Creating a Kingdom Culture

My desire is to not simply pastor a healthy New Testament church, but to actually see a thriving Kingdom Culture established within our family of believers. A Kingdom Culture that will bring heaven's realities to earth in such a way that our community and region, can't help but take notice and are forever changed.

Whenever a culture changes it is because the people of that culture begin to change the way they think. The Bible calls this process repentance leading to a renewed mind.

I was reading a book Bill Johnson (one of my favorite authors) and found 4 cornerstones of thought that are needed before a Kingdom Culture can be established within a church. Last week I had the chance to sit down with Bill over breakfast and have him share more on these four areas. The thoughts below are taken from that conversation as well as his book, "Face to Face" p. 194-196.

4 Cornerstones of thought:

#1 God is good.
God really is in a good mood. He might be mad at someone, somewhere but He's not mad at me. I'm his kid. God really is better than we think, so we need to change the way we think. We cannot afford to live this life with thoughts going through our minds that are not in His.
Brewing in the earth right now is a conflict and the leading issue in this conflict will be centered around the goodness of God.

#2 Nothing is impossible.
As believers we have been assigned to invade what has previously been called impossible. Many Christians believe in miracles but shrink back from contending for miracles. One of the saddest parts of this belief and practice is that we begin to think over time that the rest of the Christian life is actually possible! The fact that I am able to love others, have a desire to read and apply God's Word into my life, etc. all require supernatural grace and empowering. Jesus meant what He said in Mark 9:23. You know your mind is renewed when the impossible looks logical.

#3 We fight from the victory of Christ.
The warfare we engage in as believers is not in order to win a battle but rather to enforce the victory Jesus already won for us at the cross. The church of Jesus Christ is not on the defensive. We are on offense and have been given the ball. We are living out Jesus' win, not living in such a way as not to lose. There is a big difference. This revelation will change the way we pray, worship, lay hands on the sick, etc.

#4 I am significant
The discovery of this biblical truth is so liberating and actually produces true humility. There is a humility that comes from seeing our past. But the greater measure of humility comes from seeing our future. As the Holy Spirit leads us into a greater discovery of personal significance our awareness of our dependency on God actually grows. Face it....we are a big deal in heaven and we are a big deal on this earth. We just need to be careful not to confuse our destiny with our assignment. Our destiny is heaven and our assignment is to bring it to this earth. Our Father has entrusted to us the continuation and fulfillment of the mission, His Son, our elder brother Jesus began. (I John 3:8)

What a playbook, what promises, what a family, what challenges, what empowerment, what a life our Father has called us to live!

I personally don't have time to be bored when I take a moment to think about the hour in which we live:)