THE PROCESS OF ENTERING THE KINGDOM

Matthew chapter 6










Today we are walking in: The Process Of Entering The Kingdom










Today we look to the word ENTER--H935 bow' -- Come, Bring, In, Enter, Go, Carry, Down, Pass, Out









The Torah testifies.........……




Deuteronomy 23:2

A bastard shall not enter H935 into the congregation of the Lord; even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the Lord.












The prophets proclaim..................




Jeremiah 17:25

Then shall there enter H935 into the gates of this city kings and princes sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they, and their princes, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: and this city shall remain for ever.













The writings bear witness............




Psalms 45:15

With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought: they shall enter H935 into the king's palace.







“He who sells fruit never advertises the tree.”




THE PROCESS OF ENTERING THE KINGDOM




The most important part of the Kingdom experience is the process of entering the Kingdom. Unless you know how to get into the Kingdom of Heaven, everything else about the Kingdom is meaningless. What do you do to enter the Kingdom of Yah, and how does it work? To answer these two questions, let me begin with an illustration.




The number one industry in the Bahamas is tourism. Every year the tiny island nation of 300,000 people hosts over 5 million tourists. This means that tourists outnumber residents by a factor of almost 17 to 1. Tourism alone brings in over $1 billion of revenue each year. Theirs is the most successful tourism nation in our entire region of the Caribbean. No other country in the region receives the number of tourists that they receive in these small islands.




Why is the Bahamas so successful? To get more to the point, why don’t people around the world come to Yahusha and to the Kingdom of Yah the way they go to the Bahamas? Why aren’t there 5 million people coming into the church every year? Why are they more excited about going to the Bahamas than coming to Yah? Why are they willing to spend an average of $200 per night per room, excluding taxes, for an average of about $1,500 a week for a couple? Why would they give that kind of money to them? What brings them there?




The reason for their success, the reason why they have 5 million tourists coming to the Bahamas every year, is because they do not advertise or promote the prime minister. If you want people to come to your country, you don’t advertise the government. You don’t brag about how good the prime minister is, or the president. People do not visit the Bahamas because of their prime minister.




SELL THE COUNTRY!




Why is this so important? It goes back to what Yahusha said in Matthew 6:33, that we should seek first the Kingdom and righteousness of Yah. The Kingdom is Yah’s greatest priority and Yahusha said there are some great benefits that will be added free to all who set their minds to seek the Kingdom above all other priorities.




I think it is highly significant that before Yahusha invited us to enter the Kingdom, He told us about its benefits. He said, “Why do you worry about what you will eat or drink or wear?” He dealt first with our primary interests, the things that drive us through life from day to day. He said, “Your heavenly Father knows you need food, water, clothing, and shelter. He knows exactly what you are after, your every need and every desire of your heart. Don’t worry, all of those things are in His Kingdom.”




I’m going to step out on a theological limb here, so please listen very carefully: Yahusha never said, “Seek Me first.” He said, “Seek first the Kingdom.” If we put our prime minister’s photograph, biography, and personal profile on all of our tourism advertisements, no one will come to the Bahamas. That’s not to say anything against the prime minister, but that is not what the tourists are interested in. They don’t want to know about the government or the political leadership; they want to know about the country. If we want to attract tourists to the Bahamas, we need to tell them and show them things about our country that will whet their appetite and stir up in them the desire to come visit.




Yahusha never told us to seek Him first. And yet the church, for the better part of its 2,000-year history, has done precisely that. The church continuously has preached about the King, and taught about the King, and bragged about the King, and told people how they should love the King, and give their hearts to the King, and follow the King, and serve the King, and live for the King. And while all of this is true, it is probably not the best place to start, because in all the talk and attention given to the King, very little focus has been given to the Kingdom He reigns over.




If you want to attract people to your country, you have to show them how and why your country is better than theirs; prove to them that they can get benefits in your country that they cannot get in their own. The church keeps talking only about Yahusha and not about the Kingdom (which is what He told us to talk about), and then wonders why so few people are interested.




There are 1.2 billion Muslims in the world and they all need Yahusha. But they are not interested. Hindus worldwide number 600 million and counting, and they all need Yahusha. But they are not interested. Why? Because people aren’t interested in the head of state. Tell them about the country. Get them excited about the country and its benefits. Then, when they ask how to get in, tell them about Yahusha. Tell them that the King is the doorway into the country. Then they will be interested in the King.




They don’t advertise the Bahamas with pictures or information about the prime minister or other public officials. Quite often their promotional materials show no people at all, just sun, blue tropical waters, white sand, green coconut palm trees, and beautiful red hibiscus in December! Can you imagine how enticing an image that is for Canadians or northern Americans snowed in by four-foot drifts? That’s why they go there. That’s why one of the largest and fastest growing industries in the Bahamas right now is external owners of property. People all over the world want to live there. Why? It’s not because of the prime minister; he’ll be replaced in a few years.




People want to move there because here is better than where they are—beach living with an average temperature of 75 degrees year-round. They sell them on an ocean filled with pure, fresh, clean fish and no pollution. They sell them on warm hospitality and good-looking people with positive attitudes. They don’t sell them the prime minister. Here’s the bottom line. The secret to attracting visitors or investors or new citizens is to promise them the lifestyle, the benefits, and the environment of the country.




This is why people are not coming to Yah. We keep trying to sell them on the leader. Yahusha never preached Himself to the multitudes. He preached the Kingdom of Heaven. He taught the Kingdom of Heaven. He used every example and word-picture He could to show the people what the Kingdom is like. On one occasion He compared the Kingdom of Heaven to a wedding feast a king gave for his son (see Matt. 22:1-14). Try to imagine what a feast like that would be like: landscaped grounds, full, beautiful trees, gold carpets, silver walls, silver spoons, golden goblets, all the food you can eat, grapes, wine, cheese, fresh meat! Wow! If that’s what the Kingdom of Heaven is like, don’t you want to go there? I know I do! That’s selling the country.




Yahusha Hamachiach is not the Kingdom; He is the King. He is also the Door into the Kingdom. Anyone who wishes to enter the Kingdom of Heaven must go in through the Door, which is Yahusha. But you don’t draw people to your country by talking about the port of entry. You draw them by selling them on what lies beyond the port of entry—the country’s benefits and quality of life—by stirring up such a hunger and desire for the country that they will do anything to get in.




Yahusha said, “The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John. Since that time, the good news of the kingdom of Yah is being preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it” (Luke 16:16). Why aren’t people forcing their way into Christianity? They don’t want Christianity because Christianity is built on a door, not on the Kingdom beyond the door. Muslims don’t want Yahusha. They are satisfied with Muhammad and Allah. But talk to them about the Kingdom of Heaven and its riches, abundance, prosperity, and joy, as well as a Personal Yah who loves them, and compare that to the barren austerity in which most Muslims live, and you may get a listening ear.




People really are not looking for Yahusha. We keep telling them they are but they are not. They are looking for things. They are looking for a good life. But open their eyes to the reality of the Kingdom and their focus will change. Who wouldn’t trade the rat race pursuit of things for a Kingdom that guarantees all those things free and without frustration? That’s what Yahusha meant when He said people were forcing their way into the Kingdom of Yah. Once a person understands what the Kingdom is, and the riches, benefits, and joys it affords, he or she will do anything to get in, even risk life and limb. Why is it that more and more Muslims are converting to Hamachiach even though they know it may cost them their lives? Because they have discovered the Kingdom of Heaven and have realized that no price is too great to pay to enter it.




THE PRIORITY OF YAH FOR HUMANKIND




According to Yahusha, the most important priority for people on earth is the Kingdom of Heaven. The Kingdom of Heaven is the most important thing on earth. It is the treasure, the pearl, the yeast, the light, and the salt of the earth. The Kingdom is everything. Yahusha nailed this point home with two related parables:




The kingdom of Heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. Again, the kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it (Matthew 13:44-46).




Yahusha said that the Kingdom of Heaven is like treasure that is so precious and so valuable that it is worth giving up everything else just to possess it. Throughout the ages countless people have left their homes and families, traveled all over the world, endured incredible hardship, and risked death and disaster daily, drawn by the lure of treasure and riches. It is amazing how much people are willing to risk on even the smallest chance of striking pay dirt.




Yahusha said that’s the way we are supposed to be about the Kingdom. We are supposed to pursue it even to and through the point of personal danger because once we enter it we’ve got it made. If we are willing to take such chances for earthly treasure that will eventually pass away, how much more willing should we be to risk everything for the sake of gaining the Kingdom.




Likewise, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a precious pearl that a merchant found and then sold everything he had to buy it. That’s how precious the Kingdom is. It is worth any price. Apparently the merchant had nothing left after buying the pearl except the pearl, and that was enough. So it is with the Kingdom. When we have the Kingdom, that is enough. Everything is in the Kingdom. We don’t need anything else.




“THE PRIORITY OF YAHUSHA




Yahusha’ only priority on earth was the Kingdom of Heaven. He taught us that the Kingdom should be our highest priority also, even in our prayers:




This, then, is how you should pray: “Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven” (Matthew 6:9-10).




Notice that Yahusha says that this is how we should pray. We should pray for Yah’s Kingdom to come on earth. We should pray for His will to be done. He never says that we should pray for Him to come. Yet that is just what the church has prayed for centuries. Yahusha will return one day and it will be a blessed day when He does, but that is not how He told us to pray. The focus of our prayers should be that the Kingdom of Heaven should come, that the influence of Heaven’s government should permeate the nations and cultures of the earth like yeast in dough.




In Luke’s account of Yahusha’ last supper with His disciples the night before He was crucified, Yahusha says at one point, “I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one on Me” (Luke 22:29). That is a political statement. Every government, when appointing ambassadors, uses the word “confer.




Yahusha conferred the Kingdom on us. The Kingdom is Yahusha’ top priority and it must be ours as well.




Religion postpones the Kingdom to a future experience, which is why you don’t hear much about the Kingdom in religion. You cannot appropriate what you postpone. If you say the Kingdom is coming later, you can never experience it now. However, Yah’s desire is for you to enter and experience the Kingdom right now.