Kingdom of God Seminar Overview

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the Kingdom of God Bible Seminars. My name is Darris McNeely, and I pastor the United Church of God congregation here in Fort Wayne and also in Indianapolis. We'd like to welcome all of you here to the Kingdom of God Bible Seminars, which begins a series of seminars which we will be doing in the United Church of God in order over a period of several months to talk about the message of God's kingdom to a world that is in desperate need of that hope.

This seminar today is the first of several that will be involved with and will come. We're not going to cover the entire subject of the Kingdom of God today. That is a very, very large subject. Frankly, it would take years, and if you don't get enough of it today, we certainly invite everyone to come back at a future time. But we do offer these and invite everyone that is attending to join us and learning more about what the Kingdom of God is all about, what the Bible says regarding this.

These presentations are being held actually all around the world this week and a week previous, last week, and we have had a very, very good response. We've been very satisfied with the number of readers to the Good News magazine. Watch your viewers of the Beyond Today television program who have come out for these and the response that we have had, and we feel that we have a message to give that will be very profitable.

Today we're going to have two presentations. I will give the first one, and one of our elders here, Mr. Scott Moss, will give the second one, and in between we'll have a short break for a little bit of coffee and liquid. So today, the United Church of God with these seminars starts into a series that really begins to talk about the world of the kingdom of God. It is a very, very deep subject. It is something that is probably the most important message that we could bring not only to ourselves, but to the world and to any interested party who has ears to hear and eyes to see what are the truths of the Bible on this particular subject.

We live at a turning point in history and in the affairs of the world, and particularly the United States of America. I have termed it a crossroads of history at this particular moment. The United States of America, the most powerful, richest, and blessed nation that has ever existed, is itself at a crossroads within its position among the other nations. The certainties of the past, it seems, have gone in many ways because of an economic crisis that seems to be insolvable by the leadership that we have and the change of America and its status and its role in the world.

And for many, there seems to be an uncertain future that does lie ahead. Just a week ago, the United States paused on the 11th of September, last Sunday, to mark the 10th anniversary of the most devastating attack upon the United States soil and its entire history. The events of 9-11 continue to reverberate throughout our country.

In many ways, the nation has not been able to put it behind itself and to deal with the effect of it. And I think that for the remainder of our lifetime, we will. But it is a major, major event that took place that began to reshape much about our nation and many other events in this world. You and I live at a critical juncture.

And while large events unfold that are largely beyond our ability to control, we can make choices where we live. And today, I think that any of you that are here and listening and opening the Scriptures to look into the Word of God on this subject can begin to live by the principles of the Kingdom of God. That is the critical choice that is before us. It is the way of life of that coming Kingdom that can help all of us really navigate the uncertain times that we live, no matter what they might be, whether it's an economic decline, a future that many hoped would be rosy and filled with peace and enough money to live on and good health and yet has turned south, turned sour a little bit, or other uncertainties that have taken place.

The knowledge, the hope, the truth of the Kingdom of God, I think, is the anchor into which our lives can be placed to give us the ability to navigate the uncertain times that we have. So I hope that those of you that are here visiting with us today will certainly join us in future seminars. Those of us that are here on a regular basis, this is going to be a fascinating journey and one that is going to be very important for us all, no matter how many times we may have heard the exposition, sermons, and discussions on the subject of the Kingdom of God.

We're going to learn what that Kingdom is through these and how it will come to this earth in the future. We're going to learn what the prophecies of the Kingdom of God are and how they will affect the United States of America, the English-speaking nations, and all other nations of this world. We're going to understand where we do stand in Bible prophecy and the events that are taking place around us and the real meaning of those events. We'll talk about those as well in this and future seminars and where we are in that march of prophecy.

Most importantly, I think, for any of us at any point in our study on the subject, we're going to take with us the fact that Jesus Christ, the King of Kings and the King of that coming Kingdom, can provide for any of us the inner peace and the joy of that Kingdom today in our lives to help us navigate these turbulent times. And so, in this first presentation here this morning, my goal is to analyze this critical time at the end of the age before the return of Jesus Christ and give us kind of an overview of the Kingdom of God as we discuss it.

When we even use the term the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven, it is a subject that we find mentioned throughout the Scriptures. The idea of a Kingdom in the 21st century in our world today is almost an anachronism. It's an idea that we maybe think about in terms of something in the ancient world or some far-off little, you know, island nation like the Kingdom of Great Britain with a queen today or a monarch over it and other little smaller kingdoms that may be. And we don't necessarily think about the idea and really understand the concept of a Kingdom today in our modern democratic nation-state worlds and nations that we have.

And yet, the Bible uses that term and it is just as relevant for us today. In fact, when we begin to look into the Scriptures and see what it says, we find that it is certainly when it comes to Jesus Christ and His message, it was something that was continually on His lips and He spoke about it in so many different ways to all that He met that it became the central message that He represented. I'd like, if you would, to turn in your Bibles to the book of Mark, chapter 1.

And we're going to look at what we're told here in regard to the Kingdom of God. Just to pick one scripture here, but it is a key scripture, a seminal scripture to describe what Christ focused on while He was on this earth. In Mark, chapter 1, and let's begin in verse 14, it says that, now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee preaching the gospel of the Kingdom of God, saying, the time is fulfilled and the Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel. And so there's three concepts here that He mentions.

The time is fulfilled. Now what does that mean? Briefly, we can just explain that the time that was fulfilled was the right moment, if you will, in human history. Christ was born at the time when the Roman Empire was at its height. And that empire at that time facilitated the coming of the Son of God and the beginning of the work of the Church that Christ began.

And it was the best time at that point in human history for that to happen. The time was fulfilled. The Roman system had created a certain peace and safety throughout the world at that time, at least the Roman world, that allowed the gospel to take root and the Church to begin, for Christ to even do His work and the apostles.

There was a system of roads and communication that allowed people to travel and to carry the message of the gospel to the Greek world, to the far-flung Jewish settlements and areas that had scattered from Jerusalem over the previous centuries, and facilitated through the Greek language a communication. It was truly, for its time, a global society that facilitated the spreading of a message through language and through travel that no previous time would have allowed. And even subsequent ages would not have permitted as well after the collapse of the Roman Empire. And so the time was fulfilled in that sense.

There were many other factors that made this the best time. But Jesus also said to repent, which means to change. Repent is a very difficult word today. It's one of those hard words in our language. Nobody likes to change. The reason we don't like to change is we don't like to admit that we're wrong. And to admit that, whether it's a religious belief, a political idea, or just a personal action is wrong.

Whether it's wrong against the word of God, the law of God, a custom or a law of society, or a religious belief, to admit that one is wrong is one of the most difficult things for you and I, any of us as human beings, to ever do. And yet Jesus said, change. He said, turn around, repent, get a different life, one that is more in line with the kingdom. Believe, he says, the gospel of the kingdom. Believe in that.

And so he came and he preached that good news, and it was on his lips everywhere he went.

Now, Jesus came to a people who expected a kingdom. The Jews of his time, Christ was a Jew, the line of the tribe of Judah, and the dominant remnant of the tribes of Israel were the tribe of Judah, the Jews, and that land at that time. And those people expected a kingdom. They were well versed in the scriptures that we call the Old Testament. They didn't call it the Old Testament then. But they knew what the prophets had predicted and foretold. They knew what the kingdom of Israel had been in the past. But most importantly, they knew that the idea of a kingdom came directly from God to their ancestors at the foot of Mount Sinai, where we read in the book of Exodus chapter 19 that God said to the entire tribes of Israel under Moses, having just now come out of Egypt, he said to them in Exodus chapter 19, he says, I have drawn you to me on eagle's wings to make you a kingdom of priests.

A kingdom of priests. This is where Israel's first knowledge, if you will, of a kingdom came, and it had to do with their relationship with God. It wasn't borrowed from any other culture.

They didn't get it from Egypt. They didn't get it from Babylon or any other ancient culture. They got it from God. And the idea of a kingdom was based upon a relationship with God directly to him. That was their opportunity. And they entered into an agreement with God. They said, we will obey you. And God said, I will bless you. And they said, all that you have told us to do, we will do. And that was really the basis of the agreement of a kingdom between God and Israel. And this is what the Jews of Christ's day understood. So when he came preaching the announcement and the news of the kingdom of God, he says it's at hand. They went all the way back to the time of Moses to begin to understand that. Prior to David, prior to Solomon, prior to any of the prophets. But they knew that that was an idea, a hope and a promise inherent in their basic, most basic relationship with God at that time. And yet, they had misconceptions about that kingdom. And Christ himself did not hesitate to clear up those misconceptions. In Luke chapter 19, just in the days prior to his death, Jesus was entering Jerusalem. And in verse 11 of Luke 19, Christ began to speak a parable to them. Verse 11 tells us that as they heard these things, he spoke another parable because he was near Jerusalem and because they thought the kingdom of God would appear immediately. The Jews expected the Messiah to come and to establish that kingdom in their time. And they looked at Jesus to be the one to do it because he was preaching about it. But here he gives a parable to, and the parable here in Luke 19 is really a teaching that wasn't going to come then. He told them a story of a nobleman that went off into a far country to receive a kingdom and to return. And that, you know, he had to put the brakes on that thought, that they were going to try to elevate him to somehow overthrow the Romans at that time. That was not his intent. They did not have a full understanding of that. He showed that it would not be done then, but that it would come in the future. Now, they again understood because of that certain aspects about the kingdom, that it was of God, that they looked to Christ as one that they thought would bring it. But Christ had to show them that there were other things that must take place first.

And that was one of the misconceptions. There was another misconception that they had, that the kingdom of God—and this is one that tended to grow later within the church, within certain erroneous teachings—they began to think that the kingdom of God was within you. Jesus had made a statement back in Luke 17. That certainly led them to interpret it this way.

In verse 20 of Luke 17, it says that he was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come.

And he answered them, and he 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. Within you. It led some to think, well, does that mean—and the teaching that still persists even to this day among some—is that once you accept the Lord, once you have a relationship with God, the kingdom of God in a sense is within you. And that's all that it means.

Well, is that what Jesus was saying? Well, the answer is no. An understanding of what it means here when he says within really could be better translated. It's in your midst. The kingdom is in your midst. And at that moment, it was through Christ. He was in their midst as the coming king of that kingdom and as the messenger of the kingdom at that particular point, giving them an announcement about the kingdom, telling them about it and how to live by its principles. And he was in their midst teaching them that message. But they did not accept it fully. The Pharisees here asked the question, and it was the Pharisees among those who were leading the opposition against the kingdom at that particular point in time because of their particular misconceptions. And so when Christ does return, the kingdom will be in the midst of this world, but that is for a future time. Another misconception that people have about the kingdom of God is that perhaps the church is the kingdom of God. This was an idea that came to be developed three to four hundred years after Christ's death when the church that he founded became so small, so persecuted, and the truth was nearly eradicated, that false ideas began to come in, and ideas that crept into what then became a larger, gentile-dominated church that changed the ideas and the theology into thinking that the kingdom, the church, was the kingdom of God. So that by the time you come to four or five hundred years after Christ's death, the church, as it is at that time, not the church of God, but a different church, is teaching that the church is now the kingdom of God on the earth, and its head, its physical leader, is the vicar of Christ, or the regent of God on this earth, and rules for Christ in his church as a human being on the earth. And that idea even is extant to this very day, but that is not what the Bible teaches, that is not what Jesus Christ taught. The church of God is only a forerunner, if you will, of individuals who are called as the elect, as part of the church, which is a spiritual body, but that church is not the kingdom of God. To this very day, the church is not the kingdom of God.

The members of the church are merely, as Paul put it, ambassadors for Christ.

And that's an entirely different concept, because an ambassador is one who represents his nation in a foreign land. And one who is called, and part of what the Scripture's term is the elect, is really an ambassador representing the kingdom of God wherever they may live, which brings the kingdom again back down to the individual personal level for you and I to understand today. And that is, once a person becomes baptized, receives God's Holy Spirit, becomes a part of that spiritual body of Christ, a group of people also called the elect, they then, in a sense, represent the teachings, the values, the basis of that coming kingdom wherever they may live in their family, in their neighborhood, in their place where they go to work, and their speech and their conduct and their example reflects upon that kingdom.

It's a very heavy responsibility, but it really does bring it all the way back to what God's intended when he said to the Israelites at the foot of Mount Sinai, I will make of you a kingdom of priests, a group of people who are set apart for a holy purpose, to live a holy life. That's another strange concept for all of us to wrap our minds around today because we tend to think of holiness as a religious person or an ascetic or someone who may separate themselves from the world and go off and live in a monastery or a private place and just devote themselves to prayer, to good works and whatever, and to try to live a holy life or some type of religious figure. Well, that's, again, getting away from what God really intended. God intended his kingdom of priests to be holy to him and to live a holy life. And again, that's another challenge for us today.

But Christ continually taught about the kingdom of God. He taught it to be the highest priority in one's life. In Matthew 6, verse 33, he said to his followers, seek you first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. But seek first the kingdom of God today. That's what he still says to us today. The kingdom of God is and should be the highest value that one has in life. At the great pearl of great price in one of the other parables of the kingdom, Christ spoke many parables to illustrate what the kingdom was like, and in one of them he said, the kingdom of God is like a pearl, a great precious pearl that one merchant goes and sells all that he has to get that one pearl, to buy that one pearl. In other words, a life of sacrifice and commitment to obtain the pearl of great price, the kingdom of God. And so it is to have high value, high importance in our life. Another time when Christ spoke of the kingdom, and we'll turn to this verse in Matthew chapter 19. He did show that it was to be a literal kingdom that will come, Matthew chapter 19. And again, it helps us understand why the Jews and even his own disciples looked for him to set up something. In Matthew chapter 19, verse 27, Peter answered and said to him, See, we have left all and followed you. Therefore, what shall we have? So Jesus said to them, Assuredly I say to you that in the regeneration when the Son of Man sets on the throne of his glory, you who have followed me will also set on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And so he did say that he was going to come and set on a throne of glory. Christ will come to this earth and he will set on a throne. He will rule the nations. Other prophecies talk about that and we'll have time in future presentations to discuss that reality. That is to come. But he made the promise to Peter in response to the question, We've given everything up. What are we going to get for this? He said, You will set with me on thrones. And that's a pretty strong statement of promise. He said that they would rule over the twelve tribes of Israel in the midst of a kingdom on this earth spoken of in other times as initially a thousand years. And then even beyond that, the book of Revelation chapter 20 gives us a bit more information about what that first thousand year period of Christ rule will be like. But it will involve a government. It will involve territory and land and subjects of mankind and a system of law that is based upon God's law, God's way of life. Here in Matthew 19 as well, in verse 29, he shows us something else about the kingdom of God, that it involves eternal life. Because he went on to say, Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my name's sake shall receive a hundredfold and inherit eternal life. The answer to Peter's question, we've left everything. What do we get for this? He said eternal life. Eternal life. This is one of Christ's very, very difficult and hard sayings that says, Essentially, you put me first before any other relationship, before your mother, your mother, your father, your wife, your children, your best friend, you put me first. You seek me and the kingdom first. That's hard. That is a hard, hard saying of Jesus Christ, one of many.

Again, people don't like to work that one through. Like a math problem, where you get to a solute, you get to an answer as to what that means, because it requires everything. But it does offer, and God's promise there, of eternal life.

Other scriptures would talk about that, what that means as well. But this is part of what they understood and what they desired. The prophets and the people in the time of Christ anticipated the kingdom of God. They anticipated that it would come. The prophet Daniel looked for it, a time when the kingdom would not be left to others, but would be given to the saints of the Most High in Daniel 2, verse 44. And so many of the other prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, Amos, Malachi, Micah, spoke words and descriptions of this coming time, that when you read them all and you put them together, you come up with only one indisputable fact, that that kingdom, that time, that whole system that is described can only come about when God brings it. There will be no church, no human government, no political party, no ideology of any sort that will create what the Bible describes as the kingdom of God on this earth, a time of justice, equity, peace among nations, and true happiness. What those prophecies all describe can only be brought about by Jesus Christ and what is described as a time of the restitution of all things.

Many, many prophets talk about that. Isaiah 2 is one whole section of prophecy that talks about it and a time of the beating of swords into plowshares. I think we'll have a little bit more discussion about that in the next presentation as well. But it will be a time of true world peace in the future and a time of spiritual awakening for all of the nations.

But there's also another aspect of the kingdom that we should consider here as part of this overview, and that is also something that Jesus himself spoke to. Because before this kingdom comes with Christ at his second coming, Christ also said and warned his disciples, and he warns us today that there will be a time of trouble in the world. Before that kingdom comes in its fullness, there will be a time of trouble that will come upon this earth at the end of the age that is an indescribable period. And many, many prophecies speak to this. In Daniel 12 and verse 1, Daniel talks about or is given knowledge that there will be a time of trouble such as has not been since the time began that will come upon the nations. And Jesus spoke to this here in Matthew 24. Let's turn to Matthew 24 and what is a familiar section of the Gospels when he was setting upon the Mount of Olives, verse 3 of Matthew 24. And his disciples came to him and they wanted to know when will these things be and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age. This question sparked a very long discourse from Christ that covers Matthew 24 and actually into chapter 25. And Christ gave specific signs. What would be the end of the age? And I should say at this point that this concept of the end of the age is parallel to other terms that the Bible talks about called the time of the end or in the latter days these are all phrases that are speaking of a time and a period just before the return of Christ at the end of the age of man when everything breaks loose, if you will, among the nations. And the real potential for mankind to annihilate itself is real. In verse 22 of this Matthew 24, Christ makes the statement, he says that unless those days were shortened no flesh would be saved but for the elect's sake those days will be shortened. He gives a hint that this will not take place until the potential for human annihilation exists. Not that all flesh will be annihilated.

Now we've lived, all of us in this room, we've lived in our time under the shadow of the nuclear war since 1945 when America ended the war with Japan by dropping two bombs on two of its cities and ushered in the age of nuclear warfare. The potential has been there because of the the bomb. Two, certainly wreak great havoc and were it all to be unleashed at one point, certainly the potential for all human flesh to be annihilated is there. And it's become the subject of books and articles and religious movements, political movements, fear, the great Cold War clash between the United States and the Soviet Union, the arms race that we lived with, the idea of a bald-headed Russian man beating his shoe on the podium at the United Nations and saying, we will bury you, which I grew up with, this idea of the potential. And I went through the civil defense drills when I was in school to supposedly protect me from a nuclear attack when there really wasn't any protection, but it was probably, it was no doubt meant to give us some type of comfort that we could do something. And it's still there, and it still is there, and it is still a fear in the back of the minds of so many, this idea of a post-apocalyptic world and what it would be like. Christ did predict it, and it helps us to understand when these things will be. And we are living in those days and those times right now, which again highlights the need for this message to be even more so, given and provided.

Earlier, in response again to this question, what would be the signs, he began to give signs.

He got real specific. He talked in verses 4 and 5 of chapter 24 about religious deception, false messiahs coming in the name his name and deceiving many, he said. In verse 6, he talks about wars and rumors of war. And we have and do continue to see so many of those. He talked about international tensions of famines, of pestilence, and earthquakes in verse 7, and tumult. And just the general description in verse 7 of tension and crises that are both natural and man-made. We are living in a time of certainly financial crisis worldwide right now that with each passing day threatens to reshape the present world order.

I am not one of those that predicts a complete crash of the world economy. But I do think that we are seeing the beginning leading edges of a of movements and crises in the United States. And right now, as we speak in Europe, that will reshape the world order in many ways that we that I don't even think world leaders begin to understand as the crisis of the last three to four years continues to deepen and reshape the world. We've lived through in our own this year what has been called the Arab Spring and the riots and overthrow of regimes and governments in the Muslim world across North Africa and the Middle East that is still ongoing.

We're days away from the potential declaration of the Palestinians in the Middle East of declaring their own state and coming head to head again with the state of Israel and putting the United States right in the center of it. And if we, as we say we will, we will veto that idea with our power of what that could mean in terms of our relationship with Saudi Arabia, our chief oil benefactor and other Arab nations is great unknown. But this coming week, you could we could very well see Palestinians declare their statehood and seek United Nations approval, setting up another crisis and an already crisis-filled part of the world. We're living in very dramatic times. Christ talked about famines, talked about weather upsets.

We are in the midst of some very real problems. Someone recently sent me a photo series of pictures from the state of Texas. Texas has been gripped in a drought that is affecting the entire state. And it's it's unprecedented. It is a very dramatic period. It's almost like that state is under a curse right now. And it's one of the still the most it's that's the anomaly. It's one of the most affluent states in the Union. And yet they in the rural areas they are going through a massive drought that is a major threat right there. We've lived through a year of another period of serious flooding in the Missouri and Mississippi River basins. And we have seen a great deal of upset weather conditions. None of it so dramatic that it just completely turns our economy upside down. But it has its impact and it it makes you wonder. It makes you wonder what what is it telling us? About a year ago, last October, there was, we may remember, a massive weather system that swept across the United States. It began up in the Pacific area and swept across the United States from north to south, literally from Mexico border to the Canadian border. And it went all the way through the geographic United States. I remember when it came through Indiana, we had a period of a day of some severe storms and tornado sightings. So severe, my wife was teaching school that day that they had all the kids down in the hallways for upwards of an hour in literally tornado mode because of what was taking place. It spawned it spawned snow, tornadoes, severe thunderstorms. The meteorologist described it as a land-based hurricane moving across the United States. And I saw pictures of it. And it was that they were mesmerized themselves, that the weather experts had never seen anything like it. And I remember thinking, what if that happened at a critical moment of harvest or it was so severe that it upset food chain food supplies and created you know triggered other problems. It was a warning. It's a wake-up call of what could happen. We don't have the control over things. And Jesus was saying that. And so these are these are very interesting times that we live in. Throughout Matthew 24 he talks about persecution, religious deception, betrayal, and offense. It's quite a dire dark picture. And the idea of false prophets, as verse 11 mentions, that will rise up and deceive many and capture people's attention.

Earlier this year we had the notoriety of a radio preacher predicting the end of the world back in May. And the rapture didn't happen. Well, he recalibrated and now he's predicted it to happen next month. And yet I don't get caught up in those things. I think we all recognize that. But what I did what was amazing was just the the notoriety of the press and the interest that that it generated. Again, another false prophet predicting making a false prediction about a rapture or the end or whatever. And it hides the reality of what Jesus did say, but this is what Jesus said would happen, get people caught up in those things. And so he also talked in verse 12 about a lack of love in society because of lawlessness. Because iniquity would abound, he says. Lawlessness will abound. The love of many will grow cold. And we see that as well in so many tragic atrocities that take place.

That pop up here and there. Deranged people who go on shooting sprees or trends in society and culture that debase respect for humanity and the person and the sexes. It's a part of our world today that creates this cold hardened approach toward people and toward the world. Now the kingdom of God is not here, but the signs preceding that kingdom are here already in today's headlines.

And they're reported virtually every night in some form or fashion on our cable headline news channels.

But let's ask this question as I conclude here. Because we've talked about in general the kingdom of God, we've talked about that it is to come and we can explore and we'll explore this much deeper.

But let me ask this one question. What is it that you and I should do? What must we do and what must we be? It really comes down to a two-fold question. What shall we do and what must we become? And this is really the heart of what people asked and we find answered in two places in the Bible. What must we do and what must we become? The people asked that when they were confronted in Acts chapter 2 with the death of Jesus as the Son of God and they said, what do we do? Peter said to repent, be baptized. And then again Peter wrote in 2 Peter chapter 3 in verse 11, he said, considering all these things that are going to come to pass, what manner of persons ought we to be? How are we to become in our own life? And that brings it down to a personal strategy. How are we to be and live? To endure our day and the future and the onslaught of any of these signs that Jesus speaks of in Matthew 24, to deal with them and to deal with life, everyday life in the midst of these to whatever degree requires spiritual strength, requires the help of God. And that does come from God as our source of strength.

We do need Jesus Christ as the King of the coming Kingdom in our midst, in our lives, now, drawing on that strength. We can't do it ourselves. In that sense, we do need Christ in us. That's the hope of glory. But how does that happen? How do we even begin with that? Well, we go back to what Jesus said in Mark 1, verse 14. He said, repent. Turn around. Acknowledge there's a better way. Acknowledge that you don't need to beat your head against the wall. Acknowledge that you've been wrong in your life in terms of your religious ideas. The Kingdom is something else beyond what you've ever dreamed and imagined. Repent of that. Change. Admit and believe the Gospel. Every one of us in this room has a challenging life. Aging, illness, problems in families, problems on the job, problems with ourselves, insecurities, lack of esteem, whatever it may be.

Life is a challenge. As the commercial says, life comes at you fast. Life comes at us very, very fast. It seems like today nobody really gets a free pass. I don't know of anybody that's passing go every week and collecting $200. Maybe I'm hanging around the wrong people. I don't know.

But if that describes your life, if that is reality, then let's understand something. Christ issued a summons to the Kingdom of God, and that requires a radical break in the way we live. It's a challenge to break the cycles of life that tie us down, to live differently by a better and a more gracious way. And yet that is what God says in the Bible. That is what God says we should do. In Titus chapter 2, one of the pastoral epistles written by the apostle Paul Titus chapter 2, he addresses this.

Titus 2 beginning in verse 11. For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age. Today we should live sobered by life, realizing things are serious, there's joy to be held as well, but to live soberly, to deny ourselves of what we think we're owed, what the world owes us in a sense, or what we think we have to have because we get caught up in greed. Part of the reason for our nation's current economic downturn is because so many people got caught up in greed and spent more on what things that they couldn't afford.

And they were encouraged to by their own government, which was financing it and financing even a whole way of life for us here that we cannot afford. And we still can't admit that. We still are having challenges with that. This is what Paul is writing about here.

In verse 13 he says, looking for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from every lawless deed.

And purify for himself his own special people, zealous for good works.

So Paul encapsulates the whole approach that God's grace has appeared to us to bring salvation and to teach us that denying ungodliness and greed and lusts we can live and should live soberly and righteously and godly in this present age and look for a hope that is to come.

To be a special people to him. This verse brings us back again to the fact that we have the hope of God's kingdom. And it brings us back to the reality of Exodus chapter 19 that I referred to where God said to Israel, I brought you out on Eagle's wings to myself to make of you a kingdom of priests, a special people. This language, this terminology runs throughout the Bible to describe the kingdom of God, which is a relationship, begins as a relationship with God himself and a desire on those who will be a part of that kingdom to live soberly and righteously and to deny themselves today, to accept the grace of God and to live righteously in anticipation of that coming kingdom. That's at the heart of the gospel message. That's the essence of the overview. That is what we are ambassadors, are here to be ambassadors of. Emissaries of a different kingdom and of a different way of life. It's represented now in the lives of those who are called to that.

The United Church of God has really one strategy, and that is to preach that kingdom, to preach that message to people who God is calling, to teach that we are called to righteousness now, called to preach the gospel of the kingdom, and called to prepare to rule with Christ when he appears in that kingdom and its fullness on this earth. That's what the kingdom of God is all about. That's what this message is, and that's what the United Church of God is all about. It is the most important message that we can provide for an audience today, and it's the most important message for us to hear.