Be Thankful for the Unshakable Kingdom

by Tony V. Hammack

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Hebrews 12:28
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe,


1.  We are receiving a Kingdom that cannot be shaken!

54 of 65 references to the “Kingdom of God” refer to a present or relative to our time, past kingdom. 11 times when the term Kingdom of God is used in the New Testament it’s referring to a future or coming kingdom.

The Internal Kingdom of God
Where did Jesus tell us the kingdom of God would be?
Luke 17:20,21
20Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, "The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, 21nor will people say, 'Here it is,' or 'There it is,' because the kingdom of God is within you."

Expressions of the Kingdom of God
A. Power
1 Corinthians 4:20For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.

B. Deliverance
Matthew 12:28 But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
Matthew 17:14-21
The Healing of a Boy With a Demon
14When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before him. 15"Lord, have mercy on my son," he said. "He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water.  16I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him."  17"O unbelieving and perverse generation," Jesus replied, "how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me." 18Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed from that moment.  19Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, "Why couldn't we drive it out?" 20He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.“ 21 But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.

C. Healing
Luke 9:2 and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.
Matthew 4:23 Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.

D. Preaching
Luke 4:43 But he said, "I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent."
Mark 16:20 Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.
Acts 14:3 So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to do miraculous signs and wonders.

E. An expanded home and family after sacrifice
Luke 18:29,30
29"I tell you the truth," Jesus said to them, "no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God 30will fail to receive many times as much in this age and, in the age to come, eternal life.“

Whatever we give up for the Lord he will return to us expanded.
Luke 6:38
³⁸Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."

F. Fruit Production
Matthew 21:43 "Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.

2 Types of Fruit

 1.  Internal Fruit – When the internal fruit is in place, via abiding in the presence of Jesus, the external fruit will manifest.  The internal fruits of God's spirit abiding in a person are
love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-Control

 2.  External Fruit
Converts, Disciples, Kingdom Influence, Fruit Bearing followers.

2. Be Thankful
Thankfulness illustrates a person’s appreciation for someone else’s work or something else someone has done. This appreciation equates to understanding the sacrifice that was made, the skill possessed or the dedication of another and can equate to like behavior from the thankful party.
People who have an, “I deserve it” mentality usually never figure out how to provide for themselves what is being given to them as a gift.

Colossians 3:15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.

The Ten Lepers - A Story about Thankfulness

Luke 17:11-19
11Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. 12As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance 13and called out in a loud voice, "Jesus, Master, have pity on us!"  14When he saw them, he said, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were cleansed.  15One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. 16He threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan. 17Jesus asked, "Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? 18Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" 19Then he said to him, "Rise and go; your faith has made you well."

Your Faith has made you well.
His faith had added to it another grace, that of love. His faith had not only saved his body, but he had been born to the new life, his soul was saved.
This passage states the fact that Jesus offers this leper more than the other nine. They all received physical healing, but this Samaritan receives a deeper salvation in addition. His faith prompted by revelation knowledge drives him to return to the feet of Jesus in thanks, and that personal contact, that personal submission signifies a soul healing that is more than skin deep.  Jesus tells him he's sozo.

3. Worship God with Reverence and Awe

Reverence – profound adoring awed respect with caution. Included in the Greek word eulabeia are the concepts of fear, fearful, fearfulness.

Awe - an emotion variously combining dread, veneration, and wonder that is inspired by authority or by the sacred or sublime with a modesty which is rooted in the character.

Reverence and Awe come as a result of revelation knowledge.
When we know who Jesus is and who we are, we have to feel reverence and awe!

The Kind of worshipers the Father is seeking.
John 4:23,24
23Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."

Spirit of faith - believing that God is who he says he is and he’s worthy of our time and focus.
Truth - understanding predominantly who He is and to a much lesser degree who we are. We walk in the truth as we worship.

In conclusion

1. We are receiving an unshakable kingdom.
2. We should be thankful.
3. We should worship with reverence and awe.

Lord, help us to see what you’ve prepared for us in your kingdom. Give us the faith and grace we need to become the people of thankfulness you’ve called us to become. Reveal yourself to us in such a way that causes awe and reverence to rise up in our hearts.

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Visit with us at Jubilee Family Church this Sunday at 10:00 AM Central Standard Time U.S.A. or Wednesday evening at 6:30 PM Central Standard Time U.S.A. or via internet video on Jubilee T.V.

Jubilee Family Church
45 Thunderbird Dr.
Batesville, AR 72501
(870) 793-9124


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by Tony V. Hammack

What Happens in Heaven

This is one of the nicest e-mails I have seen and is so true:

I dreamed that I went to Heaven and an angel was showing me around. We walked side-by-side inside a large workroom filled with angels. My angel guide stopped in front of the first section and said, 'This is the Receiving Section. Here, all petitions to God said in prayer are received'

I looked around in this area, and it was terribly busy with so many angels sorting out petitions written on voluminous paper sheets and scraps from people all over the world.

Then we moved on down a long corridor until we reached the second section.

The angel then said to me, 'This is the Packaging and Delivery Section. Here, the graces and blessings the people asked for are processed and delivered to the living persons who asked for them. 'I noticed again how busy it was there. Ther e were many angels working hard at that station, since so many blessings had been requested and were being packaged for delivery to Earth.

Finally at the farthest end of the long corridor we stopped at the door of a very small station. To my great surprise, only one angel was seated there, idly doing nothing. 'This is the Acknowledgment Section,' my angel friend quietly admitted to me. He seemed embarrassed 'How is it that there is no work going on here?' I asked.

'So sad,' the angel sighed. 'After people receive the blessings that they asked for, very few send back acknowledgments .'

'How does one acknowledge God's blessings?' I asked.

'Simple,' the angel answered. Just say, 'Thank you, God.'

'What blessings should they acknowledge?' I asked.

'If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep you are richer than 75% of this world. If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish, you are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy .'

'And if you get this on your own computer, you are part of the 1% in the world who has that opportunity.'

'If you woke up this morning with more health than illness ... you are more blessed than the many who will not even survive this day .'

'If you have never experienced the fear in battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation ... you are ahead of 700 million people in the world.'

'If you can attend a church without the fear of harassment, arrest, torture or death you are envied by, and more blessed than, three billion people in the world! .'

'If your parents are still alive and still married ...you are very rare .'

'If you can hold your head up and smile, you are not the norm, you're unique to all those in doubt and despair.'

Ok, what now? How can I start?

If you can read this message, you just received a double blessing in that someone was thinking of you as very special and you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world who cannot read at all.
Have a good day, count your blessings, and if you want, pass this along to remind everyone else how blessed we all are.