BRINGING IN A NEW KINGDOM ORDER

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KINGDOM STUDIES & BORN ABOVE

 BORN AGAIN BY GOD FIRST FOR THE KINGDOM OF GOD

           "SEEK YE FIRST THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND ALL THESE THINGS WILL ADDED TO YOU." . Matthew 6: 33

           The first three Gospels are mostly about the kingdom of God. "Although the Cross was the primary mission of Christ on the Earth, it was not his main message, nor was it considered as an end in itself. Any careful study of the Gospels will reveal that the kingdom was the primary message of the teaching of Christ." that statement was written by a Dr. Earle E. Cairns, in his book, p. 54, "Christianity through The Centuries."

        According to Dr. Cairns, " Christ taught that the kingdom will never be realized by an historical Evolution process in which the Church by social action prepares the world His coming. The Scriptures plainly teach that the future eschatological, as distinguished from the present ethical and spiritual phase of the Kingdom, will be realized supernaturally and cataclysmically at the coming of Christ rather than as a result of the work of the Church.
         Hence, the primary task of the Church is not world conversion by preaching and social action, but the evangelization the world by the proclamation of the Gospel, so that those who are to make up the true church may have an opportunity to respond to that message as the Holy Spirit brings conviction to their hearts." P.56

          Most evangelicals that I know of , that I have been associated with,  believe the above statements, but I wonder sometimes if we sell short this last sentence that Cairn makes. 

I believe, the spiritual impact on our lives, that our new relationship with Christ and the Holy Spirit, should be life changing. 

I wonder if there are times in our zealous efforts to win somebody to Christ, we are manipulating somebody, and trusting in that rather than the gospel of Jesus Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit.  But we had better understand that it takes the Holy Spirit to cause anyone to be born above or even born again.

"Truly truly I say to you must be born above to see the kingdom of God "John 3: 3 

              mh tiV gennhqh anwqen ou dunatai idein thn basileian tou qeou

:31; 19:11,23) the meaning is "from above" (desuper) and usually so in the Synoptics. It is a second birth, to be sure, regeneration, but a birth from above by the Spirit. He cannot see the kingdom of God (ou dunaFirst aoristtai idein thn basileian tou qeou). To participate in it as in Luke 9:27. For this use of idein (second aorist active infinitive of oraw) see John 8:51; Revelation 18:7. passive subjunctive of gennaw. Anwqen..... In the other passages in John ( 3

"Most assuredly I tell you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit,                                                                         ean mh tiV gennhqh ex udatoV kai pneumatoV He can't see or perceive of the kingdom of God. he can`t enter into the kingdom of God! That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

"not by works of righteousness, which we did ourselves, but  according to his mercy, he saved us,     by                                                                                                        through the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,           dia loutrou    paliggenesiaV kai   anakainwsewV         pneumatoV agiou which he poured out on us richly, through Jesus Christ, our  Savior" Titus 3:5           "Through the washing of regeneration  (dia loutrou palingenesiaß). Late and common word  with the Stoics (Dibelius) and in the Mystery-religions  (Angus), also in the papyri and Philo. Only twice in  the N.T. (Matthew 19:2 with which compare apokatastasia in Acts 3:21, a  here in personal sense of new birth."   WORD PICTURES, A.T. Robertsoon

WHO SHOULD CHANGE?

THE EVANGELICAL CHANGING?

"White evangelicals see themselves losing ground to an American mainstream they once bestrode like a colossus."

 Sooner or later they're going to have to get over it. 

They'll be better Americans when they do."

SO SAYS ONE PBS ARTICLE...

                                           WHY?

      

WHAT IS AN EVANGELICAL?

           So, what is an evangelical? I wonder how many evangelicals would be able to define that word?

           Well they had better start learning what it means!

           I copied a piece actually a couple of paragraphs out of the conclusion of an article in PBS that I just read. I put an emphasis on a few phrases, but this is the way it reads verbatim:

"In the moral, ethnocultural world that constitutes their (evangelicals) belief system, white evangelicals see themselves losing ground to an American mainstream they once bestrode like a colossus.                                 Sooner or later they're going to have to take the advice of (ex-)Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney and "get over it."                                                                                        They'll be better Americans when they do" (My emphasis)

          Okay, are you an evangelical?

          In this article, there seems to be a focus on "white evangelicals". Apparently, the writer is making a distinction between white evangelicals and black evangelicals or for that matter Hispanic evangelicals. 
          In my experience. I've always understood an evangelical was based on belief, Gender, nationality, or skin color had nothing to do with it.  
          I've been an evangelical since accepting Christ in 1950 in a Billy Graham Crusade in Portland, Oregon--I've been an attendee and been a counselor in numerous Billy Graham Crusades. I've known many in the Association.  Billy Graham was an Evangelical. Billy Graham makes a point of the Crusade being non-racial. And, as an Evangelical, I totally agree.  

            Evangelicals "losing ground?"  I don't think so.

           Wikipedia makes a claim of not being bias and this is what they say about evangelicals:

"Evangelicalism), evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism,^{[note 1]} is a worldwide, trans-denominational movement within Protestant Christianity which maintains the belief that the essence of the Gospel consists of the doctrine of salvation by grace alone, solely through faith in Jesus's atonement.^[1][2][3] Evangelicals believe in the centrality of the conversion or "born again" experience in receiving salvation, in the authority of the Bible as God's revelation t

            Its origins are usually traced to 1738, with various theological streams contributing to its foundation, including Pietism, Puritanism, Presbyterianism and the Moravian Church (in particular its bishop Nicolaus Zinzendorf and his community at Herrnhut).^[4] Preeminently, John Wesley and other early Methodists were at the root of sparking this new movement during the First Great Awakening. Today, evangelicals are found across many Protestant branches, as well as in various denominations not subsumed to a specific branch.^[5] Among leaders and major figures of the evangelical Protestant movement were John Wesley, George Whitefield, Jonathan Edwards, Billy Graham, Bill Bright, Harold Ockenga, John Stott and Martyn Lloyd-Jones. The movement gained great momentum during the 18th and 19th centuries with the Great Awakenings in Great Britain and the United States.

In 2016, there were an estimated 619 million evangelicals in the world, meaning that one in four Christians would be classified as evangelical.^[6] The United States has the largest concentration of evangelicals in the world.^[7] American evangelicals are a quarter of the nation's population and its single largest religious group.^[8][9] Evangelical movements can be found in nearly every Protestant denomination and tradition, particularly within Reformed, Baptist, Wesleyan, Pentecostal, Churches of Christ, Plymouth Brethren, charismatic Protestant, and nondenominational Protestant churches.^[10][11]"     Evangelicalism From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia  

, "In 2016, there were an estimated 619 million evangelicals in the world, meaning that one in four Christians would be classified as evangelical.^[6] The United States has the largest concentration of evangelicals in the world.^[7] American evangelicals are a quarter of the nation's population and its single largest religious group",   

           The statement that Evangelicals are "losing ground" is not accurate. 
          Categorizing Evangelicals having some racial component is missing the point of what an Evangelical is. (see my page for another look.)
          As a white Evangelical pastor, I remember sharing a hotel room with a black Evangelical pastor that believes just like I did, and this Billy Graham Crusade was in the city where the Confederacy began. And, for that matter, I also remember a crusade in Asia that had over a million Asians in attendance. And I don't think I'd be mistaken to say that the "house church" in China are evangelicals. 
        To the contrary, the Evangelicals are not "losing ground"--they are gaining new ground, but they may be moving to other places. 

            Frankly, I don't like to bring in politics with my Christian witness but obviously, this article does and raises some issues and brings a lot of points that Christians should know.  I'd like to focus on those in another page.

         One can say that Evangelicals are increasing in number exponentially, in some places--in China, in Africa, but are they doing this in America?
          The writer says so, and

The writer says to Share this (his article)--so I have on the 2nd page.


DO EVANGELICALS  NEED TO CHANGE
               --NEED TO BE BETTER AMERICANS?

EVANGELICALS BRINGING CHANGE

            SO WHO ARE THE EVANGELICALS AND THEIR NEEDING CHANGE

(EVANGELICALS) 

            "Its origins are usually traced to 1738, with various theological streams contributing to its foundation, including Pietism, Puritanism, Presbyterianism and the Moravian Church (in particular its bishop Nicolaus Zinzendorf and his community at Herrnhut).^[4] Preeminently, John Wesley and other early Methodists were at the root of sparking this new movement during the First Great Awakening. Today, evangelicals are found across many Protestant branches, as well as in various denominations not subsumed to a specific branch.^[5] Among leaders and major figures of the evangelical Protestant movement were John Wesley, George Whitefield, Jonathan Edwards, Billy Graham, Bill Bright, Harold Ockenga, John Stott and Martyn Lloyd-Jones. The movement gained great momentum during the 18th and 19th centuries with the Great Awakenings in Great Britain and the United States" 

            the above block type is a quote from Wikipedia, the unbiased encyclopedia.

            As a "white"evangelical", I never knew anyone of these people personally. But I did personally act in the organizations founded by two of these men. With Billy Graham, I was personally in numerous Billy Graham Crusades--both as a spectator, as an active participant, and is a church pastor participant. Bill Bright, took part in the organization that he founded Campus Crusade in all the categories that I personally took part in an Billy Graham Crusades.

            Obviously, in both the mentioned organizations above, there were hundreds if not thousands of individual evangelicals who were active participants.

            I feel compelled to mention other world-renowned evangelical leaders that had organizations much like those mentioned above. One person.

            One person, whom I've never met, was Dawson Trotman, who founded the "Navigators". I came to accept Christ as my Savior due to the Billy Graham associations, but I came to recognize him and the Lord due to the ministry of the Navigators.

            Another person, whom I've met was Dr. Francis Schaeffer. Francis August Schaeffer (January 30, 1912 – May 15, 1984) was an American evangelical theologian, philosopher, and Presbyterian pastor. He is best known for establishing the L'Abri community in Switzerland.  In the mid-1070s, Dr. Schaeffer held a number of Crusades in America, and one of the Crusades was in California where I was a pastor and took part in.