ACT Like ROYALTY

Do you remember in the movie “Knights Tale”, with Heath Ledger as a peasant squire created a new identity for himself as a knight, and in the end was discovered NOT to be a genuine knight, and therefore couldn’t compete in jousting, which was reserved for royalty.

But then, at the end, the son of the king walking around incognito, ended up knighting the common man, thus allowing him to compete in jousting again and defeat his opponent. I just love those stories where royalty has a heart for their people.

You realize that we ARE royalty. We are sons and daughters of the King. We are a royal priesthood. And wherever we go, we should act as royalty. Jesus did. He even told people that He was not of this world, that His Kingdom was from another world. “Jesus answered, ‘My Kingdom is not of this world: if My Kingdom were of this world, then would My servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is My Kingdom not from hence'” (Jn 18:36).

Just for a moment, take on that identity of royalty. Just imagine that wherever you go, whoever you meet, whatever circumstance you’re in, you can position yourself as royalty, meaning that you have authority to command the situation, with the full identity as a child of the King. –Where things have to obey you. That is so AWESOME.

That is the reason why so much in the Word is telling us not to act as worldlings. And NOT to be a part of the world around us.

Here’s what God told Moses to tell the people of Israel after they came out of Egypt. “These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites: ‘Now if you obey Me fully and keep My covenant, then out of all nations you will be My treasured possession. Although the whole earth is Mine, you will be for Me a Kingdom of priests and a holy nation'” (Ex 19:5,6).

And it’s even more so in the New Testament since we received Jesus’ royal inheritance. “Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in His glory” (Rom 8:17).

“But you are a CHOSEN PEOPLE, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of Him Who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you ARE the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy” (1Pet 2:9,10).

Amidst all that the Bible has to say about being “separated from the world”, did you know that the Bible warns against Facebook, social media and TikTok? Did you know that Netflix and Roku are warned against by the Word.

I’ve really enjoyed topical Bible studies recently, meaning you just follow a thread till the end, if there is an end…

There’s so MUCH in the Word of God about being separated from the world…take a moment for a short bible study.

Check out these verses…

“Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight” (1pet.3:2-4).

“I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me” (Ps 101:3).

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Rom 12: 2a).

“Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us” (1Pet 2:11).

“Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your Word” (Ps 119:37).

“Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong” (Ex 23:2a).

“My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent” (Pro 1:10).

“See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world, rather than on Christ” (Col 2:8).

“Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful” (Ps 1:1).

Worldly Entertainment

“He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly, who despises the gain of oppressions, who shakes his hands, lest they hold a bribe, who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed and shuts his eyes from looking on evil” (Isa 33:15).

“They rejected His decrees and the covenant He had made with their ancestors and the statutes He had warned them to keep. They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless. They imitated the nations around them although the Lord had ordered them, ‘Do not do as they do'” (2Ki 17:15b).

The Word warms us against tuning into their evil deeds because it’ll affect us.

“And if He rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard” (2pet 2: 7,8).

“You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability (2 pet 3:17).

“You shall make no covenant with them, nor with their gods. They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against Me. For if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you” (Ex 23:32,33).

Peer Pressure

“Rehoboam, the successor of the richest king, king Solomon listened to (FB) peers rather than to the wisdom of the elders and lost everything that Solomon gathered and built” (See 1 Ki 12: 3-16).

“Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ” (Gal 1. 10).

“Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets” (Lk. 6:26).

“Naaman compromised after being healed by God. ‘But may the LORD forgive your servant for this one thing: When my master enters the temple of Rimmon to bow down and he is leaning on my arm and I have to bow there also—when I bow down in the temple of Rimmon, may the LORD forgive your servant for this’” (Kg 5:17,18).

“The world hates you, keep in mind that it hated Me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you” (Jn 15:18,19).