How Can You Prepare for What Lies Ahead? Part 1

Well, thank you, Alan. I really appreciate that. I'd like to welcome everyone to our Kingdom of God seminar that we're conducting. I believe this is about the maybe the fifth one that we've done. And these are something that we will continue to do on a regular basis. And so, everyone's invited to attend whenever we have one of these. Today we want to focus, as all of these focus, on the Kingdom of God, some aspect of the Kingdom of God. When you look at the daily headlines of newspapers, you look on your computers, you see that it appears our country's in trouble. We seem to have financial uncertainty, terrorist problems and threats. We have a continual cultural problem and decline in this country. And what we want to find out today is, how do you prepare for the next turn in world events? What are we going to do as these events begin to unfold in front of us? We know that it is God's desire that you and I survive, that we succeed, but today we're going to learn how to prepare for the challenges that all humanity is going to be faced with, and especially in this country, all of the occupants. This seminar is designed to give you hope, give you something you can latch onto, something you can hold to, and that you can take from here, not just philosophy, but practical application of God's Word to your life. Today we want to answer four essential questions. One, why don't we have world peace today? Why is it that we find that for centuries man has driven for peace and has not been able to find it? Why do we find that the Bible offers the kingdom of God as a solution to man's problems? If you would ask most people, what is the kingdom of God, they would have no idea. What is a major underlying crisis that we're faced with today in society? And there are some major crises that we're facing. If you were to look at some of the problems right now, I'm sure that all of us could articulate a number of difficulties. But what's the major one we're faced with? And what is it that Jesus Christ has in mind for you to help you to succeed and to help you in your future in the kingdom of God? Understanding, I think the answers to all of these will help you to be enlightened, empowered, motivated, give you hope so that you can progress for the future. What we're going to do in this Part 1 seminar today on how you can prepare for what lies ahead, we're going to answer the first two questions that I mentioned here. So let's start with, why don't we have world peace? Why is there not world peace? You know, peace among nations is something that nations have striven for, they hope for, they dream for, they plan for, they have all kinds of strategies. And yet, when you go and you look, over the last 5,600 years of man's recorded history, there have only been something like 280 years of peace. And during that period of peace, they were preparing for war, getting ready for war, building arm limits. And so you find that the world always seems to be in preparation for war.

There have been all kinds of peace talks, strategies, peace treaties, peace demonstrations. There have been those who have come along and said peace in our time. I want you to notice in Jeremiah 6 and verse 14, Jeremiah 6.14, the Jeremiah summarizes here why there is not world peace. Let's say it's sort of a portrayal of what's gone on in society as far as peace is concerned. Jeremiah 6.14 says, they have healed the hurt of my daughter slightly, meaning superficially, saying peace, peace, when there is no peace. So people talk about peace. You might remember before the Second World War began, Chamberlain came back to Britain and he said peace in our time. And of course, that was before Hitler and his juggernaut got going. And we had a war where multiple upwards to 50 billion, not billion, million people were killed when you count the army, as well as civilians. You also find in Isaiah 59 and verse 8 that we as human beings don't have the understanding, the grasp, to know exactly how to bring about peace. In Isaiah 59.8, we read the way of peace they've not known. And there is no justice in their ways. They have made for themselves crooked paths, and whoever takes that way, in other words, the way the man devises, shall not know peace.

Now you find in the book of Romans that this is quoted that the way of peace they don't know. And so God shows that human beings, mankind, does not know the way to peace. And this is why man's striving for peace has never come upon it. You know, the conduct of nations, how nations react to one another, is simply a reflection of the behavior of the people within those nations. The fact is that international relationships will be peaceable only when the people in the nation are peaceable. The individuals within the nation have to be peaceable. But yet, when you look around at our country, how many murders take place? How many people get involved with violence? How many marriages break up? How much violence and all of this do you see taking place? Are people peaceable today in their interactions with one another? Now the Bible indicates that one day God is going to bring peace. But how is he going to do that? How will that be achieved? Well, notice in Ezekiel 18 and verse 31. Ezekiel 18, 31.

In order to have genuine world peace, a new heart and a new spirit has to be given to people. A new heart and a new spirit. Where does that new heart and new spirit come from? What comes from God? It comes through his spirit. You see, God is calling people now, and he's offering to give a new heart and a new spirit presently. The vast majority of people who live and die have not had that opportunity. You think about all the civilizations that have come and gone. The Egyptian civilization, the Assyrian, the Babylonian, the Persian, the Greek, the Romans, the Chinese, the Africans. Whole millennia have come and gone. Millions and billions of people lived and died. Never heard of the God of the Bible. Never heard of the name of Jesus Christ, as the book of Acts says. There is no other name given under heaven whereby man may be saved. And yet, they lived and died and never heard that. And even today, you find that the world is divided up and there are many major religions. There's Islam, Confuciusism, Hinduism, Shintoism, all kinds of isms. Christianity is splintered into all kinds of different groups. And so, most people do not understand God's way. They're divided. And yet, you find when Jesus Christ came the first time, many think that Christ came to show the way to peace to everyone. And yet, in Matthew 10.34, Jesus Christ said, Matthew 10.34, do not think that I came to send peace on the earth. He said, I did not come to send peace but to bring the sword. And he went on to say that a man's enemies would be those of his own household. That a daughter would be against her mother-in-law, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, or daughter, you, families would be split.

World peace, in order for it to be obtained, is going to occur when the prince of peace, Jesus Christ, returns to this earth and sets up his government, his kingdom, on this earth. Let's notice in Isaiah 9 and verse 7. Isaiah 9.7, we read that there's going to come a time after Christ has returned to this earth that the increase of his government and peace, there will be no end to that period. So, once Christ returns to this earth and sets up the kingdom of God on this earth, there's going to come a time when there will be no end to peace. Now, when Jesus Christ brings peace to the earth, it's not going to be because of appeasement. You know, today, a lot of times, peace is brought about, quote-unquote, because of appeasement. One side will appease the other. In marriages, a lot of marriages get along because one partner tries to appease the other partner. Appeasement is making concessions to your enemies in the hope of buying them off. You know, well, we'll have peace. I'll give you a billion dollars worth of planes and so on, and we'll have peace. Well, it doesn't work that way. When Jesus Christ comes back, you will find the nations will fight against him. He'll have to forcefully, with power, put down the governments and the rebellions of this world, establish his kingdom, and then he will have to re-educate all humanity in his way of life. And then mankind will be led into great peace. At that time, there is coming a time when war will be utterly banned. God won't allow it. Let's notice in Isaiah 2 and verse 4. Isaiah 2, we'll read in verse 4.

The time will come when they will beat their swords into plowshares, their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift sword against nation, and neither shall they learn war anymore. No more West Point. No more Air Force Academy. No more military learning. Now, when it says they won't lift up sword against sword, today we will say they won't lift up machine guns or guns and rockets and tanks and so on against one another. Mankind is going to have a time when they won't learn war anymore. Micah is a parallel chapter, Micah chapter 4 and verse 4. And just to quote one verse from that, verse 4 says, at that time everyone will sit under his own vine and under his fig tree, and no one will make them afraid. That's not true today. We lock our cars. We lock our houses. We have saves. We don't dare leave things around because we're afraid somebody will take it. People are afraid all the time. Women are afraid of being raped, abused.

Nations are afraid of other nations, big nations. Pick on the smaller nations, take advantage of them. But there's coming a time when everyone will be able to sit under his own fig tree, figuratively be blessed, have his own house, garden, animals sit there, and he won't be made afraid because God will be there to protect him. Do we realize that this was actually a central aspect of the message that Jesus Christ brought about the kingdom of God? That when Jesus Christ came to the earth and preached, what he was preaching was the kingdom of God. Yet how many people actually understand the kingdom of God? The apostle Paul constantly in his writings referred to the kingdom of God. In Ephesians 6.15 is an example. Ephesians 6.15 we read about the gospel. Gospel simply means good news. That's why we have a magazine called The Good News. It's the gospel of the coming world tomorrow. The gospel of peace in Ephesians 6.15. But why is humanity today in the state of suffering, terrible suffering, discord? Why is there so little peace today? Why is there so little cooperation among people, nations? Why does fighting, conflict, confusion prevail in human relationships? It all has to do with sinful human nature.

Now, some people may say, well, you can't be talking about me. I'm not sinful, but you are human. You do have nature, and we do sin. As human beings, we have what the prophet Ezekiel referred to as hearts of stone. Stony hearts, hearts that are heart that have to be softened up, that that stony heart has to be removed. Our corrupt human nature and our weaknesses, combined with the devil's influence, has led the whole world down a wrong path, has led the whole world into the path of hurting, suffering, and agony. Revelation 12.9 tells us that Satan has deceived the whole world. He's deceived the whole world through false religions, wrong education, all the wrong values and standards that man can think of. This notice in 2 Corinthians 4.4, 2 Corinthians 4, verse 4, it talks about the God of this age. Now, the book of Hebrews refers to this age as this present evil age. So it says the God of this age, that's Satan the devil, has blinded the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot see the light of the gospel. The gospel, the good news about the kingdom of God is like a light. It's like a flashlight that you shine and it directs you in the right way. It shows you the path to walk. Satan comes along and he blinds people. He closes their eyes. He stops their ears. They're not able to see, hear, comprehend. And so consequently, they don't understand. So God's disciples, though, today have been called out of that. This notice in Ephesians chapter 2 verses 2 and 3. Ephesians 2, 2, and 3. Notice what it describes about our past, the way every human being has lived, because this includes everyone. It says, You once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the sons of disobedience. So when you see disobedience and lawlessness and rebellion, you need to realize Satan is always involved. It says, Among whom also we all once, see at one time in the past, conducted ourselves in the lust of the flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, whereby nature the children are just as others. See, lust means wrong desires. Nothing wrong with wanting to have proper desires, like food, water. But when you go in the wrong direction, you eat things God says not to eat, or you eat too much. You abuse what God tells us to do, nor allows. Then we lust. And so because of Satan's deception and the sinful tendencies that humans have, the apostle Paul, you might remember Romans 3, 23, about human beings, that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. So every human being who's ever lived except Jesus Christ has sinned and fallen way short of God's calling.

Now, we have to understand that the devil cannot force anybody to sin. He doesn't take your arm, twist your arm, hold your head under water, and say, you've got to sin. Now, that's not the way the devil works. He does it through influence. He influences our fleshly weaknesses. There are major ways that Satan the devil manipulates human beings, and he does it through our fleshly nature. Let's take a look very quickly at some of the ways that Satan the devil is able to influence mankind to go in the way that is the opposite of peace. First of all, our selfish and physical desires get us into trouble. You realize that all human beings tend to be selfish. Our minds are focused on ourselves, on our drives, wants, needs.

In Galatians chapter 5 and verse 19, I'll read this from the new Revised Standard Version, Galatians 5 and verse 19. It says, Now the works of the flesh are obvious. This is what a human being cut off from God, following his own nature, influenced by the devil, what he will do. The works of the flesh are obvious. Fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, emities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions envy, drunkenness, caroling, or carousing, I should say, and things like that. And I'm writing you, as I warned you before, notice that they who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. If an individual is practicing these things as a way of life, he will not inherit. He will not be in the kingdom of God. Paul was very explicit about that. So the Apostle Paul also very graphically explained this in Romans chapter 1. Let's go over there to Romans 1.24. In Romans 1.24, through this whole section, we'll read part of it, not all of it. You see, the effect of physical desires have on human behavior and how that we can't trust our physical desires all the time. We have to look to what God says. How do we know right from wrong, good from evil? You have to look at the God who made us and who says this is right or good. In verse 24, therefore God gave them over to sinful desires, this is the NIV translation, of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of the bodies with one another. Even their women exchanged natural relations from unnatural ones. In the same way, the men also abandoned natural relations with women, were inflamed with their lusts, again, wrong desires for one another. Men committed indecent acts with each other and receiving themselves a due penalty for their perversion. I'll say, human beings today, there's a big argument going on as to what is marriage or not marriage and what is a family and not a family. God very clearly tells us what is right and wrong when it comes to sexual desires. Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, see here's the problem. People reject the knowledge of God. They don't hold on to the knowledge of God. They didn't think it worthy or worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God. He gave them over to a depraved mind to do what ought not to be done. They become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, and depravity. They're full of notice. Endy, murder, strife, deceit, malice, their gossips, slanderers, god-haters, insolent, arrogant, boastful. They invent ways of doing evil. They disobey their parents. They're senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do those very things, but also approve of those who practice them. Not only do they do them, but then they put their stamp of approval on those who do them.

That's one of the major reasons why human beings go off in the way that they do. Second major reason of our physical fleshly nature is easily manipulated by Satan is our own natural deception. What do I mean by that? Well, Jeremiah 17 in verse 9. Jeremiah 17.9.

We'll read a new Revised Standard Version here again. The heart is devious, or deceptive, above all. It is perverse. Who can understand it? So, the human heart is deceptive. We deceive ourselves. We do wrong and we justify it. We come up with all kinds of reasons for why we did wrong, and then we come up with justification for it. Verse 10. I, the Lord, test the heart, the mind, search the heart, to give all according to their ways, according to the fruit of their doings. So, we naturally look for ways to justify or lust our sinful desires, our behaviors, to go off in the wrong direction. God's Word reminds us in two places in the book of Proverbs. Proverbs 14.12. There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end there is the way of death. So, there is a way that seems right to us, but it only ends up in death. Death is the end result of living the wrong way.

Remember Romans 6.23. That the wages of sin is death. The wages of sin is death. Now, I've given you a handout with sort of an outline of both of these lectures in it. You'll notice that I include a lot of extra scriptures that we don't show up here. Most of those are extra. The idea is that you can go home, study those, read them yourself, and they just back up what we are already talking about. Now, a third major area of our physical nature, and why it's easily to be manipulated by the devil, is that we have natural tendencies to resent anyone telling us what to do. Rule, law, or somebody coming along and putting limits on us, or saying, you can't do this.

In Romans chapter 8, verse 5, Romans 8.5, in the home and Christian standard Bible, we read this, For those whose lives are according to the flesh, remember we read back in Galatians, the work of the flesh are, and went on to mention what those were. So those who live according to the flesh, think about the things of the flesh. That's where their mind is centered, focused. But those who live according to the Spirit, about the things of the Spirit, where God's Spirit leads and guides and directs us. For the mindset of the flesh is death, but the mindset of the Spirit is life and peace. Notice, life and peace. For the mindset of the flesh is hostile to God, because it does not submit itself to God's law. Think as King James, and you King James says, it's an enmity against God, hostile to God. It does not submit itself to God's law, for it is unable to do so. Those whose lives are, in other words, dominated by it, by the flesh, are unable to please God. So if we just follow the dictates of the flesh, and we do not allow the Bible, under the inspiration of God's Spirit, to lead us and guide us and show us the right way, we're going in the wrong way. These fleshly weaknesses are what we call human nature. Satan takes advantage of our weaknesses. He takes advantage of our greedy nature, our selfishness, our vanity, our pride, our egos. He works on those, and he works, and finally he finds where your weakness is, and that's where he will attack you. So your weakness might be my strong point. My strong point might be your weakness, but we all have areas where Satan will come after us. Our problem is, we play our part in all of this. We go along with him. Without the positive influence of God's Spirit, we simply are not able to follow what God says. Notice in Romans 8 and verse 13 and 14, Paul warns us in Romans 8, 13, for if you live according to the flesh, you will die. The wages of sin is death. There's a way that seems right to a man, but the ends thereof are the ways of death. See, all those tie in together. If you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. So it's not just a matter of having God's Spirit. There are people who have God's Spirit, but that Spirit must lead you. It must guide you. God gives us the Spirit of God to give us the power to overcome, to grow, to change, to become like Him. The Bible tells us in 1 John 3, 4, that sin is the transgression of the law. Sin is the breaking of God's law. It's going against the Ten Commandments. The fundamental law of God is the Ten Commandments. It's summarized in one word, love. Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, love your neighbors yourself. And so that fundamental law explains how God wants us to live. The first four show us how to worship God, love Him, last six, how to love our neighbor. The commandments are listed in Exodus 20, Deuteronomy 5. Here we have a free booklet, if you've never gotten it, on the Ten Commandments. It explains these much more fully. The ancient Israelites were told that if they were to obey God, keep His laws, the things would go well with them. They would be blessed in every facet of their lives. They would be blessed, and they truly would be an example to all the other nations. But they were also warned that if they disobeyed God's law, that there would be consequences, and those consequences would be negatives. There are calls in effect. You do something wrong, there will be an effect. You do something right, there will be a blessing that goes along with that.

Many people are totally ignorant of God's law. Or they may have heard of them, but they don't really know how to apply it. Let's notice one of those commandments in Exodus 20.14. The Seventh Commandment says, You shall not commit adultery. Now, millions of people today in our society commit adultery. How about all of those who are cohabiting today? In the United States, something like 40 percent of married couples getting married today cohabit with each other before they get married. They live together. How many today are committing fornication? How many are married and then divorced and marry again and maybe divorce? What impact does that have on the family, on the children, on society, on the welfare and stability of a country? God's laws cannot be broken with impunity. There are always negative consequences to breaking the law of God. What about the breakdown of the traditional family in the Western world? What about the sexual revolution that we see taking place? Now, some of you were alive back when Lyndon Johnson was president. I'll use some of you. We're alive. Of course, my wife and I were alive also back at that time. And he had the great society in the 60s. During that period of time, the birth control pill came out. That you could actually prevent pregnancy by taking a pill. Now, guess what that did for revolutionizing the attitude towards sex? All at once, a person didn't have to worry about getting pregnant. They could go out and have sex with whoever they wanted, as many times as they wanted. All they had to do was take a pill, and it would prevent it. And so, you had the great society, and during that period of time, when there were a lot of, let's say, financial things being rolled out by the government to take care of the needy, you had a breakdown toward the family, sexual promiscuity, contraceptives, and breakdown of the family. Another thing that has come along, we're all familiar with Roe versus Wade.

And as a result of that Supreme Court ruling, abortion became another major factor in another example. If a woman did get pregnant, she takes the pill, she still gets pregnant, now they've got a morning after pill. You can be five years old. That may be pushing the limits, but you can be a young girl going to a drugstore, ask for the pill, and you can buy it. You don't have to have your parents' consent to be able to buy the day after. Well, today, a lot of ladies will go and have an abortion in the United States. It's estimated that there are 1.3 million abortions a year. Since Roe versus Wade, there have been 40 to 50 million abortions in the United States.

In Exodus 20 verse 13, God calls this murder. All you have to do is to look at a sonogram, and you can see that there is a life after just a few weeks. It doesn't take but a couple of weeks. Nervous system begins to develop. Two or three weeks, there's a heart pumping. There is a shape, maybe rudimentary, of a child, and then it develops and it grows from there. Greed has been one of the great problems that we have in our country today. It is partially responsible for the massive financial problems we have. Everybody thinks that they should have theirs.

Sometimes greed is called the American dream. There is an American dream where you want to improve yourself and better yourself. But today, too many people do it through greed. If you don't have something, you don't have to worry about paying for it without the plastic. Give it. That one is to the limit.

Get another piece of plastic and run that up to the limit. So you have people 30, 40, 50, $300,000 in debt to their credit card. One day you have to pay those things. And what you bought with it doesn't seem so important at that time. The other way our government handles it, they go out and borrow money. Or they just print it.

Wouldn't it be nice if you and I go to our basement and say, well, I'm $20,000 in debt. I think I'll print $30,000 up. Now, I'll take $20,000 down to the bank, pay my debt off, and I'll have $10,000 to just sort of play around with. Well, we know that doesn't work that way, but that's the way the government operates. And here we are over $16 trillion in debt.

And by all estimates, in another 10 to 20 years, we will be over $120 trillion in debt. When you add all of the programs that the government is committed to sustaining, there's no way that we can do that. So people create borrowing, they create money, and yet the Bible in Exodus 20 verse 17 says, thou shall not covet.

We are not to covet. And that's certainly true. Whatever happened to the fact of, well, when I got the money, I'll buy it. But it doesn't work that way. Breaking the Fourth Commandment contributes to our nation's physical problems. I don't know if you've ever thought of it that way. Instead of closing everything down one day out of the week, stores are open seven days a week. It gives people extra time to go out and buy and spend their money.

And it also leads to the breakdown of the family. When God says, remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy, guess what? There is one day that God says for you, as a family, to rest. It's a day to be together. It's a day to fellowship. It's a day to worship God collectively. And yet you find that when the weekend comes, what happens to most families on the weekend?

Every direction you can think of. And there is not the togetherness that there should be. There breaks part of the Commandment in verse 3 of Exodus 20 that says that you shall have no other God before me, that we are to put God first. So you see that the commandments that God has given to us are there to guide us in a proper way. And a lot of the problems that we as a nation, if we as a nation were to keep it, keep those commandments, we as individuals, if we were to keep them, then God would bless us.

Actually, Revelation 3.17 describes, to a great extent, the attitude that we see transpiring today. Revelation 3.17.

Notice in age, here's the church described, the Church of God.

Revelation 3.17. Well, they say, I am rich and have become wealthy. Now, it needed nothing. When the reality, God says, is that spiritually we are what? Wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. And so, the people have an opinion of themselves as being spiritually wealthy, having need of nothing. And God, when he looks down and evaluates, says, no, you're wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. Now, we see a lot of wrong around us, and we know that it's going to get worse as time goes on. There's something in the book of Leviticus 26 and the book of Deuteronomy 28. There are dire warnings that God gives, dire judgments for disobedience. And yet, you find in the same chapters, God calls for repentance. God asks us to change. Let's notice in Leviticus 26 and verse 40, just hitting a couple of sentences out of this, verses 40 through 45. Notice what God says. If they confess their iniquities, that's talking about us individually. If we confess our iniquities, our sins, and the iniquity of their fathers, then I will remember my covenant with Jacob. For their sake, I will remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I have brought out of the land of Egypt, in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God. So, God is looking for us to change, to repent. That's what the word repentance means. It means at one time we're going this way, we turn around 180 degrees, and we go in the opposite direction. This promise is beautifully echoed in 2 Chronicles 7, 14. Let's notice 2 Chronicles 7 and verse 14. If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves, there's a beautiful song written on this verse, and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sins and heal their lands. So, God wants us to change. Yet, when you look at our nation, you look at the direction we're going, our nation, the nations of this world are unlikely to change right now, before the return of Jesus Christ. But we can individually change. And you'll find that that's what God is working on today. He's calling individuals to change today. You can seek God's kingdom. As Matthew 6, 33 says, seek you first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. So, God wants us to put His kingdom first in our lives. Now, why is the kingdom of God the solution to the problem? Remember, I asked that one of the four main questions when we got started. Why is there not peace? Well, we don't have peace, as we found out, because of Satan's influence, mankind following his own ways, going the opposite of the way of peace.

But why is the kingdom of God the solution? You know, the mainstream Christianity, what we would call popular Christianity today, talk a lot about Jesus Christ. They talk about the messenger. They talk about Christ, what He did, and how He came and died, and how He is loved. They never seem to emphasize the message that He brought, what He really had to say. They talk about the messenger, but not His message. Wouldn't it be funny to talk about, well, here comes the messenger. Well, boy, you know, he was good looking. He was 6'5", 220 pounds, red hair, muscles really looked good, and they don't talk about the message that He delivered. You'll get your house in order. Now, you find that He spoke about the kingdom of God to His followers. In parables, He constantly talked about the kingdom. Let's notice a couple of these in Matthew 13, verse 45. The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who when he found one pearl of great price was the best pearl you could ever find. Pearl of great price. He went and sold all that he had and bought it. He was willing to give up everything for the pearl of great price, which is the kingdom of God. Jesus' point is that the kingdom of God is so precious that we should be willing to sacrifice everything that we have for it. The parable before made the same point. Notice verse 44. The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field, which a man found in him for joy over it goes and sells all that he has and buys the field. So the kingdom of God that Jesus spoke about constantly embraces the solution to all a man's problems and all a man's dilemma. Now, it answers everything.

The kingdom of God, as I mentioned in Matthew 6.33, should be the primary goal of all of us. It's the target. It's what we are aiming for. It should be the central focus of our life. Every day we get up thinking about the kingdom and what we need to do to be in that kingdom. The problem is there is a very clever spirit being out there who sidetracks human beings, and he influences human beings into believing all kinds of different philosophies and religion. I want you to notice the scripture I don't have thought about later here in 2 Corinthians 11.

2 Corinthians 11.13 that explains what we're talking about here. I want you to notice what the apostle Paul wrote. 2 Corinthians 11.13, For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no wonder for Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Satan doesn't come as an angel of evil. He appears as an angel of light. He has his own ministers who appear as angels or ministers of light. Verse 15, Therefore, it is no great thing if his ministers, Satan the devil, has ministers, also transform, that means they change themselves, into ministers of righteousness. They appear righteous, whose end will be according to their works. By their works, you will know them, and the end of their works will be death. And so, you discover that Satan the devil has cleverly deceived people. And he's done it through religion. The kingdom of God conveys the vital truth of the Bible. Jesus Christ spoke of the prophets, the patriarchs like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob being in the kingdom of God. Let's notice in Luke 13, verse 28.

Luke 13, 28, There will be weeping and ashen of teeth. When you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and yourselves, thrust out, and they will come from the east and the west, from the north and the south, and sit down in the kingdom of God. And you should have noticed he talks about the kingdom of God. He doesn't talk about going to heaven, but the kingdom of God. Now, Matthew in the parallel account uses the term kingdom of heaven.

Kingdom of heaven is synonymous with the kingdom of God. Why did Matthew use the term kingdom of heaven? Because he wrote to basically a Jewish audience who avoided using the name of God. They would substitute different words for the name of God. And so he used the kingdom of heaven. So that he would not offend them. Luke 22, verse 28. I want you to notice Jesus Christ's teaching. Here, shortly before he was crucified, he taught his disciples, he says, But you are those who have continued with me in my trials, and I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as my Father bestowed upon me, that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Jesus Christ was talking about a literal kingdom with literal people, and that there would be the apostles resurrected, given authority to judge the nations, the tribes of Israel, to lead them, to guide them, to teach them, to show them the right way. But you know, the kingdom of God encompasses more than just the Hebrew patriarchs of old, or the prophets of old, or the kings of old. Are the apostles? It includes you and me. It included the apostle Paul. In 2 Timothy 4.8, you find Paul writing to Timothy, and he said, There is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord Jesus Christ, the righteous judge, will give to me in that day, and not to me only, but also to all who have loved his appearing. So, Christ will give us our rewards when he comes back to this earth at his appearing, and it will be given to all those who love his appearing. Now, the kingdom of God is something the Bible indicates very clearly that you and I can enter into. True Christians are called to be a part of that kingdom. Christ is going to return to this earth in power and majesty. He is going to establish his kingdom over all the nations. Notice in Revelation 11.15 what it says will happen. Revelation 11.15, when Christ comes back. It says, the seventh angel sounded. There are seven trumpet plagues in the book of Revelation. At the seventh trumpet, the last trumpet, it will sound. And there will be loud voices in heaven saying, the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdom of our Lord, and it is Christ, and he will reign forever and ever. So, Christ is going to come back, take over all the governments of this world, the nations of this world, Russia, China, Japan, the U.S., Britain, Germany, Africa nations, all nations, and he will rule over them, and he will change this world.

The nature of wild animals, just to give you one glimpse into that world, will be changed. Notice in Isaiah 11.6. The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat.

The calf and the young lion, the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them.

That's not true of our world today, but it will be of the world tomorrow. God will use those called mounds the first six thousand years, called first roots, resurrected saints. He will use them to help him in establishing that government on this earth. People will be miraculously healed. War will not be allowed. The devastation of war will not take place. There will be genuine peace, not preparation for war. Jesus will come back and establish his government, and everyone who will be a part of that government at that time will teach, guide, and direct the nations. We will have to show the nations how to love one another, how to be at peace with one another. You and I have been called now to be teachers, to train, and to help others. So, we want to take a further look at that, which we will do in the second seminar that we will give. So, I'd like to ask Mr. Alan Dantz to come back, or MC, today. He'll announce a couple of things, and then we'll take a short break and come back for the second portion. So, I'd like to ask you to come back, or we'll take a short break, or we'll take a short break.