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If I mentioned his name, many of you who have been involved in Christian leadership for some time would almost certainly recognize it. But the man who sat across the breakfast table in the restaurant that morning was but a shadow of himself as I remembered him from a few years previously.
Moral failure had extracted an enormous price in his life. Yet the more we talked the more obvious it became that he still had a heart for God and for the Church. The passion for the Church still burned within. But he was not only passionate for the Church; he was renewed in his passion for the Kingdom and, more importantly, for the King.
Somehow the conversation turned to the subject of spiritual gifts and it was then that my friend made a comment that was to start me on a whole new direction on that particular subject.
"Mike, I no longer ask folk, 'What are your spiritual gifts?'I now ask them, 'What is your kingdom passion?'"
The first question is addressed to the head. The second question is addressed to the heart. The second question is really asking, "What is it that gets you sitting on the edge of your seat as you talk about it to others?" "What subject makes you really animated when it is raised in conversation?"
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I am much more of an introvert than an extrovert. I rarely express passion even though I may feel something deeply. Just ask my wife!! Yet that breakfast encounter set me on a course that would have me asking that question time and again over the intervening years. "What is your Kingdom Passion?"
The accompanying 4 studies are designed for you personally and/or your Home Group. However, they are not focused on you being able to identify your spiritual gifts. If that happens (and I hope it does), then that will be a great bonus. The key to understanding the purpose of these studies is this: To have a passion for the Kingdom, one must have a passion for the King.
That is my goal in writing these notes. i.e. to encourage and enable you to have, nurture and develop a passion for the King - the Lord Jesus Christ. There are four underlying truths that are the bases of these notes:
a. Passion for God begins with knowing one thing (John 9/1-38)
b. Passion for God develops with needing one thing (Luke 10/38-42)
c. Passion for God matures with desiring one thing ( Psalm 27/1-14)
d. Passion for God continues with pursuing one thing (Philippians 3/1-16)
I offer these sessions to you with the prayer that your passion for the King will be richer as a result of spending time exploring and experiencing His royal presence in your life and His royal purpose for your life.
Mike
