Building God’s Kingdom #5: House Owners Who Hold the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven

Building Gods Kingdom #5 teaches that understanding the kingdom is a believer’s protection: when you do not understand it, Satan can steal even what you already have, and when you do, life begins to work the way God designed it. The pastor shows how the administration of God’s kingdom changed from innocence to law to grace, why Jesus organized His church after the pattern of Rome’s ekklesia, and how every believer is meant to be a house owner who holds the keys of the kingdom of heaven.

Below you will find the full video, a structured summary of the sermon, the Scripture behind each point (linked to the New King James Version on Bible Gateway), a timestamped outline, and practical steps you can take this week.

Sermon at a Glance

This message was posted on May 6, 2025, as part of a teaching series on the kingdom at NTC Ministries. The pastor opens by recapping the introduction to the series and then moves into new material on what it means that Jesus is a King and that He makes His people kings and priests. The message ends with an invitation to receive Christ and a prayer of salvation.

His central claim is simple: the kingdom of heaven is not a religion to be performed but a family to be lived in. Religion says heaven must act; the kingdom says heaven backs what a believer does in obedience to God’s Word.

Why Building Gods Kingdom Starts with Understanding

The pastor begins with a warning from Jesus: if someone does not understand the kingdom, Satan can come and steal what that person has. The kingdom of God always was and always will be, he says, but the way it is administered has changed. It began in innocence, changed after the fall as human hearts changed, and changed again when Jesus, the last Adam, destroyed death, hell and the grave and then sat down in the heavens.

That is why the present age is called the kingdom of heaven. In his reading, “kingdom of God” speaks of God’s kingdom in general, while “kingdom of heaven” speaks of this dispensation of grace. He notes that the word dispensation is the same word behind administration and economy. Just as a household has its own economy, believers live under two economies at once, giving to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.

He illustrates the cost of ignorance with a man he once counseled who owed more than $120,000 on credit cards and carried two mortgages. People like this, he says, lived by their own feelings rather than by the Word of God, and it showed in their finances. When you learn the kingdom, you start functioning right in every possible way.

Without that understanding, he says, the enemy can rob at will and leave you feeling oppressed and unfulfilled. The answer is to live not under the law, not under human government and not under your feelings, but under grace. That is why Jesus said the thief comes to steal, kill and destroy, but He came to give abundant life (John 10:10). Luke 16:16, one of the series’ foundation texts, adds that since John the Baptist the good news of the kingdom is preached and everyone is pressing into it. Teach people law or feelings and they withdraw; teach them the kingdom and they want in.

The Church Jesus Organized: Lessons from Rome

When Jesus said He would build His church and the gates of hell would not prevail against it, He was describing something organized. The pastor dismisses the idea that a believer can reject the organized church and still believe the Bible. Nobody lives in a lumber heap, he says; every house is materials put together in specific places so that people can dwell in it.

He then asks why the disciples at Caesarea Philippi did not ask Jesus what a church was. His answer is that they already knew, because of the Roman government. Rome would send out an apostle, a state official under the emperor, to negotiate a truce with a region. Rome wanted people, not empty land, because territory defines the strength of a government. Once a region agreed, Rome sent its ekklesia, ordinary citizens who moved in and taught the people how to live as Romans.

He mentions that Philippi was called little Rome because it worked so hard to be like Rome, and that the more a city became like Rome, the more benefits it received. The table below follows the parallel he draws.

He also reminds the church that God sanctioned three units of government, each with its own lane: the family in Genesis 2, human government in Genesis 9 after the fall, and the church in Acts 2. And he points to Jesus’ words that it is the Father’s good pleasure to give His little flock the kingdom (Luke 12:32). God is not withholding anything.

Seek First the Kingdom and His Righteousness

From Matthew 6:25–33, the pastor teaches that believers are not to worry about food, drink or clothing but to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Righteousness is a gift that Jesus gives when someone gives his life to Him, and it has to be accepted. Romans 5:17 says that those who receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness will reign in life.

He pictures Adam before the fall. Adam never had to ask God for anything, because everything was already given to him. When God walked with him in the cool of the day, they simply talked and enjoyed each other. That is the kingdom of heaven: relationship. When relationship is missing and only function is left, he says, it becomes religion, and religion always lives in lack.

He then turns to Pilate’s questioning of Jesus. Jesus said His kingdom was not of this world, and when Pilate asked if He was a king, Jesus said that for this cause He was born (John 18:36–37). The pastor contrasts John the Baptist, who preached under the law and was killed, with Jesus, who preached grace and was raised. The letter kills but the Spirit gives life (2 Corinthians 3:6).

He shares that he went through great hardship establishing the ministry, including being arrested in other countries and having his life threatened, yet under grace he kept growing. If God is for us, who can be against us (Romans 8:31)? He who began a good work will complete it (Philippians 1:6).

Part of a king’s responsibility, he adds, is to teach his children to be kings. A family business grows best in the hands of children who carry the father’s vision. The same happened when the Son took over: the church is guaranteed to grow. Just as the tree pushes sap into the apple, the life of the Vine produces fruit in those who abide (John 15:5).

House Owners with the Keys of the Kingdom

Jesus came preaching the gospel of the kingdom (Mark 1:14–15) and went through every city teaching, preaching and healing every sickness (Matthew 9:35). The priests had held the truth to themselves, the pastor says, because to them it was an organization, but true sons tell the goodness of God. The kingdom message carries power, and the Holy Spirit is the governor of the kingdom. His Spirit and His Word always agree.

The key text is Matthew 13:52: every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old. The pastor explains that the Greek word means a house owner, the master of the house. A scribe took notes and passed them on, and so does every believer today. Every promise from Genesis to Malachi and from Matthew to Revelation is yours to draw on and give away, but you have to know it is yours.

That includes health and provision. He rejects teaching that limits God’s promises to the spiritual. Jesus healed bodies before the cross, so healing by His stripes (1 Peter 2:24) cannot mean only spiritual healing. Wealth and riches in the house (Psalm 112:3) means real abundance. Religion says, if I give this, I have nothing; the kingdom says you are sowing, and it will be given back pressed down, shaken together and running over (Luke 6:38).

Then comes Matthew 16:18–19. The church is built on the revelation that Jesus is the Son of God, and He gives the keys of the kingdom of heaven: whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven. The pastor teaches that the Greek word for bind means to tie, to handcuff, to arrest, so he prays, “I arrest your efforts now.” He does not need to identify each spirit by name. In his words, “Heaven’s yelling, ‘You do it. I’ll back you.'”

He compares it to a police officer backed by the whole government. If you came home and found a stranger in your easy chair eating your sandwich, you would police your own house. A house owner does the same with habits, tormenting thoughts or attacks on finances. That is why no weapon formed against you will prosper, and every tongue that rises in judgment you shall condemn (Isaiah 54:17). Your words matter (Matthew 12:37).

The Kingdom Is Within You

In Luke 17:20–21, Jesus says the kingdom of God does not come with observation, because it is within you. The pastor warns against running like a herd of cattle to wherever God is said to be moving. He points to Thomas, who demanded to touch the wounds, and to Jesus’ answer that those who believe without seeing are blessed (John 20:27–29). Your heart gives the proof.

Revelation 1:4–6 says Jesus is ruler over the kings of the earth and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father. Later John hears the song in Revelation 5:9–10: You have made us kings and priests to our God, and we shall reign on the earth. The pastor notes that John grew in this revelation and began to take ownership of it.

The lesson is identity. A believer is not a priest in a religious organization but a son in the kingdom of heaven. He contrasts a baby that must be fed milk with a son who is armed, battle ready and trained, not in the ways of this world but in the ways of the kingdom.

Religion does the opposite. In Matthew 23:13–15, Jesus rebukes the scribes and Pharisees for shutting up the kingdom of heaven against men and devouring widows’ houses while making long prayers for a pretense. They demanded sacrifice from others and boasted about hours of prayer they did not really pray. Yet the poor in spirit are the ones who receive the kingdom (Matthew 5:3).

Prayer, he says, is talking. He describes an early date night when he and his wife Pam sat in silence for an hour. They kept going, prepared questions about each other, and learned to talk for twelve hours in a car without the radio. Relationship takes work, which is why Hebrews says to labor to enter His rest (Hebrews 4:11).

David, Saul’s Armor and the Power of God

The message closes in 1 Samuel 17:33–40. Religion, the pastor says, lacks the knowledge of the power of God and keeps the Holy Spirit away because it fears what it cannot understand. That was Saul. For forty days Israel lined up and never fought, while Goliath taunted them. Saul, a head taller than everyone, should have been the house owner who drove the intruder out, but he did not.

David arrived with food for his brothers, asked why no one was acting, and offered to fight. He told Saul that the Lord who delivered him from the lion and the bear would deliver him from this Philistine. Notice, the pastor says, that David did not criticize the army; he honored them as the armies of the living God.

Saul put his own armor on David. Why the king’s armor? The pastor’s answer is that it carried the sign of the king, so people would think Saul had done it. That is religion: wanting everyone to think you have the power without knowing God. David took it off. The pastor connects this to Adam, who sewed his own covering to hide his condemnation until God clothed him in skins (Genesis 3:21). Jesus was clothed with our iniquity so that we would be clothed in righteousness, the garment needed at the marriage supper (Matthew 22:11–12).

In 1 Samuel 17:45–47, David came in the name of the Lord of hosts and declared that the battle is the Lord’s. He knew he was the house owner and that God would back him. Where the word of a king is, there is power (Ecclesiastes 8:4), so believers must talk like children of almighty God.

That authority is never permission to hurt people. When James and John wanted fire from heaven, Jesus said they did not know what spirit they were of (Luke 9:54–56). Believers overcome evil with good and deal with things in the spiritual realm. The pastor closes with an invitation to receive Christ and recalls praying for a man at a drug party who was instantly in his right mind.

Living as a House Owner This Week

The practical steps below come straight from the pastor’s application of the kingdom of heaven:

• Learn the kingdom. Treat understanding as protection; what you do not understand the enemy can steal.
• Receive the gift of righteousness. Your best day and your worst day, you are still the righteousness of God in Christ.
• Use the keys. As a house owner, arrest whatever is attacking your home, habits or finances in the name of Jesus, and loose what God has promised.
• Watch your words. Speak the good things of God over your household instead of rehearsing what is wrong.
• Talk with God. Make prayer a conversation, even an honest one, rather than a checklist or a show.
• Take off borrowed armor. Face your giants as yourself, trusting the Lord who delivered you before.

Timestamped Outline

• 0:00 Without understanding, Satan can steal
• 1:15 Kingdom of God and kingdom of heaven
• 2:32 Living by feelings: a finance story
• 4:57 John 10:10 and Luke 16:16
• 6:02 Why the organized church is needed
• 8:21 Rome’s apostles and the ekklesia
• 13:56 When in heaven, do as the heavenly do
• 16:29 Seek first the kingdom: Matthew 6
• 20:06 Law and grace: John the Baptist and Jesus
• 23:56 Jesus before Pilate: I am a King
• 27:43 Abide in the vine; Mark 1:14–15
• 31:33 Every scribe a house owner: Matthew 13:52
• 36:53 The keys of the kingdom: Matthew 16
• 39:18 To bind means to arrest
• 45:49 The kingdom is within you: Luke 17
• 48:13 Kings and priests: Revelation 1 and 5
• 51:40 Woe to the scribes and Pharisees
• 55:16 Prayer is talking: a date-night lesson
• 58:38 David and Goliath: 1 Samuel 17
• 1:05:26 Saul’s armor and the clothing of righteousness
• 1:10:15 The battle is the Lord’s
• 1:16:21 Invitation and prayer of salvation

Building God’s Kingdom Series

This is the first message in this series on building God’s kingdom at NTC Ministries. Continue with the next teaching:

• You are here: Building God’s Kingdom #5: House Owners Who Hold the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven
• Next: Building God’s Kingdom #7: How Tradition Limits God’s Word and the Women He Uses in Ministry

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the pastor think believers should avoid the church as an institution?

No. He teaches the opposite. Jesus came to organize the church, and he says that someone who rejects the organized church does not believe the Bible on this point. His picture is a house: nobody lives in a lumber heap. Materials have to be put in specific places for people to dwell there. In the same way, the church brings believers together so they do not separate and try to do life on their own.

Is the kingdom of heaven only about going to heaven after death?

No. The pastor says salvation is not only about getting to heaven one day. God puts heaven within us. Jesus said the kingdom of God is within you, and believers are made kings and priests now. Living in the kingdom of heaven means starting to live a better life now, even while this world still has problems.

What should someone do who has never given their life to Christ?

The pastor closes with exactly that invitation. He says a heart commitment to Christ is all God expects. In salvation God gives a new heart and puts His Spirit within, so the person becomes a new creation. He leads a simple prayer asking God for forgiveness, inviting Jesus to be Lord and Savior, and asking the Father for His Spirit and a new heart.

Scripture References

All passages open in the New King James Version on Bible Gateway:

• Matthew 16:18–19 — the keys of the kingdom of heaven
• Matthew 13:52 — every scribe a householder
• Matthew 6:25–33 — seek first the kingdom
• Romans 5:17 — reigning through the gift of righteousness
• Luke 16:16 — everyone pressing into the kingdom
• Luke 17:20–21 — the kingdom is within you
• Revelation 1:4–6 — kings and priests to God
• Matthew 23:13–15 — shutting up the kingdom
• 1 Samuel 17:45–47 — the battle is the Lord’s

How this summary was made: written with AI assistance from the sermon’s own transcript and checked against the Scriptures listed above.

Watch More Messages

If this message helped you understand the kingdom, there are many more teachings from NTC Ministries waiting for you. Browse the full sermon archive and keep growing as a house owner in God’s kingdom.