The Kingdom Is For Everyone

We are thrilled to share this two part conversation with you between Dr Matthew Hester and Bishop Carlos Garcia. In this episode they talk about judging according to righteousness, enemies of God, unity of the family of God, and much more...

We are thrilled to share this two part conversation with you between Dr Matthew Hester and Bishop Carlos Garcia. In this episode they talk about the challenges and opportunities of the church, the love of God, being the family of God and more...

Jesus is often times described as a lamb in the Scriptures. Is this the image that emerge when we think of the power and might of God? Does Jesus truly rule the world as a slain lamb? Let's talk about it in this episode.

I believe that our ability to recognize and love God in what is right in front of us makes us truly mature in love. The way to love God is to love what He loves...which is everything and everyone.

The work of Christ is the greatest paradox of all time! In Jesus Christ, a union is forged between two things that don’t go together. On one side you have the Triune God…full of joy, love, grace, life, purity and righteousness. On the other side you have the human experience full of corruption, fear, pain, brokenness, disease and perversion. The Incarnation means that the these two worlds are forever united.

What is our role when it comes to calling out peoples sins and confronting their immoral behavior? Maybe we need to let the Sheriff of the Kingdom do what she (ruach in Hebrew is always feminine) is well capable of doing. Take a listen now!

In this mystery episode we explore the greatest mystery known to mankind. The greatest mystery isn't little green men or how the pyramids were built, but it's Christ within!

The mystery in a nutshell is just this: Christ is in you, so therefore you can look forward to sharing in God’s glory. It’s that simple. That is the substance of our Message. We preach Christ, warning people not to add to the Message. We teach in a spirit of profound common sense so that we can bring each person to maturity. To be mature is to be basic. Christ! No more, no less. - The Message

On this episode we have Megan Hester as our guest of honor. We take some time and answer some great questions that some friends of ours sent in. We talk about balancing ministry life with family and marriage. We also talk about being authentic and healthy ways to communicate we had a blast!

This episode explores the importance of protecting the unity God has already provided for us and addresses the four primary threats against corporate unity: 1. Murmuring 2. Carnality 3. Rebellion 4. Unbelief

In this episode we take a look at the "ruah" of God as is mentioned in Judges 6. In the Hebrew ruah means vital powers and strength. When the Spirit of the Lord comes upon us it brings with it all that we need to navigate the challenges we face in life. It also speaks to our righteous identity as beloved children of an always good Father.

Jesus shares a profound truth in Luke. Those who know and believe how much God truly loves them and has forgiven them, they will end up loving Him very much! Those who have little understanding of His love and forgiveness will love little. This is why it is imperative as new covenant believers that we focus on how much God loves us instead of how much we love God. If you truly receive and believe how much God loves you and has forgiven you of all your sins, you will end up loving God greatly - he who is forgiven much, loves much!

Well, we have all experienced glimpses of one-way love throughout our lives. How about that time your parents didn’t punish you when you knew you deserved it? What about that time you said something mean to your friend and they responded in love? Has anyone ever been kind to you when all you did was gripe and complain? There are likely many other instances you can think of that are glimpses of what one-way love looks like; each one is special and is radically different from what we are accustomed to. One-way love is unconditional love. It’s love that is always extended in your direction. It doesn’t ask anything of its recipient. As the famous worship song declares, “Oh, the overwhelming, never ending, reckless love of God. Oh, it chases me down, fights ‘til I’m found, leaves the ninety-nine. I couldn’t EARN it, I don’t DESERVE it, still, You give Yourself away.” Owing and deserving have no place in one-way love! In other words, God doesn't bait you into the Kingdom with unconditional love and then make you earn it for the remainder of your Christian life.

In the third and final part of the conversation with Dr. Hester and Pastor Johnny Ova, we continue talking about major themes throughout Scripture that desperately need to be re-examined. We talk about Agape love, the LQBTQ Community, raising kids in this modern culture, what is sin, Gods Sovereignty and much more… Enjoy!

In the second part of the conversation with Dr. Hester and Pastor Johnny Ova, we continue talking about major themes throughout Scripture that desperately need to be re-examined. We talk about the moral idol of the Old Testament, God has no enemies, Hell, the Hallelujah song of Jesus and much more. Enjoy!

In this episode we are pleased to share a conversation with Dr Hester and Pastor Johnny Ova on his podcast Dig In! In this episode we talk about everything from what makes sinners attracted to Jesus, what do we do when Scripture doesn't look like Jesus, how God enjoys process and much more... If you enjoy this, there are two more parts to follow!

Why is the default of humanity the desire for rules when it comes to relationship with deity? God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) has always been a relational familial family who desires for humanity to be a part of their other centered love, compassion, grace and joy. We must stop adopting a pragmatic approach to relationship with God and provide people an encounter with the Jesus we carry.

Do you preach Jesus or a moral idol made in the image of religion?

The Pharisees had God all figured out. They observed (rather poorly I would add) the 10 Commandments and added another 600+ rules on top of those for good measure. After all, whoever has the most rules wins right? What ensued was a moral standard, weaponized by the law, that not only reinforced surface level cleanliness and behavior modification, but it also created the needed separation between those who “kept” the law and those who didn’t.

When Jesus arrived on the scene, He challenged the moral idol that religion had built and revealed Who God had always been. Jesus had to systematically strip away the veil of the law which had built a great delusional chasm of distance and separation. Emmanuel showed us what it was like to truly be loved, seen, cared for and accepted without any performancism needed…ever.

To simply entertain the thought that God has a weakness doesn’t pair well with the thought of the Imperial Almighty God who reigns on high. Jesus, instead, shows us God as being the All-Vulnerable One who dwells among us. He is the one who chooses humility over power and weakness over strength. He is the God of absolute accessibility and fierce compassion. Those who choose to make these same choices, and His way of being theirs, are those who worship in spirit and in truth.

For some reason, Christians like to use this throwaway line — “The Bible is clear”  or “The Bible plainly says”— as if it ends all arguments and clears up any doubt. In fact, all it does is make the person who says it sound arrogant — as if their understanding of a particular Biblical text is the one, true and correct one. It is a statement that is dripping with condescension. You might as well say, “What the Bible says is obvious, you idiot! You’re so dumb for not seeing like I see it!”

As likely as I am to change my mind by being given such a loving and compelling exhortation, it doesn’t change the fact that the Bible is NOT clear about many things on which people THINK the Bible is clear. In fact, reading the Bible at face value and taking a literal view is fraught with danger.

God is at work and in everything He is doing…He invites us to be part of it. He wants more than to use you, which has become the lens through we which we often view our relationship with God. He wants more than to use us…He wants us. And not the best version of us either. He doesn’t want the dressed up, self improvement facade…He wants the real us. It’s all He’s ever wanted. 

Jesus is the narrow gate…the only way to the Father; the only way into the realities of the Kingdom of God. The wide gate is any other way. This would seem obvious that Jesus is certainly referring to the world, but He is also referring to the religious system of the Pharisees. They’re system of observing the laws of the Mosaic Covenant are included in the “wide way” Jesus is condemning. 

Our souls and spirits are designed to function without fear as a contaminant. Since God hasn’t given us the spirit of fear, what has He given us? God has given us power, love, and a sound mind. These three qualities are the foundation stones for optimal living in the Kingdom of God. 

Matthew 27:46- 46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani? (EH-lee EH-lee LAH-mah sah-bahk-TAH-nee)” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” ESV

When Jesus cries out the phrase from a place of great agony, He’s not declaring a theology of separation from God or nontrinitarianism. Jesus cannot be separate from God since they are one and the same. It also doesn’t paint a picture of how a holy God is offended by sin in such a way that He cannot be in the presence of sin. But the Bible never indicates that.

If our God could never be in the presence of sin, that means Jesus couldn’t have been there when the Jews were committing Him to crucifixion. He couldn’t have been there when the Jews were making His Father’s house into a den of thieves.  He couldn’t have taken the sins of humanity upon Himself on the cross. If He had to protect Himself from being “tainted” by someone else’s sin or contamination, that means He couldn’t have touched the lepers to heal them.

But He did.

So why cry out…My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?

If you’re a follower of Jesus, you belong to another Kingdom. Your citizenship—your allegiance—is to a heavenly King and his kingdom (Phil 3:20). Don’t confuse your calling as a kingdom ambassador by mixing the language and concerns of Jesus with other kingdoms. Our Lord doesn’t approve.

It’s time to trust in the power of the cross, to pledge our allegiance to the One riding into town on a donkey, the suffering Messiah—vindicated in resurrection because of his faithfulness. It’s time to believe that his Kingdom advances when we stop trying to bring it through worldly kingdom means, and instead see the church as his agents of new creation.

The bottom line is that, however we explain violent portraits of God in the OT, and even if we can’t explain them, we must never allow anything we find in the OT to compromise or in any way qualify the revelation of God we have in Christ. Jesus isn’t part of what God is like. The fullness of God’s deity was in Christ (Col. 2:9). And Jesus reveals a God who chooses to die on behalf of enemies rather than to use force against them.

The cross is both very ugly and very beautiful to those who believe. The surface of this event is revoltingly ugly, because it reflects the ugly sin that Jesus bore. But to those who by faith see beyond this surface appearance, the cross also reveals the supreme beauty of a God who, out of love, was willing to bear our sin, suffer our curse, and to thereby take on this revoltingly ugly, sin-mirroring, surface appearance.

Matthew 7:1-2-
“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

These verses often create a misunderstanding amongst believers that we are not to EVER judge. These verses doesn’t actually say that we should never judge, but they warn us that however we judge that the same system of judgment will be used on our account. Are you judging rightly?

The deep revelation of the heart and nature of God as is realized in the Person of Jesus may not bring a million people to a single revival, but it will ignite a million revivals in a million people. I’m excited for what God is doing and I desire to see it on a scale we’ve yet to see. BE THE REVIVAL!

Dr. Hester was pleased to sit down and have a conversation with Pastor Johnny Ova (Sound Of Heaven Church, Long Island NY) on his podcast (Dig In)! We discuss many different topics in this conversation including: Salvation, Union with Christ, Spiritual Sonship and much more. We know this three part conversation will bless your life in a major way.

Dr. Hester was pleased to sit down and have a conversation with Pastor Johnny Ova (Sound Of Heaven Church, Long Island NY) on his podcast (Dig In)! We discuss many different topics in this conversation including: Trinity, The Gospels (what is the good news), Unity and much more. We know this three part conversation will bless your life in a major way.

Dr. Hester was pleased to sit down and have a conversation with Pastor Johnny Ova (Sound Of Heaven Church, Long Island NY) on his podcast (Dig In)! We discuss many different topics in this conversation including: the character and nature of God, the role of Scripture, eschatology and much more. We know this three part conversation will bless your life in a major way.

Matthew 10:28 - Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

Is this verse talking about being afraid of God? Does God destroy peoples bodies and souls in hell? Could this verse mean something totally different than what we have been classically taught?

Let's take a look into this difficult verse and see where we can discover a more accurate representation of the character and nature of God. 

The Sermon on the Mount is more than well-crafted words, but it also builds a rock solid foundation for what life in the Kingdom should look like. Jesus doesn’t craft this foundation by creating a new system of rules, but He builds by sharing the beautiful and radiant nuances of the character and nature of God as they play out in real life scenarios. This is why all who heard these words were astonished. This is why we are all still challenged and astonished by them today.

What was Jesus writing on the ground?

We do not know exactly what Jesus was writing on the ground, but many biblical scholars believe He was writing the law. Could it be that the onlookers began to see laws written that they were guilty of breaking? It also gives us greater understanding when we consider the ground Jesus was writing on. There is a greater case that Jesus was writing on hard stone, since they were in the temple precinct, as opposed to writing in the earth. Why would this be significant?

What gives us the power to overcome sin? Is it the threat of the law? The fear of the law has never had the power to stop us from breaking it. Think about it, does the fear of the law “thou shalt not steal” stop people everyday from taking what isn’t theirs? For many even the fear of the consequences of breaking the law isn’t enough to stop them from doing so (prison, community service, loss of property, loss of family or even loss of life in some cases). If the fear of the law doesn’t bring us the power to overcome sin, then what does?

The conviction of righteousness is one of the great supernatural works of Holy Ghost. The dual stories of the woman with the issue of blood and the girl who dies in her bed, show us the power of what righteousness can do to bring restoration and healing. Sometimes the only thing anyone can do is press through the crowd and touch Jesus!

The four primary ways the Ascended Life manifests through our lives are through: 1) It’s Secret.2) It’s Perspective. 3) It’s Impartation. 4) It’s Application. The Secret of the Ascended Life is that we have ascended with Him (Eph.2:6) The Perspective of the Ascended Life enables us to look through the eyes of God (James 1:17). The Impartation of the Ascended Life is the downloading of the gift that we are and the gifts that we have. Heaven comes to earth (James 3:17). The Application of the Ascended Life brings to bear the ministry of heavenly wisdom upon earthly situations.

The Magi showed up a long time after Christmas and they brought gifts fit for a King. These gifts were more than simple lavish presentations for Jesus, but they actually reflected Who Jesus is. The Gift receives gifts from the wise that reflect Who He is…Who He will become. The wise are still worshiping Jesus as King, Priest and the Self-Sacrificial Savior today!

As we all are preparing to celebrate the incarnation (God coming in the flesh) which has become known as Christmas, let us remember how awesome that event actually was. The Word of God left Heaven knowing He would not return the same way.

In the Gospel of Luke, we come across two characters who make their appearance in the final acts of the Christmas drama. One is a man named Simeon; the other is a woman named Anna. They don’t appear in any nativity scenes or in many Christmas cards, but they are significant players in the first Christmas pageant. Both of these individuals were waiting for something...actually, they were waiting for someone.

John 6:28-29- 28 Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” The greek word for believe in the above passage is pistevo. This word communicates something that goes beyond believing; it communicates the invitation to trust. “This is the work of God, that you trust in him whom he sent.”

There is a significant difference between believing and trusting.

Believe - to have confidence in the truth (faith)
Trust - reliance on the integrity, strength, ability, surety, etc., of a person or thing (action)

This episode is the first to respond directly to a listener question! We jump into the topic of justice and how God work in Restorative Justice. Restorative justice is a higher form of justice because it’s not about punishing the perpetrator; it’s about restoring both the perpetrator and the victim. This goes completely against the justice system of humanity which is why it's so difficult to talk about. We pray this episode challenge and blesses you.

We all first approach God as His enemy…not on His part, but on ours.

Colossians 1:19-22-
19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. 21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— (NIV)

Psalm 23:5-
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

What do you believe David meant when he penned this verse of his famous song? Maybe there's more to it that we think.

"God created man in his own image. And man, being a gentleman, returned the favor." - Henri Rousseau

Could it be that our need for enemies reflects a God of our own making instead of the authentic, always good Father? 

This episode is the first time we've had a guest on the Kingdom Is For Everyone! Jason Clark is a dear friend and we have a powerful conversation about his new book Leaving And Finding Jesus. It's time for us to each take an Emmaus road walk with Jesus and allow Him to gently and definitively change what we believe about Him forever. 

In this episode I share some of the things that helped me navigate grief with the loss of my dad. I share about counseling, inner healing, books, music and more.

“We run from grief because loss scares us, yet our hearts reach toward grief because the broken parts want to mend.” - Brene Brown

In this episode I share the journey of the loss of my father and the grief that came with it. I pray that my experience can help you in some way.

To have courage is to tell the story of who you are with your whole heart. When grief is part of your story, it needs to be held to be healed. We cannot heal what has not been processed, and it takes time to move through the pain of loss and grief.  We don’t do ourselves any favors when we rush or simply try to skip over the process of grieving. Even when it is scary, we must follow our hearts and honor our grief. Allow our hearts to heal the way they truly want to. Grief teaches us the power of our love, and our resilience. When we practice courage we lean into showing the world our whole self, wounds and all.

God’s goal is to have a people who participate in and mirror His love in their relationship with Him, with each other, and with the rest of creation. It is so important for us to understand that God is relational because this can be imitated.