Teachings Online at NeoXenos.Org

There’s nothing quite like the joy of victory. A joyous and victorious life that comes from God is the most fulfilling life that one could possibly live.

Too many Christians live joyless, droll, drab lives. “Spiritual Disciplines” are the way that people focus on joy, such as devotions and lots of singing. Which are nice and all, but if you don’t have joy in your heart, then they’re useless. How do we find real joy?

“The harvest is great!” Luke 10:2. But the workers are few.

Jesus teaches about true greatness. What man would do, God would not do, and what man wouldn’t do God would do.

Easter special, Mark Michalek teaches on an important historic event: the resurrection (or not) of Jesus Christ. He goes through evidence and support for the event that is the crux of the whole Bible, and presents some opposing arguments as well. The question is: what really happened? Either he was raised from the dead, or he was not. Much hangs in the balance.

Most bible teachers talk about stepping up, but this week, we’re taking about stepping down.

Most people believe in a spiritual realm, most people believe in a god, but not many people believe that there are any evil forces in that spiritual realm.

Stepping down, and entering the Fray that surrounds us, the spiritual warfare, and being victorious with God.

Conflict comes in many forms: spiritual conflict (against the spiritual rulers of this world,) ego conflicts (from people around us,) Sectarian conflict (christian history and infighting) and racial/ethnic conflicts.

The culture tells us to look up, always be looking up and looking out for new opportunities. God says “look down.” Look down at the world from his perspective, the perspective found in the word of God. In our culture, the word of God, the Bible, is more readily available than at any other time in history, but bible literacy (that is , knowledge of the bible,) is at a low. Anyone who looks at God honestly and openly, as Peter does, knows who he is, and knows that Jesus is Lord.

In two weeks, Jesus, the Lord, went from all time high popularity to being the scum of the earth. People who were following him were now calling for him to be crucified.

What changed?

Jesus had gathered a crowd, he was a big hit going around Jerusalem and Galilee. He should have capitalized on his popularity, that would have made sense. Jesus didn’t charge an entrance fee, no money, no way to take care of all of these thousands of people following him. His solution? He said to his disciples: “You feed them.”

The crowds welcomed Jesus, throngs upon throngs of people. How could he possibly emphasize the compassion of God to every person? So many different backgrounds, so many different lifestyles. He delegates. We are all stewards of God, with responsibilities.

Follow up to Jesus’ announcement that “The Kingdom of God is Here,” it’s one thing to say that. It’s another thing entirely to demonstrate it. Jesus shows that he is, in fact, the king, and wields great authority, over even that which we thought uncontrollable.

Guest testimony about being under the authority of God from Eleni Bradshaw.

Luke 8

Kingdoms throughout the ages have been set up by force. Hostile takeovers have been the defining characteristic of the empires of man throughout recorded history. The previous superpower is overcome by the strength of the next superpower, and the next, and the next, and so it goes on.

The foundational theme of the entire Bible is “Proclaiming the Kingdom of God.” So that’s the goal. All of the problems here on this world stem from the fact that we need a better kingdom, we need God’s kingdom.

God’s kingdom will be different than any other kingdom set up on this earth, a kingdom not based on force and overpowering strength, but rather on free will.