Leon Fontaine - The Kingdom of Heaven
Today, I want to talk about a kingdom. A kingdom is different than a democracy. A kingdom has a king. Did you know that earth is a colony of heaven. It is an outpost of the kingdom of heaven and it is with the language of heaven. The culture of heaven. The values of heaven. The morals of heaven. The convictions of heaven. The lifestyle of heaven. You have to understand that earth was designed as a colony of heaven. Man was made in the likeness and the image of God. Earth was made in the likeness and the image of heaven. Heaven has food, friendship, laughter. It has roads, trees, water.
The earth has friendship, roads, trees, water, getting together. When you take a look at heaven and earth, you understand that it's got homes. It's got some form of houses, relationships, etcetera. So the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven which basically means the same thing. One the kingdom of God tells you whose kingdom it is that we belong to, and the kingdom of heaven simply is a more accurate term that tells us the resources that are available to us. I want you to understand that the believers today, they live in religion rather than in the kingdom. John the Baptist when he came, he continued to declare, the kingdom of God is at hand. When Jesus came, He would preach about the kingdom of heaven. In the New Testament I think it's over 160 times it talks about a kingdom.
Now, a kingdom has a king, and that king owns it all. That king is the one who determines how that country goes. To know that Jesus is our King. He is the King of kings. Now, you have to in order to understand God's Word and to function in the miraculous, you have to understand that the earth is a colony of heaven. No wonder when Jesus taught us to pray and in other portions of scripture, it talks about His will being done on earth as it is in heaven. The same values, language, culture, morals, convictions, lifestyle.
The Bible declares very clearly that you and I in Matthew 16 and Matthew 18 that authority has been given to you and I. That whatsoever we lose and allow, is what is allowed on this colony, this outpost. Whatever is stuck or bound, is what is to be stuck or bound on this place called earth. And He's given mankind the job of having dominion, of running this planet. So when religion comes along, and I hate religion. I'm using it in a negative sense because it is man-made rules, manmade ideas. It is manmade beliefs that deal real revelation from God's people.
And religions says, "Not yet, not yet, in the sweet by and by". Religions says, "Not yet, not yet, one day you'll have a mansion. Today, it is just a cabin. Not yet, not yet, healing is not ultimately for today but when you die, you will be healed when you get to heaven. But not yet, not yet, prosperity is not a very good topic and it's something that wrecks Christianity. So not yet, not yet, but one day you'll have streets paved with gold. One day, one whole coral with be a gate in the new Jerusalem where all of our dream will be fulfilled. But not yet, not yet, now we just live in abject poverty, stupidity. We live underneath the world who was wiser than us and smarter than us. They have more power than us, and the world's going to just get bader and darker".
You got to be careful when you use these terms because if you're talking about this world from the kingdom of darkness, yes, it continually gets worse. But the kingdom of light continually gets brighter. You know, in the Hebrew, the word for darkness is the same as the word for ignorance. The kingdom of darkness is a kingdom of ignorance. We think because they have degrees that involved the five senses, that they have brilliant people. But I have noticed over the years that brilliant people get a brain cramp when they try to read the Word in their thinking, in the way they look at things. That brilliant people, they just get messed up when they try to read the Word of God, unless the Holy Spirit begins to show them and reveal to them.
Likewise, in the Hebrew the word for knowledge is the same as the word for light. So when you talk about a kingdom of light, we're talking about a kingdom of knowledge. We're talking about a kingdom where you have access to a knowledge you cannot reach with your five sense. There is a knowledge. There is an understanding. And by the way, understanding is a strength of the heart. It's not of the mind. The mind simply secures and gathers knowledge. But wisdom is the application of this knowledge, of bringing this knowledge to working in your life. So you and I have to make a decision. And that is all of us have desires, all of us have desires for things in life. And we judge the Bible, and we want that but not this. We want to do it our way not His way.
And so the vast majority of believers in today's world, if they die and they are born-again, they go to be with Jesus in the place called heaven. But while they are on the planet, rather than living as a citizen of heaven. They live in the culture and the values of this world. This fallen world. And religion comes along and tries to just kind of woe you into this. You will just put up with it. Maybe it's a part of God's plan that you are poor, sick, depressed, unhappy, with relationships failing and finances going down. This is the way that we bring Him glory. This is the way that we learn and grow. And so religion has literally destroy our ability to be citizens of the kingdom of heaven.
There is a difference between a citizen and somebody who is a member. When you are the citizen of a country, that country now all its wealth, all of its resources are yours. Everywhere you go, you represent your country. Now, you can be a member of a club. You can be a member of some kind of group, but you can't really be a member of our nation. You can come and most people who come to Canada. And by the way, when you look and see all the other religions and how they start their countries. They all want to get to countries with that have Christian banking systems and the way they treat women and children and finances, etcetera. We have to understand that to be a citizen, once you are a citizen of the nation of Canada, they don't take that away.
You might lose some rights of, and freedom if you're going to start hurting people. Lying, cheating, stealing. They might lock you up for a while and take away those rights of a citizen. But once you become a citizen of a country. They do not remove. They cannot remove your citizenship. Now, you can give it up and walk away and go be a citizen of another country. But in order for you and I to understand the kingdom of heaven. We need to lose our religious thinking and recognize that when Jesus came, He said, "The kingdom of God is at hand". John the Baptist said, "The kingdom of God is at hand".
And there are two kingdoms on this planet. The kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of light. The kingdom of ignorance to the things and the ways of God and the kingdom of knowledge. And now my people perished for a lack of this knowledge. What knowledge? The knowledge of God. A knowledge of an unseen realm. The knowledge of a kingdom that you are in, that you cannot see and it's not with observation. But this kingdom is within you. And this kingdom the Bible says is literally righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. I pray today as you listen to this message, that you make a decision to seek first the kingdom of God.
You see, priorities are a big issue. I could teach you the ten things to do that will make your life strong. And if you do, you know, item four to seven with such excellence, but you ignore numbers one, two, and three. There is a priority and your priorities must be looked after. The Bible says in Matthew 6, it gives us our first priority. It says, "Seek first". Not second, not third. Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Which means His way of doing things. The Bible talks about paths of righteousness. These are paths that you should take.
Ephesians 2:10 in the Amplified says that these paths are created for you ahead of time. And so one of the keys to you living a life filled with the power of the kingdom of God and you walking on this planet in the blessing and the lifestyle of heaven in peace and joy, meeting every need, walking in health, that you and I need to understand the kingdom of God. When we understand the kingdom and that it's number one.
Now, if we go and we'd have a colony. You know, when you go back to years ago when Britain and France and Spain, they would have colonies. And if you study the different countries around the world, you can find in the middle of Africa a country that speaks French. You can find in another place a country that speaks English like the Bahamas because Great Britain, it was a colony. And you realize that there was a country that had a colony. They had an outpost. They brought their language. They brought their laws. They brought their food. And they're people that came from other countries that were even in that country. They changed, their citizenship changed.
If they're a part of an outpost, they now become a citizen of that country. But it changes everything in your life. If you gave your life to Jesus Christ, and you are not enjoying being a citizen of heaven, a citizen of the kingdom of God. Then you my friend have missed something. You are living your life as, and you are a citizen of a kingdom that is not doing anything for you. It's already done it, but you have not learned to access its values, its lifestyle, its protection, all of its resources. Wherever I go as Canadian citizen, I represent Canada. And they often will take about whatever countries I'm in. Whenever I do things or don't do things, they'll talk about me as the Canadian. But wherever I go as well, I'm a Canadian which means Canada looks after me. You don't mess with me if I enter into a country and I hand them my passport.
And that person of that passport, oh, not the passport but at the airport is looking at me and has been given the authority to stamp my passport. That means that once it is stamped and I entered that country. That country is offering me all the protections and freedoms that it can to keep my way as a Canadian here. Now, I've got to obey their laws in that country as well. But there's a stamped that accepts me. And you have to understand, the more you study kingdoms and citizenship, the more you recognize the Bible is about a country, but it is a kingdom. And this kingdom has a king. And this kingdom has citizens, and these citizens have all the rights and privileges that go with being a citizen. But I want you to know that if your life is not enjoying the benefits of being in the kingdom of God, then there's something you're missing.
The access to living in the kingdom of God on this planet is your heart. It's not your head. You can try to think things through all you want. But the Bible teaches us guard your heart with all diligence in Proverbs 4, because out of it flow the boundaries of your life. Every country has boundaries where that country exist and has all of its powers and armies, etcetera.
Did you know that you as a believer, as a citizen of the kingdom of God, that they are boundaries that you've got to begin to understand. But you have set your boundaries so small that you don't believe you can live in peace. You don't believe that God can change your relationship. So you manipulate and you withdraw and you dominate. And you try to make your relationship be what you need for your life in your marriage, in your family, in your home. And what you don't recognize is that you are violating Holy Spirit's job. It is Holy Spirit that flows in the kingdom of heaven working and flowing and you and I need to understand.
In Matthew 3:1-2. "In those days came John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.'" Why are those two things put together repent? Now, we automatically think of horrible sin. Repent, weep, cry. No. The word "repent" means to change the way you think, change the way you believe which will change the way you act. And then Jesus in Matthew 4:17, it says, "From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.'" Jesus preached that the kingdom of heaven was here. And when He died on the cross and gave His life for you and I.
As you continually hear me say, His death, His burial, His resurrection, His ascension to the righthand of the Father. These are keys because the kingdom is here. We're not begging and praying, "Oh, let your kingdom come". As though it's not here. No, the kingdom is here. When Jesus was saying thousands of years ago, the kingdom is at hand. He didn't mean, "Oh, they go a thousand years". No, it was about to happen. It's going to be a born-again. You and I would once again have the governor of the colony that was there back in the garden of Eden before Adam and Eve came against the King and His kingdom and disobeyed Holy Spirit, left their human spirit. And here, He's back because of what Jesus did on the cross, paying for your sin, taking the curse, dying in your and my place. But what you're going to have to understand is that you will need to repent every day.
Leon, what are you talking about? I'm not talking about listing your sins. I'm not talking as though the cross wasn't a finished work. I'm talking about you changing your mind about the way you think. The way you believe. The way you go after things in your life. Where it is you self-centered, self-focused, self-governing, a self-faith that gets up its gonna pick yourself up by your bootstraps. Until you and I repent of this self-centeredness and believe in the finished work of the cross and in what Jesus has done. Then you will walk in the favour and the blessing of God in an easy and effortless way. And as you go into God's Word and you continue and say, "God change me. Help me to know Your Word. Help me to pick up my cross".
What does that mean? It means die daily to your puny thinking. We need to die daily to how we got relationships to work. How we got money to work. How we got things to happen. And let's begin to recognize like it says in Matthew 6:33, it says that we should seek first the kingdom of God, and it says and His righteousness. And I love the way the Amplified puts it, His way of doing things. Are you weary, tired, worn-out? And trying to change your relationships, your marriage, your kids, your friendships, your family, your career, your mind, or you're struggling with depression, loneliness, anxiety. Are you always blaming someone else?
We always blame the person closest to us in our, like in a marriage or a close friend, or if you're single parent, maybe a child. And we hold them responsible for the way we feel. And we don't understand that until you die to your stinky thinking. Until you die to your, the way you have gotten to where you are, which is repent. Change the way you think. Change the way you act, the way you live. Immerse yourself in God's Word and His teachings. And let's start a life of being able to enter into the kingdom of heaven.
I don't mean the place called heaven. We'll get there when we die. I mean, this kingdom of heaven. This kingdom of God as a citizenship with full rights. Miracles are your rights. Healing is your rights and privileges. Jesus has won. Every promise in the Bible is yours and He's qualified you for it. Why are so many people, so many people not entering the kingdom? Not enjoying the kingdom life enjoying it. It's not because the Word doesn't work. It's not because the cross didn't work. It's because you need to die to your way of doing things and humbly come in daily and begin to change of heart change. Heart is different than your five senses.