Prayer Works Bible Study: February 4, 2024

Seeing and Entering The Kingdom of God

As believers we are called to fully function under the Kingdom of God. What prevents us from seeing the Kingdom of God and what must we do to enter the Kingdom? What did Jesus reveal about the Kingdom of Heaven and what does the Sermon on the Mount teach us about being citizens of the Kingdom?

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I want us to really understand who we are as Christians, who we are as church, because when Jesus returns, He is not returning to the buildings He's not coming to no building.

You know when He comes is coming to people, people who have a heart like His so it's important for us to understand who we are in Him.  

And I think one of the reasons why Christians struggle a lot is because they don't understand, you know, we get into, you know, into the Kingdom and we don't understand what this is really about or neither do we try to understand and last week I used the analogy a lot on me being an immigrant and then being integrated into this nation. 

You know, you go through a ceremony and they issue a citizenship and does that doesn't mean you have arrived it just means you've been ingrained in now but if I don't take time to understand or to learn all the necessary things that are there to be learned, then I will be a United States citizen, but with limited knowledge of what I'm part of.  

And I think there's a lot of Christians this is why the church is struggling right now that are in the Kingdom but don't really or haven't taken the time to really ingrain themselves into what the church is really about so that we can enjoy the full benefits of this Kingdom.  

So what I want to do is, I want to lay a foundation it's a very huge foundation and we're going to build upon it during the course of this year and really kind of come up with a comprehensive teaching on our kingdoms.  

So that we understand when the scripture says you are now a new creation, you don't belong to this world anymore, you are not of this world you are of that world. So we need to understand what that word is, Amen. So let me just kind of give you some basic kingdoms. 

In Matthew 4, Matthew 4 Jesus is Just kind of talking and giving, yes Matthew:4:8, And the  devil took Him, the devil took Jesus up the mountain, exceedingly high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.  

This was not a physical mountain because if you are standing on the highest peak in the world, which is Mount Everest, it's impossible for you to see the kingdoms of this world.  

So this was something really beyond physical realm where satan took Him up and then he showed Him the kingdoms of this world. And look at what he said and he said to him, all these things I will give you if you will fall down and worship me.

So what are these things, these are physical things, so he takes him up on a spiritual high place and then he offers him physical kingdoms and Jesus refused.  

The reason Jesus refused is because the scripture says seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these kingdoms, so you speak, you seek first this spiritual Kingdom because a spiritual Kingdom supersedes all physical kingdoms.  

So He is being offered physical kingdoms and He says no, the spiritual kingdom is above all these other kingdoms, so why should I accept?  

Because the scripture says seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these other kingdoms shall be added unto you. So let's look at this, ok, so you have the kingdom of God, which is the spiritual authority over all things.  

Then you have the kingdom of heaven, which is actually a geographical place, the kingdom of heaven is actually a geographical place where believers access after death.  

Then you have Satan's kingdom. This was in Jesus acknowledges this in Matthew 12:26, Jesus had been accused by the Pharisees that He was able to drive out demons because He was in league with the Prince of Demons who is called Beelzebub.

And He pointed out to them that was very illogical in and it could not possibly be true in pointing that out to them, He said these two things. 

And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself, how then shall his Kingdom stand so automatically Jesus is identifying for us that Satan has a Kingdom and is functional, and it's in full operation. And in that Kingdom it has hierarchy, it has orders, it does not permit any division that's his Kingdom.  

Then now let's look at the physical kingdoms that were offered to Jesus. This is my own little list I've been kind of thinking of you have animal Kingdom that's physical that's all animals represented in that Kingdom, the lion at the top.  

Then he of the planetary Kingdom this is all the planets, right and on the top you have the sun then you have birds as the Kingdom, the eagle on the top then you have the oceanic Kingdom the great whites at the top.  

Then we have the mineral Kingdom stuff that we cannot see, but is underground. Gold being the top right then you have plants Kingdom, I said plants right, I said, plants, plant, planetary yeah, planetary, plants so you have plants and then you have the Kingdom of men that's us.  

So when Satan took Jesus up, this is what he's offering him all these physical aspects that were created by God, he says. I'll give it to you then he says, well, I'm coming from a place that created these things. So why should I take this deal in exchange of worshipping God. So it's like no I'm not taking this deal.  

But now when you look at the Kingdom of man, which is us, right, there's something that we need to really pay attention to here. If you go to Daniel 4:17, Right, this is a time in human history where there was one of the most belligerent human beings to ever live, which was King Nebuchadnezzar. 

He was considered one of the most smartest and wisest human beings to ever live. This man was so arrogant that he is actually a representation of the antichrist in the earth.  

Because there's man over the throughout the history of mankind that have this potential of being an antichrist, in fact they exhibit the characteristics to show us of what's coming.

But after God deals with these men, He then proclaims in Daniel 4:7 says, By the decree, it is at the same time that a decree was passed in heaven.  

It says by the decree of the Holy ones and the watchers to the intent of the living, so that we may know that the most high rules in the Kingdom of men we are the only Kingdom that doesn't have a dominant force over us.

There's no one person who can say I rule over mankind because God is the ruler of men.  

So these are all the kingdoms and I'm sure if you really cannot look into it, you probably see the scripture more than we can probably name right now because we still discovering some things about this earth that we don't know about. But how can sit and claim to have the kingdoms of the world anyway, right?  

God created earth trusting humans to manage it, that's Genesis 1:3 then after the great exchange, right.

We gave up the rights to the earth God did not lose His place as a ruler, but we lost our place in what was given to us, to rule, and then God scripture says he locked the Garden of Eden and He placed an Angel at his entrance to make sure that it will never be found. 

 And I might have said this a few years ago that the Garden of Eden is still here on planet Earth, but we are never going to find it because God plays an Angel to make sure that no one can ever find the garden of Eden. 

It's not a figment the Garden of Eden is not a figment of our imagination it's a place that exists that God barred us from because of our sinful nature.  

And He says you cannot find this place and I’ll place an angel on the front of it that no man can ever find it.

Because Garden Eden was created in the earth right and sometimes if you read scriptures you see that you can kind of figure out the location of based on the rivers but still you can't find it.  

So human being, of course, rebelled then when that rebellion happened, guys the world as we know it was full of anarchy. People were doing whatever they wanted to do and God says you know what I regret ever created human beings.  

Then in Genesis 9, God then set up nations and human governments instead of divine government, human government, all the governments of this world.  

They are set up by God, but they refuse and will always rebel against his statutes. All of them and the reason they were set up by God is to make sure that the anarchy that took place in Genesis 6 will not happen again, but of course the human governments are not are not satisfied by power, by limited power.  

They want power and then in Genesis 12, then God promises to restore his rule so in other words, there's a time when all these governments that are set up they are going to fail and when that happened, that's when God set up his rule now. 

So the kingdoms of this world exist by God's permission, they actually belong under his authority, but they do not acknowledge Him as their king. They give honor to other rulers and other gods and when they do that other spirits beings are more than willing to accept the honor to rule. 

 Just as our lives if you don't give your life to the Lord, other spirits accept the honor to rule over your life. This is why when you see drug addiction, it's not just drug addiction, it's a spirit that is set up now rulership over a human being, that person lose total control of their existence.  

Now God then chooses the Nation of Israel in hope of them sitting up and as an example of what it means to follow Christ, to follow God. 

That's why they are the chosen people. They're not chosen people because they were special, because God was hoping they would follow him the correct way He wanted human beings to follow them, to follow him. But instead they decided to go a whole different route altogether. That's the overlay of kingdoms. 

Then let's look at Satan's Kingdom. Just to breeze through on these guys at the top, Satan then you have Ephesians 6:12, right, this is wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against rulers, principalities, powers against the rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.  

These are sections that are run in the Kingdom of Satan by evil spirits, and it tells us there are levels of wickedness levels, not just one size fit or there are levels of wickedness in high places.  

So your principalities powers, rulers of darkness of this world, spiritual weaknesses in high places and then the Kingdom of Darkness is made-up of angels, right. Demonic forces and spirits then in those categories you have rank levels of authority, levels of power and so forth and so forth. Satan and still hold his place as a council on God's table. 

So you have the three archangels Satan, Michael and Gabriel. He still gets to sit on that table. That's why you see in the scripture when he goes to when he goes up God asked him says where have you been.

Like I've just been down there just checking out everybody and I found this man called Job and I'm telling you he's only serving you because you got his prediction. 

If you just remove that hand and I bet he will become sly. Look at what God says alright, I'll prove to you that he is mine. You go do whatever you want to do with him, but don't touch him. Right, there guys, right we have to understand that once we are part of this Kingdom, we cannot be touched, we cannot be touched.  

Unless we give ourselves to be touched so you have in that Kingdom Satan's Kingdom we have Lucifer then the three, the Antichrist, which is the spirit which is which is almost kind of the opposite of the Holy Spirit.  

Then we have Jezebel then on the other side you have the spirit of death and hell. Then under those categories you have different other spirits that are prevalent in those areas that Satan's Kingdom.  

Let's look at a breeze through on the Kingdom of heaven. The Kingdom of heaven is 3 heavens the one that we see with our natural eye, we talked about this last year, which is the birds of the eye, Psalms talks about the birds of the heavens.  

Right, then you have the 2nd heaven, which is resonate against rulers in principality, but they haven't in heavenly places that's not there that's number two.  

Number three, that's what Paul says I was caught up in the 3rd heaven. And in that 3rd heaven in different exits in the Bible, you'll see there's a temple in heaven in Book of Revelation, you'll see God sitting on the throne, which is a courtroom where he had to go and deal with issues pertaining to humanity. 

Then you also have the church in Hebrews 12:22. He talks about us joining with angels in the Church of the Heaven Heavenly Jerusalem.  

That's the Kingdom of heaven and in the Kingdom of Heaven, Jesus is on the cross He's talking to the man on His right and He says I will be with you tonight in where paradise.

So Paradise is a section of heaven where the dead in Christ, those who are sleeping in Christ go to are waiting the final day that’s the Kingdom of heaven.  

Jesus, when He comes He then says I have brought the Kingdom with me. He says when you can't start devils in my name then the Kingdom has come upon you.  

So now we start seeing the characteristics and the makeup of this Kingdom that we belong to so when the scripture now says when you're born again which what we talked about last week, salvation when you come into salvation, the scripture says you are now a new creation. 

And then He talks about you and I not being of this world but of that world, what world, the invisible Kingdom that is in full operation on Earth and this is why when you get saved when you get saved, you cannot do the things that you used to do, because if you do then how are you a new creation? You are not a new creation.  

So if you used to drink before you got saved then once you gets saved, you have to be a new creation. You can continue doing what you used to do back then and say you know I'm a new creation, how?  

Because now we start seeing the criteria of being in this Kingdom and again right, the scripture says this is the Kingdom of God is not food, food or drink in other words, it's not physical things.  

This is a spiritual entity that only those who can enter can only enter in what, in spirit. Nicodemus, new scriptures, he was the ruler of the Pharisees. This man was well educated, he was a well educated theologian.  

But here they come to Jesus in the United States man, how can I be saved. So that this is the criteria to enter, he says man, you must be born again to enter. In other words, your old self cannot enter then he says you must be born of water and spirit to do what to sing.  

And then we talked last week actually being born again, people who are actually born again saved baptized but since they choose not to operate spiritually, they cannot see it even though they are part of it, they cannot see it.  

Let's go back to my analogy of me being an immigrant if I don't exercise my rights as a citizen of this country, I might say I'm an American, I'm an American, but I will never see it.  

This is why people end up struggling in church in church for 20 years still the same person in fact, you've got an even worse more bitter, it seems like you're going the opposite direction and the reason why that is happening is because there's another quality of this Kingdom that you are not exercising there is no way the church.  

There's no way somebody should look at the church and say are they saved or not, there's no way.  

All these church that you see there playing nightclub songs in church how is that being a new creation because that's what they used to do that's not new.

And the reason I'm teaching these guys, I really want us to understand that we are not really of this world. We cannot be of this world if we are part of this Kingdom we cannot. 

The way we think, the way we see, the way we interpret things, the way we talk We cannot be. Alright, let's look we have some questions that just jotting down today. People often ask what is the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of God is the spiritual Kingdom.  

Eternal Kingdom, the Kingdom of God as we know it now is not a physical place not the Kingdom of heaven, the Kingdom of God. 

It's not a place where you can go somewhere in the world and say there is the Kingdom of God. This is a Kingdom prophesied about in the Old Testament and revealed in the New Testament.  

It is the realm of God's sovereign, sovereignty and presence influence in our lives where God reigns and rules over us with love, justice, mercy and grace. In the Kingdom, we find hope, peace, joy, purpose that can only be found through living under God's rule not outside of.  

This is why a lot of people in the world, what is the greatest question of our generations in pretty much of the whole entire world what’s my purpose the reason why that question seems to be difficult for a lot of people is because you can find it outside of.  

And then last year we talked about this, that is actually extremely, very simple but we complicate it because we can’t see if we are not in the Kingdom.  

That's why we talk about the your purpose in life cannot be physical. It has to be spiritual. The Kingdom of God is an invisible Kingdom.

It can be manifested on Earth through the life of a believer in Jesus Christ. In other words, the only time you can see the Kingdom of God in full operation physically is through a believer's life.  

In other words, here is a good example, you are in need of help, you haven't talked to anybody about it, but you just know I need something, this is what I need I don't know who to ask then the following day you get a random call and he says. 

Hey God impress on my heart to give you this. When that happens, it's not coincidence you have to automatically know that the Kingdom of God is in full operation there it is.  

Now a lot of people who experience that and you know what they would say oh, don't be spiritual this is just a coincidence. To them, they can't see it because they're not born again, spiritually, to understand that there's a conversation that is taking place beyond the realm of our imagination pertaining to this matter that's how we can see it.  

So when you are in a church in church, if you see someone being cast out the demonic spirit  being cast out you have to know the Kingdom of God is in operation. 

When you are in church and you can sing one song for 30 minutes and somehow everybody still continues being engaged then you know the Kingdom of God is in operation.  

When you experience things that looks random you have to know the Kingdom of God is in operation. You sit on a plane and there's a random believer next to you and you start talking about God all day nonstop.  

You have to know it's not a coincidence it's the Kingdom of God in operation. Because you can't see it unless you are born again, unless you're born of water in spirit, unless the Holy Spirit reveals to you that's why Nicodemus was having issues trying to figure out what Jesus was doing now in this Kingdom that we were part of Jesus Christ is king, He is the Messiah. 

So when the scripture says this is why Jesus, when he have the conversation with Paul, Paul is like yo says, man, are you a king he is like, yeah, I'm a king.  

He's like, but the Kingdom you're talking about, dude, my Kingdom is not of this world you can’t see it, you can’t see and then He goes on to tell this man that man, the power that you're claiming you have, you actually don't have.  

Because if you seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, you understand that sovereign Kingdom supersedes all kingdoms.  

So he's the king In fact, Jesus is the person that reveals the Kingdom of God as we know it in other words him not showing up, we will never know what the Kingdom of God is or what it looks like. He comes and he shows you hey, let me show you the power this Kingdom has.  

I can walk on water, I can talk to a tree and tomorrow it will wither, I can calm winds, so He's showing us this is the Kingdom that you are now entering into and becoming part of but in order to understand these things you have to be spiritual. You can't be physical, you can't be thinking logically you have to be spiritual.  

That's why I always say that the greatest compliment you could ever get from another person is when they say, man, you are just too spiritual for me. Say, praise the Lord because in that moment, you know, surely you know that man I’m in the Kingdom.  

So when John comes, he goes, repent, repent for the Kingdom of God is near is upon us. In other words, you are about to witness it with your own eyes on Earth For the first time, and the Kingdom comes.  

That's why Jesus says I've come, I've brought the Kingdom with me, so in order to be part of this Kingdom, you have to be spiritual.  

That's why it's your new creation, how do we live, how do we live life in the Kingdom since the Kingdom is not physical Kingdom and it and is in the spiritual realm, we take the Kingdom of God by faith. That's why it says the just shall live by faith.  

We live under the kingly rule and reign of Jesus Christ, and under God's authority by the Holy Spirit we live from above to below from heaven to Earth, not from Earth to heaven, from heaven to earth.  

So in other words, our thoughts so before you are saved you think from Earth to heaven. When you get saved and you're fully functional in this Kingdom, you think from heaven to Earth.  

So that question, when people say what would Jesus do, they're saying, how do you think pertaining to this situation, can you think from a heavenly place and come down this way? He is a good example Christians are being slaughtered and Paul is in charge of this slaughtering.  

They bring a spiritual man before Paul, Stephen, Paul then thinks earthly because what he thought he was doing was justified because he understood theologically from an earthly place.  

What you are talking about, Stephen, we've never heard of it because based on the Pharisees and how we were educated, this is blasphemy. So he then endorses the killing of this man because he was thinking earthly to heaven.  

When Jesus comes, they bring before Him a woman caught in adultery, she is guilty, there is evidence but Jesus, instead of thinking earthly, He thinks from a heavenly place and comes down.  

God wants all men to be saved, including this one so He thinks that way and comes this way so in other words, as we look at our own life situations, we have to think from a heavenly place and come down not from an earthly place to go down.  

That's why the Lord's Prayer says pray, that thy will be done on Earth, cause the question was how do we ought to pray. 

Pray from a heavenly place and bring that down. Let thy will be done on Earth as it is in heaven so when you get saved again, you're thinking flips that's why Pauls says be he transformed by the renewing of your mind.  

When your mind, what does that mean, it doesn't mean you're thinking differently, it means that your first thoughts have to come from a heavenly place to come down to an earthly place. 

Our service in the Kingdom of God consists of preaching the gospel. Or good news of the Kingdom in other ways, we are trying to make this Kingdom known. I'll give you a perfect example you understand this.  

You are Americans, if you ever meet an American outside of America, I have met a lot of them do you know what the number one thing they talk about or they asked you the number one question they asked you, have you ever been to America?  

And then if you say no, the second thing that you said telling you about is how great America is. They start telling you about all the other things you could possibly find in this country.

That's what preaching is, that when we meet people, we ought to tell them how great the Kingdom that we are part of is. So that you make them want to say, oh man, I would love to visit America.  

We want people to say, oh man, I would love to know about this Kingdom. Here's a quick story I heard I think it was in Oxford this man was like, well, I was on the plane sitting next to a stranger. 

He says, well, if you tell people that you're a pastor, they immediately shut down. So the man asks me in business class, what do you do for a living is like, well, I wait for this organization that is concerned about peoples well-being.  

He says we take care of the sick, we give to the poor and we are in every nation. And man, we're doing so much work and our job is concerned about, you know, making sure that nobody is in poverty.  

And just try to give people a sense of peace so that they can live this life you know, in a much better way. And the man is like man you guys seems to be doing an incredible job he's like, yeah, we are.  

And I can report that man we are really making headway in spite of the challenges that we are all facing. And the man says, man you know, do you have a card because man, I would love to, I would love to be part of this.

When the man was like yeah, I have a card, he handed me his card and the man looked at it and he said pastor and he was like.  

It's almost kind of like he stopped in his tracks. And then he asked him and says what's wrong, you know, he had no words. And the man say to him says this is what the church is. Since but if I tell you that I'm a pastor of the church, you probably don't want to talk to me. 

 But if I tell you that this is what we are doing and by the end of that flight, the man got saved. That's our responsibility so when you ask how do we live, we live by proclaiming all the good things that has happened.

That we want other people to experience so we preach the good news of the Kingdom, we heal the sick, it's our responsibility to heal the sick.  

Did you guys know that cleans, cleans the leper. We cast out demons, we don't live with them we cast them out. Remember, last year I talked about this on one of the prayer goals that we've become so comfortable living with demons.  

Case study when Jesus went up the mount of Transfiguration and He came down, these disciples could not cast this boys the demon and this boys life.  

And Jesus said this kind comes out by prayer and fasting and then He asked the parent what are the symptoms of this boy when this demonic attack happens and he says he throws himself in the fire, he tries to drown himself. 

 But this boy was now a young man, which meant that from the age of three to the age of sixteen. They put things in place to make sure they live with these demonic possession men accommodate him.  

That's what we do and our job is to cut, that's why Jesus says when you cast out devils in my name then the Kingdom has come upon you.  

Because in this Kingdom in this spiritual Kingdom nothing that is demonic or evil should live around you and you can read Matthew chapter 10 for that. Then in Matthew 5, Matthew 5 Jesus goes at length laying out how we ought to live in this Kingdom.  

That's the one people say the greatest sermon to be ever preached, right? He lays it fundamentally, this is how we live in this Kingdom. So if you really want to know what your constitution is in this Kingdom you read Matthew 5, that's your constitution.  

In America, they say oh, you, we you can't change the Constitution, we so people go crazy about the Constitution. That's our Constitution Matthew 5 in this Kingdom, the standard is shown by Jesus.  

We submit ourselves to God, it cannot be, but it cannot be about our own righteousness but the righteousness of Christ. As Members of this Kingdom, yes, part of your constitution.  

Romans 12:2, You cannot be conformed to this world in other ways, you cannot have dual citizenship. You can be one leg over here, one leg over you cannot do that.  

You can't have dual citizenship, it's not allowed. It's in the constitution says do not be conformed to this, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that you may prove that the will of God is that which is good and acceptable and perfect. 

How does the second coming of Christ affect this Kingdom. The second coming of Jesus is the future return of the risen Christ.  

When Jesus comes now, He is now bringing the whole entourage this time. Last time He came by Himself right, second coming. Everything is coming why is everything coming to once and for all to do away with all evil.  

So that he can take what his rightful place when He's no longer sharing power, you see all those kingdoms that God had given to nations to run so that there's no anarchy.  

When Jesus comes He now takes control of all that and He runs it all so that He can make now this spiritual Kingdom now visible alright, let's look at, let's look at the three phases of the Kingdom. What is the Kingdom of God? Where is the Kingdom of God and how is the Kingdom of God?  

Wherever, wherever God, through Jesus is in authority. The Kingdom is present so in other words, as we are living in this earth, right if you go to certain places and you feel some kind of way. You have to know the Kingdom of God is not there.

So when you hear now believers says man, oh, you know, I was, I went over there so that I could bring the Kingdom because the only person who can do that is Jesus. 

We are members, it's like me how do I go to Zimbabwe and say, yeah, I've brought America.

You are a citizen, you can't bring a nation over, right, the only thing that happened that's why Matthew 16 is very important, since thou art the Christ flesh and blood does not reveal destiny but my father in heaven, so God has the ability to now reveal when He places His revelation in certain places.  

Then that place becomes his domain. So when you enter you are just entering your own citizens, your own country. So if a believer goes to a nightclub, you can say I went there with Jesus no, you just entered a whole different domain. That is, it's not your jurisdiction and this is why you can’t bring the nightclub to the church. 

This is why also you can bring secular music to the church because it does not belong in the Kingdom it has no place. Because there's a whole different Kingdom entity altogether. It's just like you taking going to a pub and start singing amazing Grace. Well, they will fight you the reason they will fight you, because that's not the national anthem of this Kingdom.  

You know, I go to Zimbabwe and and they give me a microphone and they're saying, oh, saint, can you see, they'll be like, oh dude, I'll be arrested. So this notion that we have that we think we can cross pollinate this Kingdom, it doesn't, doesn't exist. So wherever God is, wherever you sense His spirit, so let's put it to us this way.  

Can you lose jurisdiction, yes. Can you give up rights, yes. This is why I always talk about making your house your domain so that this year is God's Kingdom.

Certainly you have no rule or any authority here, you can't come here if somebody comes here with something well, it gonna stay out there because here is the Kingdom of God.  

So wherever God is present, the Kingdom of God exists is there, it's right there. That's the first phase so when Jesus was the person on earth. The first phase of the Kingdom was present physically that's the first phase when Jesus showed up the first phase, the Kingdom was present physically.  

When Jesus went to heaven, He told his disciples that through the Holy Spirit in them, He would show them the signs of the Kingdom, as He had showed them on Earth through them.  

So the second phase of the Kingdom is the phase of the church. The invisible and I'm not talking about buildings here I'm talking about the Invisible Kingdom in the hearts of men.  

Now we're going to pick up the phone and the call mother Mary, and we start talking about Jesus and your heart is excited and I'm excited that's the church.

Now, if God places you in charge of something be it a ministry, whatever it is that he places you. What happened in Genesis 2 still applies, that if you bargain with the devil, God removes Himself, He steps aside.  

Because I can't stop, it's impossible for Him to function in this jurisdiction. Because I gave it to you like Adam, and you gave it away so I step aside.

This is why you see now the spirit doesn't move in a lot of churches in America because I gave you jurisdiction and then you decided to give up your citizenship and get another citizenship, so I can't stay here. 

 Because there is no duality it's not one and the same thing. There's no cross pollination, there's certain things you should never bring to the church, ever. 

God first and God always you can say you can wear the same clothes you wear to the nightclub to the church, you can't come do it. You can bring your own truth into this Kingdom, or it's my truth no, there's one truth.  

There's the Constitution here that we are working with so that was the second phase. That this Kingdom now that's why Jesus says the Kingdom is in you in you.  

So how can the Kingdom of God be in you and then you carry another Kingdom with you again. How is that possible? There's no dual citizenship so that's the second phase the Kingdom of God came when Jesus was here.  

The second phase is the placed in our hearts through the aid of the Holy Spirit and the third phase of the Kingdom will begin when Jesus returns to Earth.  

This time He is taking control over everything. Luke17, Remember Jesus answered this question the Kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation.  

This date cannot be calculated using some formula, nor will people say here it is the reason why Jesus is saying this, He says I cannot tell you this is because when you get into the spiritual things, there is no time.  

So hence I can't tell you when because there's no date. It's something that just happens. I think we've heard this time right the year of the Lord. He yelled the Lord's favor proclaimed the year of the Lord's favor.  

Although the Kingdom of God came very near with Christ, when Jesus comes, Kingdom of God shows up, that's phase second phase. He places it in our hearts.  

Then Jesus read Isaiah 61 in the synagogue. Remember, the spirit of the Lord is upon me because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.  

He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. Then he rolled up these crop straws and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. 

Then he says today that scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. Luke 4:18-21, but when you look at the passage in Isaiah 61, it includes a few more words that Jesus did not read. To proclaim the day of vengeance of our God. 

Jesus knew that we had not yet reached that stage. The judgment day, the day of vengeance that would precede the coming of the Kingdom of the Earth was still in the future.  

Before it came, there was to be the year of the Lord's favor. So before that day comes, there's to be the year of the Lord's favor. The favorable year in which the gospel can be proclaimed, in other words, the year of the Lord's favor, is the year that this gospel has to be preached freely, eloquently all over the world.  

And that day is not a 24 hour day, in fact, that particular day is now in its year 2000. Since Jesus left to now is still the day of the favorable year of the Lord, where the gospel has to be preached before judgment day. 

Now people every week can come to church and you can go and preach the gospel anywhere. Some countries are still tight but we can still reach them now, right, internet can have people all over the world just listening to you in spite of all the barriers that might exist.  

Because guys, God is trying to reach every human being to give them an opportunity so that on that day, nobody can say I've never heard of this.  

What I'm trying to show us in this, we're going to really look at in depth of this this is just the foundation of what we're going to try to be building in the near field, I want us to really recognize that we really have to be different. The way we talk, the way we hear, the way we smile, the way we say things.  

What comes out of our hearts and our mouths because we are living in a different Kingdom. I want you to imagine guys at the what you call citizenship ceremony, right and they said repeat these words after us whatever the judge was over there presiding over this. And I started speaking in Zulu, they're like, no Sir you're not getting this citizenship.  

This is why our language has to be different, it has to be different because the Constitution demands that we speak differently. The Constitution of this Kingdom demands that we speak differently and then it also tells us that hey these signs shall all of them not run after the church now is running after signs instead of the signs following us. 

That's why Jesus, you're crazy generation You keep asking for a sign. No, no, no in this Kingdom, in this one, these signs have to follow you. You can't run after them,you got to follow them.

No give me a miracle, no, no, no, no, no, it's the other way. So in this Kingdom God there is things that we have to really meticulously pay attention to.  

Like meticulously pay attention to because they are that important to our existence in that Kingdom to actually function fully. Because there is nothing guys like one day we get to heaven and then God shows us. What was available to us that we never access because we were just happy to be citizens.  

Do you know why immigrants that come to this country end up doing things that are way beyond people who have lived here, born here all their lives is because people here end up taking for granted the freedoms that are accorded to them by this nation.  

This is why you can see somebody walking church today and in a few months time they're doing incredible things and somebody who's been sitting here for 20 years because they are now taking for granted the Kingdom of they are part of. 

And this year, I want us to change the way we understand our citizenship in this Kingdom. That salvation is just the entrance that's the swearing in the baptism is everybody who is there is present to see you come in after baptism you then get the aid of the Holy Spirit to guide you in all things this Kingdom.  

And once you are in now, once you are in this Kingdom you have to understand what's been  accorded to you have the power to heal the sick, the power to preach the gospel, the power to lay hands, the power to speak truth.  

Let's live in peace in spite of the power to have hope and faith, the gifts of the spirits. The gift of the gifts of the Spirit, the fruit of the spirit, all these things are now at your disposal it's yours to now inherit.

That's why Jesus then comes now and says, hey unto you are given the mysteries of this Kingdom so if you are still looking at things and you are flabbergasted you shouldn't be.  

You should be actually be like now, man yeah, I understand that mysteries because it was given to us to understand it's part of your constitution. So let's examine our lives intricately, like really intricate like page on page.

What's my language, is it part of this Kingdom? What's my thinking, is it heaven to Earth or is it earth to heaven?  

How do I interpret things, is it spiritual first and then physical? Or is it physical, then spiritual? Can I recognize the Kingdom when I see it in action? Can I see it what's following after me?

Is it this signs or am I following after signs? So let's look at the pages of our lives this is a challenge ourselves because what is citizenship if it's not benefiting us?  

There's a lot that has been given to us mysteries of this Kingdom. We ought to be like, yeah can you imagine being Nicodemus. 

Born in church all your life you've read the Bible back in front 92 times. Everybody calls it in fact, this man was called the Teacher of Israel, and yet he could not see the Kingdom, he was couldn’t enter.  

15 years of being a faithful tithe and offering guy. Can’t see him, can't touch it, can’t preach can’t witness. I've heard somebody say, man, I'm like you've been in church, you are a leader, yeah, I can pray for over 5 minutes no, that's not my forte I'm like, what Kingdom do you belong to after what the Lord has done for you?  

You can’t pray 5 minutes, man, look at them disciples Jesus goes and prays, He comes back, they're taking a nap and He's like, yeah, you're gonna watch, watch what happens once that Kingdom enters their hearts. The same people, it's like they now understood their constitution.  

You couldn't stop them from praying in prison in I'll stop. I mean, how many times you hear and Peter went on the rooftop to pray. He could have stopped because it's part of your language, it's part of your communication system.

That's our communication system, ways to interact to one another. We don't interact with each other through words like this.  

We go in the corner and pray you pray over there, you pray over there the Lord speaks to yeah, I want you to call Dorothy, she needs encouragement today.

Call Calvin, call this one you know what encourage them. That's how we communicate in this Kingdom. So let's pay attention to the way we think up, down, not down and up.  

Your first instinct should not be oh the devil is after me. What did you do, remember what we told our end on this? Because I love this analogy. It reminds us it really kind of put things into perspective. 

Remember my analogy of who the devil is that he's like a Pitbull that's chained on a paw, growling is jumping, it wants to bite somebody you can see blood coming through the neck cause he's just so aggressive.  

Every time he sees somebody on the street there, he sprints from where he's sleeping as soon as he gets to the end of that chain, it tugs him off back, yanks him back can't get it. 

You can literally see it a meter away from the jurisdiction of that chain and read a book. And not even being worried about their dog barking and screaming and because he has no jurisdiction.  

But you know what we do we get up and start running over there. And when he starts sprinting, you know I only have to run 5 meters. And I'm out of his jurisdiction and we do it over and over again until one faithful day you slip and he you got you. Now you're screaming oh, help me.  

I need a Nigerian to pray for me no, why did you go to that Kingdom? Why? Just a test to see so all these people here coming on like, hey man, you know, I was just there to minister no, you were not there to minister. 

Now, that's not your Kingdom why are you here and unless your part of. Think about Nicodemus, Nicodemus was part of the Satan's Kingdom, think about that, theologian. 

So let's this is not about how many years you've been in church, this is about understanding this is the Kingdom I'm part of. And these kingdoms supersedes all the kingdoms we talked about in the beginning.  

That's why the scripture says, seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. What is righteousness that Jesus says if you seek these two things first, and then all these other kingdoms who come right under you where they belong.  

You are not ruled by money that's the correct interpretation. The interpretation is not you get you don't get the Kingdom of animals. You don't get the Kingdom of plants. That's what money is, right, money comes from trees, so it's in the plant Kingdom. How do we then allow plants to rule over you?  

That's what the scripture is saying seek ye first don't allow these other kingdoms to rule over you because the Kingdom of God is sovereign, sovereign Kingdom it's over it all.

That's why the scripture Daniel 4 and by the decree of the holy ones in the watches so the tendered living may know the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of men God rules.  

So let's examine this this week's homework examine, examine your life, take the Constitution, place it right here, and just take your life and put it and just kind of look at it and if there's things that needs to be fixed, then let's fix it. 

If there's things that needs order replaced, moved please do it so that we can really function under the Kingdom that we are part of and exercise the authority that has been given to us when we are in this Kingdom, Amen.  

All right, I'm going to end here and this is a comprehensive study. And this is just the foundation. We're going to at some point I'll find the week where we'll just go every day and kind of really look at these kingdoms so that we understand where we are, what we need to do.  

So that we can really be transformed so that these signs will follow after us. This is the only Kingdom, by the way it gives you things to think about just think of these things.  

Tells us, tells us how we should worship God with the truth, it tells you the devil doesn't tell you how you should worship him. That's why people do all kinds of shenanigans out there but in this one clap your hands or hear people enter my courts with thanksgiving.  

Praise me with your way with your heart and your soul I wish, above all yours would prosper and be in good health, even as your soul prospers.  

It's in this Kingdom you can't proclaim that scripture if you are not outside. If you are outside of that Kingdom that's not for everybody and this Kingdom will live by faith, peace, joy in the Holy Ghost.  

Constitution you know, we should actually, really going to come up with our own with the Kingdom Constitution. Yeah, this is how we live in this Kingdom this is it, this is the Constitution that God gave us.  

This is why you see Jesus comes the first thing He lays down the 10 beatitudes then after that He goes into the extensive. Lays out the Constitution first, 3 chapters is just laying down the constitution, then after that it's like, ok, good.  

Now let's go do some miracles and just talk to some folk and do some stuff Kingdom business. We've laid down the Constitution let's follow it and just let me just show you now how to follow what I've just told you to do, Amen. We're going to end here.