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Winning with the WordHow to Live a Life of Victory through Christ Author: Dr. MaryAnn Diorio
Success through the Word of God Language: en-us Genres: Christianity, Religion & Spirituality, Spirituality Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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The Upside-Down Kingdom
Thursday, 18 September, 2025
https://media.blubrry.com/winning_with_the_word/content.blubrry.com/winning_with_the_word/2025_09_18_The_Upside-Down_Kingdom.mp3September 18, 2025 Hello and Happy Day! This is Dr. MaryAnn Diorio, Novelist and Life Coach, welcoming you to another episode of Winning with the Word. Today is Thursday, September 18, 2025, and this is episode #18 in Series 2025. This episode is titled, “The Upside-Down Kingdom." Before we get into our message for this week, I want to extend a warm welcome to all of our new subscribers around the world. By the grace of God, Winning with the Word now reaches 85 countries all over the globe! Praise the Lord and glory to God!I want you to know how much I appreciate your support, and I trust that Winning with the Word blesses you and encourages you during these difficult last days. Please share this podcast and blog with your family and friends. I would love to bless them and encourage them as well.Now, on to this week's message titled "The Upside-Down Kingdom."If you have been a Christ-follower for any length of time, you have likely noticed that the Kingdom of God runs by laws opposite those of the natural world. For example, in the kingdom of earth, one lives first and then dies. In the Kingdom of God, one dies first and then lives.In the kingdom of earth, one must see first before one believes, while in the Kingdom of God, one must believe first before one sees. In the kingdom of earth, one does something in order to be something. In the Kingdom of God, one is something before one does something.In a very interesting passage in Acts 17: 6, the Bible calls the disciples "the men who have turned the world upside down." We tend to think of this expression of turning the world upside down as meaning to disrupt the natural order of things. And it does mean that. But, the coming of Christ to earth also turned the world upside down in a very literal way. The old order of the way things worked passed away. Jesus ushered in a new order, a new way of seeing and doing life. And that way is the only true way.Let's take a look at this new order of things that Jesus brought by exploring each of the ways the Kingdom of God is upside down from the kingdom of earth.1) Death before Resurrection.In john 12: 24 NIV, Jesus said this: "Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds." The Kingdom of God is like a seed. A seed must be planted in order to produce a crop according to the seed's kind. So it is with the one who chooses to follow Jesus Christ. That one must die to himself in order to live in Christ.This seems like a paradox, and it is. 2) Believing before Seeing.In the earthly kingdom the dictum is, "Seeing is Believing." In God's Kingdom, the dictum is "Believing is Seeing." The Kingdom of God is the Kingdom of Faith. In order to benefit from the promises of the Kingdom, one must walk in faith. Faith is the switch that turns on the power of God and enables t he Christ-Follower to experience the promises of God fulfilled in his life. Faith is the currency of the Kingdom of God whereby all transactions are conducted. Without faith, it is impossible to please God.3) Being before Doing.I find it very interesting that here in the earthly kingdom, when we meet someone new, one of the first questions we ask is, "What do you do?" Why don't we ask our new friend, "Who are you?" The reason is that the dictum for the kingdom of earth is "Doing precedes Being," while in the Kingdom of God, the dictum is "Being precedes Doing."In the Kingdom of God, we must first abide in Christ before we can bear any fruit. Jesus said this in John 15: 4 NIV: "Remain in Me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me." So, let me ask you, friend, are you engrafted in the Vine that is Jesus Christ? If not, you need to be.
