Which is more important or which is a greater thing; when God does something, or when a person sent by God, say a prophet does something? Which is greater? Which is more important? I think we can safely say that, in some ways anyway, it's a greater thing when God does it, when He's involved directly. Now, of course, we can look at the example of creation. You've got all the things that happened in creation, but the pinnacle of creation, at least of the physical earth that we live on now, was when God reaches down into the mud and fashions a man out of that mud by Himself. He doesn't speak it into action. He makes it happen. God's latest and greatest thing that He is doing is the same or similar. Let's start in Isaiah 7, Isaiah 7:14. Isaiah 7:14 tells us something interesting about God's latest and greatest thing.

Isaiah 7:14 says, "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and she will call his name, or you will call his name Emmanuel."

Look how God starts that off. The Lord Himself will give you a sign. Not some prophet, not someone sent by the Lord, but the Lord Himself is giving this sign. Now, we all know to whom this is referring. We all know what this story is about. It's about Jesus and his life and death, etc. But again, this is God Himself who gave that sign. It's a greater sign than any of the miracles of Egypt that came by the hand of Moses. And of course, intellectually we understand that all of miracles come from God. They all come from God's power. And the human person involved is just a conduit. But this one, God Himself says He does without any intermediary.

So, I think it would be wise to take Him at His word. I'd like to talk about this sign today, about what it is, about what it means, and about what we need to do about it. Because, yes, there is something that we need to do, and it's plainly laid out in the pages of your Bible. The thing we're going to talk about today is called the gospel, and it is vital to our Christian walk that we know what it is and what it is not, and most importantly, what it demands of us.

So, in a time-honored Hollywood tradition, I'm going to start in the middle of the story. Go ahead and turn to Acts 2, please. Acts 2. I'm going to dwell a little bit on verses 22-42. Again, these verses are very familiar to us. This is at the day of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit has come down upon the apostles. They are speaking. The crowds that have gathered, hearing the noise, hear them speaking in their own languages. There's a lot of confusion. And Peter gets up and He gives a sermon, if you will, fairly short, although it does say he talked about other things afterwards, but the actual words that are recorded here are pretty short. Mine is going to be a bit longer than that. Sorry about that.

Acts 2:22-24 "Men of Israel, listen to these words, Jesus, the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles, wonders, and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you ourselves know." In other words, Peter's saying, "This is nothing new to you guys.” “This man, delivered over by a predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God. You nailed to a cross by the hands of Godless men and put Him to death. But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power."

And Peter goes on and talks more about the life, the death, the resurrection of Jesus. He puts it in its context of what David had said before. He refers to the Psalms. He refers back to what we call the Old Testament, the Scriptures they had at their time. And He makes the people understand that this is the Messiah that Israel had been waiting for. Down in verse 37, we get a reaction from the people.

Acts 2:37 “Now, when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and they said to Peter and to the rest of the apostles, ‘Brethren, what shall we do?’"

Brethren, what shall we do? They recognized that there was a reaction that was required because of this message. And I'll tease you with that and we'll get back to that subject a little bit later, because, you see, Peter, in a sense, when He talked about his message, was repeating a theme that had begun much earlier. And it's a theme that God uses in the Old Testament.

How does God start when He interacts with people? How does God start that conversation frequently? Do you ever ask yourself that question? How does He start that conversation? Let's turn to Exodus 3:6. We'll see an example here. Exodus 3:6. Because in the world around us, we have the gospel this, we have the gospel that, Christendom recognizes the importance of the gospel as the core of Christian experience. We have gospel music. But what is that gospel? Is it just a message about Jesus' death and life and resurrection? Or is it the gospel that Jesus brought? Is the gospel preached? Or is the gospel taught? Was Jesus the first one to preach the gospel? Why do we say the gospel? Is there only one? And how does God start this interaction? Exodus 3:6. This is God talking to Moses as He stepped aside to see the burning bush. And out of the bush, God introduces Himself to Moses and He says.

Exodus 3:6 "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Then Moses hid his face and he was afraid to look at God.”

If we continue on and we look down at Exodus 3:14-15, God gave Moses a job to do. And Moses said, "You know, I'm not so sure I can do this. What will happen? When I go to the people, they'll say, who sent me?"

Exodus 3:14-15 “And God said to Moses, ‘I am who I am.’ And He said, ‘Thus shall you say to the sons of Israel. I Am has sent me to you.’ Furthermore, God said to Moses, ‘Thus shall you say to the sons of Israel, the Lord God, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob has sent me to you. This is my name forever, and this is my memorial name to all generations.’”

We continue on in Exodus 20. When God decides he's going to speak to the children of Israel as a whole, how does He start?

Exodus 20:2 "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and out of the house of slavery."

And then finally in Deuteronomy 32, we don't necessarily need to turn there because it's quite long. Deuteronomy 32 is sort of Moses' last words to the children of Israel just before they entered the land of Canaan. It's actually a very long poem. The whole chapter is quite poetic, and many of those people who are going into Canaan were not among those who were alive at Mount Sinai because they were younger, or they were very little kids, or they'd been born afterwards.

So, we have this long poetic song about the experience, and it starts with a long section on who God is. On who God is. God's interactions with men start with who He is. A message about his person, if you will. A message about his person. Peter did the same thing back in Acts 2:22-36, which I've already just read. You can turn back there if you wish. He does the same thing. He spends those verses telling the people who Jesus was. It's about His life, His death, and His resurrection. It's all about who He was.

But you know, that wasn't all there was to it. Just preaching about Jesus is not enough, because then it just ceases to be forward-looking. It becomes only a memorial about what He did, not a perspective on what He's doing, what He will do. It does not remind us of the reasons why He did what He did. So, preaching about Jesus is just not enough. And we know that because that's not what Jesus talked about all the time. Yes, He talked about Himself. He's clearly, clearly stated who He was. But He said other things as well. Speaking of the children of Israel and the promises God made to them, the writer of the Book of Hebrews has this to say. Hebrews 4:1-2.

Hebrews 4:1-2 "Now, therefore, let us fear if while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you who may seem to have come short of it for indeed we have had Good News preached to us, or in other words, we've had the gospel preached to us just as they also. But the word they heard did not profit them because it was not united by faith in those who heard.”

The writer of Hebrews had been talking just before this about the experience of the children of Israel in the desert and coming out of their captivity. And they were coming into the promised land, but he's saying that there were things that were yet unfulfilled about those promises and that those promises are going to be fulfilled later through a new generation of people, Christians. But interesting what He says, the gospel was preached to us just as it was to them.

So, the gospel existed, the message of the gospel existed before the existence of Jesus. So, it isn't just about Jesus. It's about the promises that were to come. And that is called the promises that the Israelites were to partake in was also part of the gospel. Paul tells us also that Abraham heard the gospel in some manner in Galatians 3:7-8. Galatians 3:7-8, I'll just read Verse 8. The scripture of... Sorry.

Galatians 3:8 “For seeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘All nations will be blessed in you.’”

So, God preached the gospel to Abraham. And again, it is looking forward. It's saying, "The nations will be blessed because of you." This is the gospel. This is the subject, the content of the gospel message. We call it the gospel of the Kingdom. The gospel of the kingdom. And we don't call it that because we invented that title. We call it that because Jesus called it that. The gospel of the Kingdom. If you want to know more details, United Church of God has a nice, handy booklet about the gospel of the kingdom. It goes into more details than I will be able to get into here. But that is what we're talking about. It's the gospel of the kingdom.

Now, let me start with a clarification, however, because the word, English word "kingdom," or at least the way we use it in the modern world, doesn't fully do justice to the concept of what we're talking about. It heavily implies territory or geography. When you think of a kingdom, you think of a space on a map. Well, I think of a space on a map. I won't prejudge you, okay? But many of us think of a space on a map. And when you're going through history, you're looking at your history books, and it's the kingdom of England, the kingdom of France, the kingdom of Charlemagne, etc. And it's all shown by spaces on a map.

And while that is part of the structure of the words, that's not its sole focus. The Greek word used, basileia, also has that limitation. It also tends to talk more about the geography or imply more about the geography. But in Aramaic or in Hebrew, the word would have been malkut, which, while it does include the implication of territory, is actually an abstract noun, and it means more like kingship or sovereignty. Kingship or sovereignty. So, the kingdom of God focuses on the fact that God reigns as a king, as much so than the territory He rules. It's the fact that God reigns. But it is the gospel of the kingdom. It's called that many times.

We can see in Matthew 4:23. Jesus is going through Galilee, teaching in all their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness. Every kind of disease and every kind of sickness. The gospel of the kingdom. This is what Jesus was talking about. We see that also in Mark 1:14-15.

Mark 1:14-15 “Now, after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom and saying, ‘The time was fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the gospel.’”

Again, preaching the gospel of God, this time is what is called, and it's about the kingdom of God being at hand. The kingdom of God. He tells people to believe. What was there to believe? What was Jesus saying that required belief? Well, Jesus spoke parables, and those parables teach lessons, and those lessons are some of the things we need to believe. Interestingly, of the 30-some parables that are in the New Testament, there are seven that are explicitly about the kingdom. Seven that are explicitly about the kingdom. They are the parable of the farmers, the parable of the wheat and tares, the parable of the mustard seed, the parable of the yeast, the parable the hidden treasure, the parable of the pearl, and the parable of a fishing net. All of those are specifically about the kingdom. Now, why do I mention those? Because those are the things Jesus was saying.

When you want to know what was Jesus preaching, those are the things He was preaching. Other parables as well, but those are the things He was preaching. So, that is what the gospel of Jesus is. That is what the gospel of the kingdom is. It's what Jesus was talking about. They are the things of the kingdom. Even before Jesus, John the Baptist preached about the kingdom. Matthew 3:1-2.

Matthew 3:1-2 “Now, in those days, John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, ‘Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand.’”

John is talking about the kingdom of God. Philip, one of the early converts to what was then called the way, preached the kingdom. We see that in Acts 8:12.

Acts 8:12 “But when they believed Philip,” He was up in Samaria, had been ordained, the deacon went out, started preaching, went up to Samaria. Interestingly, the apostles themselves are not the first ones to go to Samaria. It took a Greek guy to go up to Samaria because the apostles were busy working with the Jewish converts. So, Philip preaches. He has a great result. “But when they believed Philip preaching the Good News or the gospel about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were being baptized, men and women alike.”

I like how the New Testament makes that clear. They weren't just baptizing men. Men and women were being baptized. There was an equalization going on here as well. But that's a different societal subject, not necessarily the one we're talking about today.

So Philip, one of the early converts, preached the kingdom, and Paul, the great apostle preached about the kingdom as well. Acts 19:1-10. I'm only going to read a couple. I'm only going actually, Verse 8. Acts 19:8. But it's in the context of Verse 10, he's in Ephesus. He found some of John's disciples and understood that they hadn't quite fully grasped the whole message, hadn't heard the whole message, had not received the whole Holy Spirit, so He baptized them, etc. And in Verse 8, he says.

Acts 19:8 "And He entered the synagogue and continued speaking out boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading them," about what? About the person of Jesus? No, although that I'm sure was included. About the Kingdom of God. About the Kingdom of God.

And I say this, and I highlight this example of Paul, because there are people in the world around us who bear the name Christian who will say, "Oh yeah, Jesus spoke about the kingdom of God. He preached the kingdom. Paul preached Christ. And that's all we're going to do, we're just going to preach Christ." Well, Paul spent three months preaching the kingdom, not just Christ. Now, again, as we talked about kingdom and sovereignty, they're intertwined, so you can't do one without the other. And God does introduce messages by a message about who He is as a person, and it's no surprise that the gospel would do that as well. But anyway, this is the gospel of the kingdom. It's more than just the person of Jesus.

Jesus, His antecedent, John, and Jesus' followers all preached about the kingdom. It was an essential part of their message, a component of the gospel. So, the gospel that only speaks of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection is not the complete gospel nor is it the gospel that Jesus and His apostles preached. It's a backward-looking gospel from our standpoint, not a forward-looking one like the gospel that God spoke to Abraham. Similarly, a gospel that is only about the coming kingdom is also incomplete. A gospel that is only about the coming kingdom of God is also incomplete because you cannot separate the kingdom from the king. You can not separate the kingdom from the king. We're reminded of this, I think, in an interesting way by Jesus Himself.

Matthew 16:20-23. And I'd never read the Scripture this way until I started working on the sermon. And I saw this little note and I thought, "Now, hey, isn't that interesting?" So, I'm going to read Matthew 16:20-23 and we're going to talk about it for a moment. Jesus is on His way up to Jerusalem. He's been with the disciples for a long time. They've gotten to know him, and this is His last trip to Jerusalem. He's going to die, okay? So He's trying to prepare His followers for this moment. Now, I want you to put yourself back in the first century as a Jewish person who's a follower of Jesus. You know who Jesus is. He's the messiah. Now remember what a Jewish person at that time would think about the Messiah and what's going to happen, okay? It's not about a death, or at least not the Messiah's death. There may be lots of death going on, but it's going to be the Romans. It's going to be Edomites, it's going to be the bad guys. It's going to be those evil sinners, okay? The Messiah is going to take things over. Jesus has a slightly different message. We're going to start in Verse 20 of Matthew 16.

Matthew 16:20-22 “So, then He warned His disciples that they should tell no one that He was the Christ. From that time, Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed, and be raised up on the third day.” That's what he's telling his disciples. What does Peter do? “Peter took him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, ‘God forbid it, Lord. This should never happen to you.’”

Why would Peter say that? His rabbi that he's been following for so many years, saying, "Okay, here's what's going to happen next?" Why would a follower say, "I'm sorry, you got that wrong. We're not on the same script here. What's going on?" Okay? Well, it's because Peter, as a good Jew, knew what the Messiah was supposed to do. He's supposed to go to Jerusalem and be crowned king and take over the world essentially. That's what's supposed to happen. "What is it? Why is Jesus saying He's going to be killed? What about the coming kingdom of God? What about the rulership of the Messiah? God forbid it, Lord, this should never happen to You." Jesus' response is interesting.

Matthew 16:23 “He turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan. You are a stumbling block to me, for you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but men's interests.’”

As I said, Peter knew the good news of the Messiah. All the Jews knew the gospel of the Messiah, if you will. They had been raised with it. That one day a descendant of David would come and establish an everlasting kingdom and in the process overthrow all the kingdoms of this world, especially those who are oppressing Israel, and that would mean the Romans at this time. So, a Messiah who was going to die didn't really fit in the cards. Peter, like the Jewish nation of his day, had it wrong, or at least incomplete. They focused on one thing, just the kingdom. We too can focus on one thing. And while that one thing, the coming kingdom of God, is good. It is lovely. It's amazing. It's the culmination of God's plan. That plan also has a beginning. Had a beginning. It's a whole. It is of one piece as assuredly as Jesus' garment was of one piece.

And we ought not to overlook the actions, the person, and the reality of the king of that kingdom, what He did and what He is doing now in the lives of people. What did Jesus say about Peter's focus? He said, "You're setting your mind on man's interests, not the things of God." Everyone in this room longs for that kingdom, and that's right and that's good. Peter longed for that kingdom and we know it's coming. But we also have to remember that there was a start to that process. And while that start may have looked kind of dark to Peter at his time, Jesus says these are the things of God, not just the things of man.

So, there is a danger in not grasping the full gospel. If we look at all toward the past or all towards the future, both of them are traps. Here's an interesting synopsis of how Jesus' listeners would have taken the phrase the kingdom of God to Sort of wrap up this section. I'm going to quote from a book called "The Parables of the Kingdom." As you can tell, it's a rather old book. I like it because the pages come out if I want them to. It's written by a man named C. H. Dodd, who many years ago was an eminent biblical scholar. So, it's rather dry. It's full of the scholarly approach about sources and what was original and what was added later, all that sort of thing. But there are a few gems and...actually, there are many gems, and one of those gems is on Page 22 of this book.

So, C. H. Dodd, "The Parables of the Kingdom." Page 22, he has to say this. "In Jewish usage contemporary with the gospels, we may distinguish two main ways in which the kingdom of God is spoken of. First, God is king of his people, Israel, and his kingly rule is effective insofar as Israel is obedient to the defined will as revealed in the Torah. To submit oneself unquestioningly to the law is to 'take upon oneself the malkut, or the kingdom or the sovereignty of heaven.'" In this sense, the kingdom of God is a present fact. Does that sound familiar? Does that sound familiar? Have we taken on as Christians through baptism, the sovereignty of God, the sovereignty of heaven? I think we have.

"But in another sense," to continue on, "the kingdom of God is something yet to be revealed. Because God is more than king of Israel. He is king of all the world. But the world does not recognize Him as king. His own people is in fact subject to secular powers which in the present age are permitted to exercise sovereignty. Israel, however, looks forward to the day when the saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom and the whole world. Look forward to the day when the saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom and kingship of the whole world."

So, now we know the breadth of the full gospel. It's the king, it's the sovereignty, it's the kingdom, all that sort of thing. It's everything. And as I said, more details about that in the book of "The Gospel of the Kingdom." So, now we know what it is and what it's about. So, we're good, right? We're all caught up? Well, maybe not, because got like half an hour left, so you all are stuck here. Maybe not, because the head knowledge is of no use if it doesn't impact the heart and the life. The reaction of the crowd in Peter's sermon gets us started on this path. So, if you want to pop back to Acts 2, I'm going to read Acts 2:37.

Acts 2:37 “Now, when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Brethren, what shall we do?’”

They recognized that there was something they needed to do, that there was a reaction. An action that was needed.

This is not unique to Peter and his sermon. If you were to go through all of the interactions of Jesus with people in the New Testament, I think you will find that in every single interaction, there is a reaction of obedience. There's a reaction of obedience. It's not just a profession of faith. I will run through some of these quickly. You can jot them down, not necessarily, no need to turn to them, but just to give a sampling. And of course, you can accuse me of cherry-picking the examples I want. But I challenge you to go through all the interactions and see if you can find me something different. And I will willingly accept if you do. I think that would be great. But in all the ones I have found, there is always a reaction of obedience.

When Jesus Christ comes into your life, there is a reaction of obedience. John 8:11. This is the woman caught in adultery, it's only talked about in the Gospel of John, which is an interesting subject in itself. We all know the story. No one's there to accuse her. He asked her about it and His last words to her are, "Go and sin no more." There's a command of obedience there, a command of action. Luke 18:22.

Luke 18:22 The rich young ruler comes to him and says, "What do I need to inherit the kingdom?" And He tells him all these things, and He realizes there is one thing that he was lacking. "Sell all that you possess, distribute it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven, and come follow me."

There is a reaction, a necessary reaction of obedience there. Another example. Luke 19:3-6. The story of Zacchaeus, the tax collector of Jericho wasn't just a tax collector. He was a supervisor of tax collectors. It was very hard to find a more evil person in Israel at that time than not just a tax collector, but a tax collector's supervisor because he was getting graft from both directions. Okay? Anyway, that's the vision that people have had of Zacchaeus. Jesus comes to his place. You remember the story. Zacchaeus climbs to a tree so he can see Jesus. Jesus sees him up on the tree, and He says, "Come down for today I'm going to eat at your house." And Zacchaeus obeys. He climbs down and takes him to his house. There's a reaction of obedience. Matthew 9:6-7. Matthew 9:6-7. On the Sabbath day, Jesus heals a man, and He tells him, "Get up, pick up your bed, and go home." And the man obeys. He does it again. There's a reaction of obedience there. The gospel requires action.

And you know what? I'm not just making this up because we have this directly from Paul, but possibly in a way we haven't thought of before. We have it directly from the Apostle Paul, you know, that guy that they say is all about grace and that Jesus did everything for us. Well, we actually have a fairly detailed breakdown by Paul. In Philippians 1:27-30. Philippians 1:27-30. And you might want to put a bookmarker there because we'll be popping in and out of this one for the rest of the sermon. It's only four verses, but it is full of meaning. So, let me read through it first. I'm reading from the New English Translation. Just because that was the one that I liked. Paul is writing to the church at Philippi, a church with which he had a special connection. You can see in the writing that he has to the Philippians. It's got this special warmth to it. He liked this church. He liked this congregation.

Philippians 1:27-30 "Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ so that whether I come and see you or whether I remain absent, I should hear that you are standing firm in one spirit with one mind by contending side-by-side for the faith of the gospel, and by not being intimidated in any way by your opponents. This is a sign of their destruction, but of your salvation. A sign which is from God. For it has been granted to you not only to believe in Christ, but to also suffer for Him since you are encountering the same conflict that you saw me face and now here that I am facing."

Why would Paul say this? He's reminding the Philippine church of the responsibility to walk in a worthy manner. He says, "Conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ." He said that as recipients of the gospel, the good news of Christ's life, death, burial, resurrection for the sins of the world, His actions, the coming kingdom. As a result, we have a responsibility to it. We are to walk responsibly in a way that is worthy of that message. What does it mean for a Christian to walk worthy of the gospel of Christ? And how can we practice this in our daily lives? How can we live out this reality?

Well, I have a number of points of walking worthy of the gospel. Point number one, Christians walk worthy of the gospel by living as citizens of heaven. Living as citizens of heaven. Paul opens this sentence because all of these verses in Greek, by the way, are one complete sentence. So I'm glad it's in English, because you get to breathe in between some of the sections. "Only conduct yourself in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ," is how Paul begins. In order to walk worthy of the gospel, we must remember that our citizenship is in heaven. Here are some interesting comments by a theologian by the name of John MacArthur. His comments about the word conduct.

As I said, these verses are a single sentence in Greek, the main verb is politeumai, which is conduct. It comes from the same root as the word polis, which means city, which in earlier times, early Greek times, usually referred to the city-state to which inhabitants gave their primary allegiance, such as Athens, Sparta, Corinth, etc. The verb carries the basic meaning of being a citizen, but by implication, it means being a good citizen. One whose conduct brings honor to the political body to whom one belongs. One whose conduct brings honor to the body to whom one belongs.

The New Living Translation translates Verse 27 in this way, "Above all, you must live as citizens of heaven, conducting yourselves in a manner..." Sorry. "Conducting yourselves in a manner worthy of the good news about Christ." One of the ways we walk worthy of the gospel is by making our aim and our focus reflect our citizenship in heaven. This would have resonated with the Philippine Church in particular because Philippi had earned the distinction of being a Roman colony. What did it mean to be a Roman colony? Well, it was considered like a little example of the city of Rome. When Rome was in power, it established many colonies throughout the empire, often by resettlement of soldiers who had served the empire for a period of time.

And these colonies were established for a number of reasons. One, to protect Rome from barbarian invasion. You always got a little small city there with some soldiers in it. You can always call them if you need it. But also, probably more importantly, was to spread the idea of being Roman around the Empire. You had these places where people spoke Latin, they dressed like they were in Rome. They did all the Roman things. It was an attempt to spread the culture of Rome out and to unify the empire, or even before it was an empire, they did this, too. These colonies took great pride in their citizenship. Like I said, they spoke Latin, they wore Roman clothes, their magistrates wore Roman titles, and it didn't matter how far the colony was from Rome, they lived as Romans. Even if they were up in Britain or Germany or Spain or Israel, they lived as Romans.

Likewise, we should take great honor in our heavenly citizenship. If you were lucky and you were a member of one of these colonies, time would come and the colony would actually become a citizenry of Rome. So, you got to be a citizen by living in one of these colonies. Our citizenship, likewise, was purchased at a great price, obviously through Jesus' blood. And this reality should never leave our minds. As citizens of heaven, we must have a new language. We must have a different appearance, different attitudes. Paul essentially says, "Whatever happens in life, whatever you're going through, always remember your citizenship and live as citizens of heaven." As citizens of heaven, we must change our thinking. Romans 12:2.

Romans 12:2 As citizens of heaven, we must change our thinking. Romans tells us, "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is, His good and pleasing and perfect will."

Paul says that one of the ways we stop conforming to the ways of this world is by changing our views. We must change our thinking on what it means to be a success in life. We see that in Luke 22:26, where Christ described greatness is completely different from the way greatness would have been described around Him. He also, as I've shown an example before, told a rich young man to sell all that he had. He eats with publicans. He touches women. He talks to Samaritans. This is terrible. He totally turned over the viewpoints of the world around Him. And He had called the established religious authorities names. He said the greatness in the kingdom of heaven is the opposite of the world. Citizens of heaven must get rid of wrong character traits. Citizens of heaven must get rid of wrong character traits. Paul tells us that in the Book of Colossians. Colossians 3:7-10.

Colossians 3:7-10 Paul tells us, "You used to walk in these ways and the life you once lived, but now you must rid yourselves of all such disease." And what is this list? “Anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge, in the image of its creator.”

Being a citizen of heaven means taking off the wrong thought patterns, the wrong attitudes, the wrong actions in order to conform to our new citizenship. Another example is given by James where he tells us what pure religion is in James 1:27. Looking after widows and orphans in their distress and to keeping ourselves from being polluted by the world.

As citizens of heaven, we must daily get rid of character traits unfitting of our new citizenship. Citizens of heaven must continually put on the right character traits. It's not enough just to put off the bad ones. We have to take on the correct ones as well. Paul exhorts Timothy to not only flee evil desires, but to pursue righteousness. Pursue righteousness. He tells us that in 2 Timothy 2:22.

2 Timothy 2:22 "Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness."

Can people tell that you are different? Can people tell that you talk differently, think differently, and have different goals in life? We must walk worthy of the gospel, as we've already seen from Paul, and the gospel has made us citizens of heaven, and we must live in that manner and represent it. Another way Christians walk worthy of the gospel... Sorry, another way Christians walk worthy of the gospel is by standing firm. Standing firm. Back again to Philippians 1:27.

Philippians 1:27 Paul says, "Conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ so that whether I come and see you or whether I remain absent, I should hear that you are standing firm in one spirit."

Standing firm in one spirit. What does it mean to stand firm? Well, it's a military terminology, or it's taken in from a military context. And it conjures up the idea of that point in time in a siege of the city when the gates fell, or the gates were broken in because of the battering ram. And guess what's going to have to happen now?

Someone's got to run up, and we've heard this term before, run up and stand in that gap. Someone from inside the city has got to go in and defend that city. The walls are down or the gates are down, someone's got to take its place. Someone has to stand firm. And contrary wise at the same time, if you're on the attacking army, someone's got to be the first through the gate. Someone has to step up. If you're defending the city, that means not giving up any ground. And this is the reality of Christian life. Christians are always under attack, both individually and as a community. And Paul challenges the Church at Philippi and us to stand our ground in following God. To not retreat, not turn away from God. Don't turn away from the truth of Scripture, and don't turn away from each other, and don't turn away from the truth of the gospel.

But we should also realize our attacks are not just from the world, but they're also from Satan specifically. And this is what Paul taught the Ephesians in Ephesians 6:11-12. Ephesians 6:11-12. We all know that this is the armor of God. This is for our spiritual warfare. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

So how do we stand firm? The gospel requires to be worthy of it, that we stand firm. How do we do that? Paul said, "Standing firm in one spirit and one man." And when he says that, it's clear that he's calling for the Church to be unified. One of the ways Satan turns people away from faith is by division. This is not unusual to our times, and it was not unknown to the Philippians. Philippians 4:2, for example, we find that there were two women leaders in the Church who were fighting. In Chapter 3, there were some false teachers who were telling them that they needed to be circumcised. So, there was division in the Philippian Church. But Christians stand their ground by being unified, by clinging to those things that we have in common with our brothers and sisters. The love that we have for each other despite our differences. That's the true unity.

We don't have to think alike, we don't have to look alike, but we do have to love each other despite those differences. So, that's one way to stand firm. Christians also stand their ground by being empowered by the Spirit of God. If we're going to stand our ground against the attacks of the evil one, we'd better do it in the power of the spirit. We need supernatural power not to be conformed to this world. And we need supernatural power if we're going to stay unified in the Church. We need supernatural power because our enemies are supernatural.

We need this power to be filled with the Spirit on a daily basis as we live in worship, in prayer, in the Word of God, and in fellowship with our fellow saints. What did the early Church do when it was faced with persecution? It was an interesting example in Acts 4:23-42. Again, I'm not going to read at all, but verses 23-42. Some of the apostles had been threatened by the priests and the leaders in Jerusalem of that time. They were no longer supposed to preach the word of God. But they weren't punished necessarily. They were just taken aside, sternly rebuked, and threatened. Taken to the principal's office, if you will. And then they were released after being told, "Hey, don't do this anymore." What did the church do? They threw a prayer meeting. Through a prayer meeting.

Acts 4:29-31 "And now, Lord..." This is what they're saying in their prayers. "And now, Lord, take note of their threats and grant that your bond-servants may speak your Word with all confidence while you extend your hand to heal and signs and wonders take place through the name of your holy servant Jesus." They prayed. They threw a prayer meeting. They got threatened, they got together and they prayed. And after that it tells us in the latter parts of that passage that “They spoke the word of God boldly. And all the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had.”

This was the very thing that Paul challenged the Philippian Church to do, to contend as one man. When the early church prayed, they were filled with the Spirit, and they had one heart and one mind. They needed the Spirit of God to stand as one. And we need that spirit as well. So, that's one way we stand firm, through prayer, unified. Another way that Christians walk worthy of the gospel of God. Leading on from that unification idea is by working as a team. Working as a team.

Philippians 1:27 "I should hear that you are standing firm in one spirit with one mind by contending side by side for the faith of the gospel."

The word contending can also be translated as striving together. It's an athletic word coming from sunatheleo which is also the source for our word athlete. So we need this for teamwork. We see there's a need clearly in the life of Paul for teamwork because while Paul was in prison, he continually asked for prayers, for open doors, for the word of God to be spoken clearly and boldly through him and through others. Look what he said to the Colossians. Look what he said to the Colossians. Colossians 4:2-4. Paul's in prison. He can't go out and do much. He needs his team players to be with him.

Colossians 4:2-4 "Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us too, that God may open the door for our message, so that we may proclaim the ministry of Christ for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should."

Paul was relying on his team. He knew He was not in this in and of himself. Christians also contend for the faith like a team by playing defense as regards the gospel. Paul gives Timothy instructions to that in 2 Timothy 1:13-14. 2 Timothy 1:13-14, where he tells him to contend for the faith. Remember, we're only one generation away from losing the deposit that was handed down to us from our parents and from our teachers. The church is only ever one generation away from losing that. Look at the example of the Book of Judges. You know what happens in the Book of Judges. Somebody comes up, they do good, he goes away, they do bad. The next person comes up, they do good. Back and forth, back and forth. So, we need to contend, we need to be defending the faith.

And also, another way we contend is by confronting false doctrine. We contend for the faith by confronting false doctrine. Again, instructions to that in the Book of Titus 1:9. Paul talks about that. And another way Christians contend for the faith is by spreading the gospel. So, it's defending it, contending for it, confronting false doctrine and spreading the gospel are ways we can contend for the faith. Christians walk worthy of the gospel by being confident in the face of opposition. This may be one of the tougher ones. Christians walk worthy of the gospel by being confident in the faith of opposition.

One of the ways we walk worthy is by living confidently in the face of opposition without fear. Paul taught his disciple, Timothy, that everyone who wants to live a Godly life in Christ will be persecuted. We see that in 2 Timothy 3:15. Jesus similarly said this to all that would follow Him. Doesn't He tell us?

Timothy 3:15 "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me."

Why should we be confident in the face of opposition? Does Paul give us any guidance there? And the answer to that is yes. The answer to that is yes, and I'm going to go quickly through this so that I don't go over time. Christians should be confident in the face of opposition because it's a witness to the world. Our confidence in the face of persecution is a witness to the world. Philippians 1:28 talks about this confidence a... In reference to those who are persecuting,

Philippians 1:28 “This is a sign of their destruction, but of your salvation. A sign which is from God.”

So, facing opposition without fear is a sign from God both to those who are undergoing the opposition but also to those who are giving the opposition. Christians should be confident in the face of opposition because it is a blessing. It is a blessing to be persecuted. I don't want to say that too loud, but that's what the Bible tells us. Not that we should be praying for persecution or anything like that. You know what I mean? Persecution is an opportunity.

Philippians 1:29 Paul says this, "It has been granted to you not only to believe in Christ, but to suffer with Him."

And I'm sorry, I don't have the citing for that. It dropped out of my notes. "It has been granted to you not only to believe in Christ, but also to suffer to Him." Paul says that suffering for Christ is something that was granted to us. It is a gift to us.

Why should we consider persecution a blessing? Persecution is a work of God because it confirms our salvation. It confirms we're on the right path. Satan doesn't persecute the people in his camp. He's already got them. So, if we're being persecuted, that should tell us something that we should give from which we can derive hope. We see that in Matthew 5:11-12, for those of you who want to jot it down.

Matthew 5:11-12 "Blessed are those when people insult you and persecute you falsely and say all kinds of evil things about you. Rejoice and be glad."

Jesus said. But He tells them they are blessed when they are persecuted. Persecution is a work of God because it leads to the development of Godly virtues. It leads to Godly virtues. Romans 5:3-4, Paul has something to say about that. A about suffering. Producing perseverance, character, and character hope. Christians should also be confident in the face of opposition because other believers are also suffering throughout the world. We saw some of that in the film. We saw this at the beginning. Other Christians, other believers are also suffering throughout the world. Look at the world around us. It is a world full of suffering. It would not be hard to make a fairly long list of people who are suffering individually or as a group in this world. People that we know, probably people that we all know in this room.

Philippians 1:29-30 "For it has been granted to you not only to believe in Christ, but also to suffer for Him, since you are encountering the same conflict that you saw me face and now here that I am facing."

Paul ties their suffering back to his, and uses it as a way and manner in which they can be confident in the face of their own salvation because...sorry, in the face of their own suffering, in the face of their own opposition, because they know that other people are facing the same thing. Peter, in the same manner, encouraged Christians scattered and suffering in Rome. He said, "Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy, the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith." Why? “Because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of suffering.”

1 Peter 5:8-9 "We are not alone in our suffering."

One of the most common attacks of the enemy is to make us feel isolated. To make us feel like nobody else in the entire world is going through what I'm going through right now. But as scripture says, The trials and the difficulties we go through are common to man, and therefore we should be encouraged and emboldened, especially in the face of opposition. Other Godly people are suffering the same thing all throughout the world, and we do not have to feel alone or isolated.

Isolation is a huge problem in this world. Isolation leads to a whole number of ills. You have young men who pursue courses of violence in urban settings because they do not feel they belong anywhere, so they join a gang. You have young women who go through all kinds of horrible traumas because they do not feel they belong to a group because everyone they see on social media is different or better or prettier or richer, or having more fun, even though those pictures are frequently staged.

Isolation is the cure for depression. Sorry, not isolation. Eliminating isolation, having family, having contact is the cure for depression. Believe it or not, it's now being touted as the reality behind suicide and the cure for suicide. People commit suicide because they are completely detached. And the world around us tries very hard to detach you from real fleshly, and I mean that in the proper way, real fleshly interaction and contact with other people. The world wants us to be a group of pieces that don't fit together. And that's an isolation that we as Christians must fight. And we must fight it here. And this is how we fight it. By gathering together, by sharing people's trials, by learning about each other, and by knowing the things that we're going through.

So, what is the gospel? What is God's latest and greatest thing that He's given? It's a message about who the king is. It's a message about a coming kingdom. And we'll see that unfold in the holy days that are coming upon us. The first step, of course, being Passover. And more importantly, it is something that requires a reaction. It requires us to walk worthy of it. Christians walk worthy of the gospel by living as citizens of heaven. We walk worthy of the gospel by standing firm. We walk worthy of the gospel by working as a team. And we walk worthy of the gospel by being confident it in the face of opposition.

I look out upon everyone in this room, and I can't see those on the TV, but include them in this as well. And I say to you all, we are a team. We are the family of God. We have many, many good things to be thankful for. And sometimes we walk together through storms of life. And that is the key that we walk together in the full truth of the gospel and what it does for us.