Kingdom Principles

Kingdom Principles

If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved (Romans 10:9). By “saved,” Paul means redeemed, bought back, salvaged, restored from the estrangement of our rebellion against God the King into a right relationship with Him. The key affirmation in that process is our acknowledgment that Jesus is Lord of everything, including our lives and our destiny. But if we say, “Jesus is Lord,” what does that mean in practical terms? What does it mean to live under a “lord”? The only experi ence most westerners have with a lord of any kind is with a landlord. If you now live or have ever lived in rental property, you know that the landlord is the landowner (or the landowner’s direct representa tive who exercises the landowner’s authority, which amounts to the same thing), the person you pay rent to and to whom you are accountable for the way you treat his property. Why? Because you do not own the property; the land lord does. Dealing with a landlord provides a small taste of what it would be like to live all of your life under a lord. If you say, “Jesus is Lord,” you are acknowledging His authority over you as well as your responsibility to obey Him. There is no such thing as lordship with out obedience. If He is Lord, you cannot say, “Lord…but,” or “Lord…except,” or “Lord…wait.” If He is Lord, the only thing you can say is, “Lord…yes.” Jesus Himself reiterated this truth throughout His public ministry: If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me (Luke 9:23b). Anyone who loves his father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me; and anyone who does

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