The Kingdom… Is Like…

NOV. 10, 1980, 5:55 AM
W. WILLOW, STUDY

I told you yesterday, o son, that I would give you some insights on Scripture from time to time, helping you to understand and appreciate this most particular Message of Mine to the world. Since My servant Theo preached on these rather specific points from Scripture yesterday, and you remember these well, hear My comments on The Kingdom of God is Like…

I, as Jesus, spoke in parables often, a story-telling form similar to what I would have you develop and use. Parables can be rather lengthy, but these three were virtually “one-liners”. Still, as was evident in the discussion following, each produced images that brought considerable thought and judgment… and some range of interpretation. So, through this exposure to Scripture, I re-commend the story to you as a medium for teaching/learning.

Now let’s take each of the analogies and see what each says… on a Monday maurnin’. “The Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed…” The Kingdom is both internal and external. The Kingdom is within you, which, rather than diminishing the Kingdom, indicates how much capacity each individual has… the Kingdom of God can be within each of you. It commences as a little seed… experiences in church… or a particular class… a remembered experience. It grows as a result of both its capacity to grow and develop and the quality of environment you (or any individual) offers it. The Kingdom of God can and does grow within you. Externally the Kingdom of God starts from My Spirit and one or more individuals in whom the Kingdom is growing. It then begins to grow as an external manifestation. It may be a form of My Body, the Church… it may be a family… a functioning group… but by the spirit, the motivations, and the actions this group of people, in a particular place, are the Kingdom of God growing from a tiny seed to a large, useful tree.

The Kingdom of God is like a measure of yeast… This also has internal and external applications. Within you the Kingdom not only grows, but it interacts with you in your different aspects and brings about an expansion, a beauty, a utility, and a deliciousness that was not possible with the unleavened self. As the Kingdom expands within and permeates your self the quality of your thinking improves, your emotional expression and control increases in quality, your relations with others takes on new qualities, and even your physical body can be an improved Temple for the Kingdom. You become a more beautiful human, to yourself and others. You don’t have to advertise this… it just shows forth. There is more you can do and are willing to do… or what you can do you do better and more willingly. Like a fully risen and baked loaf you are a delicious creation to be consumed by those in need of you.

Unleavened bread also has merit… and so do those in whom the Kingdom does not leaven. I still love many unleavened souls.

In like fashion the Kingdom leavens the life of the external world. In a church, in a family… the Kingdom expands and brings forth a spirit of sharing, sacrifice, and love that is beautiful, useful and delicious.

The Kingdom of God is like a man who hears or does not hear My Words and builds a house… As you, an individual, acknowledge the Kingdom growing and permeating within you and you hear My Words, in written Scripture, in preaching, in conversation, through these meditations, in prayer, in the beauty and utility of the earth, you are building a House for that Kingdom. And you are building it in such a way that it shall stand against all buffeting, all challenges, all attempts to wear it down. My Words are like excellent building materials; they combine, in you, to make a solid, lasting, useful structure.

And, in like fashion, as a congregation hears these Words of Mine and does according to them they build their house upon a rock, and there is a persisting strength in their capacities to withstand, to be, and to serve.

When My Words are not heard and not heeded the structure may be there, but it cannot stand the challenges. It crumbles and the Kingdom is no longer represented there.

Hear the Word of the Lord.

The Spirit says Amen.
6:55 AM