Winston Davenport - Kingdom of god, part 1 - Anointed!

Hi, I'm Winston Davenport. Thanks for tuning in with me today. I'm going to talk today about the Kingdom of God, or, the Kingdom of Heaven---same thing. This is an important subject to me, because this Kingdom that the Bible speaks of---that Jesus spoke of, that the apostle Paul spoke of---is already here; it's already all around us. Most people don't understand that. They may have read those verses, but they don't truly believe that the Kingdom of God is already here, because they really can't see any difference between life the way it used to be and life the way that it is now. And most Christians also don't foresee a change in the near future until, as they suspect, Jesus will come down from the sky---the Second Coming---and make everything right, and then all of a sudden that Kingdom will be here. Well, unfortunately for them, they're missing out on a very important facet of life, which is the truth that the Kingdom of God is already here. Jesus said, "The Kingdom of God---the Kingdom of Heaven---is at hand." Now, picture a stage, with actors. A stagehand is someone who has a prop, or, perhaps the script---something that they can easily hand over to the actor---whomever needs it. So, there's someone in need on the stage; there's a stagehand who has made the item available to them, and they would say that is a stagehand. Meaning, everything that you need, Mr. Actor, is at hand, and I have it right here for you. Similarly, when it comes to the Kingdom of God, it's at hand. Basically, anything in regard to the Kingdom of God, which is righteousness, peace, and joy---and we will get to that another day---is at hand. It is available to you now; it's yours for the taking, if you would but just reach out and take hold of what's rightfully yours---or you could say, of what exists all around me, right here, right now. Not in the millennium, not in the future, but right here, right now. I'm going to be spending the next few weeks talking about this amazing Kingdom, what it is, why it is, and how you can learn to access it, since it belongs to you. You have the right to access it. You have the right to live in it one-hundred percent. And I would like to show you how you can live in that, because, as I've discovered in my years of traveling, speaking, leading worship all around the world, most Christians don't believe that the Kingdom of Heaven really is at hand, or accessible, and certainly are not living in it or experiencing it right now, which they should be. Now, the Kingdom of Heaven is actually foolishness to the wise, meaning those who think that they've figured out the Kingdom of Heaven, those who think that they can work hard enough to attain it, or build their own philosophical Tower of Babel to reach Heaven---those people are missing it. That is not the Kingdom. The Kingdom of God has actually come to be revealed to those who don't deserve it. Let me say that again: The Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who don't deserve it. Let's talk about that for a second. If you go to most churches, you'll see sequin-covered, best dressed, Sunday best, good looking Christians, who walk around saying, "Oh, I'm blessed and highly favored of the Lord, Brother! Yep, everything's going great! Yep, I'm doin' real well!" And a lot of times, these Christians will talk about, Oh, yeah, Jesus came to save the sinners; Oh, we love the sinners, but when it actually comes time to love sinners, when it actually comes time to extend the grace of God to the people that they don't like, or who challenge their way of being, thinking, doing believing, they are quick to shut those people out, aren't they? That is not grace; that is not the Kingdom. And it's those exact people who are modern-day replicas of the Bible's pharisees and Sadducees. Jesus dealt with these yahoos for His entire ministry. The constantly were frustrating Him. He cried about them. He yelled at them. He even cussed them out in the vernacular of those days. "You broods of vipers!" Paul called them whitewashed tombs. "You're of your father, the devil." Jesus said some real nasty things to these pharisees and sadducees. These were the people who were carefully, religiously guarding---like self-appointed theological watchdogs---the doctrines and the ways of being that they had been taught in their Jewish culture growing up. Because of fear---fear of change, fear that maybe what they had believed all along isn't the exact truth---they became vicious, they attacked Jesus and eventually they killed Jesus. Now, that worked out okay, because Jesus willingly went to the Cross and accomplished some big stuff there, as you've probably heard, and as we'll talk about in coming weeks, but these pharisees held on to their pet doctrines out of fear. And that's an important point to remember, because we have, similarly, in the Church today, many pharisees and sadducees who have theological books lining their libraries, and they love nothing more than to be watchmen on the walls and guard the doctrines and guard the theologies that they were taught, or of the denominations they belonged to. That is a waste of time---it's a waste of their time, it's a waste of the Church's time, and it's kind of a waste of God's time. We've already been meandering---lollygagging around for two thousand years since Jesus accomplished everything and said, "It is finished." Two thousand years have gone by; we've messed around with such ridiculous beliefs as gnosticism, indulgences---"Here, buy a trinket and then God will forgive you of your sins"---or of priests---earthly priests trying to atone for people's sins by telling them to say Hail Marys or do other penances like walk on their knees down the streets with broken glass for a mile to the temple or whatever. I mean, this stuff is ridiculous. And it was only like five hundred years ago that Martin Luther rose up and said, "Hey, what if salvation came, like the Bible says, through grace alone, and not by works?" And guess what? The "Christians" tried to kill him! Those same pharisees that existed in Jesus's time, existed in the first millennium, they existed in the second millennium, and they still exist today---yes!---even in the Protestant movement. Now, the Kingdom of Heaven does not belong to those people, and, in fact, those people will do everything they can to keep you from accessing that Kingdom. Because if you access that Kingdom, it will become immediately clear to them---and to everybody around them---that they have failed, that they are doing something wrong, and that they've missed it all along. They're going to look so foolish, aren't they? This is good news. When they look foolish, that means that you are actually walking in the Kingdom of Heaven, which is rightfully yours. I'm excited to talk about the Kingdom, to tell you about my experiences with the Kingdom, and to explain to you how you can so easily, so effortlessly gain access and realize---actualize---the Kingdom of God in the here and in the now. Not through your works, not through your efforts, not through studying the Bible, not through doing more devotionals, not through vacuuming your church sanctuary, not through any works of your own, but only by changing your belief system to come into alignment with what God has already done through His Son, Jesus Christ, who hung on the Cross two thousand years ago and said, "It is finished." The book of Hebrews says that then Jesus ascended from the dead, He went to Heaven and He sat down at the right hand of the Father. People who sit down are done. People who sit down have finished their work. Is it any coincidence that after Jesus said, "It is finished," then He sat down? No. He sat down at the right hand of the Father, and the author of Hebrews makes this very, very clear in these beautiful allegorical terms, that Jesus's work is finished, that He is sitting down, meaning that there are no more sacrifices that need to be offered. There's nothing else that needs to be done on our behalf. It's done. It's complete. It's finished. We are free. We have access to the Kingdom. In fact, Jesus said that the Kingdom of Heaven---the Kingdom of God---is within you! It's inside of you! What? The Kingdom of God is inside of me? The Kingdom of God is inside of you? It's true. And if you can walk through the doors of that Kingdom, and begin living by faith in the full manifestation, the full realization of that Kingdom, your life will be changed in an instant. You will begin to see the things that Jesus promised. You will begin to live with the type of power and authority and self-confidence that Jesus exemplified through His earthly stint, and you will affect the lives of everybody around you, because the Kingdom of God is highly infectious. And that's what Jesus called us to do, was to realize that Kingdom. He told us it is within us, and then He told us, "Now, go! Preach that Kingdom! Spread the news! Spread the Gospel, meaning 'good news,' of the Kingdom of God to all the corners of the earth. And in so doing, My return will manifest." I'm really excited to talk to you guys about the subject of the Kingdom of Heaven. It is absolutely going to revolutionize the way that you are Christian. It will revolutionize the way that you live life. And it will revolutionize the lives of people around you. This is good news, tune in again next week for more information. As always make sure and visit www.winstondavenport.com for plenty of awesome, anointed worship music, for mp3 sermons, for free mp3 downloads, for soaking worship sessions to download, to buy some awesome music albums, to watch more of these video sermons. There are just plenty of media, plenty of opportunity to get lost in winstondavenport.com, and build your faith. Snowball effect. We're going to go higher and higher, from glory to glory, from faith to faith, in Jesus Christ together. God bless you guys!