What Kingdom Are You Bringing? by Brother Curtis Hansen

         Good morning. This morning's scripture reading will come from the book of James chapter 3. We are going to be reading starting at verse 13. James was the head, the pastor of the church of Jerusalem. James was the younger brother of Jesus. His church had experienced a lot of persecution in those days and its members had been scattered. We start at verse 13;

        13 Who is a wise man and endured with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.

        14 But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.

        15 This wisdom descends not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.

        16 For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.

        17 But the wisdom that is from above and is most pure, then peaceable, gentle and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

        18 And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.

        A question I want to pose to you this morning. Can you have faith in Jesus and be frustrated? Yes you can. What is the cause of your frustration? It isn't something momentous or life altering grand. It's more about your thinking and experience in daily life. How you let things affect you and your thinking can either bring heaven down or bring hell up.

        The scriptures say that we are made in God's image and likeness as well as the angels were when he created them. Satan was known as Lucifer among the heavenly host and he was critical of his role as well as God's reign. Here today as it was back then it takes zero effort to be critical about anything or anyone at length. Our flesh is designed by original sin to be critical. Bringing hell up begins with criticism.

        Satan wasn't about servitude and praise before he was cast down from heaven. Almost everyone aspires to have faith at all times, but you are in between two cultures. One culture is bringing down the kingdom of heaven while the other is bringing the kingdom of hell up. The choices you make and the actions you do indicate what kingdom you are bringing. Reflect on this question. What values are you chasing in your life?

        The values are different between the culture of the world and the culture of Jesus. At the time of this letter we read was being written, James was addressing things that the church was facing. The beginning of this chapter was about the tongue being our most unruly member. It is your primary duty, not merely job, to deliver your house and your life to salvation.

        In verse 13, Let his show his wisdom in his speech and meek in action. You don't need to be a push over and weak in your life. You are asked to be meek. Bringing up the kingdom of hell isn't merely just sin, its the iniquities and values of the kingdom you follow. Earthly, sensual, devilish is spoken of in verse 15. Are those elements you decide your daily walk in?

        Im going to talk about bitterness. James wrote of bitter envying in this passage. When we work blindly in offense and slights daily, that fuels our bitterness. Bitter envying and strife will lead you to you lying against Jesus, who is the truth, and you won't even realize it at first. An example of bitter envying is when you see someone receive a healing and you didn't get a touch. You pride yourself as a good singer, but the praise group doesn't have an open spot. What kind of attributes have you shown this week?

        Many of us will talk to others about how we are up against the devil day in and out, fighting him back and keeping him away. We're really often just fighting against our flesh nature rather than the devil or evil spirits. This goes back in to what you are putting into your life. What things you consume, watch, listen to. If you are envying someone's gift or talent, you are envying God himself. The way you should look at this is there's Him, them, and you. Your relationship with God has an effect on your relationship with others. If you're mad at God for not moving quick enough on something in your life, there's a reflection in the world of you slighting another. 

        Ambition is my next point to touch on. Is ambition bad? No it isn't. The question is what is the motivation? Is your ambition about the word "my"? Are you constantly referencing my this and my that in your walk? If you have it about you all the time, you are bringing hell up. Ambition needs to be tethered to servanthood rather than selfishness. 

        Glory not- we boast our positions and plans. Is it bad? Yes, if you glory is only on yourself. Boast on God and what he does for you. Give God the glory and not yourself.

        Review your testimony. How you testify either glories yourself or it glories God. Is your testimony a true testimony or a biography? Has God delivered you from something or are you lifting yourself up?

        We are not for or against people. We are tasked to be impartial to others and reasonable. "easy to be intreated" verse 17. If you are against something adamantly, you will be against God eventually.

        There are two kingdoms. There is the kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Satan. Which kingdom are you fighting for in your life?

        The next point I want to make is the difference between christian theology and critical theory. Theology in the scripture is to be read, understood, and followed. Critical theory is questioning everything. It takes established roles and processes and distorts them. We can use critical theory in the church. It isn't just limited to the world.

        There are parallels today that are similar to when James penned his letter. You can lead by control. You want to design and write more rules and laws to control others around you. Or you can influence others in peace. You are not in conflict with people, but you are in conflict between kingdoms.