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Life Around "The Fire"
Life Around "The Fire"
The Power of the Spirit and the Ways of God's Love To Us and Through Us When We Become Citizens of His Kingdom
What if the secret to truly understanding the power of God's Kingdom lies not just in what Jesus taught, but in how He lived? This episode of Life Around the Fire takes you on a spiritual odyssey, revealing profound insights into the Kingdom of God and the unwavering love that defines it. I share my journey of admiration and commitment to Jesus, as well as the transformative power of becoming a citizen of this divine realm. By exploring the essence of God's Kingdom, we uncover a culture nurtured by infinite goodness and unconditional love—a stark contrast to the information overload of our daily lives. This isn't just about theology; it's an invitation to experience a deeper connection with Jesus through personal stories and spiritual wisdom.
Get ready to witness the Kingdom's true nature as we delve into Jesus's life and how His actions made the invisible visible through the Holy Spirit. Empowered by the same Spirit that raised Him from the dead, we believers are called to demonstrate God's love and authority on earth. Discover the gentle yet powerful essence of operating from love, faith, and authority as we dissect 1 Corinthians 13 and stories from the Gospels. Concluding with a heartfelt prayer, we express gratitude and hope that even one soul may be touched by the message shared. You're invited to join the conversation, fostering a community that truly understands the importance of connection in our spiritual journeys.
Loving Yeshua/Jesus, Loving people... Come as you are and you will be loved!
Feel free to check out our website by typing in lifearounsthefire.com or Life Around The Fire ... We think you'll find some beneficial stuff to look at and apply to your life.
Shalom to you and your home.
Howdy folks, I want to welcome you to another episode of Life Around the Fire. My name is David Ruttari and I got to tell you I really look forward to being the host of this episode today, because we are continuing to focus in on three things that are perhaps my favorite, three things to think about and talk about and live out in all of the world. And that's number one Jesus. I love him, he is amazing. And number two, the kingdom of God, which I'm absolutely sold out.
Speaker 1:When it comes to the kingdom of God, I've given up everything. I've sold out. I'm sold out, man. I have given everything. When I say given up, I should say I've given everything that I have to the whole purpose of being a citizen of God's kingdom. I don't want anything else, man. I don't have a craving for anything else but to be a citizen of his kingdom and to really know how his kingdom, how this realm I was about to say that realm, how this realm, because I've been born into it, born again into the kingdom of God, the realm of God's rule and reign. What goes on inside of God is what goes on inside of the kingdom of God, because he is central, he is king, and so whatever's on his mind, whatever's on his heart, whatever comes out of his mouth, that's what makes up the culture of his kingdom, and I want to be, and I'm going to be, part of it, because God has redeemed me from where I once was into the place where I am now, and that is a citizen of his kingdom and one of his sons, powerful, and Jesus has made that possible. And the third thing that I love talking about is the love of God, god's love, his quality of infinite goodness, his unconditional way of knowing how to demonstrate love, even when we, as people, are unlovable. So I'm going to be your host today and we're going to take the next 25-30 minutes and focus in on those three things, but before we do, what I'd like to do is take a moment and pray, because we all live in a very busy world that has a lot of information coming our way.
Speaker 1:We live in the information age, man. We have information that's available to us that would have taken people months to gather before. We can now gather in a few moments. So we have access to information and information has access to us, and so we can be really filled with a lot of information, but really no focus. We can want a hundred things all at the same time and do nothing, because we're just jammed full of information. We know a lot, but we don't really live a lot.
Speaker 1:Well, we've come to understand that what we behold most, or who we behold most, is what, or who we become like, and so our intention and purpose in this particular podcast Life Around the Fire is for each person listening to absolutely fall deeply in love with Jesus, to be a born-again citizen of God's kingdom and to know and understand the love of God, both to you and through you. But that takes focus, and so we're going to ask God to help us focus now for the next 25, 30 minutes, to shepherd our thoughts like a shepherd sheep and bring them to a place where they can be calm and we can focus our attention accordingly. So let's pray. Father, I love you and I thank you for who you are and for what you're doing and how you're doing it. Thank you for calling us, thank you for choosing us, thank you for giving to us your Son, your life, your Spirit. Thank you, holy Spirit. We ask that you would come right now upon us and focus our attention in on Jesus and the Kingdom of God, so that we can function and be like him, so we can experience him personally and demonstrate him publicly. So we offer ourselves to you and invite you to consume us with your presence and empower us to continue to see your kingdom demonstrated in earth as it is in heaven, thank you God, and we stand here, just like Jesus stood here in his name, and we say so be it. Amen, amen, amen, amen.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like in preparing for this episode, man, I got to tell you I was a little bit nervous at first and I'm'm like we've now done 600 plus episodes in this particular podcast alone. Okay, so it's not like this is the first time doing an episode, but this episode carries with it something feels like it carries with it something special and something that really is happening to me, but it's also beyond me. It's not something I really have the ability to completely articulate and, although it makes me nervous, I also I kind of like that. I like the fact that God is both purifying me, but also he is empowering me and, in the process, he's teaching me how to trust him, when I really don't know exactly what's going to be taking place next.
Speaker 1:All right, and so I do know this, though, that our focus has been and will remain on the kingdom of God, specifically, and the person of Jesus and the love of God specifically, and the person of Jesus and the love of God motivating the driving power, the driving force in his kingdom, and we could, you know. I mean, there are a variety of attributes of God that we could talk about that make up his kingdom, or God in his kingdom, and they would be like omnipotence, the power to do anything. Omniscience, the ability to know everything. Omni-benevolence wow the quality of being supremely good. Omni-presence the quality of being supremely good. Omni-presence, the quality of being everywhere at all times. Eternity, the quality of existing with no beginning and no end. And love, the quality of infinite goodness. Now love, now love is the motivating, driving power in God's kingdom. That is what he wants to demonstrate, and he's in the process of doing. That has been from creation, but we are now living in a day and an age where there is a movement of God's Spirit across the nations that is producing a greater demonstration of God's kingdom and of his presence. It's mounting, it's growing, it's growing, it's continually growing, it's going to continue to grow. It's going to go over our heads. God is going to make his presence known, because he's setting the record straight.
Speaker 1:There have been a lot of things spoken about him. Some have been accurate, some have been kind of a mixture and some have been absolutely wrong, even nefariously evil, Deceptive, distorted. But God, his presence and the demonstration of His kingdom, his power and His glory are upon us right now. Jesus came to reveal what God is like. He wanted us to see from the invisible what God is like. So God became visible, his kingdom being invisible, he wants us to see what it's like. So it becomes manifest by the power of the Holy Spirit, and we are born into it by the power of the Holy Spirit, and we are born into it by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1:The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead now dwells in those who believe in him, who have their faith in him. What he did on the cross, he did for us when he rose from the dead. He rose from the dead for us when he rose from the dead. He rose from the dead for us so that we too could conquer death. And he ascended to the right hand of the Father so we too can ascend to the highest height and function from the highest realm, even now, in part, but that in part is so great that the motivating aspect of it has compelled me to set aside everything else. I am consumed with the person of Jesus Christ. God is being my Heavenly Father, being empowered by his Spirit and being a citizen, a mature citizen, of his kingdom, so that I can demonstrate things in the earth just like Jesus did, and I can function like he's functioning right now, at the right hand of the Father, because that is my eternal call, that is our eternal destiny, that's the call upon our life Wow, but love being the motivating driving force of his kingdom.
Speaker 1:It's important for us to understand that, because there can be misconceived notions regarding what it's like to function in the kingdom of God. Many people don't even know that there is such a thing as the kingdom of God and, as those of us who are citizens, it's our privilege and our responsibility to demonstrate it and to do it in love. Ah, there, we go right Not to do it, because we have a big badge that says kingdom of God on it and a big gun that says kingdom of God on it, and that we rule by intimidation. Don't mess with me, I'm part of the kingdom of God. I mean there's a temptation for us to do that. It's like there's a temptation for us to do that. It's like there's a temptation for us to do it by seductive reasoning, to portray things in a seductive fashion. You know, you become part of God's kingdom. You can have seven wives when you die kingdom. You can have seven wives when you die. A seductive reasoning behind things is a temptation to buy into and to propagate.
Speaker 1:But that's not the driving force of the kingdom of God. It's God's unconditional love. And there are qualities to love. There are varying qualities. A person can love to go fishing, but that's different than the way that you love your child. A person can love to have a good meal, but that's different than loving your spouse. And the love of God is the highest form of love that there is. It's perfect in its goodness and it's unconditional. It's unconditional, it's unconditional. I'm intentionally letting that kind of hang in the air for a minute because it takes a moment to really fathom that and to grasp that and to appreciate that it's unconditional. It doesn't have strings attached. He is love. It's not that he has to try, he is, and that is the predominant expression of the power of his kingdom, and his kingdom is the most powerful. It's got more dunamis. It's got more dunamis, it's got more dynamite in it than all of the explosives taken together on planet Earth, and yet it's so gentle it can cause a baby to coo in its crib. So we've been looking at some of the aspects of what love is right, the love of God, and in 1 Corinthians, chapter 13, the Apostle Paul wrote down an incredible chapter concerning the various shades of God's love, or various aspects of his love, and we've been looking at that. But we've been looking into the Gospels, at the kingdom of God and how Jesus modeled it, because that's the perfect example. And then Luke, chapter 8, verses 22 through 25, we have a demonstration, an example of Jesus demonstrating his love this way. There was a storm that was raging at sea and Jesus and his disciples were in the storm and there was every occasion to be stressed out, terrified actually because of it, because it was a real heavy storm on the Sea of Galilee and that body of water was notorious for having quick storms, squalls that would come in, and a squall could literally swamp a ship in a moment because it had that much water in that body of water. And so there was a squall, a storm, and the disciples were concerned and Jesus was, but also the quality of it, because he calmly addressed the wind and the waves and told them to stop. Literally, he said be quiet. And they were. Now faith was in operation, but the undergirding force was love. And Jesus went on to explain to his disciples why they shouldn't be afraid. It was because he said we're going to go to the other side of the lake. We're going to go to the other side and lake. We're going to go to the other side. And this squall was trying to prevent them from going to the other side and Jesus would have no part in it. And he said we can live that way, you can do that stuff, you can take authority like this. God's not going to allow that to happen to us. He loves us too much. And furthermore, I said, we're going to the other side. It's not easily provoked. Love is not easily provoked.
Speaker 1:However, a quick story about being provoked in my first marriage and, for the record, I've not always been like I am now. I have lived at times a very different lifestyle and it's led me to do things that I'm not proud of now, but nonetheless I was involved in them at the time and so in my first marriage my wife at the time was accusing me of having an interest in another woman and she called me a soap opera dude and I got irate and I used to have a horrible temper. I would literally see red, and if I saw red that was a dangerous thing because I wouldn't stop until I didn't see red anymore. Unfortunately, I've never killed anyone, but that is the type of anger that I had and I remember looking at her and I pulled back my fist and I was going to hit her and I was going to hit her but instead I turned around and I put my fist through the door Pain that we had a wooden door. I was provoked. Love doesn't behave that way. Love is not easily provoked.
Speaker 1:In Mark, chapter 14, jesus is as it's recorded here. He is on trial for his life. Literally this is the night in which he was betrayed, the night prior to his crucifixion. They were going to crucify, they're going to kill Jesus because the religious community didn't appreciate being revealed for what it was and that was a sham. It was a sham and the religious leaders wanted to get rid of Jesus because he was showing people the truth and they were becoming free. And the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the ruling class were ruling by keeping them afraid. They didn't want them to be free, they wanted to fear them. And Jesus wanted to free them, to become citizens of the kingdom of God and fulfilling their true call and destiny, their true identity. And the Pharisees were borrowing access into the kingdom because they were afraid that if the people would experience that they would lose their power, they would lose all their money, their positions of prominence in the community.
Speaker 1:Love is not easily provoked. Well, they had a trial that they put Jesus on and they were lying about him. One person after another were telling misstated truth or outright lies. And in Mark, chapter 14, verses 60 through 62, mark writes and the high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus saying Do you answer nothing? What is this? That these men are testifying against you? But he, jesus, kept silent and answered nothing. Again, the high priest asked him saying Are you the Christ, the Son of the blessed God? Jesus said I am, and you will see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of the power of God, the Father, and coming with the clouds of heaven and you remain calm.
Speaker 1:Love is able to stand up against things that are said about us and can be calm and assured, doesn't have to act in a angry and provoked manner. It's powerful. That's really amazing how love conquers through being calm. Love also carries itself with a true air of dignity, not rude behavior. Love is not rude, love has dignity.
Speaker 1:Again, concerning Jesus, in Matthew the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 12, verse 24, he's accused again. They're trying to cause him to either demonstrate himself like an angry fool or to break the law that he was fulfilling perfectly, somehow to get him to stumble. But love, you see, love sustains us. If we can keep ourselves focused on the heart of God, we will be able to withstand false accusations. And some of us experience real challenging situations involving the way people treat you. Oh man, some of you have got some really negative things coming your way and you have demonstrated, maybe, some rude behavior. Once it happens, you can't put the toothpaste back in the tube. It comes out. Once it happens, you can't put the toothpaste back in the tube, it comes out.
Speaker 1:But in this instance, jesus is being challenged by these people and they say to him, they say about him and right to his face. They say you're doing this by, you're using sorcery, you're doing this by the power of Satan, by demons. And Jesus answered them in dignity and said you know, a house divided against itself is not going to stand. Satan tried to cast out Satan. He's going to fall. But if I do this by the power of Satan, who, whose power do you use to do this? It's dignity. He carried himself with dignity, love. It wasn't him biting the bullet and saying, oh, what I'd really like to do is chop your head off.
Speaker 1:But what he literally had moving inside of him was a genuine pity and concern for what they were saying, because they didn't know what they were saying. Yes, he could clearly say to them you're wrong, you are a whitewashed tomb, you're doing these things. But that didn't mean that he ultimately didn't want them to experience the love of God. He did, but they wouldn't have it. Ultimately didn't want them to experience the love of God. He did, but they wouldn't have it. They didn't want it.
Speaker 1:But I'm saying to you, I'm saying to myself let's keep our eyes focused on Jesus because he's the source. Focused on Jesus because he's the source. By focusing on him, the power of God, the Spirit. Holy Spirit gives us the love of God, the very life of God within us. When we're born of the Spirit, the very life of God can rise up and address the situation and, instead of acting in a rude way or having rude behavior, we can walk with an air of dignity. Instead of lashing out and then regretting what we say or do later, we can calmly address the situation and we can walk through it with the love of God in us and actual concern for those who are demonstrating things in a contrary way. About us, about God, we can have love. Love is a driving force in the kingdom of God. It is part of the culture, it's what's in the air of the kingdom. It's the air we breathe in the kingdom that's full of love.
Speaker 1:Praise God, let's pray Father, I thank you once again for the privilege that you give us to walk with you, that you give us to walk with you. Holy Spirit, I ask that you take these words and that you would spread them around and that there would be something of substance that would land on one person's heart, just one. If at least just one Lord, just one person would benefit from one thing that's been spoken hallelujah. So I trust you with that and I thank you, and we stand here together in the name of Jesus and we say so be it. Kingdom come, will God be done In earth as it is in heaven? Amen, amen, amen. All right folks, I love you. If you have any thoughts, questions, concerns, please feel free to drop us a line at lifearoundthefire at gmailcom, or type in lifearoundthefire at gmailcom. Or type in lifearoundthefire and look us up on the web. We would love to hear from you in the meantime. God bless you. Adios amigos.