Gospel of the Kingdom of God

Glad to have all of you here today. As I mentioned in the announcements, and even with our little invitation card, where we're encouraging people to come. Now, I know we've had sign-up. I mean, there's a sign-up system set up where people can go to our website, and they can click on Kingdom of God Seminar, and they can register. Now, I have to tell you that we're not seeing a lot of registration.

I can kind of look at it and tell. And there are people registering in different places. We haven't really seen just a whole lot. I have some in each of the four locations that we are having a seminar here locally. We do have some who are signing up.

Now, I think I told you last time that didn't really tell us much, because we didn't know who would show up. And we had people show up from St. Louis that we could hardly imagine would come to Columbia, but somehow they actually found us over here. But we want to be certainly praying about the seminars, praying that God will turn people's heart. He will cause them to want to know about what the future holds. Want to know answers to the questions that they face in their lives, because in many ways, all people have problems.

Now, we might think we have some problems, and we do, but everybody has problems. Everybody has difficulties. And everybody needs answers. And that in part is why the church has sponsored a series of Kingdom of God seminars. Now, I hope you've thought about this, and I'm certainly not going to be covering anything that's absolutely new today at all.

But I think we ought to consider, what is it that we're doing Kingdom of God seminars? It really is probably a more important question that we might have imagined, because to us, Kingdom of God information, pretty common. That's ordinary stuff to me. I think in many ways it's ordinary stuff to you, because that's a part of your life. That's a part of the way you think, live, the way you anticipate things, what you're looking forward to in the future involves the Kingdom of God. But unfortunately, if you try to look up information about the Kingdom of God, and as you know, googling something is real simple to do, you can Google anything.

You can Google completely insignificant stuff, and it will tell you the answer, as I was doing the other day. Anytime we have a question, my wife and I have a question about something we don't know what the answer is, which for me a lot of times is often, all you have to do is just ask the question. Usually you find before you get it typed out that it's already there, and you can select it, because somebody else has wanted to know, you know, how do you make mustard?

What do you put together? The ridiculous stuff that you can easily get. But when you bring up stuff, if you go to the Kingdom of God, you don't find a lot of clear information. You bring that up, and actually, thankfully, I did that yesterday, the United Church of God information about Kingdom of God is one of the first few that you see.

So that's great! That's really good. I think people need to think about the Kingdom of God more than what it appears they actually do. And yet, you also, when you look at some of the others, complete misinformation, some stuff from the Catholic Church, and a few of the other churches of God also have some information there.

And yet, I think as we're having our Kingdom of God seminar, and as we're praying for people to respond, people to see that, well, the Kingdom of God ought to take a higher occupation of our time. It ought to increase in our understanding. It's just not something that many people are that interested in. That's always seemed to be amazing to me with the background that I have, which has been talking about, thinking about, anticipating, praying, thy Kingdom come for decades, as most of you have been doing that. I'd like first to look in John 18 because I think it's important for us to understand how the Gospel and the Kingdom of God are connected. The Gospel and the Kingdom of God are actually quite clearly connected.

And yet, unfortunately, what you find is that many people think of the Gospel. Whenever they think of the term Gospel, maybe they know that means good news, or maybe they know it means glad tidings. But to many people today, and unfortunately with the education or the religious education that's available most everywhere around here, people's idea of the Gospel is just simply some information about Jesus, which again is not wrong, and I will hopefully explain that. That's clearly a part of what the Gospel is about. But is the Gospel primarily about Jesus, or is it more so about what Jesus taught? What He told His disciples?

What He tells us? What He says is going to be preached before His intervention in world affairs that we all yearn for and anticipate. See, I would offer to you that that also is a big part. Maybe even I'm not going to be percentageing here, but at least there are two elements, two main elements to the Gospel, to the good news, because it clearly is good news to me. And it's good news to you that God sent Jesus Christ to the earth to offer us salvation. That is very good news. And that would be something many people would agree with, who are in any way related church-wise to any church.

They would probably have some idea of that. I feel I understand that. I feel like, and I want to understand it. I want to appreciate it. I want to be grateful for that. I want to actually have that as a refuge for my life more than I ever have at any time in the past.

That is something I clearly identify with. And as we keep the Passover, as we celebrate the value of the sacrifice that Jesus gave for us and how He wants us to turn from sin, how He wants us to turn to Him and to turn to His ways, that's a part of the Gospel.

No. But actually, you know, maybe even a larger element of the Gospel involves the coming Kingdom. It involves the Kingdom of God that all of us pray for. Here in John 18, it's interesting to see the exchange between Jesus and Pilate, because it's very revealing. Here in John 18, verse 33, Pilate entered the Praetorium, and calling Jesus said to Him, Are you a king?

Are you the king of the Jews? See, this was information that He had been given. The Jews were pointing out to Him something about Jesus, and, you know, well, He claims to be. I'm sure that's the way they framed it. He claims to be the king of the Jews, or, you know, at least some think He is, or some are saying that He's the king of the Jews. But when Jesus was brought before Pilate, a Roman ruler, then He asked the question, Are you the king of the Jews? And Jesus answered, Are you speaking for yourself on this, or do others tell you about it? You know, He, of course, came back with a retort that I'm sure Pilate didn't anticipate. But Jesus keenly was aware that, well, Pilate doesn't know anything about this, actually. He is uninformed altogether. But Pilate said, Well, am I a Jew, your own nation? The chief priest of Deliberatee to me? What have you done? You know, they've got to have brought you in here for something. They're trying to kill you, and they're claiming that you're claiming you're the king of the Jews. And in verse 36, Jesus makes some very clear statements. He says, My kingdom is not of this world. He was saying, I am a king. And my kingdom, the kingdom that I rule over, the kingdom that I represent, the kingdom that I'm going to install, because it was a yet-to-be-installed option here. My kingdom is not of this world. It's not going to come about from human ability. It's not going to come about in any way through a Roman, or through a Jewish, or through any of the countries around the area of Israel at the time. It's not going to come from people or from governments. My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would be fighting so that I would not be delivered to the Jews.

So he was saying, yes, I'm a king. I am the king of the kingdom of God.

And yet my kingdom is not of this world. My kingdom is not being installed right now. I'm here in a preliminary way. I am here as a precursor to what ultimately will be the answer, what will ultimately be a solution that people can look toward, work toward, and ultimately enter. This is what he's going to reveal here. He says, my kingdom is not of this world. Otherwise, my servants would be stopping this mess because my servants would be given the power to do it. But he says, right now, my kingdom is not from here. And so he had something to say about the kingdom of God. Even at the time, very close to his crucifixion, Pilate went on to say, well, are you a king then? And he'd already kind of asked that. And yet said, you are, you say rightly that I am a king. That's what Jesus told him. I am the king of the kingdom of God. And for this cause I was born, and for this cause I've come into the world that I should bear witness to the truth. See, the truth was in this regard and in regarding being a king and regarding being the king of the kingdom of God or representing a kingdom that has authority, that has power, that has laws that's guided by those laws, and that actually is going to ultimately change the entire earth. Yes, I'm the king of that. For this cause I came into the world and I'm going to bear witness to this truth. And everyone who is of the truth is going to hear my voice. So he clearly was saying that those who are going to receive the truth of God about the kingdom of God are going to also acknowledge the value of the voice of the king. See, those two things are closely tied together, but one is not exclusive of the other. And we're going to go through a few other scriptures here today that will show that Jesus was not installing the kingdom right then. He made some statements about the kingdom. He said that he represented the kingdom. We're going to go on to those. But we can also, maybe we can back up here in John because there's some interesting statements here in John that Jesus made. John chapter 3, this was when Nicodemus came to him and was talking to him. He was asking him about being born again. That's what he was talking about. But Jesus said in John 3 verse 3, most assuredly, I say to you, unless you're born again, then you're not going to enter the kingdom of God. Here he points out that, well, the kingdom of God is a reality. And unless someone is born again and they're born anew, well, then they won't enter. They won't go into the kingdom of God. He said the same thing in verse 5. Unless you're born of water and spirit, you cannot enter the kingdom of God. You go on over to chapter, let's see here, chapter, I think it's, well, I thought I had another verse down here, but I'm not seeing it right now, so we will go on to something else.

But what we find is that Jesus, well, I guess what I was thinking is not in John, it's in Matthew. Well, we're all told what we as members of the Church of God today and who are pursuing an understanding of Jesus Christ, influence in our life and of our pursuit of the kingdom of God. In Matthew 6, verse 33, we're told by Jesus again to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these other things, the physical things that we all need will be added unto you. See, so we see certain statements that are here clearly in the Bible that are, I think, very clear. And yet, unfortunately, for the fact is, most people don't. They don't know hardly anything about the kingdom of God, and they don't know that they really need it. They need to be seeking the kingdom of God. That's a part of why we're having kingdom of God seminars. People need to know the term kingdom of God. They need to think about, well, is there an answer to the unbelievably bad rulership that man provides in this world, around the world, in country after country? Men seek power. They seek money. They seek influence. They seek what we find in almost every country and certainly here in this country. We've got an election system going on now that dominates all the news. Who did what to whom, when, and who can talk about it in whatever positive or negative way they can. And why do we have to have a poll every single day? Let's just wait until, you know, get closer to November. I don't see why we have to do it every day, but they do it numerous times every day. And yet they don't really have answers. They don't really have solutions. They don't really have healing. They don't really have the love of God. That's what they need. They, you know, they simply are missing the point. And of course, ultimately, the kingdom of God is about the love of God. It's about helping people live in harmony with God's law and in harmony with God. See, that's what we ultimately want. We want to live in harmony with God the Father and with Jesus Christ. And so, you know, it's baffling to me to see the small amount of understanding that people have about the kingdom of God. And of course, I'm wanting to point out that the kingdom of God is not, or excuse me, regarding the gospel, the gospel is not solely about Jesus Christ, but it is about Him as the king of the kingdom. But it's also so much more about the kingdom that's coming. And, you know, you can think, well, you know, this is very elemental. This is something that I already know. This is something that I live with all the time. See, why are you not confused about that? Why are you not so unclear as you see so much lack of clarity around the world? Well, it's because our lives have been focused on the Word of God, and they've been focused on what the Word of God says, which is what Jesus said, but we just read here in John 18 that I'm the king of the kingdom. I am of a kingdom that is not from this earth. It's a kingdom that is going to be installed yet in the future. It's a kingdom that we're looking forward to. And see, we all happen to observe the Holy Days of God. We all happen to observe the Feast of Tabernacles.

We do that every year. We go through a celebration of the return of Jesus to the earth on the Feast of Trumpets and the taking away of some of the way that sin is perpetuated by removing Satan's system. And then we go through a seven- and eight-day celebration of the Kingdom of God. That is so common. That is so intrinsically ingrained in us because we're following what God says. We're just doing what He says. We are following His Word. I'd like for us to go to Mark chapter 1 because sometimes people misunderstand what Mark 1 says. Mark chapter 1 simply says, as we begin the Gospel, Mark wrote, The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as it is written in the prophets, Behold, I'll send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you, the voice of one crying, The wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make His path straighten. He talks about John. And He talks about John then baptizing Jesus. And so, you know, people solely look at verse 1, the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Now, if they only took that and said, okay, this is everything I need to know, then you could say, well, it says the Gospel is about Jesus Christ. Now, that isn't what it says. It says the Gospel of Jesus, the Gospel that's not so much about Him, as I know Mr. Armstrong used to point out rather clearly. And yet, we also recognize that, well, yes, it is about the way Jesus affects our life. It's about how He is going to install a kingdom, but it's more so about what He says. As we get on down in verse 14, after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Well, no, it was what Jesus taught. It was what He preached. It was what He taught His disciples to preach. As He came to Galilee, He was preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom that He was the King of, the Kingdom that would ultimately come. And what He said was the time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand.

Everybody needs to repent. That's what He told them, and they need to believe in the Gospel. Now, this is a Gospel message that Jesus brought. Yes, it did involve an understanding about Jesus and about who He was and what He is able to offer.

But what we find in verse 15 is really very telling, and this is actually the focus of the Kingdom of God seminars. It's kind of the outline for what we've been going through. Last time we talked about the time is fulfilled. We're at a time in history that is unprecedented. We're at a time where things are coming apart so quickly in so many places. They are unraveling around the globe.

People need help. And yet mostly we're saying people who are in a raveler positive setting. You know, there are people who are in very bad settings around this world.

You know, more than are in good settings. Whenever you look at continents, you know, where there are billions of people, about seven billion here on the earth today, three-quarters of them are not in highly favorable situations. They exist. They exist for at least a short period of time. The life expectancy for people in many countries is quite low, at least compared to where we live here, where it's 70 or 80, whatever it is. Usually they have a difference there for men and women. Women live longer. And so, you know, that's something that, you know, we kind of get used to. That's our culture. You know, that's what we expect. You know, I'm only 62. I anticipate living 20 more years unless Christ intervenes, which I hope He does, so that I don't have to live to be 82. I don't want to be 82. I'd rather just be 63 and have Him return, you know, however quickly He could come about, bring that about. But, see, most people, you know, don't live in the advantage that we do. They don't live in the setting that we have. And they truly need, you know, the Kingdom. And yet, as it mentions, Jesus said the time is fulfilled. The Kingdom of God is at hand. In a sense, He was introducing the Kingdom of God because that's what His parables were about. You know, He talked about the Kingdom being like this, being like that. Numerous different parables of the Kingdom that we all ought to study. We all ought to be familiar with. We, I think we are, but we need to be even more so familiar with the Kingdom parables that Jesus spoke. But even more than the parables that He spoke about the Kingdom, you know, He directly just outlines here in verse 15, you know, what everyone needs to do is acknowledge their sins. See, ultimately, that's what everyone needs. That's what I need. That's what you need. That's what everybody up and down the street here needs. They need to acknowledge their sins and then turn from those sins. And God is merciful. He does hold out forgiveness.

And, of course, Jesus concluded this statement in verse 15, repent and believe in the Gospel. Believe in the good news that involves the coming Kingdom of God. That's what He was focused on. And whenever you read through Matthew and Mark and Luke, you find that this is repeated over and over. We already read a couple of verses here in John that are focused on this. I'd like for us to, you know, maybe we could turn to the book of Acts, because beyond the life of Jesus, what do we find was being preached even after Jesus' death? It says in verse 1 of Acts chapter 1, the former account I made of Theophilus of all that Jesus began to do and teach. So here Luke is once again writing. Here he's going to give an account of what the New Testament church was about and what they were saying, what they were doing.

He says, I'm going to give you an account of all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day in which he was taken up after he, through the Holy Spirit, had given commandments to the apostles whom he had chosen, to whom he had presented himself alive after his suffering by many infallible proofs, having seen by them during 40 days, and what did he do? Speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. Now that's Luke's summary statement of what Jesus did. That's what Jesus, now clearly Jesus' life was offered as a sacrifice. He was offered as the Lamb of God. And yet what he did and what he taught his disciples to do and what the disciples initially did, and what we're striving to do today, even though this has become muddled within churchy anity today, you know the message of the gospel is just simply about Jesus. And yet, that is something that's deeply valuable to us, but more so what Jesus taught about is pertaining to the things regarding the kingdom of God, regarding the kingdom that we're all seeking, that we wish, as we've read in John 3, to enter. And of course, you know, we also find numerous other statements here. It's amazing to see what it was that the disciples were directed to do because they were sent to preach the gospel. They were sent to teach and preach the good news. And that good news was going to then fill the lives, the empty lives of the people who heard it. And see, that's what we're hoping to do today. We'd like to fill empty lives with active, live information about the coming kingdom of God, about how that you can look forward to that, how you can yearn for that, how that that offers answers that in many other ways are not even available, not even possible. And you know, this is something that we are extending, that we want to extend, that we want to give to people because see, that's a part of the hope that lives within us. That's what we're told in in 1 Peter 3 verse 15, that we should be ready always to give an answer of the hope that lives within us, to do that with meekness and fear, to do that with a proper type of reverence for God and for His Word and for the other people that He loves. Now, we believe He loves us. We're thankful that He does, but He loves others as well. He is able to reach out to others, and we want to be asking Him to do that. We want to be asking Him to do that as we have these seminars coming up here in a couple of weeks, two or three weeks, in most places.

I'd like for us to also go here in 1 Corinthians 6, because here you find another statement that sheds a little more light on the Kingdom of God and on the fact that some people think that, well, the Kingdom of God is the Church today. And of course, the Church, meaning whatever Church they think that is, or whatever if they think Christianity, or as I call it, Church-ianity today, that that's the Kingdom of God. Well, that's not what the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 15. It talks about flesh and blood not inheriting the Kingdom of God. We're only preparing right now. We're preparing to be in the Kingdom of God. We're preparing to enter the Kingdom of God. And we have been introduced to it because the King has invited us to be a part of that Kingdom. And our drawing close to Jesus Christ gives us a connection to the Kingdom that we can't have on our own.

And yet, ultimately, we're not going to be a part of the Kingdom of God directly until we're changed, until we're changed to be a spirit being. But here in 1 Corinthians 6, it says in verse 8, You yourselves do wrong and defraud, and you do these things to each other, brethren.

Don't you know that the unrighteous will not inherit the Kingdom of God? And he goes ahead then describes, pornicators and idolaters, adulterers and homosexuals and sodomites and thieves and covetous and drunkenness, drunkards, revilers, extortioners. They simply, in verse 10, will not inherit the Kingdom of God. See, that's an inheritance. Being a part of the Kingdom of God, ultimately being a member of that Kingdom is going to come when we're transformed, when we are allowed the privilege of being changed from physical to spiritual. And of course, he points out, you know, that we want to remove these bad traits from our lives. We want to reach out and help others to also remove those things from their lives, as Mike was talking about earlier. We don't want to accept that, well, these things are okay, these things are wrong. But we know that this is a human struggle, that people need to come out of these things. But one of the things that does sell us in verse 9 and 10 is that inheritance, or inheriting the Kingdom of God, is yet in the future. It's not something we're yet there. You know, we are anticipating that great time. I think it's neat to see here at the end of the book of Acts, because as you know, the book of Acts is about the Apostle Paul for the most part. There are others of the apostles mentioned, obviously. But, you know, it's mostly a record that Luke was writing, and he was a close acquaintance of Paul, and he was giving a great deal of information about how Paul's message and his gospel to the Gentiles was being given, and he was talking about Jesus Christ. There is no doubt about that. But very clearly, he was proclaiming the Kingdom of God. He was proclaiming a Kingdom that people could enter and that people could inherit, and that they would inherit after living a life of overcoming and knowing that we're bound to suffer. We're bound to suffer in this life. We're going to go through a certain amount of tribulation, and I'll read that a little bit later. But here in Acts 28, the last chapter, it says in verse 22, we desire to hear from you what you think concerning this sect. They were calling on Paul to answer for himself, and we know that it's spoken against everywhere. And when they appointed him a day, it came to him as his lodging.

What did Paul do? He explained in verse 23, and he solemnly testified of the Kingdom of God. And he persuaded them concerning Jesus from both the law of Moses and the prophets from morning until evening. Paul was preaching the Kingdom of God. He was preaching of Jesus Christ as the King of the Kingdom. He was telling them what they needed to know. And of course, the very last through few verses here of the book of Acts, you know, you find the concluding statements that we have that give a history of what Paul was doing. And it appears at that point, Paul in verse 30 dwelt two whole years in his own rented house and received all who came to him, preaching the Kingdom of God and teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence. See, those two things seem to be intricately woven together to me in understanding what the Gospel is, of how it is that those two things must be blended together. And, you know, anticipating the Kingdom is a great deal of what we as members of the Church are going to be doing as we live throughout our lives. If we back up to chapter 14, Paul makes a statement as he is dealing with people who are trying to kill him. You know, he goes to the cities of Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch.

And in verse 21, when they had preached the Gospel to that city and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch. And they did that in order to strengthen the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith and saying, we must through many tribulations enter the Kingdom of God. See, it was going to be through, you know, the tribulations that they endured, through the suffering that they recognized that they were going through for what was going to come, what the Kingdom of God would be whenever Jesus came. And, of course, you know, we've read some information about Jesus' birth here in the last month or so. And yet I hope that we've come away from that thinking, okay, well, God sent him initially. He sent him at the right time. He sent him as a part of his plan. And that was only a first installment. It was only the beginning. It was the beginning of the preaching of the Kingdom of God. It was a representation of the King of the Kingdom coming and acknowledging that my kingdom is not being set up quite yet, but it will come. There will be a time when I'll be sent again from the Father and I will be sent to set up the Kingdom. And we all look forward to that. We look forward to that time. And, of course, you know, that's what we uniquely find here in Matthew 24. See, people should not misunderstand the message of the Kingdom of God. It is misunderstood today because churches in general don't teach about it. They don't teach about Christ returning and establishing a kingdom here on earth. This is something you and I believe. We believe that's going to happen. We know that the Word of God says Christ is going to return and establish. See, a lot of people think He's going to come back. They don't think He's going to set up a kingdom. They don't think He's going to establish something here on earth.

Amazingly, again, to me as I look at this, how can people not think that? But that whole idea, that whole thought, that that's what Christ is going to do is not common. It's not common at all because they're thinking they're going to go to heaven and, well, why would you want to come to the earth? It's just a part of the plan. It's a part of the plan that God is working out here, and it happens to involve the earth. It happens to involve human beings. It happens to involve human beings that He created in His image in order to develop or to grow in, is probably a better way of stating, the divine nature. See, the divine nature is needed. I want it. I want it for you. You want it. We want to always ask for it. That's a part of what has to be acquired through tribulation and through suffering, and yet God is laying out this plan for a reason. But here in Matthew 24, as Jesus says what the things are that would lead up to His appearing, verse 3, the disciples say, tell us when will these things be and what will be the sign of your coming in the end of the age? See, what were they talking about? They were talking about Jesus coming back. They were talking about Him returning. Now, He hadn't left yet, you know, and they were still a little confused about that. They weren't quite sure how He was going to die and then be resurrected, but, you know, He had told them numerous times, and of course, in the next few chapters here in Matthew, it is detailed. And yet, what He is saying, you know, I'm going to come back. I'm going to return the end of the age, and then He lists many things that will be happening in the world.

And in verse 12, He says, because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.

But He that endures to the end should be saved. And so, it does involve some persistence on our part. It does involve our not waning. It does involve us maintaining a consistency in drawing close to God, in seeking His kingdom first, as we saw in Matthew 6, in putting that as a primary emphasis in our life, and then, of course, maintaining that in verse 12 and 13, and then in verse 14, of course, He gives an identifying sign, this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come. See, that's what we're a part of today. That's what we're striving to do. That's what we're attempting in different ways, and some work better than others, and we continue to try to determine how can we achieve the preaching of the gospel of the kingdom of God. Well, you know, we're doing that, and it involves an understanding of the kingdom of the kingdom, yes, but it also points people to that coming kingdom. And so I think it's good for us to keep that in mind as we ask people, as we invite people, as we encourage people to come to seminars where we're talking about the kingdom of God. We're talking about a coming kingdom, but we're trying to explain that or to describe that in such a way that they will realize that, well, the plan of God is going to bring about a complete change here on the earth. It's going to bring about a kingdom that has a territory and laws and has a ruler and has subjects, and that as we participate in that message, as we participate in that gospel, then we all grow in the divine nature of God, in the love of God, but in all the qualities and aspects of the divine nature that we pray for and ask for and ask that He would cause us to grow in. That's what we want others people to do, and however God works that out, whether He does it now or as He does it through the millennium or as He does it even beyond that, we want people to embrace that. And I hope that we can pray that people will embrace coming to a seminar that they'll embrace identifying with those of us who should reflect Jesus Christ, those who should be led by the Spirit of God to reflect Christ and His love for them and His concern for them, and then ultimately you know bring about that kingdom as, again, we preach the gospel of the kingdom of God at these kingdom of God seminars.