Last week we covered a number of practical issues concerning the kingdom of God, especially how elders or anyone given authority in the church need to be given specific authority, not general authority. Those appointed need to know their sphere of authority and stay within it or there will be an open door for confusion and division.

Even so, the government of God is intended to be both free and flexible. To have specific authority and to be free and flexible may seem like contradictory concepts, but only when we build more on the form than on people....

As we are still discussing the important subject of church government, which will also become a pattern for the coming kingdom government, the first principle in establishing and maintaining true spiritual authority is keeping the Lord as the Head of the church. Even the most perfectly biblical form of church government can be used to supplant His headship if we do not keep this main thing the main thing.

It was King David who established the throne, or seat of authority, which Christ sits upon. If there is a single phrase that describes how David did this, it...

As we are still discussing the important subject of church government, which will also become a pattern for the coming kingdom government, the first principle in establishing and maintaining true spiritual authority is keeping the Lord as the Head of the church. Even the most perfectly biblical form of church government can be used to supplant His headship if we do not keep this main thing the main thing.

It was King David who established the throne, or seat of authority, which Christ sits upon. If there is a single phrase that describes how David did this, it...

Two things that we know the Lord especially loves are unity and diversity. The Lord loves diversity so much that He even makes every snowflake different. No two trees are alike. Every leaf is different from every other leaf on the planet. He made every human being different from every other human being. The Lord's creativity and love of diversity is prevalent throughout His creation. It is therefore understandable that these two would be blended into a fundamental principle of how He will rule in His kingdom. Unity in diversity is a basic principle of His government.

The...

In this study of how the church will possess its Promised Land, we are taking a bit of time to examine government, because the kingdom of God is basically and first of all the government of God. Just as many conquerors in history discovered, and just as the U.S. has discovered in Iraq, it can be an easy thing to conquer a land, but an entirely different matter to govern it. As we are coming to the time when we will be possessing and inheriting the kingdom, there are practical issues concerning government in the kingdom that we need...