Today we continue our new series entitled, “Heaven on Earth,” by teaching on God’s Kingdom.
Yesterday we looked at 10 scriptures that deal with Jesus’ ministry. All 10 were connected to the message of the Kingdom of God. I want to go back to one of them, Mat 13:33, this morning. I will give you the context first.
In Matthew 13 we find Jesus speaking to a crowd. He chose to use parables in an attempt to make the teaching effective for mere humans. A parable is an earthly story with heavenly meaning. Jesus taught parables so people could understand what heaven and the Kingdom are like. First Jesus told a parable about a farmer. He started the story by saying, “God’s kingdom is like a man who planted good seed in his field.” Jesus was talking about farming, but the message was about the Kingdom. He then went onto another story about mustard seeds. He started the story by saying, “God’s kingdom is like a mustard seed that a man plants in his field.” Once again, He was talking about seeds, but the bigger message was about the Kingdom.
This leads us to what we will discuss today. In the progression of stores Jesus got to the story about yeast. He said, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like the yeast a woman used in making bread. Even though she put only a little yeast into about sixty pounds of flour, the yeast permeated throughout every part of the dough and made it rise.” (Mat 13:33).
The reason I keep driving home the message of the Kingdom is because I want it to get IN you and for it to then EXPAND throughout every aspect of your life. Remember, earlier in this series I share with you Luke 17:20,21. In that passage Jesus explained that the Kingdom is a not a place that He could point to. You can’t say, “Look, the Kingdom is here.” Or, “The Kingdom is there!” Why? Because the Kingdom is WITHIN YOU! And Jesus said that the Kingdom that is WITHIN you is EXPANDING. This is the picture Jesus gave us with the parable of the yeast and the flour.
So what does this mean to you today? A few things.
1. The picture Jesus painted for us in the parable of the yeast is a powerful one. A baker puts only a little yeast into about 60 pounds of flour. The amount of yeast is miniscule in comparison to the amount of flour. But before long, the yeast works it way through the entire batch of flour and over the process of time, it causes the flour to RISE! This is the picture of what happens with the Kingdom inside of us. God places us in His Kingdom and He places His Kingdom inside of us. The reality of God’s Kingdom then begins to EXPAND within us. It keeps EXPANDING and EXPANDING until it impacts every area/facet of our lives. And like the yeast, it causes us to RISE! Like yeast that is activated, once the Kingdom is working in our lives, we stop asking God to COME DOWN to our level and we releasing our faith so we can RISE TO HIS LEVEL!
2. When you embrace of reality of God’s Kingdom and how it is already IN you, it will change the way you look at God, the way you look at yourself, the way you look at others, and certainly the way you look at challenges. Once your perspective changes, your actions will follow. You will begin to walk and talk like Jesus in the earth. You will say what the Word says and believe it. You will declare, “As Jesus is, so am I, in this world!” (1 Jn 4:17).
3. I will give you a natural illustration that just happened to me last night. I am about to move into a new house. When I move I am going to be closer to a different airport. I have been living in my current home for 9 years. I am accustomed to flying out of a certain airport. Last night I bought a plane ticket for a flight that will occur AFTER my move. However, as a force of habit, I bought the ticket to fly out of my current airport and not the new one. Why did I do that? I did it because it takes TIME to embrace a new reality. It will take time for me to become accustomed to the shift/change. It’s like when my mother became a U.S. citizen. She had been a citizen of the Dominican Republic for decades before she made the shift/change. But over the process of time, she embraced her new citizenship status and she is now enjoying the benefits. Allow me to make the connection now with what I just said and the parable we are looking at today. The woman who put a little yeast into 60lbs. of flour had to wait for the yeast to be activated and she then had to wait for the activated yeast to work its way through the batch. It takes time, but before long, the power of the yeast is seen in the batch and the entire batch begins to RISE! That’s how it is with the message of the Kingdom. I have been teaching you this since the beginning of the year. I will be teaching in this vein all year. It will take time, but before long, the message of the Kingdom will permeate throughout your entire being and it will cause you to RISE! You will see yourself saying what God tells you to say, doing what God tells you to do, and impacting your sphere of influence with God’s supernatural power. You will see the invisible and believe the impossible, because the Kingdom will cause you to RISE!
Declaration of Faith:
Father, I am IN Your Kingdom and Your Kingdom is IN me. Like the parable of the yeast, Your Kingdom reality is working and EXPANDING IN ME. It is working its way through my entire being. It is impacting every area of my life. In the same way that yeast causes bread to RISE, you are causing me to RISE to Your level. There was a time when I wanted You to come DOWN to my level. But now I see myself coming UP TO YOUR LEVEL! I rise this morning and every day, because Your Kingdom reality is working in my life! I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
This is Today’s Word. Apply it and prosper!
