"Understanding The Kingdom of God According to Scripture (An Introduction)" The word Kingdom according to scripture is capable of three

(3) different meanings. 1. The realm over which a monarch reigns. A monarch is a male King who rules over a territory. The territory of God is heaven and earth. From heaven God rules. Psalm 103:19 The LORD has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all. Psalm 11:4 The LORD is in his holy temple; the LORD is on his heavenly throne. He observes the sons of men; his eyes examine them. Psalm 47:2, 8 How awesome is the LORD Most High, the great King over all the earth! God reigns over the nations; God is seated on his holy throne. We see by these scriptures that the Lord who is also Supreme King has established His thrown in heaven and His kingdom rules over all. So both heaven and earth are the realm in which God rules. An aspect of the rule of God is that when men in the earth disobey God He from heaven has the right to judge them. This ruler-ship that God has is a ruler-ship over a people, impacting them with His will, influencing them that as they yield, repent and turn to Him they would always be turning to God away from send always to the good and always for the better. God exercises His ruler-ship by His Word, His Holy Spirit and His power. Those who submit to the rule of God from heaven, allowing the truth of God's word to impact them by the Spirit of God are those who having obeyed God, being led of His Spirit, they are the sons of God and all of creation is awaiting their maturity. People who seek to settle matters with or by their emotions instead of by the Word of God will never have the peace that comes from allowing God's Word which is His rule to be final authority in their life. God is Supreme King and Jesus is the Son of God and also King of kings and Lord of lords in the earth. This same Jesus did not bring us a religion but instead brought to us the restoration of God's governing rule on the earth. God broke four hundred (400) years of silence commonly referred to as the dark ages with the words of John the Baptist and then Jesus both saying, "Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand (has arrived).

Matthew 3:2 John the Baptist, "Repent for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand." Matthew 4:17 Jesus said "Repent for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand." Mark 1:14-15 Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel. So you see God pierced the darkness in an exercise of His ruler-ship with a prophetic word from His prophet-priest John the Baptist and then later through Jesus His Son, the earth King himself. The evidence of God's ruler-ship then, now and always is the Word of God, as God used the words of Jesus to invade the darkness of man and manifest His rule by having Jesus cast out devils, heal the sick and preach the good news that the Kingdom had come. Matthew 4:23 Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. Matthew 9:35 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. Jesus was affirming Himself as King and Lord over all in a demonstration of His Father's power to bring all who would believe, under His sovereign will, dominion and authority for their good and for their betterment in every way. Let's look at the 2nd definition of the word Kingdom on tomorrow.

"Understanding the Kingdom of God According to Scripture" (An Introduction) Lesson 2 We saw in the first lesson that the word Kingdom is capable of three (3) meanings according to scripture and the first meaning is; A realm over which a monarch reigns.

God established His Kingdom in heaven but rules over the earth. As a realm over which a monarch reigns we are talking about any territory and people over which God reign. A monarch is a male King who has a Kingdom. The Kingdom is the territory and the people of that Kingdom are citizens of the Kingdom of God's domain. Colossians 1:13, 16 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the Kingdom of His dear Son. For by Him (Jesus) were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him for Him. Let's look at the second meaning of the word Kingdom. Lesson 2 The Kingdom is the realm in which God's reign is experienced. After the ministry of John the Baptist this realm of the Kingdom was ushered in. Jesus as the Messiah King came preaching this realm of God plan for man. It was into this Kingdom that men were pressing their way. Luke 16:16 The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the Kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it. To experience God's reign takes a voluntary submission to His royal rule. This voluntary submission is you and I coming under the authority of the King by whom we obtain our instructions for daily living and discover the specifics of God's plan and purpose for our lives. The experience of God's rule first comes without observation. Luke 17:21 says, "The Kingdom comes not by observation." From this verse it is very easy to believe that the Kingdom of God is futureristic which is not untrue, just incomplete. The Kingdom is both present now and to come. But when it first came to you you didn't see it coming. You say, well how did the Kingdom come if its come already? Well when you became Born Again you became Born Again into the experience of God's reign over your life. As you was translated out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of the Son of God's love the spiritual elements of the Kingdom were transferred into you. Romans 14:17 The Kingdom of God is not meat or drink but righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.

The three spiritual elements that mark God's reign over a territory, over a people He has purposed for Himself are found in that God has delivered us out of darkness into the Kingdom of His Son, a Kingdom wherein we experience righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost as we are yielded to the Holy Spirit who administrates the Kingdom in our midst. Paul reminds us that the Kingdom also is not just in word but also in power. It is this "power" in every means that is also the manifestation of God's royal rule, dominion and power over and to a people He has chosen for Himself. I experience the reign of God as I submit to the word of God, the work of the Holy Spirit and Christ daily in my life. More on this teaching in our next session of 30 Days of Kingdom

Lesson 3 The 3rd meaning of the term Kingdom of God is the "actual reign or rule", or better seen as the "active" rule of God. This meaning is the "primary" meaning of the word basileia or Kingdom. According to this usage which is Aramaic and believed to be the language of the time only those who "receive the Kingdom of God," i.e., accept God's rule here and now, enter into the realm of its blessings in the future. Mark 10:15 When we seek God's Kingdom and righteousness, we seek for God's rule in our lives (Matt. 6:33). The rule of God entered in at the pronouncement of Jesus when He said "Repent (change your thinking and direction, away from your old pathways even of self-righteousness and sin, to God, rethinking the way you used to think, now turning to God for the good and betterment of your life) for God's governing rule, His royal rule and dominion has arrived. Mark 1:14-15 Study the word "time" (kairos) This time speaks to the moment in time where God initiated His governing royal rule and dominion in the life of all who would change their thinking and submit to the rule of God. Whoever responds via repentance to what God initiates actually frees God to do for them and through them what God has always purposed to do in the life of those who belong to Him to include bless them, heal them, deliver, empower and prosper them. Those who misunderstand repentance and only see it from a religious standpoint and never discover the

mystery of the Kingdom in this process miss God's original agenda, a restored agenda for man. This "active" rule of God comes about through man's active participation with God's plan for man. God is never at a lost for manifesting His will. God requires man's participation to do so and God measures man's participation by man's obedience. For instance, God is love. He says in His Word that everyone who loves is born of God. Those who have submitted themselves to the royal law of God are to love as God loves. Failure to do this for whatever reason one may not obey only signals a continual avoidance of submitting to the active rule of God. Failure to submit brings you under another aspect of God's rule. That is, that the way of the transgressor is hard. Often times hardship is not the result of an attack of the devil but the result of having refused to submit to the sovereign royal rule of God. This is your kairos moment. Step into the active royal rule of God and experience His control over your life and through your life as you again walk in the dominion Adam had in the beginning. If you will positively respond to what God is initiating God will respond by moving and working within you to fulfill the divine destiny He purposed for you from before the foundations of the world. This is why the message of the Kingdom has been so hard fought by the devil and by ignorant religious men and women who won't even take the time to study the subject. More on the Kingdom in the next session.

Lesson 4 What Is The Kingdom of God According to the New Testament? What Is The Kingdom of God according to the new testament is a worthwhile question to ask in light of us who all claim to be Born Again having a relationship with God the Father through the Son and by the power of the Holy Spirit. Because so many of us have lived according to our "experiences" with God and our feelings, often times the results of those experiences, we've missed what is essential to God when it comes to what should be a matter of priority in the life of the Believer. Through biblical academic education we've focused on what we've commonly called the doctrines of the Bible or the Church but totally missed what God sent really sent Jesus to establish, which is God's Kingdom, His government in the earth among mankind who by the New Birth surrenders to God's

sovereignty, royal power, dominion and rule and becomes a co-laborer with God and Christ in the establishment of that Government by first and foremost living as God calls us to live and by serving with God in reconciling man back to God that mankind would also be able to enjoy the God-kind of life, living the God-kind of love operating in the God-kind of faith we are called to operate in as citizens of the Kingdom and sons and daughters of the Most High God. Our superficial Christianity has greatly limited us to only looking for God to manifest a miracle or send a breakthrough for our deprived condition. This mentality has totally missed the centrality of Jesus message and mission to establish the Kingdom here, now and eternal to come. The New Testament word for Kingdom is "basileia". This word as used by John the Baptist, then Jesus and later by the 12 and the 70 and ultimately by the Apostles of the first Church means and has always meant "sovereignty, royal power, dominion," and also means the action, the present action of God's reign over a territory or people over whom the King rules. This term Kingdom is used of the Kingdom of God and of Christ. Because of the traditions of our "religious" fathers, many who even today dominate the radio and television stations with religious programming, and as heads of denominations in the United States and around the world, we along with them have only seen the Kingdom primarily as a place where we are going after we die if we die in Christ instead of the expression of the Father in the earth now towards a people He has called to Himself to be reconciled back to Him. Now the earth without doubt is the scene of universal rebellion. There is a certain anarchy in America and around the world and it would lead one to believe that the Kingdom is not nor could not possible be present now. As one Baptist Bishop put it, "The Kingdom could not be present now, look at the rape, murder and chaos in our society. How can anyone preached that the Kingdom is present now"? And of course the congregation always being willing to believe its leader, was totally led into a ditch because of the blindness of the leadership. Now because of such easy deception a whole congregation of more than 2,000 people and the Churches that bishop oversees, and the people they are called to impact will now labor in the Lord yet not understand the true nature of the New Birth, their submission to the King and the results of such dominion as can only be obtained and experienced daily through submission to the King. The Kingdom of God is the sphere, the realm or dimension where God "actively rules" in your life through your active "submission" to His rule through the word of God and work of the Holy Spirit. Now this Kingdom or active sovereign, royal rule of God is a "mystery". Religion does not deal with the mystery of the Kingdom only the philosophy that the Kingdom is to come and that the Kingdom is a place where you are going, eschatologically speaking. This lack of knowledge concerning the mystery of the Kingdom and its right now presence which includes righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost and power that also leads to the provision of God regarding our material needs is of vital importance, such knowledge needing to be possessed by all.

More on the Kingdom in the next session