Man's Only Hope for Survival

Hello, everyone. It's good to see all of you here. I'd like to welcome back one of our guests from the prior Kingdom of God seminar. And we are glad to have our other guests with us today as well. Today's world is a picture of contrast wherever you look. It's like the time described by Charles Dickens in his novel, The Tale of Two Cities. He said it was the best of times, it was the worst of times. On one hand, in this globalized world of technology that we live in today, we see a world that's interconnected with commerce and communication. And it's raised the standard of living from much of the world to the highest in human history. We here in the United States, many of us, live very well. There's great wealth in this country as well as many other countries around the world. And yet, in many ways, it's also potentially the worst of times. Nuclear war is still a threat, particularly in the Middle East. Iran continues to pursue nuclear weapons while Israel decides whether it's going to act to prevent the development of that ultimate weapon of mass destruction that could easily wipe Israel off the face of the earth. And we know that's what they want to do. So you can understand why the Israelis would be somewhat nervous about that. A nuclear Middle East is more frightening, frankly, than the Cold War standoff that took place between the United States and the Soviet Union. Also, with the Arab Spring, we see that many of these Middle Eastern nations are unstable. And also terrorism, perhaps even nuclear terrorism, is a huge threat to the world. So in some ways, it's the worst of times. Things could happen very quickly. We could wake up tomorrow morning. And find out the whole world has changed overnight. Some things can happen these days that really change the whole climate of things very quickly. We live in a small world in many ways.

And today, we see a world economy that, even though it's generated tremendous and vast wealth, it's also going through a crisis created by the enormous burden of debt. Trillions and trillions and trillions of dollars. It's hard for us to even wrap our minds around being in debt to that degree and that extent. Of course, we would have gone down a long time ago with even a tiny fraction of the kind of debt that our nations are building up. And not only in the United States, but in Western Europe. In Greece and in various countries over in Western Europe, it's really a problem that could cause some tremendous upheavals for us. There could be an economic meltdown, much like the Great Depression. And we could see a realignment of world power blocks. Things could change overnight. The geopolitical structure could change very quickly. Existing major powers could find themselves on the outside. Looking in at some new powers that are developing. In the world, we see, again, a global financial crisis. We see wars that are always not far away. The conflict in the Sudan is this particular article. Volcanoes in Mexico. We see Iran in many ways a bigger threat to the United States than North Korea. But North Korea is a concern as well.

This talks about the Indonesian earthquake. A magnitude 8.6 quake that struck off the Indonesian island of Sumatra. It wasn't that many years ago when 200,000 people died in a tsunami. So things can just happen very quickly in this world. And also we see the moral fabric of our society being shredded with assaults on the family and morality that's creating a culture that would frankly be unrecognizable to our grandparents or even our parents just a generation or two ago. Now we have homosexual marriage that's been endorsed by the President of the United States. We see a culture of abortion in this country with its murder of 70 to 80 million unborn babies that have been killed over the past several decades just here in the United States alone. And there's a continual assault on morality and decency in popular entertainment. Again, there's a culture of evil that's been created, and frankly many people just don't see it that way. They don't acknowledge or admit that there even is a God, and they openly defy God's word. They defy the Bible. That's the world that we live in. Our courts have stripped prayer out of our schools. They've stripped prayer out of our public life. We've reached a critical crossroads of religious and spiritual confusion that will bring this world to the brink of destruction unless we repent and turn things around. And there's so much greed in the world. This is a present era of financial greed, as it's talking about here. It's a very selfish age, a selfish society.

And so things are coming to a head in this country and in this world. It won't be long, and we'll see this world heading for the precipice, a time of world trouble, of unprecedented proportions. This is just the beginning of sorrows, and there's going to be a lot more sorrow in the days ahead, according to your Bible. Jesus Christ Himself said of world conditions just before He returns, For then there will be great tribulation, such as not been from the beginning of the world until now.

No, and never will be, and if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved alive. So we are headed for destruction unless Jesus Christ intervenes and even stops short the disaster that's going to come upon this earth without His return, without His intervention. It also says, for the sake of the elect, these days will be cut short. So there is a group of people on earth that God does take note of. In fact, He will intervene for the elect to save this world, to save life on this planet.

And this speaks of the great solution that God has. It is the real hope of the coming Kingdom of God. Now this is the third time that we've had Kingdom of God seminars in the past year. We'll have a fourth one, which will probably be in September, and it will conclude this first round anyway of Kingdom of God seminars.

I'm not sure what we'll do after that. But there is a real solution coming, and it is the prophesied Kingdom of God. It's been long foretold in our Bibles. It is coming. You can count on it. And you're here today at this seminar to understand what you can do to prepare in advance of this coming Kingdom. The revealed knowledge in this seminar will allow you to make a difference in your life now, and it will help prepare you for a role in God's coming Kingdom.

So it is a very important seminar. I believe the most important one that we've had thus far. So listen to what is said carefully, and ask yourself if you are ready to make some changes in your own life. Even those of us who have been in the Church a long time, there may be some changes we still need to make in our lives. So what did Jesus Christ focus on while He was here on the earth?

We know in past seminars that Jesus preached the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. We went to Mark 1, verses 14 and 15 a number of times, where it says, The time is fulfilled, the Kingdom of God is at hand, repent, and believe the Gospel. So what message did Jesus command His followers to preach? Christ clearly taught the message of the Kingdom of God, but what did He teach His followers to continue preaching? In Luke 9, verses 1 and 2, Christ called His twelve disciples together, and He sent them to preach the Kingdom of God.

And in Matthew 24, verse 14, we'll see it on the screen here, and this Gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come. Frankly, we see these Kingdom of God seminars as a partial fulfillment of doing that very thing, of preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom to the world. As Mr. Martins, I believe, said, this seminar is taking place in around 200 different places this month. So that's around the world in Australia, in Africa, in Sri Lanka, in Mexico, South America, and many countries around the world.

These same seminars are being given. Now, was this same Kingdom of God a major theme in what Paul, the Apostle Paul, taught? It certainly was, in fact, in Acts, chapter 19, verse 8. And this one's not on the screen, but I did want to share it with you. Paul went into the synagogue on the Sabbath, of course, and spoke boldly for three months reasoning and persuading concerning the things of the Kingdom of God. That's the message that Paul brought to the world as well, the things of the Kingdom of God.

And in Acts 28, verse 23, persuading them concerning Jesus from both the law of Moses and the prophets from morning until evening. So all day long, from morning until evening, Paul would preach the Gospel of the coming Kingdom of God. And then in verses 30 and 31 of chapter 28, it says, So God gave him free access to preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, and thankfully we have free access today.

And so we want to make hay while the sun shines, so to speak. We want to get out there and preach the Gospel while we're still able. Paul emphasized the theme of the Kingdom of God, continuing the teaching of Jesus Christ and the other apostles.

So is this an important message for you and for me today? What did Jesus himself say should be the goal of every Christian? What should be your goal? What should be my goal? I'm sure we're familiar with Matthew 6, verse 33. It says, So not only should we seek the Kingdom of God, but we should also seek the righteousness of God, changing our lives.

Now, in Luke 12, it's a companion scripture along with Matthew 6, verse 33. It says here, In other words, if you put God first, then God will prepare a way for you. He will take care of you. He will provide for you. You needn't worry if you have God on your side. He says, It pleases God to give you the Kingdom. So give us what? He wants to give us the Kingdom. The Kingdom is something that God will give us. Many people have questions about what is this Kingdom of God that we're talking about.

What is it? What will it be like? What will we do in God's Kingdom? We're going to answer these questions in the first presentation that we have today. These are important questions, important things to consider. Christ's message was long anticipated by the prophets of old. In Acts chapter 3, it says, And that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, whom heaven must receive, until the times of restoration of all things which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.

That's Acts chapter 3 verses 19 through 21. And then Daniel, the prophet, prophesied of God's coming Kingdom. He said, And this is a reference to the Kings that it talks about in the book of Revelation, where ten Kings will unite together in the last days before Christ's return. They'll form what is referred to as a beast power. And it says, In other words, Christ is going to control things at that time.

He's going to be the king of kings. It's not going to be left to other leaders or other people because Christ Himself will direct things. And we'll see that He'll direct them from Jerusalem. That will be the headquarters. And He'll set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and the kingdom will not be left to other people. It shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms. Speaking of those ten kings that would unite together.

And it shall stand forever. So God's kingdom is one that will last forever. So will Christ literally return to this earth? Now, a lot of people don't really think Christ is coming back. They're not really looking for Him to return. But we certainly believe that Christ is literally coming back to this earth. In fact, in Zechariah 14, it shows very clearly that Christ will return. And in that day, this is a prophetic phrase, in that day, speaking about these last days, just prior to Christ's return, in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives.

So this is specifically speaking of the day that Christ returns. His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west, making a very large valley. Thus, the Lord my God will come and all the saints with you. Notice God is coming and all the saints will be coming with Him.

We'll talk more about that later. Now, this prophecy describes Jesus Christ's literal return to earth, where He will meet and be accompanied by the resurrected saints, those who are set apart in this age, as God's true followers. They will descend to the Mount of Olives, which overlooks Jerusalem from the city's east side. My wife and I were privileged to go to Jerusalem just a couple summers ago. We stood on the Mount of Olives, and you can't help but think about the return of Christ when you're on the Mount of Olives. So we're looking forward to returning to the Mount of Olives.

I wouldn't mind going back in the flesh, but I certainly want to be there with Christ in spirit when He comes at His return. Other prophecies show that enemy forces are going to actually attempt to fight Christ and to fight the saints, but they will be utterly defeated when they rise up against Christ. And after that, Christ and the saints will bring wonderful changes to this world. So we have a lot to look forward to. We're talking about the beginnings of God's kingdom here, the return of Christ. His headquarters will be set up in Jerusalem. So what role will Jerusalem play?

It will be the headquarters. Notice in Zechariah 8, verse 3, Thus says the LORD, I will return to Zion, and I will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Jerusalem shall be called the city of truth, the mountain of the LORD of hosts, the holy mountain. The mountain is symbolic of government.

God is going to govern from Jerusalem. In chapter 3, verse 17 of Jeremiah, at that time, again speaking of the return of Christ, at that time, Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the Eternal, because He's going to dwell there, and all the nations shall be gathered to it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem.

No more shall they follow the dictates of their evil hearts. Frankly, the leadership that we have in today's world, they're primarily following the dictates of their evil hearts. The Bible says that our hearts are deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked, and we will see that in our second seminar today, the second segment, as we talk about repentance and what it means to repent.

Now, in Isaiah 2, verse 2, from the New Living Translation, it says, in the last days, again, just prior to Christ's return and at Christ's return, in the last days, the mountain of the Lord's house will be the highest of all, the most important place on earth. It will be raised above the other hills, and people from all over the world will stream to Jerusalem to worship. They will come to the city to worship the great King.

People from many nations will come and say, come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of Jacob's God. There He will teach us His ways, and we will walk in His paths. For the Lord's teaching will go out from Zion, His Word will go out from Jerusalem.

Now, it also speaks of a time when the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ. This is found in Revelation 11, verse 15. As Daniel said, those kingdoms will be destroyed. The kingdoms of this earth will basically be destroyed, and they will become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He, Christ, shall reign forever and ever. So Jerusalem, the ancient city over which so much blood has been shed, throughout the centuries will become the governmental and religious center of the world in the kingdom of God. Again, notice that the kingdom of God established by Jesus the Messiah will take control over the kingdoms of this world. It will be a literal kingdom. It will replace the present systems of government that we see on earth today, which have refused to accept and enforce the laws of God. We don't want to even be known as a Christian nation anymore.

So many leaders have even basically said that.

So God's kingdom will become a reality at the return of Christ. Now, we look forward to that kingdom now. We long for that kingdom. Why do we long for God's kingdom? Because it's going to be a lot different from what we see today. It's going to be tremendously different from this earth today. We here in America, we live in relative peace. We basically have peace. We have freedoms. We have wealth. That's not true for much of the world. And we've got to always remember that. Sometimes it's perhaps easy to want to just go on in this life. But as we grow older, and as more aches and pains begin to cause us trouble, we realize the answers are not really here on this earth. There are answers that only God can bring us, real answers to our problems. So let's ask ourselves, what will be so different about the kingdom of God compared to today's world? What is going to be so different? Well, one of the beginning huge factors is that people don't realize what's behind nearly all of our problems today. We have a lot of problems today on earth. Frankly, there is an unseen spiritual power at work, and it's been at work for a long time now. Jesus called this power the ruler of this world.

The Apostle Paul called this being the God of this world. And of course, it's speaking about Satan the devil. Satan the devil is the God of this world. And no one is going to be able to solve our problems until the source of those problems is removed. Until Satan is bound and removed, we're not going to see the solutions that we need here on earth. So one thing must be done first before the world can begin to change from the way it is today. And it tells us where that is, or what that's going to be in Revelation 20. Revelation 20, verse 1, Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven with the key to the bottomless pit, and a heavy chain in his hand. He had this huge chain in his hand, and he seized the dragon, that old serpent, who is the devil, Satan. And he bound him in chains for a thousand years, one thousand years, and he shut and locked. He locked it so Satan could not deceive the nations anymore. Now it says Satan has deceived the whole world. He won't be allowed to deceive the nations any longer during the thousand years. And until the thousand years are finished, then he will be released for a little while, according to God's plan, for God's purpose. So we see that there is a thousand-year period that the Bible clearly talks about, a literal thousand-year period, a millennium, and we refer to this time as the millennium.

So with the cause of so many of our problems removed, with Satan removed, the world will begin to be transformed under the righteous reign of Jesus Christ, Christ the long-promised Messiah. Notice what Bible prophecy reveals about how the world is going to be transformed. There is a transformation that is going to take place. On the left side of your screen, you'll see, frankly, much of the world is in this kind of shape, deserts and just poverty. On the right side, you see a beautiful mountain and rivers or streams and lakes. We can go to national parks and we can see what we see here on the right. But won't it be nice when the entire world will be beautiful? The deserts will blossom like a rose. And that's what we want to focus upon for a while now. You see, the earth's barren and desolate wastelands will be transformed to become like the Garden of Eden. I'm sure we've all thought about the Garden of Eden, how beautiful it must have been. Well, we're going to see exactly what it looked like because this earth is going to be transformed during Christ's reign here on the earth. In Isaiah 51, verse 3, For the Lord will comfort Zion, He will comfort all her waste places, He will make her wilderness like Eden and her desert like the Garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness will be found in it, thanksgiving and the voice of melody. When we were in Israel, we did see what some diligence on the part of the Israelis has done. Parts of Israel are beautiful. It's irrigated and it's just beautiful. It's lush. But there are other parts that are desert. Eventually, that's all going to be changed into a Garden of Eden. Joy and gladness will be found there and thanksgiving and the voice of melody. Because again, the deserts are going to blossom like a rose and there will be a tremendous transformation taking places. In Isaiah 35.1, it says, The wilderness and desert will be glad in those days. The wastelands will rejoice and they will blossom like a rose. Even here in Oklahoma and Arkansas, roses are very beautiful, aren't they? Some of the rose gardens I've seen are just outstanding and very beautiful. I can only imagine how wonderful the world's going to be when all of it's going to blossom like a rose. It says, Yes, there will be an abundance of flowers. I went to a greenhouse recently when I was in Ohio visiting my family. I was just struck by all the flowers and the plants and the bushes and the trees. It was a huge greenhouse. It was a huge complex and nursery. The flowers were just unbelievably beautiful. I can only imagine how wonderful it's going to be in God's kingdom. Because there will be an abundance of flowers. There will be singing and joy. The deserts will become as green as the mountains of Lebanon. There the Lord will display His glory, the splendor of our God. This is just a foretaste of God's kingdom. What we see on this earth today, the beauty that we see on the earth today, is just a tiny foretaste of what we're going to see in His kingdom.

It says, The parts ground will become a pool and springs of water will satisfy the thirsty land. Frankly, the Bible speaks of curses because of disobedience. There will not be rain in due season. Oftentimes we see that. There's flooding all across the US at various times when we should be planting. This is not God's kingdom yet. It's going to be amazing, the abundance that we're going to see and the transformation that's going to take place in God's kingdom. In Isaiah 41, verse 18, the New Living Translation says, I will open up rivers for them on the high plateaus. I will give them fountains of water in the valleys. I will fill the desert with pools of water. Rivers fed by springs will flow across the parched ground. It won't be parched for long when this begins to happen. And I will plant trees in the barren desert. Cedar trees, acacia, myrtle, olive, cypress, fir, and pine. An abundance of trees planted in the desert. And it will grow, it will blossom, or they will blossom, they will bud, they will be beautiful. I am doing this so all who see this miracle will understand what it means. That it is the Lord who has done this, the Holy One of Israel who created it. God is the great Creator, and He is going to transform the world. We, frankly, have polluted this world.

We human beings, because of our unfaithfulness and disobedience, we paid a price for that. Some parts of the world are just barren. They are ugly today. That is going to change. It is going to be transformed. There will be a tremendous abundance in God's Kingdom.

It will become enormously fruitful and productive. Enormously fruitful, in fact, as it says in Amos 9, verse 13, Behold, the days are coming. Talking about the Millennial reign of Christ. The days are coming, says the Lord, when the plowman shall overtake the reaper.

In other words, we won't even be getting the crops in before it is time to plan again. We won't have time. There is going to be such an abundance of crops that will be flourishing. It is going to be hard to keep up with it all.

Before we get one crop harvested, it is time to plan another one. It is going to be beautiful. And the treader of grapes, him who sows seed, the mountains shall drip with sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it. So there will be a tremendous abundance, and this planet will become enormously fruitful and productive as we have never seen before. There will be healing in God's kingdom. Both physical and spiritual healing will take place in the kingdom of God. The world will see astounding, miraculous healings, just as they did when Christ walked the earth. Remember, thousands of people would come to see Christ. They would sit down and want to hear His teachings, but they also wanted to be healed, didn't they?

And Christ healed all who came to Him at that time. So we're going to see the blind seeing, the deaf hearing, the lame will be leaping, and the mute will be speaking. They'll probably be screaming with joy that they have a voice now. Isaiah 35.5 says, And when He comes, He will open the eyes of the blind. He will unplug the ears of the deaf. My wife is an interpreter for the deaf, and we're both looking forward to the time when some of our friends will be able to hear what we have to say.

My wife's a good interpreter and signer. I'm not so good, so it's harder for me to communicate. I'm looking forward to the time when they can hear what I'm saying. It'll be much easier. The lame will leap like a deer. Those of us who are crippled up will be healed. And those who cannot speak will sing for joy.

Springs will gush forth in the wilderness. Streams will water the wasteland, so there will be tremendous healing in God's kingdom. And along with healing, there's also going to be peace, such as we've never seen before. There have always been wars on this earth. You know, since Cain rose up against his own brother and killed him, there have been fighting and war among us. So we look forward to a time of peace. We look forward to the time when this statue that we see at the United Nations will surely come to pass. And the Scripture in Micah 4, verse 3, says, "...he shall judge between many peoples, and he will rebuke strong nations afar off, and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, their spears into pruning hooks." See, even the nations, to some degree, realize something has to change.

They even have a statue at the United Nations, even though a lot of them don't even believe in God. This statue is there as a witness to what God's going to do in the future. "...their spears will be beat into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore." So the United Nations was the best thing that our presidents and leaders could come up with to try to change the world, and yet the world hasn't changed much.

Still an awful lot of heartache and warfare going on in the world. In Micah 4, verse 4, showing the contrast as to what's going to be different about God's kingdom, is that everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree. He'll have his own fig tree. He'll have a little piece of property. And no one shall make them afraid. What about today? Is no one afraid in today's society?

We're all afraid to some degree. If we're in certain parts of town, then we start to get really afraid. You know, in big cities and things that are happening. But there will come a time when no one shall make them afraid, for the mouths of the Lord of hosts has spoken. God is no liar. It will come to pass. You can count on it. God does not lie. There will be safety. As never before, even the nature of the animals will change. The nature of the animals will change.

And it's also symbolic of the nature of man will also change at that time. In Isaiah 11, verse 6, the wolf shall dwell with the lamb. The leopard will lie down with the young goat. The calf and the young lion and the fatling together. The little child shall lead them. What a wonderful picture that will make. We'll be getting our cameras out, taking pictures of our children leading lions and bears and little lambs around. I mean, it's going to be a wonderful time. There will be safety, as we've never seen before, and that will be because the knowledge of God will go forth.

Isaiah 11, 9, they shall not hurt nor destroy, and all my holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. You see, Satan is the author of confusion. And so even in today's churches, there is much religious confusion. There are thousands of denominations teaching different things about what is supposedly the truth. There will come a time when everyone will come to a full knowledge of who God is, and that's going to make a huge difference in the world tomorrow.

Now, ask yourself the question, where are you going to be when Christ returns? Where will you be personally? We all need to ask ourselves that. Where are you going to be personally? Now, in 1 Corinthians 15, it says, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. This flesh and blood isn't going to inherit the kingdom, nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Now, this is talking about in the fullest sense, because God's kingdom will become a spiritual, eternal kingdom further down the road after the thousand-year period, then it's going to become an even more beautiful world or existence, because there will be no sin, there will be no flesh, it's going to be eternal in spirit. So, it's talking about in the fullest sense that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom. Now, flesh and blood will live over into God's kingdom. During the millennial reign of Christ, there will be human beings. And during the great white throne judgment period, human beings will come out of the graves, and there will be flesh and blood, but in the fullest sense, they will not inherit the kingdom of God until they've surrendered fully to God, and God changes them to spirit. So, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Behold, I tell you a mystery, I tell you a hidden truth. We shall not all sleep, we shall not all die is what it's saying, but we shall all be changed. There will be some people who will live at the return of Christ, who are God's people, who have God's spirit dwelling in them. They're not going to die. God's going to protect some in a place of safety. They will be protected from the holocaust that's going to come upon this earth. So, we shall not all die, but we shall all be changed in the future. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet, that's when we'll be changed, for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible. So, those who have died, who are not alive at Christ's return, they will come first. The dead will be raised incorruptible. They will come first. Those who are alive and remain will be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet. We shall be changed. So, that is something, certainly, to look forward to, to being changed from this flesh to spirit.

Let's consider 1 Thessalonians, and we don't have that on the screen, but in 1 Thessalonians 4, verses 15 and 17, or through 17, it says, For this we say to you, by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain. See, it goes right along with what we've just read here in 1 Corinthians 15. We who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep, that is, those who have died. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Those who are in the graves now will come out of their graves. They will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. We're going to go up into the clouds to meet Christ in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Now, where is the Lord going to be after we go to meet Him in the air? He's coming right down here to earth, where He's going to rain for a thousand years. A lot of people don't grasp that, but it's very plain. It's in the Bible. It's very, very plain, and yet people read over it. They don't grasp it. They don't believe it.

So, a miraculous, unprecedented event called the resurrection is going to take place at Christ's return. Let's ask ourselves, what will those brought up and given eternal life in the resurrection do with Jesus Christ in His Kingdom? What are they going to do? It's only the saints that will be changed into spirit at Christ's return. Those who are called now and who have God's spirit, either alive or dead, they're going to be changed. But what are they going to do with Christ in His Kingdom? So, we need to ask ourselves that. And also, is this you? Are you going to be one of the saints at Christ's return? In Daniel 7, it says, but the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom. That's who's going to receive the kingdom, and they will possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever. And so shall they ever be with the Lord. Now, Revelation 20 verse 6, again, I'll just read it to you. Blessed and holy is He who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and Christ, and they shall reign with Him a thousand years, right here on the earth, for a thousand years. The return of Christ will mark not only the beginning of the kingdom of God, but the time when God will resurrect the dead in Christ and give them eternal life to reign with Jesus Christ forever.

Now, who will be in this resurrection to eternal life in God's kingdom? Certainly, we've seen that already. The saints will become kings and priests. Let's look at that in Revelation 5 verse 9. It says, We see this in Luke chapter 22, that they're going to have special jobs to accomplish. Notice Luke 22 verses 29 and 30.

They will be rewarded for their diligence and faithfulness. And I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as my Father bestowed one upon me, that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and you may sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. So those who were Christ's apostles and disciples back in the time of Christ, when He walked this earth as a human being, will rule over the twelve tribes of Israel.

And it says in Revelation 3, 21, To him who overcomes, I will grant to sit with me on my throne, as I also overcame, and sat down with my Father on His throne. So we must be overcomers if we're going to be in God's kingdom, if we're going to inherit the kingdom. Now is the time for us to overcome. Now is the time for us to grow. To him who overcomes, I will grant to sit with me on my throne, as kings and priests. So we need to be overcomers. We need to realize that God does have a job for us. Even today, He is preparing a people for the return of Jesus Christ. We're not going to go to Luke 19, but you may remember there's a parable in Luke 19, and also in Matthew 25, that talks about how God gives His servants various talents and abilities. He refers to them as menas, or talents, or cities. And basically He shows that those who are faithful, who apply themselves, who set an example, who are lights to the world, in this age, they are the ones who are going to be given rulership over cities. Some 10 cities, some 5 cities, some a single city, depending on how they applied themselves, we will be rewarded according to our works. So according to the faithfulness and diligence that you put into this calling of yours, you'll be rewarded in like manner. If you don't take it seriously, and if you don't get busy, then you won't have a lot of reward. Now, you will be in God's kingdom, perhaps, but you just won't have a lot of reward. You won't have an opportunity to serve as much as you would otherwise, because it's all about serving others and learning to love God and love God's people. So each person whom God has called and chosen has the responsibility to remain faithful to the end, and to use his or her life to prepare for a role in his coming kingdom. That is what your calling to Christianity is all about, and that's what you should be producing. You can be a part of this kingdom. You are hearing advanced news today. You are hearing the advanced news of God's coming kingdom, the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's a message that he announced, that his apostles announced, that the apostle Paul announced, and we are announcing it again today. It is a coming kingdom of peace and prosperity and abundance. The choice is yours whether or not you'll be in God's kingdom. I mean, God's the one that gives us victory over sin. It is a gift. Salvation is a gift that God gives us, but it's a gift that we have to want. And we do need to strive for the kingdom of God now. So can you picture the wonderful future that lies ahead? Our next message, our next presentation, after we take a short break, we'll talk about the way to be a part of this coming future. So we need to think again about what Christ said here in Mark 1.14. He came preaching the gospel of the kingdom and saying the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. He said, repent and believe the gospel. So ask yourself, have you truly repented? Do you understand what repentance means? Do you know what it means to repent and have you repented? Because if you haven't repented, you've got to get busy and do something if you want to be a part of God's kingdom at Christ's return. So have you repented of your sins or are you still in your sins? That's what we're going to talk about in the next segment.