We had the privilege of hosting Don Stephens this weekend! This was one the weeks we had been looking forward to since we started Fascinate. We asked him to teach the Kingdom to us, and oh boy did he ever! Don is such an amazing guy, just being around him you see the Kingdom. He is so caring and really connected with the students. Only if you ask, will he talk about himself and he thanks you for asking. He is so encouraging and affirming! We feel so blessed to have gotten to know him. Jed's brother Isaac had suggested him as a Kingdom speaker because he spoke in their DTS and they loved him.
He felt it was important to lay the foundations before he went into the Kingdom so Thursday he talk about the Glory of God. People love the glory of God because we were programmed for it. Rom. 1:20 God's creation is filled with reflections of who he is. Have you ever seen a sunset or read a good book and had your heart touched? That's because it reflects God's glory and that's what we were created for! The redeemed heart hungers for beauty. Christ is the visible image of God's glory. Col. 1:15 We share in Christ's glory. Col. 1:27 Praise Jesus! Where do you see God's glory?
Friday he spoke on grace. What is grace? Eph. 2:8-9. He explained it is a gift and it is empowering. He explained that it is impossible to live by both law and grace. We went over the purpose of the law and the purpose of grace. The only way to fall from grace is trying to be justified by the law. Gal. 5:4. How crazy is that!
On Saturday the Kingdom came! The Kingdom is the thing Jesus spoke on the most. It was his first message and his last. Matt 4:14; Acts 1:3 What is the Kingdom? Every place where the will of God is being done. It's the kingdom we were always meant to be a part of and Jesus reversed what happened with Adam so that we could take our rightful place in the Kingdom. The Kingdom is not the Church. Some differences are: church is family, kingdom is the territory and authority of God; church is composed of people, kingdom is all creation; church is spiritual authority, kingdom is all authority; church is visible and relative, kingdom is invisible and absolute.
Its hard to explain on a blog the revelation that Don brought to our hearts. He showed many movie clips, played songs, and shared stories that revealed the kingdom. Once your eyes are opened to a piece of the kingdom you see it everywhere. For example, this weekend I went to see the movie The Vow. It was the story of us and Jesus! It revealed more of the Kingdom to me. It's a story of a couple that is in love and the wife gets in an accident and loses her memory. The husband is so upset that she doesn't remember who she is and their love but instead of forcing her to act the way she used to, he loves her where she is at and waits for her to find who she really is again. How is that not a picture of Jesus?? That is the reason we love those stories, we were made for glory and to be a part of the kingdom is to have our eyes opened to it! God is Awesome!! You can visit Don's website at donstephens.wordpress.com
Melo
No comments:
Post a Comment