KINGDOM LIVING:  Be Saved

Day: Day 11
Date: January 19, 2023
Title: KINGDOM LIVING:  Be Saved

Acts 2:40 NASU

And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying; “Be saved from this perverse generation!”

Guess what saved here means?  Yep, you should know by now: SOZO!

SOZO means to be:

• Saved
• Delivered
• Protected
• Healed
• Preserved
• Prosperous
• Made whole

That is awesome!  That is what salvation in Jesus brought to us.

I want you to think about all that He has saved you from.  Now, I want you to think Kingdom.  That is what He saved ALL humanity from, even the ones that are now living in darkness.

What belongs to us who have given our hearts and lives to Christ, can belong to anyone who will also put their trust in God.

We must recognize He didn’t just save mankind from hell, He came to save mankind from this perverse world that operates under the demonic dominion of satan.

Perverse means:

• Warped (disturbingly abnormal and distorted)
• Winding (a curved or devious course – away from the right, accepted course)
• Crooked (dishonest)
• Forward (habitually disposed to disobedience)

The way Acts 2:40 proclaimed it was: “Be saved from this perverse generation!”

That tells us that some of this requires action on our part.

In the same way that we had to respond to the Holy Spirit’s revelation of who Jesus was to receive Him as Lord and Savior, we must respond to the Holy Spirit’s revelation to operate differently. We must operate differently than the perverse actions of the world, that the enemy has brought in every generation to stop the Kingdom of God from advancing.

This is what the Word is talking to us about so clearly.

Romans 12:1-2 NIV

1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is your spiritual act of worship.
2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is — His good, pleasing and perfect will.

Here is why we need to pay attention to these Kingdom ways.

We have to view everything through God’s merciful ways to us, and to others.   When we recognize what we were, and what we did before salvation, we will never stop being grateful to Him.  When we stay in remembrance of the difference He brought to our lives, it is normal for us to offer our lives back to Him, and to want to invite others to know Him as we do.

We want to be holy as He is holy.

We desire to please Him by offering back to Him what He has provided to us.

What we give back to Him after salvation is our spiritual way of worshipping Him!

Then we need to make a quality decision to promise that we will no longer pattern our lives after the pattern of this world.

That would be impossible without the help of the Holy Ghost.  But He lives and dwells inside of us, and our choice to do what is right enables Him to release the help we need on the inside.

He is the one that is able to make the Word come alive with revelation to renew our minds.

Renew means to renovate our minds.

I laughed out loud at that definition.  We definitely need to renovate our minds, just like they renovate houses when they “flip houses.”

They take houses that have been neglected and are in bad shape (like we were before Jesus or when we neglect Jesus in our lives now) and they make major improvements.  They make sure the foundation of the house is secure and that it is cleaned out and made beautiful and desirable, because it is different from the inside out.

That is how we stay saved from the perverseness of what the world is acting like.

We restore our minds to a former better state (by cleaning, repairing, and rebuilding them).

We restore it to a new dwelling place.

KINGDOM LIVING REALITY

After we renovate our minds with the Word and the application of it, we are told we will be able to test and approve what God’s will is — His good, pleasing and perfect will.

That means we are living fully in agreement with God’s choices for us!

That also means we will be productive in reproducing after our own kind.  That is how disciples of Christ live happy and fulfilled lives.

We have His DNA on the inside that desires to save others from this perverse world and generation.

There are things that have happened currently in our world that we could not have even imagined could happen in our lifetime.  But evil, has indeed, escalated.

That is why we must be dedicated to escalate good by staying aware of the investment God has left inside of us that needs to be poured out on others.

I believe this is a critical, decision-making time for many that will make decisions that not only affect their lives, but their eternities.

We must be about our Father’s business.

When we are obeying Him with all we know He is asking of us, we become a place of God’s habitation.

Remember, Jesus has gone before us to make dwelling places in the heavenly realm for us.  Now we must do our part by clearing out anything in our lives that is still acting according to the kingdom of satan and his rule.

We make our lives a dwelling place for God to come and inhabit us fully.

This is not only possible, it is necessary, so that we can move forward in living Kingdom lives free of the torment of living in darkness.

We live in His wonderful life and light!

ACTIVATION:

Receive this word today, and recognize you do not have to wait for some amazing event to happen to enable you to live this way.  That event is recognizing and receiving Jesus as our Lord and Savior. If you need to renew your vows to Him today, you can right now.

PRAYER:

Father,

I am feeling the weightiness of the sin I have allowed to slip into my heart and life that has led me to conform to this world instead of living above it.  I ask You to forgive me for any compromise.  I want to stand out to those that are in darkness, not to condemn them, but to make a way for them to notice there is a higher and better way to live.

I want to shine with the radiance of Your love and draw them to the saving knowledge of Your Son, Jesus.

Jesus, I want to be Your disciple, and sit at Your feet and learn from You.  I know You are always present and willing to enable me.  Thank You for Your sacrifice, not just on the cross, but leaving Your home in glory to become like me to change me, and provide a New Kingdom for me to live in.

Help me, Jesus, to create a habitation that You are pleased to dwell in.

Holy Spirit, You are the Teacher and the Comforter. Please convict me when I am tempted to go backward.  I want to stay in forward motion and live my life in freedom and victory, and pass that forward as I disciple others.

Amen.