God's Kingdom

Do you know that God is operating both behind the lines and on the front line? Today in my local church I really experienced both these truths.

The pastor was preaching an excellent message from the Lords Prayer: "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven".

According to him there is three dimensions to God's Kingdom:

1. The horizontal: Citizenship "For our citizenship is in heaven", Phil 3:20, 
2. The vertical: Power (God's power) “Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit”, says the Lord (Zech.4:6). 
3. Doing God's will on this earth, where we live "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven". Math.7:21.

It is truly on God's agenda that we realize that the Kingdom of God is not in the church on Sundays alone or through the pastor or in the small group in which we come together. The Kingdom of God is here and there and all around where Christians are living.

So in line with this message it was very appropriate that we had a church café after service where the Mayor of Kolding was speaking and answering questions.
Many people had questions pointing in the direction of How can we as a church be a church for the whole city? Many people want to let the church be more than a club for saved Christians. We want to show the world that there is a message that is full of love and power to heal the broken hearted, to cleanse the leper, to comfort the lonely, to make bonding easier between strangers, to bring joy and feasting into a life full of tragedy and depression.
So the pastor ended up with a conclusion that encouraged us to open our eyes and see where needs are in our city:

• The city has had to cut down on expenses to clean the parks - why not grab a bag and some tools and go out on a Saturday to clean up in the park. 
• The older citizens grieve over the loss of many of their friends, they end up sitting lonely in their homes. Go to the Red Cross and offer yourself as a friend to them or to a family low on resources who needs a helping hand with the kids.
• Young people in the blocks are bored and resort to destructive behavior with graffiti, drinking, crime etc. - why don't you offer your help to be a good role model in their neighborhood? 
• Unemployed people get depressed and discouraged. Why don't you go out and offer to give them a hand with the CV or other elements in the search for a job - or just be a friend?

So many possibilities to be a History maker where you live. To be influential, to bring the good news "in person" - because the Holy Spirit lives in you.

Welcome to my Blog!

Let me introduce myself a bit. My name is Lars Krøgholt, I am Danish and I attend "International Apostolic Bible College" in Kolding, Denmark. I am born in 1954, so I am not so new any more. But I have a son born 2000, so he keeps me young (among other things).

So, I am a Christian, I believe in the living God, who created Heaven and Earth.

The title of my blog: "Sheepish Thoughts": Jesus says "I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. So He is the Shepherd, we are the sheep, the flock He protects. And sheep think about things the have heard in the sheepfold. That's all there is to it. Btw. You'll see this reflected in the URL of my blog: it was meant to be shepherd.blogspot.com, but somehow I misspelled it, but well ... the sheep hears His voice, so this blog is what this one sheep has heard from Him.

Anxiety Is Disbelief

The fall term at the Bible College is rushing off. For several months I have been desperately pursuing an online income opportunity. I have entered into a to me totally new community on the Internet. I admit it: I have worried a lot about my economy, because in this hour I do not have any income, and I have to pay for tuition, for my son's school, I have debt to pay off and other expenses. In this I have ignored the Lord's command Mt.6:31-33 ”Therefore do not be anxious, saying, What shall we eat? Or, What shall we drink? Or, With what shall we be clothed? For the nations seek after all these things. For your heavenly Father knows that your have need of all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you.”

This is our heavenly Father's guarantee for us. He is our provider! I have been reminded of this so many times recently. So I do have to take it seriously. Even in the Sunday service today the sermon was about this subject. Have faith in Him that He will provide for you. He does not come too late. I often tend to think ”Can I really trust God that He will provide for me? What if I help God so that I am sure to be able to pay my bills?” But this attitude is really an expression of disbelief. To worry and being anxious is to distrust God!!!

Do you know this: you are anxious about a matter, and it keeps on coming up in your mind all the time. Your thoughts return to this matter all the time. But what good does it do?? Following the verses above Jesus says: ”Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow; for tomorrow shall be anxious for its own things. Sufficient to the day is the evil of it.” (Mt.6:34). Anxiety does you no good at all! To be anxious in this way equals meditating. And if we believe in the power of meditating (as a Christian I do), then we should stay far away from thoughts of this kind. Words are seeds and they are powerful to create what they say. If we sow positive words from the Bible in our mind, we reap positive biblical thoughts. If we sow negative anxious words in our minds we reap a negative worldly and distrusting mindset.

So my assignment to you, dear reader and to my self is to surround yourself with positive biblical truths in order to undermine anxiety and disbelief and a worldly mindset.