What Is the True Gospel?

Thank you, Mr. Waters. Appreciate, always, your contribution, special music. I didn't want to mention to you, I thought I'd pass it on, but my wife said I didn't, that Mr. Wurm had his surgery yesterday on his knee, I think it was, that he had to have some repair surgery and they told him to keep his leg up so he wasn't able to make it today because of that, so be praying for him. He should be alright. He felt, actually, he felt before he went in, he mentioned that he was getting around really well and he wondered if something had been healed inside, so I wrote him a note back and said, I hope that is so. When they go in, they don't find any such things, so be praying for him, though, that all will go well. You know, brethren, if you were to ask any profession Christian whether he believes the gospel, he would immediately respond to you with a resounding yes, and I think probably that would be true in 99.9% of the cases, maybe 100%. But if the same person was pressed to tell what the gospel is, they would not know. They would maybe hymn and haw about it. They would say, well, the gospel, and they might even be dogmatic about it, the gospel is receiving Christ, whatever that ultimately means, or accepting Christ. They might say it a different way, but usually that would be the order of what the gospel is and their opinion. And yet Jesus Christ said, we all must repent and we must all believe the gospel to be saved. The question is, how can you believe the gospel if you do not know what it is? And yet there are millions of people, multiple millions of people who say they believe the gospel, but they don't know what the gospel is. Maybe they believe, say, a particular version of what they think that the gospel is, but they really don't know what the gospel is. Well, what is the true gospel, and what is the extent of the gospel in the Bible? And I want to talk about that in the sermon here today. Let's keep our minds, again, riveted on the kingdom of God, because we've really emphasized that recently. And are the churches of this world preaching the gospel? You know, are the world's churches preaching the gospel that Jesus Christ brought? You know, is that what they're doing when we look at the myriad number of churches that are out there? Are they preaching the gospel? Well, brethren, the true gospel is not being preached by the churches of this world. Some preach a gospel that is more of a social gospel, or a gospel of wisdom, or some other with a non-biblical title. You know, they have their own version of a gospel. You know, there's a rather popular individual that's on television, and he's attracted a lot of attention from around the country. I am sure around the world. And by the way, his website that he has is more active than ours is, but we are improving so rapidly with the United Church of God website that very shortly we're going to overtake this person in terms of our effectiveness of our website. But this man deals with more of a kind of a, you can pull yourself up by your own bootstraps kind of a gospel. It's a very positive thing that he preaches, and he's again attracted the attention of many people.

Or they preach a gospel message. You know, it can be a social gospel. It could be another type of message, but they can preach a gospel message that is all about grace. In other words, they talk about how God gives us grace. And of course, there's nothing wrong with preaching about grace that God does give us, but what they do is they add to it that there's no need now for any of us to keep the law of God. That's when they get off the track. And so the gospel is that for them, and they really push that kind of a message. And their message, their gospel promotes the idea that once a person is saved, they can never be lost. And so they're into this frenzy to try to get everybody saved, everybody to confess the name of Jesus Christ, everybody to repent so that they will never be lost. And they, of course, believe that the law of God was nailed to the cross. And yet Jesus Christ said this. He came along, and I've always been remarkable to me to see what people do. They do the opposite of what Jesus Christ says to do. But Jesus said, do not think I came to destroy the law or the prophets. And yet this is exactly what people think, don't they, in today's world. He said, I did not come to destroy but to fulfill, or to magnify, is what he meant, or to fill it up to make it effective. And it says, for sure, may I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass for the law, till all is fulfilled, or that everything is magnified. In other words, Christ said, you know, the heavens, the physical heavens, are going to be here. And, you know, as long, certainly, as the physical heavens are here, then we know that the law of God, in every respect, the law and the prophets are going to be here as well. They're not going to pass away. They're not going to be done away with, but they are still around. And so, some believe, again, that the law of God has done away, and that's not even true, according to what the Bible itself says, according to what Jesus Christ Himself said, and according to what other scriptures tell us. And so, if something is not based upon what the Bible itself says, that gospel cannot be true. It simply cannot be true. It is not a true gospel, but a false gospel. Now, others merely preach a gospel about the person of Christ, and do not concern themselves with the message that Jesus Christ brought. It is evident that the churches of this world, when you analyze it and you go through it, don't know what the gospel is. They simply don't know what it is. Just like, again, the average person doesn't know what the gospel is. Well, in the Bible, the gospel is called by different names. I'm not going to go to each scripture to show you it, but I will give you the reference scripture if you'd like to write it down as we go through some of the names by which the gospel is called. It is called the gospel of God. It is called the gospel of God in Romans 1 verse 1. It says it there. It is called the gospel, of course, of Jesus Christ. Mark 1.1. It is called the gospel of Jesus Christ.

In Romans 1.16, it is called the gospel of Christ. Simply the gospel of Christ.

In Ephesians 1.13, it is called the gospel of salvation. In Ephesians 6.15, it is called the gospel of peace.

In Ephesians 3.2, it is called the dispensation of the grace of God.

And then in Matthew 4 verse 23, it is called the gospel of the kingdom. And so, the gospel is referred to by different names. And yet, we do not have, here I mentioned to you, seven different names by which the gospel goes by. We do not have seven different gospels that are preached within the Bible. Now, do we include all of these things in the gospel that we preach as God's people? Do we preach all these gospels that are mentioned within the scriptures?

Which gospel do we preach in the United Church of God? Knowing what the true gospel is very important, brethren, to us because it's important to our salvation. And really, there's only one true message. There's only one true gospel that is preached by the true church of God in this day. There's only one true gospel, brethren. Although it's known by different names, there's only, again, the one gospel. Let's go to Galatians chapter 1. Galatians chapter 1, in verse 6, here the Galatians had been introduced to the truth.

They had been given the gospel by the apostle Paul. And apparently, in short order, they began to turn away with what Paul had preached to them, that hope that he had delivered to them. In Galatians 1, in verse 6, here Paul says, I marvel that you're turning away so soon from him who calls you into the grace of Christ to a different gospel. So they began to turn to a gospel that was different than what Paul had preached to them. Going on, it says, which is not another, but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ.

Here, you see, it's referred to as the gospel of Christ here. And it says, but if we, it says, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you, then that what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. And so, here Paul says there's a curse on anyone that preaches another gospel other than the one that Jesus Christ brought. And in verse 9, it says, and as we have said before, so now say I again.

If anyone preaches any other gospel to you, then what you have received, let him be accursed. And so, Paul pronounces a double curse on anyone who would preach another gospel other than the true gospel that Jesus Christ brought. Now, I'm not going to take the time to go through and to show, you know, in length about this, but in Galatians, the Jews were being tempted to return to the thinking of the ceremonial ritualism, you know, that they had been a part of before, thinking that somehow that was going to save them.

And the Gentiles, by the way, were being lured to think it was not necessary to reject the false ways of the world to have kind of a, you know, a lesser, let's say, fair attitude toward life, eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow you're going to die, belief in docetism and some of the Gnostic beliefs. And they were being bewitched to another kind of gospel, which in fact was probably much like the gospel that is being preached to the world today, of once saved, always saved, that you can't lose out on salvation.

And that wasn't and isn't the gospel at all. It wasn't for them and it's not for today either. It was a different way of life, in other words, than the way of life that comes from believing the true gospel, because one who believes the true gospel obeys God. One who walks in the true gospel lives by the laws of God.

One who does not rejects the laws of God, turns his back on God's way of life, and lives an entirely different way altogether. Now, what does the Bible say about the gospel, then? The word gospel is translated from the Greek word that means good news or good message. Now, of course, this is commonly believed by the churches of the world.

You will hear, again, everybody talking about what gospel means and it's good news. But the gospel is the good news of what? What is the good news about it? This is often ignored by the churches of this world. What is the good news about? What kind of news did Jesus Christ bring? Well, let's go to Mark 1.

Because over here we find the very seminal beginning of the message that Jesus Christ began to preach. And here in verse 1 of chapter 1 of the book of Mark, it says, the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And so this is where it all began. You know, Jesus Christ, of course, by this time was 30 years of age and he began to do the ministry, the work of the ministry, you know, in the three and a half years of his earthly ministry. But notice in verse 14 it says, and now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God. And so that is the gospel that Jesus Christ brought in saying the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe the gospel. And the gospel that Jesus Christ preached as God's messengers, again, was that people were to repent and believe the gospel and that gospel was the gospel of the kingdom of God. And so this is what Jesus Christ preached. You know, it was not known by other names or was not called by other names, by the writer there, Mark, but it was known as the gospel of the kingdom of God.

And this is what Jesus Christ brought. Let's go over to John 3. John 3. In the book of John over here we see how, in fact, you know, one is to enter the kingdom of God. It talks about here that a transformation has to take place in the life of a person. But in John 3, in verse 1, it says, There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.

This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God. And it says, For no one can do these things that you do unless God is with them. And Jesus answered and said to him, Most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

And, of course, to fully understand what Jesus Christ says here, we have to know the nature of the kingdom of God and what it's going to be like and what it's necessary to be like to be in the kingdom of God. But one has to be born from above to even perceive the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God, of course, is more than something that's a physical kingdom that's going to come.

We know it's going to have spiritual ramifications as well. And Nicodemus said to him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? And Jesus answered, Most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. In other words, one has to be baptized, as we understand. Through immersion in water, through baptism, and then immersion in the Holy Spirit through the laying out of hands when someone receives the Holy Spirit when they are baptized. And so Jesus here talks about how one enters in to the kingdom of God.

Down in verse 14, let's notice this. And he says, And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, here Christ talking about when he knew he was going to have to be crucified, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. And so one has to believe in the gospel.

One has to believe in Jesus Christ in order to have eternal life. And so the resurrection of Christ, belief in him as our Savior, and repentance were all vital parts of the gospel of the kingdom of God that had to be preached.

And so when we preach the kingdom of God, we talk about all of these aspects. This is why when you go to different other names that are given for the gospel, that each of the writers is talking about a different aspect of the gospel. The gospel, in other words, is the gospel of the kingdom of God, but the gospel has to do with salvation.

The gospel has to do with peace. The gospel has to do with grace in these things. And the gospel is God's gospel. And the reason is, is because God's kingdom is going to be what is going to be established here upon the earth. The gospel belongs to the Father in heaven because Jesus Christ himself came and he spoke what the Father instructed him to speak. It's the gospel of Jesus Christ because he delivered the gospel. He brought the gospel. It's the gospel of the Messiah or the Christ because it was the Messiah who brought the gospel.

It's the gospel of salvation again because salvation is a part of the gospel and a gospel of peace because only through the gospel of the kingdom of God and the establishment of the kingdom of God, brethren, will peace ever come to this world. And only through that means also, brethren, will you ever have peace in your own life in this time through the gospel. It's the gospel related to grace as well because we must have unmerited pardon for our sins that God gives to us. So you see, all of those things have to do with the gospel, but it's the gospel of the kingdom of God. And Jesus Christ came proclaiming this message.

I want to show you through the Bible again. The fact is that the apostles spoke about those things that were necessary for them to teach in order to promulgate the gospel, to get the gospel out. Let's notice in 1 Corinthians 15. Here Paul in chapter 15 and verse 12, rather than labor through again whole chapters here, I'm just going to try to pick up and break into the thought here of 1 Corinthians 15.

But in 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 12, it says, Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? So in the time of the Corinthians, the Corinthians some doubted that there was going to be a resurrection. But here Paul says, but if there's no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen.

And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty. The preaching of the gospel is empty. And our faith is also empty. You'll hear Paul is saying. And down in verse 17, and if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile.

You are still in your sins. In other words, if Christ has not been resurrected, the gospel is not even possible. The good news is not even possible. And it says, even in this life, only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable. You know, here Paul mentions, but now Christ is risen from the dead and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

And so if Christ is not risen, we have no hope of the kingdom of God. Is what Paul was having to hear teach the Corinthians. And we have no hope, of course, of eternal life. Well, let's go down to verse 35. It says, Awake to righteousness. In other words, we as God's people need to awake to righteousness and do not sin.

For some do not have the knowledge of God, and I speak this through your shame. In other words, the gospel of the kingdom of God does not give you, you know, or me the right to sin, you know, without equivocation. Now, obviously, we do fall down. We make mistakes. But God, through His grace, can forgive us, rather than we should not purposely break the law of God. But we should live in a righteousness in our lives and strive not to sin.

Because, you know, if we don't have that knowledge, if we don't accept that, if we don't believe that, we never understood the gospel to begin with. If we don't understand, we have to live by God's laws. And so we have to awake to righteousness. In other words, rather, we have to repent when we get off the track.

And we have to turn back to God. Because from this flesh, none of us, brethren, are going to enter into the kingdom of God. And if we don't repent, we're going to be condemned. Because we don't have it made yet. It is not once saved, always saved. So we have to repent and keep on repenting. Actually, that's what the word repentance means, you know? When we ask people if they've repented their sins, are they gone for repentance?

It means you've repented. You've been sorry for what you've done and what you are, but you keep on repenting through your life. In other words, it's an ongoing process that we cannot stop. But notice over here in verse 50 what Paul goes on to say.

And now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does corruption inherit in corruption. So, brethren, if we do not live a righteous life, we don't have it made. Because this flesh and blood, and you pinch yourself, if you doubt, by the way, you're still flesh. You know, that old pinch test. You know, just take a big pinch and pinch until it hurts. And you say, ouch, yeah, I am still flesh. But when we are changed from flesh to spirit, then, of course, our character will be locked in and we will be a part of the kingdom of God because we'll be spirit composed like Jesus Christ. We're going to be like Christ because we will see Him as He is. And notice in verse 57 it says, but thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. And so, through Christ and His help, you know, we're able, brethren, to be a part of that wonderful kingdom. When it's set up upon this earth, we can be a part of it. So flesh and blood cannot enter the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God. And we cannot be in the kingdom of God without, you know, Christ. We cannot be in the kingdom of God except Jesus Christ was resurrected. All of these things are part and parcel, you know, of the gospel of the kingdom of God. Now, I don't know if we pointed this out in the kingdom of God lectures, but the kingdom of God, the term kingdom of God, by the way, is used 68 times in the New Testament.

Quite a lot, isn't it? A lot of times the kingdom of God is mentioned. The kingdom of heaven is mentioned 32 times in the New Testament. So here we have, you know, the kingdom of heaven mentioned and the kingdom of God mentioned, you know, a hundred times in the New Testament. And by the way, I think we pointed out that the kingdom of heaven was like Mr. Armstrong used to explain what the kingdom of heaven means. He talked about the bank of Morgan. Is Morgan's bank? Like I said earlier, the kingdom of God, God owns the kingdom. And so heaven is in possession of the kingdom. And the Father is in heaven. And so it's called the kingdom of God and it's called the kingdom of heaven as well, because that's where God rules. That's where Jesus Christ sits at the right hand of the Father. And so, brethren, the kingdom of God is, you know, very important within the New Testament, certainly. It's important not only in the new, but in the old as well, because the patriarchs and the prophets look toward the establishment of the kingdom of God, as we pointed out in the book of Acts chapter 3, and the restitution of all things. That all of the holy prophets talked about these things from the foundation of the world. That, brethren, the kingdom of God also has many facets to it. In other words, when we go and we preach the gospel of the kingdom of God, it's not just one message that we must preach. It's like if you have been following along with what we're doing with the kingdom of God seminars, you notice the messages change.

It's still, they're still about the kingdom of God, but the messages are going to change such that we can convey those things that need to be known about the kingdom of God. And so that's what we're endeavoring to do. When Jesus Christ came to preach, though he began, again, the preaching of the kingdom of God in that message. Let's go over to notice what it says in Luke 16 16. Luke 16 16. Here it says, Jesus states this in verse 16 of Luke 16, the law and the prophets were until John. So up until John, you know, the law and the prophets reign supreme in terms of the preaching. Of course, there was nothing else before that, wasn't it? You had the Old Testament scriptures before this time. And John was preparing the way for the arrival of the Messiah himself, and he preached repentance. You will remember his job. But notice since that time, the kingdom of God has been preached and everyone is pressing toward it.

Or unto it. So, and other translations actually say that people are forcefully pressing toward the kingdom. In other words, you cannot take a laid-back kind of approach to the kingdom of God in your life and have the mentality, well, I sure hope I make it. You know, we better hope we make it. We better pray we make it as God's people. And obviously, we've got our hearts right and we're striving with all of our heart to obey God. And we're repenting when we make mistakes and we continue to move forward building character. And sometimes, brethren, we can have problems that just hang on and hang on to us. But we've got to keep working on those problems, brethren. I don't care if it is right up until the day you die, that God knows that you're striving to work on your character. Some of them can be very stubborn. Sometimes you have to fast about problems that you may have and you may have to really pray about it. And it may take a long time to overcome certain things in your life. But, brethren, we've got to stress that overcoming in our lives. And we have to keep doing that, repent, and keep on repenting. We have to press toward the kingdom of God.

You know, when Jesus Christ came, that was the major theme about what Christ talked about. It was the kingdom of God. Let's go to Acts chapter 1. Acts chapter 1. Here, Luke is writing this account. He begins in verse 1 of the book of Acts chapter 1. And Luke says, The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which he was taken up, after he had through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles, whom he had chosen, to whom he also presented himself alive after suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days, and notice, and speaking of things pertaining to the kingdom of God. So Christ came preaching the kingdom of God, the gospel of the kingdom of God, but there were many things pertaining to the kingdom of God.

I just tell you, by the way, that Christ's kingdom is going to be set up here upon the earth, brethren, that's not enough. There's much more that you need to know.

You know, you may buy into that wholeheartedly and believe it with all your heart, but you don't know enough that Jesus Christ is coming and going to set up his kingdom, because there's much more than that that is required of us in our own personal lives, for one thing.

So the gospel entails many things besides the government of God being set up here upon the earth in the world tomorrow. And the churches of this world have not proclaimed that message, because they don't know. They don't know what those things are. They don't know what God is doing. You know, they have no concept, brethren, of the fact that God is reproducing himself.

They have no idea that God is doing that. They don't know what, in fact, that means, if you were to say that, what does it mean God is reproducing himself? Well, when God created Adam and Eve in the garden, they were created incomplete.

They were not completed. They needed a spiritual aspect. And so mankind is learning about that spiritual aspect through the gospel, because it is the gospel of the incredible human potential of what God intended for man, that one day man would be a part of the family of God. Now, you tell me, if you've gone to the churches of the world, when have you ever heard that? That message. Well, you don't. You don't hear that message in the churches of this world, because it is not proclaimed, because they do not know it.

And, of course, there are many aspects to that particular part of the gospel message. The gospel Jesus Christ preached. He also instructed his disciples to preach that gospel. No, he sent them out, and he told them to preach the kingdom of God. Let's go to Luke 9. Luke 9. Brethren, we need to increase that message in the world today, more than ever before. In this day and age that you and I are living in, we're seeing this world racing toward oblivion.

We're seeing problems mount up in the Middle East, and that, you know, as the Bible talked about, how that Israel would be a rock of stumbling for the entire world. It is becoming exactly that, that this world is sitting on a power keg that is in the Middle East.

And if that explodes, brethren, I can tell you that it's going to immerse this entire world in ultimately what will become the Third World War. And we can see, again, countries lining up, like Russia and China. And they're showing which sides are going to be on. And I believe that eventually something is going to have to be done about Iran. No question about that. And, frankly, if the United States does not assist with it, I think Israel is going to have to do it.

And we'll do it, probably. Eventually, they'll probably do it out of frustration, because they can't believe their American counterparts, that they're going to assist and be there. Although the United States has said that they will be, but, you know, it doesn't look like they are. They're dragging their feet. But we're seeing, again, things happening in the world, brethren. I think that people are genuinely afraid in the world right now.

They see what's going on. This is different. This is different, by the way, than the Depression, what we're going through now. And, you know, people are very concerned. And I would expect, again, to see people begin to respond as things get worse in the world. But let's go to Luke 9 and chapter 1 and 2, and it says, verses 1 and 2, and it says, Then he called the twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases.

You know, we see here's another aspect, by the way, of the message that they took in the first century. The healings, of course, had to do with the fact of what was coming for the kingdom of God. And so they had that special power that was conveyed to them by Jesus Christ. And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. In the same way that Jesus had done that, he sent his disciples to do that in the first century of the church. But he told them to preach the kingdom of God. Preach about the kingdom of God.

Chapter 10. Let's know this over here. Chapter 10 in the book of Luke. And verse 1 and 2 to begin with, And after these things the Lord appointed seventy others also and sent them two by two before his face into every city and place where he himself was about to go.

And he said to them, The harvest truly is great, but the labors are few. Therefore, pray, the Lord will harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. We know, brethren, that that means, even in our time, that there's a need for laborers. I don't know if you've noticed or not, but we're pretty thin in terms of laborers. And this time, I think that's prophetic.

I think we find ourselves in a time where we have to be praying that God will force out laborers into the harvest. I mean, those that maybe for whatever reason have been holding back, know that could help and assist, have not, that they would be pushed into it somehow or another to help out with the preaching of the Gospel. It reminds me of the story of a fellow that had a daughter he was going to give to the suitor that would take her hand in marriage, and that he would give half of all of his fortune to them. And a lot of the suitors came, and he told them what they were going to have to do. He said, in order to win my daughter's hand, all you have to do is swim through this pool of water that is filled with sharks and alligators.

Not one person was willing to jump in there and swim the lake to that pool, but the man looked down and he heard a splash, as he did. And there was a man thrashing about, you know, thrashing across that pool. And he finally got across the pool and pulled himself out on the other side. And the man who wanted his daughter to be married went over and shook his hand. He said, sir, I've just got to shake your hand, that you had such a love for my daughter that you were willing to swim through this pool of alligators and sharks.

And he said, no, sir. He says, all I'd like to know is who pushed me.

Well, brother, we need somebody to push, be pushed into the job of helping with the gospel of the kingdom of God. And I'm not telling you it's a bunch of sharks and alligators out there, but Jesus Christ did say he sent us as lambs among the wolves that are out there in the world. So he said to them that people would be forced out into the harvest. In verse 9 it says, and heal the sick there, he said, and say to them, the kingdom of God has come near to you. And, of course, Jesus Christ was there as a representative of that kingdom. And those disciples were representatives of the kingdom just as we are today, brethren. And in the future, when the millennium starts, Jesus Christ will be right there, ruling, and we will be near them then, and we will be a part of that kingdom. And so Jesus Christ instructed his disciples to go and preach that gospel. Let's go to Matthew chapter 28. Brethren, we need to be fired up about this as God's people.

Fired up about preaching the gospel, getting the message out to the world.

I think, quite frankly, we've been a little bit relaxed about that. We need to put more enthusiasm into it as God's people. Be excited about the work as it begins to expand around the world. You know, we've got a lot of territory to cover out there. It's a big world. It's like Mr. Luker was saying at the recent meetings in Cincinnati that we had for the feast. He commented to the feast coordinators that he had gone and visited with Mr. Luker. Mr. Luker had gone to visit with Mr. Meredith with the Living Church of God. And that, you know, both of them talked about how there needs to be a more cooperative spirit between, you know, the Living Church of God and the United Church of God. And Mr. Luker said, you know, he said it's a big world out there. And there's a room enough for all of us to go and to preach the gospel. In other words, the message can be carried forth. And so, I think we'll probably see, you know, a more cordial attitude and approach between living and the United Church of God. There's no, by the way, hint of there being a unification of the two, you know, in that sense, just so you want, if you wonder about that. But certainly we can have a more cooperative approach to how we do things. If one person is doing something in a certain area to keep aware. I know Charles Mollire was talking about he has been in touch with the festival people with living and trying to coordinate, you know, where they're having feasts and where we're having feasts and how we might be able to help them and how they might be able to help us. So we're working together, more together with it. And it seems to, again, beginning small at this point. But we hope, again, eventually that things will work out to where, you know, we can have more and more cooperation as time goes on. I think we all know, eventually, we're going to all be together anyway. I mean, we're not going to be able to continue to be apart, obviously, from what we see is going to happen in the future. When Jesus Christ returns, He's not going to say, now you from this group come here, and you from that group come here, be with me, and you guys stay apart. We're going to all be together as one family under Jesus Christ. Let's go to Matthew, Chapter 28, Matthew 28 and verse 19. You know, Jesus Christ told His disciples, He said, Go therefore and make disciples of all nations. That's what our job is, brethren. I think about, brethren, the millions, hundreds of millions in China that have not been reached. I think about, you know, the people of Russia that have not been reached. I think about all the places upon the earth where we don't have even a member as yet, let alone a good news. You know, some of the nations we simply don't have a very big presence in.

Tanzania, we don't have very much of a presence in Africa, or Ethiopia, for that matter.

You know, some of those areas, as far as I know, we don't have many at all, maybe just one good news subscriber in the whole country. And so there are many countries where we need to go forth. But notice in verse 19, He says, Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. You know, and of course, it says, Amen here. Or so be it. So the commission to preach the gospel had to do with making and the disciples baptizing them. And this involved, brethren, preaching about Christ as a sacrifice for our sins and repentance and talking about the establishment of the kingdom of God upon the earth. In other words, it's a total package. And like I said, as we go forth with these kingdom of God seminars, we're going to have to get more personal in what we say, you know, in these seminars. We'll have to talk about repentance. We'll have to talk about, you know, changing, of overcoming, of turning from their ways and beginning to embrace God's laws and so forth.

But, you know, we find that Jesus Christ said, All power also is given to Him. All power. Now, one of the things that I had the chance to do on this last trip to Africa, Joan and I were able to go down and see Victoria Falls. And I'll tell you, I brought back a video of it. I don't know if we'll have time to play it here today. We may be able to play it partly some other time, but, you know, the power unleashed by, you know, millions of gallons of water going over the falls there at Victoria Falls and the water crashing to the rocks at the bottom and and the mist rising up. The roar of the and the thunder, you know, of the waters, impressed me so much. You know, we tend to limit God. Christ talked about how that if we thirst, we could come to Him that out of our bellies will flow rivers of living waters. I guess I always envision, you know, those rivers being general rolling rivers, you know, or streams coming out from us in the form of good works. But when I saw those falls, I realized what kind of power we were talking about when we're talking about the Holy Spirit and what can be done. Brethren, the more that we believe, the more we have faith, when we step forward with boldness to do what God calls upon us to do. I don't mean by that, brethren, being stupid or foolish, but as the more we boldly go forward to preach the gospel, the more successful we will be able to be and what we have to accomplish. And remember, Christ said, all power, all authority was given to Him in heaven and earth. And we can call upon that power through the power of the Holy Spirit. And so, we have that commission that was given. And when Peter and when others preached the gospel, brethren, they preached that gospel over in Acts 2. Acts 2. You know, when Peter began to preach here boldly, you notice in chapter 2, this is on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was given, and there were miraculous things that happened that day as a demonstration of the power of God in a very unique way on that particular holy day. But in Acts 2 and verse 22, you know, here Peter proclaims, men and brethren, hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves also know. Again, Acts 2 and verse 23, him being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands and crucified and put to death.

Now, you can go on, brethren, and read here further what Peter goes on to talk about here. And he goes and talks about how that Jesus Christ was resurrected by the power of God and that he is now at the right hand of the Father, that he has ascended to heaven, that same Jesus. And yet, that day, Peter was preaching the gospel, because it's what they needed that day with regard to the gospel of the kingdom of God. That was the aspect that they needed that particular day. We also look at the same thing happening in Cornelius's house. When Cornelius was instructed in the ways of God, he was taught about what he needed to know before he was baptized and before he received the Spirit of God. Let's go to another example in Acts 8. You'll hear in Acts 8, Philip, remember, goes on up to Samaria to preach the gospel. In Acts 8, verse 5, it says, And then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them.

Again, not to read through the whole thing, but it says in verse 12, But when they believed, Philip, as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God. And the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women, were baptized.

So, you see, he preached things concerning the kingdom of God, and yet he was preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God. So, let's understand again, the gospel is multifaceted.

Multifaceted. And, you know, Acts, by the way, begins by telling us that, you know, it begins by telling us that, you know, the gospel was preached by Jesus Christ, as we read there in Acts chapter 1. And actually, the Bible ends with the very same thing, the message of the kingdom. The kingdom is coming. The entire Revelation, the book of Revelation, is about the kingdom of God that is coming. So, it begins, and it ends with a proclamation of the kingdom of God. And, you know, one of the things that Paul, in his job and duty, he carried forth the gospel to the churches where he went, and he did not neglect the responsibility of preaching every aspect of the kingdom of God. So, like I said, when you hear about the kingdom being established upon the earth, when you hear about the government being established on the earth, you haven't heard the whole gospel. There's much more to it. Let's go to Romans chapter 1. Romans chapter 1.

Here, notice, it says, Paul, a bond servant of Jesus, so here's the apostle Paul, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God. Here it's called the gospel of God, which again is the gospel of the kingdom of God, which he promised before through his prophets in the holy scriptures, so we notice here the promise of the gospel being preached was promised in the Old Testament scriptures, concerning his son Jesus Christ, our Lord, who was born of the seed of David, according to flesh, and declared to be the Son of God, with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. So, these things are a part of the gospel. So, we talk about the kingdom of God being preached, the gospel of the kingdom of God, brother, and let's keep that in mind, that it's the complete gospel that we're talking about. We're not just talking about the government being established upon the earth. I'm not going to go over to this particular verse, but you might want to write it down. In Acts 20 and verse 21, you may remember that Paul is preaching, teaching the elders up there in Ephesus, that great big church up there. He told them, he says, for I have not shunned to declare you the whole counsel of God. So, you see, when we preach the gospel, we're talking about the whole counsel of God. Talk about everything regarding the kingdom of God, which certainly is inclusive of God's government being established here upon the earth. So, what we do when we preach the gospel, brethren, of the kingdom, we have to ascertain what we need to preach that is most necessary for people to hear at that time and then at other times fill in the details for people to learn.

Again, the full counsel of God, the full gospel of Jesus Christ.

Let me tell you, brethren, you cannot preach everything in one message. If that was so, then we'd be done, wouldn't we? You know, we'd all come together on the Sabbath, and well, you heard the message? That's it? No, it is many messages that are necessary to preach the gospel of the kingdom of God. It must be an ongoing process, and a person must willingly receive it through the preaching or the teaching of the literature, you know, of the church, or through, again, the spoken word of somebody that is knowledgeable of the gospel.

Many believe, by the way, that Jesus Christ is the God of the Old Testament today. You talk to a lot of people of professing Christianity. If you ask them what they think about who was the God of the Old Testament, you know, they will think, well, God the Father was the God of the Old Testament. You know, the old Father who was cruel, you know, that was very harsh, and they believe that Jesus Christ is the God of the New Testament. You know, so you've got two gods that are against each other. You know, the cruel, harsh Father and the Son that comes along and wants to placate His Father, you know. But when you tell people and instruct them that the Son of God, Jesus Christ, was the God of the Old Testament, which, you know, you go to 1 Corinthians 10.4 talking about how the rock that led the children of Israel in the Old Testament was Jesus Christ. You go back and you show that where Christ in the New Testament says that no one has ever seen or heard the Father. And we go back and we see that Moses saw the backside of God, that it was the Son who He saw, the Word as He was known as at that particular time. And the Word, of course, became Jesus Christ, became flesh and dwelled among us. So the idea that Jesus is the God of the New Testament and the Father is the God of the Old Testament is a totally false idea. And again, people cannot understand the kingdom of God, quite frankly, unless they understand that. So that's an aspect of it. You know, Jesus Christ, when He came in John 17 verse 3, He said, He said, This is eternal life that they may know you, the only true God. He talked about the Father. And Jesus Christ, He says, who you have sent. So, you know, we cannot have salvation. We cannot have eternal life unless we understand who Christ is and who the Father is. You see what I'm talking about? There are so many aspects that are false in the religions of this world. You know, when people understand that Christ is the God of the Old Testament, it changes their understanding of the whole Bible. Who knelt down and formed Adam from the dust of the ground? It was Jesus Christ. And He's been, again, working with mankind from the very, very beginning. But it changes your understanding of the Bible. That's what the gospel does. It changes our perspectives. You know, God has a plan from the beginning to establish His kingdom upon this earth, as a matter of fact. You know, when Adam sinned, He knew that Jesus Christ was going to have to come and die for us. And He knew that, you know, there was going to have to be a period before that kingdom could be established here upon the earth. It would have been wonderful, wouldn't it, if Adam and Eve had obeyed God.

Think about where we would be today, 6,000 years later, if they had done the right thing.

You know, of course they didn't. And it would have taken, you know, a tremendous miracle for that to ever happen then. But with God's Spirit, of course, it can happen with us today. We can be prepared for the kingdom of God. And we know when that government is established here upon the earth, brethren, that it's going to be a growing government. Because the prophet Isaiah said, the increase of that government and peace, there shall be no end. No end. But it will be established with judgment and justice forever, it says in Isaiah 9 verse 7. So, brethren, we have a mandate as a church from Jesus Christ to go forth and to preach the gospel.

I remember, brethren, when United was formed back in 1995, I was talking to a lot of the pastors at the time were very disappointed about what had happened in our former association where the law of God was rejected. And, you know, they turned away from those teachings that had been given to us and that we had carried through for 60 years.

And I told them, I said, look, I don't want to establish a church, another church. I said, but I would be happy to help to preserve the one that God has built.

That's the only thing I'm willing to do. And I said, I don't want to establish a little church out here in the vale. You know, like sometimes you find, you know, there's a church where people are just congregated and there's no purpose. They're all just sort of going, you know, as often they do in the Protestant world. You've got these people going on Sunday and sort of very, very self-absorbed. I said, I want to be a part of the church that's going to preach the gospel of the world. And that's what, brethren, I hope that all of us want to do. That's the mandate that we have.

And I know that all of you do or you wouldn't be here. Jesus made this statement. He said, this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all nations. And then the end will come. You want the end to come, brethren? I'd like it to come.

I'd like the kingdom of God to begin. I know there's a lot that has to happen before that happens. But I do know this, brethren, unless we do our jobs, the end won't come.

So I would say, brethren, we've got to really put our hand to the wheel. All of us. We double our efforts to think about the preaching the gospel to the world. Because Jesus Christ said, blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing. In other words, we should be about the business of preaching the gospel to the world.

You know, I'm for, in fact, brethren, us preaching the gospel. Let's not build buildings. Let's put our money into people. Let's preach the gospel to the world. Let me tell you, brethren, if we preach the gospel, then God will supply whatever needs we have to build buildings that we may need to do it. I would rather it be bursting at the seams, quite frankly, in all of our physical facilities, and going forth with the gospel of power than to build a building and not be able to do that. So, you know, we need to, again, support God's work to go forward to do that. And I know you are, brethren. I know you're sacrificing for that. We must realize that God has a plan for the work that we do, and he's considered all things. If we only concentrate on ourselves, if we think about ourselves here in Oakland, or wherever the church area is that we're at, we will turn inward, as often people do when they do so on a personal level. They turn inward. And, you know, typically people who turn inward, they begin to focus in on themselves. You know, they become unbalanced, and they can develop mental issues, mental problems. Well, brethren, God designed humans to need to be outward thinking, to not just think about ourselves, but to be thinking about other people. That is the way we've been designed as human beings. And, you know, God wants us to be that way. He wants us to be outgoing in our concern for other people, not just be thinking about ourselves, but to be thinking about other people. And so, brethren, this is true with the body of Christ as well. We can't turn inward. We must be outward in our approach in life as God's people. That's why the work of the church has two-fold. Number one, to prepare a people, prepare us for the kingdom of God. We do that, again, through services. We do that for Bible studies. We do that through personal study and all the things that we do in preparation for the kingdom. And then, secondarily, we have the job of the great commission of preaching the gospel to the entire world. And making disciples at all nations, brethren, means we preach the gospel everywhere we go to all peoples upon the face of the earth. And to be balanced, brethren, the church, each of us, needs to be focusing on not only preparing ourselves for the kingdom of God, but preaching the gospel so others of this world can hear the witness of the gospel so that of those, some of those, can be a part of the church. That's God's design by it. You know, we're not increasing our efforts. Make no mistake about this, brethren. We're not making increase in our efforts of preaching the gospel because we are on a membership drive and trying to drum up members. Get that far from your mind, brethren, because we will never conduct a seminar that is going to get people into the church. It just isn't even, it's not even possible because of the complexities of a person becoming a part of God's church. It has to be a spiritual thing that people have to come to see. So we're not on a membership drive in the church because God adds to the church as it pleases Him. We don't do that, but our job is to go preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God. And some are going to hear the gospel just like we did when we heard it. Some are going to respond, and they're going to be added by the Father through the church. They're not going to be added because somebody preached a good sermon.

It's going to be because of what God did in their lives. So, brethren, let us be about the business of preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God to this world as a witness. Because when our job is done, then the end is going to come. And, of course, beyond that is the hope of the kingdom of God.