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Inspiring Voices - Tom Yarbrough

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104 pages

English

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This study offers a fresh look at the revealed secrets embedded in Matthew 5:312, the time-tested Beatitudes, from the perspective of one trained as a behavioral scientist. Throughout his more than forty years in the counseling field, Dr. Tom Yarbrough's motivation stayed fixed upon biblical guidelines. In Treasures of the Kingdom, he suggests nine smaller kingdoms Christ introduced on the Mount for a contemporary journey toward maturity. Yarbrough explores the Beatitudes in the Bible, showing how each one reveals a way of living that all Christians can and should adopt. He compares them to stages, or kingdoms, in which one instruction may need to be understood and experienced before one can understand and experience the next one. Providing a host of scriptural references, Yarbrough shows how through the Beatitudes, Jesus left us a road map on how to live our lives, follow in his footsteps, and become mature Christians.

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Philosophie et théologie

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Publié par	Inspiring Voices
Date de parution	17 février 2014
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781462408795
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0240€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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Treasures of the Kingdom

A Conversational Confessional

TOM YARBROUGH

Copyright © 2014 Tom Yarbrough.

Author Photo Credit: Rodd Wellington

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Inspiring Voices books may be ordered through booksellers or by contacting:

Inspiring Voices
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.inspiringvoices.com
1 (866) 697-5313

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

ISBN: 978-1-4624-0878-8 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-4624-0879-5 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014900274

Inspiring Voices rev. date: 02/13/2014

Scripture taken from the Amplified Bible , Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from GOD’S WORD®, © 1995 God’s Word to the Nations. Used by permission of Baker Publishing Group.

Scripture taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible ® Copyright © 2003, 2002, 2000, 1999 by Holman Bible Publishers. All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from The Message . Copyright © by Eugene H. Peterson 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible ® , Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.” ( www.Lockman.org )

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™ All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2006 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.

Contents
Introduction

Chapter 1: The Adventure
Chapter 2: The Blend
Chapter 3: Kingdom of God Foundations
Chapter 4: The First Treasure Site
Chapter 5: Second Treasure Found
Chapter 6: Third Treasure Discovered
Chapter 7: Fourth Treasure Observed
Chapter 8: Fifth Treasure Located
Chapter 9: Sixth Treasure Seen
Chapter 10: Seventh Treasure Revealed
Chapter 11: Eighth Treasure Established
Chapter 12: Ninth Treasure Found
Chapter 13: Beyond
Chapter 14: Practical Action

Jesus said, “Therefore every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old. (Mt. 13:52, NKJB).

Introduction
I have a confession to make.
I woke one morning troubled about something. You know how you’ve felt God spoke to you in your sleep but you can’t quite remember the de tails.
In that fog, the unclear message nagged at me. I felt it must be important, yet trying to focus on it almost gave me a hea dache.
I shook the feeling of the unknown for a little while and proceeded with my morning routine. I told myself if I could just divert my thinking, I’d possibly remember this word from the Lord that must be significant. In my heart of hearts, I didn’t want to miss a word from God. I retrieved my cup of coffee, my Bible and a devotional book for a time of meditation. I read my scriptures, struggling to enter that condition beyond the physical senses when the Spirit tries the hardest to take over.
Suddenly, piercing thoughts interrupted me. A past experience percolated up to the surface about an occasion when a Christian friend accused me of something I didn’t do. I thought I’d forgiven and forgotten the incident, although I had not confronted the individual personally, since he’d moved away and at the time, I had no way to contact him. I had done one of those, “Lord forgive him for he knows not what he does” declarations and I buried the incident. But here it was again and as I dwelt on the experience an ugly head of anger began to erupt. “How could he do that? Didn’t he know me better than that? Am I so incompetent I can’t make myself clear to pe ople?”
I don’t like feeling angry, so gingerly I began to probe my unwelcome emotion. What was it really? I reminded myself that underneath anger hides hostile fear. What was I afraid of? The Bible in 1 John 4:18 tells us not to be afraid, that if the love of God is in us, we should not fear. Yet here it was, a smoldering hostility masking fear, and in a flash of honesty, I had to admit to myself it was rooted to my one besetting fear: I have been afraid I would not be loved. Sometimes I still wonder about love. There are reasons behind this, since I was raised in a broken home. But that was many years ago, so I can’t blame that anymore. Just sometimes doubt raises its ugly head to taunt me. Soon, I closed my eyes to think on things and a clear voice said, “ Pay atten tion .”
In my mind’s eye I saw a shadow figure, wearing what looked like a hooded sweatshirt, run past my inner eye. I started to run after him. He led me down dark streets and alleyways that smelled of garbage and decay. Finally, I gained enough on him to reach out and pull back his hood. I was afraid I’d see some grotesque monster, yet the back of his head was simply normal gray hair. We ran a ways more and he turned to look back. I stopped dead in my tracks; the hooded person w as me!
I have always believed the above kind of experience truly means something. Dreams and visions can be symbolic, stand for an issue in your life; other times, they can be literal, can even send your awake self a call to action. I believed I had received just such a me ssage.
After an extensive search to find a forwarding address for the friend I felt had wronged me, I wrote and asked forgiveness for any of my irresponsibility. I admitted that part of the issue was my lack of clear communication because I’d clung to misdirected facts attached to my own emotional confidence. I wanted him to know I no longer blamed him. My letter did not come back returned, so I assume he received it. Consequently, my burden was l ifted.
Why did I tell you this story, this confession? In putting a book on living the kingdom of God in your hands, I want you to know that I am writing from the perspective of a fellow traveler. I want to share some of my experience, since I’ve lived awhile and have grappled with many of the following principles along the path of the Christian highway. Since I am still learning about fundamental biblical issues such as forgiveness, I’m on a path of discovery. I’m journeying to discover what “seek first the kingdom” really means, and I want you to jo in me.
Sometimes I catch my reflected wrinkles and gray hair in amazement, thinking, “That can’t be me, I feel about 30.” And then I realize by the grace of God, I’ve followed his Son Jesus for over 50 years. I am surprised that it’s taken me so long to understand Matt. 6:33: “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” One certainty I have discovered: seeking the kingdom of God is so much more than hoping for some glorious future in heaven. While Jesus’ promise of a heavenly Kingdom undoubtedly assures remarkable future benefits, the “here and now” also holds tremendous possibilities. I’m not saying this world offers more than the next. I’m saying this world offers a chance at maturity which many people miss and that maturity is its own special reward for us and for those arou nd us.
Since “seeking the kingdom first” is such an abstract concept, Jesus supported it with very practical ideas in a talk he gave, sometimes called the Sermon on the Mount. At the beginning of the talk, he listed nine ways to seek the kingdom which will form the heart of this book. Your first reaction may be “Oh no, not another book on the beatit udes.”
Please wait. I’ve had the same reaction. I know I’ve scanned the shelves and had a negative response. Many writings present the beatitudes (from the Latin beatus , meaning happy) as states of being, as be-attitudes, as esoteric and high ideals which frankly come across as attractive but unattainable for the ordinary Christian. Why would Jesus teach what sounds like impossible-sounding rules to a world that tends to measure success in opposite ways than he does anyway? I don’t think he would. Others books offer clever wordplay or a deep theological background. But give me a chance to show you something different. I’m approaching these sacred words from Jesus as a Christian behavioral scie ntist.
For over 40 years, I have been a behavioral scientist, having begun my career by studying the pioneer behaviorist, B.F. Skinner from Harvard. I’ve taught in three universities and owned and operated a counseling center for over thirty years. And all this time I was a practic