Your New Is In You

Has the unquenched  thirst of unfulfilled goals hardened the soil of your imagination so much so that ideas are only ridiculous thoughts to be sentenced to the prison of not for me? Maybe the routine of life and the familiar voices of caution have drowned out your capacity to believe for more of life’s blessings (good things) just for you.  Are you waiting for the fruition of that hidden dream that seems to scream at you in the early hours of the morning when you should be sleeping? I mean life can be filled with unexpected, unsolicited and unwarranted experiences that if not careful can set in us a mindset that works against the very dreams we dream, goals we go after and successes we strategize towards. As a person, pastor and pilgrim I’ve learned that my mindset can either minimize or maximize my road map to satisfaction and fulfillment. So what’s the flavor of your wineskin? What’s your thought process really like? When was the last time you gave yourself a mental evaluation to see what limiting thoughts you cling too?  What self-defeating perspectives do you ascribe to unknowingly? Really, what’s your flavor of thoughts? Remember, thoughts shape habits and habits shape behaviors that ultimately shape who you become.

I want to challenge you to reflect over the thought patterns that drive the direction of your life. I mean be honest with yourself, you possess a default pattern of thoughts that are triggered the very moment you perceive something similar to a past experience rather it be good or bad. Once you witness the with-ness of you, that witness provides the wherewithal to make the necessary mental adjustments that allows you to pour in new ways of seeing, thinking and being.

Imagine how the simplest change in thoughts can change the quality of your life and life experiences. You can go from can’t do to can do based on what’s in you (how you see the problem)! The imagery and influence of wine is a perfect illustration of what life often calls for. Something smooth and intoxicating.  Sometimes we need a fresh dose of intoxicating ideas that drive us to be someone new. Someone bold and daring. Someone untrained and unbridled by the systems that have handicapped the sober you into submission and surrender. Go ahead and take a hit all “new wine”, no chaser to the head and let the supernatural power of God empower you to new heights, you were made for new wineskins so be you!

Luke 5:38 new wine must be poured into new wineskins.

NBK

 

Your New Is In You

Has the unquenched  thirst of unfulfilled goals hardened the soil of your imagination so much so that ideas are only ridiculous thoughts to be sentenced to the prison of not for me? Maybe the routine of life and the familiar voices of caution have drowned out your capacity to believe for more of life’s blessings (good things) just for you.  Are you waiting for the fruition of that hidden dream that seems to scream at you in the early hours of the morning when you should be sleeping? I mean life can be filled with unexpected, unsolicited and unwarranted experiences that if not careful can set in us a mindset that works against the very dreams we dream, goals we go after and successes we strategize towards. As a person, pastor and pilgrim I’ve learned that my mindset can either minimize or maximize my road map to satisfaction and fulfillment. So what’s the flavor of your wineskin? What’s your thought process really like? When was the last time you gave yourself a mental evaluation to see what limiting thoughts you cling too?  What self-defeating perspectives do you ascribe to unknowingly? Really, what’s your flavor of thoughts? Remember, thoughts shape habits and habits shape behaviors that ultimately shape who you become.

I want to challenge you to reflect over the thought patterns that drive the direction of your life. I mean be honest with yourself, you possess a default pattern of thoughts that are triggered the very moment you perceive something similar to a past experience rather it be good or bad. Once you witness the with-ness of you, that witness provides the wherewithal to make the necessary mental adjustments that allows you to pour in new ways of seeing, thinking and being.

Imagine how the simplest change in thoughts can change the quality of your life and life experiences. You can go from can’t do to can do based on what’s in you (how you see the problem)! The imagery and influence of wine is a perfect illustration of what life often calls for. Something smooth and intoxicating.  Sometimes we need a fresh dose of intoxicating ideas that drive us to be someone new. Someone bold and daring. Someone untrained and unbridled by the systems that have handicapped the sober you into submission and surrender. Go ahead and take a hit all “new wine”, no chaser to the head and let the supernatural power of God empower you to new heights, you were made for new wineskins so be you!

Luke 5:38 new wine must be poured into new wineskins.

NBK

 

Behind Closed Doors

The starting line of life is crowded with eager participants awaiting the sound of the eternal starter’s pistol in hopes of running a victorious leg of life. We all like startled sheep at the sound of a wolf pack rush forward into the meandering roads of the world. Some with early understandings of what it is they hope to accomplish, while others of us figure it out on the go. However, one thing is common amongst us all, that being the unsuspecting chilly winds of worrisome challenges that pop up to play peek-a-boo with our hearts, minds and emotions when we lest expect them too.
Somebody has had one hurricane too many and as a result you find yourself like the disciples locked behind closed doors! Fear has become your running mate, you and doubt play the role of lovers so intimately embraced that potential has lost its wooing power over you.
Someone has rightly stated that fear is “False Evidence Appearing Real” Those disciples had just witnessed the death of their beloved friend, leader, supporter and spiritual guide. Envision them congregated at the kitchen table of life, hopeless, helpless and down-right terrified by the thought of having the same people come after them. Their response to fear was to hide out behind closed doors.
Like them we too can allow the dis-easing, disruptive nature of disappointments to cause us to wave the white flag of surrender to Gods dreams and purposes for our lives. My excitement for life is not found in what happened to me, but rather with what happened in me. Jesus demonstrates to us all the power of resurrection if we “don’t allow exterior discomforts to create interior distrust between us and God!”
A group of broken men sitting behind closed doors intoxicated on fear and frustration found peace, purpose and passion for life when Christ entered into the room of their disappointments. You too can exit the door of doubt, defeat and discouragement when you allow the Freedom giving power of God’s presence into the present circumstances of your lives.
Grace, Peace and Love,
N B King I
John 20:19
19 Then on that same first day of the week, when it was evening, though the disciples were behind closed doors for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, Peace to you!

Posted from WordPress for Android

Be Healed

What is going on with the social climate of our world? I mean with the advent of social media from Smartphones to, Facebook, Oo-voo, Snapchat, Twitter, Periscope and a myriad of other apps one would think we were growing closer as a human family. We have been privileged so much technology to bridge together a global community once divided by distance and cultural ignorance.  Whatever happened too “this land is my land this land is your land?” Wasn’t social media designed to make us more social and sociable to and towards each other?

A quick read on Yahoo News, a quiet conversation with the neighbor in the next cubicle or stroll down Facebooks timeline and one is hit with the horrendous realities of our social Ills. Sandra Bland looking to start a new job on Monday July 13, 2015 only to be found dead in a jail cell, compliments of an unnecessary arrest over a non-blinking signal light.

Don’t forget the Lafayette Louisiana theater shootings that took place this very morning that left 3 dead, one in critical condition and 3 others injured. Did I mention the May pearl Texas police chief that resigned a few days ago over allegations of sexual acts with a minor?  Close your eyes an imagine this. A family of 9, 2 parents, 7 children comfortably couched in a hot bed community. You know rear-entry garage, 5 bedroom home, community pool and well-manicured lawns.

A suitable place to reside and raise a family, now open your eyes and experience the reality of 2 dead parents, 3 dead children and a fourth in critical condition, the culprit the two teenage sons!

A little white-lie regarding the state of our world and one has to conclude we need a spiritual healing if we are ever to experience local, national or global healing.

Healing provides help for the immigrant, mercy towards the incarcerated, Justice in the face of Jim Crows grandchildren and spreads love across the land! How so? You silently ask.  Lean forward with your inner ear and listen closely.

Matthew 8:1-3 When Jesus came down from the mountain, large crowds followed Him. 2And a leper came to Him and bowed down before Him, and said, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” 3Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.…

If you are willing! What an empowering line in the life of people committed to mending broken people, broken communities and a broken world. Sandra Bland was a willing person away from beginning a new episode in such a young life.  The Tulsa Oklahoma gun man that inflicted a parade of bullets on common movie goers was always a willing person away from finding renewed hope in an apparent hopeless life.  A public servant Police Chief broken by the sickness of sexual dysfunction was himself a willing person away from recovery.

Enough with the crime riddled assaults against one another we need to address the immigration laws of our land. Why does the foreigner have to be pushed to the outer fringes of society in America solely because of their birth location? A segment of Americas’ citizens locked out of her economic engine, political process and social strata because they were born on the wrong side of the border.

Secondly, our country is caught in the lust tryst of mass incarceration, institutional racism and self-indulgence.  Our Criminal Justice system is downright criminal in its execution of Justice. Too many of our Black and Latino sons are caught up in a cash-cow penal system for non-violent petty drug offences.  There incarceration sentencing guidelines were crafted for the sole purpose of fueling economic growth within the Justice system under the guise “Hard on Crime”, as a result we have a high percentage population of convicted felons re-entering community streets raped of economic and political vitality in search of some meaningful merger  between their lives and our mercy. If we are willing we can make them whole again.

Racism, Americas’ Cain, has killed more dreams, aspirations and ambitions than any other social sickness the world has ever known! The likes of Donald Trump, Bill Orielly, Sean Hannity and a cohort of likeminded individuals soaked in the semen of white supremacy are constantly giving birth and voice to our national sickness. Our country and quite honestly our world is” high on the marijuana of self-indulgence.” As a nation of people we are ever “puffing on the joint of success at all cost.”

Can we experience a comeback? Sure we can. It starts with each one of us being willing to stretch out our hands towards others for the sole purpose of restoring them back into the fabric of communal life in the areas of economics, political process, social servitude and spiritual awareness.  Simply, because Jesus was willing, a man that had been isolated from family and friends because of his issue (leprosy), for some skin color, others ethnic group or sexual orientation is now reunited with the whole community.

I believe that our world is only a mind shift away from global peace, global justice and global prosperity. It lies at the front door of each and every human being willing to stretch-out their hands for the cause of immigration reform, incarceration reduction, economic equality, social responsibility and spiritual awareness. As off-springs of The Great I Am, when we respond like Jesus, our Am-ness is empowered to empower everyone around us with a sense of wholeness and that is a gift of cleansing by itself!

I am willing! You my readers be healed and go heal someone else.

Nathan B. King

7/24/15

“Wheat Tares and the LGBT Community”

Matthew 13:24-30

As a student of religion having earned three degrees in Religious studies and one honorary Doctorate, I believe I merit some level of proficiency by which I can speak to the current times in regards to the SCOTUS recent ruling concerning marriage amendment. “Equality of marriage” you know the case that has caused all “shit” to hit the fan! Pardon my hood colloquial. I can’t always escape the context that shaped me and quite frankly sometimes I choose to hold near and dear those guardians that watched over me during some of life’s most challenging times.

By now my fellow Christian bruh’s and sistas, sorry brothers and sisters in Christ are surely questioning the efficacy of my salvation. I mean no good Christian would use such “worldly” language so at best I must be a spiritually carnal believer, if saved at all. Please pray for me. I certainly am praying for those that are currently brewing in their religious-indignation. My bad again, I meant spewing in their righteous-indignation. How dare those perverts, heathens, ungodly, nasty, deviants, force their way of life and lifestyle upon us! High fives are at an all-time high amongst religious zealots, spiritual bigots and critical Christians.

Yet, in the quite sanctuary of my being I sense, see and surrender to a better way forward. It comes from the lesson of a parable told about wheat and tares growing together, nestled in the thirteenth chapter of Matthew’s gospel lies a better way forward. I dare you to read it with an open mind.

Here goes “24Jesus presented another parable to them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25“But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away. 26“But when the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the tares became evident also. 27“The slaves of the landowner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ 28“And he said to them, ‘An enemy has done this!’ The slaves said to him, ‘Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?’ 29“But he said, ‘No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them. 30‘Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn.”‘”

The kingdom of heaven, what a refreshing presence in the company of such critical times in human history! Isis, Taliban, human trafficking, global poverty, drone strikes and the list goes on. Have you stopped long enough to compare heaven too the good seeds sown in the field of one’s life? Better yet, has it ever occurred to you that your good deeds could mean the difference between heaven or hell for someone else? In fact I’m certain that one’s misdeeds are sure hell bombs for someone somewhere.

Is it possible for a lesbian, gay, bi-sexual or transgender person to sow good seeds in the fields of their lives? Is the value of one’s life a single act of questionable discretion or the embodiment of ones’ life cycle? I say the later. If I am right it stands to reason that the good deeds sown in one life will spill over into the lives of others. Aha, our LGBT brothers and sisters can bring some good into our lives. As Jesus says, even LGBT people have some slice of heaven to offer! Remember the kingdom of heaven is compared to a man that sowed good seeds.

Then there’s the issue of the enemy coming in and sowing tares, a plant that grows in Palestine which resembles wheat in many ways but is worthless. Those individuals are everywhere. You can find them in churches, synagogues, mosque, heterosexual relationships and homosexual relationships. They serve in police departments, sit on court benches, teach in public and private schools, engage in same-sex activism and preach from pulpits in a neighborhood near you. They are not enemies because of their disagreement with LGBT lifestyles. They are enemies because their intent is to destroy, disrupt and distort the field of ones’ life based on an issue within ones’ life! I hope you can see that we are traveling a two-lane highway. There are perverted heterosexuals that distort the sacredness of the sexual union. You know them, always looking for the next score. Bona fide bed-hoppers! Aiding and abetting every obliging being available. It is always the intent of darkness be it mental or spiritual to oppress and distress the potential for goodness to spring forth.

I like this parable because instead of instructing the workers to pluck up the tares, the shady, worthless growth in the field co-mingled with the wheat, we are told to let them grow together. Why would one suggest such a thing? Could it be that in our effort of up-rooting what appears to be tares today, we could possibly be up-rooting wheat that his yet to fully materialize? More importantly, are we really qualified as flawed beings ourselves to determine who is spiritually wheat and whose not?

Furthermore, I believe it is for the common good of us all that we allow heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual and nonsexual persons to grow together. Why? It affords an opportunity for us all to learn from one another how to respect the common humanity we share. Secondly, it exposes the hidden hypocrisies and bigotries that we are color blind too in our own lives, thus providing a context for our own growth as spiritual beings. Finally, by growing together our creator God is able to reach and reproduce persons caught in the quagmires of life as a result of someone else’s demons forced upon their innocence. Also, for those that came into this world sexually stained by the sin of humanity which we all share, we are better able to identify with their struggles, become more loving, extend more patience and be more helpful in their journey towards Gods intended use of their lives.

The kingdom of heaven is compared to a man that sowed good seeds in his field. I challenge you as readers to be or become those good men and women sowing the good seeds of love, patience, kindness, humility and understanding in the fields of your lives trusting that the growth will spill over into the lives of others affording them an opportunity to experience the kingdom of heaven in this life cycle of hell we all must pass through.

Sincerely,

Nathan B. King

A Live Life Connection

Ego eimi e’ ampelos alethine….I am the vine-True simply rendered “I am the true vine”. Every branch connected to the true source of life by which all of the nutrients needed for life, growth and maturity are found in the main vine of the tree. Some call it the “tree trunk”.
Jesus declares he is the “spiritual tree trunk” through which humanity is able to find awareness, life, growth and maturity that goes beneath superficial existence. Is life at a stand still? Does your gut tell you there’s more too it than what you see? Are you hungry for something that you can’t quite put your finger on? If any of these momentary statements find reality in your experience maybe you should check your connection too the Vine! I know him (Yeshua, Jesus, Isa) to be the True Vine!
John 15:1

“Just Like That”

Just like that I was viewing multiple church websites and captured an idea for our church logo…
The Place Church is not a common name and thus requires some serious creativity in order to “fit in” the 21st century. So how do you image into being something that simply says The Place God wants us all is in the cross? When we answer that question we will have arrived at our logo!

Random

It’s been a week of little progress but I’m assured better is just down the block. My wife will be coming back home tomorrow for two days before heading back out for two weeks. I gave the dog a bath which was very much needed and his breath was Rude! A good brush has done him well.

Bible study time this week has been invigorating! The gospels are life-giving practical life on life driven recordings of Jesus and his ministry highlights. Matthew gives a family lineage that gives hope to all of humanity that potential and promise lies within all of us.
Imagine royalty in the family tree of prostitutes and hustlers like Jacob and Rahab. The encouraging thought is my life and yours can be just as fascinating and faith-filled as Jesus. What then shall we say to these things? Since God is for us, who can be against us? The faith-filled life is a guaranteed adventure waiting to be played out.

N. B. King

Election Day

Today Americans all across the country will be letting there voice be heard by engaging ballot boxes throughout the United States of America. Christian statesmen like Billy Graham have weighed in. Pastors and preachers are mobilizing their congregations and communities to get out the vote! The central theme that gets me is that each party affiliation believes that God is on there side. Truth is God is on both sides and his side is Unity and Compassion toward the least of these in our society.