First Love
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THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN
There is one thing that even many Christians don’t know or are confused about. When the disciples asked Jesus how to pray, He taught them the Lord’s Prayer. It starts with, "Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come ---." I always thought "kingdom come" meant the future kingdom, the kingdom when Christ comes back at the end of times. This is not what Christ meant. He meant for the kingdom to come "right now" so His Father’s will would be done "right now". Christ would buy back man’s right to be the guardian of God’s kingdom when Christ suffered, died and rose again from the dead. The Son of God had to come back in human form to earn this right back.
Man was given the kingdom when God told Adam in Genesis 1:28:
Genesis 1:28 "God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."
Psalm 115:16 "The highest heavens belong to the LORD, but the earth he has given to man."
God had given man authority on earth. Man lost this authority when he sinned. Satan stole this away and up to the point of Christ’s suffering, death and resurrection, Satan had the keys. He was the lord of the Earth. Man’s authority over the kingdom now was returned to man through Christ.
Mathew 4:17 "From that time on Jesus began to preach, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near."
Luke 22:29 "And I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one on me, --"
Christ told them that He had to leave in order that the Holy Spirit could come. With the coming of the Holy Spirit, man now would regain the knowledge he would need to listen to the Father and put the Father’s will into action on earth.
Mathew 13:11 "He replied, "The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them."
John 16:7 "But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you."
John 16:13 "But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth."
Man now would be able to communicate, through the Holy Spirit, and be guided by God’s words and will. Man now was not of the world, but was of God’s kingdom on Earth. Man was to rule as he originally was supposed to rule when God created Adam.
Mathew 10:7-8 "As you go, preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give."
Mathew 16:19 "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."
Unfortunately, somewhere along the line, man lost this meaning of ruling the kingdom. Even though man now has regained his authority, Satan has lied to him. Satan has made man not recognize his authority over the earth and his authority over Satan. Satan has deafened man’s spiritual ears, and blinded man’s spiritual eyes.
Mathew 13:19 "When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path."
Mathew 13:24-26 "Jesus told them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.’"
It is time that we put into action our authority that God has given us. Christ said that we would be doing greater things than He. All we had to do is ask in His name. Jesus said:
John 14:12 "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father."
Somewhere along the line, we have lost this knowledge of our authority. We don’t believe this or we just don’t understand the authority given to us.
Luke 10:18-20 "He replied, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven."
Revelation 2:26 "To him who overcomes and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations—"
Anything Jesus did, we can do because we were given authority to do so. Let’s believe that. Let’s stand on this and take control and put Satan back to hell where he belongs.
The "kingdom" is mentioned 98 times in the New Testament. This was a very important part of Christ’s message. He preached, not only about salvation, but also about our position and authority in God’s kingdom on earth and in heaven.
Take the first step. The first step is accepting Jesus. Without being born again, we will not be a part of or see the kingdom.
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About the Book
The purpose of this book, "First Love", is to direct Christians back to the simplicity of the message of the Gospels. We have forgotten about our first love, Jesus Christ. Over the last two thousand years, man has inserted religion into the equation and made it very difficult to see the outline of the cross through the mire. There is no unity between the Christian denominations and there is a predominant belief that we should not invoke our religious beliefs into the government due to the belief that church and state should be separate. The book also tries to show how America has slowly drifted away from God, just like ancient Israel did before the Babylonian captivity. We are a Christian nation only by name with no real substance.
The book also tries to answer some questions:
What is the real story of man's beginning? Is there something that we're missing about the creation story?
Why isn't America in the Book of Revelation? Isn't America the world's most powerful nation? Do we even exist as a nation during the tribulation?
Why don't we see the miracles that are in the Bible? Isn't our faith strong enough? What has been lost in Christ's message over the years? Christ said that Christians would be doing greater things than He did on Earth. What happened? Has our pride gotten in the way?
These are just a few of the questions the book puts into perspective while shedding new light and insight by delving deeper into the "meat" of the Holy Scripture. You are sure to come away with a deeper appreciation of the majesty and wonder of God, His infinite wisdom, and His great love for you and me.
About the Author
Dan and his wife, Karen, reside in Pahrump, Nevada, a small town approximately 65 miles west of Las Vegas. He and his wife have a healing ministry in Pahrump, which focuses on the authority given to all Christians to heal the sick as emissaries of God’s Kingdom on Earth.
Due to the success of his first book, "Spiritual Snacks", he was encouraged to write a new book, "First Love", a study on how Christians have made Christianity too convoluted and have lost the true meaning of the Gospels and lost focus on their first love, Jesus Christ.