SOTERIA

Church and Ministry News

THE STORY Of SOTERIA®

{so-ta-ree’-ah}

Greek New Testament word for             

SALVATION, DELIVERANCE, & HEALTH!

A cross-denominational empowerment part of the church, spreading the Gospel of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, feeding the poor, healing the sick, and equipping the saints to do the work of the ministry.

 

December 2007          Quarterly  © Soteria Ministries 2003                       EDITION 5 Vol. 4

SOTERIA Church and Ministry News is a quarterly publication to inform and  enlist everyone

to work out their Salvation by Loving others and living a disciplined life in CHRIST!

A Kingdom with no King?

         Throughout Church history we have seen the manifestation of the “Gospel” or “Good News” of Jesus Christ. We are again about to enter the time of year where we celebrate the birth of Jesus and all the events surrounding it. This is what we traditionally call “Christ’s Mass” or Christmas. Now, I’m not going into all the details of His birth date, Nimrod, secular celebrations, etc. That’s not what is really important. No more important than focusing on the devil in your life instead of Jesus, who He is, and what He’s done for you. What I would like to focus on is the King Himself.

             Since before the foundations He was crowned King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He has always held the highest position over mankind and creation. Everything that we know of and can comprehend is under His feet and under His domain. This is called His Kingdom. He IS King and everything under Him is His KINGDOM.

             Christ’s birth brought in the physical body of the spiritual King. His crucifixion, death, and resurrection, denoted the absolute power He has over everything, including death. Now, there’s no question as to not only who He is and what He stands for, but also the awesome power He wields under His authority. So, does Jesus stand over us and wave His power to make us slaves and punish us for continually not being obedient, sinful, and self-willed? Does He constantly judge our every thought and action while keeping a complete record so as to show everyone who ever lived all the wrongs we’ve done at the time of judgment? Is He keeping score and having some angel walk around with us ready to strike us dead if we do not act and speak exactly as we’re supposed to when we’re supposed to?

             What if I told you, yes, that is true! Would you feel like all your inner most fears and intuition would cry out and say “I knew it!” That is how the majority of the church, since it’s birth at Pentecost, has been seeing Jesus and the Father, God, even during the Old Testament days. Believe me, most people alive today see themselves under total

Continued……….over

 During this fall season we have come through another very intense learning season regarding the Church membership and God’s Kingdom.  It amazes me how many people are still clamoring for a “good word” or a “blessing” in order to escape the consequences of their own choices, sin nature of all those around us, or just the pruning and discipline the Lord God wants to bring to our lives in order for us to be more effective for Him.  It is amazing to me how unattached so many people are to the reality of our  mission here on Earth. It also amazes me, even though we are constantly faced with disease, poverty, disappointment , and destruction of relationships, families, and ministries, there is no real coming face-to-face with this reality. Many people run towards whatever allows them to escape confrontation and opposition to whatever is their own comfort zone in life. In other words, if disease, uncomfortable consequences in relationships, or other types of opposition to our own opinions, traditions, or beliefs come in to confront us, we simply do not want to be challenged by these thing. We defer to get offended and crawl between some emotions and react with self defense or we end a relationship and go on to another one, another church, another ministry, or even another group of friends altogether.

             When I was not attending church for 24 years in my life I had the tenacity to deal with the many problems that faced me on a daily basis until they were resolved. If I had a disagreement with a friend, or even a customer in my business, I would always be able to make amends by confronting the situation with what I thought was my viewpoint, understand theirs, then resolve it and move on together. The relationship was preserved and even made stronger because you knew exactly where the other person was “coming from”. But after coming back into the fold of church and dealing with those “saints”, I am shocked that the tenacity to resolve is rather to run. I mean, what’s the point in leaving a situation unresolved? Why carry that burden in your bosom for the rest of your life as a wound and an offense? Our prayer now is that if the church is to grow up, it’s members begin to face the reality of our differences and love each other in spite and because of them, and continue to support each other! We continue to love and pray for all of you!