God Speaking

“Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household.”

(Ephesians 2: 19)

During our discussion time in our Home Group, recently we were talking about citizenship and what that means to all of us. We have been meeting together for over ten years so we certainly know each other very well and of cause we all know many of us have come from different countries before settling in Canada. Our discussion ended with a beautiful and joyful realisation that we now could claim that we were all Kingdom people, our citizenship firmly established in the kingdom of heaven. We were no longer divided by where we had been born. We are bound together by the love extended to us by the king of kings, the lord Jesus himself and could join him in his kingdom.

We are studying the gospel of Matthew and are spending a great deal of time looking specifically at Jesus’ words so we don’t miss any of the deep meaning behind them.

Jesus begins his teaching ministry with these words;

“From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” (Matthew 4: 17)

We tend to think that being in heaven means after we die, but when we look again at these words, we see Jesus is saying heaven is near, meaning he has brought heaven to us here on earth.  Seeking repentance and realising we are bereft without his Holy Spirit, brings about the blessing of entering the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5: 3)

After our Bible study finished I became fascinated by the number of references there is in Scripture to the word, kingdom, in the Old Testament referring to God’s everlasting kingdom and in the New Testament we read the Heavenly Father granting us access to his beloved Son’s kingdom

“For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” (Colossians 1: 13 – 14)

Being Kingdom People means our lives change in all sorts of ways so that others see how blessed we are to be members and long to enter that kingdom to receive forgiveness and all the blessings that go with that. When Jesus begins his ministry, he explains exactly how kingdom people will react to his words and his famous “Sermon on the Mount”, (Matthew 5-7) gives us beautiful guide lines for us citizens to observe.

We have lived in several different countries, and having quite a distinct Australian accent, I have always been distinguished as being foreign to the other people. I love now being a Kingdom person, a citizen like all the other Kingdom people distinguished only by my deep love of Jesus Christ.

The world has seen many kingdoms come and go, but we have this great assurance that God’s kingdom can never be shaken.

“Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe…” (Hebrews 12: 28)