Last Wednesday evening there were several
people who received ministry in our services. God poured
out His Spirit in some for healing and others received their prayer
language as they were filled with the Spirit. During the
last couple of days we attended a minister's conference in Marshfield, Missouri and one of the ladies who had a shoulder
replacement was given mobility and freedom from pain from the Lord. If
you listen closely to conversations around the house of God you
will continue to hear people give praise for life changing experiences
because God has touched them. This is what living in the Kingdom of God is all about!
Have
you prayed the Lord's Prayer lately? Jesus said we are to pray
for the kingdom to come!
Matt 6:9-13
9 'Our
Father, who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.
10' Your
kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
This
is where miracles begin, when we ask God for His Kingdom
to be formed in our lives.
May
I refresh your memory about the preaching on the kingdom we have
done?
We enter the kingdom by our faith in Jesus Christ.
The Keys
to the Kingdom are humility,
obedience to the Word,
and allowing God's character to live through
us.
Growing in the Kingdom consists of
Spiritual
understanding
Relationships of love
Maturity
Influencing our world
Commitment
Joy
A transformed life
Giving thanks in all things
Ethical behavior
Your
kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
This
is a lifetime of growing, praying and living in the kingdom. We
are not waiting for heaven but we enter into the Kingdom of God now! On earth as it is in heaven.
How
are things in heaven? Heaven is filled with Family and Friends. Isn't
that one of the great reasons to plan for heaven? Our family
and friends are there! Living on earth as it is in heaven
means we are to enjoy them now as well as then!
The
Apostle Paul had a number of close friends in the faith!
2 Cor
8:23 As for Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker
1 Thess
3:2 Timothy, our brother and God's fellow worker in
the gospel of Christ,
1 Thess
2:7 But we proved to be gentle among you, as a nursing mother tenderly
cares for her own children.
1 Thess
2:11 we were exhorting and encouraging and imploring
each one of you as a father would his own children,
Rom 12:10 Be
devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one
another in honor;
Paul's
writings are filled with fond remembrances of people who had received
Christ through his ministry! Living on earth as it is it
heaven means we have the wonderful opportunity to love one another. Paul
definitely took advantage of the love of God and shared that love
in immeasurable ways with the family of God around him. But
we must confess it isn't always as easy to love one another as we
would like for it to be!
Someone
said, To live with the saints above, O that will be glory. But
to live with the saints below, now that's a different story. But
living together is a loving, grace filled community is the commitment
which Christ is looking for! That is how we learn to be more
like Christ!
James 4:11 Do
not speak against one another, brethren. He who speaks against
a brother or judges his brother, speaks against the law and judges
the law; but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law
but a judge of it.
When
we get to heave all of our differences will be over! Why not
set them aside now? God promises that He will give us grace
to love one another if we ask Him! So expect the Kingdom of God to come on earth in your life . .
. as it is in heaven!
How
are things in heaven? Heaven is filled with Family and
Friends. Heaven
is also filled with the Light of God's glory!
Paul
described God's glory in Timothy.
1 Tim 6: 15 … the
King of kings and Lord of lords, 16 who alone has immortality,
dwells in unapproachable light,
Light
is the essence of the presence of God! The Baptist preacher
who was killed in an automobile accident and found himself in heaven
for an hour and a half, experienced indescribable, life-giving
light! One of the common themes about heaven involves the
Light of God's glory. Peter, James, and John saw
it too when Jesus was transformed into His heavenly form.
Matt 17:2
and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun,
and His clothes became as white as the light.
While
Jesus had been clothed with a human body, the light of His glory
was not visible, but there was something bursting forth from within
Him that was glorious! The light of this glory was always there. The
power of the light of God's glory was constant flowing through Him
as He touched people's lives and they were transformed!
When
we come to Christ that light of God begins to reside within us!
Eph 5:8 For
you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk
as children of light.
When
we enter into God's kingdom, the light of God begins to shine in
us. Occasionally we can catch a glimpse of that glory of the
faces of those who have been praying or worshiping Jesus. We
once lived in darkness and we were darkness! But now we are
light because Jesus lives in us! Live in the Light!
John
described living in the Light like this.
1 John 1:5-7 God
is light and in Him is no darkness at all. 6 If
we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness,
we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk
in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one
another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from
all sin.
Let
the Light of God's glory be in us on earth as it is in heaven! In
Him there is no darkness at all! As we live in His kingdom
while on this earth we can let His Light shine in us by continuing
to walk in the light. And if you don't walk in the Light, confess
that to Him and He will cleanse you for your sin so you can let His
Light shine and you can have fellowship with other believers! (New
carpet - don't spill coffee, but if you do, tell the janitor immediately. New
Life - don't sin, but if you do, tell Jesus immediately.)
How
are things in heaven? Heaven is filled with Family and Friends. Heaven is also filled with the Light of God's glory. Heaven
filled with worship, music, praise, joy, and laughter!
John
gives us a small glimpse into heaven in the Book of Revelation. The
picture of the saints in heaven is one of rejoicing and singing!
Rev 14:3 and Rev
5:9 . . . and they sang a new song . . .
Rev 15:2 And
I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those
who had been victorious . . . 3 And they sang the song
of Moses, the bond-servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, " Great
and marvelous are Your works, O Lord God, the Almighty; Righteous
and true are Your ways, King of the nations!
David
Ingles sings a song which says, "I don't sing those songs anymore,
of born to lose and of the life before." Why would we want
to be singing sad songs because that isn't what we will sing in heaven! There
will be no sad songs in heaven. There will not be any songs
to remind us of our sorrows and disappointments. There will
only be songs of victory and triumph!
Rev 19:6
6 Then
I heard something like the voice of a great multitude and like
the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of
thunder, saying, "Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty,
reigns.
7 "Let
us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage
of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready."
Heaven
is a place of joy! The marriage of the Lamb and the bride
is our re-union with Jesus in Heaven! What a time of joy! By
having the kingdom on earth as it is in heaven means we can begin
experiencing some of that rejoicing now! David said it like
this
Ps 100
1 Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth.
2 Serve the LORD with gladness; Come before Him with joyful singing.
4 Enter His gates with thanksgiving And His courts with praise. Give
thanks to Him, bless His name.
The
word for praise comes from the Hebrew word HALAL which means to praise,
to glory, to be brilliant, to make a fool of, or to act madly. God
wants His kingdom to be in us on earth!
How
are things in heaven? Heaven is filled with Family and Friends. Heaven is also filled with the Light of God's glory. Heaven
filled with worship, music, praise, joy, and laughter!
|
