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.