So Much More: Moving Beyond Kingdom Principles to Kingdom Power Read Online Free PDF

plant. They poured into us by allowing us to come and participate in their pastoral staff meetings and build relationships with their staff. They mentored us as to how to develop supernatural ministry into the life of the church. They allowed me to speak at their church and took up a special offering that covered almost all of our start-up costs for the church plant. They also supported the church financially during the initial start-up period. Isn’t that just like our God to orchestrate all of these events so perfectly and to provide for us before we ever had the first thought that we would be leaving and planting a new church?
    We are now leading a brand-new, kingdom-minded church. We operate in all of the gifts of the Spirit as a church, and we are seeing the Holy Spirit confirm the gospel message with many signs and wonders. We are seeing the Book of Acts come to life and it is life-giving! I am finding out there really is so much more! This journey all began by coming to an understanding of the kingdom.

Chapter 2

THE PRIMARY MESSAGE
    A S A PERSON who has had an opportunity to teach almost every week, sometimes to thousands of people at a time, I am very concerned about making sure I very clearly communicate the message God has given me. There are certain things that God teaches me through His Word or lays on my heart that are very significant and must be communicated well. When I first was taught how to preach in Bible college, one of the first lessons I learned is that you need to begin with a thesis statement or a big idea that encapsulates in one sentence what you are trying to communicate. Then the rest of the message should simply build upon that by supporting, illustrating, and repeating that central thesis. So when communicating something of significance, the best way to communicate that message is to boil it down to a simple statement, support that statement, illustrate that statement, and repeat that statement, so that when people walk away they know exactly what you were trying to communicate. When this doesn’t happen, when the thesis statement is not clearly in place and communicated, there is a tendency to get off track and run down rabbit trails that have nothing to do with the primary message that the speaker is trying to communicate.
    Jesus was a master teacher. Teaching was like breathing to Him. He did it wherever He was. He never missed an opportunity for a teaching moment. When we read through the Gospels, we see that He taught on many different ideas and topics, but there was one central thesis to His message that everything else He taught flowed out of. He began His ministry by clearly communicating this primary message and went on to talk about this message more than any other topic.
    So what exactly was Jesus’ primary message? Let me put it another way; what message did Jesus start His ministry with and what message did He preach about more consistently than anything else? I think many of us would respond by saying it had to be salvation. Surely salvation had to be the first and most consistent message that Jesus taught. Most people, believers and many unbelievers as well, are well acquainted with what is probably the most widely recognized verse from all the Bible; John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” The verse is clearly speaking of salvation and the opportunity to believe in Jesus and receive the gift of eternal life. And I think every Christ follower would agree the message of salvation is indeed a critical message for us to know, believe, respond to, and then proclaim to others; because without a personal belief in the work of Jesus on the cross, there is no salvation. But as significant as we would all agree the message of salvation and receiving eternal life is, it was not the first message Jesus taught and it was not the most consistent message that Jesus taught.
    If it