.  Jesus then renamed Simon Peter (Petros/Rock) and Matthew 16:18-19 continues.

 

It has been debated whether the rock in Matthew 16:18 is referring to Jesus or to Peter.  1 Peter 2:4-5 gives us insight into who this rock is referring to.  Peter speaks of the Lord Jesus as a Living Stone and to believers as lively stones. 

 

So it appears Jesus is referring to Himself and to Peter (representing all believers) as this rock in Matthew 16:18.

 

The Greek word translated as Church in this passage is Ekklesia, and means a governing/legislative body.  So what Jesus is building upon this rock is an authoritative governing body of people that the gates of hell won’t prevail against.

 

The Greek word for hell is hades and neither of these words are a good translation of the Hebrew word, Sheol.  Sheol literally means the realm of the dead or of disembodied existence.  During the time when Jesus walked the earth as the Son of Man, the Jews had adopted an Oriental word that they used in place of Sheol.  That word was Paradise. 

 

So Sheol, paradise, hades and hell are all the same place, the realm of the dead or of disembodied existence.  So when Jesus spoke of the gates of hell He was speaking of the gates of death.

 

Gates are not an offensive weapon; they are a defensive mechanism.  Gates are meant to keep something or someone out.  So basically what Jesus is saying here is that we (the Ekklesia) should be invading the gates of death and bringing out those held captive by death.

 

As you know, death comes in many packages.  It takes on many forms and is not necessarily being put six feet under, so to speak.

 

Everyone on Earth has experienced some form of death with many being completely enslaved by death.  As the Lord’s governing body we should be using our authority, which keys represent, to deliver people from the jaws of death, whatever form it takes in their lives.

 

Hence, what we bind here is bound in Heaven, or backed up by the authority of Heaven, and what we lose here is losed in Heaven by being backed up by the authority of Heaven (Heaven being where God’s throne is, representing all God’s authority and power).

 

As believers we don’t have to be fearful of death, nor do we have to defend ourselves against death.  We have already passed from death into life (see John 5:24).Our job is to take the authority we have been given and take on death, freeing those bound by death.

 

This is how we govern.  This is how we rule.  Satan is no longer the God of the world.  The world belongs to us and we have the authority to cast the devil out and free the inhabitants who dwell here.

 

The Kingdom of God that dwells in us should be manifesting in the nations until Revelation 11:15 comes to pass,

 

The kingdoms [nations] of this world are become the kingdoms [Kingdom] of our Lord [Jesus], and of his Christ [the Body of Christ], and he [Jesus the Head and Body] shall reign for ever and ever.

 

Surely we were born for such a time as this!

​

Kingdom Nuggets

The Realm of Our Authority

By Lanny Swaim

 

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;} casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. 

 

We will not boast of things without our measure [without our realm of influence/authority], but according to the measure of the rule which God hath distributed to us, a measure to reach even unto you.

 

Not boasting of things without our measure, that is, of other men’s labours; but having hope, when your faith is increased, that we shall be enlarged by you according to our rule abundantly, to preach the gospel in the regions beyond you.

2 Corinthians 10:3-5, 13, 15-16

 

Go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

Mark 16:15

 

Jesus didn’t preach the Gospel of Personal Salvation that has been the main focus of the Church for hundreds of years.  Jesus preached and taught the Gospel of the Kingdom, and there is a vast difference.

 

When scripture is read through the filter of the Gospel of Personal Salvation, focusing on getting people born again so they can go to Heaven when they die physically, we get an in part and often totally wrong interpretation of scripture.

 

Jesus didn’t say in John 3:3 that we must be born again to go to Heaven.  He said we must be born again to see the Kingdom.

 

When we read the Bible through the filter of the Gospel of the Kingdom, we begin to see what was really meant when the words of the Bible were originally written.

 

I have often read the verses of scripture from 2 Corinthians we began this teaching with thinking in terms of a personal application of it; of waring against imaginations that are evil in my own mind, and perhaps that is one application that is acceptable.

 

But recently, while reading these verses, I began to see that Paul was looking at a much larger picture than himself concerning waring against evil imaginations and bringing every thought captive to obeying Christ.

 

He was looking at using the authority he walked in as an apostle to cast down evil imaginations and everything that exalted itself against the knowledge of God in others, bringing into captivity the thoughts of others, enabling them to obey the Lord, not only in Corinth but in other regions beyond Corinth.

 

Jesus had told His disciples to go into all the world and preach the Gospel of the Kingdom to everyone.  While the Bible doesn’t tell us, historical accounts let us know that Paul did take the Gospel of the Kingdom to the far reaches of the Roman Empire, which may have been the realm Jesus was talking about when he made the statement, “Into all the world.”  (However, today “Into all the world” has an entirely different meaning.)

 

History records that Paul went to Spain, France (Gaul) and as far as England, where he found Jews living.  It is thought that Joseph of Arimathea, whose tomb Jesus was laid in and who was actually Jesus’ uncle, lived in England.

 

So yes, when we preach and teach the Kingdom of God/Heaven, we have authority to literally change the way people think, because we are not waring with the minds of people, but rather with the demonic influences that control their minds to at least some degree.

 

When we cast out those demonic influences, then people are free to receive the truth.

 

When we were initially born again, we were freed from demonic influence in our own minds.  While we may have to at times enforce that freedom, our main focus should be on freeing others from demonic influence.

 

Sometimes this can be accomplished simply by preaching and teaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, but at other times it may involve us using our authority to actually cast demons out of individuals, or even mass deliverance of groups and even nations.

 

The important thing is that we realize this is our realm of authority and that we do have the power to change minds, enabling individuals and people groups, even entire nations to receive the truth, which is the Gospel of the Kingdom.

 

Jesus has sent us to the nations.  Abraham was promised that he would be the father of many nations (see Genesis 17:4).  It is time we take back all the devil has hijacked.  It doesn’t belong to him.  The earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof (see Psalm 24:1).

 

Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.

Matthew 6:10 (see also Luke 11:2)

 

Surely we were born, and have been given authority, for such a time as this.

​

Kingdom Nuggets

The Realm of Our Authority (2)

By Lanny Swaim

 

Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.

John 20:23

 

In our last Kingdom Nugget teaching, we looked at the reality that we have the authority to change people’s minds, not by imposing our will on them, but by freeing them from demonic influence, enabling them to then receive the truth.

 

But that is not the only way we can free people from vain/evil imaginations and wrong thinking.  John lets us know there is another way.

 

We actually have the authority to repent for the sins of others, freeing them from those sins and enabling them to then be born again and see the Kingdom (see John 3:3).  Even for those who may have been initially born again but are not seeing the Kingdom, or at least not seeing it clearly, we can repent on their behalf of their shortcomings and wrong thinking, freeing them to see the Kingdom much clearer.

 

When we do this, we utilize the principal of sowing and reaping (see Galatians 6:7).  When we remit the shortcomings and wrong thinking of others, we too are freed to see the Kingdom more clearly than we have and receive revelation far beyond what we even knew existed.

 

In what is commonly referred to as the Lord’s Prayer (see Matthew 6:12, 14-15), Jesus makes it clear that in order for us to be forgiven we must forgive others.  We have read this in the context of forgiving the sins of others against us, and I believe this is certainly true.

 

But the broader application of this principal is that when we repent on behalf of others for their absent or clouded vision of the Kingdom, then we too are freed to see the Kingdom much clearer, better understanding the principals of the Kingdom, opening the way for the Kingdom of God/Heaven to invade planet Earth; an actual convergence of Heaven and Earth, moving us closer and closer to the fulfillment of Revelation 11:15:

 

The kingdoms [nations] of this world are become the kingdoms [Kingdom] of our Lord [Jesus], and of his Christ [the Body of Christ], and he [Jesus the Head and Body] shall reign for ever and ever.

 

The Hebrew people were not preoccupied with an afterlife.  If you read their story in the Old Testament, it should become clear that it is a narrative of God dealing with a people in the here and now.  The salvation and promises He offered them were all about the here and now.

 

We have preached the Gospel as if it is more about an afterlife than about the here and now.  We have approached it like selling a fire insurance policy to keep people out of hell (which has been taught as a place of eternal torment), and getting them into Heaven.

 

That is a fear based gospel.  And fear is the opposite of faith.

 

It is time we start preaching and teaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, which is about a convergence of Heaven and Earth, restoring creation to God’s original intent and purpose.

 

That is the good news.  And that is our mission.  Declaring the blessing of Abraham on the nations (see Galatians 3:13-14, 16).

 

Surely we were born for such a time as this.