Kingdom of God, Part 1

Well, thank you, Alan. That was Alan Dance. I'd like to welcome everyone to the Kingdom of God Bible Seminars. I think that we're going to embark today on a journey that will be quite exciting because we're going to be talking about God's plan and purpose for every human being. We find that the world today, society around us, is waning. It's coming to an end. I believe we all realize you can't continue forever with the way the world is. I believe we are living at a historical time, a crossroad in the time of history, when there's going to be a turning point.

We live in an age where it's very possible that Jesus Christ could return. There is a new world coming, and the Bible talks about that. It is going to be the Kingdom of God coming to this earth, the Kingdom of God being set up and being ruled over by one great king, and that's Jesus Christ. So we're going to try to clearly show you from the Scriptures, from the Bible, what the gospel of the Kingdom of God is all about, because Christ came preaching the gospel.

The word gospel simply means good news. So the message he brought was good news, but why do you find that most people are not really acquainted with what Christ taught? So this first seminar that we're going to be covering here today is going to cover the critical time in history that we live in right now leading up to the end of man's age, what the Bible refers to as this present evil age, and the time when Jesus Christ will return to set up his kingdom.

I want you to notice what Jesus Christ said about the Kingdom of God in Matthew 6 and verse 9. For everyone's benefit, we've got most of these Scriptures up here, and it will try to help you to go through them, because we'll be covering a number of Scriptures here today. But in Matthew chapter 6 and verse 9, notice what Christ said. He was giving the outline prayer to his disciples, showing them how to pray.

He said, Pray in this manner, our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Then he went on to make a statement that many people don't seem to understand. He said, Thy kingdom come. Now he prayed that the Kingdom of God would come to this earth. How many people believe that the Kingdom of God is something else besides a literal kingdom that is going to come to the earth? In this first segment that we'll be covering today, it's going to be a seminar that shows the missing dimension in knowledge, the world's knowledge about how it rules its government, its business, its education, its religious system.

We'll see that the knowledge about the Kingdom of God is a missing dimension in understanding a modern Christianity. When Jesus Christ said, Thy kingdom come, what did Jesus have in mind when he said that? Why did he tell his disciples, when you pray, say, Thy kingdom come? Why did he mention that it should be a part of our daily prayers, something that we should do on a daily basis? Christ was not saying, repeat this prayer word for word.

He was giving an outline. He was showing them how to pray. That part of our daily prayer should be praying that God's kingdom would be established on this earth. Just what is the kingdom of God? Do you know what that kingdom is? What the parts of it are? How can you be a part of it? I think that's the important point. How can you and I be a part of God's kingdom even today, and especially in the world tomorrow, in the time when his government is set up on this earth?

What is God's kingdom? Let's start with that. In Mark 1, verses 14 and 15, we find a scripture that explains what Jesus Christ did when he began his ministry. If you remember, he came to the earth, and for 30 years he did not preach. In this sense of carrying out a ministry, he had a three and a half year ministry the last three and a half years of his life. But when he came into Galilee, notice here in Mark 1.14, he came preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God. So he came talking about the good news of the kingdom of God, saying, the time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand, repent, and believe the gospel.

How many people, when you talk to them about the Bible, about what Christ taught, how many people do you know who understand and talk to you about the kingdom of God? You just go out and talk to somebody on the street and ask them if they're a Christian, and do they really understand about the kingdom of God? You'll find very few people do.

Modern Christianity misunderstands the gospel. They think that the gospel simply is talking about Christ, and certainly he's the part of it, but it is also concerning the kingdom of God and that being established. So Jesus Christ taught the kingdom of God.

Now, there are many misconceptions about the kingdom of God, and let's take a look at some of these, and perhaps you may have some of these ideas. There are ideas that you find floating around out there that people have concerning the kingdom. Is it just heaven, the kingdom of God? And by that I mean there is the idea today that's taught, and for about the last 1900 years this has been a part of traditional Christianity. And the idea is that when you die you immediately go to heaven, and that our reward is simply to go to heaven. Some will say you sit on a cloud, you pluck a harp, or you look up at God, you see the beatific vision. There are all kinds of ideas about that, but when you die do you immediately go to heaven? Well, notice in John chapter 3 and verse 12.

John 3 verse 12, Christ said, no one has ascended to heaven, but he who came down from heaven, that is the Son of Man who is in heaven. So you'll find that Christ said that no one had ascended into heaven. The Bible very clearly tells us that when you die you go to the grave, and you await the resurrection. And it is through the resurrection that God brings us back to life, and that God gives us eternal life in his kingdom. Notice again in Luke chapter 12 and verse 2, Jesus Christ prayed, your kingdom come. So he talked about the kingdom of God again coming to this earth. Now, another idea about the kingdom of God has to do again with heaven, and you might say, is it just simply heaven? You do find in the Bible, especially in the book of Matthew, in the book of Matthew, Matthew uses the term kingdom of heaven, whereas Mark and Luke and John use the term the kingdom of God. You find that kingdom of heaven, kingdom of God are synonymous, they mean the exact same thing. So again, is the kingdom of God heaven? The kingdom of God is presently in heaven. And what I mean by that, God the Father and Jesus Christ are part of that kingdom, and they reside in the third heaven. The Bible talks about three heavens, and there's the atmosphere, what we call the heavens. There are the stars, and then there's the third heaven, where the Father and Christ Himself are presently. But you find that kingdom is going to come to the earth.

God is going to send Jesus Christ back to this earth, and He's going to set up God's government on this earth. And this earth is going to become the center from where God will begin to rule.

Now, some people believe that the kingdom of God is the church, and so that's quite widely taught today, that the church is the kingdom of God. So once you become a part of the church, the idea is that you are part of that kingdom. But I want you to notice in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 20. 2 Corinthians 5.20, the Bible talks about that we are ambassadors for Christ today. The true church of God in the Bible is only the forerunner, or in other words, the spiritual diplomatic core of the kingdom of God. We are begotten members of that kingdom today. When I say begotten, God gives us the Holy Spirit based upon repentance, baptism, the laying on of hands. God imparts to us His very mind, His very nature and power, His Spirit to us. We become ambassadors, and an ambassador is one who does not become involved with the running of particular governments. He represents a government. Today, as ambassadors, we represent the government of God on the earth today. We proclaim that government. Is the kingdom of God in your heart? That's another idea. There are some bases that people have for this. If you'll notice in Luke 17 and verse 20, he was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come. If you might remember, we're not going to cover this scripture. Over in the book of Acts somewhere around Acts 1, verse 8, through 10, Christ was asked by His disciples, also after He had been resurrected, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel? So they were asking the same thing.

So here the Pharisees said, when will the kingdom of God come?

He answered them and said, the kingdom of God does not come with observation, nor will they say, see here or see there. For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.

Some people have read this and they've assumed, well, when you receive the spirit of God, the kingdom of God comes into your heart. So is it in your heart? Remember, Christ was talking to the Pharisees. Now, just who were the Pharisees? Well, they were a spiritual or, I should say, a religious sect of Christ today. They had something like 10 or 12,000 members. Did Jesus Christ say that the kingdom of God was in the Pharisees? Remember what Christ said about the Pharisees in Matthew 23? He called them white-washing sepulchers, snakes, vipers. He said that they were full of dead men's bones. They were self-righteous. They were lawless. They were hypocrites.

Now, if you'll notice here, when it says, in your heart, the word within in the Greek is a Greek word, entos, and the Greek word means in your midst. Now, in Luke 17, verse 21, the New Living translation translates it this way. Christ said the kingdom of God is already among you.

The English Standard Version says that the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.

It was not inside of the Pharisees. Jesus Christ, as King of Kings of the Kingdom of God, was right there in their midst. He was teaching them about the kingdom of God. He represented the kingdom of God on earth at that time. He was expounding His message, and they rejected His message. As we know, they ended up killing Him. When Jesus Christ returns to the earth, He again will set up the kingdom of God in the midst of mankind.

Now, people today think of Christ as their Master, their Lord, their teacher, their Savior, which He is, their high priest. But eventually, He's going to come to this earth. As the Scripture and the Bible say, He will become King of Kings and Lord of Lords. So, you and I can be a part of the spiritual kingdom today in the sense of being begotten by God's Spirit. Christ can live in us, as Galatians 2, verse 20 says. So, you and I have seen some of the common concepts about the kingdom of God. But what did Jesus Christ personally teach? What did He say about the kingdom? Well, if you read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, you find Christ's teachings about the kingdom expounded. But let's go over to Matthew 6, verse 33. I want you to notice here in Matthew 6, 33 that Jesus Christ said, seek first the kingdom of God. Now, what does that mean? Well, that means that it should have the highest priority in our lives. That there is absolutely nothing more important than to seek first, not second. It doesn't come in second or third or fourth place, but it is to be the first thing in our life. It is to be our motivation. So, you seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, then all these things shall be added to you. And all the things that He was talking about—food, clothing, and shelter—He said, don't worry about those things, that you and I are to seek first the kingdom of God. So, what else did Jesus Christ teach?

Let's go over to Matthew 13. You'll find that Jesus Christ spoke in parables.

Many people think that Christ spoke in parables to try to make things plain and simple, when in essence He spoke in parables so that people would not understand.

In Matthew 13, verse 44, we find the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in the field.

In verse 45, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who when he had found one pearl of great price went and sold all that he had, and he bought it.

Now, what if you could find a pearl that would be absolutely, fabulously, make you fabulously wealthy? Maybe it would be worth $100 million. What would you do? Well, if you knew it was over here on a piece of property, and you could buy that property and dig it up or find it, you would sell everything you have and devote weeks, months, years, whatever it would take to find that, because you know it would be the pearl of great price. Now, what Christ is saying here is that the kingdom of God must have the highest value in our lives. Nothing is more important.

It takes precedent over everything else. Most of Christ's parables, if you read them, centered around the kingdom of God. The kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God, again, mean the exact same thing. Matthew uses the term interchangeably. Now, let's go a step further. Notice here in chapter 19, Matthew 19 and verse 23, Jesus said to his disciples, assuredly I say to you that it's hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Now, why would it be hard to enter into God's kingdom?

Now, most people say all you've got to do is accept the Lord and you'll be in the kingdom.

You'll become a part of his church. But I want you to notice the kingdom is something that you enter.

Now, all of you today entered this building. And you know what the word enter means. At one time, you were outside, then you entered, or you came inside the building. So the kingdom of God is something that we can enter into. And for a rich man, it's very difficult for him because he puts his riches. He has other things that are more important to him than God.

So those come first. But then Christ wouldn't write ahead and say in verse 24, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. Now, I want you to notice in verse 23, he says the kingdom of heaven. Here, he says the kingdom of God. So again, Matthew uses the term kingdom of heaven 32 times. Kingdom of heaven, kingdom of God are interchangeable. Remember, the kingdom of heaven does not mean going to heaven because, as Christ said, just to remind you back in John 3.13, no one has ascended to heaven.

So he made that very clear that no one had gone to heaven. Now, in verse 28 here, Matthew chapter 19, Matthew chapter 19 and verse 28, Jesus said to them, In the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne. I want you to focus on several words here. There is a new world coming. In the new world, when Christ sits on a throne, Jesus Christ is going to come back as a ruler.

You who followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

So Jesus Christ told his apostles, that each one of them would rule over one of the tribes of Israel in the world tomorrow, in the millennium, the thousand year reign of Christ on the earth.

Luke 19, Christ, we won't turn there, but in Luke 19, those who might be jotting down scriptures, also talks about how Christ went to heaven, told his servants to work based upon their works. He rewarded them. Some ruled over ten cities, some over five cities, some over lesser.

Let's take a look at what is required for a kingdom. In order to have a kingdom, that's not an inferior thought. That's not something you think about. It is a requirement. A kingdom has to have a government. The government that's ruling the kingdom of God right now is the ruling family of God, made up of the Father and the Son, Jesus Christ. Both of them are part of that family. You and I, when you come to understand it, potentially have the opportunity of being a part of that family in the future.

A second requirement of a kingdom is territory. How can you have a kingdom if you don't have something to rule over? So we have territory. The territory that the kingdom of God will rule over the world and ultimately the universe. God is actually in charge of the whole universe today.

As the book of Hebrews says, God has given Christ the authority. He sustains the whole universe.

Thirdly, a kingdom has subjects. You're going to have a kingdom. You've got to rule over somebody. The subjects of the kingdom of God are the angelic hosts and mankind. Finally, you have a system of laws. You have government.

God's law, the law of God and way of life, is what will be set up in the kingdom of God. So you have these four elements. Government, territory, subjects, and a system of law in order to have a kingdom. Now, let's move on to Luke 12, verse 31 and 32.

Luke 12, verse 31, we find again some further teaching about Christ on this.

Christ said, seek the kingdom of God. So again, I want you to notice the emphasis over and over that he places on this that the kingdom of God is something that we need to seek after. We need to search for. And all these things will be added to you. Then, speaking of his church, he didn't say it was going to be a huge flock, a large flock. He says, do not fear, little flock, for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

So, God's greatest gift to mankind is going to be to give us the kingdom of God.

And it is something that God will give to us. It's not something you can earn.

It's something that God gives to us as a gift.

Now, in Daniel chapter 2, verse 44, I want you to notice we could go back to the very beginning in the book of Genesis, if we wanted to do that as just a Bible study.

You will find that all of the prophets from the very beginning of time anticipated the establishment of the kingdom of God on this earth. Here we have a picture of Daniel in the lion's den.

And I want you to notice in verse 44 of Daniel 2, Daniel 2.4, Daniel wrote that in the days of those kings, talking about kings at the end time, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed.

So once the kingdom of God is established on this earth, it will never be superseded by another kingdom. It will never be overthrown. It will rule all the nations of the earth.

Isaiah also prophesied about this. Isaiah is sometimes called the Shakespeare of the prophets. And he wrote many famous prophecies about the kingdom of God. One of those is in Isaiah 2.

Beginning in verse 2, Isaiah 2 through 4, beginning in verse 2, it says, In the latter days, that's talking about the end time, we live in the end time, the latter days of man on this earth, that the mountain of the Lord's house will be established in the top of the mountains, over all of the other mountains or nations, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations will flow unto it. In verse 3, Many people shall come and say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. And He will teach us His way, and we shall walk in His paths.

So the way of God is going to be taught at that time. And then in verse 4, He shall judge between the nations and rebuke many people. So when Christ comes back, He's going to have to judge between the nations. What if a nation claims a certain territory that belongs to another nation? He's going to have to say, No, that doesn't belong to you. And He will judge between nations. He will rebuke nations when they try to go to war. He says, They shall beat their sword into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, and neither shall they learn war anymore. Mountains and hills are used symbolically in the Bible for governments. So when it says that the mountain of God is going to be established over all of the other mountains, over all the other hills, it's talking about the fact that the kingdom of God will be established over the top of all nations. What that means is that Jesus Christ will come back to the earth, and He will rule all nations from Jerusalem for a thousand years, as Revelation 20 tells us. The kingdom of God on earth will finally bring true peace, lasting peace to this earth. It will be a time of spiritual awakening to God's truth for all nations. Stop and think about a time when they shall not learn war anymore. We have war colleges today. We have nations. All nations have standing armies. They may have a standing navy. They may have an air force. Many times we are armed to the teeth to protect ourselves. We remember that tomorrow, 9-11, what happened 10 years ago in this country, the terrorist attack that took place.

We realize that today there are those who are out to destroy our government, our country. There are those who are out to destroy many different nations. But there's going to come a time when war will cease, when people will not learn war anymore. That's a time that we're all looking forward to.

We could literally spend the rest of the day reading the scriptures, dealing with that future time. But let's move on. Before the kingdom of God comes to the earth and is established on this earth, there will be a time of trouble. That's a time that we are faced with presently and in the near future. A time of trouble that Daniel 12 and verse 1 predicted. Let's notice Daniel 12 verse 1.

At that time, and that time is the time in the end, if you go back to the end of chapter 11 of the book of Daniel and read the end of Daniel 11 going right on into Daniel 12, at that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people.

There shall be a time of trouble, such as has never been since there was a nation till that time. I want you to notice, because we're going to read this three times in the Bible, that there's coming a time of trouble without parallel in the annals of history.

Never been duplicated before. The First World War was a time of great trouble.

The Second World War was a time of tremendous trouble. You realize in the Second World War there were over 55 million people killed, looking at civilians as well as armies.

But there's going to come a time in the future, the Bible says, a time of trouble that will pale those times into insignificance. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book, in God's book of life.

So much of the Bible prophecy focuses on man's troubles at the end of this age, at the end time, in the time that you and I live in today. Notice Matthew chapter 24, verse 21, speaks about the same time. Matthew chapter 24, verse 21, for the trouble at that time will be far more terrible than any there's ever been.

You can't have two times of trouble without parallel. This is talking about the same period of time. This is a famous Olivet prophecy that Jesus Christ gave. So he says there's a time of trouble far more terrible than there has ever been from the beginning of the world to that very day, nor will there ever be anything like it again. Now there are certain code phrases you find in the Bible. When I say code phrases, I'm talking about phrases like, at that time, in the latter days, in the last days, at the time in the end. All of those are referring to the end time.

The time of trouble coming on this world. Now going on in verse 22, notice how bad this time of trouble gets. New Living Translation translates to verse 22, unless that time of calamity is shortened, not a single person will survive, but it will be shortened for the sake of God's chosen ones. So there's going to come a time of calamity, of holocausts, of fighting, warfare, that is going to be so great that there is a real potential for man to annihilate himself from the face of the earth. Human annihilation, cosmocide. I think we can see that the world needs God's kingdom now. Now stop to think about it. Could all humanity have been destroyed a thousand years ago?

The answer is no, not with spears and bows and arrows, but about even a hundred years ago. It was not until the advent of the atomic bomb, chemical warfare, biological warfare, neutron bombs, and everything else that man has come up with, that man is now capable of destroying all life off the face of the earth. Jesus Christ said that he would come back in that generation in which it was possible for all life to be destroyed.

Let's back up in Matthew 24 to verse 3. Verse 3 gives us a setting to this. Matthew 24 and verse 3 says, As he sat on the Mall of Olives, Jesus Christ was there, the disciples came to him privately, saying, Tell us, when will these things be? What will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?

So notice, two major things. What's going to be the sign of your coming and the end of the age?

Now, the Bible refers to the present time that we live in as this present evil age in Galatians 1-4.

So Jesus reveals, and he began to reveal here in Matthew chapter 24, the signs that would take place at the end of the age. What we could look forward to, what we should look out for.

Notice verse 6, beginning picking up the story here in verse 6 of Matthew 24.

You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled, for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. So do we hear of wars and rumors of wars today?

Well, of course we do. There are all kinds of wars going on on the face of the earth today.

But Christ said you will hear of those wars. You will hear about many wars, but the end is not yet.

Verse 7, For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and pestilence and earthquakes in various places. So I want you to notice wars and rumors of wars, nations rising against nations, famines, pestilence, earthquakes. Look at all the international tensions going on today.

Fighting in Iraq, Iran, Libya, the whole Middle East, Palestine, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, India, Pakistan. I mean, you just go around the world naming the places where they're fighting or bickering or nations are jockeying with one another. Look at our financial woes that we're in right now. Just a major article that popped up today talking about the possible collapse of the euro in Europe. Or somehow they're going to have to restructure because when all of the nations in Europe started uniting and they thought that they would come up with the common currency, nobody thought about what would happen if one of the nations go belly up. Okay, now we have Greece, we've got Italy, we've got Scotland, Ireland, we've got a number of nations that are looking like they might go bankrupt. Look at the difficulties that we have in this nation.

The financial picture, 9.2 percent unemployment, which is actually more like 16 to 20 percent.

You look around the world, you see the political tensions between nations.

Again, 9.11, the terrorist attacks, the so-called Muslim Spring, revolutions that took place in a number of nations in the Mideast, and nobody knows exactly how that's going to turn out, who's going to be in charge of those particular nations. Look at the drought conditions. Here we have flooding all over the northeast. We had flooding coming up through this direction from my rain and tropical storm my rain, excuse me, Lee. And then in Texas and the southwest, they're burning up.

My wife and I lived in Texas on one occasion. We moved there and we had 40 straight days of over 100 degrees. Well, they're having the same thing, you know, once again. The worst drought in 60 years is taking place in East Africa right now in Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan, Somalia, Uganda, all of those areas.

And so we find in those areas tens of thousands of people dying of starvation and hunger because they don't have food.

And so these are real problems that the Bible said would happen at the end time. Let's go back to verses 4 and 5 in Matthew chapter 24. Matthew 24 verses 4 and 5.

Jesus also giving one of the signs that would show that we live in the end times.

Christ answered and said to them, Take heed that no one deceive you. Do you know it's possible for you to be deceived? That we've all been deceived?

How do I know that? Well, I don't have this written down, but Revelation 12.9 says Satan has deceived the whole world. Satan has conned man into believing a lie.

Ever since the Garden of Eden, man has sat under the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Man has gone the wrong way. He's been cut off from the tree of life as a whole.

And so he says, Don't let anybody deceive you, for many will come in my name.

They'll come saying they're Christian, that they're Christ's servants. They'll come in my name, he said, saying that I'm the Christ, and they will deceive many. Now, Christ said the many would be deceived, not the few. Notice verse 11, chapter 24, verse 11.

Many false prophets will rise up and deceive many, and because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will wax cold.

We have many examples of false prophets. How can you tell a false prophet from a true prophet?

Well, one way the Bible says, if they don't speak according to God's word or his law, don't listen to them. Christ said, you know, that there will be those who will come and say, Well, Lord, Lord, have we not cast out demons in your name? Have we not done many wonderful works?

And he will say, Department from me, you workers of iniquity. That means lawlessness.

They don't teach God's law. He says, don't listen to them.

Recently, we have an example of this. Some of you may know of the radio evangelist, Harold Camping.

He unwisely predicted that Christ would return on May 21st. Guess what? He didn't come on May 21st.

Now he's moved the date back to October. There are those who are predicting that Christ will come in the year 2012, next year. People like to set dates. They want to set a date.

The trouble with that is there's only one who knows, and that's God. So we have to be careful of that.

What do you and I have to do?

When you see there's coming a time of trouble, you see that the world is going to be faced with unprecedented holocausts here in the future. What should we do? In Matthew 24, verse 13, we find that there's something that we should focus on.

He who endures to the end. This is part of what Christ said about the time of trouble coming.

If we endure to the end, we shall be saved.

You and I have to endure through the troubles, trials, and difficulties ahead.

That's going to require spiritual strength.

Now, we realize that that spiritual strength comes from Jesus Christ.

He is the source of our strength. He's the source of our power. Jesus Christ can live in us now. How can we have the strength to endure, to overcome, to grow in grace and in knowledge? It's only through the Spirit of God.

Now, in Matthew 24, verse 14, we find that there's something else that the Church or you and I should be doing. Christ said, you've got to endure to the end. You've got to hang on, not give up, not quit, not stop. But then He also said that the gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all nations, and then the end shall come. Now, it doesn't say all the nations will be converted. It will go as a witness to them. That's the reason why the United Church of God publishes the Good News magazine, Vertical Thought magazine, World News and Prophecy magazine, plus all of the booklets. As you came in, we have a display table out there with about 25 different separate booklets. Feel free to pick up a copy of any of those and take them with you. We published the Bible study course and the Beyond Today television program.

We do that so that we can take the gospel of the kingdom of God to the world. Because we realize not everybody will read a magazine, not everybody will listen to a television program. That's why we have the internet also. That's one reason I might just explain why we rent a building to meet in.

Most of our churches don't build buildings because we realize that we try to pool our funds together, our monies, to preach the gospel to the world, to be faithful to what Christ says here.

Instead of having millions tied up in a building, we try to put those funds into preaching the gospel to the world. The world needs to be warned of the troubles ahead, and people in society need to be encouraged that they can change.

You find that the kingdom of God has been misunderstood and been ignored by many of those in the religious community. Yet the gospel of the kingdom, if people understood it, would inform people of exactly what is facing them in the world, what's causing the trouble, and what the true solutions are. We're going to take a break right now, and we come back from the break. We'll have a break for tea and coffee. We're going to address the subjects head on with a segment titled, Why Our World Needs the Kingdom of God Soon.

So we're going to be discussing that. I would encourage all of you.

This is a time that you can get some tea and coffee, and we will come back after that.

Mr. Dance.