Kingdom Actions

Learning To Serve and Govern

Dr. Mike 2021, Kingdom Actions , ,

Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.

Revelation 20:6

So, when you get to heaven, what do you think you will be doing? Laying around on hammocks?  Taking short walks through the countryside? Fishing on your favorite river?

What does the Bible imply?

When Christ returns and we who have followed HIM in this life will be resurrected and join him in his plan for humanity. This is the first resurrection. As today’s Scripture indicates, we who are resurrected will be given assignments which involve being priests (serving ministers) and will reign (govern) with Jesus during the millennium.

Yes, we will be serving and governing God’s way.

So, what does that indicate you are learning now in this life to prepare you for eternity? Correct, we are learning how to serve and govern God’s way.

As married couples, we are learning to mutually serve one another. As parents, we are learning to govern our households. In the marketplace, we are learning to serve others through our work. In the community, we are likewise learning to serve when we volunteer to help a worthwhile mission. If we have been given the opportunity, we may also be learning to govern in the marketplace and community depending on our leadership abilities.

In fact, each day you and I are learning to become more effective leaders while serving and governing others. Not like this world teaches, but as Christ teaches. We lead and govern not by lording over another person, but humbly serving them from a position of love for our Father God’s glory. We realize each person we meet is a child of the living God and is likewise being trained in godly character. They may not realize the full importance nor accept the authority of the Triune God in their life yet, but in time who knows the future. Nothing is impossible for God.

So, the next time someone asks you what you will be doing in the world tomorrow. Let them know its what you are doing today – learning to serve and govern God’s way.

Rooting For You in Christ!

Dr. Mike

Encourager & Author of e-Books

 *  Dancing With God: Life-Giving Theology Explained
 *  Great Business Emulates a Good God
 *  Be Radical…Follow Christ!
 *  Simply The Messenger
 *  Unequally Married

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Christmas: A Time to Decide

Dr. Mike Kingdom Actions

Colossians 1:27

To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Christmas has changed over the years for me. In prior years, the commercial exchange of gifts took top priority. Today though, it has become more of a quiet, intentional, outreach time for a personal evangelical campaign.

I have also come to more appreciate the spirit of giving which still permeants throughout the season. People are more in a sharing and philanthropic mood as witness by many nonprofit charity campaigns raising the majority of their operating funds during this time of year.

From the Salvation Army Santa Claus standing by their red kettles ringing their bells, to Churches being full to capacity with family and friends coming together to hear at least one message about the Biblical Jesus Christ, I’ve now come to appreciate the season more for this prime reason. Christmas is a global reminder for everyone within the western and eastern world to take a minute and ask themselves the question, why is this Jesus important?

If you are a once a year church going member, then maybe you may have heard 20 to 60 messages in your lifetime about this Jesus who was born 2,000 years ago in a small Jewish town of Bethlehem. And maybe one of those messages led you to further investigate into his life. Somewhere along the line you came to the fork in the road where you had to decide. Is He who He claims to be or not? If so, am I willing to follow Him. If not, am I willing to accept the consequences of my actions?

Every person who breathes will have to make that decision. Yes, it is about making a choice. A commitment to follow a person who lived 2,000 years ago, started a movement with 12 unknowns that shaped a culture that keeps ticking and growing in the most unwelcome places throughout the centuries.

To believe God became man, lived among His creation for our benefit as a perfect human upholding all righteousness for our sake, dying, and then being resurrected with over 500 witnesses acknowledging this fact, and finally being lifted up into the heavens where He now lives being qualified as earth’s King, intervening for you and I before God, and just as mind blowing, His Spirit residing in you and I giving us His assurance and a taste of the heavenly delights of God’s character within us.

Totally unbelievable except proven over and over again by those who have surrendered to His Lordship. We, from all the saints in the 1st century to those of us today, have followed, tasted, and experienced the richness of living with the King every day. For some of us, it’s the great dance of life to have a relationship with the living God. For others, it’s simply to have a Father to lean on during those tough times. And for many, it may be a close, personal friend or brother to share life’s good and bad times.

Yes, Christmas is that time of year where God’s Spirit is on display for many to witness and decide whether or not Jesus Christ is who He claims to be. I for one am thankful for the decision to start following Him some fifty years ago. The knowledge, understanding, and wisdom obtained these years has gracefully changed over time as His Spirit lives within me and molds me into his character. This is one of many thoughts that I am reminded and thankful for this season of the year.  I hope you are too.    

Enjoy Christmas with your love ones! 

Rooting For You in Christ!

Dr. Mike

Encourager & Founder of
Vocational Leadership 360
Author of e-Books:

 *  Dancing With God: Life-Giving Theology Explained
 *  Great Business Emulates a Good God
 *  Be Radical…Follow Christ!
 *  Simply The Messenger
 *  Unequally Married

Encourage a Friend…Share Today’s Message!

Copyright 2013-2020 Abbaco LLC | All Rights Reserved

Your Cross. Your Responsibility.

Dr. Mike Kingdom Actions , , ,

Luke 9:23

And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

What is your cross?

As this Scripture indicates, to follow Jesus requires each of us to place our wants and desires secondary to Him, and accept daily our responsibility toward God and others.

But this still begs the question, what is your cross to carry?

Jesus’ daily cross was to fulfill the mission he accepted from the foundation of the world from His God. His daily exercise to cross the “T” and dot the “i” in a godly manner involved working in the carpentry shop before his public ministry and then the pronouncement and teaching of His Kingdom before others in the last three years of his earthly venture. He carried the responsibility of moving events toward his trial, execution, and resurrection. He laid the foundation for a Church to outlast history. His incarnate actions were done as a substitute for you and I. He reflected God’s intentions in all his actions and words. He learned obedience through his daily struggles. He experienced pain and suffering as a human. He knew the hatred others had for him yet lived each day resting in His Father’s Will and bore the responsibility of teaching and serving others in God’s name.

That was His cross. But what is the cross you carry?

As we mature in life, we begin to accept greater and greater responsibility. Some people seek it out which is normal in our earlier adult days. Others have responsibility thrusts upon them by others and either meet the call or succumb to its weight. Then others accept commitments toward a personal goal or relationship and hold themselves personally accountable toward fulfilling that decision.   

Your cross in the eyes of others may be a minor stone you have to carry each day. But to you the perception is the other way around. Your cross is a large boulder which requires all your strength and focus each day while your friend’s cross is a pocket stone. And they likewise see it the other way around.

Your cross may be the burden of a broken relationship; financial hardship caused by outside forces outside your control; or maybe the outcome of back to back poor decisions which has left you beaten, broken, and busted. Yet, these are the cards you have and Jesus says accept your situation and take the responsibility to fix it by following him toward your new future. You may be a single mom working three jobs and raising two children. You may be a widower in poor health caring for someone else who likewise is struggling through life. Or you may be an entrepreneur putting yourself together again after failing in your third business venture.

Your cross may be a defective health issue that has you struggling each day simply to get around. Or maybe even the threat of your life for leaving your previous religion to follow Jesus. And yet others, it may simply be to marry the person who birth your child out of wedlock and give them a father and home-life as a foundation for a successful life.

As a Christ follower, it is not about you. Each of us has a boulder to push, a mountain to climb, or an ocean to cross. To follow Jesus requires us to accept the responsibility of completing the race before us with all its obstacles. Not as a victim nor an evil rabble rouser, but as a child of the living God. As we accept personal responsibility for our actions, and trust Jesus to lead us via the Holy Spirit, we will find meaning and purpose with our life. In fact, you will find yourself growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ unto maturity as a believer and finisher of your faith.      

Rooting For You in Christ!

Dr. Mike

Encourager & Founder of
Vocational Leadership 360
Author of e-Books:

 *  Dancing With God: Life-Giving Theology Explained
 *  Great Business Emulates a Good God
 *  Be Radical…Follow Christ!
 *  Simply The Messenger
 *  Unequally Married

Encourage a Friend…Share Today’s Message!

Copyright 2013-2020 Abbaco LLC | All Rights Reserved