In reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.”

John 3:3

It takes faith to see!  Faith is not the definition of being born again, but is a requirement for it, therefore, faith is a prerequisite for seeing.

Consider miracles.  Jesus said that there will be many who had done many great miracles but were not know by the Lord (Matthew 7:22).  The apostles, even Judas the traitor, were casting out devils in His name, yet not all had come to the consistent walk of faith. If the word “faith” in your vocabulary only means miracles, then something is grossly missing in your understanding of the Kingdom.

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And his lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him.  My heavenly Father will also do the same to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart.

Matthew 18:34-35

Jesus has commanded that we love one another, and in order to do this, we must be willing to forgive.  Total forgiveness may begin with an act of the will, but always must proceed to the depths of the heart.  Forgiveness is being willing to live with the consequences of another’s actions.

In order to forgive, you must first be willing to say, “that was wrong.” When there is no attributable wrong, how can there be forgiveness?  If you cannot say it was wrong, what are you forgiving?  What forgiveness is not is trying to minimize the hurt so that no offense can take root.  This may seem profitable in the short run, but lacks the integrity to go the distance.  No, rather, when someone does something wrong, it is important to acknowledge that what was done was wrong.  It is from this place that all forgiveness can happen.

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Below are a list of general teaching articles that are not classified under posts.

• The Picture of Gospel Faith in Matthew 13:44
• The Man of Faith in the Beatitudes

Below is my current, working outline of the book of Revelation, as I have been coming to understand it.

• A Brief Synopsis of the Book of Revelation

Also, the following posts are note-worthy, in that they are still “works in progress”, and will be updated as more content is available.  In general, they are Biblical studies, and are simply a good repository for keeping parts as they come up.  They are also listed here for quick reference.

• Red Letters – The Importance of the Words of Christ

We also have a few Things For Sale.  Currently, we have a few books.  Feel free to check it out.

The Man of Faith in the Kingdom

1. Happy all the Time. The state of the man in faith is maximum happiness. Matthew 5:3, “Most Happy are the poor in Spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.”  Not only this, but he is a prisoner of this happiness because of his faith. So long as he stays in faith, he remains happy. For poverty of Spirit, this can be described as “when you’re at the end of you’re rope, tie a knot in it and hang on, cuz God is on the way.” Or, “We start where most people let off”. We don’t have problems, we simply need faith in God.
2. Happy is a byproduct of faith. It is not worked up, it is not labored for. It comes as a by-product of simply believing in the promise. Matthew 13:44, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who found a treasure in a field, and for joy, went and sold all he had and bought that field.”  A great way to teach faith is to meditate on the promise, such as kingdom of heaven being yours, and when happy comes, what changed is called “faith”. Afterwards, if happy leaves, what changed is called “unbelief”. Focus on the promise again to return to faith, and we answer any doubts in the interim with the Word of God.
3. Happy is the promise of mature faith. Matthew 11:30, “For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” As a natural offshoot of the other two premises. Happy doesn’t always PROVE faith, as happy can come from ignorance, but happy is assured when, in the face of being assured of the dangers, you are MORE convinced of the provision. When your spirit sees, and faith is, happy is.
4. The Kingdom is always “At Hand”. Isaiah 9:7, “There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.”  Only the first and the last beatitude promise a current reality, “Yours is the Kingdom.” The rest promise a future reality, such as “will see God”, “Shall be filled”, or “shall be comforted”. That means, for many, the manifestation of the good is at some time in the future. But, for the first and the last, the promise is now. The Kingdom always answers the immediate need, whether poor in spirit or persecuted for righteousness sake. It would stand to reason that the quickest way to the double portion is to be both at the same time. Jesus was this on the cross.
5. Happy is the motivation. James 1:2, ” Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds” Paul was shown the trials he would endure, but he also knew the exceeding weight of glory. It was for the joy set before Jesus, that He endured the cross. We don’t seek poor in spirit or persecution. And, while we do seek purity of heart and meekness and do not shun hungering and thirsting for righteousness, it is the bliss of being with Him that makes us both willing and able to endure, no matter what the cost to obey.
6. Happy only works with a Father. John 15:10, “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.”Whether these are literal promises or merely the principles of God’s heart, they work with simple reliance upon the heart of who God is, as the Father of creation. There is no favoritism, and what you do for others will be done for you, and then some. Trying to manipulate these principles will only result in you being manipulated by God Himself (Psalm 18:26).
7. This life cannot be your aim. 1 John 2:15, “If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. … If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”  This teaching does not make one popular, it keeps you alive and going through. Maximumly happy, in its greatest form of course, is on the cross, breathing your last, and forgiving those who are mocking and spitting on you, when you’re innocent. It was this position that put Jesus on the Cross, and it is these priorities that moved the heart of the Father to take lift Him back up. But, He had to go through. So long as you can make it through, you win.
8. There is always a reason to be happy. Matthew 5:3-12, “Most Happy…  Most Happy…  Most Happy…  Most Happy…..”  In the pursuit of Jesus and His Kingdom, we can be guaranteed of persecutions and tribulations. But, according to Jesus, there is always a reason to be happy, because to be oppressed for doing good is honorable before God, and He will not leave you hanging. If one doesn’t fit, try the next one. Or the next one. Until you’re happy.
9. The happies are the proper commentary on the Old Covenant. Matthew 13:35, “That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.” Think of the deliverances of the Old Testament. In general, they will fall into one of these categories. The Israelites were poor in Spirit in Egypt, and God heard their cry. When they felt comfortable, and no longer had the breakthrough of the Spirit, they backslid, and didn’t have the covering.
10. The Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.  Matthew 18:1-4, “At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”  If you’re not on the edge, you’re taking too much room.  There is something about the constant drive of the Kingdom. You can stop any time you want to. You can choose to be a millionaire, but the moment you stop to enjoy what you’ve found, you run the immediate risk of losing the power. The Kingdom showed up not because you are something special, but simply because of Grace and Mercy. He showed up in mercy when you were poor in Spirit, and Grace when you were persecuted for righteousness sake. God is close to the broken hearted, and when God’s righteous law is broken, it is time for God to act (Psalm 119:126)! You could try to get out of the pressure, and you could say that you can’t survive the pressure, and it’s true, but God’s is able, and His strength is made perfect in weakness. What you are unable to do, when you reach consistently the end of yourself, you will consistently run into the provision of Him.

This is the promise of the Kingdom. These are the promises of Jesus. They are not the promises of today’s preachers or churches, but they are what the Kingdom is. They missed Jesus because He wasn’t the conquering King they expected, but we miss Him today, because He is still the same, Yesterday, Today, and Forever.

The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough.

Matthew 13:33

Thoughts and beliefs are powerful things.  Jesus said that to look with lust at a woman was to commit adultery, and to be angry at someone without a cause is to murder him.  Ultimately, it is what you think and what you believe that will either deliver you or condemn you to an eternal judgement of hell.

We can tend to look at our actions primarily, in the Christian life, but the unsurrendered self is perhaps the most dangerous weapon against the Kingdom, even as a believer.  Yet one sinner can destroy much good (Ecclesiastes 9:18).

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You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.

Matthew 5:14

Jesus said not to think that He was come to abolish the Law and the Prophets, but to fulfill them (Matthew 5:17).  What this means for us today, was the He was the fulfillment of the Law of Moses.  What He lived on Earth, perfectly satisfied the perfect of justice of the Father, so that anyone who is baptized into Jesus Christ has lost their old life with its sin and corruption, and entered into that perfect, finished, and sufficient righteousness of God.

Yet, more than this.  In Matthew 5:19, Jesus says that whoever continues to BREAK one of these commandments AND teaches other to do so, will be considered least in the Kingdom.

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Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces.

Matthew 7:6

God shares His secrets with His friends.  Psalm 25:14.

What if God didn’t want to share certain things with some people?  Would that make Him mean, just because He withheld certain details about His Kingdom?

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When all is stripped away, and nothing else remains, you can trust in His love.  His love remains, when everything else is shaken (Romans 8:37-39), and by it, we live without fear (1 John 4:18).

Into His love we commend ourselves each day.  Further into His glory, His goodness, His mercy.

All we need is His love.  Our only true possession in this life is this place of union.

The life of the flesh doesn’t matter in the end.  What matters is Eternity.  According to Isaiah 40, all of man’s pomp and pride fall away into the dust and ashes they came from, and all that remains is faith, hope, and love (1 Corinthians 13:13).

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[B]ut he who is doing the truth doth come to the light, that his works may be manifested, that in God they are having been wrought.

John 3:21 YLT

The Kingdom and the earth cannot be compared.  They are so drastically different from each other, that Jesus says the only way to really live “there” is to not live “here”.  This obviously does not have to be fully understood to be lived, but for those who look to understand and see what Jesus was saying, in order to live by it, it becomes evident.

He who begins to build a tower must first calculate the cost, lest he run out half way through (Luke 14:28).  Jesus said that unless you hate your former life (Luke 14:26), every part, including family ties and who you used to be, you cannot be His disciple.  Luke 14:33 goes a long ways and says that unless you give up everything you have, you cannot be His disciple.

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 Who is blind but My servant, or so deaf as My messenger whom I send?
Who is so blind as he that is at peace with Me, Or so blind as the servant of the LORD?

Isaiah 42:19

When all around fades, and the only thing left is Him.  When all background noises, and all distractions are stripped away, and you are only His flame (Psalm 104:4).  When you see nothing but His purpose, and hear nothing but His voice.

There are many ways to move in the Kingdom’s power, but Jesus didn’t just come with a few simple nuggets, a few quick keys that might improve your ability to flow in the Spirit.  His teaching wasn’t “pointers” for ministry, it was a yoke (Matthew 11:30).

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