Archived Daily Manna | Rejoice Fellowship | A mission to release people to rejoice in the world.

Message: Christ’s Kingdom is not of this world. All of us are sinners, and all of us sin by choosing things of this world over things of God. Why do we choose to gratify the desires of the flesh, which are opposed to the desires of the Spirit? When do we plan to stop? The Biblical relationship of the Christian to this world can seem difficult to understand. Yet, like most broad concepts in the Bible, misunderstandings arise not because the Bible itself is unclear, but because we have difficulty listening to God rather than our own thoughts. Where something in the Bible disagrees with our preconceptions, values we learned growing up, or anything that has been firmly implanted, we try to harmonize them. The French have a brilliant expression for such a preconception — “idée fixe” (literally, “fixed idea”), an idea that becomes so deeply rooted in our minds that it cannot be dislodged, no matter how powerful the contrary evidence. Wolf reading, from an illuminated Bible. The Bible is the very Word of God. We must therefore conform ourselves to it. In reality, however, when something in the Bible bumps up against an idée fixe, we would rather change the Bible than change our minds. The process can be as subtle as a translator choosing a word that conforms to his notions, or as radical as intentionally deleting Bible passages and/or inserting one’s own teaching. But for most of us, conforming our lives and the Bible consists of rationalization: finding a line of logic that enables us to delude ourselves, so that we think we are following the Bible, when we are not. If you do not think you do this, here is an exercise that might help show . In Matthew 5, Christ teaches a very simple lesson: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, . . . ” Is ISIS (or the Taliban, or the KKK, or Antifa) your enemy? Do you love them and pray for them? Try to stand back and identify the reasons your mind will invent, the “but” sentences, why Christ’s teaching does not apply to your actual enemy. angelic host People who want to call themselves Christians are often shocked, and sometimes outraged, to hear that patriotism is not a Christian virtue. People want to be Christians and, at the same time, kill their enemies. But one can search the New Testament, from alpha to omega, without finding a teaching that any nation of earth is holy to God. “[O]ur citizenship is in heaven.” (Philippians 3:20) The only nation even mentioned, in connection with God’s Kingdom, is Israel. Is the modern-day State of Israel the nation of God? Galatians tells us just the opposite. In Galatians 4:21-31, Paul tells us that earthly city of Jerusalem is the capital city of slavery, which must be rejected by anyone who would find freedom in Christ. He actually commands us to “cast out the slave woman and her son,” for they will not inherit the Kingdom of God. The “New Jerusalem” (which Paul calls the “above Jerusalem”) is not located in modern-day Israel. It exists only in the Kingdom of God — which Christ tells us is not of this world.