Live in God's Kingdom

Revelation 21:1-8
21 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
5 And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.
6 And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.
7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.
8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

Last Sunday, Chief Apostle H.C. Gunn preached that it’s about the Kingdom! I’m going to talk about specific verses from the scripture above, but the whole scripture is still important. Verse 3 says, "God will be with men, he will dwell with them, they will be his people, God himself will be with him, and be their God."

Even though this scripture is talking about a new heaven and earth, God already has given us the key to live in the new heaven and the new earth. I know that there will be an actual new heaven and earth, but I’m talking about while we are still living on this earth we can be living in God’s kingdom.

We don’t have to wait for the new Jerusalem, we can start now -- walking and living in God’s kingdom. It says God is with men right now -- today!

God has given us the opportunity to be with him, we belong to God and God belongs to us. If we abide in him, God will abide in us, and we can pray, talk, listen, love him, etc., every day.

Next, it says, "God will dwell with them." God is constantly letting us know that he wants to dwell with us now! We can choose to let God in, and let him be the head of our life, and everyday we can dwell in God and God will dwell with us.

"They shall be his people." We can be God’s people now! Salvation is how we can be God’s people. We can choose to be saved and live and serve only him. The scripture says "God himself shall be with them." God is already with us. If we are willing to serve God and live according to his word, he will be with us.

In fact, everyday God wants to be with us, but we have to put him first.

Finally, it says "and be their God." God can and will always be our God, if we choose to be his children. When you are saved you are letting God be your God, and if we are not saved God isn’t your God even if you say you love him and know him. It's about salvation and dedicating and surrendering all of you and your life to God, and not just saying you love him or know him.