The purpose of Jesus coming to earth was to tell His people that the Kingdom of God has arrived. In her recent sermon, Sun Ho explained the meaning of God’s Kingdom and how His people should contend for more of its reality on earth.
“Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
This familiar verse comes from Matthew 6:10 and is the opening line of the Lord’s Prayer. It came to life when City Harvest Church executive pastor Sun Ho shared her revelation at last weekend’s service (Aug 4 to 5).
The pastor started her sermon by sharing her experiences and revelations on the recent study trip to three churches in the US. One is that as Christians, it is important to strive to bring the culture of God’s kingdom down to earth.
“Sometimes we assume that the church’s culture is kingdom culture, but sometimes it is not,” she shared. “We must have a better understanding of the kingdom culture, so we can bring it down to earth.”
In addition to having a better understanding of the Kingdom culture, one must also be in close partnership with God. “Partnering with God is to know what God is doing and doing it with Him,” she said.
In Mark 16:20, the Bible says that Jesus was “confirming the word (that the disciples were preaching) through the accompanying signs.” In order to see signs, wonders and healing, one must preach the word that Jesus is prepared to confirm, Ho explained.
The word that the disciples were preaching was the Gospel. “When we talk about the Gospel, people will think of salvation. But salvation is only the door into the Kingdom. It is the first chapter of our journey with God, it is not the whole story! Don’t just get stuck at the door of salvation!” Ho exclaimed. “There is so much more about the Kingdom of God that God wants us to experience!”
THE KINGDOM OF GOD
Sharing her experience at Bethel Church, Redding Ho described what she felt as a sense of weightlessness, that she encountered freedom in the supernatural. This gave her the revelation that the Kingdom of God is the “felt reality of God’s domain”.
Ho shared that how people think, what they value, and the way they connect with others is what shapes the culture here on earth. “God wants heaven’s culture to influence our culture,” she said.
During His last 40 days on earth, Jesus used that precious time to talk about things pertaining to the Kingdom of God, which made it clear that that was the center of everything He did. Jesus said in Luke 4:43 that His purpose on earth is to tell His people that the King of Heaven has arrived on earth.
Matthew 24:14 says that the sign of the end times is when the gospel of the Kingdom has been preached and demonstrated in all of the earth.
Referencing Revelations 21:1-2, Ho explained that Christians do not dwell in heaven after the Second Coming of Christ. In fact, Heaven is simply a waiting place, until the full consummation of God’s plan. This plan, as revealed in Revelations, is to bring about a new earth, the New Jerusalem, where the people of God will dwell forevermore.
“We were made from the earth, for the earth,” she preached. “God’s purpose is not to get us to heaven, but to get heaven down to us.”
Ho told the congregation, that as God’s people, their eternity life started the moment they received salvation. The next step, she added, is for the people of God to contend for more of His Kingdom here on earth.
In Matthew 4:23, healing occurred when Jesus preached—that is a demonstration of heaven.
“Jesus gave us a mandate in Matthew 10: 8, to ‘Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons.’ That is the reality of heaven,” she said.
“We must contend for the reality of His kingdom to shape our world. We shouldn’t change our theology to fit our experience, we should change our experience to mirror what God has said in His Word!”
When Jesus taught the disciples to pray “Your Kingdom come”, He was inviting them to see how heaven works.
In conclusion, Ho encouraged the congregation to live “out of the overflow”, that is, to first experience God’s Kingdom and His presence, then let His presence overflow through their lives to touch others.
“The Kingdom of God is a kingdom of love and relationship with Him,” she said. “And our daily relationship with God is our overflow.”
