Hello everyone’

I trust you are well and enjoying fellowship with the Lord.

This coming Sunday we are going to have Communion together. So, please have bread and wine at hand.

God bless you greatly.

C Message 15 – Matthew 13:44-46

In Matthew chapter 13 there are many references about what the ‘Kingdom of Heaven is like’. It is worth reading the whole chapter to learn the comparisons Jesus made. In verse 11 ‘The secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven’, in verse 24 ‘The Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field’, in verse 31 ‘the Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed’, in verse 33 ‘the Kingdom of Heaven is like yeast’ in verse 47 ‘the Kingdom of Heaven is like a net’. Today we are going to be looking at verses 44-46 ‘the Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field and like a merchant looking for fine pearls’.

There is a very good Christian booked called ‘Jungle Pilot’ and it tells the story of 5 American missionaries who went to Ecuador as missionaries and were killed by some tribal people. Jim Elliot  said a beautiful phrase ‘ It is no fool the one who gives away what he cannot keep to gain what one cannot lose’.

The Kingdom of Heaven is the most precious thing you will ever find. The Kingdom of Heaven is not just when we die and go to heaven, it is the principles of Jesus teaching being applied into our lives this very day. Once we have a better understanding of the Kingdom of Heaven, we will invest all of our energies in seeing it growing and prospering among mankind. I have met many people who have sacrificed careers, social position for the good of the Kingdom of Heaven. The Lord Jesus compares it with someone who finds a treasure in the field and sells everything he had to buy the field and then to own the treasure. Once we find the reality of the principles of the Kingdom of Heaven and we become convinced of its beauty we will not be afraid of investing in the Kingdom of Heaven. As any other Kingdom, the Kingdom of Heaven has principles the subjects live their lives by. Just a few examples of the Kingdom of Heaven… ‘pray for those who persecute you’, ‘forgive as your Heavenly Father has forgiven you’, ‘do not worry about tomorrow’, ‘it is better to give than to receive’ etc. To be part of a Kingdom with such wonderful principles is an amazing thing. We must understand to be a Christian is not just having our sins forgiven, there is much more to be entitled to. We become part of a new Kingdom with principles different to the ones we are used to. The principles of the Kingdom of Heaven are healthy and promote the wellbeing of those who belong to it. It is a fallacy to think the Kingdom of Heaven starts when we die and then we go to Paradise. This is another facet of the Kingdom of Heaven, the Kingdom of Heaven starts when we accept Christ as our Saviour and Lord, and willing to start to live our lives by the principles of His Kingdom where He is the King. We see how valuable the Kingdom of Heaven is that we will be willing to do anything to promote it. The Kingdom of Heaven is priceless. People are willing to do whatever they can in order to gain the Kingdom of Heaven.

All of us we used to belong to the kingdom of darkness. We have been transported into the Kingdom of His marvellous light. The darkness can be very thick and intense in the kingdom of darkness. When we read the newspapers or hear the news of the TV it is shocking to see the wickedness in people’s hearts. There is no consideration for others and people will go out of their way not just to cause trouble but to cause destructions to others. It is truly horrifying what people can do to people. Once we have belonged to that Kingdom too. We can truly argue that we did not do such evil things or even approve of them and I believe what you are saying. Nonetheless, before we came under the Lordship of Christ we belonged to a kingdom where the rules were contrary to the teachings of Christ. We lived in the kingdom of darkness until we crossed over to the Kingdom of God. We call this conversion.

Now that we belong to a new kingdom with a different King and rules we need to learn to live and adapt into, social habitat of this new kingdom can truly prove to be a real challenge. We are living in a world where the majority of people do not live by the principles of the Kingdom of Heaven and even oppose  them. We need to learn to be in the world and not be part of it. We cannot do it in our strength and we truly need the King to aid us in our strife. However, once we have being liberated from the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of Heaven we give it such a value that we are willing to do anything in our strength to gain it. The Kingdom of Heaven becomes the most important thing in our lives. God bless

Today we are going to have Communion together.

You will need to have before you bread and wine (Ribena or  just water).

Read I Corinthians 11: 23-26 and then ask the Lord to forgive your sins.

Give God thanks for giving us Jesus who died for us and then eat the bread. Give God thanks for the blood of Jesus who washes away our sins and then drink the wine