Unlocking the Power of the Kingdom: with Dr. Greg Hood

Sondra Martin Hicks  00:12

Howdy, howdy, howdy! Thanks so much for joining us today on the Sondra Heartstone show. We are so happy you are spending some time with us today. Today we have an awesome topic. We are going to talk about the Kingdom of God versus religion. Did you know that the greatest obstacle to the Kingdom of God is religion? What? Well, probably many of you are familiar with the saying that we're moving from the Church Age to the kingdom age. Well, what does that mean? What's the difference? 

Let me give you an example. The Church Age has brought us to a place where our relationship with God is focused upon us and our needs. While the kingdom age is about living with eternal perspectives based on seeing Him and His kingdom and everything. In the kingdom living, the church is sent to serve the community. In religion, the church just tries to get the community to come into their church building. Religion has given us a very small view of Christianity. We are facing many challenges today, and it's going to require the body of Christ becoming Kingdom minded sons and daughters to win this battle. 

We're going to delve into this topic and talk with Dr. Greg Hood, a man who has some deep revelation on this subject. When we come back. 

Check out Heartstone network, a place where you'll find feature documentaries, testimonials, and great teachings by many of your favorites. It's a place that we hope will encourage you in your walk with Christ. While there, check out this series we have with Mario Murillo called, I Am Not Ashamed. It's a great look into his past, and how Jesus has brought him to be the man that he is today. Check us out Heartstonenetwork.com.

 

Sondra Martin Hicks  01:53

Well, are you guys ready to get going? We are going to dive in. Let me bring on Dr. Greg Hood. Greg is a man that has lived with this revelation of Kingdom living for quite some time and he finally has put it all in a book so we can share on this revelation. 

 

His book is called, The Gospel of the Kingdom. The reason I'm showing this book is because this book is a game changer. Believe me, I read this book. You know how you highlight a book? When I went back and looked, I thought well, I should have just highlighted the part I didn't want to remember, because I was highlighting all of it. So let's bring on Dr. Greg Hood. Greg, welcome.

 

Dr. Greg Hood  02:29

Thank you. Such an honor to be here with you.

Sondra Martin Hicks  02:32

Well, I'm so excited to get this chance to talk with you today. Because truly, this whole idea of living the kingdom, it's you just know in your spirit, it's for now it's right, it's God's revelation. But before we dive into that, for those that aren't familiar with your ministry, Greg, could you just spend a few minutes bringing everybody up to par on on where you've been and what you're all about?

 

Dr. Greg Hood  02:56

I will do that, be happy to do that. My wife and I, Joan, we live in Franklin, Tennessee. We spent the last 10 years in Hawaii, which was not too bad if you like the beach. We have a network of churches and ministers that are in many nations of the world. We have a, I guess you could call it our baby, is Kingdom University. And that is a university that we have around 40 plus campuses right now across the United States that are teaching the Kingdom of God.

That is part of our goal and our assignment to do. We also have a new Apostolic hub that we've started in Franklin, Tennessee, that's called Kingdom Life Ecclesia. Our job there is to bring, how do I say this without being too cruel, the religious world into the Kingdom world to be able to be what Jesus actually intended for the church to be.

 

Sondra Martin Hicks  03:52

Wow. So have you been ministry all your life? All your adult life?

 

Dr. Greg Hood  03:56

I don't like ministry. No, I'm kidding. I've been in ministry 37 years. I have a doctorate degree in theology from Kairos Bible Institute. I went to Christ for the Nations before that and that's where I caught my heart for missions. I'm from a lineage of preachers. My grandfather was a minister for 75 years. My uncle has been in ministry for over 50 years. I have cousins in ministry as well. So preachers in our halls is what my family is full of.

 

Sondra Martin Hicks  04:28

Okay, well, I've kind of given everybody a little bit of a tiny, tiny smidgen taste of what we're talking about this Kingdom living. Could we begin with you, tell us about how you got this revelation and what is it exactly about?

 

Dr. Greg Hood  04:41

Well, I got tired of seeing what I was promised would work, not work. I just started an investigation, started looking. I felt like Holy Spirit told me to read the gospels. I read the gospels, didn't seem like it was any different than any other read that I've done. I wound up reading the gospels, probably around 12 or 13 times. It takes a while to get it, I guess. But every time I would go through it, it would stick out to me, the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of God and I got very curious. So at the end of my assignment, as I got to the last time, he said, read through it, I began to understand that Jesus spoke about the Kingdom more than he did anything. 

Then I began to discover that was His purpose, that was His assignment. He said that in the book of Matthew, in the book of Mark, is accounted as well, in the book of First John, chapter three. Everywhere Jesus ministered, he talked, I discovered that he never talked about anything, but the Kingdom of God. He never talked about healing, He never preached or taught about prosperity, He never preached or taught or declared that he had a deliverance ministry. Everything that he talked about was the Kingdom of God, and all these other things just manifested from it. 

Then I discovered he never wanted us to have a religion. It says in the book of Luke chapter 12, he says, "Do not fear a little flock. For it as a Father's good pleasure to confer upon you a kingdom." It blew my mind and as I begin to just walk through this, the Gospels and then own into the book of Acts, into the letters, I just begin to discover that religion was nowhere in sight of what Jesus wanted us to have. As a matter of fact, we were called to not be religious people.

 

Sondra Martin Hicks  06:44

Now, you know, that's an interesting thing, about, you know, growing up in church, you know, you get the idea of a lot of things that really aren't biblical, they're more like traditions. Something you pointed out in your book that I just stopped and had a huge aha. 

Jesus talked about getting born again one time, one time and the entire New Testament and that is when you know, he says to Nicodemus, you must be born again from your mother. That you know, that Nicodemus, what from my mother? That whole conversation, but that's the only time but yet many times in churches that becomes the whole game. You get born again that's it, that's it, that's all and all this other kingdom of God is ignored. I think that's just. 

How did the church get to being focused on that one thing instead of everything else?

 

Dr. Greg Hood  07:35

Well, we could give the short story I guess, but it came down to more identifying with a church than it did with a king. It all came in in Constantine's time, and it made his way up all the way to where we live today. Me being raised, as a Baptist boy, I was a pretty good one, I guess. The whole emphasis of every service was born again. Like you said, Jesus never talked about it but once and it was actually in the middle of the night, in a private conversation. He never talked about it in public, even though it's important, we're not nullifying the importance of salvation or being born again. But what it does, and what the assignment of salvation is, is totally different than what you and I were probably taught in church. Okay, what is it? It's the entrance into the kingdom of God. 

Being born again, is tied into being saved, we use that word a lot. Paul talks about, in the book of Romans being saved, we are saved from our sin. 90% of the time, that word sin is singular.  It's not from our moral obligations that we have or our moral conduct. It talks about treasonous act or a rebellious act. We've used the word rebellion and missed the mark with being saved or being born again quite often growing up but didn't understand it. So it literally means a rebellion or treason. You gotta go back to the Garden of Eden to find that. First John three, verse eight talks about that the devil sinned from the beginning. 

Those that sin are followers of him, but it doesn't mean drinking, smoking, dipping, chewing, you know, or decor. But it literally means an act of treason that started in the beginning at the Garden of Eden when Adam rebelled against God and God's mandates. Adam didn't lose a religion, he didn't give up a religion, he lost a kingdom. We know this by what he says in Genesis chapter one and verse 26, God blessed them and God said to them, be fruitful, multiply, subdue, and have dominion, or some translations say rule. That word in the Hebrew is the word Radha, which literally means to do or to have kingdom. So when Adam fell he didn’t fall  from a religion, he fell from a kingdom, he fell from authority and that authority was given to Satan. 

We have taken this idea of being born again, meaning that either number one, we bought fire insurance, we're not gonna go to Hell. Or number two, we're trying to get our ticket punch to Heaven. Religion focuses on Heaven, while Kingdom focuses on earth. Jesus never focused on heaven. He talked about Hell more than he did Heaven. Our assignment is not in Heaven, we're not from Heaven. We were created out of the Earth, out of the dust of the Earth, we were created, we've never been to Heaven. But if we die before he returns, we will get to go to Heaven. But we will return with Him to rule and reign with him on Earth. That's why Jesus said when he told us to pray, and Matthew 10, he said, When you pray this, pray Our Father who is in Heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on Earth, as it is in Heaven. Heaven is not our reward. I often tell people that we're not going to be little naked babies floating around on clouds and playing harps through eternity, which for some of us, that's a good thing. But that's not what we were created to do. 

Our assignment is to be sons and daughters in the Earth. That's the born again, we are reborn, the word is actually to restore or to recover. So when we think about being born again, we need to think about being restored. Restored to what? God's original idea, His original intent of what He created man to be. Being restored, what does that mean? We are restored back into the family of God. We are not sinners, trying to get to heaven. We are sons and daughters that were living prodigal lives, the rebellion and treason that had been brought home and restored to our Father's house. That's where we live from. That's where we operate from. And in short, that's the born again, experience that each of us are supposed to have. Not looking to go to Heaven as such, but being restored to the family, and being recovered into the place of operating as he intended for us to operate from when He created Adam.

 

Sondra Martin Hicks  12:24

Now, all of this, you know, just resonates with me, and I just, it's just like my spirit knows this is right. But so here's the question. Yep, Jesus was here over 2000 years ago. Why do you think God is just now giving this revelation 2000 years later, after we've drifted so far away?

 

Dr. Greg Hood  12:43

Well, there's a couple of things. Number one, God is not in control. And I talk about..

 

Sondra Martin Hicks  12:48

 Wait, wait, you just upset some people! Stop. Whoa, hold the phone. All right, but just save some people right there, Greg, because right now they're yelling at you.

 

Dr. Greg Hood  12:59

Yep. Yep. When I discovered this, I was ticked off as well. Because I was told to lean into God's sovereignty and que sera, sera, whatever will be will be. But I discovered God is not in control. Out of His own words, He establishes that, even in the book of Genesis, but God is in charge. He is putting man in control of the Earth, He created the Heavens for Himself, He created the Earth for the sons of man. He took himself out of the control scenario, in the Garden of Eden or when he created that environment, when He said, Let them have Radha Kingdom. So he gave that authority to man, He remained in charge, which means He could control, take control at any time. 

Here's another important part. What God lost was not the Earth. The Earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. What He lost was the worlds, the kingdoms, the governmental structures, the governmental order that was in the Earth. That's what he loved. He never lost the real estate. He lost the order of government. And so he set a plan in motion that worked through the Old Testament, came up to the time of Jesus. But again, it was at the time of Constantine, that all of this stuff changed. The church was turned upside down. There was a great influx of paganism. There was the pope office was established by Him. A lot of these things are in the church, and they were established by Constantine that diluted the church, that derailed the church and what Jesus meant for His church to be. Because the church is not steeples and stained glass windows, it's not buildings. The church is a legislative governmental structure that God sent into the Earth to make sure that His will in Heaven is done in the Earth. 

 We've been getting revelation about this over the last 50-60 years as God begin to restore things in the Earth and His timeline. He started restoring the fivefold ministry. Through that office of the teacher revelation begin to come. We begin to study in Kingdom University. We ask four very important questions whenever we read the Bible. Number one, who's talking? Number two, who are they talking to? Number three, what is it mean in that culture? Then number four, how do I take that apply to my life? These principles have to be enacted. 

When we study the Word of God, if they're not gentle, we start interpreting the Word of God through our own culture. And that's what's happened our own culture. Roman culture, Greek culture has influenced us in a way throughout your history, that have given us the wrong ideologies, the wrong philosophies, which has created a wrong theology. And again, which is caused the wrong eschatology, and formed our worldview. 

This worldview is being hammered at. And we're starting to understand the culture in which things were set. And as we begin to understand that, we understand God put man in control of the Earth, if he was not, if he was in control, you would have to blame him for abortion, murder, rape. You'd have to blame Him for genocide, you'd have to blame Him for poverty, you'd have to blame God for incest, all of these things that are evil in our world, you would have to blame God, if God was in control. 

But He's not, man's in control. So man is blamed, makes us take the blame for all of these things. God is raising up a company of sons and daughters who are discovering the Kingdom of God, and who were you, I don't know if he just let us trip across it or if it was one of these Galatians chapter four moments, where it said in the fullness of time, the time was right, that he brought it to us. But we are seeing this in a different light as we begin to discover the kingdom of God. Hope that makes sense.

 

Sondra Martin Hicks  17:09

Yeah. You know, what I think is very interesting. As I read your book, and I started getting this revelation, I thought, this explains why people are walking away from the church, it explains why people are not interested in Christianity like they used to be. Because there's no life in it. There's just absolutely no life and religion. Because for those of us that know Jesus, we know that if people will truly meet Him, you know, we're gonna let go of Him. 

Okay, he, you do find out that He is the WAY, the TRUTH, and the LIFE. So it's it's religion, I think that's killing Christianity. It's what's caused people to be so up in arms and think that the church is, you know, just a waste of time, I guess. Yep. So, what should we do? Greg, how do we get this revelation? How do we start walking this way? How does my behavior change?

 

Dr. Greg Hood  18:01

Well, I think one of the first things is for people to go to your website and get the book and read the book. Secondly, I think an invitation needs to be extended to Holy Spirit to come in and challenge everything we believe. We have under preachers for the last, you know, 1000 years, and we have allowed them to indoctrinate us instead of educate us. Education requires your participation, indoctrination requires your submission. I think we have submitted to a man or a woman in a pulpit, to tell us what we need to believe, instead of discovering those things ourselves. You need to educate, you need to read.

 I tell people, I was a history teacher. And I tell when we study history, don't read books, I mean, but let books be a secondary form of information. Read documents, documents are important. Documents come from history, read history, study history, know history. And one of the things that the church has failed at is history. We're not interested in our history, we're interested in our future. We're wanting to be raptured out of here, take it out of the earth, so that everything will be fine. But you've got to study your history. You've got to know why you believe what you believe. And I think number three, is to be in a place to where you can discuss these things and talk about things that you're hearing, things that you're learning, things that you find controversial, that you but you know, Holy Spirit's witnessing to those things that are going against your doctrine. 

Kingdom University is one of those good places to do that. I thought I'd just put that plug in there. Find people that are becoming like minded. Number four, I think would be this; don't be afraid to leave your quote "church." Don't be afraid to get out of those religious environments, those religious indoctrinational institutions and find Kingdom minded people. That is a huge step. Many of us are trapped in those places, because it's all we've known. And sometimes when we, when we begin to disengage from those things, we begin to have emotions like, I'm betraying where I was raised, I feel like I am not honoring those that have taught me. 

But we are, we have to, we had to step away from those things. And I think they would be very proud of us if we do, because we're building on what they've given us. We're not honoring them, they gave us all they had, they gave us the best they had. And we're expected to build on that for the generations that come after us.

 

Sondra Martin Hicks  20:55

So when did you get this revelation recently, or a long time ago?

 

Dr. Greg Hood  20:59

I would say it was about 25 years ago, God read me about this. And it's taken me a while to come to the place that I've been comfortable releasing it. I've been teaching the kingdom like this, for about 15 years, just written, just wrote the book. And that's a whole other list of why I didn't, thus far. But we released this book, in 2022. I have another book released in 2020, that talks about America and the Kingdom. A lot of that is in that book, too.

 I have another book coming out in a few weeks called Sonship According to the Kingdom. Which is going to talk about you stepping into the power of your true identity, which is a very important piece of living the Kingdom of God. But I've been teaching it about 15 years, just you know, haven't felt the release to write about it. I don't know why. Maybe it's because I needed to perfect it in myself to the measure, not a full measure, but to the measure, that I could articulate it in a way that that I feel like I can today.

 

Sondra Martin Hicks  22:09

Well, as you teach people this new way of thinking, what's the biggest change you see in people as their mind shifts to this kind of thinking?

 

Dr. Greg Hood  22:18

Well, I see a flood of emotions. Number one right off, I see anger and I think we all have that. Every time I've seen that, I've asked them, Why does it make you angry? Said, because I felt like I've been taught to lie all of my life. And one of the second thing that I see within them is they say this to me, the Spirit of God bore witness to me, it wasn't like I was trying to get an information download, the light came on, the Spirit, Holy Spirit leapt in me and it was truth. And I knew that it was truth. And I think those are two, the two big emotions. And I think it's like, with emotions, anything. 

That angers there, that was my first response to I was pretty mad, I was upset. All that had been learning but I think Holy Spirit had prepped me for that. Because when I was 17, I received the baptism the Holy Spirit. I heard him very clearly that night speak to me, it felt audible, but I felt there was more probably inside than outside voice. He said to me, Greg, you're gonna have to unlearn almost as much as you've learned. I said, I rebuke that in the name of Jesus, that can't be God.

 

Sondra Martin Hicks  23:29

Great. Man, hang on to that thought, because we've got to go to a break. Then we're going to come back and we're actually going to meet your wife, and another friend who have some questions for you. So everybody, I hope you're enjoying this so far. I hope you're not throwing rocks at the TV screen. So we're gonna be right back with more in just a few minutes.

 

Sondra Martin Hicks  23:59

A number of years ago, I was walking along Lake Michigan and without warning, I felt the Spirit of God drop in my spirit. Remember the story of King David facing Goliath? I then since He was telling me to pick up five smooth stones from the sand. Why the stones? Well, they represent the colors of people on the Earth. Also, during the many years I've been a filmmaker, God has often made it clear to me that my job is to reveal His heart and the stories we tell. That's what Heartstone Network is about, revealing the heart of God to the peoples of the earth through stories.

In this inspired media channel, you will find true stories of ordinary people living extraordinary lives, because they're partnered with an incredible God. Our heart's desire is to encourage, prepare, and teach you to be a sphere of influence in the area God has called you to for such a time as this. Our content is free and supported by viewer donation. We're glad you're here. Come on in. I hope you will consider sharing your story with the world.

 

Sondra Martin Hicks  26:37

Well, welcome back, everybody. I hope you're enjoying our conversation today. Joining us is we have Joan Hood. Joan is Greg's wife, all the way from Hawaii. And we have Darla Ryden, who's been on before she is a member of the Texas Apostolic prayer network.

 Darla is on because Darla is actually the one that introduced me to the Hoods and to this book that is just radical and changed our life. So she wanted to come on and throw some questions at you Greg because Darla is one who likes to learn, learn, learn. So Darla, before you jump into pounding him with your questions. Joan, we want to say hello to you. Thanks so much for coming on. Tell us. What's it like living in this kingdom adventure?

 

Dr. Joan Hood  27:22

Oh, my word. Hi, first of all, thank you for having me. So good to be here. It is an adventure indeed. A lot of ups and downs and challenges. But hey, we're victorious.

 

Sondra Martin Hicks  27:34

Okay, Darla, welcome, welcome.

 

Darla Ryden  27:37

I am, I am just so happy to be here. This couple, let me just say has changed my life completely. I could cry and go into it. Kingdom University, let me just plug it again, like Greg just plugged it. I cannot say enough about this. We are in a season where if we don't put in the effort to get the truth of what God is trying to give us, we're going to be lost. It's not about money, but you better be using your money to get what you need from God. This couple is just fantastic, it's not just who they are.

 What I want to say first is having sat with him a few times, God was sending them to Australia, they had a apostolic center set up, they had sent their cars there. I mean, they were moving and thought that was the direction God had for him. But thank you, Jesus, that He turned it at the last minute. I mean, literally they were getting on the plane and COVID stop them from getting on because the United States of America needed what they are giving us in Kingdom University. 

So I say to that we need what they are bringing us and so I guess Greg and Joan, I would like to start first of all, I just want you to know that Joan is not a second player here, she is just as dynamic as Greg is if not more. I mean let me just say he's more but this woman twice ran for representative in Hawaii and it was stolen so I think one time we ought to just have Joan on and talk about that particular area in what happened. I think we should.

 But getting back to the kingdom okay. Just there is some things when Greg starts speaking about the kingdom that just blows your mind and one of the things that blew my mind was He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Yeah, and when you spoke about that, it was mind blowing and I would love for you to go into that a little bit because we are those kings. We are those Lords that are underneath the King of kings and the Lord of lords. So if you would jump into that, I just think that's fantastic.

 

Dr. Greg Hood  30:16

You're doing a fantastic job there with it Darla. That brings us back to the whole thing of identity and positioning in the body of Christ or the kingdom. It is referred to in several places. Paul talks to Timothy about it, is also the Book of Revelation, that Jesus is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. If you look at those words, and again, on the last broadcast, we talked about when we study the Word, we need to ask four questions. Who's talking? Number two, who are they talking to? Number three, what does it mean in that culture? Then number four, how do I take that apply to my life? 

In that culture, Jesus was letting them know as far as the king part, that He was the King, He was the main guy, but under Him, there are other kings. The reason that he has Earth, that I like to call it a colony, were colonizing this place, we're turning it towards the kingdom is that there cannot be but more than one king in a country. As He's sitting on His throne in Heaven, He is the King there. So in order for us to be kings, and not princesses, or prince, we have to be in a place where the king has given us sovereign power or sovereign authority. 

Goes back to what we talked to about God's not in control, God's in charge, and He can take control when He wants to, but He set us in control. That we're to rule here in that kingly authority, the Great Commission, one of the most misunderstood scriptures in the in the Bible. Actually, there's two great Commission's, one in Mark 16, and one in Matthew 28. The one in Matthew 28, Jesus said, "All authority, that is the Greek word ezuzia, authority, sovereignty, royalty, I've taken that, and now I'm giving it back to you go and teach all nations, to observe, to yield to, to submit to everything that I've told you." It has nothing to do with religion again, but it has to do with kingdoms. 

A priest cannot rule a kingdom, it takes kings to rule Kingdom. In the book of Romans, chapter five, verse 17, my life verse, it says, "for those who receive the abundance of grace, and the gift of righteousness, will rule, r u l e, in some translations. Many translations use the word reign. Will reign in life, through the one Jesus Christ. That word reign is the word, basilio, and it literally means to become king. So Jesus through Paul, the Holy Spirit through Paul is telling the Roman church, that the design of Heaven is not for you to be church members, but for you to be kings in the kingdom, ruling and reigning over a very specific territory that God gives you to have dominion over. He was encouraging them, don't just try to get to Heaven, step into your kingship.

 Excuse me, and the Lord piece, I could go on about the kingship forever. But the Lord piece, Lord comes from the Hebrew word adonai. Which means owner, so when we use the word Lord, we're not talking about Him sitting on a throne, lording over but that He is the owner. The definition of the second word, Lord there is it literally means underlord sounds kind of dark, but it's not. It means who is in control or stewardship of the king's land and his finances. So we're looking at He's the King of kings and Lord of lords. He's saying he's the king, but you're the under king. You are kings over certain territory that he's given you. Not necessarily just land, but spheres of influence. You're also the underlord, he's the owner of the land and the Earth and all that's in it, but you are stewards of his land and stewards of his finances. We're called to steward those well to expand his kingdom. I hope that was all right.

 

Darla Ryden  34:36

That is huge. I know it's a mouthful, but let me ask you this. So what's hit me over and over again, is one of the problems that I see like in America is because we were never brought under up under a kingship where other countries and other nations, and maybe you can elaborate on this some Joan, we've come from a republic. So we broke away from the King of England, but we have never truly understood what it means to be a king, a kingship. 

When you're under that type of rulership, it makes the scriptures just come to life in a whole new way. Like when a king speaks, what he speaks is done, or off with your head, you know. So we know we don't have this concept of why it brought me to this place. Lord, this is why you put the kings in the Old Testament. I used to go, "why do we have all this in here," but he was actually trying to give us strategies and understanding of how kings rule, because we don't have that. So what do you see about that Joan? What has that done to revolutionize you? 

 

Dr. Joan Hood  36:01

You know, I grew up in the Philippines to where there's so much of respect and honor to parents. So I would, you know, I would put them in, you know, typify them as a king, you know, ruler at home. So whatever they say we do. We've never asked questions we've never, not only ask question or question what they say, or ask us to do anything, we just obey without, you know, again, questioning. 

So understanding the kingdom, that we are king under we are the small caking under the King of Kings. It's not as hard for me to understand that. It's not as hard to operate in that, even to obey, simply because I grew up in a culture to where, if you want to go back, like 400 years ago, we were under King Philip, we were under the Spaniards. Did I say that right? Yeah, Spainards. So we're under a king, so we understand that dynamic of, you know, just being obedience and just bow to what they the  authorities say. 

 

Sondra Martin Hicks  36:29

But how does that change our behavior as Christians today in 2023? How does that change our behavior, our understanding, our relationship with the Lord, our relationship with others, with that mentality?

 

Dr. Joan Hood  37:27

You know, proper understanding of who Jesus is, He is the king. A lot of times, because we are here in the United States, we are a republic or democracy. You know, we have our own opinion, per se. You know, we want to be heard, we want to be, you know, we want to do our own thing. It doesn't matter what was, you know, what our parents say or what have you, at 18 years old, you know, you're free to do whatever you want to do. Make your own decisions and stuff. But a proper understanding of who Jesus is that King. Right, understand His words and hitting to what the Word says, yeah. Well, trust and confidence in who He is.

 

Darla Ryden  38:07

That's right. And in an Earthly dynamic, since we're having this whole shifting over in Britain, of a new kingdom, and a new leader, I think what I'd love Greg for you to go into this because I'm still trying to put this one all together. He taught this, we just started Kingdom you again for year two for me, and he started talking to us about assignments. And that is in a kingdom, what Joan is even saying there's assignments, everything is about assignments. And when you have an assignment, every provision, everything that's needed is guaranteed in that assignment. 

So if we look at just on the natural plane, that I know you'll go into it more on the spiritual understanding, but if we look at the natural King Charles or his son William or the other son that's having a little bit of trouble there. Harry, Harry, is you see that there's assignments. And so Greg, if you could speak into that, because that is so huge on opening us as individuals on moving forward, understanding being kings of the King of kings.

 

Dr. Greg Hood  39:20

Well, as Joan said these Americans, we're at a little disadvantage. We did the same thing Adam did. We rebelled against the Crown. And we rebelled against King George said we'll have our independence and we'll have it the way we want it. And Adam did that pretty much in the garden. So in the natural when these 13 colonies were here under the crown, they had the influence of the crown here in the form of a governor. Governor's were never taken from the colonies, they were sent from the court of gain. I like to say today that the governor that we have in the kingdom, His Holy Spirit, and He is the one that leads us and guides us and introduces us. It's not just to the King, Jesus said he was the door, and he's the way into the kingdom, even though he's the king. 

Romans chapter eight in verse 14, it says, "Those who are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God," has nothing to do with gender in this particular passage. It talks, the word literally means mature. Once you've grown, you're no longer a child, but you're a son, you're grown, you're mature, you're a partner. So when you reach the status of partner, you become what's in that culture, you're called adopted your father adopts you. Now talk about that in the new book coming out on Sonship. I won't go too much into that. But that adoption process is so very important in assignment, that you refer to Darla, and that assignment releases to you two things. Number one, the territory that you're to rule in and number two, the inheritance that you need to fund it and steward it correctly. 

So understanding who the king is, is step one, it's not the end, that can become very religious, in his own right, we stop there. You've got to understand the Kingdom. In a democracy that you and I live in, we're at a disadvantage, because we are a government of the people, by the people, for the people. A kingdom is all about the king. Now, you're in America, in this democracy that we live in, which I love, I love my nation, I'm a patriot, I'll fight for it as much as anyone will. We're doing that on several fronts. But we have to understand that we have things like the Department of State, the Department of Education, the Department of Finance, we have a Department of the Military, the Navy, whatever it may be, but in a kingdom, you don't use departments.

 In our nation, we have in these departments, we have secretaries; the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Education, the Secretary of this and that, and you get the point. But in a kingdom is not department and secretary, this ministry and minister. So Kingdom you have a department you have a ministry rather, of defense, you have a ministry of state, you have a ministry of education, this is all kingdom language. 

When we read the book of Ephesians and Paul's talking to the church at Ephesus, he's not talking about ministry, that we've defined it as a pulpit ministry or somebody that's been to a Bible school or instructs people on Sunday morning. He was saying to them, that the fivefold ministry's assignment is to raise up every person under their voice to be ministers. That means that if you're a business man, you're called to the ministry of business. If you're in the Ministry of Health, if you're a financer, you're in the Ministry of Finances, if you are a fivefold minister, you're in the Ministry of Education. So when we look at these things to a kingdom mindset, everybody's the minister. 

Religion, it said it's reserved for clergy, maybe laity, but that's religion, and it's rubbish. It's put into the place of bondage. But when we start to look at it Darla, from a place of assignment, everybody ministers, and you have to understand this key. When Jesus restored the kingdom to us, he took it from Satan. Luke, chapter four, verse five, when he took it there, His threat was to take their key that was not giving it to just a few good men. He was restoring Kingdom back to every one that was daughters.

 He was opening up the nations to our assignment is to not get ready people ready for heaven, but to get people ready to rule nations. So you've got to understand the kingdom. In some aspects, this places democracy mindset that we've been given, and you said it well, America is not a democracy, we're a constitutional republic. But religion has given us this democracy mindset that the majority rules that's not kingdom at all. We've got to come into the place that we understand the kingdom function, and how you function in it. God never said that we were going to rule over one another. You and I rule humanity, but spheres of creation, different aspects of creation, to cause the kingdoms of this world to become the kingdoms of our God. Hope that helps.

 

Darla Ryden  44:43

That's that's huge. Okay, one other quick thing and I know this is probably I know that y'all have a, you know, we're hearing a lot about in the days ahead, and when we look at the next generation, we see that they have this thing, they're totally opposed to religion. They're not in it, we're not a part of it, they're not going to come into it. And so as we're all moving into this new place, and they have this DNA within them to war and to take over. Here is this thing that you've been talking about, and I'm hearing it through a lot of other prophets and voices about this entrepreneurial spirit that is taking over, because of the way that you're talking about.

 In so many spheres of influence, we tried to get them to come into the religion of the church. Yet, we could never give them anything that had to do with the industry or the mountain that, you know we like to call it, the place of influence that they were in. Now we're seeing that God is saying to us, hey, the church is only relevant to the extent that it's advancing the kingdom. That's right. And that was a huge blow to me of going Holy Toledo, the church is not even relevant, if it's not bringing forth the kingdom. Yet you have this, the two of you and I watch it, and you stir it up in me and make me think I can do things that I'm going, I don't know that I can. I can. It's this entrepreneurial spirit. So if you, either one of you, want to jump in on that, and tell tell us a little bit about that.

 

Sondra Martin Hicks  46:36

We're running out of time, you got two minutes to answer that. Two minutes.

 

Dr. Greg Hood  46:43

God, God rebuked me one day when I was praying, I said, Father, would you please bring this younger generation into the church? And He said, No. I said, I rebuked that in the name of Jesus. Again, I said, Lord, would you bring, we need this younger generation, we're believing for our children. He said, No, I said, why? He said, I don't want them contaminated with religion. I've sent them to the gates of the Phillips Dean's, and I've sent them into Pharaoh's house. 

They're being educated, and they're being stewarded by him until the proper time, and we're in that proper time. He didn't want them contaminated with what we carried. That was a mind boggling thing for me. It caused me to really look inwardly. But the Lord is saying to us today, I'm ready to bring the prodigals home. I'm ready to bring the sons and daughters home. I don't want them in this religious thing, but I want them in my kingdom. 

Religion repelled them, because there was a form of Godliness but no power. This generation is looking for power. If Jesus is who He says He is, then we need to be who He says we are. Can we cast out devils? Can we heal the sick? Can we raise the dead? Can we best our lives in a sphere of society and make it prosperous? Can I be wealthy? Can I be these people of influence? Can I steer government? I have dreams for that. 

The Church tells me to stay away from government. The Church says if I'm in business, they're not there to give them a lot of money. Well, that's not the intention of God at all. He wants a ruling in government. He wants us through that he releases the next assignments for space and medicine and education. He wants to own these things. So that this generation could handle it, and really come to kingdom and not religion.

 

Sondra Martin Hicks  48:32

Wow. This is very exciting. Very, very exciting. I want everybody to read this book and get this mindset. So I want to remind you again, this book, we do have this available on our website. But look, here's the deal, I want you to get a taste of this. So Greg has graciously given us the first chapter. If you go to our website Heartstonenetwork.com/gift. You just request this and we will send the first chapter to your email so that you can read it for yourself and see what you think. We're out of time, guys, and I'm sorry, we are but, Greg, Joan and Darla, thanks so much for being with us. I hope you'll come back!