{"id":1569,"date":"2016-06-27T11:39:29","date_gmt":"2016-06-27T01:39:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.anglicanswanhill.com.au\/?p=1569"},"modified":"2016-06-27T11:40:03","modified_gmt":"2016-06-27T01:40:03","slug":"1569","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.anglicanswanhill.com.au\/?p=1569","title":{"rendered":"The Father’s House – The Kingdom of Heaven"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Your<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

I looked over to the Church last Sunday and read the sign that had just been put up.<\/h2>\n

\u201cLet your home face towards the Father\u2019s House.\u201d\u00a0 Well I said, I am not quite sure what it means but at least it is obscure enough not to cause any trouble.\u00a0 (We had one notice that caused some distress and we no longer use it.)<\/h2>\n

But then on Wednesday I had a call from someone wanting to check what it meant!!\u00a0 Was the Father\u2019s House heaven?\u00a0 Yes I said, \u201cThe Kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God\u201d but I was feeling quite inadequate because it is such a rich concept and a few words over the phone cannot really do it justice.\u00a0 I love these opportunities to refine my understanding.\u00a0 There are at least 154 New Testament Bible references to the \u2018Kingdom’ and they are so diverse.\u00a0 For instance:<\/h2>\n

Luke 17.20-21:\u00a0 Once Jesus*<\/sup><\/a> was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom<\/span> of God was coming, and he answered, \u2018The kingdom<\/span> of God is not coming with things that can be observed; nor will they say, \u201cLook, here it is!\u201d or \u201cThere it is!\u201d For, in fact, the kingdom<\/span> of God is within (or among) you.\u2019<\/em><\/h2>\n

And in our readings on Sunday:\u00a0 Luke 9.60 Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God. <\/em>and v62 No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.<\/em><\/h2>\n

Luke 8.10 sums it up really: \u00a0To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God; but to others I speak in parables, so that \u201clooking they may not perceive,\u00a0and listening they may not understand<\/em>.<\/h2>\n

Matthew 18.3 Truly I say to you, unless you change and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.<\/em><\/h2>\n

And then a couple of examples of the parables:<\/h2>\n

Matthew 13:24\u00a0 The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field<\/em><\/h2>\n

Matthew 13.47 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea<\/em><\/h2>\n

Finally I found this quote by James Hamilton, a Presbyterian minister from many centuries ago.\u00a0 I am sure our notice board words are taken from this and it explains it beautifully.<\/h2>\n

Keep the home near heaven. Let it face toward the Father’s house. Not only let the day begin and end with God, with mercies acknowledged and forgiveness sought, but let it be seen and felt that God is your chiefest joy, His will in all you do the absolute and sufficient reason.<\/em><\/h2>\n

Jan Harper<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"Your<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I looked over to the Church last Sunday and read the sign that had just been put up.<\/h2>\n

\u201cLet your home face towards the Father\u2019s House.\u201d\u00a0 Well I said, I am not \u2026 Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":50,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-announcements"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s3Zkbl-1569","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicanswanhill.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicanswanhill.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicanswanhill.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicanswanhill.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/50"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicanswanhill.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1569"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicanswanhill.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1569\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1572,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicanswanhill.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1569\/revisions\/1572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicanswanhill.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicanswanhill.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicanswanhill.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}