Greetings, dear readers.
I would like to touch on the topic of the Kingdom of God, because we need to seek it in this life, and not in the future. In fact, whether we find this Kingdom on earth will determine where we spend eternity. That is why it is so important for us to understand what the Kingdom of God means and where to look for it.
Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Matthew 6:33
Some Christians believe that God's Kingdom is in heaven, an unattainable reality that they will encounter only after death. When their soul departs to heaven, an angel in a white robe will meet them at the heavenly gates and joyfully escort them to the monastery prepared for them by Christ.
Some believers are diligently building the Kingdom of Heaven on earth: for this they spend all their time, energy and money. If you look around, you will see many temples that they built and appreciate their noble work.
Many Christians do not spread the good news of the salvation of souls in Christ, but rather promote their denomination: be it Catholicism, Orthodoxy or Protestantism. They establish the Church in this world, like communists who built heaven on earth and dreamed of a bright future.
The only problem is that many sincere believers have not understood the basic teaching of Christianity, that “the Kingdom of God is within you.”
In the Gospels, Christ teaches us to pray for the Kingdom of God to come. And this Kingdom is the Lord Himself in all His fullness and glory. Through faith, God dwells in our hearts, Who promised to come to us and create His abode. His name is glorified when He builds a temple in our souls for His dwelling. And He will shine in us as the sun of righteousness, performing His deeds through us. Then His will is accomplished in our lives: both in the inner man and in all everyday affairs.
Seek first the Kingdom of God
Let's look at the Gospel of Matthew chapter 6. Christ pointed to the birds of the air, and through their example he opened the way for us to have peace of faith: not to worry about anything, because God knows all our needs.
None of us can serve two masters: God and earthly wealth. If we love money, social status, expensive trinkets, then we give up the search for spiritual life. Think about how much effort and time we spend every day to serve our self. And how much is insignificant is what brings us closer to God.
How much hope do we have in Him for whom nothing is impossible, and who works everything according to the good pleasure of His will?
Rather, it gives us more pleasure to spin like a squirrel in a wheel, as if our existence depends on us and will last forever. And all this happens because of our egocentrism.
It is very sad for me to see how many feverishly seek only their own benefit in everything. In thoughts, words and deeds, they seek only their own, and not what pleases Jesus Christ. Pleasure or benefit, financial profit or career advancement - always only for your well-being.
This self-obsession and acquisitiveness have penetrated so deeply into our lives that not only our outer, but also our inner man has become obsessed with the search for happiness. We are like the hunchbacked woman described in the Gospel, who was bent to the ground and could not look up to heaven.
We do not rely on God, who has given us so much mercy and showered us with incredible amounts of blessings. How it pains me to see that even Christians use all their love and strength only to improve their lives. They no longer seek God's face. And at the same time, they do not feel the desire to care about the eternal while earthly affairs are going well.
But excessive concern for well-being harms a person. Worries fetter the mind and feelings, extinguish the fire of love for the Heavenly Father and block the path to the depths of the soul, which leads us to the Lord. Therefore, it is so important to monitor where we direct our attention and energy, what our skills and abilities are aimed at.
It is necessary to put an end to sensual passion for everything earthly. But this is easier to say than to put into practice. If our thoughts and emotions are constantly occupied with visible objects, then we are more susceptible to all temptations and enticements. They prevent us from finding our true essence within. The hidden person of the heart remains closed to us - like something beautiful and infinitely distant. Then we become alien to ourselves, and the purpose and meaning of our life dissolves in fog and uncertainty.
The Kingdom of God must be sought where it is hidden: in the depths of our spirit. True, this will require great effort from us, internal discipline and spiritual practice. But we will not find Him unless we give up attachments to our self and the external world. We need to become like a merchant looking for good pearls. When he found the pearl of great price, he went and sold everything he had and bought it.
I think it is impossible to love this world and at the same time love God. It will not be possible to save our soul if we do not lose it for the sake of the Lord. We can even acquire the blessings of the whole world, but we will harm ourselves and our own soul.
The Kingdom of Heaven Has Drawn Near
(Matthew 3:1-2) In those days John the Baptist comes and preaches in the wilderness of Judea and says, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
(Matthew 4:17) From that time Jesus began to preach and say: Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
A lot of texts are devoted to this topic. The entire Sermon on the Mount is, in fact, the rules of the Heavenly Kingdom. When Jesus Christ speaks about the Kingdom of God, he uses one interesting phrase - “The Kingdom of God is at hand.” In the Greek translation it sounds like an action that has already been completed and the main emphasis is on the result of the action.
It has come closer - close, practically here, that is, the result is already visible, it can be felt.
The Kingdom of God is within you
We must seek only God, and meditate on nothing but His Word. You will say that this is impossible. And I agree with you, but at the same time I don’t. We cannot think about the Lord 24 hours a day, but we don’t need to. The fact is that our inner man looks every moment to Jesus Christ, who lives in our heart.
But his will is in the law of the Lord, and he meditates on His law day and night!
Psalm 1:2
Do you think that it was in vain that the Apostle Paul wrote in the Epistles to the Thessalonians: “pray without ceasing”?
And I don't think that means talking to God all the time. On the contrary, in the Gospel of Matthew, Christ said that we should not be verbose in prayer, because the Father knows our needs before we ask Him.
This means: we must truly and completely turn inward, plunging into the depths of the silent spirit. We must deny ourselves in order to surrender to the Divine will. And trust in the power of God within us, for which nothing is impossible.
ABOUT! how comforting, gratifying and precious it is for us that our best and highest treasure - the Kingdom of God - is not an external good, but an internal one, which we always carry within ourselves, which is hidden from this world and from the devil and which no one and nothing can take away from us.
Johann Arndt
We need to seek His righteousness instead of our own justice, because He is with those who seek Him within their hearts. Then we will keep the Lord in our thoughts and submit to Him alone.
But this does not mean that you need to neglect your responsibilities. You must continue to approach your work with responsibility, prudence and diligence.
How one should - in the spirit of mutual service - fulfill one's obligations, both towards oneself and towards others. And in all matters we need to be guided by common sense and wisdom.
And he will be like a tree planted by streams of water, which brings forth its fruit in its season, and whose leaf does not wither; and in everything he does, he will succeed.
Psalm 1:3
Everything we do must be done honestly, doing what our hand can do. But through all this, trust in the Lord. Do not cling to things, and cast all your worries on Him. And whether we work or rest, if there is no God in our minds, then we will remain unsuccessful.
The Kingdom of God: how does it manifest itself? — sermon 02/04/18
Vyacheslav Goncharenko
02/04/2018
Today I want to share with you a topic about the Kingdom of God and how it works.
Luke 17:20-21:
“When the Pharisees asked when the Kingdom of God would come, he answered them: “The Kingdom of God will not come in a noticeable way, and they will not say: “Behold, it is here” or: “There.” For behold, the kingdom of God is within you."
Jesus explains very interestingly what the Kingdom of God is. Do you know that the Church is not yet the Kingdom of God? But the Church is the representative of the Kingdom of God on earth. By the way, Jesus only talks about the church twice and more than 145 times about the Kingdom of God.
There is also a difference between the Kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of Heaven is the place where God dwells, where He sits on the throne, and at the right hand, or on the right hand, is His Son Jesus Christ, our Savior and our Lord.
What is the Kingdom of God? Jesus says that the Kingdom of God is within us. Luke 11:2 records how Jesus teaches His disciples to pray: “Our Father who art in heaven! Hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven...” What does this mean? The Kingdom of God is a continuation of the Kingdom of Heaven, which is on earth today. Moreover, the Kingdom of God is within every believer. Jesus says it is within us. This means that the continuation of the Heavenly Kingdom is in you. Thus, it is called the Kingdom of God, and not Heavenly, because we are earthly here. But this Kingdom cannot be called earthly either. God's Kingdom is within us.
What is the Kingdom of God and what is the continuation of heaven here on earth? You know that in heaven there are no curses, no illnesses, no demons, no fear, no poverty and poverty - there is nothing bad, evil or bad there. There is nothing unclean or nasty there. Since this is not there, God’s will is that it should not exist on earth either.
Look how exciting the Kingdom of God is coming to this world. The Kingdom of God does not come in a noticeable way, but it settles within a person and completely transforms him from the inside out. Let's say a person drank vodka, was angry, hated others. I met one such person in Azerbaijan. He said: “I was drinking and beating my wife every day. This continued until I accepted Jesus Christ into my life.” It is a mystery for non-believers how God can transform a person’s personality: how from an incorrigible criminal, a dangerous repeat offender, for whom nothing is sacred, he becomes a normal citizen of this society. This is how God works: the Kingdom of God comes within a person and completely transforms him. Man becomes different - he becomes a new creation in Jesus Christ.
I want you to always remember that the Kingdom of God is a supernatural Kingdom. What is the supernatural kingdom? In general, what does supernatural mean? We know what natural is: it is ordinary, human. But the supernatural is something above the human, above the capabilities of man, above all that he is capable of.
God is not a man. The ruler of this Kingdom is not a person. He is a supernatural God and Master. This means that everything is subject to Him. Everything is also subject to the Kingdom that He settles inside man. God is interested in seeing His Kingdom manifest on earth today. It must show up! When the Kingdom of God does not manifest itself, this is already religion, this is wrong, this is abnormal.
Here we live, go to church. The question arises: is the Kingdom of God manifesting itself in your life? If so, how strongly does it manifest itself? You think: “How should it manifest itself?” Very simple. If the Kingdom of God manifests itself, then you influence your environment with your life, the Kingdom that lives in you, the Holy Spirit and God's presence.
Let's remember the Apostle Peter, about whom it is said: “The shadow of Peter as he passed healed people.” I want to ask: do you want your shadow to heal people? For example, you walk past a person who is obviously sick. You looked at which side the sun was on and walked next to this person so that your day fell on him. You passed, and the person became healthy. How do you like it?
I'm telling you that it's okay to think and dream about it because it's the Gospel. This is naturally impossible. Naturally, we think like this: what doctors are needed, what money should be paid for treatment, what medicines should we find? And the Kingdom of God is higher than medical practice.
There have been uncanny moments in my life when I saw how a drunk person I had just said hello to instantly sobered up. The Kingdom of God simply revealed itself. You come to a family in which there are scandals, confusion, hatred, and with you the Kingdom of God comes there. We can be carriers of God's presence. It can be so strong that it manifests itself wherever you go. And when it manifests itself, then on earth it becomes as in heaven. This is God's will: God wants His Kingdom to manifest itself always and everywhere you go. The manifestation of the Kingdom of God will be that the unbelievers around you will become believers after some time. The manifestation of the Kingdom of God will be that the sick people around you will become healthy. The manifestation of the Kingdom of God will be that the unhappy people around you will become happy. This is what the Kingdom is! The Kingdom of God is above any problem, it is supernatural.
Imagine, Jesus Christ has concluded this Kingdom within us. It does not come noticeably here or there, in any particular country or city. It is within us. But if it lives inside us, then after a while everything around us will be transformed.
You heard the story of Pastor Vasily Gritskevich from the village of Dubitsa. Of the 300 residents of this village, 280 are members of his church. They say: “We even have our own store. There is a pagan store for twenty people, where vodka is sold. We don’t go there at all because we don’t drink vodka. We have our own business, our own store. We are all thriving. The fields were plowed, carrots and potatoes were planted, the crop was harvested in the fall, sold to Moscow - Moscow will eat everything. We received the money and are thriving. They bought a new car, built houses, opened new churches. The Kingdom of God is in us, and it is expanding.”
When I went to their church, driving through the village past the houses, I asked: “Who lives in this house?” Pastor Vasily says: “My relative lives here.” I ask: “Who’s here?” He replies: “My aunt is here.” I say: “Do believers live here too?” He: “They are also believers.” As we drove through the village, I kept asking questions. There are literally several houses in which non-believers live. But they are surrounded by believers on all sides.
The Kingdom of God is within us. This is such a power as the Russian language. They say that when a Russian boy enters a kindergarten in Lithuania or Latvia, everyone forgets their native language and begins to communicate in Russian. Wherever you go, the Kingdom of God is within you. It goes with you and carries a certain message. It carries energy and atmosphere. There is an atmosphere of the Kingdom of God, and there is an atmosphere of demons. The atmosphere of the Kingdom is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. That's what I'm getting at. God wants the Kingdom of God to be manifested in our lives. He wants to manifest this Kingdom through us.
Romans 14:17:
“For the kingdom of God is not food and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”
Now I want to show how the Kingdom is manifested. First of all, righteousness is justice. Also, righteousness is peace with God.
Romans 5:1:
“Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
We see that through faith we receive justification, that is, righteousness. And the result of our righteousness is peace with God. In other words, it is reconciliation with the Ruler of this Kingdom. When we are reconciled, when we live in peace with the Ruler, in peace with the authority, in the reign of King Jesus Christ, when we live in peace with this Kingdom, then the Ruler enables us to exercise the powers of the Kingdom. That is, the Lord gives us the right to exercise the powers of the Kingdom of God in all that it has and is. It is very important. In other words, the Kingdom manifests itself where we are in harmony with the King, in peace with the Ruler of that Kingdom. And in those areas where we are in conflict with the King, neither confession, nor faith, nor prayers can help.
Scripture says: submit to God and resist the devil. As a believer, you can resist the devil many times, but until you submit to God, all this will be unsuccessful. We truly live in the Kingdom of God only when we are submitted to the God and Ruler of this Kingdom. And then the Kingdom possesses us, it dwells within us with all the power, authority, wisdom, might, with all the glory and presence.
My life is divided into two main stages: before I got sick, and after. You have no idea how many revelations the Lord gave me during the time when I could not serve. I will share one of these revelations. One day I heard a voice that said: “Why should you go wherever you are invited, instead of asking Me if you need to go there?” There was a time when I agreed to all invitations, explaining it to myself like this: “We have friendly relations, I must go.” You remember that before I got sick, I often traveled somewhere - to conferences, meetings. But when the Holy Spirit told me about this, I began to travel selectively, each time asking the question: “Holy Spirit, do you want me to go there?” When you live in constant consultation with the Ruler of the Kingdom in which you find yourself, when He gives you good, when you are in agreement with Him, then be sure that the Kingdom of God will manifest itself. In other words, you will see the blessed fruits of your obedience.
James 4:13-15:
“Now listen to you who say: “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and we will live there for one year, and we will trade and make a profit”; you who do not know what will happen tomorrow: for what is your life? steam that appears for a short time and then disappears. Instead of telling you: “If the Lord wills and we live, we will do this or that”..."
You plan your business, plan how you will make money. Children of the Kingdom must live differently from the people of this world. Children of the Kingdom must ask whether this will please the Lord. They must constantly think about how much they are living in harmony with the King, the Ruler Jesus. Ask yourself the question to what extent you are in agreement and obedience, whether you are doing what God likes, what He wants. Sometimes we don’t ask the Lord because it seems to us that He will say: “No, you don’t need to go there.” We think that if we don't do this, we will fail, our plans will be ruined. In fact, it's the other way around: our plans will work out because the Kingdom of God will be manifested in them. When you submit to the Lord, the Kingdom is revealed in your obedience. The more you grow in submission to Jesus, the more you become led by the Holy Spirit, the more often the Kingdom will manifest itself in your life, the larger and stronger it will become within you.
As I read the Scriptures, I see that the apostles did not have such problems. They didn't ask unnecessary questions. See how the Kingdom was manifested in their lives.
Mark 16:15:
“And he said to them: “Go...”
Mark 16:20:
"And they went..."
Jesus said, “Go and preach. Signs will follow those who believe.” Next we read: “They went.” And everything that Jesus spoke about happened.
How does the Kingdom of God work? It manifests itself when you are in agreement with the King. To which of you has the Lord spoken at some point in your life? You know for sure that it was God who spoke to you. You can make an inventory of your life and remember many situations. And you will see that where you obeyed, the Kingdom manifested itself and changed your life, and where you rebelled and allowed yourself to be smarter than the Gospel, smarter than the King, our Lord, the Master of the universe, the Kingdom did not manifest itself, and you lived an ordinary life. natural life, like other people live.
I want you to remember: God wants to manifest the Kingdom. It manifests itself when we submit. The Kingdom of God is not about food and drink, but about righteousness. Righteousness is peace with God, it is reconciliation with our Ruler. When we submit, then the Kingdom of God begins to manifest.
Matthew 6:33:
“Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness...”
Seek that you may be at peace with your Ruler, that you may be in relationship with Him. Seek that you have no opposition. Seek this righteousness, which is reconciliation and peace with God.
Matthew 6:33:
“...and everything else will be added to you.”
The Kingdom of God will manifest itself, and everything else will be added to you.
What is the biggest problem that exists between parents and children? Disobedience. Every truth is parallel. This is what happens with God's children. When it is not circumstances or illnesses that force us to submit, it is not other people who force us, it is not the preacher who threatens and says things that make fear come so strong that you are forced to submit, but when you voluntarily want to submit, then you will see that the Kingdom of God will begin to move differently. When you come to Jesus and say, “Lord, my whole life is in Your hands, lead me the way You want,” you will see the Kingdom of God begin to manifest. When you voluntarily want to be submissive, it’s a completely different level.
Where we do not live in harmony with our Ruler, the enemy attacks us. I will even say more: the one who resists does magic. Have you ever thought about this?
1 Samuel 15:23:
“...for disobedience is the same sin as witchcraft, and rebellion is the same as idolatry...”
It seems to us that disobedience is not fraught with any danger. “I have my own opinion, my own will. Don’t I have the right to this?!” You had the right to this in the kingdom from which you came. You lived by these rules for many conscious years of your life. But in God's Kingdom, disobedience is a crime. Submitting to God does not mean that God wants to force you, that He likes to mock His people. God wants our submission because when we submit, the laws of the Kingdom begin to work. The Lord wants the Kingdom of God to manifest itself through your obedience. God wants to show Himself through your obedience. He wants to show His power through your submission. God Himself is submissive to His own word.
Psalm 137:2:
“...for You have magnified Your word above all Your name.”
Imagine God becoming dependent on His own word. That is, the name submitted to the word, the personality submitted to the word. God himself lives by these rules. This is why His Kingdom is so powerful, so strong, so holy and so righteous. You cannot say to God: “Lord, are You submissive so that you can submit to me?” God Himself is submissive to His word. That's why He is God. That is why He is capable of this, because all power is given to Him, everything is in His hand. It is written that Jesus submitted, was humiliated, walked the path of humility until death, and death on the cross. Therefore God highly exalted Him and gave Him a name that is above every name, before which every knee will bow, in heaven, on earth, and under the earth. That's where the height is!
This is how the Kingdom of God works. It wants to manifest itself, it lives inside you. You can't even imagine how powerfully it can manifest through you. God wants it to manifest. But the Kingdom of God is not about food and drink, but about righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
Do you think that you can rebel against the King while in the Kingdom, and everything will be fine? No. We must submit. We need to be humble before the Lord, we need to be reconciled with God. Do you know what temptation is? Temptation is the desire to disobey the Kingdom. How many people are tempted? Satan tempts you to get a divorce, commit adultery, engage in criminal activities, leave the church, swear. He constantly provokes you to return to his kingdom. But I want you to remember that you are in the Kingdom of God, and the Kingdom of God already lives within you. Overcome temptations. How can you overcome them? When you submit not to temptation, but to the Word of God and begin to live in accordance with this Word, with what the Holy Spirit reveals and prompts to you, then you are truly in the Kingdom. Then the Kingdom will grow in you and manifest itself as you obey. You will see the Kingdom manifest even in places you don't expect because you give it room to grow within.
We read in the Gospel of Luke that the Kingdom of God will not come in a visible way. No one can say: it is here or there. The Kingdom of God is within you. It is inside you.
Many people say: “I have never heard the Holy Spirit, the voice of God, I have never seen Jesus, or angels. There were no spiritual manifestations in my life.” You can start with the Bible. This is the surest prophetic word. It is written: it is good when you turn to him.
2 Peter 1:19:
“And moreover, we have a most sure prophetic word; and you do well to look to him as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts...”
“Until the morning star rises in your hearts”—in other words, until you begin to receive supernatural revelations. Some people say, “I want God to work through me.” I will tell you: you need to make a simple decision to submit to Him. If you understand the truth and submit to it, you will experience powerful spiritual development and growth. If you understand the truth, but deny it, do not want to obey it, then you are going down.
You can say: “Let the Holy Spirit speak to me. I want to hear God’s voice clearly and clearly.” It is a good wish. But this will not happen until you begin to fulfill what has already been revealed to you in God's Word. How much of what is written in the Bible do you understand? Which of these do you perform?
Did you know that you have a responsibility for what you already understand?
What is unclear if it is written: “Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them”? What is incomprehensible in these words: “You should warm and nourish your wife in the same way that Jesus warms and nourishes His Church”?
Today a sister from another church approached me. She sat in my office and cried. She says, “Pastor, my husband never works. We have a small child. I have to support a child, a husband and his mother.” I ask: “Who is he?” She replies: “He is a believer, a minister of the church.” I would read the Word of God to this believer. What is incomprehensible if it is written: “Whoever does not take care of his own, and especially his family, has renounced the faith and is worse than an infidel”?
Brethren, if you are married and have families, live by the Word of God. If you are Kingdom people, then live according to the laws of the Kingdom. In this way you will show your Ruler, the King, your submission to His Word. Husbands, if you treat your wives as it is written in the Word of God, the Kingdom of God will be revealed - you will receive grace from your wife. Americans say: happy wife – happy life (happy wife – happy life). But everything depends on you, husbands.
I want to appeal to the children. What is unclear when it is written: “Children, be obedient to your parents”? Do you need supernatural revelation or angels appearing in your room? Or maybe you want Jesus to tell you about it personally? He already said it in Scripture. So what is unclear? Children, when you obey, the Kingdom of God will appear. Your parents will give you the best blessings, your life will be settled, supernatural miracles will happen in it.
What is unclear if it is written: “Do not forsake the assembling of yourselves”? One person told me: “God does not manifest Himself in any way in my life, I don’t feel Him.” I say, “You are much more likely to experience God in church during worship or preaching than in the world where you go your own way.” Those who seek find, to those who ask it will be given, and to those who knock it will be opened.
What is incomprehensible in the commandments of the Lord? For example, the commandment “Thou shalt not steal.” What more revelation do you need to stop stealing? What is incomprehensible about the commandments “Thou shalt not kill” and “Honor your father and mother”? Sometimes we know and understand everything, but the question is: do we obey it? If you feel in your heart rebellion against the government of the kingdom, then I think you need to get down on your knees one day, cry into your pillow and say, “Lord, from this hour I submit to You.” Maybe it will take the whole night to cry out your rebellion. Then you will see breakthrough come into your life because the Kingdom will begin to manifest itself.
Let's say I know that God wants to bless you so that you have prosperity, so that you are rich. What is the reason people don't prosper? If a person does not tithe, this is already the result of something. This is a consequence of greed. As long as a person is greedy, he cannot prosper. Do you know into whose life material blessings flow? Into the life of a generous person. When God tells you to sow generously, your mind turns on and the thoughts come: “What will be left for me?” God is telling you about this not because He wants to rob you completely and leave you with nothing, but because your obedience will make you free from greed, and God will begin to bless you. Big money passes through those hands that constantly give. I want to tell you that God will cover every area of your life with blessings. The Kingdom that lives within you has it all. When it manifests, it will cover everything. And it manifests itself when we submit to the Ruler.
Our church must submit to the Ruler Jesus Christ, and God will begin to bless us mightily. All the windows of heaven will be open, we will see the great glory of God. This is the Gospel. This is not at all the religion to which we sometimes get used. The Kingdom of God is wider than the church, it is global than our understanding and the understanding that the pastor has. Let your hearts come to such a decision that you can say, “Lord, I submit!”
Breaking news! On February 17, the forced eviction of the New Life Church from the building took place.
Cause and history of the conflict:
Why look?
Very important question. By answering it, we can have both purpose and reason. Probably, you yourself have often said or heard from someone that a person does not want to “turn the other cheek”, does not want to be sacrificial, does not want to give up pride, does not want to love enemies, but, on the contrary, to take revenge. What is really important here is to see that this person is NOT SEEKING the Kingdom of God. If he is a Christian, then he is looking for something of his own, something that was drawn to him or he inspired it into himself.
He can do some good deeds, he can go to church, sing psalms. Maybe even read the Bible according to a specific plan. But he does not want to live according to the laws of this Kingdom. For example, I like the way they live in America and England. I wish I had what these people have. But there are some things I can't agree with. I don’t want my children to be told about homosexuality, I don’t want nationality to be the meaning of life for them and for me. That's why I don't strive to go there. I don’t sell everything here and I don’t learn their language. I KNOW ALMOST EVERYTHING about life THERE, but I DON'T Aspire to go there.
It's the same with many Christians. We like to talk about God's love and forgiveness, about the wonderful heavens and the suffering of Christ. But “to have the same feelings”, “to die with Christ”... this is no longer possible now. Maybe later…
I'm not saying everyone is like that. But I know what the Word says. Many (most) take the broad road. And only not many find the narrow gate. There are those who will be with the Lord in heaven, and there are those who will be saved, but “as if from fire.” And the choice is ours today. The work of God is the Church doing His will. If we are led by the Spirit, we will speak His words, live His life.
First of all
Jesus tells us to seek, strive, pursue, seek out the Kingdom of God. Moreover, FIRST OF ALL.
Let's speculate. How would you search for a country?
- would put aside ordinary things
– would find a map or a guide
– would ask people about this place (who to ask and how to explain what I’m looking for)
– would not be distracted along the way (if this place is most important to you)
In order to look for something, you must either know something about this place so as not to pass by, or have a map or a guide who will lead you and say that we are already there.
