The Seed of the Kingdom and its Influence on the Hearts of Men
Our Father who art in heaven hallowed be Thy name, Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Matt. 6:9, 10.
It has been said that we do not need to pray for the kingdom of God to come because it has already come for Christians. From a historical point of view this is true but from our personal spiritual position a few prayers may still be needed. God’s kingdom is where God’s will is the dominant factor. If God’s will is not completely being carried out in our lives, perhaps, we should pray for His kingdom to come (Luke 17:20, 21).
In Part Two, we will investigate the seed of the kingdom which is the word of God. Christians are the seedbed. The powers of heaven are available for those who are seeking a higher life. We will understand the will of God and the kingdom of God are somewhat synonymous terms from the standpoint of the applied principles of life. Of course, this will only work for those of us “in Christ” which is the sphere of “the kingdom of Christ and God.” Eph. 5:5. Living a life “in Christ” gives us strong foundational support because all spiritual blessings are available (Eph. 1:3-14).
Our aim will be to instill within each of us a willingness to forsake all else and pursue the kingdom of God as a way of life. We hope to build faith in the teachings of Jesus as the only way to have a happy and fruitful life. We want to come to believe that the fruit of this life is our assurance of eternal life with God as His children.
The following are a few concepts about God and Christians that may help us to understand the parables we will study in Part Two:
- The reason God created mankind is to have faithful people as sons in His eternal kingdom. Please read Rom. 8:28-30; Eph. 1:3-6; II Cor. 6:17, 18; Heb. 2:10.
- The reason God offered mankind the graces by faith in Jesus Christ is because all mature people have the knowledge of good and evil. This happened to us because Adam and Eve broke God’s covenant with them. They sinned. Please read Gen. 3:22; I Cor 15:45-49; Rom. 5:12.
- Please take note that item one is the program God arranged for children in His kingdom. Item two became necessary after Adam and Eve sinned by eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Since all mankind came from these two people we also have the knowledge of good and evil. We sin because we cannot choose good every time. As young people mature their conscience interacts with this knowledge and self condemnation is the result. God will not fellowship a sinner; therefore, He arranged for their new birth and “justification by faith.” These two doctrines let Christians have peace with God in order for His sonship program to be carried out in our lives. Read Roman 4:25-5:5.
- We will need to clearly understand all aspects of God’s new covenant offered by Jesus Christ. Three points are clearly set forth in Hebrews 8:10-12: God will write (impress) His laws on our hearts and minds; He will be our God and we will be His people (family); God will remember our sins no more (clean conscience). We will want to make sure we understand the laws of life that God will write on our hearts and minds in order to accept and keep His covenant. See John 1:1-4 and Romans 8:1-8.
- It will be helpful to keep in mind the three learning stages God created within each normal human being. We “take in” and understand information in our minds (cognitive). We may develop some feelings about this information in our hearts (affective). If our feelings involve hope then we have faith. Faith will be beneficial for our inherent needs. In the third stage we internalize stages one and two into our “self.” Our faith will then be manifested in our behavior.
