What Is the Kingdom of God?

Well, we're really thankful to have you with us. Very happy to have you with us here in San Jose. So welcome to the Kingdom of God seminar series that we're going to begin today.

Today we're going to begin a journey to a bold new world to come to this earth. And we're in a critical stage right now in this world at a time when the world is waning. It is beginning to wax old, as it were, and about ready to fall. And we're coming to the end of this world and the new world beginning. And you and I live at a turning point in an epic, an incredible epic period that is ahead of us that is going to change the entire world.

This new world will be governed by one overall kingdom, and that is the Kingdom of God. And that's why this series is about the Kingdom of God. And at that time, the whole world will have one great King of Kings. Jesus Christ and all nations then are going to look to Him. But just what is the Kingdom of God and how will it come to the earth? The first part of this series can be called Welcome to the Kingdom of God. It's an introduction to what that kingdom is going to be about. We're going to show you why the Kingdom of God is a missing dimension of knowledge in today's world, and including professing Christianity.

And through this seminar, we're going to cover much more than that as we go through the course of these series concerning the Kingdom of God. And we're going to talk about those things and many other things, and particularly these questions. How will prophecies of God's Kingdom affect America and other nations in the coming months and years? And also, how will fulfilled prophecy about the Kingdom of God affect you? How is it going to impact your family? So in this seminar series, we will answer these questions and show from the Bible the wonder and the greatness of the coming Kingdom that is going to be raised up. And that Kingdom, of course, is prophesied in the Bible, and it will impact you and all of the rest of the world. The Kingdom of God is just not understood by modern Christianity today. All you have to do is walk down the aisle of any bookstore, and there is a plethora of books on heaven, hell, or any number of subjects today, but very few or none about the Kingdom of God. Again, all you have to do is peruse a bookstore to find that out. And yet this was the primary message that Jesus Christ Himself brought. In Mark 1, we find here that after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, as it says, preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God and saying, the time is fulfilled. This is what He was beginning His ministry. He said, the time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand. And He said, repent and believe the Gospel. So what is the Kingdom of God? Do we go to Heaven to be a part of that Kingdom? A lot of people think that in the world of Christianity. But what did Jesus Christ say in John 3, verse 13? Notice He said, no man has ascended to heaven, but he that came down from heaven. That is, of course, Jesus Christ. And He says, that is the Son of Man who is in Heaven. And so there has been no one who has ascended to Heaven, no one who has gone to Heaven. And that includes Abraham and Daniel or David.

In fact, you can read in the book of Acts, you will read that in fact it says that David Sutleker is with us to this day. And so David lies in his grave like Daniel, in fact, waiting till the time when the Kingdom of God comes to this earth. And so David is in his grave like Daniel, in his grave when the Kingdom of God comes to this earth. Like I said, modern Christianity has misunderstood the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. And, you know, let's notice in Luke 11 in verse 2 over here because the disciples came to Christ and they wanted to know how to pray. And so He was teaching them how to pray daily in their lives. And they say, our Father in Heaven, hallowed be Your name, Your Kingdom come. Or as it says in the King James Version, Thy Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. You notice here in this Scripture that you see on the screen behind me, the Kingdom of God is to come. It's going to come to us on the earth and that is where the will of God needs to be done now more than ever. The will of God is already being done in Heaven. The problems exist down here upon the earth and not in Heaven. And so the Kingdom of God is going to come to the earth. In the Bible, those of the true Church of God are like spiritual ambassadors of that coming Kingdom that is going to happen to this earth. You know, the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 5.20 says there, he says, now then we are ambassadors of Christ, or ambassadors for Christ. And so those called in this time, by the way, are ambassadors of that future Kingdom that is going to come upon this earth. You know, some have made the assumption that the Church is the Kingdom of God on earth and they jump to that conclusion from one verse in particular in Luke 17 and verses 20 through 21. You know, here Christ was talking to the Pharisees and the scribes and he said, now when he was asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God would come, he answered them and said the Kingdom of God does not come with observation. Nor will they say, here or see there, for indeed the Kingdom of God is within you. What did Jesus Christ mean by that? The Kingdom of God is within you. You know, we know that the Pharisees opposed Jesus Christ. They opposed, in fact, everything that Christ said about the Kingdom of God. They were in opposition with him and certainly the Kingdom of God was not within them and it's not within many people today. Let's look at the next slide here. The Greek word entos is translated in that particular verse within, in the passage as you read, but it would be better rendered from the Greek in your midst.

And what that means is that Jesus Christ, as the King of that Kingdom to come, was right there among them. He was in the midst of the scribes and the Pharisees and not only that, he was teaching his message about the coming Kingdom of God. And, of course, sadly, the Pharisees and the scribes rejected the message that Jesus Christ brought, that good news of the Kingdom of God. Now, when Jesus Christ returns the second time, where will the Kingdom be then? Where's it going to be? Well, it's once again going to be in their very midst, in the very midst of mankind. And so Jesus Christ will come and dwell with those on the earth and he's going to be the King over that Kingdom when it comes. Now, what is important about this for you and for me today? Well, not only is Jesus Christ the King of God, well, not only is Jesus Christ our Lord, but he is our King. He's a King over us and our lives and he's going to be a King in the world to come as well. You know, one thing we see in the Scriptures, and I know that you're here because you read the Bible, is that Jesus Christ constantly taught about his coming Kingdom. You know, in just about every Scripture, it seems, when you read in the Gospels, you will find he mentions about the Kingdom of God. He told his disciples that the Kingdom should be the highest priority in their lives. And that message that Jesus Christ gave 2,000 years ago is for us today.

In Matthew 6, in verse 33, here's what Jesus Christ said to his disciples, and hopefully we are trying and striving to be the disciples and the followers of Jesus Christ. But Jesus said, but seek first. That word means that it must be premier in our lives. It has to be up front, in other words. And so seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness.

And so this is what Jesus Christ said here, that we should put as first the Kingdom of God in our lives. Because God wants us to seek, Jesus wants us to seek his Kingdom today. And that Kingdom should be uppermost in our minds. We need to be thinking about that every day. And that is one thing I strive to do, my wife and I strive to do, is think about, pray about the Kingdom every day and look toward that Kingdom. Let's notice in Matthew 13 as we go through and we see further here about what Christ said about the Kingdom of God and the many things that he said. It says there in verse 44, again the Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure. It says, hidden in a field. When a man found and hid for joy over it, he goes and he sells all that he has and he buys that field. Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls who, when he found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it. And so that pearl of great price is the knowledge of the Gospel. It's the knowledge of the Kingdom of God. And we ought to, as people today, be willing to sell all, to forsake all, to pursue Jesus Christ for the Kingdom of God's sake. The truth of the Kingdom is precious, precious knowledge for all of us.

And notice, in fact, in one of Christ's parables about the Kingdom of God, in Matthew 19, and many of the parables that Christ spoke were about the Kingdom of God, let's notice going on in Matthew 19, verse 23 and 24, then Jesus said to his disciples, Assurely, I say to you that it is hard for rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. And again, I say to you, it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God. You notice here that Jesus mentions about the Kingdom of Heaven here. It's hard for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God, and how he refers to the Kingdom of God interchangeably. In other words, they are the same. The Kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom of God are the same. And so he talked about how difficult it is for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God. I would say likely here we're pretty safe, aren't we? We're not rich. We don't have a lot of money, but we can still be like this world because, you know, you don't have to have a lot of money. You can pursue money. Always be in its pursuit of money. And we need to again not focus on that in our lives, but we need to again focus first on the Kingdom of God. So just what is the Kingdom of God? What is it anyway? Well, it is God's very government. That's what the Kingdom of God is. It is the government that is going to be over the entire world, the whole earth, and eventually over the entire universe. It's going to expand forever and ever, as a matter of fact, according to what it says in Isaiah chapter 9. Not going to go there, but we know that government is going to continue to expand. Let's notice in Matthew 19 in verse 27 through 28 here, you know, the Apostle Peter was one of those apostles. You know, you really have to like Peter. Peter was a bombastic kind of a man. He had that famous foot and mouth disease that sometimes you and I have as well, because he was always speaking up about something.

And anyway, Peter answered, and he was saying to Christ, he was saying to him, as it says in verse 27, see, we've left everything or we've left all and followed you. Therefore, what shall we have? What are we going to have? I think that's a pretty good question. You know, we've turned our backs on everything. You know, they did what we are to do today, and that is to pursue the pearl of great price and be willing to turn your back on those things that we consider dear to us even in this world. And Peter basically was saying, what are we going to have as a result of all of this? In verse 28, notice it says, so Jesus said to them, Assurely I say to you that in the regeneration, that is the second resurrection time, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of his glory, when he rules, in other words, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And by the way, those twelve tribes are not little bitty tribes, because remember what God promised Abraham, and he promised Isaac, and he promised Jacob as well that the seed, their seed, would be in fact as the little grains of sand on the beach, or the stars, look up into the sky and count the stars if you can, because it's multiple millions, in fact there are billions that are there. And so Jesus promised the apostles they would rule the twelve tribes of Israel in the millennium, or the thousand year kingdom of God, when that kingdom was set up that will be established here upon the earth.

So what are the requirements that are necessary to have a kingdom of God upon the earth? What are the requirements to have a kingdom at all? There are four basic requirements to have a kingdom. You can't have a kingdom, in fact, without these four basic requirements.

Number one, you have to have a government, don't you? And what is going to be the government in the time of the thousand year reign of Jesus Christ in the kingdom of God? Well, the ruling family is going to be the government of that future kingdom. Now presently there are only two that are part of that family, and it is God the Father and Jesus Christ who is His Son. So that is what is in the God family, but it will include, in fact, multiple thousands and millions before all is said and done.

Then next, secondly, you need a territory, don't you? Well, what is going to be the territory of the kingdom of God? Well, that territory is going to be the earth, and it's then going to be the universe, going to expand to the universe.

And then thirdly, you have to have subjects in that kingdom, don't you? So who are going to be the subjects? Well, it is going to be mankind and the angels that will be a part of that, that will make up the kingdom of God. And then the fourth requirement for a kingdom is you have to have some system of laws. So where are we going to get those laws?

Well, it is God's laws that are within the pages of your Bible that we're going to go by. The Ten Commandments, of course, is one decalogue that we will use in the time of the kingdom of God when it is set up. It is God's way of life that is going to be the law in the time ahead for the kingdom of God. Now, what else will make up the kingdom of God? Well, what else will make up the kingdom of God is the most stupendous, exciting thing of all, in that those that are going to be a part of the kingdom of God will have eternal life, and they're going to live forever.

And, you know, they're going to be doing so with utter joy, happiness, and fulfillment. It's going to be a different time than now. Quite frankly, if I could have eternal life right now, that would be a curse in this flesh.

You know, if we had to live eternally in this flesh, I don't know about you, but I don't think I'd like it, because imagine what it's like. I've lived a few years of my life, and with the aches and the pains and all of that, I can only imagine it would get worse as time went on. But we're going to be, in fact, regenerated, and we will be able to live forever, but it will be in utter joy and happiness and fulfillment.

Let's notice in Matthew 19, in verse 29 through 30, where we have been reading from already, and notice what Jesus goes on to say. He says, and everyone who has left houses and brothers and sisters, you know, sometimes when you begin to obey God, other people forsake you.

The Bible mentions that the world eventually is going to hate God's people, and so sometimes that does happen, you know, where you might be disowned. But it says, anyone who has left fathers or mothers or wife or children or lands for my sake shall receive a hundredfold and inherit eternal life. It says, but many who are first will be last, and the last shall be first. What does that mean? What it means is that in the kingdom of God, those who have been, you know, what we would consider the leaders of the world today will not be the leaders in the world tomorrow.

They will not be the leaders when the kingdom of God is set up upon the earth. But instead, there will be people who will rise to the fore that the world has never heard of, and it will be those that have been called into the church, that Paul refers to as the weak of the world. Those are not well endowed. Those are not a part of this world's movers and shakers.

But you know, the reason God is going to do that, He's going to confound the mighty according to what Paul says. No, the kingdom of God is the greatest gift to mankind other than Jesus Christ, who came and died for all of humanity. So that kingdom is a precious, great gift to humanity. And God desires that we seek that kingdom in our lives right now fully, that we want to be a part of that kingdom. Notice what Jesus was teaching in Luke 12 and verse 29 to begin with there, and we'll go down to verse 32 if you're following along with this.

He told people, He said, And do not seek what you shall eat, or should eat, or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind. You know, sometimes people can become very anxious about things related to money. He said, For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your father knows that you need these things. But notice, He says in verse 31, But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you. And then He says, Do not fear little flock. And so the church of God today is a little flock. He says, Do not fear little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

And so Jesus Christ was saying that the Father wants to give that kingdom to those who are part of His church, and they are called in this time, who can again seek that pearl of great price, and look to the kingdom of God in the way that Jesus Christ instructed. Well, did you know that the ancient prophets greatly anticipated the coming of the kingdom as well? Do you know that since the time of Adam, that the ancient prophets were preaching about the kingdom of God, they were talking about the second coming of Jesus Christ before He had come the first time.

Interestingly, God's ancient patriarchs and prophets taught the Messiah would come. Do you remember when Herod was trying to find out where Christ would be born, because he was trying to kill Christ? And so there were prophecies that could have again led them to the place where Jesus would have been born. Of course, He had already been born at that particular time. So they taught about the Messiah was going to come.

They taught repentance before the flood of Noah. There were patriarchs that were preaching repentance way back then. And remember, Noah himself preached for a hundred years and nobody listened to him. Only eight people went on to the ark. People can be sort of hardheaded sometimes, and that includes you and me. We can be hardheaded. Enoch, prior to the flood, preached repentance and he preached about the second coming of Jesus Christ. And they look forward to the return of Christ and the setting up of the kingdom of God. Let me show where in the Bible it says that the prophets again preach these things in Acts 3.

In Acts 3, in verse 19-20, here Peter says, repent therefore. And so the call was to repent then and to be converted, which means to be changed. We've got to be changed from what we are into what God wants us to become. And so that your sins may be blotted out. So that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord. You know, I don't know about you, but I think this world needs a reset button. I think what we need is a fresh start, a new beginning, and that's what the kingdom of God is about.

It's a refreshing that's going to come from the presence of God, as we see here. In verse 20, that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, whom heaven must receive until the times of the restoration of all things.

So everything is going to have to be restored, which God has spoken by the mouth of the holy prophets since the world began. Again, you see it right there in your Bible, what it says, and we could go back and we could show again the prophets prior to the time of Noah were preaching about these things. And I encourage you just look in the book of Jude and you will find that Enoch was preaching about the second coming of Jesus Christ.

The prophet Daniel was one who intently looked for the coming kingdom to come to this earth. There's an interesting prophecy in the book of Daniel. In Daniel 2 and verse 24 here, it says, in the days of these kings, he's talking about, by the way, some interesting prophecies here because it has to do with a beast power in the end of the age.

That's another topic. But there will be ten kings that will be associated with that beast power in the end of the age. And so in the days of these kings, in the end of the age, in other words, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, and the kingdom shall not be left to other people.

Other people. That's kind of unusual language, isn't it? I thought we were all people. No, he's talking about God's people are going to be the ones that are going to rule at that time with Jesus Christ. They're not going to be left to other people, as it says. And it talks about, it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, the kingdoms of the earth, and it shall stand forever.

And so that kingdom is going to go on and on forever and ever. The prophet Isaiah wrote many famous prophecies about the kingdom of God. In fact, Isaiah's words are memorialized at the United Nations.

This particular verse in Isaiah 2, in verse 2 through 3 here, this particular verse is memorialized with a monument at the United Nations with a man trying to beat a sword into a plow. I'm sure you've seen that image many times. But here's what Isaiah says, now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established on the top of the mountains. So God's house is going to be on the top of the heap of the nations of the world. And it's going to be on the top of the heap of the nations of the world.

And shall be exalted above the hills. And all nations shall flow to it. And many people shall come and say, come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord. To the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways and we will walk in His paths for out of Zion, Isaiah said, shall go forth the law.

That law I talked about earlier. And the word of the eternal from Jerusalem. And He shall judge between the nations and rebuke many people. And they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. And nations shall not lift up sword against nation. And this famous quote of Isaiah, neither shall they learn war anymore. So in that kingdom there won't be any war colleges like we have in the United States.

And many nations, of course, have them. We have West Point and Naval Academies and every kind of school to teach men to make war. But no more. It will no more happen. And all the implements of war will be changed into implements of peace. We're going to change those things that man has created and equipment for farmers to farm the land, by the way, that will be so productive then in that time. By the way, mountains are symbols of governments or nations, hills of lesser governments.

And so this passage pictures the time when Christ will rule all nations from Jerusalem. And His kingdom will last a thousand years. You can go over to Revelation 20 over there, down to verse 4 to 6 or 7, and it will show it's a millennial reign that Christ will have when He sets up His government upon the earth.

You know, I wish I could tell you that all things are, you know, like peaches and cream for the future. But it is not. Prior to that time before the kingdom is going to be set up, many Bible prophecies warn us of man's trouble that is going to come in our time, in the end of this age. And in fact, during the day of the ancient prophets, they warned of what was going to happen, what was coming.

In Daniel 12, in verse 1, notice what Daniel the prophet said. He said at that time, again, talking about the end of the age, you remember that Daniel himself didn't even understand the prophecies that God was giving to him. But he was told to shut up the book. He said it was for the time of the end.

And so Daniel didn't understand the things that we can understand today. But it says, at that time, Michael shall stand up, the great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people. And Michael, of course, the archangel that stands watch over Israel. And it says, and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that time.

And at that time, your people shall be delivered, everyone who was found written in the book. He's talking about the book of life here, by the way. Those called in this age that take up that calling and buy that pearl a great price. And so Daniel said this, again, a long time ago, as to what was going to happen. And Jesus himself echoes the very same thing about the end time.

Let's notice what he says in Matthew 24, verse 22. He said there, and unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved. If you read a Moffat translation, by the way, it says no flesh would be saved. But he goes on to say, but for the elect's sake, those days shall be shortened. And so here, Christ talking about the end times, and by the way, the Bible you will find throughout, expresses and talks about the time of the end or the end of days. And it's talking about the time that you and I are living in, quite frankly, right now.

And I hope to show that to you and prove it to you even more as we go through the remainder of this message. But what Jesus was saying here in Matthew 24, verse 22, Jesus was showing that man would come right up to the brink of self-annihilation, of wiping all life off the planet, and he's going to intervene to stop man in his mad race to oblivion.

And by the way, this is why the world needs the kingdom of God. This is why the world needs the second coming of Jesus Christ. Christ, when he comes, is coming to save man from himself, by the way. You know, we know that the angels did mass destruction in their rebellion. You read about it in the Bible. And so the angel destroyed the world that was before the time of Adam. And mankind will come to the point of destroying the whole earth and the inhabitants of it, you know, himself.

But Christ is going to stop that from happening. And he will come in the nick of time. You know, Jesus revealed that there were certain signs so that we would know the end of the age was near. You know, there are things that you look for. He talked about how that, you know, if you wonder if it's going to rain, you look at the sky.

In other words, you look at the signs that are there. And, you know, we see again whether it's going to change dramatically if we look at those signs that we see in the sky. Let's look at the pivotal Olivet prophecy, the prophecy that Christ gave to his disciples in Matthew 24. And you can see corollary passages in Luke and also in Mark. But, you know, we'll look at Matthew 24 here and notice that here the disciples were sitting with Christ on the Malavalos and Jesus Christ had set up all the buildings that they thought were so beautiful there in Jerusalem.

You know, Jesus Christ was saying that not one stone would be upon the other, you know, when the end of the age came. And so it prompted this question that they had. You know, here in verse 3, notice it says, Now as he sat on the Malavalos, the disciples came to him privately, saying, Tell us, When will these things be?

When's it going to happen? They heard him talking about the end of the age or the end of days. And what will be the side of your coming and of the end of the age? And that word age means cosmos.

They understood it would be the end of this earthly kind of world that we have now with the leadership that we have, the society and the way of life that we have. What's going to be the end of the cosmos? You know, what are the signs? You know, he asked the question we all want to know the answer to, don't we? Pretty good question. And Jesus went on to describe the signs preceding the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Notice what he said. He said there would be religious deception and false teachers.

Let's notice in Matthew 24 in verses 4 through 5. And Jesus answered and said to them, Take heed that no one deceives you. Here he warned the apostles, don't let anybody deceive you. For many will come in my name, saying, I am the Christ, and will deceive many. And so he's saying that they would come in my name. Jesus was saying, saying, I am the Christ, and they will deceive many by this. And many people have been deceived in Christianity.

He said there would be wars and that there would be rumors of wars. Notice what he says in verse 6 here. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled, for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. So we see these things begin to build, he's saying here. They begin to happen at the same time, in other words, and they begin to build at the end of the age. And then he said, they're going to be international tensions that you're going to see. They're going to be famines. They're going to be diseases and earthquakes in different places. Let's notice in verse 7 here. For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. In other words, groups of nations against other groups of nations. And there will be famines and pestilences and earthquakes in various places. So what do we see in the world today? What kind of international tensions and crises do we see in the world right now? Well, we have a significant worldwide financial crisis, don't we? That's right here in the United States. All of us feel it. In my neighborhood, we have houses that have been basically closed down. You know, you can recognize when people have moved out because the lawn in the front gets brown all of a sudden. You know, the bank is not taking care of the property either. And so you see this kind of thing happen. And as a result of the worldwide financial crisis, you're going to have increasing political tensions all over the place. The Muslim Spring revolutions is an example of this. And we're going to see other revolutions. And some talk about a revolution in the United States, by the way itself. There are famines right now that are going on in Ethiopia and Somalia as a result of the strange topsy-turvy weather patterns and changing climatic conditions. And these conditions could result themselves in serious food shortages for the future. And we even have droughts right here in this country, Texas and Oklahoma, all through there. And of course, when we're not having droughts, we've got floods, don't we? When I have floods, we've got something else dramatic that is happening. In the world, we see that there are pestilences and disease epidemics. They're an annual problem in some nations, some areas worse than others. I was in Zambia recently, and I saw in Africa a lot of reporting on the AIDS crisis that is still a very big subject on the African continent. We see today earthquakes and various disasters that dominate the news.

It seems that every time you turn around, some other disaster is happening. Somewhere, we see disasters from the United States all the way to Japan and throughout the world. We see tsunamis that are very destructive and that seem to come along with some of the changes we're seeing in the earth and the climatic changes and all of that that are being impacted by the problems that we are having with the wacky weather. What else did Jesus warn about? Well, he warned about something that is coming that is going to be very serious. In fact, it is one of the six seals that are mentioned in the book of Revelation. Religious persecution, betrayal, and offense. Notice in verse 9 of Matthew 24, it says, then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. And then many will be offended and will betray one another and will hate one another. So those who are the true followers of Jesus Christ are not going to be loved by the world. Far from it, before it is all said and done, they are going to be hated by the world. And so Christ warned about that which was coming, and he warned about another thing. He said that false prophets would emerge. In Matthew 24, verse 11, Jesus said, then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. So we are going to see a lot of false prophets that are going to rise up and be saved. And many of them, of course, striving to get a following, somebody to come and follow them in sometimes their hair-brained ideas that they have. Now, I heard recently there was a man who was claiming to be Jesus Christ that was living in London. Now, I don't read that in my Bible, you know, that in the end he'll be in London.

You know, but we have some unusual characters in the world that are making these kind of outlandish claims. Well, we can know the signs, and Jesus gave us these signs, the signs of the end, but you know what? Jesus said this also, but of the day, that day and hour, knows no man, or no one knows, Jesus said. And he says further, he says, not even the angels of heaven know the day or the hour, but my Father only. And that's in Matthew 24, verse 36 there. You know, beware of people that try to tell you that, you know, Jesus Christ is going to come on this exact time and day because it simply is not going to occur. Like I said here, not even Jesus Christ knows. Only when the Father leans over to Jesus Christ and says, it's time, will Christ know? And so the angels don't know and no man knows these things. We can know again the time in the sense of the general time. That's why Jesus Christ gave the signs that he did. We can know when things are about ready to begin to wrap up in the world. When we see the world falling down around us, then we will know it's getting to that point. But, you know, it's important for us to realize that Christ gave us these signs. And Jesus cautioned, he cautions his disciples, his followers about one more thing. In Matthew 24, verse 12, he said, because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. And so we are living in an age, as time goes on, that love is going to grow cold in the world. And, you know, there are going to be people that are going to become more violent. There are going to be people that are going to distance themselves from one another, and it's going to be a violent time in the future. And, of course, mankind is getting farther and farther away from God's laws. In other words, he's becoming more and more lawless in what he does. It's all the more reason for us to repent in this time.

We need to repent and come out of the world. We don't want to be a part, again, of that kind of a world and society out there. You know, we need to have a personal and family strategy to build up our spiritual endurance under what we're going to see happen in the future. And preparing ourselves for our role in the Kingdom of God is vital for us. You know, we're not going to be 90-day wonders and be a part of God's Kingdom if we decide to obey God the last week of the world. We need to do that again in our lives now. When we have the call, when we have the responsibility to do it. And, you know, enduring the troubles of the head requires this. Jesus Christ Himself said in Matthew 24, 13, and you notice here that this young lady is breaking the ribbon at the finish line. That's what we have to do. Christ said, But he who endures to the end shall be saved. And so God warned us that He wants us to endure to the very end with His way of life. And spiritual strength and endurance comes from Jesus Christ, who is the source of all power. So we need our Savior, Jesus Christ. And as King of the Kingdom, we need Him. And you know what? We need Him in our very midst. We need Him with us in our lives on a daily basis. And we need a real relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ if we're going to endure to the Kingdom of God. It's imperative that, again, we have that relationship with God. Now, let's look at another essential point about preparing for God's Kingdom. To prepare for the Kingdom, the Church must carry this Gospel of the Kingdom of God to the whole world. We have that responsibility as a Church. As a sign of the end of the age or the end time, Jesus Christ said this in Matthew 24, verse 14. Notice what He says here in the Scripture.

And this Gospel of the Kingdom of God He's talking about. This Gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all nations, and then the end will come.

When that job is done, Jesus Christ, in fact, told His disciples, He says, Look, you will not have covered the cities of the house of Israel before the Son of Man is come, before Jesus Christ returns. And so this is our commission. This is the commission we have as a Church.

And you know what? We need your help. We need your help to do that, to carry that message to the world. We don't want to carry the message just to San Jose. We don't want to carry the message just to California. We want to carry the message to the whole world. I'm talking about carrying the message to China, Russia, and every nation upon the face of the earth to hear the message, the Good News of the Kingdom of God. And this is why the United Church of God publishes the Good News magazine. And that's why we preach the Gospel on our Beyond Today television program. That is why we have church services in just about every city in America and many, many cities around the world. Because we want to carry this message to the world. Now finally, as we've discussed today, the Kingdom of God has been misunderstood or ignored, even though Jesus continually taught about it. Like I said, it was his primary message. We look at what he said. And that Good News of the Kingdom explains to the world exactly why it's facing the terrible, deep problems that it has and what the real solutions to it will be. Jesus Christ nearly 2,000 years ago said, The Kingdom of God is at hand. We'll continue to explore this grand design of the Kingdom of God. And this seminar series will show you what the Kingdom has to offer to you. When we come back from our short break and refreshments, we'll address the exciting last message of today's Kingdom of God seminar. The topic is, Why Our World Needs the Kingdom of God Now? The Kingdom of God is at hand. We're at hand. We're at hand. We're at hand. We're at hand.