THE KEYS TO THE KINGDOM PART III
We are continuing a series about the keys to the Kingdom.
The first key to the Kingdom is believing in Jesus. Which
is the only thing we can do, or need to do, to earn salvation. The only works we must do to please God is to believe on the one whom He has sent. (John 6:28-29)
How would you like to something for Jesus? Jesus in the person of the Holy Spirit needs your help. It is the desire of our King that every single person read His special message to them:
“WHY JESUS AIN’T GONNA DO NOTHIN”.
Some may say that goal is impossible. Nothing and I mean Nothing is impossible for God. He does, however, need humans to help.
Here is how you can help the Holy Spirit accomplish His mission:
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Enjoy this teaching from the Holy Spirit:
The second Key to the Kingdom of God is to receive the full measure of the faith of Jesus and to choose to use it. Jesus’ faith is given us all at the moment we make Him our king.
(2Peter1:1)
What is the kingdom of God? It is the place where God in all three persons (The Father and The Holy Spirit and The Son) resides. God lives in our hearts. God lives in our spirits. God lives in every one of the trillions of cells that make us up and the subcells and infinite sub subcells. God lives in the place known as heaven and He lives in the earth.
We have been given the keys to living in Heaven on earth and Heaven in Heaven:
“I will give you the keys (authority) of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind [forbid, declare to be improper and unlawful] on earth will have [already] been bound in heaven,
and whatever you loose [permit, declare lawful] on earth ]will have been loosed in heaven.”(Matthew 16:19)
“Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”
(Luke 12:32)
The third and equally important key to Joy, Happiness, Health, Prosperity, and Victory is THE WILLINGNESS TO CHANGE. Some people call this being reborn.
Here is the Holy Spirit speaking through Paul our special messenger, about being reborn or having a willingness to change:
“I have been crucified with Jesus!! [that is, in Him, I have shared His crucifixion]; it is no longer I who live, but Jesus lives in me. The life I now live in the body I live by faith (by Living in this present moment with joyful celebration of the promises that Jesus guaranteed us with His blood; regardless of what we see with our natural eye.) in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”
(Galatians 2:20)
“Strip yourselves of your former nature [put off and discard your old un-renewed self] which characterized your previous manner of life and becomes corrupt through lusts and desires that spring from delusion;
And be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind [having a fresh mental and spiritual attitude], And put on the new nature (the regenerate self) created in God’s image, [Godlike] in true righteousness and holiness.”
(Ephesians 4:22-24)
Dr. Jim Richards has written an excellent book about this subject the title is “Moving Our Invisible Boundaries” One point he hammers home is that in order to live healthy lives spiritually, mentally and physically, we must take off our old selves and put on our new regenerated selves.
Here is the King Himself speaking about the willingness to change:
“Jesus answered him, I assure you and most solemnly say to you unless a person is born again [reborn from above—spiritually transformed, renewed, sanctified], he cannot [ever] see and experience the kingdom of God.”
(John 3:3)
Explained: We have been mistakingly taught that everyone who makes Jesus their King has been reborn. Wrong.
It is amazing to me that so many call themselves believers because they have their fire insurance cards.
They claim Jesus because they dare not reject Him for fear of eternal separation from Him. I write to you with 30 years of Pastoring folk, that few people who call themselves believers actually believe Jesus.
My next book is titled: “You Believe In Jesus But Do You Believe Jesus?” Whenever I am invited to speak I always ask for a show of hands of all who believe in Jesus. Nearly everybody raises their hands.
Followed by this question: How many of you believe Jesus? A few less (the honest ones) raise their hands.
Then I teach them some of the Blood Guaranteed promises Jesus made, followed by the same question. “Now how many of you Believe Jesus?” a few may raise their hands. On two occasions men have wanted to fight me in the parking lot.
Jesus did not mean that if you are not born again you can not enter into heaven. There will be many many folks who never were born again, in heaven. What Jesus meant was what He said. Unless you become willing to change it is impossible to see the kingdom of heaven which is in our hearts and all around us.
What does being born anew mean? Paul explains in the 6th chapter of His letter to the church from Rome:
“What then [are we to conclude]? Shall we sin because we are not under Law, but under [God’s] grace? Certainly not! Do you not know that when you continually offer yourselves to someone to do his will, you are the slaves of the one whom you obey, either [slaves] of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness (right standing with God?)”
When the Holy Spirit refers to the obedience that leads
to righteousness, He is not speaking of good works. He is referring to accepting Jesus and surrendering our lives to Him. When we accept Jesus we are justified (found not guilty once and for all… Hebrews 10:10) and sanctified by being put into a state of right standing or righteousness, with Jesus.
“But thank God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient with all your heart to the standard of teaching in which you were instructed and to which you were committed.”
“And having been made free from sin, you have become the slaves of righteousness [of conformity to God’s will and purpose]. I am speaking in [familiar] human terms because of your natural limitations.” [your spiritual immaturity].
When James wrote: “Show me your faith and I will show you my works.” He did not mean that faith must b qualified by works. He meant this: when we walk in the faith of Jesus and we are led by the Holy Spirit, we naturally change and want to do the good things that we were predestined to do, not out of a performance-based relationship with God, but out of our love for Him and His righteousness, then our good works become evidence of our faith.
More on this subject from the Holy Spirit to Paul, to us:
“For just as you presented your bodily members as slaves to impurity and to [moral] lawlessness, leading to further lawlessness, so now offer your members [your abilities, your talents] as slaves to righteousness, leading to ]sanctification [that is, being set apart for God’s purpose].”
That teaching sounds like work but it is not. When we surrender our old person steeped in unbelief and bad behavior to our King, we are freed from a life of sin. The result is a tendency to do good not evil.
Whenever I write that the Gentiles (us) are not and never were under the ten commandments (Ephesians 2:8-12 and Galatians chapter 3) some ignorant fighters will condemn me for teaching folk to disobey them, which I never have and never will.
Then they claim that I encourage sin. Wrong! Read and re-read the first line of this quotation from the Holy Spirit as delivered so well by Paul:
“What Then are we to conclude? Shall we continue in sin because we live not under the ten commandments and 603 attached man-made ordinances (The Law)? but under God’s grace and mercy? CERTAINLY NOT!
When we are born anew, we try our best to conquer our flesh and live by the Spirit:
“But the fruit of the Spirit [the result of His presence within us] is love [unselfish concern for others], joy, [inner] peace patience [not the ability to wait, but how we act while waiting], kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things, there is no law. And those who belong to Jesus have crucified the sinful nature together with its passions and appetites.”
“If we [claim to] live by the [Holy] Spirit, we must also walk by the Spirit [with personal integrity, Godly character, and moral courage—our conduct empowered by the Holy Spirit].
Here is another thing we change when we are reborn:
“So we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are unseen; for the things which are visible are temporal [just brief and fleeting], but the things which are invisible are everlasting and imperishable.
(2Corinthians4:18)
Being born anew means to change our focus from the things that we see to the things that we don’t see. Because the seen was created by the unseen.
(Hebrews 11:3)
Here is another evidence of being reborn, as given to Paul by the Holy Spirit to give to us from the third chapter of the letter to the church at Colosse, or the book of Colossians:
“Therefore if you have been raised with Jesus [to a new life, sharing in His resurrection from the dead], keep seeking the things that are above, where Jesus is, seated at the right hand of God.”
“Set your mind and keep focused habitually on the things above [the heavenly things], not on things that are on the earth [which have only temporal value]. For you died [to this world], and your [new, real] life is hidden with Jesus in God. When Jesus, who is our life, appears then you also will appear with Him in glory.”
“So put to death and deprive of power the evil longings of your earthly body [with its sensual, self-centered instincts] immorality, impurity, sinful passion, evil desire, and greed, which is [a kind of] idolatry because it replaces your devotion to God].”
“Because of these [sinful] things the [divine] wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience [those who fail to listen and who routinely and obstinately disregard God’s precepts], and in these [sinful things] you also once walked, when you were habitually living in them.” [without the knowledge of Jesus]
It is very important to understand that the people to whom
Paul refers in that last scripture are those who deny the deity of Jesus. Not we Christians who commit sins.
“But now rid yourselves [completely] of all these things: anger, rage, malice, slander, and obscene (abusive, filthy, vulgar) language from your mouth.”
“Do not lie to one another, for you have stripped off the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new [spiritual] self who is being continually renewed in true knowledge in the image of Him who created the new self—
a renewal in which there is no [distinction between] Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, [nor between nations whether barbarian or ]Scythian, [nor in status whether] slave or free, but Jesus is all, and in all [so believers are equal in Jesus, without distinction].
“So, as God’s own chosen people, who are holy [set apart, sanctified for His purpose] and well-beloved [by God Himself], put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience [which has the power to endure whatever injustice or unpleasantness comes, with good temper]; bearing graciously with one another, and willingly forgiving each other if one has a cause for complaint against another; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so should you forgive.
“Beyond all these things put on and wrap yourselves in [unselfish] love, which is the perfect bond of unity [for everything is bound together in agreement when each one seeks the best for others]. Let the peace of Jesus [the inner calm of one who walks daily with Him] be the controlling factor in your hearts.” [deciding and settling questions that arise].
“To this peace indeed you were called as members of one body [of believers]. And be thankful [to God always]. Let the [spoken] word of Jesus have its home within you [dwelling in your heart and mind—permeating every aspect of your being] as you teach [spiritual things]
and admonish and train one another with all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God. “
“Whatever you do [no matter what it is] in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus [and in dependence on Him], giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”
(Colossians 3)
Being willing to change, to be born again does not mean that we must do all of these things in perfection but that we try to achieve them.
The 10 commandments are not law to us. We are however to obey them. Not grudgingly or out of necessity but cheerfully because they are God’s guidance to us. They also belie the intents and purposes of our heart. Meaning, How are we to love Jesus with all of our hearts and kill our neighbor or commit adultery in His presence.
God does not punish us for failing to live the life described by the Holy Spirit, but we do. When we live Spirit driven lives, the Joy, Happiness, Grace, Love, and Peace that follow are indescribable. When we live a flesh-driven life we can not find happiness.
Have you ever known a sex addict or alcoholic who were truly content and peaceful? Has an adulterous affair ever brought true joy and happiness?
Imagine if you will, a world dominated by behavior directed by the Holy Spirit. Imagine a world where people have surrendered their old unregenerate selves and practice the behavior you just read.
Please meditate on this teaching. If you receive it, you will never be the same and you will know a new and glorious life walking in the Kingdom of Heaven.
This teaching was presented to you by Pastor Allen Fleming, leader of Throne of Grace Ministries.
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