₦airaland Forum

How shall I liken the kingdom of God?

The kingdom of God is like a hen and her five chicks who left their cage and went out in search of food.

As they search for food, the hen got to a place where she became tired. She said to her chicks, “come into my wings where there is warmth and safety”. One of the chicks quickly ran into the wings of the mother (John 14:31). The four others flew over a gutter nearby. The hen sat on, warmed and protected the one in her wing.

The four other chicks were busy playing across the gutter when suddenly they looked up and saw a big hawk coming down towards them. They were alarmed and attempted running towards their mother.

One of the chicks among the four luckily found a wood on the gutter and passed through it carefully and ran quickly into his mother’s wings (1 Timothy 2:5). The other three who did not locate the wood on the gutter the other followed fell into the gutter.

One of them in the gutter screamed and cried for help and the other two were busy searching for food in the gutter.

The mother hen who heard the cry of the chick, quickly ran towards that direction but before she got there, the hawk had already collected the two searching for food.

The one who cried for help was left behind and rescued by the mother hen (Acts 2:21) and they went back to their cage.

LordReed:
There are so many rules and pitfalls in religion I wonder how anybody is supposed to keep it all straight.

Jesus is the way (John 14:6). He did not come to bring religion but came to save man from their sins (Matthew 1:21) and He alone will not overburden you with rules but will teach you how to live a godly life through His Spirit (Matthew 11:28). He made living a holy life possible by the shedding of His blood on the cross without which there can't be forgiveness of sin (Hebrews 9:22).

His cross connect every man who is separated from God and any man who dies separated from God, will remain separated from Him forever in eternity and hell but Christ came to avoid this and that's why He is the only mediator (connection) between man and God (1 Timothy 2:5).

blackpanthar:
even this POST was not by the holyspirit, YOU ARE JUST AN AGGRIEVED FELLOW wanting to vent a frustration of some of the practices you have noticed in the church. The Holyspirit did not send you to post anything here and your post lacks what it takes to make a change.

Do you know know how to PRAY, go to your closet and pray for the church.


I find it funny that those who are not doing anything are the best at criticizing others who are at least doing what they know or have been taught to do.



IF YOU ARE DOING YOUR OWN THE "HOLYSPIRIT WAY" or by His leading... then why are your results not known everywhere, DOES FAKE HAVE A LOUDER AUDIENCE THAN WHAT IS REAL?


You are just making matters worse.

CONDEMNATION or ACCUSATION or FAULT FINDING is not a MINISTRY.
I beseech you by the mercies of God, go and pray

I really respect your opinion. Thank you very much.

jesusjnr:
There's got to be a reason why the Holy Spirit is not as responsive to this church as He was to the early church.

So Op you have a valid point that the Holy Spirit has been deprived of the control He once had over the church, hence His inability to serve His purpose and quicken the church as He was sent to do.

It's my prayer that the Spirit of God would once again be allowed to have His way in the church, so that He would do for the church what He alone can for the church.

God bless.

Amen and yes, the Holy Spirit is not being felt because He has been deprived of control and the word of God has which was written by His inspiration has been neglected. If you take a close look around, you will notice this.

Text: Matthew 12:31-32

Jesus healed a man possessed with devils and the Pharisees accused Him of doing it by the power of Beelzebub, the ruler of demons (Matthew 12:24). Jesus said He did it by the power of the Holy Spirit.

By that accusation, Jesus said they blasphemed the Holy Spirit which is the only unpardonable sin (Matthew 12:31).

The Pharisees blasphemed the Holy Spirit by speaking against Him accusing Him of what He did not do.

To blaspheme means to reproach and that means to treat with disrespect. You disrespect the Holy Ghost when you do not do what He asks you to do just as a child disrespect his parents when he refuses to do what they ask of him.

Jesus says the Holy Spirit lives in us and we know him even though the world does not know Him (John 14:17). Sadly, some Christians and churches don’t even know Him.

The scriptures say in time past holy men of God did things as they were moved by the Holy Ghost (2 Peter 1:21). Unfortunately, things are done the way we like and the way we plan instead of allowing the Holy Spirit to take control. When we do not allow the Spirit of God to take control, we quench the Spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:19) and render ourselves and the church spiritually dead.

Everyone and every church will face stiff judgement for blaspheming the Holy Spirit even when some of them will be surprise and won’t even remember when they did it.

paxonel:
no,
Not this one, the one i quoted that you mentioned about the rapture and Satan through the Antichrist tormenting those that will not accept Christ, is there any scripture that explains it like that?

Revelation 13:16-17 KJV
And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: [17] And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

No man will buy or sell till they have the mark of the beast. That will bring untold suffering and torment especially to those who refuse to take the mark who know fully well that if they do, they are domed forever.


1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 explains and describes how the rapture will be.

paxonel:
is there any scripture that explain it this way?
Please show us.

Matthew 12:28 "But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you."


That scripture I posted explains it but you need to be discerning to detect it.


In the verse posted, Christ was telling the Pharisees that he cast out devils by the Spirit of God (Holy Spirit) and not by Beelzebub (ruler of demons) as they claim (Matthew 12:24). Christ told them that if truly he cast out devil by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God was around them already even though they don't realize it. This was the kingdom Himself and John said was near at hand (Matthew 3:2).


Since Christ cast out devils by the Spirit of God and the kingdom of God is already around them, it is the arrival of the Spirit of God that brought kingdom of God.


The Holy Spirit and the "kingdom of God" arrived at the Baptism of Jesus (Matthew 3:16). At that time, only Christ was in the kingdom. Christ told his followers it is important for him to go to Father and if He did not, He would not send the Holy Spirit which was already on Him (John 16:7). When Christ ascended, He sent the Holy Spirit to his apostles on the day of Pentecost as He had promised (Acts 2:1-4). It was that period the Holy Spirit and the kingdom of God began full operation.

To be part of the kingdom, you must be saved and be baptised in the Holy Spirit (John 3:5) and to be saved you must believe in Jesus first. When you become part of the kingdom of God, you will know it because there will be sudden changes in your life.

The "kingdom of God" is actually the reign of the Holy Spirit and the period is now and still going on. Christians and the church suffer because we are not giving the Holy Spirit His place.

Matthew 12:28 "But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you."

At the rapture the Holy Spirit will depart with those He possessed. Satan through the anti-christ will reign for seven years and will cause great torment for those who did not accept Christ and did not allow the Holy Spirit to rule over them.

Christ will come to scene later on with the saints and will rule for one thousand years.

The three God in one all rule. God the father rule heaven (Acts 7:49). The Holy Spirit is ruling now and Christ will rule in the future during the millennial reign (Revelation 20:6).

Christ is currently standing on the right hand of God the Father waiting for his own turn to rule (Acts 7:56).

lalasticlala help nairalanders understand mystery

Demons and fallen angels have been used interchangeably by many but they are not entirely the same.

There was happiness in heaven until Satan rebelled against God. Satan with host of angels who rebelled against God were cast down from heaven. The angels and Satan cast down from heaven gave rise to the fallen angels.

Many think the fallen angels are being tormented in hell for rebelling against God, but they have their residence in the second heaven. Christians wrestle with them in prayers in heavenly places (Ephesians 6:12).

The fallen angels encamp the heavenly places to prevent the prayers of the saints from being answered by God. This was seen in the book of Daniel when Daniel prayed but the fallen angels prevented answers from reaching him (Daniel 10:11-13). Christians are advised to continue prayer and not to give up. Answers come with persistent asking.

However, the fallen angels are not restricted to the second heaven alone. Some are moving round the earth and some in hell tormenting humans who died in their sins.

The book of Genesis recounted how demons came into existence. After God had created the world and man, some fallen angels had an affair with women. The sexual relationship between the fallen angels and women gave rise to creatures known as the Nephilim. These creatures were never God’s original plan to exist and God destroyed the world with a flood (Genesis 6:1-4).

Everything in the world including the Nephilim were destroyed by the flood. It was the spirits of these Nephilim that gave rise to demons.

However, there has been an objection to this view that angels don’t reproduce sexually. This conclusion was made because Jesus said angels don’t marry in heaven but that’s only in heaven (Matthew 22:30). The Lord together with two angels appeared to Abraham in human form and they must have had human parts and emotions (Genesis 18:1-5).

Since demons (spirits of Nephilim) once possessed body before they were destroyed by the flood, they always desire to possess a body again. They seek to possess humans and animals but preferably, the body of humans. This was seen in demons who possessed two men and begged Jesus to grant them the permission to possess pigs (Matthew 8:28-32).

In summary, the fallen angels are the angels that were cast down with Satan from heaven after they rebelled against God while demons are the offspring of the fallen angels that had a sexual relationship with humans. The fallen angels involved in the act were punished by God (Jude 1:6).

Verse: Genesis 3:22
Context: Genesis 3

In Genesis 2:9, God placed a tree in the midst (middle) of the garden of Eden known as the tree of knowledge of good and evil. God warned that if man ate of its fruit, he would surely die.

In Genesis 3, the Bible describe the fall of mankind and how sin, death and suffering entered the world when Adam disobeyed God’s commandment and ate of the tree. Towards the end of Genesis 3, God said that man had become like him, in that man has become knowledgeable and able to discern between good and evil and said if man eat of the tree of life, he would live forever. Not wanting man to live forever, he drove man out of the garden of Eden (Genesis 3:24).

This raises an interesting question why God would prevent Adam from eating from the tree of life after he had sinned.

The tree of life was meant to make man live forever in his body form and since the fall of man brought suffering and misery to man, eating of the tree of life means they would have lived forever in bodies subjected to sickness, degeneration, infirmity and separation from God. Thus it was God’s mercy that made him prevent man from eating of the tree of life.

Humans only live as disembodied spirits after death. At resurrection, the believing humans who died in Christ will have their bodies changed to glorified bodies (Philippians 3:21) while the unbelieving sinners retains their normal bodies and take it to the lake of fire which is destroyed by the fire though their spirits remain in torture forever.

Even the glorious body when given will not be capable of living forever until tree of life is eaten from and for this reason, the tree of life will be given in God’s kingdom where all believers will be given access to eat from the tree of life and that will make them live happily forever in God’s kingdom (Revelation 2:7; 22:14).

Seated:
Right, that is why a believing husband or wife should also marry a believer.
only a conceited man thinks he knows it all.

Proverbs 26:12 Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? there is more hope of a fool than of him.

True, the Bible discourage getting yoked with an unbiever in marriage. The saved should seek marriage with the saved.

2 Corinthians 6:14 KJV
Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?

Seated:
in a Christian home.
the order is
Christ 1st

man 2nd

wife 3rd


any breach of this order there will be problem.

Yeah true, Christ is number one. That means every decision which the man makes in the home should be in alliance with the dictates of Christ in his word or otherwise can be called to order by the wife.

There will be greater problem when the man feels he is the alpha and omega and refuses to seek God's help and the wife's suggestion in decision making of the home. No man is an island neither can one man know it all but two heads are always better than one.

Verse: Genesis 2:18
Context: Genesis 2:15-24

Having created man in the beginning, God notice that man was lonely which he said was not good. That prompted him to create woman from the rib of the man.

God creating woman because he saw that man was lonely and alone means he created woman for companionship. This means the man is not expected to do things on his own but to work in harmony with the woman.

Woman was also created to be a helper to the man. This has been misinterpreted by many as they assume that woman is obligated to help with household chores and laundering of the man’s cloths. While there is nothing wrong for the woman to help with that, that’s not really the case. A helper is someone who assist just as a vice president is to the president. She is to help the man in all aspect including decision making of the home. The woman can bring suggestions on how the home should be ran but the man should have the final say.

Many homes have broken because the man do not realize the true purpose of the woman in the home and does not know how to handle the woman.

A critical look at the part of the body that the woman was created from can give us understanding on how women should be handled and treated. The woman was taken not from the feet of the man to be trodden down or trample upon and this means she should not be maltreatment but she was taken from the rib of the man under his arm so the woman is to be protected. The woman was also taken from the rib of the man close to the heart which means she should be loved.

However, the woman should not take the man’s leniency for granted or try to dominate him because he is the head and ruler of the home and no decision should be taken without the man’s approval.

Verse: Matthew 7:13
Context: Matthew 7:13-14

Jesus continuing his teaching in the Mount admonished his followers to go through the strait gate and not through the broad way. “Strait” in this context means narrow and so Jesus was admonishing his followers to enter through the narrow away.

While the verse in consideration may have different applications, Jesus was basically referring to the difficulty his followers will face as they follow him but will find eternal life at the end.

Jesus refer himself as the gate (John 10:9) and the way (John 14:6) and just as following through a narrow opening is difficult, following him will be difficult as well. Following Jesus means laying down the life of pleasure and comfort and for this reason, Christ said that whoever desire to follow him must deny himself many things and take up his cross to follow him (Matthew 16:24) which means must be dead to self (to yield to his will and control that our own self-will have no preeminence).

Another application of this verse is that salvation which is by faith through Christ alone is God’s way that leads to eternal life but it’s difficult to live a life of righteousness while the wide gate that leads to destruction include relying on religious works and self righteousness which the Pharisees and the Sadducees were actively involved in.

The narrow way which is Jesus that leads to eternal life is narrow because is does not permit anyone to pass through with the things of the world, sin and ill-gotten wealth because they will permit no one who desire eternal life to go through. When passing through the narrow way, one must lay down the things of the world and go with holiness which is the main passport to eternal life.

Some false teachers who are already on their way to destruction teaches that both the narrow and the wide way leads to eternal life and that’s false. They have taught that the way to eternal life is easy with comfort and pleasure but as the scripture put it, there is a way that seem right to a man but the end is death and destruction (Proverbs 14:12).

Verse: Matthew 5:14
Context: Matthew 5:14-16

Jesus teaching on the Mount, called his followers and Christians light of the world. It is however noteworthy that Jesus also called himself the light of the world also (John 8:12) which means both Christ and his followers are lights but Christ is the main source of light. Just as the moon does not produce light of it own but reflects the light of the sun, the Christians cannot be light without Christ and that is why Jesus said we can do nothing without him (John 15:5).

Jesus also said that a Christian is like a city set on a hill which means his life is exposed to all. Christians should realize that they are carefully watched by others especially unbelievers because their life is like a book before their eyes and should therefore be of good conduct that will lead unbelievers to Christ.

In Mathew 5:15, just as a man can’t light a candle and cover it with a basket, Christian should not hide their light and the light of Christ from others. They should not hide the light of the gospel which is in their possession from others but should tell people about Jesus that they might be drawn from darkness into the marvelous light of Christ.

Jesus also admonished Christians that their light should shine before men which means their lives should act as light for others to see and their character should be glorious before men. They should be good and kind to others which others should see and give God praise for the life of the individual and possibly such act of kindness can lead other people to Christ.

The light of Christians which Christ said should shine before men is also referring to those things which has been given to Christians by God to use in drawing unbelievers to the light. This can refer to a gift. There are diversity of gifts and Christians should discover and use their gifts for the benefit of the kingdom. They are not to hide their gift and talents but should use it so that others will see their good works and give God praise.

Another light that Christians also possess is the light of the gospel. They are to preach the gospel always to others and should not hoard it because every Christian was save to save others and this can be done majorly through the help of the gospel.

Verse: Matthew 9:11
Context: Matthew 9:9-13

When Jesus began his ministry, he called disciples to himself and one of them was Matthew also called Levi (Mark 2:14). Matthew was a tax collector and publican and as Jesus saw him, he asked him to follow him.

Matthew having found Jesus Christ, held a party to welcome Jesus and to introduce him to his friends. As the Pharisees saw Jesus eating and dinning with Mathew and other publican who were sinners, they were surprise that Jesus who many considered holy was associating himself with the unrighteous but Jesus made them understand that he came for the unrighteous in need of salvation and not those who claim to be righteous and in no need of salvation like the Pharisees (Matthew 9:12).

Many have tried justifying associating with everyone because Jesus dinned and ate with sinners while some say it’s completely wrong associating with unbelievers quoting 2 Corinthians 6:14 that says we should not be unequally yoked with unbelievers but ideally, this is referring to marriage relationship emphasizing that the saved should not marry the unsaved.

However, it is written in 1 Corinthians 15:33 that evil communication corrupt good manners. Which means evil company corrupt good behavior but this is referring to “evil” association and not unbelievers because not all unbelievers are evil people though all evil people are also unbelievers. Unbelievers are just those that are yet to accept Jesus into their lives and some practice other religions.

A Christian can always maintain contact with the unsaved in an effort to win them to Christ but when associating with sinners and unbelievers, we should not get involved in their evil ways but should see it as an opportunity to lead them to Christ.

Matthew organizing a party or dinner to introduce Jesus to his friends who were sinners tells us that after we have found Jesus, we should introduce him to our friends by telling them about Christ not keeping him in secret.

We should learn to show compassion for sinners and unbelievers by leading them to Christ because God desire that from us more than our tithes and offerings (Matthew 9:13).