The Goal: How to Access, Dwell & Operate In the Kingdom of God

By Michael K. Evans Sr.

The Goal, explains how one can access, dwell and operate in the Kingdom of God, based on the teaching of Jesus, found in Matthew Chapter 5. Pastor Evans breaks down each Beatitude and offers the reader a step by step guide to access the Kingdom of God. A powerful book that will move each person who reads it into a powerful and fruitful relationship with the Lord, bringing Heaven to Earth.

The Goal, is a modern classic drawing the reader back to it again and again for more wisdom and knowledge.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu Publishing Services
• Release date: Apr 5, 2016
• ISBN: 9781483448855

Book preview

THE

GOAL

HOW TO ACCESS, DWELL & OPERATE IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD

Michael K. Evans Sr.

Copyright © 2016 Michael K. Evans Sr.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted by any means---whether auditory, graphic, mechanical, or electronic---without written permission of both publisher and author, except in the case of brief excerpts used in critical articles and reviews. Unauthorized reproduction of any part of this work is illegal and is punishable by law.

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.

ISBN: 978-1-4834-4884-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4834-4885-5 (e)

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.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Lulu Publishing Services rev. date: 04/28/2016

CONTENTS

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Chapter 1 Qualifying for the Kingdom

Chapter 2 Be a Follower!

Chapter 3 Qualifying

Chapter 4 Those Who Mourn

Chapter 5 The Meek

Chapter 6 Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness

Chapter 7 Be Merciful

Chapter 8 The Pure in Heart

Chapter 9 Make Peace

Chapter 10 Faith and the Kingdom

Chapter 11 More of the Right Attitude

Chapter 12 Blessed Are the Persecuted

Chapter 13 Blessed Are the Persecuted (Part 2)

Chapter 14 Persecuted for the Sake of Christ

Chapter 15 Persecuted for the Sake of Christ (Part 2)

Chapter 16 Persecuted---Let's Make a Deal

Chapter 17 Persecuted---It's a Setup!

Chapter 18 A Dear Friend

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

T his book was written for all those who are trying to find their way in Him.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

Thank you to my wife Liz, and my children Jasmine, Michael, Marcus and Jenna for allowing me the time and space to do this.

Many thanks to my Dad & Mom (Reverend Otis Evans and Dr. Helen L. Evans), for sowing the seed that is now bearing fruit.

A Special Thank you to:

My spiritual covering and father in ministry, Bishop David G. Evans.

To my friends who helped me: Meredith Tsumba, Kathy Radford, Monica Boccella, Brett Carroll, Ernest Spann and Michael Woodward.

To Anita Coppens and AC Productions Inc. for tirelessly working, keeping the project going and meeting all the deadlines.

To my wonderful church family, Word Walking Empowerment Ministries.

INTRODUCTION

A t the big boys' party, the average age was eight years above ours, but we were grown college boys, home on winter break, going to big brother's holiday party, getting our groove on. Maybe we could get a phone number or, better yet, score. Our mode of transportation was the hot-rod, twelve-passenger church van! Gloryhallistupid! Were we careful? Of course, just like any nineteen-year-old, invincible males would be.

After my second glass of grain alcohol, I found myself on the outside looking in---literally. Whatever it was I drank made it so that I could not remain inside, so I sat outside on the patio bench contemplating my inability, my immaturity, and my youth. Five minutes later, all four of us were on the bench, looking in, wondering, What in the world did they put in that drink?

Well, we were humiliated and could not go back in and face that humiliation, so what did we do? Drive the church van home. What a trip!

Of course my passengers were asleep when the Lord placed the ice under the van, sending us into a spin, bodies hitting the floor, never waking. All I could hear in this slow-motion experience was my crying to the Lord, not to save our lives but to not let anything happen to the van, the church van, with the church's name, oh, and my dad's name on the side!

I wonder if God laughs when one uses curse words while praying. He was definitely laughing at me, especially in the sixth revolution when my praying turned to pleading. I was begging the Almighty to be taken straight to heaven, never having to face my dad. A miracle! Snatched like Elijah in a whirlwind. What about my friends? Oh well. They should have been awake.

What makes you think you will go to heaven? I thought. I wouldn't have taken me. At that thought, I guess God had had enough fun. The van came to a stop, striking nothing, not even waking my passengers.

In the Beginning

My entrance into college was an interesting one. Going from a small, private high school to a huge, Division 1 university was an enormous change. My high school class had seventy-seven graduates, while this university's incoming freshmen class, which I was to be a part of, had approximately 16,000 vibrant, excited, wondering, and wandering students.

For me, on the first day, there was a subtle trauma. Being away from home for the first time, there were some questions that really needed answering. What would I do? Did I have the wisdom in me to make it? Who would guide me along the way? From what did I need to be protected? From whom should I hide, or at least guard myself? How would I study? Did I have all that I needed to be successful? How would I make it in this huge institution? What would be different? And was I prepared? What was the goal?

In truth, I never consciously asked myself any of them, though I thought I had answered them all. I kissed my teary-eyed mother in front of the dorm after making about twenty trips to the sixth floor, with more stuff than I ever needed, waved good-bye, and was off to the liquor store.

Never having been to a liquor store in the past, and having never drunk liquor in my life, this adventure was the marker of my manhood and independence. Did I really think of it that way? Maybe.

My immediate interest in a relationship with booze presented no qualms to me, because of the academic prowess of the high school I had attended. Notice that I did not speak of my personal academic ability. I had convinced myself that college would be a breeze, at least the first year, because my high school was so much better than most.

What I failed to realize was that high school is high school, and college is big business, especially these large Division 1 universities. They made money on students failing, so the institution was working against me.

The university funded the twenty parties in the first two weeks of the semester. The university funded the keg parties all over campus. The university authorized the Bud Man coming weekly to the college pub.

Reality Sets In

The bottom line was that the university made money on students having to leave and later return, paying again in an effort to get a college degree.

The fact that I met students who had been there three times before never registered with me as something that I needed to be concerned about. I just thought they were stupid, not that the system was designed to work against them.

Have you ever felt that the system you were in, which was supposed to be working for you, which was supposed to be just and fair, progressive and empowering, was anything but that? That subtly the system was investing in your demise? Much like the Wall Street banks and investment firms that were selling investments to their customers and simultaneously investing in the failing of that same investment.

A college education was essential to survival in our family. Heck with being successful! If I wasted my parents' money going to an out-of-state college, paying an out-of-state tuition, and came home talking about failing out, the punishment would be brutal.

All my life, I knew that I was going to college. All my brothers had been to college. This was not a big choice for me, just the next step in my life. But now the very thing that I had to have was a system that was intent on my failure.

In high school, my classes ranged in size, from twelve to sixteen students. In college, my microeconomics class freshman year had four hundred students. My entire high school was less than four hundred. My communications class was 250. I took calculus in an auditorium with about 350 students, with a teacher writing in cursive on a blackboard on a stage in the front of the room (this was before the technology and convenience of smart boards). The recitation periods for this calculus class were taught by a graduate student who did not speak English.

High school is high school. College is big business.

More than anything, I had quickly fallen victim to the social structure. Staying out late, doing whatever, missing classes because they didn't take roll, still believing that my very expensive high school education would see me through.

Did I forget to mention the girls?

My high school went coed after my sophomore year. With the introduction of the female species into the environment, it did bring light, color, and diversity. It did make a difference, but by no means did it prepare me for what I was about to face in college.

Of the 55,000 students on the five campuses that made up the local university, 34,000 were women, with one campus being all women. What was a brother to do?

Then came the midterms. My midterm grades were so low that if you added them together, I would still have failed. I needed a savior and didn't have one. I may have said a prayer, but in my heart, I knew that even God was laughing at me, thinking about what my father was going to do to me.

I found grace in the minis, these short courses that one could add during the semester. They were one credit or less, but the grade went right to the bottom line. With a 1.9 GPA, I made it back for the second year.

The second year was no better. While I returned with renewed vim and vigor, since I had not corrected the habits of the first year, since I had no role model or instruction on how to be successful, and because of my amazement with the effects of alcohol on the immature adolescent mind, I was doomed from the start.

The second year was just hard! I was consumed in the system and could not figure out how I was going to make it. Making things worse, I was supposed to declare a major in the second semester of this year. I was looking for a major called Survival, and I found it, African studies. Even with that, I had to beg and plead, nearly selling my soul to make it through year two.

Day of Reckoning

Toward the end of the second semester of my sophomore year, what I thought was the worst thing that could happen actually happened. My dad called me at school.

You don't understand. Two years---that's 730 days, that's 15,360 hours, that's 421,600 minutes, which is 25,296,000 seconds---had gone by since I left home, and he had never called, but this day, my dad called the dorm.

He announced the pending retirement of him and my mom from the workforce and the consequent abandonment of my failing college experience. This was an eye-opener for me. I think they knew that I was wasting their money.

Nonetheless, because of my bad habits, I thought that I was in no better shape than before, except I was on my own. What I missed was the value of praying parents and grace's repositioning.

The summer before my junior year came around. (Yes, I made it, with a resounding 1.8 GPA.) Since I was on my own, I was eligible for work-study, which landed me in the Economics Department. The director was a Russian-born Communist.

For some strange reason, this man took a liking to me and took me under his wing. Over time, I became the pet of the department. I think that was because of my good manners. While my college habits were damaging and destructive, what I had been raised in, my foundation was still solid. I was a nice young man.

One day, the director asked me a question. He asked, How are you doing in your classes? I wanted to crawl under a rock. Why would he ask me that? I thought. So I decided that I would show him my good hand, but when I looked at my hands and considered them, both were withered. So I opened up and told him my struggle. That hurt! It took a lot for me to be so vulnerable, but where else could I go? I was afraid that once he saw how poorly I was doing that I might lose my job. He looked at me and told me to return the next day at a certain time.

That evening and all through the night, my mind was racing in consideration of what I was about to face. I contemplated running, not showing up for the meeting, certain that my embarrassment and doom were before me. What a terrible night.

By the next morning, while I had not fought off my fears, I had decided to face my fears and go to this meeting. I was expecting the worst because I had no idea of what the best could be.

The walk to the facility was truly the longest mile. Upon arrival, I went to the conference room where five of the professors of the department were seated at the table, with my transcript in front of them, waiting for me. I knew that I was finished.

Giving God the Glory

I sat down, ready to hear of my termination. But instead of my disposal, they began to share with me the secrets of the systems, the university's systems. In a deliberate fashion, they uncovered the nuances of how the university worked relative to the students and what had to be done to be victorious in the system. In other words, they showed me that there were two systems in operation. One was founded in a loss of identity, defeat, and struggle, with very little lasting benefit, if any. The other started with the value one had as a person, fueled by learning and timing, leading to success. They provided specific instruction on what to do to make it and told me if I did these things, I would graduate with a degree in economics.

One of the things I had to do was find a student with good grades, who went to the library daily, and watch what he/she did. The logic was obvious. In order to find a good student who went to the library each day, I had to go to the library every day. In other words, I was to find a good student who had daily attendance in the library as a personal criterion and imitate what he/she did. I had a choice to make. Would I accept this invitation into a new way of getting a college education? Or would I stay in the old system, relying on myself alone to see me through?

My junior year was a dream. I was out of the system that was throwing me under the bus, and almost overnight I was in a system that was teaching me how to learn and propelling me into heights of achievement. My gifts and talents were being identified and developed. I was learning to drive the bus!

Not only did I almost make honor roll but my improvement was demonstrated in taking seven classes. The average full-time student takes four classes, maybe five, but because I was trying to double major and because I knew how the system worked and had a strategy, I took seven and finished with a 3.3 GPA.

My plan of action allowed me to do this without doing homework at night or on the weekends, except before exams. How? I knew the rules, and I had a role model.

Churchianity

The kingdom of God is the new buzz in Churchianity these days, but do we really know how to work the system? Or, be honest, does it seem as though the system isn't working or is working against us? Or do we see the new system but actually operate in the old one, wondering why we are saved yet failing?

What we are trying to show you here is that the Lord Jesus will do for you what those five professors did for me---expose the system of defeat, the world's system (the system of darkness), and teach you the secrets of the system of light (the kingdom of God).

The instruction and example will be provided by Jesus, the Son of God and our Savior. Jesus is our mentor in this endeavor. He is the goal and the means.

The goal!

Many of us are stuck in the mind-set that we can't be like Jesus. He is the Son of God, and He lived without sin. I understand, and this points us to the first lesson that you must learn in order to succeed in the kingdom of God.

Jesus was without sin, but so are you!

Jesus put us in the same position that He was in, before God the Father on earth empowered Him to accomplish the purpose for which He was sent.

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him (John 3:16--17).

The next day he (John the Baptist) saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, 'Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!' (John 1:29).

What did Jesus come to do? Save the world. How did He save the world? By taking away the sin of the world. The text says that what He did is a benefit for whoever believes. That means when Jesus died on the cross, He satisfied the debt for the sins of man, and that satisfaction is applied to those who believe in Him.

What does it mean to believe in Him? It means that you first believe that He is who He says He is, the Son of God, that what He did is accredited to your life, that the sin debt that you owe has been paid in full.

What Should We Believe?

If the sin debt that I owe has been paid, then I am without sin. Just like Jesus when He was on the earth. I do not have the debt of sin as a hindrance against my living. That's how I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Philippians 4:13). That is how, each and every day, I start from victory, not defeat.

What a different way to live, seeing life from where you are, not from where you have been.

Too often we