TEXTS for this message are from the King James Version – Life in the Spirit Bible &
Thompson Chain-Reference Bible
St.
Matthew 4:17: "From that time
Jesus began to preach, and to say, 'Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand'." St. Luke 17:21: "Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you".
The denomination I grew up in defined the “kingdom / heaven"
– as a place we have to go to beyond the blue.
Apparently Jesus had difficulty making Himself understood regarding the
kingdom, which accounts for numerous parables with comparisons He gave of the
kingdom.
In all the parable illustrations Jesus gave relating to the
kingdom, never did He describe it as a place located in some distant realm.
Despite the numerous repeated illustrations by Jesus showing
the kingdom of heaven to be a state of “consciousness” (mind set), a great mass
of Christians today are teaching that “kingdom”
is a place to which people, who accept Jesus as their Savior, will go when they
die. If such a place existed, Jesus
would have given a clear description of it, rather than giving parable after
parable showing it to be a state of “consciousness” (mind set) attained by man.
It has been my observation in general conversation that when
the question is asked, “What is the kingdom”, the response reflects much the
same as what I had been taught: “it’s beyond the blue” or “up yonder”.
In Mark and Luke, the Greek term basilei’a was translated as "kingdom of God", while
Matthew uses the term as "kingdom of heaven". Jewish custom was to
avoid using God’s name so it was spelled G-D (without the “o” included).
The kingdom of God: the foundation of power [almightiness;
invincibility; authority; force; energy; vigor; potency; control] of the
Supreme (MOST HIGH) Divinity (God Himself)!!
It’s also the “power” He has allocated through Jesus the Christ to those
that will believe Him and walk by faith and not sight!
The kingdom of
heaven: the foundation of power
[dominion and authority] that operates [conducts; manages; directs] in the
“elevated places” taking authority over everything that is not like God. It matters not what is going on in your life.
This “power” is able to deliver you!
Those that possess this power can and will rule and reign with Christ
right here and right now! Like David,
there will not be a giant or Goliath that you will not be able to behead!! Luke 10:19: "Behold, I give unto you power
to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the
enemy: and nothing shall by any means
hurt you."
If you are in Christ,
you are already in heaven. "Even
when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace
are ye saved;) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus"
(Ephesians 2:5-6).
I can tell you what the “kingdom” is not:
(1) It is not
meat and drink, but righteousness, peace
and joy in the Holy Ghost (Romans 14:17)
(2) It is not about
the return of Christ. He has already
come to many! St. John 14:15-16: "If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give
you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world
cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye
know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you". (Vs 18) "I will not leave you
comfortless: I will come to you"! (vs
26) "But the Comforter, which is the
Holy Ghost"! You have the Holy
Ghost; you have the Father and the Son in you by the Holy Ghost! HALLELUJAH!!!
(3) It is not a
physical place, or a geographical area.
Our text declares “it (the kingdom) is within you” (Luke 17:21).
(4) It is not
about compromising the message of who and what Jesus is. He is legitimate and the truth never needs to
be watered down, hidden, or reformed in some other image. Galatians 4:4: "But when the fulness of the time was come,
God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law".
(5)
The "kingdom" is not a religion (man searching
for God, but He is in us). Matthew
1:23: "Behold, a virgin shall be
with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel,
which being interpreted is, God with us"! It is about relationship (the “kingdom” search is over!) It is about us being one with the Father (St. John 17:20-23)!
KINGDOM – (Greek) basilei’a
is power, rule, reign, government: ba’sis,
meaning to walk (live). It is a
foundation of “power” that dwells within us that enables us to do what God has
assigned us to do: Acts 1:8: "Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in
Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the
earth". Mark 16:15: "Go ye into all the world, and preach
the gospel to every creature". (Vs
17-18) "These signs shall follow
them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with
new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing,
it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall
recover".
(6) The “kingdom”
cannot be shaken! Hebrews 12:28: "Wherefore
we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may
serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear".After being baptized by His cousin John in the Jordan River and spending 40 days in the wilderness being tempted by Satan, Jesus began His earthly missions from that time preaching, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17). Repent – stop, turn around, go in opposite direction. This was His first statement to the world telling us we need to metanoe’o [change our minds or our thinking; think differently]. If you are travelling down the road and realize you’re headed the wrong way, you make a 180 degree turn to head in the right direction. That’s an action! Before the action of turning, you had to make the decision to turn around. This is not an easy change for many of us. Most of us as believers will have a problem making this change. This is not a “natural” mind set.
1 Corinthians 2:14: "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of
God: for they are foolishness unto
him: neither can he know them, because
they are spiritually discerned". We’re
used to looking at daily struggles with an attitude of despair believing our
situation will never change or improve.
We are too focused on our bills; looking at our empty wallets; wondering
"how am I going to pay this?"; walking around worried; stressed on a
daily basis trying to make ends meet.
That is not “kingdom mentality”!
Kingdom is a belief system
attitude held by the people. Philippians
4:13: "I can do all things through Christ who
strengthens me".
Paul says that we need to be transformed (changed) by the
renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2). Before you can transform the world, you’ve
got to be transformed! Before you can
change anyone else, you have to be changed!
We must take on Christ’s mind. Jesus
didn’t think it robbery to be equal with God (Philippians 2:5-6).
In Luke 17:21, Jesus declares a definite location of the “kingdom
of God” when he states that “the Kingdom of God is within you”!!
Look at the word KINGDOM in two parts: “KING”
and “DOMAIN” (the territory where the King rules).
KING: God is “KING” of both realms, the visible
and the invisible; the physical universe.
Psalm 24:1: "The earth
is the LORD’S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein". He is El Shaddai, God Almighty, the Ruler,
who set the standards in heaven and earth.
As King of everything, God is the standard setter; rule establisher;
judge of all things.
The “government” is
the business aspect of the kingdom. The
administration of the “government” is the rule or control God exercises over
others. So that makes Him the
Administrator! Kingdom is ruled by
instructions of God’s Word. It was
through administration that God created the universe and everything in it. God is King, and we came out of Him. We are His offspring! He has called us out for such a time as
this. He has produced a race of Kings,
and the Holy Ghost tutors us on how to act.
We have to develop a kingdom mindset to function in the physical and
spiritual realm. Where the word of a
King is, there’s power.
His word is law in his territory. He is never voted in, and he can’t be voted
out of power! Authority is by
birthright. The decree is unchanging,
and he owns everything in his domain.
His domain is the territory or sphere in which the King rules. Without a domain, the title King has little
meaning and carries little weight.
Scripture declares that God created all things, and without Him nothing
was made that has been made (John 1:3).
Whatever He created is His property by right of creation. His domain extends indefinitely in every
direction because there is nowhere in earth or the heavens that He doesn’t
encompass or where His presence does not dwell.
God is Spirit, and His reign over the physical domain took
on a different form. Rather than rule
directly, He chose from the beginning to exercise His kingly authority through
mankind to rule the earth. Genesis
1:26: "And God said, Let us
make man in our image, after our likeness:
and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl
of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every
creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth".
This wasn’t man’s plan but God’s plan! We must elevate our thinking. It comes through knowing who we are. We the church were created and equipped to be
sent out to subdue the earth. We are
ambassadors of Christ, representatives of Christ. So we must start walking, talking, thinking,
believing, and acting like Him if we say God is our Father. If you don’t see yourself in His image, you
can’t function in the spirit realm!
When God created the Adam people (male and female), He gave
them opportunity to voluntarily become his subjects – to come under His government. God told Adam, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden, but you must not eat
from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for in the day you eat of it
you will surely die" (Genesis 2:16-17). Adam was a free moral agent so he could make
choices. He could have chosen to
obey. He could have voluntarily
submitted to God’s government and accepted God’s rule, but he (male and female)
chose to sin (miss the mark). He
rejected the government of God in his life.
Four hundred years later, God gave the nation of Israel
opportunity to come under His government.
He brought them out of Egypt under the leadership of Moses. At Mount Sinai, God offered them a covenant –
if they would obey Him and accept His government, He would bless them. He would make them a great nation. They agreed and promised to accept God as
their ruler and to obey His laws.
(Exodus 19:5-8)
They had no bible, no television media, nor Old Testament
writings. The only way they knew God’s
will and the only way they could come under God’s government was through
Moses. Understand that God had made
Moses ruler over the people and Aaron was Moses’ mouthpiece. Exodus 7:1: "And the Lord said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to
Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be
thy prophet".
The problem with many of us is we don’t know who we
are. Our greatest enemy today is not
Satan nor is it sin because Jesus defeated both at the Cross! Power is not the problem either – God has
given us power and authority! Luke
10:19: "Behold, I give unto you
power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the
enemy: and nothing shall by any means
hurt you". Acts 1:8: "But ye shall receive power, after
that the Holy Ghost is come upon you".
Our greatest enemy is “ignorance”! Somebody said "what
you don’t know won’t hurt you".
That’s the biggest lie ever told!
What you don’t know will kill you!
Hosea 4:6: "My people are
destroyed (perish) for lack of
knowledge". The antidote for ignorance is knowledge! So God sent His
word, the Living Word, in the person of Jesus Christ, His Son, to remove our ignorance relating to God and His
kingdom. He wants to teach us regarding
our heritage and kinship as children of the Father.
God knew exactly what He was doing. He created all of us to rule, not to be
ruled. He needed someone to dominate a piece of real estate called earth so He
created man. He put us in charge of this
domain. Many of us have never learned
this and probably never heard this before.
But I’m here to tell you, you don’t have to wait until you die or wait
on Jesus to return to start enjoying kingdom benefits. God has equipped and empowered us to live
victoriously and exercise our dominion authority right here and right now!! 1 John 4:4: "Because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world".
How do we do this? We
do this by elevating and renewing our minds. We must learn to talk, think and
act like the royalty that we are!
First, we must
know that we are “kings”, business
executives! Exodus 19:5-6: "If you obey me fully and keep my
covenant, 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". Revelation 19:16: "And he hath on his vesture and on
his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS,
AND LORD OF LORDS".
Secondly, know
you are a priest – a spiritual counsellor between God and His people. Revelation 1:6: "And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father". Revelation 5:10: "And hast made us unto our God kings
and priests: and we shall reign on (over) the earth".
There are two roles the people of God must function in: one role is “king” and as “kings” we must
“rule over our domain”! David was
kingdom minded. That’s why he was
fearless toward Goliath. He knew He had
an entourage backing him! He wasn’t
afraid to talk back to the devil. It
didn’t matter what the devil threw at David. He reassured that big bully in 1 Samuel
17:46: “this day the Lord will
deliver you into my hands”. He took
Goliath’s head off with his own sword.
That’s the place of authority God wants us to be in. He wants us to be “head-takers”! He didn’t
call us and equip us to allow the enemy to back us into a corner. Our mandate is to not take sides but to take
over the earth! Fear and slave mentality
has no fight ability. Walk in your kingship!!
Do not be afraid! Jesus was
fearless in the face of storms. He had
no sense of lack! He was Master over
Satan and his forces! We don’t have to
fear! We have angels around us. That’s our heritage and the host of heaven is
backing us!
We already
know the enemy is not playing with us.
He’s always lurking around seeking whom he can devour. You can’t fight natural with natural. You’ve got to fight natural with supernatural!
2
Corinthians 10:4-6: "The weapons
of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of
strong holds; casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth
itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought
to the obedience of Christ; And having in a readiness to revenge all
disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled".
What is the Kingdom? It
is the power of God resident on the inside of you! It is us using that power, taking our
authority over life’s situations right here and right now!
Matthew 6:33: "But
seek ye first the kingdom of God,
and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you".
~ Evangelist Brenda Hansley
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please note that all comments are reviewed prior to appearing on GWM. Thank you for your understanding.