 Thank you every single one of you for being here and this class is going to be on the subject of the Kingdom of God and for the study of the subject we will use two textbooks and these are all people's church publications one by the name of Kingdom of God, the other one is Kingdom Builders and I think this is already this is already available for the Google Meet students it is posted on your class work page so even right now if you want to download it as I you know share you can look at it right so I will try and go in order so then as you look at it and as I share it'll be like you know like a double intake of the same same subject so you can download it and follow along and similarly the e-learning students it's available for you on the in the course so textbook section you can download it and follow along so yeah the Kingdom of God this is has anyone heard of this term the Kingdom of God being used in your church or you know your Christian circle Kingdom of God I've heard of this term okay okay particularly when it comes to you know when when we talk about you know heaven the associates sometimes Kingdom of God with heaven so that's how I would I would remember that term being used yeah yes yes true yeah so associated with God as the king of heaven and this is a common common phrase which is used in Christian circles thank you thank you Christopher for sharing your understanding anyone else have you heard this term Kingdom of God and what does what does it mean to you can I speak madam yes please yes yeah to me Kingdom of God it means that all that belongs to God including me including all stuffs which we are doing like like here today learning word of God preaching evangelizing that is the mouth of the Kingdom of God okay thank you thanks for sharing that so we're all included we're a part of the Kingdom and the things that we're doing that was also in the Kingdom part of the Kingdom so I'm sure all of you if I were to go over one by one and ask you do you know what the Kingdom of God is that we have ever heard of this term you would say yes can you have a certain understanding so we will expand on that understanding of the Kingdom of God and we will also see how understanding the subject you know really will impact our everyday lives okay Avni says Kingdom of God by God rules and reigns yes that's that's right up so as we study the subject you know what what is it that we can expect it's it's a term which is used in scripture and you find it a lot particularly in the Gospels when you have John the Baptist talk about the Kingdom of God you have the Lord Jesus mentioned this term the Kingdom of God and you know this Jesus also taught us to pray right he said thy Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven and Christopher just shared Kingdom of God in our minds it relates to heaven and who God is in heaven so we have been taught to pray this thy Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven so when we pray this when we understand about the Kingdom of God no it will it will give us a perspective about God's nature God's position well we do understand we see the revelation of God in different ways we will come to that a little later but here is another revelation right God as King and the creation all of his creation as his kingdom so we will get that understanding of who God is as a king over everything that he has created what his rule and reign looks like you know when we talk about King for many I don't know like different countries that we are a part of we might have governments that are primarily democratic but you know some places you you would have kingdom some countries do still have kingdoms they have kings and queens so you probably might might understand this faster than the others here but God's word reveals the rule and reign of God are similar to the way a king rules a king or a queen they rule over their their region whatever has been given to them in other words Kingdom so we will we will see how God rules and reigns and also you know as an extension of this understanding we will realize you know what kind of a life are we called because we are part of the Kingdom okay and we will see that Kingdom living Kingdom living it has to do with Kingdom values it has to do with Kingdom culture there is a certain way of Kingdom thinking that all of this is applicable because we are a part of this Kingdom and a very very important part of this Kingdom so just to summarize you know I was saying that we will get a revelation of God as the ruler as the king and we will also get a revelation of the kind of dominion that God has over his creation and thirdly we will see how this affects the life that we live as believers and that is why we want to build on this understanding and this is a very scriptural thing to talk about now I am not sure how many of us have heard sermons on this subject there are plenty there are plenty but you know in general we could say that this is not something that is common okay at least not I haven't heard too many sermons on the Kingdom of God as such so it is scriptural it is in the Bible but you know we may not have heard much about the Kingdom of God and thereby you know we don't have a deeper understanding of this subject but as we go through these two publications ABC publications and touch upon the different aspects we will understand God's rule and reign and also we will cover topics on how we can live how we can live in relation to the world in relation to the body of Christ so on and so forth so that's a small introduction for this this course the Kingdom of God okay so today the intention is to cover the first three chapters in our publication in the mob God we'll see how that goes we will cover maximum in the first hour and then of course we have a 10 minute break we will come back and then we will cover some more content but if you do have questions that you feel you know we'll clarify things for other students as well you can always pop the question in between that that should be fine however if you can hold on you can wait for later for your question to be answered then I would encourage you to to wait till the end and then the last ten minutes we can have some Q&A so the first chapter here it says that the Kingdom of God that it is a kingdom which is planned okay now the Kingdom of God I already mentioned it is in the Bible and in fact in the New Testament 15 times you will see this term used Kingdom of God and it is one of the major things of the Bible and the Kingdom as we understood has to do with the Dominion of God or you might want to use the term rule and reign so the very term Kingdom if you look at it in the Greek it is Bessila and it means it means rule it means rain it means a realm of the kingdom so you know that same understanding of the you know that the king or the queen leading their subjects so rule and reign that's what the kingdom is associated with so as we study this this team of the Kingdom of God you would also find those in the New Testament such as Kingdom of Heaven okay but with the term Kingdom in it now we already understood that Kingdom has to do with rule and reign now Kingdom of God that is self-explanatory it is ruled by God and thereby we call this Kingdom as the Kingdom of God and Kingdom of Heaven it's the same Kingdom right but this originates the rule and reign of God you could say that it or we we get our understanding of the Kingdom of God from the Kingdom of Heaven in many cases so it's the same term it's the same phrase but Kingdom of God like God and Heaven is used interchangeably in our different versions of the Bible so don't get confused it's one and the same thing the Kingdom of God now the question we're trying to answer is that you know God has always been a king it's not that you know one fine day he decided okay I'm already I have you know quite a few hats or hats right now let me take on another one okay let me let me try and be a king no he is already a king and this Kingdom that we rule and reigns over this has existed by design okay it has already existed and this is the Kingdom which was planned in the mind of God so we see that you know our God is the God of design he's a God of plan Matthew chapter 25 verse 34 this is in our notes here could somebody read it please since you have the notes as well I am on page number three yes yes hope please do okay Matthew 25 verse 4 then the king will say to those on his right hand come you blessed of my father inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world amen okay thank you so the point that we want to make here it says that the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world and this term again you know foundation of the world is used at least 10 times in scripture and this is just to show us that God had certain things in place so the kingdom of God it's not an afterthought you know God did not come up with it and decide okay it's time for me to rule so let me have a kingdom no but in the nature of God in who he is so he is already a king and his kingdom has existed from the foundation of the world or in other words from ages past that's another way to describe it right from ages past like our minds can't wrap around eternity and understand it but you know if we we can grasp it in some way we would say that you know the way we say okay God is eternal God is eternal he has existed he's existed and and you know some point this kingdom of God came into existence and it's it did not begin when this world was created or the earth was created but from the foundation of the world scripture says that the kingdom of God existed and we also see other descriptions about the kingdom of God we are told that this is a kingdom which is prepared for you now that is so special as we study this theme you know somewhere we might get lost and we might think hey yeah God is a king and he's a ruler and everything but how does this relate to me but scripture is very clear and it says that this is a kingdom which was prepared for us no we we've already looked at that same scripture it says prepared for you prepared for you from the foundation of the world so this is a kingdom which has been prepared for us and the other aspect of the kingdom is that we are called to inherit the kingdom inherit the kingdom and whenever we we understand the term inherit you know for many of us we might think that okay later when the person who's living is gone then we inherit whatever has been written you know for us and all but here the term inherit should be understood as you know joint as where we are working together with God and we are receiving of the kingdom right now we are walking in the power of the kingdom right now okay so we are as of this kingdom so this is the beginning just trying to lay a foundation here so this kingdom has come into existence from the foundation of the world it is a kingdom which is made for you and me okay and we have a very special part in this kingdom and we also have a great authority in the kingdom God has called us to be sons and daughters and we look at that a little later but authority kingdom authority is with the king but we as his children as believers we also have authority and so we can receive of the the power and the goodness of the kingdom every day of our lives and that's a powerful truth we can walk in those kingdom realities right here on the earth so I'll just quickly have a look at the chat here if there are any questions as of now okay Rupa thank you she says God is our king we are his subjects to come under his authority in all areas of our lives I am his ambassador in the world yeah that's that's it so we are his children we come under his authority we are also his you use the word ambassador representatives in a simpler way I would say yeah we are his representatives we go in the name of the king and that's you know very very powerful as we live our lives now we can walk with this knowledge okay now when did this this kingdom get introduced in the in the word of God you know why do we see the early signs of this kingdom right early signs in the sense again it was created at the foundation of the world but in scripture you see the kingdom introduced when the earth was created okay and we've seen this when we studied prayer and intercession last year Genesis chapter 1 verses 27 28 so when God created man and you know he created a man in his own image he gave them authority and we've seen that term and he gave them dominion dominion verse 28 says dominion over the fish of the sea over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves on the earth so dominion we've already talked about the kingdom rule kingdom reign dominion associated with authority and power okay so the introduction of the kingdom is in the book of Genesis we see when God created man he created man and of course you know woman as kingdom beings with kingdom authority the kingdom authority but we know what transpired God gave man free will and you know man was deceived by satan the coming deception of satan and we read about the fall of man so while God intended for man to rule and reign you know man fell due to sin and the world got corrupted because of sin and you know the kind of dominion that God wanted man to have that did not like you could see man lived that out until a time when God himself decided to send his son to redeem us right so there was the giving of dominion during creation the fall because of which we lost that dominion and authority however you know the plan of redemption which God had through that God brought us he brought us back and he sent the Lord Jesus Christ to re-establishing when in a way the kingdom has already existed but kind of reintroduce the kingdom of God and the authority of that kingdom once again okay and this is through the plan of redemption and we now are the heirs or you know we we are recipients of the good things of the kingdom of God so through the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus the kingdom has been reintroduced re-established so at this point I just want to pause a little bit and check with all of you if you're doing okay if there are any any questions at this point or you're comfortable we will move further okay yes thank you all right looks like yeah you're all doing fine okay great so let's build on it little by little so the kingdom has already existed at the kingdom in scripture we saw early on in the book of Genesis and the re-introduction of the you know kingdom was because of the plan of redemption through the Lord Jesus Christ okay so now talking a little more about the re-introduction of the kingdom we find in the gospels that the first person who came about preaching the kingdom of God was who who was it John okay okay full marks so I think three or four of you so John the Baptist you're right so the first person who came preaching the kingdom and his message was repent right his message was repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand okay but the interesting thing about this kingdom we see later that you know John the Baptist himself technically was not born again okay and we know that for us to be a part of the kingdom after the redemption that Christ brought about we must be born again so John the Baptist was not really born again because he he walked here before the Lord Jesus Christ but he was the first one who preached this message of the kingdom of God and he called people to repentance because the kingdom was closed okay and Jesus who came after John the Baptist you know he also began to preach this message of the kingdom of God so now the chapter 4 and verse 23 that that would be a good scripture for us to look at at this point so someone can please read that page number five on top the upper part of that page from the the time Jesus began to preach and to say repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand thank you thank you Vinayesh for reading that scripture so you see here that John the Baptist began talking about the kingdom and then the Lord Jesus himself okay preaching the gospel of the kingdom now you see the Lord Jesus you think about him you know hope floods our hearts because the world was corrupted with sin but hope came through the Lord Jesus Christ he paid for our sins no salvation came through him we have now been redeemed and here is the Lord Jesus even before he went to the cross what is he preaching he's preaching the gospel what is the gospel good news right so the message of the kingdom why should we be excited about it because it is good news right it is great news for us the good news of the gospel the sorry the good news of the kingdom preaching the gospel of the kingdom and notice here not just preaching but you see the Lord Jesus demonstrating the model of ministry for us we see him healing right so he's preaching the kingdom and he's also demonstrating the kingdom so he's healing all kinds of sicknesses all kinds of diseases among the people and in this manner the Lord Jesus began to talk about the kingdom of God and also to live up this this kingdom lifestyle and demonstrate kingdom power before you know the the disciples before the people of his times who were following him so in a way you could say that you know you find Jesus saying the kingdom is here you remember we talked about the deliverance that took place in Matthew chapter 12 I think it's verse 28 when the Lord Jesus delivers somebody who's demon possessed and he makes the statement and he says that the kingdom of God you know your the kingdom of God has come upon you so there is some understanding within that okay the power of the kingdom power of the kingdom is being released though he didn't mention you know what what aspect of the kingdom he's talking about the demonstration of the kingdom was very much a part of his ministry so he preached it and he also showed it he lived it out okay and that is the manner in which he introduced the kingdom of God and I told you earlier that you know you would find the kingdom of heaven used interchangeably so the rule of heaven the rule and reign of heaven was being demonstrated in the lives of people and when the Lord Jesus preached this message like it's a good message it's a great message because now you know we have we we have forgiveness from sin you know we can gain back our dominion and our authority and we can go against the works of darkness right we can we can rule and reign over the paths of darkness and so much what was being shown through the very life of the Lord Jesus as he preached this kingdom and as he also demonstrated this kingdom so that is sort of the reintroduction of the kingdom of God that we observe in the New Testament now talking about the kingdom of God we said this is about this is about a king and his rulership over his people but for the believer for the believer yes in the natural realm you know we we wonder whether hey is this about every believer becoming a part of a physical kingdom because some some people have interpreted it in that way and you know there's all kinds of teaching around that that okay you know you have to be only part of this this community because this is the kingdom of God physically here on the earth and all of that but what does the Bible really say see there are two dimensions there are two dimensions the first dimension is the spiritual dimension and which is what I was talking about while talking about the ministry of Jesus where he preached about the kingdom of God but he also demonstrated the kingdom right so this demonstration of the kingdom of heaven is happening the way he taught us in the Matthew chapter six and verse ten I kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven so we won't go over that you know all over again but just think about the rule and reign of God in heaven in heaven that that is we could say like the perfect rule and reign of God because there is no there is no interference of sin in heaven there's no corruption of sin in heaven okay and in heaven you know we would say that there's perfect joy because God's presence is there there is no sickness there is there is no oppression you know there is no work of the enemy there is the worship of God where you know God is at the center of everything and he is exalted so it's a perfect picture that we have up in heaven and when we talk about the release of that spiritual kingdom dimension the spiritual dimension of the kingdom that we can experience here on earth but that's what we're talking about we're saying we can walk in that kind of dominion of God Narupa put that on the chat and said the rule and reign of God in every aspect of my life so whether it is my emotional health whether it is my physical health right whether it is my family whether it is my finances whether you know it is my work my job whatever it is I can expect the rule and reign of God that spiritual dimension to be demonstrated and I can say God you know I want to see a release of that power of God you know we we see in scripture righteousness peace and joy that's the kingdom of God right so I would say that God even let there be a release of the righteousness let there be a release of the joy let there be a release of that peace and I can walk in that on the earth why because I am a part of that kingdom the kingdom was prepared prepared you know for the foundation of the world for who for you for me for us to inherit it for us to be co-heirs and to experience that kingdom so the spiritual dimension of the kingdom is what you and I are walking in and you know in this desire to see a greater demonstration of that spiritual dimension of the kingdom in our lives and in no way I mean I I feel personally that the limit right to to experiencing that spiritual dimension is something that we put there is no limit we can keep pressing in we can keep exercising our authority through prayer through the declaration of God's word through decreeing His word and what is happening as we do all that we're establishing the kingdom we're establishing the kingdom and I'm not talking about like a physical kingdom in any way but the spiritual kingdom spiritual dimension of the kingdom is being established right in every aspect of our lives so we can keep pressing into the spiritual dimension and we can really enjoy it and we can see the spiritual dimension affecting everything around us so the spiritual dimension of the kingdom of God but then there is also the natural dimension now in scripture as we read about you know the the second coming of Christ and then you know the the battle that is going to take place we will as we study about the millennial rule and reign of Christ we do learn that all of this means a literal kingdom as well right so a literal or in other words a physical kingdom where the Lord Jesus is going to rule out of Jerusalem okay over his people over the nations he's gonna do that and we will see the government the government is another term that we use for for authority for administration for rule reign dominion so and the government shall be upon his shoulders okay it already is it already is and we are experiencing it in the spiritual dimension you know to a large large extent but even in the physical realm the way we know a king ruling over his people that is going to happen the physical value at the return of the Lord Jesus Christ so there are two dimensions the spiritual dimension and the natural dimension now yeah so that's a little more about the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven now the question is okay this kingdom is so amazing and you know it has God as the ruler and the king how can I participate okay we saw the kingdom is for me the kingdom is for you and we are here to inherit the kingdom so how do we participate well John chapter 3 verses 3 and 5 uh the Lord Jesus gave us the key to entering this kingdom so somebody can read it this is on page number 6 of your notes John chapter 3 verses 3 and 5 please okay John 3 verses 3 dash 5 Jesus answers uncertain said to him most assuredly I say to you unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God Jesus answered most assuredly I say to you unless one is born of water and the spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God yes thank you Christopher uh yes so here the Lord Jesus has made a plan for us uh back to experience this kingdom right to be as of this kingdom uh or to enter this kingdom right we need to be born again so without being born again without repenting of our sins without acknowledging the Lord Jesus Christ as that Savior the Son of God who has died on the cross for us through whom salvation has come to us without committing our lives to him right uh we cannot experience this marvelous kingdom of God kingdom of heaven in our lives and uh which is why we invite people to be born again we have to be born again and that is the way in which we can participate in this incredible kingdom of God uh and experience the fullness of it so to enter the kingdom of God we must be born again there's another passage in the book of Colossians where we read that uh as we put our trust in the Lord Jesus and as we are born again there is a transfer that takes place okay and this transfer it's from one kingdom to another kingdom so while we're talking about the kingdom of God FYI there is also the kingdom of darkness okay and uh needless to say who the ruler of that kingdom is anyone want to take a guess satan yeah that's right yeah so satan he is the ruler of the kingdom of darkness right but the kingdom of God which is also known as a kingdom of heaven but in Colossians we are told that it's the kingdom of the sun the kingdom of the sun uh the kingdom of so we can move from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his son the Lord Jesus Christ and this is also a kingdom of light right so we have entered in through the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ so for us to experience the kingdom we must be born again if we are not born again we might have a taste of the kingdom like if you look at the Lord Jesus going and healing people uh in the gospels you wonder and in fact none of them was born again right because he hadn't paid the price for uh the sins of the world but they were healed they were delivered so the people who are not born again can they experience the kingdom very much but it's just you know uh just some of the uh like a little taste of the kingdom right the taste of the power of the kingdom or the goodness of the kingdom sometimes you pray for somebody and I've had this happen to me in church uh there was once this person from a different faith she had come and she had some difficulty so after the church service I uh said okay can I pray for you can I pray for you uh and uh she very noticeably she did not want to change her um she did not want to accept Christ so I I didn't want I didn't push it at that point but I just said okay can I pray for you and uh I was praying for her but as soon as I finished praying for her she told me you know uh I have never experienced the peace that I am feeling right now I don't know how to explain it to you but as you were saying whatever you were saying which is I was praying she felt incredible peace and she's saying how is that possible you know then I just kind of explain to her yeah see when we pray uh God works God is at work His presence is at work and you're experiencing the presence of God you're experiencing the peace of the kingdom of God so uh can you not believe a taste of the things of the kingdom yeah but you know it's it's it's just a small little uh you know a piece of what the real thing that exists out there and for us who are believers those who are part of the kingdom those who have entered the kingdom you can only imagine the extent of the the glory and the power you know which which is off the kingdom okay and uh as I told you earlier there's no limit okay just keep going deeper uh keep learning more keep uh receiving more and experiencing more of this kingdom so we have been by being born again we have been shifted from a kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light the kingdom of the son of God Himself and this kingdom right uh is ours now and uh we are also called as the sons of the kingdom now in a certain parable Matthew chapter 30 versus 36 to 40 I won't read it and I'm sure many of you would be familiar with this parable where Jesus talks about you know how there there was uh there's a field and in that field uh there were good seeds which were sown and then later the enemy came and he sowed beans okay but both of them were allowed to grow together at the end when harvest came uh everything was was cut and then there was a separation from you know of the good uh harvest from the bad harvest or the good whatever is actual produce of of the field uh in comparison to the weeds of the field and Jesus also goes on to explain and he says that the good seeds which have been sown are the sons of the kingdom the sons of the kingdom and you notice that there's a reference to the sons the tears or the weeds they are also called as the sons of this world so and he explains and he says that the sons of the kingdom are the good seeds that uh you all who believe know the sons of the kingdom so the believers we are the sons of the kingdom so we are heirs and joint heirs we are not called as subjects of the kingdom but sons and whenever we look at the stirves son the authority that it carries should come to our minds right because you know even in our simple everyday lives um if there is a there is a father and he has a son the son would be given privileges you know access into the rooms as compared to someone else who has come as a helper and he's just going to be there for a while and take care of things you don't you don't give the house keys you don't give the cupboard keys and you know you don't give all your precious uh access to your precious things in the house because that individual is not a son but the son will have access so while they're talking about the kingdom while they're talking about the spiritual dimension of the kingdom let us also understand that we are part of the kingdom and we are part of the kingdom as sons okay which in itself tells us that we have incredible authority and we can exercise this authority so we must remember that uh you know we're part of this kingdom and in our everyday life we we record we recognize this and we live out of this understanding right so kingdom living kingdom living and kingdom life uh and we will see later on you know what what does that entail uh what kind of choices should we make and you know what kind of lifestyle should we have all of that uh but in in closing uh you know of this introduction uh I want to say that whatever we have learned you know helps us understand about this kingdom and our position in that kingdom and therefore it impacts us and therefore it uh it pushes us to live our lives a certain way as uh kingdom people okay so at that point I think I'm just gonna uh stop here pause and if you all have any questions uh please go ahead you know you can ask your questions and uh yeah we will just try and answer some of your questions right now or they can just be comments as well just have a thought you could go ahead and share yeah yeah hello mom hello pasta yes yes Abraham please go ahead yes I I had a man of God um saying something about the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven I just want to verify that is true he he said that the kingdom of God is where God's God raised in other ways the whole world um belongs to God but the kingdom of heaven is the place where God's will find finds expression in other ways when we talk about the church that is where God's or Jesus is seen as the king so the kingdom of heaven has to do with where Jesus I mean where people have accepted Jesus and Jesus has dominion over the people but the kingdom of heaven has to do with the whole world because God has authority over the whole world so I want to know if that is okay or what is the main difference if there is okay so uh everyone uh thank you for that question um I mean I do see where that understanding is coming from and which should be which should be okay because uh whatever we have discussed this morning um it has all those confidence however when we see these terms used in the gospels and I already told you 150 times it's repeated it's used interchangeably without a pattern as such okay so that is why I began by saying that it's it's one and the same thing um but the title reveals kingdom of God shows us that God is the ruler and kingdom of heaven uh only tells us that the the origin of this kingdom is from heaven that's all okay does that make sense yes please yes okay yeah thank you thank you all right so uh I believe that um you know you're just soaking everything in and as we go along there will be more questions um and comments so that is fine uh so what we will do right now is we will take a short break and we will return right we will come back and uh continue on with the class so please feel free you can go ahead and take a break right now you'll be back soon thank you you don't have to log off actually