Kingdom of God Ruling on Earth....Our only Hope

I've entitled a seminar which is God's Government on Earth. I'm going to try and stand here so I'm not on your way. Can you see well from here? So, God's Government on Earth is our only help. President, you and I live in difficult times. I don't like to reiterate some of the bad news that we get in the news, because we all hear them every day and you hear enough of them. So, I really don't need to go through that. But I think we all are left with the feeling that we are in for serious troubles.

Big, serious troubles. So, today I want to briefly highlight very quickly that, but really I want to look at the angle of our hope and what are we to do about it. So, that's really my focus today. And as you and I know, the Bible says there's going to be a time of great tribulation. A time in which great trials are going to occur and no human being would be saved unless God would intervene. That time is going to be pretty serious.

But we do have a hope, brethren. This is it, that God will intervene and will bring peace to earth. That is our hope. So, what will happen is that Jesus Christ will come back and will establish a world government that will bring peace on earth. That's what the kingdom of God is. It's a world government running, raining, or rolling on earth, bringing actual peace to this world.

And the president, let's call it that, or the supreme leader of that government, will be Jesus Christ Himself. And He's righteous and He will bring peace. As it says in the scripture in Daniel, it says that in the days of those kings, God will establish a kingdom. And it will be over all the other kingdoms. In other words, it will be a government that will be over all the other worldwide governments. And everybody will go to it. Everybody will go to it. And all the other kingdoms will fall under it and will take over that.

And so, we have here, when Christ came to earth, that's what He preached about. Christ preached about the gospel of the kingdom of God. His message was about that there's going to be a government, a world ruling government, that will bring peace to this world. It's our only hope. This government is not going to bring peace to the world, and no other government in the world will bring peace. I know many leaders can say, well, vote for me, I'll bring peace.

Well, sooner or later, we all can see that they just need for themselves. Regrettably, that is the case. And so, when Christ came, He said, listen, the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Why? Because He is the king. He was at hand. He is the king of that government. But that government has not been set on earth yet. And therefore, He told us two things. Repent and believe, and repent and He's changed your way of being, and have absolute trust that this will happen.

And therefore, act accordingly. Have absolute trust and confidence that this will happen. And indeed, even the apostle Paul, later on, preached the same gospel. As you can see, Paul went into the synagogues, and he went there for, in this case, in Ephesus, and he went there and he preached for a period, and telling the people about the kingdom of God. Sure, Paul also told them about who Christ was, so he was telling them about the person of Christ, who He was, that He was going to be the king.

But the king of what? Of the government that is going to be established, which is the government of God. And then later on, right at the end of the book of Acts, when Paul was in prison, home prison, he was in prison, and for a number of years, from his own house, he was preaching the kingdom of God. And yes, you're talking to them about the person of Jesus Christ, that He was going to be that king, and how He had qualified for that position. But he did it, as it says here, with all confidence, and nobody stopped Him.

In other words, with all confidence, it means He had no doubt versus a fact. And brethren, this is what you and I need to have. We need to have that confidence that is our only hope on this world, that we're going to have a true, outgoing, caring world leader that is going to bring peace to this mankind.

Because we don't have that today. We don't have that today. We may think we have, but we do not. And so, Yah is the perfect equipment, which says there will be a time, which will actually be at the time of the last seventh trumpet, when, as we can see, Yah, that seventh angel sounded, and there was loud voices in heaven. And heaven, and it said that the kingdoms of this world, that means the kingdoms will now fall under the responsibility of God the Father, and specifically, under the personal responsibility of Jesus Christ.

And they will rule for every level. So, this kingdom will be established on earth. Yes, that's why we pray. Let thy kingdom come. Let it be on earth like it is in heaven. Yes, in heaven, it's being ruled now by God.

But on earth, it will also be ruled by God. So, it will come to earth, and there will be peace on earth forever. And we can also read, in Thessalonians, it says that Christ himself will come, and will descend at that lost trump. And it says the dead in Christ will resurrect first. And those that are alive will then afterwards, will then be changed, and will join Christ to rule with him.

And from thereafter, will always be with him. Where are we going to rule? On earth. Because that's earth, that needs it. Earth needs a righteous government, which we do not have. And then we can see, in Zechariah, where it says that on that day, Christ's feet will come to the area of Zion, and will rule from there, from the Mount of Olives, and will rule there.

And from there, that will be like, let's think about the headquarters, the central government, from where this worldwide government will be established, and will be spread out to the whole world. And it says, if you come, there will be certain events, certain earthquakes, and events that will happen. And it says the signs, the resurrected signs, will rule with him.

So we see, in Revelation, that for this to happen, Satan has to be put away. Because he's a great deceiver. He's the great one that has caused people to be deceived all along. And he'll be put away, so that we can have peace without the deceiver trying to spoil the beast. Let's call it that. Christ will rule. And yes, there will be some nations that will fight it. And it says, yeah, Christ will come and rebuke the nations. Yes, there will be nations that will fight it. But there is going to be peace, because the deceiver is no more deceiving the world. And there it says, and therefore it will pass in the latter days, that the mountain of God's house. Now, what do you mean the mountain? Usually, in the Bible, the word mountain is symbolized to a government, to a kingdom. So it basically says, so it'll come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house, which was the kingdom of God. That's what it is. The kingdom of God shall be established on top of all the other nations. In other words, the government of God will be established on top of all the other governments, as we see here. Even the small ones, the little hills, the small little nations, that government will be a worldwide government which will rule over every nation. And then people say, come to the mountain of the Lord. Come to the kingdom of God. Come to this government, to where this government is.

Because out of it will come laws and will go out righteous judgment, there will be peace on the earth. So indeed we can see that Christ will rule on earth, and through his reign, him as the supreme authority, he will bring peace to the earth. And we can see in Zechariah as well, that he says, he says to the Lord, I will return to Zion and dwell in Jerusalem. That's what it says there. And he says, in Jerusalem will be called the city of truth, the mountain of the Lord of hosts, the holy mountain. In other words, the kingdom of God will come from that headquarters on earth.

And at that time, Jerusalem will be called the throne of the Lord.

Why? Because Christ will be there. Christ is the Lord, and he will reign on earth. And all the nations will be gathered to it.

And every nation will be submissive to that. And he says, no more shall they follow the dictates of their evil hearts. In other words, no more will be these people with their pop-up ideas. Well, this and that and that. Because he will say, no, this is it. This is the way walk you in it. And that is it. And there are no arguments. Because he says, Christ will rebuke the nations. All these weird ideas will be gone. He says, no. Well, you could say he's a dictator, no, but it's a loving, caring rulership for the good of the people. Because he's proved by his first coming that he wants the good of the people. So, it says, for the day of the Lord will come and will comfort Zion. You will comfort all the West places. You'll make the wilderness like either. You'll make places look beautiful. You'll make everything looking nice.

And people will give God thanks for it. There will be peace on earth. The earth will become the Garden of Eden. No more people will say, oh well, where is the Garden of Eden? The earth, the whole earth, will become a paradise. With human beings living, that's our children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and the other generations will come after it. They will live there. And that is the great hope you and I have. There is a hope for us. And it says, you will then open up all the desert places and the fountains. And where there's deserts and in the wilderness, there will be water coming out. Deserts will spring out with water. Places where it was dry land will have trees that require a lot of water. Like the seed and others, trees that actually require a lot of water. So they all will be there.

In the desert, this will spring out. And it says, then they will come. It says, yeah. And everything will flourish and be beautiful, full of life.

And they will then say, God has done it. They'll admit to it. But I think we need to look at it in another way as well. We need to look at it spiritually as well. Because the world today, spiritually speaking, is desolate. The people are desolate. The people are hungry for water that satisfies our lives. And we don't have it. So that will also be spiritually, if you reave a scripture with a spiritual intent, you can see that will also be true, physically and spiritually.

And then it says, then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped, and the lamb shall sing. In other words, those serious illnesses will be healed. But think about it. As I mentioned in the previous slide about desolation and desert, look at it spiritually. The people that read the Bible and don't get the meaning, they don't get it. They're blind. They will now see it and say, Oh, I get it. The people that hear messages, and it goes right over their head because their ears are stopped. They are deaf. The ears will be opened and they'll understand the truth.

The people that are lying, spiritually speaking, what is that? They know a bit of truth, and they know a bit of that it's not truth. So they kind of think, well, I'm Christian, but I'm half Christian. That will be healed, and they'll now be true Christians. So you see, when you look at some of these prophecies, we need to look at them not only at a pure physical intent, which is correct, but also in a spiritual intent, which is behind, because that's what will happen. Society today, we are preaching the Gospel. People don't hear it. People don't change. People don't repent. People don't listen to the truth. Why? Because they're blind and they're deaf. You and I can talk to our friends and our family about the truth, and they're not interested. In fact, the more you tell them, the more you become the enemies. Why? Because they're blind. And it's none of their fault. Because that blindness is there from Satan, and Satan will have been removed. And one day they'll understand. And the day comes in that, well, tomorrow, that he will judge righteously. There'll be peace, and there'll be sound judgment. Nations will not have war. Because, why? Why have war? Let there be peace. And he says, and people will sit under their feet, and one will take it from them.

You know, people both to their houses, and then they don't live in them. Well, maybe that hasn't happened too much in this country. But it's happened to me. The houses we lived, we had to flee from. They were all taken up, and they were destroyed. And we had to immigrate to South Africa. And then after that, we bought their house, we had to leave. And things like that. And we bought things, and we never got to enjoy them. We never got to enjoy them. And that will not be so in all tomorrow. That will not be so in all tomorrow. They will bolt, and they'll enjoy it. They will live in it. From father to son, and the benefits will go. And that will run for millennia. That will be a blessing. As it says here, it's like it will be like the days of a tree. What do you mean the days of a tree? You see, you plant a tree, and the tree grows in that spot. Well, I miss my being transplanted when it's small to another area. But once it's big, you basically leave it there. And it grows, and it gets established there, and stays there. That means human beings will grow in their land, will be established, will be like a tree, and they will be able to receive the fruits of that tree. They will live there, and will be able to enjoy that area. They will not labor in vain. They will not bring forth children for trouble. And it says, well, children, next thing then the children are sent to Iraq or somewhere else for war and to die. What for? All in vain.

Well, it might not appear to some people in vain in the short term, but in the long term, it's all in vain. It's all in vain. When I was young, I would have to go to the military for six years compulsory. All in vain, because all that was thrown away. You know, brethren, we've got to look forward to a wonderful world of hope when that will not be so.

And you know, then they will not destroy in my holy mountain. In other words, there will not be destruction in the kingdom of God, in the area, in the world that is governed by the kingdom of God. Why? Because the earth will be full of the knowledge of God. You will have the Bible, and you won't have different versions of the Bible that literally are actually corrupt, that say things that are actually not in original. They've changed words to convey their own meanings. That will not be so. God's word will be pure, and the knowledge of God's truth will be covering their own. And the whole earth, like the sea, covers. You know, the waters cover the sea.

And then we look in Habakkuk. He says, look at it. God will do something to this world that people will not even believe it if we ought to tell you. And in other words, what we are telling you, and about this hope, it's just kind of unbelievable. In other words, we can't really grasp it. We can't really get it. Because it's so awesome. It's beyond our comprehension to have wall peace, to have everybody happy, whether they're Chinese, whether they're Russian, whether they're of one ethnic group or a different ethnic group, whatever it is. They all be at peace. That is amazing. It's a work that people cannot understand. It's God's work. But in the meantime, this good news of the Kingdom of God has to be preached. This good news of the Kingdom of God has to be preached. As it says, as a witness to all nations, and then the end will come.

The mere fact we're doing these Kingdom of God seminars, the mere fact that we're preaching the Gospel of the magazine beyond today and others, this Gospel is being preached. This was not so during the time of the First World War and the Second World War.

But nowadays, that means now, the next World War, that's the end. Not the end of the world, but the end of the age when Christ can intervene and bring wall peace to the sword. But one thing people forget is that sentence in the middle as a witness to all nations.

Why? Why? Because most people think, well, we're going to preach the Gospel, and we're going to go preach the Gospel to save more people, to bring more people, to be saved now.

But is that what it says? And this Gospel, the Kingdom shall be preached unto the whole world so more people will be saved, so you can save more souls, and then the end will come. No. It doesn't say that.

You see, so our job of preaching the Gospel, the outcome, is not to have the church full of people, because that's not a prophecy idea. The outcome is that people have a witness. The world has a witness. A warning has been sounded, and a hope has been given. Why? If you read a little bit of stories, for instance, about the Holocaust, you'll find out that those people that had a hope that they would survive, they actually survived. Not all, but the percentage or probability of survival was hired amongst those people that had a hope. You and I have to preach the Gospel to the world, so the world has a hope, because when these bad days come, if they don't have a hope, they'll give up. And there will be nobody in the world to be ruled, because God wants mankind to continue. So we have to give them a hope, so that when these bad things come, they finally repent then. That's why it says, out of the Great Tribulation came out the Great Multitude. Why? Because finally, when things are really bad, because they had the hope, they say, well, that was true. I better repent now.

That's why we're preaching the Gospel now, because they need a hope.

Then they can come. Why? Because they have a hope to survive during those bad days.

So remember, brethren, God's government on earth is our only hope. Do we have this vision of the wonderful world tomorrow? Can we see this wonderful world tomorrow in our mind's eye? Because we need it to pass it on to others. You see, because we'll never get it to every single person. What we do is a witness to all nations, but then those people, when they are in serious time, they will then, when other people ask, what is this? Well, I remember, I used to listen to this program beyond today, and it said this would happen, but this would happen as well. Therefore, hold on. There is a hope, the Messiah, to say these come. And then people hold on, and survive through those dark hours. But you and I need to have that vision to hold on, to pass it on to others. And so, brethren, our mission today is to preach the good news of the world beyond today as a witness to the world. That's our job, to preach the good news of the world tomorrow, of the world beyond today, as a witness to society, to the world.

Ah! But is that it? Is that it?

I'm safe and clean, I've done that, and now I'm okay. No, there's more to it. There's more to it. Because, as we have in the seal of the United Church of God, one of the legs of our mission, as we quoted you in Matthew 24.14, is to preach the gospel unto the whole world. Yes! But there is a second leg, equally important and parallel to it, which is preparing our people.

Preparing our people. Now, we know that no one can come to Christ unless the Father calls him. So therefore, only a few today are being called. The others will be called later. God is not discriminating. It's just a question of God has chosen some to call earlier than others. It's like, maybe sometimes you decide to take some fruit out of the garden before you take the other. You might not take them all at the same time. It's God's decision.

God decided that. So some are called. But those that are called have an additional mission. And that mission is to be prepared.

And as a church, we ought to prepare the people. But those that are called have to be prepared. Prepared for what? Prepared for what?

The called out ones are being prepared for what? Well, are being prepared to do something in the kingdom of God.

That's what it is. They're being trained now to do something in the kingdom of God. In that world beyond today.

You know, you look at governments today. What do you have? Well, choose me to be your leader. And that people choosing to be a leader or her to be a leader. And then what? They corrupt. Everywhere they corrupt. In the kingdom of God, in the world in the government of God, those leaders will not be corrupt. Why? Because they're being trained and proven that they're not corrupt before they're given the job. We know that the saints of the Most High will be given the kingdom. Right. And they'll possess the kingdom forever. Right. We know that. And so we know that God is going to make us kings and priests and will reign on the earth. Right. But does he know that you and I are going to be just rulers? Or how are we going to be corrupt rulers? Now, because in the kingdom of God, the rulers at all have to be proven that they're not corrupt before they get elected, quote unquote, by God.

So remember, God's work is twofold. One is to preach the gospel as a witness. It was the gospel, the good news of the coming kingdom of God as a witness. Yes, that's one leg. As a witness. It's not to save all the souls in the world now. Now that'll be Christ's job when he comes to rule the earth. Today is just as a witness saying, hey, have a hope because, hold on, because he's coming.

But the second part of God's work is his work in preparing those rulers for the world tomorrow now. The second part of God's work is to prepare those rulers of the world tomorrow now.

Before they give them the responsibility. In other words, is to prepare the called out ones to rule in the world tomorrow.

And he says, and then you look at the other scriptures like Obadiah, and then saviors will come to Zion to judge the nations of Israel, and the kingdom shall be the Lord's. That's the last verse of Obadiah. Now, you know, he's always one of the nations that have done, particularly some of the children have done some of the most atrocious things. And the whole book of Obadiah says, you are in deep trouble. But the conclusion of the book is says, then saviors will come to Mount Zion, that means to the Jerusalem, that means in that kingdom of God, to judge the wars of the sinners of the nations of which the example is Israel. So, don't judge all nations, not just Israel, and what the saviors of the converted saints and the Christ then will bring salvation to the earth and the destruction of Christ as kings and under the king of kings, as lords and under the Lord of lords, obviously under Christ, or obviously under the supreme authority of the Father. According to the Father's will. But Christ will be the executive director, let's call it that, in charge of this whole project under the Father's direction. The executive director and he, as the Lord of lords, he's coming and we will be resurrected, God willing, you and I, trained, which as people that are not corrupt, to rule under him, to save the world.

And therefore the kingdom will be the Lord's. It will be God's kingdom.

And so, we are now being prepared to be trained so that we can be adequately and properly trained to help Jesus Christ save the world in the soon-coming kingdom of God. That is a secondary equally important as the first part of God's work. So when some of my children say, for instance, one of my daughters asked me, Oh, Dad, okay, you're a man, you're a minister, you can preach the gospel. I can't preach the gospel. Well, you can help preaching the gospel. Like not every man, not every one of you is a minister preaching the gospel either. And many of you are man as well. There's only a few of the mouth in the body, nor every person is a mouth. Some's going to be a hand, some's going to be a finger, some's going to be a toe, some's going to be intestines or a liver or a stomach or a heart or whatever. But only one's a mouth.

This will make you inferior because you're not in the mouth. No! But you know the mouth could not function if the rest of the body was not functioning, if the heart was not pumping, if everything else was not working.

So we all have a job in preaching the gospel, but let's not forget that we all have this important part of God's Word, which is making sure that we are fulfilling that responsibility of preparing ourselves to rule under Christ. In other words, to become beings in the image of God, as sons and daughters of God, without sin. In other words, without corruption. Because Christ will not have. Christ will not have.

Once the kingdom of God is established, will not have a commission of inquiry into the saint, which is corrupt. And whatever it is, that will not have. Why? Because that resurrected saint would have been, whatever sons he had in the past, would have been washed, would be forgiven, would be cleaned. And by his life, has demonstrated that he is no more corrupt.

That's it.

Therefore, the rulers in God's government will not be corrupt. Because that's our job today, to prepare ourselves, to overcome, to change, to repent, to become better people, so that we, you and I, can rule in all tomorrow. And that is part of God's work. So the mere fact that you, whether you live in a city, or whether we live in a city, or we live in a farm, whether we live as a homemaker, or whether you live and work in a job for an enterprise, or whether you live today, or whether you lived a thousand years ago, we all have to overcome our carnality and our problems, and change and repent, and therefore qualify to be rulers in the world tomorrow.

So, here is the question. Are there preconditions for us to reign with Jesus Christ? And I think I've answered it for you. Yes. We have to prove that we're not corrupt.

That's why, in Acts, Peter said, repent and be converted. Now, there's two words. There's not repent and repent. Important. There's not repent and repent. Repent means stop your sins. Be converted means become a new person. A changed person, a transformed person. You may take Christ, you may take God in your conduct and your behaviour. That's what it is, be converted. So there's repent and be converted.

He said, if your sins may be blocked out, the times of refreshing may come, Christ may come, and there will be the time in the Kingdom of God where everything will be restored.

Everything will be restored to the way God wanted initially. But due to our own human nature and to compound the effect of Satan's deception, we've messed it up. And don't always say, oh well, it's Satan's fault, which says, oh well, it's his fault, not my fault. Because whenever we point a finger, there's three pointing backwards, and one pointing up to God. So be careful. So let's say, oh well, it's Satan's fault, because we have our point, and we have to overcome, and we have to change. So therefore, we have to overcome. And only if you and I overcome will we be granted to sit on Christ's throne, just like Jesus Christ had to overcome to sit on the Father's throne.

That's what it is. We've got to overcome. We've got to change from a corrupt to a divine nature. That's what we've got to do.

So again, let's emphasize an important point, the big questions of life. There are some very important, specific big questions of life. But one of them is why. Why is all this?

In other words, why were we born? What is our goal? What are we doing? Are we predestined to be saved? Well, others are predestined to die eternally. Or as people say, well, one is predestined to go to heaven, the other one is predestined to go to hell. Well, let's convert that into our language. Are some predestined to be saved and others predestined to die eternally? No. So then what is it? You see, our predestination is that God wants us something very special of mankind. Because He has made us temporarily lower than angels. But for us, one day, to have the very glory and honor that Christ has. Why? Because it will be in that glorious Kingdom as part of, as rulers of that Kingdom, of that power, of that glory. And so then everything will be under us, subject under us. All things. The whole universe. You see, the Earth is only the beginning. Because there's a whole world out of different worlds out there, which are vacant and are empty today, for us to work with. Different suns and different galaxies and different things that you and I can't even comprehend. And God's coming out there, all waiting for us. We've got a big job ahead to beautify and to make things beautiful and make lovely gardens around the whole universe. There's some amazing things God's got prepared for us. But we don't see all this yet. We don't see it yet. But that is what is to come. But we see this, that God does want to bring us into His glory. And through that, we see that He brought the captain, which is Christ, through that. But in time, He'll bring us there as well. That is the plan. There is a plan. There is a final outcome. There was God is creating spiritual children. You and I are His spiritually speaking, musical babies. And you know what? You love your children and your grandchildren, don't you? So God loves us too. Simple. That's why He says, let us make man in our image and in our likeness. And God did make man in His image. But that's only a physical representation of the spiritual representation, which is to come. You see, because He's building a family. And because we're going to be in the kingdom of God, everything is in the name of His name, which is God. So it's the Church of God. It's the children of God. And you and I will have that name of God, because that's His kingdom. It's like, you have a surname, whatever your surname is, your children and grandchildren have the same surname. The surname is God. And you all, we all will have the same surname. That whole family is often that, is followed that name. So that, we all need to understand, we need to comprehend and to know that this whole love and the sacrifice of Christ is done, and all this is with one final goal, for us to be filled with the fullness of God. Do we understand what He meant by the fullness of God?

The fullness of His glory, of His power, obviously inferior to Him, but you want your children and grandchildren to have the same capabilities as you have. Sure, you're always the Father, you're always the Grandfather, whatever it is. Our Father is always the Father, but He wants us to grow into that fullness of what He is.

Even when the Jews criticized Christ because He said, well, I'm the son of God, He said, Your own Scripture says, Your own law says, You are God's. So why are you accusing me of saying, I'm the son of God? You see, that's our destiny, to be of that family. And so why were we born? We were born because we have a predestined destiny, final outcome. The predestined destiny, final outcome, is that we are going to be in the family of God, in the words of the government kingdom, ruling our world. Now, are you going to be there? Are you going to be there? That's going to be our decision. Whether we kind of stand up and do what we need to do. But God wants you there and wants me there and is going to do everything possible. In fact, He's getting His own life for us to be there.

Brethren, God is creating a family according to His image. God is creating a family according to His image. It's a family that is creating and we are His children.

So, once again, the work of God is, yes indeed, to preach the gospel to the whole world. The gospel then is the good news of the kingdom of God as a witness, but it is also to prepare you and I to call on God. The other ones, to rule with Christ in the world tomorrow. That is part of the work of God as well. Equally important. Otherwise, you're the other kingdom but you don't have people to rule with Him.

Really, with Christ, I mean, you can say, well, God can do everything, but God does not want to do and rule all by Himself. You want other, you and I, to be there to rule with Him and to have individual care and responsibility with these people and look after them and care for them. And when they have a problem, you are there to spend time with them and all that. Just like when people have trials and health issues, it's so important to have some people there working with them and helping them. Likewise, mankind will come out of this terrible situation and many people come out and they'll need individual care and meditation and coaching and encouragement. And you and I have to be trained for that. That's why sometimes we go through health issues so that we can have that care for them because we've been through it. But it's only those that overcome. It's only those that they keep winning till the end, keep on keeping on till the end. Then those will be given the responsibility to rule others because they're not corrupt. That's what it is. So God's government on earth, brethren, is our only hope.

You and I need to hold on to that hope. And we need to prepare now for that hope. But then there's another big question. How? What are we going to do to be prepared? How do I prepare myself? What do I need to do? Yeah, it's nice to know all these things there, and you're going to be prepared. What do we do about it?

He says, when they heard this, they came to Peter, and they realized they had killed the Messiah. And he says, what are we going to do now? And I think it's the same question. We all need to ask what we need to do.

How do we prepare to reign in the kingdom with Christ? How? What do we need to do?

And yeah, it's a very interesting answer that you may have never considered that way. Look at this problem. Proverbs 16.32 says, He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and He that rules his spirit than he that takes his city.

What a jewel of meaning. So we heard in the sermon there, wonderful jewels of meaning from the Proverbs that we drew out about, for instance, about foolishness and the very various meanings of that. And Yah is an example from Proverbs, a simple statement that basically is a subtle clue to a big question. How do we prepare to rule in the world tomorrow? Do you know what's better than ruling a city or a nation? Is ruling yourself?

It's more difficult to control your own spirit, to control your own carnality, to control your own pressures of life that you have in control of others. Which means, if you now are to manage yourself and to discipline yourself and do what's right, you have been trained to be a king. Think about that. Be prepared to rule a city. What it's saying is, let's start by ruling our own carnal minds. And if you and I can rule ourselves and our carnality, we have been trained to rule in the world tomorrow. That's what that says. It's amazing what we get out of Proverbs, isn't it? So what should we do? First, we've got to admit we've got a problem. You know, like Alcolyne, what's it called? Alcolyne? Anonymus says, the first thing is you've got to realize you've got a problem. We've got to confront the problem. We've got to say, yes, I've got a problem. I am carnal. I've got weaknesses in my flesh. I've got to confront my own weaknesses. You know, God does not call us so that we stay the way we are.

Because you and I cannot rule in the world tomorrow, being corrupt. Otherwise, we just have a continuation of today's rulerships, which is just rulers by different people. I'm not talking about maybe the top man, but other people underneath the top man. There's corruption everywhere. They'll put up something to fill up their pockets or whatever it is. That is not just in this country. It's all over the world. It's all over the world. Probably in other countries, it's forwards. It's forwards. God has not called us to be and stay the way we are. Oh, yeah! The nation says, oh, just give your heart to the Lord and just stay the way you are. Hog wash.

We need to confront the problem. We need to recognize we've got a problem. We need to admit that we have made mistakes and made mistakes. And we need to confess, not to me, not to somebody else. Confess to God. We need to confess to God, I've got a problem. I want to change. And please help me God through the power of your spirit to change.

We need to be imitators of Christ. That's what we're going to change, too. To be like Christ.

And then, we need to seek the example and the teachings of God. To be like Christ, because that's who we've got to imitate.

So that we have a role model. He's our standard. My standard and your standard is not somebody else's. Oh, well, I'm comparing myself against this person. No, don't compare yourself against anybody. Compare yourself against Christ. He's our standard. He's our example. That's who you and I need to follow. So we need to seek the instructions, the teachings, the guidance.

All the things that Christ tells us. And we can see that through the Gospels. And in fact, the very words from the law, because Christ was the word, and the word gave those laws to the Old Testament. But it's the same thing in the New Testament. They've been amplified, and they've been further codified with details, specifically as far as applications, because Christ himself applied it. And so we need to look at that. And that's why it says, Grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ.

We need to grow in the grace, in the loving, kind way of doing things that Jesus Christ does.

And in the knowledge, which means we need to study how we did things, how we applied certain things. Would Jesus Christ do this? How would he do it? We're going to learn that to actually imitate him.

And there's always the beginning point, is a deep respect and fear for God. A deep respect and fear for God. And when we have that deep respect and fear for God, then we study God's Word, we study the Bible, and we get out of the Bible, the Word of God, the Word, which is Christ, out of that Word, out of this very Word, we get Christ's teachings, and we learn from it. And as we learn from it, we're going to believe in it. We're going to believe what Christ tells us. We're going to have faith. We're going to trust. We're going to have complete confidence in it. And then, as we recognize that, we've got to repent towards God from dead works. And as we go through that cycle, we keep doing it, keep doing it, keep learning, we get you and I to get to a point, and we get to various stages where he says, well, I commit to do this, and I commit a bit further to do that, I commit further to do that, until you and I get to a point to commit to God that you're going to do it. And that commitment, that contract that you signed before witnesses is called baptism. And that is the signing of that, the new contract that you signed called the new covenant, between you and God, individually. And then, once you've signed that contract, you need to now receive God's Holy Spirit, which is a helper to help you to overcome and to grow with all the tools and all the things that you need with that strength and help to help you overcome. And you need God's Holy Spirit for that. And now, you need to put it to practice. You need to do it. You need to do it. And do it. And do it. And as you do, and you still have that fear of God, what happens? You study the Bible and realize you need to learn more, because that was only kind of level one of this building, spiritual building. And now you go to level two, or the second floor, or to the third floor, and you get grown.

That's not a vicious circle. It's a virtuous circle. Because you're growing in the virtue, in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. And therefore, you learn more. You learn to have greater faith and greater trust. You learn, well, I've got a few other things. You have some hidden sins. And again, you recommit yourself to do it. And again, you ask for God. Go and acknowledge and confess before God on His throne as you pray, because you and I have access to the throne, as it says in Hebrew, He needs to stand in a new and living way. We go there and we receive the help of God's Holy Spirit, and we do it! And as we do it, we're growing. Now we go to the third floor, and then to the fourth floor, and then the first floor, and we keep growing.

Brethren, what do we need to do? We need to be repenting. We need to come to a point of making that commitment. And we need to get the helper that is going to help us to do it, because you and I cannot do it by yourself. And by myself. You can try, you can say, oh well, you need to commit, and you need help. The thing about that, give me an example. Let's say you want to build a road. Okay, you can go there and start, I can build a road, what I need? Take my hands and start digging in the ground to build a road. They say, well, I need a spade. Well, then after a while, they say, well, I need a bit more than a spade. You need a big bulldozer or something left to move these rocks. In other words, you need tools.

You can't do it by yourself. You need tools. And you and I are talking about a huge job enterprise project, which is changing yourself and myself. And you and I need tools to help us. And those tools, those spiritual tools, is God's only Spirit. You can't do it by yourself. You can sit there and dig it with your own hands. You're not going to get very far. You need God's only Spirit. Oh, yes. It's not a question of you being 100% perfect. No. But you need those tools. Otherwise, you're going to get nowhere. You just have to stop because you need that extra help. And that Holy Spirit, God gives it to you because you and I obey God. Because God gives that Spirit to those that obey Him. And as we obey Him, He gives us more of His Spirit. So we need to be doing what He tells us to do. So we get back to this point, yeah, that we need to be obeying. We need to keep His laws. We need to be overcoming. To actually keep going and pushing from that stage to the next stage to grow more. To go to the next level of growth.

Can we see that? Can we see that? That we have to keep doing it to grow. Or else, we go back on this.

The moment we stop doing, we go back on this.

There's no other option. Basically, that point there, when you got to do it, you got to choose. And God says, I give you life and death. Choose life, that may be well with you.

Brethren, it's nothing different than what Adam and Eve had before them. They had a choice of a tree of life and a tree of death. And you and I have exactly the same choice. You and I have exactly those two trees in front of us. Every day, every moment that you and I encounter a challenge or a trial or a wrong thought in our minds, we have those two trees in front of us. Which one are we going to choose? And you and I can only do it with the help of God's Holy Spirit, but we got to do our part. And then you'll do the rest. In other words, we got to keep seeking Jesus Christ's teachings, and we're going to apply them, and we're going to do them.

So what shall we do? We're going to seek those teachings of Christ, and that's what it is. That's that sound doctor. That is growing in holy, godly, righteous character. That's what it is. It's growing in character. When we seek, and when we seek, and we do it, we are then becoming a follower of Christ. In other words, a disciple.

It's interesting. It says, go and make disciples.

It doesn't say, go and make leaders in the church.

Just go and make disciples. You and I, our job is to be disciples, followers of Christ.

Christ may select some of you to be leaders, but that's his choice. Our job is to be disciples, followers of Christ. And we can only follow him with the help of God's only spirit. We need God's only spirit. We need to be led by God's only spirit, which means God does not force us. Led, not forced. That means he shows us the way, but you and I individually have to use our own energy to do it. He will never push us. He will lead us. He will show us the way. He will give us encouragement. And all those other things. But you and I have to do that little bit, lost bit. Some scientists said it's 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration. That's what it is. You and I have to do that 99% of perspiration. And God does the rest. And he's giving us that lead to do the rest.

In other words, God's only spirit, as we read in Peter, it's that divine power. It's that power of God. That gives us all faith. Gives us all the spiritual tools. God's only spirit is a toolbox, a spiritual toolbox.

With all faith. So that by these, by these things that we receive, by these spiritual tools that God gives us with His only spirit, you and I might be partakers of the divine nature.

We need to use God's only spirit, which is what has given us a great gift. It is a gift. And it's a gift so that you and I, with that gift, can use it by using that gift, that power, those things that are in God's only spirit for us, spiritual things, that you and I can become divine nature. Because you and I today are carnal nature, or carnal, not divine. We've got to change from human to divine. We've got to recognize our carnality and change that to godliness. So we need to be a disciple. We need to use God's spiritual tools of His spirit to grow in God's holy, righteous carnity. That's what we're going to do. And that means we need to be transformed. We need to be changed. That's what it means, be converted. Not just repent, but repent and be converted. Be changed, be transformed. By doing what? Renewing our way of thinking. So that our mind, our thinking, our whole attitude, our whole desire is no more corrupt. Because we are ruling our spirit. In fact, we are being trained to be kings in Baltimore.

So that we may therefore prove, prove that we need, we are qualified to prove. Prove by our works, by our exultments.

Therefore, if any of us are in Christ, we are a new creation, a new being, a different person. All that old being has passed away, granted we're still imperfect, we're still working through it. None of us is perfect, yet we're still working through it. Still working through it, still going through that process, and going to another level, and learning more things. And learning, oh, I see now, I've got more things to overcome. Thank God, He even shows all the things from day one, otherwise we'd have got discouraged. But slowly He's showing us more things and helping us to change. And how is He helping us? With God's hope and spirit. So, there we are, brethren. We have to overcome and keep His works till the end. And when is the end? That's when I die. Oh, when Christ comes, whichever comes first. But that's the end. That's the end to me. I've got to be overcoming till the end of my road.

Then I've qualified, then I've proved that I can rule in the world tomorrow. Why? Because I've learned to rule my own spirit.

So, how can you not prepare to reign?

That was the question I asked. To prepare to reign, we've got to learn to rule our own spirit. That's all we need to do. And it says, either of us comes as we rule and rule our own spirit. Then, as we're doing that, we're being tried to rule.

Remember, they fall. As it says here, that you have received and heard. Hold fast and repent. Remember what you've been taught. Because if you don't remember, if you don't keep an in mind every day, if you and I don't pray every day on our knees and say, Lead me not into temptation, but lead me in the right way. If we don't ask that every day, lead me not in the way of my carnal mind, but lead me into divine way with the help of the Holy Spirit. And please keep Satan out of the way from deception. But lead me. You and I have to ask for that every day. You and I have to ask, Give us our daily bread. What is our daily bread? Of course, it's physical bread, but it's more than that, isn't it? It's God's only spirit. It's the bread of life.

We need that daily, because that gives us the energy. Like bread, if we don't eat, you're hungry, and your blood sugar goes down, and it starts shivering and things like that. You need God's only spirit daily to fight. Otherwise, if you are weak and not taking on that, holding on fast and repenting and changing daily with that, with the help of God's only spirit, when Satan attacks, you are frail, and you're going to fall. So we have to be close to God every day. You know, brethren, it's like the analogy that you read in Luke about this man that was invited to a big banquet, and as he was invited to that big banquet, and one says, well, no, I can't come because, oh, well, I'm too busy. Oh, well, I'm building this house, or I built a field, or whatever. We all have million and one reasons not to do it. We all have. But the question is, are we committed to do it? Are we committed to do it? Are we committed to move forwards? Or are we going backwards? Are we committed to do that? Or do we make an excuse? Well, not today. I'm too tired. I'm not going to pray today. Yes, I'm on vacation. I'm going to take it easy. And bang! It comes when you don't expect it, like a thief in a night.

Brethren, God's work is twofold. Yes, indeed, it is to preach the gospel to the world as a witness. But there is another very important component of God's work that He's doing in your life and in my life, and that is to help you to prepare now to be a ruler in the world tomorrow. Men and women, we're all preparing for that.

So what are we going to do? We need to confront our weaknesses, we need to seek the truth through the Bible, through God's Word, and we need to follow Christ 100%. Indeed, time is short. You see things around the world, time is very short. There's no questions. And I know some, particularly when I go into areas like Brazil, and I present seminars like this to other areas, and some of them, they walk away, and they go on living the way they are. I just ask them one thing. Even if you don't change, please take with you the hope.

Because when things will get real bad, you then have something to hold on and to tell others to hold on. That's what I tell them. And that's what I tell you too. Always take this hope with you and give it to others, and pass it on to others, because they need it. They will need it one day. Because the coming government of God on earth is our only hope.