Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be multiplied to you from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. I am pleased to welcome you to another week of the month of November 2023. And my prayer is that God will perfect all that concerns your walk with Him, so that you will not fail to fully receive and enjoy your own share of the inheritance that He has stored up in heaven for all His saints, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
One of the things we learn from Scriptures is that it is possible to associate ourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ or His people and still not be a part of His kingdom. It is even possible for us to preach and perform miracles in His name and still not be a part of His kingdom. For example, Judas Iscariot was one of the twelve men that were closest to the Lord Jesus during His time here on earth. And like all the others, he too preached and performed all kinds of miracles in the name of Jesus. Yet when all has been said and done, it was revealed that he was never a part of the kingdom of God. Of course, he was very close to entering it. But he never really did enter. So, he lost his soul. (Cf. Matt 7:21-23 & Matt 10)
Also, there was a teacher of the law that Jesus once had a conversation with. And when they were done talking, Jesus said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” But this man was a teacher of the law of Moses. How come the Lord said that he was only close to the kingdom of God but not yet in it? It was because even though his heart was right and willing to serve God, he had not yet put his faith in Jesus as his Lord. And it is only those who put their faith in Him as their Lord that will be saved and transferred into God’s eternal kingdom. (Cf. Mark 12:28-34; Rom 10:9-10)
In addition, we have in the bible the story of a man called Cornelius. Though this man was a soldier, even God Himself testified that he was godly, prayerful and generous. Nevertheless, a day came in which God had to tell him to send for Peter to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with him, so that he would accept Him as his lord and be born again. Otherwise, he would only remain close to the kingdom of God but would not enter it till his death. What, then, would become of all his good works? They would all amount to nothing. (Cf. Acts 10)
In like manner, there are many in the world today that are only close to the kingdom of God but have not entered it. They may be good, kind, generous and god-fearing in many ways. But as long as they have not accepted Jesus as their Lord and the Saviour of their souls, they are not yet in the kingdom of God. And we need to let them know the truth about this. We need to let them know that though they ae not far from the kingdom of God, they are not yet in it. And if they should die without entering it, their souls will be lost forever and all their good works will just go to waste.
Then, though this is unfortunate, we equally have many who have identified with one Christian assembly or another but who are not yet in God’s kingdom. Yes, they too are not far from entering it. But they are not in it. I often refer to some of these as friends of the church. That is because they love to pray, sing, dance and listen to the word of God with us in our meetings. Some of them even love to finance all kinds of church projects. But their hearts are not yet ready to yield to the lordship of Jesus. And it does not matter how long they stay with us and how much service they do with us in that condition, they will only be close to the kingdom of God — they are not a part of it.
Now ask yourself, “Am I indeed in the kingdom of God or am I only close to it?” My prayer is that God will enable you to be truthful to yourself in answering this question, so that you will not wake up one day and realise that you do not really belong where you think you belong.
Have a fabulous week.
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