How Can You Prepare for What Lies Ahead? Part 2

I began part one of the seminars today asking four questions. We answered two of those questions. Why don't we have world peace? Why is the kingdom of God the solution? Now, there were two more questions that I posed at that time. What is the major underlying crisis that we're faced with in the world today? And why is Jesus Christ planned for you personally? For your success and future in the kingdom of God? Because that's what we're all striving for. So, let's take a look as we move along here. Some of the action that God wants us to be involved in. Understand these questions from the Bible, from the Scripture. What is the major underlying crisis of our time that we're faced with? Well, to learn the answer to that, we have to go back a little bit into history. Biblical history. And the fulfillment of the promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God established Israel as a nation. And the reason why God chose Israel was not because they were better than anybody else, but because they would be a blessing to all the other nations around them. They were chosen for a duty, for a responsibility.

Now, notice that, and here on me, chapter 4 and verse 6, that he expected them to be an example, a light, a beacon to the nations around them, that they would not have to worry about warfare. They would not have to worry about crop failure, all kinds of problems that we're faced with today.

And the nations should have been able to say, now, wait a minute, why are you so blessed? And come and ask them. And they would tell them it's because of God and his law. And, dear on me, for 6, we read this. Therefore, be careful to observe them. That's God's statutes and judgment. For this is your wisdom and your understanding inside of the people, who will hear of all these statutes and say, surely this great nation is a wise and an understanding people.

So, if the Israelites were faithful and fulfilling their part of the covenant, the member of the covenant is simply an agreement. The old covenant was an agreement that God made with ancient Israel. If they obeyed him, they would be blessed. If they disobeyed, they would be cursed. But, sort of, summarize it. They were supposed to be the premier nation on earth. They were to be the light of the world, the pinnacle, the one that would set the example before all other nations.

In Deuteronomy chapter 26, this is not in our slides here, but Deuteronomy 26 and verse 18, one of these extra scriptures I mentioned that I put down for you. I thought I'd go ahead and read it. Verse 18. Also today the Lord has proclaimed you to be his special people, just as he promised you that you should keep all of his commandments, and that he will set you on high above all nations. That was the promise that God gave to them, which he has made. And they were to be a praise in name and in honor, and that you may be a holy people to the Lord your God, just as he has spoken.

And so God was going to use them as an example to all others. Now, if they disobeyed God, Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28, showed that they would be punished, that they would eventually go into national captivity, but that even their punishment would be an example to other nations.

In Deuteronomy 28.37, notice how God summarizes it here. Deuteronomy 28.37, you shall become an astonishment, a proverb, a byword among all nations, for the Lord will drive you. And so, if the nation of God, the peoples of God, do not obey God, because eventually they will go into captivity, and it will be such an astonishment among the nations that they will become a byword. Nearly 3,500 years ago, God told ancient Israel, He's recording Deuteronomy chapter 4, beginning in verse 23. Deuteronomy 4 verse 23, He says, Take heed to yourself, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which He made with you, and make for yourself a carved image, in the form of anything which the Lord your God has forbidden you.

For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God. When you begat children and grandchildren, and have grown old in the land, and act corruptly, and make the carved image in the form of anything, and do evil in the sight of the Lord your God, that provoke him to anger, I call heaven and earth to witness against you. The Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in numbers among the nations, where the Lord your God drives you. This happened to the house of Israel. They went into national captivity. And it also happened to the house of Judah. Both of those nations went into captivity.

Today, Britain and the United States are descendants of the nations of ancient Israel. We are the ultimate fulfillment of the promise given to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. We've seen today with the restoration of Joseph's birthright promises to his descendants, that the United States and Britain have had unparalleled, unprecedented prosperity and wealth. There are no nations on the face of the earth you can point to that have been blessed more than we have. A nation, the United States, and a company of nations, the Commonwealth of the British people. And Britain, at its very height, had an empire that extended around the world.

There, the opportunity is spreading God's way. And when the British Empire did spread around the world, guess what they did? They took the Bible with them. They took the Scriptures. They took an ethical, godly civilization and spread it to the world. They took the Bible into far-flung areas of the world that had never seen the Bible. And yet today in Britain, religion is ridiculed.

The British are some of the most irreligious people on the face of the earth today. They show very little interest in religion. And the United States is not too far behind them. Now, we happen to live in what's called the Bible Belt. And obviously there's more religious activity in this part of the country.

But you find the United States as a whole than many of the universities. And many today simply do not believe in the Bible as a standard, the foundation. And yet this country was founded upon the principle. Its leaders, founding leaders, had a great respect for the Bible. Many of them were ministers themselves. And yet a large portion of our nation today does not believe in the Bible.

Do not believe that the Bible is the standard that we should go by. So even though we're the most, and had been, the most prosperous nation on the face of the earth, we've also become one of the most immoral nations on the face of the earth. Immorality runs rampant in our nation today. Look at the broken society you see around us. Broken homes, fabulous households, illegitimacy, abortions, sexually transmitted diseases. All of these seem to be a hallmark of society today, especially in the Western world. Many cities today in America are cesspools of violence, crime, gangs, poverty, illiteracy, illegitimacy, greed, and materialism.

They've become a national religion instead of the Bible. In many countries, they call themselves Christian today.

So as a result, the United States and Britain have lost a great deal of respect for many of the nations in this world. So what is the major underlying crisis that we see in the world today? It is a contempt for the rules of God in the lives of most people. It is an unwillingness to let God rule in their lives. So many people pay lip service to God. They talk about God. They talk about believing God. They go to church on Sunday, and they do all kinds of things that appear to be religious. And yet, they do not look to the Bible, to the standards of the Bible, to the Scriptures, to let the Bible guide and direct them and show them how to live. It's not a matter of how much knowledge you have. It's a matter of how much you put it into practice, how much you implement it, how you live by it. This is what God is looking for. If we disregard the commandments of God, then it will lead to the downfall of our nation. When you go back into history, into the time of ancient Israel, you'll find that there are two major reasons why they went into captivity. God enumerates that constantly throughout the Scripture. One was idolatry. The second was Sabbath-breaking. Discover the book of Ezekiel, chapter 20, beginning in Ezekiel 20, verse 12. Notice that God revealed through Ezekiel why Israel went into national captivity. The same principles apply to the United States today, to Britain, to the so-called Christian nations of the Western world. Notice.

They did not walk in my statutes, they despise my judgment, which if a man does, he shall live by them. And they greatly defiled my Sabbaths. They despise my judgments and did not walk in my statutes, but profane my Sabbaths, their hearts, and after their idols. People will say, we don't have idols today, yet many churches have idols. They pray to dead saints who are actually dead. They are not alive. You'll find that the Bible talks about setting up idols in our hearts and our minds. That an idol is anything that's more important to you than God that you put before your God. If God says something, you say, no, I won't do that. That becomes your idol. That's your stumbling block. That's what prevents you from obeying God. What about the Sabbath day? Should our nation today, should the United States of America be keeping the Seventh-day Sabbath? Should Britain be keeping the Seventh-day Sabbath? Should our people be keeping the annual Sabbath day? The answer is absolutely. But yet as a nation, we're probably not going to do that. Not now. But should we individually be keeping the Sabbath day? Should you and I? And the answer is yes. We can't change the nation as a whole. We would like to, but we can't. But we can change ourselves. We can yield to God. We need to follow Jesus Christ's example. Jesus Christ is the founder of the Christian religion. It's named after him. It's called the Christian religion.

What was his example? How did he view the Sabbath day? In Exodus 20, verses 8 through 11, we find that Jesus Christ very clearly talks about the Sabbath. It is one of the Ten Commandments. That is the one commandment that people want to look at the Ten, rip it out, throw it away, keep the other nine, but not keep the Sabbath.

In Exodus 20, remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shall you labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall not do any work, you, nor your son, your daughter, your manservant, your maidservant, nor your cattle, nor the stranger that is within your gate. For in six days the Lord made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and all that in them is, and he rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and he hallowed it. The word hallowed means he set it apart. That is the day that God put his blessing on. He set that day apart. And yet among professing followers of Jesus Christ, there is no commandment that arouses so much controversy as the Sabbath day does. The fourth commandment. There are some who believe that Jesus Christ came to the earth to do away with the Sabbath. They believe that when Christ came, he died on the cross. He nailed the commandments to the cross. He did away with them. There are others who think he deliberately ignored the Sabbath day during his life on the earth as God in the flesh, and set us an example of breaking the Sabbath. Others argue that he had known the Sabbath day, that the nine were annulled, all ten were annulled, but he brought nine of them back and didn't bring the tenth one back. There are some who believe that Jesus replaced the Sabbath with himself, and so therefore we have our rest in Christ. And so that's their idea about it. Still others believe there is no Sabbath. That person can worship God on any day. You don't need a special day to worship God. You can do it any day, any time, any way you want to choose. And so there are all kinds of arguments and reasons and controversies, and the overwhelming proportion of Christian traditional Christians today do not keep the Sabbath. They keep Sunday. Now sometimes they call it the Sabbath, but Sunday is the first day of the week, and it's replaced the Sabbath day of the seventh day of the week. Now, can you find, let's say, proof, or can you find any examples, support for what Jesus Christ taught about the Sabbath day? What was his example? What did he tell us to do? You're in the Gospels, the word Sabbath is mentioned 50 times. Now, to those 50 times, we ought to be able to learn something because we have the example of Christ. Let's notice in Luke 4.16 to begin with.

Luke 4.16. This is the first mention of the Sabbath in the life of Jesus Christ. So he, that's Jesus, came to Nazareth where he had been brought up. And as his custom was, he did what? He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read.

So Jesus' custom, or normal activity, was to go into the synagogue and teach on the Sabbath day. You find the same things, and I put this down in your outline, Mark 6.2, Luke 13.10, your parallel scriptures and others that show that Jesus Christ went into the synagogue and taught them. But let's notice in Luke 4, in verse 31. Then he went down to Capernaum, the city of Galilee, and was teaching them on the Sabbath.

So more than one Sabbath day he did this. He continued to teach them. And they were astonished that his teaching, for his word, was with authority. He said, maybe it's this way or maybe it's that way. No, he said, this is what you need to do. Now, later on the Sabbath day we find that he went to the house of Peter, and he healed Peter's mother-in-law. I didn't put these down in the slides, but let's go over to verse 38.

Let me just read these very quickly. Verse 38 here in Luke 4. It says, he arose from the synagogue and entered Simon's house, but Simon's wife's mother was sick with a high fever. They made requests concerning her. He healed her. Now notice verse 40. As the sun was setting, all who had had any that were sick with various diseases brought them to him. He laid his hands on every one of them and healed them. Now, why did they wait until the sun was going down? Well, they were just like the Pharisees.

They thought it would be wrong to be healed on the Sabbath. Verse 43, he said to them, I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also, because for this purpose I have been sent. And then verse 44 says, he was preaching in the synagogues of Galilee. So we see that Christ went into the synagogues. People would be assembled on the Sabbath day.

He'd come in. He had a ready-made crowd. He would teach them. And they would be astonished at his teaching. So, the Savior, our Savior Jesus Christ, understood the purpose of the Sabbath. That it was perfectly appropriate to heal people on the Sabbath. You give them hope to show them the right way. The picture. See, the Sabbath pictures something. The Sabbath is the seventh day of the week. It pictures the future millennium, the world tomorrow, the time when God will ultimately heal all nations.

And so the fact that he was healing on that day was a symbol of that. It's interesting that in Acts 17 in verse 2, that you find the same thing mentioned about the apostle Paul. Paul, as his manner was, the Bible says, went in unto them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scripture.

So you find that it was his manner, or his custom, to likewise go into the synagogue. Verse 3, opening and alleging that Christ must suffer, risen again from the dead, and that this Jesus, whom I preach to you, is Christ. Now, when you study the example of Jesus Christ in keeping the Sabbath, when you see what the apostle Paul did, there is no hint to their listeners that they need not be there.

You don't find any one of them saying, look, you don't have to come here on the Sabbath day. Come back tomorrow. Come back on Sunday. Come back on some other day. You don't find that. Where many people jump to wrong conclusions is they think that Jesus Christ came and that he taught against the Sabbath. Now, you find that Jesus Christ did have a confrontation with the scribes and the Pharisees. His confrontation was never whether we should keep the Sabbath or not. It was only how it should be kept. See how it should be observed.

That's what Jesus Christ pointed out to them, because they had added all kinds of do's and don'ts. They had made the Sabbath such a burden that nobody wanted to keep it. And so Christ came along and challenged them on how they kept the Sabbath. He healed on the Sabbath and they accused him on the Sabbath. He exposed their hypocrisy. Let's notice in Luke chapter 13. And again, I don't have this on the PowerPoint presentation, but Luke 13, 15.

You might remember, well, let's go back to verse 10, actually, so you see the whole context. It says, He was teaching in one of their synagogues on the Sabbath. And behold, there was a woman who had the spirit of infirmity 18 years, was bent over, could no way raise herself up.

And when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him and said, Woman, you're loose from your infirmity. And He laid His hands on her and immediately she was made straight and glorified God. But the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because Jesus had healed her on the Sabbath. And He said to the crowd, Look, there are six days on which men ought to work.

Therefore, come and be healed on them and not on the Sabbath day. So, see, He was indignant. Now, where in the law of God do you find that it's a sin to heal somebody on the Sabbath day? Well, you don't. See, that was their man-made tradition.

The Lord then answered Him in verse 15 and said, Hypocrite, does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or donkey from his stall and lead it away to be water? So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan is bound, think of it, for eighteen years be loosed from the bond on the Sabbath. And when he said these things, all his adversaries were put to shame. See, they were made to look very foolish, because the famous example of the ox and the ditch.

If they had an ox and a ditch, they'd go pull the ox out of the ditch. If they had cows and horses, they would take them out of their stall and lead them down and give them water. And so Jesus Christ was teaching how to keep the Sabbath. He was not doing away with the Sabbath. He became very angry at them at times, at their inability to see what God taught, and where they placed their own teachings, their own traditions, their own thoughts above God's law and God's commandments.

On occasion, he and his disciples were walking through the grain field. When they reached down, they plucked off grains of wheat or barley, rubbed it in their hands, and popped it in their mouths. They were accused of harvesting. They were not harvesting. And Christ, again, had to correct them and show that it was not wrong to do that.

What if you had an apple tree in your backyard? You got all these beautiful, delicious apples, and you walk outside on the Sabbath day. You see an apple, and you reach up and pluck it off, throw it in your hands, and start eating it. Have you seen it? Well, no, you haven't, not following the example of Christ. But according to the Jews, you had transgressed their man-made traditions.

Jesus Christ understood the true purpose of the Sabbath. Let's notice in Mark 2, 27. In Mark 2, verse 27, Christ said the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.

What's the purpose of the Sabbath? It was made for man. It was made for your good. It was made for you as a day to rest. That's what the word Sabbath means. It's a rest day. It's a day to be together with your family. It is a day to concentrate on God, on His Word. It gives you extra time to pray and study. It's a day to fellowship with God's people. So Christ revealed the meaning of the day. See, the Pharisees had reversed the priority. They had added, although there were meticulous regulations and traditions, they had made it an enormous burden for people. Instead of being a blessing, it became a curse to them.

They didn't look on it in the right way. Notice verse 28. Jesus Christ, as God, had the authority to tell us how to keep the Sabbath. So in verse 28, Therefore the Son of Man, Jesus Christ, is also Lord of the Sabbath.

So He is the one in charge of the Sabbath. He is the Lord of the Sabbath. So clearly, the biblical evidence, the example that Jesus Christ set for us, is that we should keep the Sabbath. Now, obviously, I've had time to go through this in great detail, but we have a booklet, Sunset to Sunset, God's Sabbath Wrist. It goes through in great detail to explain this. Now, with that in mind, let's go to come to the second question and answer it. What is Jesus Christ's plan for your success and future in the kingdom of God? The kingdom of God is the promise. It's what we look forward to in the future. Why has God called us today? Why has He opened your mind? Why do you understand now? Is there a responsibility that goes along with that? We find the Bible promises salvation, and that is through the life of Christ, His death, His resurrection, although that is central to our eventually having salvation. Jesus Christ died, was buried, was resurrected. He did that so you and I could inherit eternal life in the kingdom of God. Remember John 3, 16? God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever should believe in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Christ was willing to come as a sacrifice for our sins. So, He made it possible for us to enter into the kingdom of God. What is salvation? Salvation is the transformation of a physical body, a mortal body, into an immortal Son of God. You and I no longer are mortal, but we become immortal. Spirit beings with a spirit body. Notice Hebrews 2, verses 10 and 11. Hebrews chapter 2, we'll begin in verse 10. Notice how the book of Hebrews expresses it. In bringing many sons to glory, that's God's purpose, He wants to bring many sons to glory, to be glorified. It was fitting that God, and we're reading now to the NIV here, it's fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of salvation perfect through suffering. Both the one who makes men holy, Christ, and those who are made holy, that's converted human beings, are of the same family. We are of the same family. Those who enter into the kingdom of God are of the same family. And whose family is that? It's the God family. We are all children of God. We've been called to become glorified children of God. Right now, we're begotten children of God. We have God's Holy Spirit dwelling within us. If we've truly repented, had hands laid on us, been baptized, God gives us His Spirit. But in the resurrection, we will become glorified. Let's notice in 1 Corinthians 15, verse 42. This whole chapter describes how God is going to give eternal life to human beings. Well, let's notice beginning here in verse 42. So also is the resurrection from the dead. The body is sown in corruption. We're all corruptible. We die, we decay. It is raised in incorruption, not subject to decay. It is sown in dishonor. It is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness. It is raised in power. It is sown a natural body. It is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. So you and I will be at the resurrection, a spiritual body, through the resurrection of the dead. Now, we find that you and I can have the divine nature of God implanted in us today. 2 Peter 1.4 mentions that. We will have that divine nature throughout eternity.

Let's notice in 1 John 3, verses 1 through 3, that John is very explicit in describing the future relationship that we will have with God. 1 John 3, beginning in verse 1, Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called the children of God? Beloved, now we are the children of God. And it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know this. When He is revealed, we shall be like Him. Whatever God is like, we will be like. We will be members of His family, the kingdom of God. For we shall see Him as He is.

No human being can look on God in His glorified state and live. So human beings who enter into the kingdom of God will be given the glorious honor of being like the resurrected, glorified Jesus Christ. We will become joint heirs with Him. Let's notice Romans 8, verses 16 and 17.

Romans 8, The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. And if children, then heirs. We become heirs of God. Now, heirs of what? It says here, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ.

What did Jesus Christ inherit? Whatever it was, we will jointly be heirs with Him. If so be that we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.

Now, in going over my notes, I thought of another scripture. Just jot it down here. Philippians 3, 21. Philippians 3, 21. It talks about how God will transform our lowly body, that's His human, fleshly, physical body that sweats and perspires, rolls old and wrinkles and decays. He will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body.

One day, we will be changed, transformed, and have a body like Him.

When is eternal life given? When will God give us eternal life in His family? Well, that awesome potential of receiving eternal life as a member of the family of God occurs at the resurrection. In 1 Corinthians 15, and verse 50, we read this. This I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.

As long as you and I are physical, we will not be in the kingdom of God. Nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet, see, that's the seventh trumpet.

The trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when the corruptible is put on incorruption, this mortal is put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. We will finally conquer death. So Jesus Christ will return at the seventh trump. The resurrection will take place. You might remember in Revelation 11.15, again Revelation 11.15, that when Christ comes back at the sound of the seventh trumpet, that the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ.

That He will take over the governments of this world. Those who are resurrected to immortality will rule with Jesus Christ for a thousand years on this earth. We will assist Him in bringing salvation to all mankind. The gospel of the kingdom of God reveals that Christ will set up His kingdom on this earth. The resurrected saints will be given the opportunity to help to administer that kingdom.

Revelation 5.10 show that we're not going to go off to heaven, but when you die, you don't go to heaven. When you die, you go to the grave. You'll await the resurrection. When we are resurrected, notice what we will do. He will make us kings and priests to our God. We shall reign. We shall rule on this earth. It's the nations of this earth that need godly rulers who live by God's laws and His commandments.

Prophecies in the book of Isaiah reveal that when Jesus Christ returns to this earth, that He's going to set up His government. That He's going to make this earth like the Garden of Eden. Let's notice Isaiah 35. I'm quoting a few scriptures I have put down here, but let's notice chapter 35, beginning in verse 1 of the book of Isaiah. It says, You can read this whole section through here, that the land is going to become like the Garden of Eden. One of the things that Christ is eventually going to do is He's going to bring peace to this earth.

You and I have the promise of becoming a spirit being and living forever. In Revelation 21, verse 7, I want you to notice this incredible promise that God makes to us. He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he shall be my people. You and I will inherit all things. In the Greek, that's an expression that means the whole universe. Ultimately, God wants to give us not only the earth, but the whole universe. Now, what does God have in store for us? We don't know. But it includes the universe.

It includes, as joint heirs with Christ, whatever he inherited. It includes being a member, a son or a daughter of the family of God forever. Notice Hebrews 2, verse 6. It indicates here that we will rule over the entire universe. Notice, but one in a certain place says, what is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you visited him?

What is man that God created us, takes notice of us? You made him a little war in the angels. You crowned him with glory and honor. You did set him over the works of your hands.

You put all things in subjection under his feet. From that he put all in subjection under him. He left nothing that is not put under him. But now you see not yet all things put under him. See, not all things are yet put under us. But there's coming a time when they will, when we will be in the family of God.

So, when we hear and understand the gospel, when we understand about the kingdom of God, what should we do? Is there anything that we should be doing? Well, the Bible, you might remember the very first kingdom of God seminar we had, we went through Mark 1.14, where Christ came preaching the gospel of the kingdom, saying, Repent and believe. So the first step a person has to do is repent. We all have to repent of our sins. We all have to believe the gospel. We all have to believe that Jesus Christ is our Savior. And we've got to look to God for forgiveness of our sins, for reconciliation.

Those who refuse to obey God, who know, who understand, have had their minds open, who refuse to follow what God says, will not be in the kingdom of God. In 1 Corinthians 6 and verse 9, Notice what the apostle Paul had to say.

Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor cavities, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.

So the Christ is very clear through Paul here that we won't be in God's kingdom unless we repent of doing these things and change and begin to live by God's standard. We've got to make the kingdom of God our highest priority. The apostle Paul in Acts 14.22 said it won't be easy for us. Acts 14.22, we must, through many tribulations, enter the kingdom of God. So again, the kingdom of God is something we enter. So we do have tribulations, trials, and tests.

But it is to be our primary goal and plan and purpose.

Now, Matthew 6.33 again, seek you first, the kingdom of God.

We find that Jesus Christ, in what's called the model prayer, in Matthew 6.10, said, Pray this way, our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. You and I are to pray that God's kingdom would come to this earth. It doesn't say the kingdom's already here, but we are to pray that it would come to the earth.

You and I need to have the same outlook that the men and women of old, who are called men and women of faith, had. Hebrews 11.13 and 16. Notice. Hebrews 11 verse 13. These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off. We're assured of them and embrace them and confess that they were strangers and pilgrims.

On the earth, therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city. So God has prepared a city, a future, for us.

So they were called strangers and pilgrims. They look forward to the kingdom of God.

You might say, well, Christ taught his disciples that at that time, but that doesn't necessarily mean that we should teach it today or believe it today. Well, let's notice Matthew 24.14, that the Bible is very clear that the same message, never deviates, never changes, never alters, is to be taught today.

Matthew 24.14, this gospel, this good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all nations. Then the end will come. That's when the end will come.

So this gospel of the kingdom is going to be preached at that time. Actually, that's what this work of God, the Church of God, the United Church of God is all about.

Our members tithe. They pull their monies to be able to have the Beyond Today broadcast, the booklets, the articles to do the work that God has called us to do.

Our work is to preach about the kingdom of God and to preach the family of God. As Christ said, again, to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. That means to do what's right. What He tells us is right.

So God has called us for an awesome future. We have an awesome calling.

We need to take the necessary steps to follow God's wonderful calling.

So, brethren, we're here. We've heard about the kingdom of God.

I'll just say this, that if you have any here, have any questions, we will be staying around.

If you look at somebody, he looks like he might know something. You got a question? Ask him a question.

I'll be glad to stay around and answer any questions that you might have.

We have a literature display table out here. If you'd like to pick up any booklets, please feel free to do so. You can join us right here on a regular weekly Sabbath. We meet here every Saturday at 2.30.

So thank you for attending. I'd like for our emcee to come back, and he'll close today's seminar.