81. How Big Will His Kingdom Be? (End-Times Series Episode 31)

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Hello everyone and welcome back to the broadcast where we prod the sheep and beat the wolf. This is episode 81.

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How big will his kingdom be? When we contemplate the size of Jesus's kingdom and by that I mean his kingdom here on earth the church

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What are the expectations that come to mind? Will that kingdom remain the minority ever and always in a remnant status never able to gain ascendancy among the competing worldviews and religions that are continually jockeying for power in a fallen cosmos or Will this kingdom grow and by growth to what degree are we talking about?

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With a visible church on earth grow to become 10 % of the world's population. It's already done that Will it grow to be over 20?

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It's already done that too. Well, how about 50? Or if you're very optimistic will it become the majority in some way or fashion and if it is the majority

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Does that mean 51 % or are we talking something so much greater?

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These are the questions that I would like us to consider today as we re -enter the book of Acts and as we examine the eschatological underpinnings of the early church, but to do that We have to understand some essential concepts that Luke sprinkles

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Along the way But first a brief background Now if you've not been with us over the last eight weeks in this series in week one

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I sketched out the need for an eschatological series in the book of Acts week two We saw how Jesus's end time kingdom was inaugurated in heaven during his ascension in week three

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We watched a significant eschatological passages from the Old Testament were fulfilled at Pentecost bringing the heavenly kingdom down on earth

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Then in weeks four five six and seven we examined Peter's deeply eschatological sermon in Jerusalem which explained the glorious kingdom that believers were entering into and It also foreshadowed the awful doom that all of those who rejected

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Christ and Judah would soon endure the textual background Now today we're gonna be going to Acts chapter 3 and we're gonna be looking at Peter's sermon but we got to do some we got to do a little bit of background to bridge the gap between where we were in Acts 2

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To where we're gonna be in Acts 3. So what is that gap? Well after Peter's sermon about 3 ,000 souls were added to Jesus's kingdom at Pentecost Each receiving the covenant sign of membership in Jesus's Church Acts 2 41

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Early on Christ began weaving his people together around the apostolic teaching of the word Fellowship and communion also prayer.

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That's Acts 2 42 The community was also overwhelmed by the miraculous outpouring of the

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Holy Spirit Which was being manifest through the working of miracles Acts 2 43 now just as Elijah was given a double miraculous portion from Elijah and Did exactly twice the amount of miracles as the former prophets

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So the Apostles were given a double portion of Christ who empowered them to do more miracles in the first century than he did

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Now they did that as a part of their ministry to hearken all Judah back to repentance John 14 12 through 14 and many

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Did repent but there are also many who didn't? now along with the preaching of the word the prayer the miracles the fellowship in the administration of the

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Sacraments many of the earliest Christians were selling their property and they were pooling their resources together to address the needs of the church

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This is not as some foolish moderns would ascribe an appeal to Christian socialism This instead is the most unmistakable evidence that the early church understood the warnings of Jesus and the sermon of Peter I want you to think about this for a moment

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Jesus warned Peter and the Apostles that Jerusalem was going to be surrounded by armies That it was going to be set on fire and that the stench of their carcasses

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Placed in heaping piles in the streets of the city was going to attract the ravenous swarms of hungry vultures

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Now if you own property in Jerusalem and that is what the man who raised himself from the dead predicting was going to happen in your city wouldn't you sell your property to and If you loved your countrymen as much as the first century

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Christians did wouldn't you want to pull your resources together? Within the church and use that money as a missions fund in order to reach them for Christ You see by selling your home you can live within the city with enough resources to be on mission for many years without the

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Liability of having a home and to pay for it And then when all of the worst aspects of Jesus's prophecy began coming true

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You could flee the city and escape its awful downfall without fear of losing your home In fact, this is precisely what the first century

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Christians did Eusebius wrote about this in his book called ecclesiastical history book 3 chapter 5

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Now for a time the Apostles were still going to the temple complex They were preaching the gospel there and teaching and performing various miracles as sign as a sign of Jesus's kingdom and his lordship on one such occasion

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Peter and John healed a man who was born lame just outside the temple in its gates acts 3 2 as Luke records it the man began leaping and skipping for joy entering the temple for the first time in his life

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Because the Son of Righteousness had just healed him through his anointed Apostle acts 3 8

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Now this is a little side note here But this is a clear fulfillment of both Isaiah and Malachi's great prophecy for instance

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Malachi 4 2 but for you who fear my name the Son of Righteousness will rise with healing in his wings and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall and then also

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Isaiah 35 6 Isaiah says this then the lame will Leap like a deer and the tongue of the mute will shout for joy for waters will break forth in the wilderness and the streams in the

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Araba Now that's gonna take us to our text today that is the background that bridges those sections together now

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Let's look at how Luke records Peter's sermon in Acts chapter 3 and it's gonna be verses 12 through 18.

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This is what he says men of Israel Why are you amazed at this and why do you gaze at us if by our own power or piety we have made him walk?

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The God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob the God of our fathers has glorified his servant

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Jesus The one whom you delivered and disowned in the presence of Pilate when he decided to release him

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But you disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you

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But put to death the Prince of life the one whom God raised from the dead a fact to which we were witnesses and On the basis of faith in his name in the name of Jesus Christ Which has strengthened this man whom you see and you know and the faith which comes through him has given this man perfect health in the presence of you all but The things which

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God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets that his Christ would suffer has been fulfilled again acts 3 and 12 through 18

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Now before we get on to our main point that we're trying to drive at how big is Jesus's kingdom I think first we need to look at some eschatological tidbits that that Luke is sprinkling in and Peter is sprinkling in his sermon

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So I'm gonna be honest with you so much could be discussed in the first part of the sermon That it would take us multiple episodes to go through it

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But I do want to talk a little bit about some things that you're seeing in the passage for instance Peter does not attribute the power to heal this man to his own personal piety or power

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But to the power and the authority of the ascended and glorified Christ He specifically points out his ascension unto glory

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Because it was from that heavenly enthronement ceremony that Christ set down to rule With his first act as king being to send the

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Holy Spirit to God's people of Pentecost Now by doing this Christ made his power and his kingdom available and accessible to the people of God on earth

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Which Peter is alluding to here in this moment. This is an eschatological event Peter also refers to Jesus as the quote -unquote

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Prince, which is an apparent reference to the anointed Messiah of Daniel chapter 9 in one of Daniel's most

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Christocentric prophecies the Messiah or called the Prince in this passage would come and finish the transgressions of Jerusalem by destroying it

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And he would make an end to his people's sins by atoning for their iniquity on the cross and he would usher in his earthly kingdom of everlasting righteousness by being cut off By Peter calling

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Jesus this Prince He's reminding us that Daniel 9 is being fulfilled in his very day and hour

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Now in addition to the specific references to Daniel 9, especially the Messiah being cut off in verse 26

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Peter tells us that other numerous Eschatological passages in the Old Testament were being fulfilled by the suffering of Christ You may think of passages like Isaiah 53 or Psalm 22 or Zechariah 12 as clear examples of this

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But for the moment, I want to get back to the question. How big is Jesus's kingdom going to be?

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Now with all of that background, I want us to return to that very question How much territory is it going to reclaim from the clenches of Satan more specifically?

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What percentage the world's population is finally and totally going to be added into the kingdom of our

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Prince and Sovereign Jesus Christ? And I'll tell you that Peter's sermon addresses this point with precision and clarity in the following three verses beginning with verse 19

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He says therefore repent and return So that your sins may be wiped away in order that the times of refreshing may come from the presence of the

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Lord So now we have to understand. What is the time of refreshing and I'm gonna argue that it's the church age

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Peter demonstrates that entering Jesus's earthly kingdom is contingent upon repentance

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For a man or woman to be a part of Jesus's kingdom and eternally So well, they have to come with sorrow over their sin and a turning unto righteousness by doing this

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Peter promises that their sins will be wiped away by Christ and that soon a time of Refreshment from the

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Lord's presence will come upon them and that time of refreshment is not the eternal reality of heaven that time of refreshment happens on earth

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Now while the word for refreshing naps of scales is only used once in the New Testament that makes it up What's called a hot pox legomenon when a word is only used once in the

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New Testament so while it's only used once and while it also doesn't refer to any explicit promises or prophecies in the

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Old Testament that I'm aware of the meaning of this word refreshment could not be more clear in The same way that weary desert traveler is refreshed by a sip of cool water

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So the people of God will enter into a unique period of refreshment with God Where they will be enlivened by his personal presence even amid a world that is still mired in conflict and strife

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We don't wait on this refreshment until we get to heaven This refreshment is ours on earth through the ministry of the

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Holy Spirit This refreshment would no longer come from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem's temple as it did in the

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Old Covenant but now in the New Covenant and in fulfillment of the prophecy of Ezekiel 47 The streams of life -giving water have burst out of the temple through the work of the living water

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Jesus in John 4 Whose life -giving flow is now spreading and working its way out into the nations one convert at a time

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This time of refreshment Peter's describing is the reign of Christ on earth during this period that we call the church age

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That refreshment has come to his church who lives in the power of the Holy Spirit It is when

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God dwells with his gathered people by issuing forth his spirit that this time of refreshment

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Comes and it comes weekly and it comes continually for God's people who live in his presence now

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This is not heaven. It's gonna be better in heaven, but this is on earth This is a promise that times of refreshment have come upon the people of God And it is the epic of redemptive history where he will refresh his

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Saints with his life -giving present and they Will serve him out of the overflow of his love

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Now this takes us to the next concept the restoration of all things. What does that mean? What does he mean that Jesus is gonna restore all things?

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I think that that means that during the church age Jesus is gonna restore all things. I don't think it's complicated I think it means what

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Peter says that it means So as we will see this period of refreshment is another way of speaking about the church is last as long as Jesus is reigning in heaven and it will

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Not conclude until he accomplishes everything that he intends to accomplish here on earth

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To say that another way Jesus is working in God's throne room in heaven so that his kingdom will come and His will will be done on earth as it is in heaven

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Now at that point when everything is restored when Jesus has finished the job He's gonna stand up return to earth and in human history to usher in his eternal

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Heavenly kingdom, but not a moment before everything is accomplished. That means that world history is not

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Destined to continue getting going from bad to worse as our futurist brothers moan But instead human history is going from fully broken to fully restored in Christ and we know this is the case because verse 20 and 21 tells us that it says and And That he may send

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Jesus the Christ appointed for you whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things

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About which God spoke by the mouth of his Holy Prophets from ancient times verses 20 and 21

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Peter tells us that Christ must be received in heaven and he does so in his ascension and he's gonna stay there

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For a specific amount of time that time is the church age Jesus is gonna reign from heaven throughout the entire church age

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Where he is going to be ruling from heaven and we are gonna be his witnesses and emissaries on earth now according to Peter that time has a limited duration and it was and it will only

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Conclude once Jesus has restored everything that was broken in the fall Now we have to ask ourself the question here.

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Jesus is not restoring anything in heaven Heaven has already been heaven is fully under the submission of Christ Heaven has already been restored when the demons and the

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Satan were kicked out from their rebellion So this has nothing to do with what Jesus is doing in heaven. No his reign is

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Restoring what has been broken on earth and his reign will only conclude in heaven when everything on earth that was broken in the fall is

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Brought under the lordship of Jesus Christ. That means inevitably. He will not return until this in Irreparably damaged world is fixed

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He will not secretly whisk away his hidden huddled Saints from a cataclysmic in Vaporizing them up and leaving their clothes behind that is foolishness instead

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He will only return Once everything has been put back right again

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Now while it is beyond the scope of this article for us to go through every Old Testament passage that Peter is referring to here

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He says that you know, we know this is true because the Holy Prophets have announced it You know And we have lots of passages we could go through instead of going through all of them

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I just want to invite the reader to focus on a few First of all think about passages like Isaiah 11 10 where the

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Messiah is gonna restore the nations of the earth He's going to do that. That's not that that's not a promise that God is gonna forget to fulfill

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He is gonna restore the nations of the earth How about Isaiah 11 4 through 5 where his royal reign as high as the heavens is gonna bring justice and righteousness to the people below That's us.

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What about Isaiah 9 where the expanse of his government of his peace will be limitless

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There'll be no square inch of earth where his peace doesn't cover Examine for instance Isaiah 2 for the

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Messiah is eventually gonna bring God's reign and his restoring peace to the world That's plagued with war

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Notice in Isaiah 11 9 and Habakkuk 2 14 that the reign of Christ is gonna usher in the glory of God So thoroughly that it blankets the entire world with the glory of God Pay close attention to verses like Isaiah 19 23 through 25

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Which looks forward to the day when the pagan nations? Yes, the very enemies of God are called by the very same title as Israel, which is my people

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Observe the glorious promise of Micah that in the Messiah's kingdom Which is during the period that we're currently living in at some point in the future all

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Persecutions against his people are gonna stop and his elect saints are gonna dwell in safety here on earth

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Micah 4 4 Notice how the Messiah's reign of peace will cover the entire world and all the people's in it

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Zechariah 9 10 These are this is just a few and this is honestly just a sketch of what the

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Messiah's reign is eventually going to accomplish again He's not gonna restore things in heaven. They're already restored

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He's gonna bring these things to earth according to Peter These acts of restoration and others like it are not going to occur after Jesus raptures his church away

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No, Peter tells us that they must happen before Jesus leaves heaven before he comes back

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These things are gonna be a consequence of his heavenly rule And I I hope that the picture is beginning to come into focus here

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The world that you are living in is going to be intentionally and deliberately restored by God He's gonna take all of the brokenness that has seeped into this world in its first 4 ,000 years of history

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And under the reign of his Messiah from heaven, he is going to bring the restoration back to this very earth

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He's gonna bring peace and he's gonna end wars. He's gonna restore the nations to the worship of God He's gonna extend his government so that no rogue

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Adam is outside of his kingdom and all of that is promised to come upon this physical world and the time period that you and I are living in and If that seems impossible for you to believe

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I can understand that because it seems like it's so far away from where the world Is but I do want you to understand that the problem is not with his promises

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And the problem is not with the clarity of Peter's sermon. The problem is with us We are the ones who are impatient with his process.

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We look around and we see all kinds of evidence of brokenness We throw our hands up in despair Incapable of imagining that God is going to eventually sort all these things out

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We know from Scripture that God is not like us His ways are higher than our ways. His plans are better than our plans.

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I could a day to the to God It's like a thousand years. So when we forget that When we forget all those truths then what we do is we tend to want things to happen in milliseconds when

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God is working things out over millenniums and Since his restoration process is far from complete.

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It may be time for us to unpack our heavenly handbags and To get focused on the work in his kingdom so that we can see his restoration come in Our small corner of the earth just as it is in heaven

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So let's get back to the question. How large will his kingdom be? well

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If all of that was not astounding enough Peter connects the great promise of the Abrahamic Covenant to the reign of Christ Again in case you missed it.

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I want you to hear this Peter is claiming that Jesus's reign in heaven

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Which corresponds to the period of time on earth that you and I are currently living in will bring about the completion of Abraham's Covenant and all of those promises.

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This is going to happen before Jesus returns. I want you to listen to what Peter says this is gonna be verses 24 through 26 and likewise

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Peter says all the prophets who have spoken from Samuel and his successors onward also

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Announced these days the days that we're living in it is you who are the sons of the prophets and of the

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Covenant which God made with your father saying to Abraham and in your seed all of the families of the earth shall be blessed for you first God raised up his servant and Sent him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways.

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He says for you first And again, this could not be more clear From all of the prophets from Samuel to the sermon that Peter is preaching here in the streets of Jerusalem He is telling us when

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Christ ascended into heaven to reign one of the results of his rule on earth through his spirit working in his church would be the fulfillment of Abraham's promise that all the families on the earth are going to be blessed by his seed

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And if you're not familiar with what that means Galatians 316 tells us that the seed of Abraham is

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Christ which tells us That the whole world is going to be blessed by Christ every family on earth and since these things pertain to the time of his heavenly rule and corresponds to the earthly reign of the church

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We can be sure that he will not return until all the families on earth have been brought under his covenant blessing

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Now that doesn't mean that every member of every family is gonna be saved Just like every plant in the wheat field is not gonna make it into the barn

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There's some wheat and there's some tares and Jesus himself is gonna separate them out But it does mean that there's no family on earth.

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That's gonna be left Without the blessing without the blessing of Christ That means there's no hidden tribesmen or isolated

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Aborigine who is gonna come it was not gonna come under the canopy of his blessing No one this at least not no family is gonna be left outside of it

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All the families on earth will come under his blessing, which means his kingdom expansion will be total

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Global and cosmic Now that means when you are tempted Brothers and sisters to doom and gloom or or to get discouraged about the state of the world

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Do not pray that the Lord would rapture you out of here The Lord didn't die and ascend to heaven to rule on his throne to rescue you out of the world.

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No John 17 15 says that he prayed that that he that we wouldn't be removed from the world

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He did these things he kept you here Because he has a plan for you to fully restore the world by the

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Spirit's work through you so today When you look around and you see brokenness in the world attempt to fix it

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If you see sickness in the world pray and labor to heal it when you see corruption expose it

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When you see violence and devastation work to bring it to an end Christ put his church here so that through his

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Holy Spirit we can bring about the restoration promised by the Holy Prophets This means that we must preach the gospel so that more men and women will become saved which is absolutely true

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We must do that. We must teach men and women who the king is and how to enter into his kingdom, but we also

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Must teach them how to live like Christians and obey everything Jesus commands that that's discipleship

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Matthew 28 and 18 through 20 And when we do that when we evangelize and when we disciple

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We raise up godly families men women and children When we do that work we begin

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To see his restoration program come we begin to notice that it's coming

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Now we know that it already is coming and that it has been coming for the last 2 ,000 years make no mistake about that But it's gonna continue to come

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The Lord is gonna usher it in through his church So with that Stop wishing that God would escape you from the world.

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Stop staring at the clouds and daydreaming about heaven God's gonna get you to heaven in his time and in his way instead

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Start supporting the King's mission here on earth right now Loving obedience to his command is the work that he's called you to while you wait

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So until next time brothers and sisters be blessed and get to work Thank you so much for listening to another episode of the broadcast

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We are enjoying a time of growth on this show right now having just had our very best month to date

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Until next time may God richly bless you and we will see you again next week on the broadcast