The Unconverted “Believer” (10): The Gospel of the Kingdom

First Baptist Church Leominster

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For us the New Testament reading and today is Acts 13 and this is really the onset of the

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Gentile mission. The gospel has gone out to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and then we read about how

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God called certain ones namely the Apostle Paul, Barnabas, and now this

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Gentile mission is going to be begun there at the Church of Antioch, Syria.

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The Holy Spirit is the one who spoke to the church, called forth these men, and blessed them in this first missionary journey.

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Acts 13. Acts 13.

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Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers. Barnabas, Simeon who was called

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Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manan a lifelong friend of Herod the Tetrarch, and Saul.

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While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting the Holy Spirit said set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which

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I have called them. Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.

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So being sent out by the Holy Spirit they went down to Seleucia and from there they sailed to Cyprus.

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When they arrived at Salamis they proclaimed the Word of God in the synagogue of the

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Jews and they had John to assist them. When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos they came upon a certain magician, a

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Jewish false prophet named Bar Jesus. He was with the pro -council, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence who summoned

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Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the Word of God. But Elymas, the magician, for that is the meaning of his name, opposed them seeking to turn the pro -council away from the faith.

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But Saul who is also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the

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Lord? And now behold the hand of the Lord is upon you and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time.

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Immediately mist and darkness fell upon him and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand.

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Then the pro -council believed when he saw what had occurred for he was astonished at the teaching of the

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Lord. Now Paulus and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga and Pamphonia and John left them and returned to Jerusalem.

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But they went on from Perga and came to Antioch and Pisidia and on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down.

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After the reading from the law and the prophets the ruler of the synagogue sent a message to them saying brothers if you have any word of encouragement for the people say it.

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So Paul stood up and motioning with his hands said men of Israel and you who fear

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God listen the God of this people Israel chose our fathers and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt and with uplifted arm he led them out of it.

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And for about 40 years he put up with them in the wilderness and after destroying seven nations in the land of Canaan he gave them their land as an inheritance.

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All this took about 450 years and after that he gave them judges until Samuel the prophet.

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Then they asked for a king and God gave them Saul the son of Kish a man of the tribe of Benjamin for 40 years and when he had removed him he raised up David to be their king of whom he testified and said

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I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my own heart who will do all my will.

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Of this man's offspring God has brought to Israel a Savior Jesus as he promised.

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Before his coming John had proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel and as John was finishing his course he said what do you suppose that I am?

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I am not he no but behold after me one is coming the sandals of whose feet

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I am not worthy to untie. Brothers sons of the family of Abraham and those among you who fear

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God to us has been sent the message of this salvation for those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets which are read every

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Sabbath fulfilled them by condemning him and though they found in him no guilt worthy of death they asked

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Pilate to have him executed and when they had carried out all that was written of him they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb but God raised him from the dead and for many days he appeared to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem who are now his witnesses to the people and we bring you the good news that what

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God promised to the fathers this he has fulfilled to their to us their children by raising

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Jesus as also it is written in the second Psalm you are my son today

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I have begotten you and as for the fact that he raised him from the dead no more to return to corruption he has spoken in this way

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I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David therefore he says also in another

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Psalm you will not let your holy one see corruption for David after he had served the purposes of the

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Lord in his own generation fell asleep and was laid with his fathers and saw corruption but he whom

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God raised up did not see corruption let it be known to you therefore brothers that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses beware therefore lest what is said in the prophets should come about look you scoffers be astounded and perish for I am doing a work in your days a work that you will not believe even if one tells it to you as they went out the people begged that these things might be told them the next

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Sabbath and after the meeting of the synagogue broke up many Jews and devout converts and devout converts to Judaism followed

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Paul and Barnabas who as they spoke with them urged them to continue in the grace of God the next

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Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord but when the Jews saw the crowds they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul reviling him and Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly saying it was necessary that the

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Word of God be spoken first to you since you thrusted aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life behold we are turning to the

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Gentiles for so the Lord has commanded us saying I have made you a light for the

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Gentiles that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth and when the Gentiles heard this they began rejoicing and glorifying the

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Word of the Lord and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed and the

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Word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region but the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and drove them out of their district but they shook off the dust from their feet against them and went to Iconium and the disciples were filled with joy and with the

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Holy Spirit let's pray our

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Father we rejoice in this passage we rejoice in the message of the gospel that Jesus Christ died to save sinners

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Lord this is a tremendous message and it is one that we have been commissioned to proclaim and Lord we pray that we would understand this message we pray that we would live out this message in our lives and that the world would know that we are your disciples by our love by our works and by our words

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Lord help us to be like these men help us to be bold in our proclamation of your truth give us wisdom

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Lord and how we might come alongside those and share this truth with them Lord we pray that we would never forget who we are that we are your children that we are your ambassadors and that we have been given the ministry of reconciliation so Lord we thank you for this and as we continue to worship you through the sermon we pray

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Lord that we would be mindful of what the Word of God states help us to line up under it as we submit to the

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Spirit we love you Lord and we thank you for this morning thank you for Christ thank you for his death thank you for his resurrection and thank you for the

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Word of God in Jesus name Amen. If you have your

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Bibles you might open to Acts chapter 2 we'll be reading the passage here a few minutes.

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For some time we've been addressing this important subject of nominal

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Christianity sadly there are many professing

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Christians who believe themselves to be true Christians but who will be made aware by the

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Lord Jesus on the day of judgment that he never knew them that they had never been cleansed from their sin and then the

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Lord will consign them to everlasting punishment consign them to hell a fearful prospect but a certain declaration of the

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Lord Jesus although they thought they had salvation they will die in their sins and the fact that there will be many of them on that day is very disconcerting and that there can be so many self -deceived persons is very disturbing we pray that the

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Lord would use our church's ministry through this series to rescue some that would otherwise meet this end we desire true salvation to be experienced by every one of us one major cause of self -deception is that many have been taught a measure of gospel truth but what they've been taught comes up short of the full gospel that brings salvation to the believer these people have embraced a gospel that in ways approaches what is the true gospel but it falls short of what the scriptures teach regarding the way of salvation there is truth in what they've been taught but not the whole truth that is necessary to understand and embrace in order to become the beneficiary of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ and so we might identify the nature of this aberrant or abridged gospel by asserting its common appeal something that's probably familiar to all of us these ones have been told if you simply accept

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Jesus Christ as your Savior believing in your heart that he is

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God incarnate who died for sinners on his cross and rose again the third day you will become saved and that is the heart of the gospel so called that's being proclaimed and then of course it's thought to be a one -time decision that forever settles the matter is viewed somewhat like a spiritual vaccine taken once and the threat that sin poses to the soul is addressed and forever mitigated this is such a common message that we might at first consider it to be true and adequate we would say that it is true and what it says but that it is inadequate for it does not convey the full content of the gospel of salvation people are quite willing to embrace this message and accept

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Jesus or receive him believing that they will be saved and in my early days of ministry started back in 1974

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I personally led literally thousands of people to make very sincere commitments offering very sincere prayers for their salvation to accept

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Jesus as their Savior but it became apparent to me took a while before I figured it out but scarcely one in a hundred of these converts demonstrated afterwards that they had new life in Christ it took a few years but the

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Lord taught me that a deficient message was producing deficient Christians who were so in name only what then is deficient or what is missing in this aberrant message of salvation well several points may be identified but perhaps the major deficiency is the failure to call upon sinners to understand believe and submit to Jesus Christ as divinely appointed and enthroned

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King of Kings and Lord of Lords without which no one will inherit salvation in other words the biblical gospel is the gospel of the kingdom of God that was inaugurated through the life death resurrection and enthronement of Jesus Christ Jesus is

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Lord and that's the gospel really reduced to its simplest terminology

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Jesus is Lord simply to claim I have accepted Jesus as my personal

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Savior really says nothing respecting this essential truth of the gospel message of salvation that Jesus is

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Lord now we can multiply the verses and whole passages of scripture that speak to this important matter and will attempt to provide some of these today but to begin our study let's consider the sermon proclaimed by the

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Apostle Peter on the day of Pentecost which occurred 50 days after our

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Lord had been crucified and so we have Peter's sermon on Pentecost as recorded in Acts chapter 2 and we're just going to zero in there are a number of verses here but we didn't have time really to read it in its entirety here's a portion of Peter's sermon delivered in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost on this day the risen and enthroned

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Lord Jesus poured out the gift of the Holy Spirit upon his church God used this message that Peter proclaimed to bring about the conversion of about 3 ,000 souls on this one occasion and so Peter declared these words men of Israel hear these words

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Jesus of Nazareth a man attested by God to you by miracles wonders and signs which

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God did through him in your midst as you yourselves also know him being delivered by the determined purpose for knowledge of God you have taken by lawless hands have crucified put to death whom

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God raised up having loosed the pains of death because it's not possible that he should be held by it for David says concerning him

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I foresaw the Lord always before my face for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken therefore my heart rejoiced and my tongue was glad more over my flesh also will rest in hope for you will not leave my soul in Hades nor will you allow your

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Holy One to see corruption you made known to me the ways of life you will make me full of joy in your presence men and brethren said

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Peter let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David that he's both dead and buried in his tomb is with us to this day therefore being a prophet and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body according to the flesh he would raise up the

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Christ to sit on his throne he foreseen this spoke concerning the resurrection of Christ that his soul was not left in Hades or Sheol nor did his flesh see corruption this

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Jesus God has raised up of which we are all witnesses and therefore being exalted to the right hand of God and having received from the

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Father the promise of the Holy Spirit he poured out this which you now see and hear for David did not ascend into heaven but he says himself the

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Lord said to my Lord sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool and therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this

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Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ and when they heard this they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the

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Apostles men and brethren what shall we do and Peter said to them repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the

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Holy Spirit for the promises to you and to your children and to all who are far off as many as the

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Lord our God will call and so on the day of Pentecost the

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Holy Spirit was poured out upon a hundred and twenty disciples of Jesus Christ an event which was visibly and audibly manifested to many people in Jerusalem and so when a crowd gathered upon hearing the noise commotion attempts to explain what was happening were proposed and that's when

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Peter filled with the Holy Spirit step forward and gave the divine explanation of what was occurring

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Peter declared that this event of the pouring out of the Holy Spirit was proof that Jesus Christ the son of David although rejected and crucified by his people had risen from the dead

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God had brought him forth from the tomb and had exalted him to his throne

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God's throne in heaven and Peter showed that this was in fulfillment of David's prophecy of Psalm 16 which we read earlier

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David was a prophet through whom God foretold the suffering and death of David's greater son but who would be raised from the dead to reign as the promised

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Messiah of Israel the son of David would sit upon the throne of God that's at the right hand of the father say as a son would reign as his dad the king was still living he would reign on behalf of his father in ancient

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Israel so Jesus the Son of God is at the right hand of the father reigning on behalf of his father in heaven even now

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Peter reasoned that David could not have been speaking about himself or he had died and his tomb was still present from heaven

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Jesus Christ was reigning as Lord over heaven and earth and giving of the

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Holy Spirit to his people was proof of this reality and so Peter declared quoting another prophecy from Psalm 110 which is another

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Psalm of David for David did not ascend into heavens but he says himself the

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Lord David's referring to God the Father the Lord said to my Lord here he's referring to Jesus his descendant

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David calling Jesus his Lord the Lord said to my Lord sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool and then

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Peters concluding declaration was both a claim and a charge therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this

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Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ so God had exalted his son who is also the son of David to be both

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Lord and Christ the word Lord speaks of his sovereign authority and power that God the

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Father conferred upon Jesus in another place Jesus said all authority is given to me in heaven and earth all authority and that's suggested by the word

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Lord that God made Jesus Christ in other words the anointed one is the declaration that Jesus Christ is the promised

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King or Messiah of Israel who has begun his reign over the kingdom of God and here's the footnote in the

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Reformation study Bible on verse 36 in this climactic statement

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Peter declares not only that Jesus is God's Messiah he's the Christ but also that he is the exalted

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Lord and the conquering King he conquered death he rose again well it's at this time the people hearing

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Peter spoke up clearly having been convicted in their minds and hearts of their sinful rebellion and their rejection of their

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Messiah and so we read in verse 37 now when they heard this they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the

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Apostles men and brethren what shall we do they desired to know what they needed to do in order to obtain salvation for the

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Holy Spirit had convicted them and convinced them that they were under the wrath of God for having convicted and crucified the promised

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Messiah the son of David and so Peter's response to them is the way of salvation

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Peter said to them repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the

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Holy Spirit for the promise is to you and to your children and to all who are far off as many as the

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Lord our God will call take note what Peter did not tell them simply accept

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Jesus as your personal Savior or receive him and you will be saved they needed to repent that is to turn from the way they had been thinking and living and they were to turn from their sin and submit to the

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Lordship of Jesus Christ the Father made him Lord and Christ and they were to begin to order their lives with Jesus as their

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Lord Jesus as their King showing forth their repentance and faith through their baptism and the new way of life that their baptism signified if they did so then they could be assured of God forgiving them of their sins and the

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King Jesus would also give them the Holy Spirit who would enable them to live within his kingdom and so the promise of God was not restricted to those who heard

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Peter on that day only but it was extended to everyone everywhere who similarly respond in repentance and faith and that's how we came to salvation too and so here is the truth that needs to be proclaimed far and wide and in every church if Jesus Christ is not your

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Lord he is not your Savior unless you are submitted to Jesus the

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King over the kingdom of God you are no citizen of the kingdom of God you will not inherit the kingdom of the

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Father that he has promised to all who submit to his son as their Lord as their King and so what is the gospel well what is it we are to proclaim and teach to our world yes it's a good news of salvation from sin through faith in Jesus Christ secured for us through his life his death and his resurrection but the gospel of salvation is set forth frequently and perhaps even chiefly in terms of the arrival of the kingdom of God promised and prophesied through the

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Old Testament scriptures and realized through Jesus Christ who is presently Lord of Lords and King of Kings the gospel in the

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New Testament is the good news that the promised kingdom of God has been inaugurated through the life death and resurrection of Jesus Christ well let's consider this message of the gospel of the kingdom in the

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New Testament I wish we had time if we had an extra hour we can talk about the kingdom of God in the

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Old Testament we had to pass by it all let's talk about the gospel of the kingdom set forth in the

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New Testament when we consider the opening of the New Testament we read of the initial announcement that the days of expectation had arrived the kingdom of God was at hand for example we read in the birth narrative of Jesus in Luke 1 the angel

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Gabriel appeared to Mary announcing the birth of the king but when she saw him

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Gabriel she was troubled at his saying consider what manner of greeting this was then the angel said to her do not be afraid

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Mary for you have found favor with God and behold you will conceive in your womb bring forth a son shall call his name

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Jesus he will be great will be called the son of the highest and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father

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David and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom there will be no end later in Luke 1 is the record of the prophecy of Zechariah the father of John the

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Baptist the precursor the preparer of the way for Jesus and so inspired by the

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Holy Spirit Zechariah foretold the kingdom that would soon be inaugurated by the son of David it would be the kingdom of God in which its citizens enjoy the forgiveness of sins the blessing promised to Abraham and even of their liberty to serve

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God without fear and in holiness and so John the Baptist father

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Zechariah is filled with the Holy Spirit prophesied saying blessed be the Lord God of Israel he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant

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David as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets who have since the world began that we should be safe from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us to perform the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant the oath which he swore to our father

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Abraham to grant us that we being delivered from the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life that's kingdom language here we read the promised son of David is

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God's instrument in other words horn of salvation who will reign over a kingdom in which his citizens will live in righteousness salvation is entering and living in this kingdom over which the son of David reigns we could look at the opening of the gospel of Mark and we read the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the

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Son of God Mark then quoted from Isaiah 40 a prophecy of the messenger who would precede the promised

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Messiah who would establish the kingdom of God behold I send my messenger before your face who will prepare your way before you he's preparing the way of the

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King the voice of one crying in the wilderness that's a prophecy of John the Baptist prepare the way of the

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Lord make his path straight and so Mark here ties the gospel of Jesus Christ with the realization of the long -anticipated kingdom of God at the onset of the ministry of John the

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Baptist we read in Matthew 3 that John quoted this same passage of Isaiah announcing the need to prepare for the onset of the kingdom of God in those days

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John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness say repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand for this is he who was spoken up by the prophet

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Isaiah saying the voice of one crying in the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord make his best straight and then if we go back to Mark chapter 1 again farther along in the chapter we read of the beginning of the ministry of our

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Lord Jesus identifying his central message what did Jesus proclaim well we read now after John was put in prison

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Jesus came to Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God saying the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand repent and believe in the gospel and so here the gospel is defined as the gospel of the kingdom this was a message that our

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Lord proclaimed throughout his Galilean ministry we read in Matthew 4 23 the beginning of his

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Galilean ministry Jesus went about all Galilee teaching in their synagogues preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people the main theme of our

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Lord's Sermon on the Mount was the kingdom of God with particular emphasis on the ethics of the kingdom the word kingdom is mentioned nine times in the three chapters of the

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Sermon on the Mount Matthew 5 6 & 7 the entire sermon could be understood as delineating the meaning of our

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Lord's words seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and then in Matthew 8 after the

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Sermon on the Mount our Lord promised that many Gentiles would be seated along with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of God and then in Matthew 9 we have a summary of our

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Lord's preaching ministry which is almost identical to the description of his ministry at the beginning then

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Jesus went about all the cities and villages teaching in their synagogues preaching the gospel of the kingdom healing every sickness and every disease among the people and then our

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Lord declared in Matthew 12 that the kingdom of God had been realized if I cast out demons by the

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Spirit of God surely the kingdom of God has come upon you all of the parables found in Matthew 13 address the nature of the kingdom of God in contrast to the expectation of Jewish people who envisioned the promised son of David to reign over a political kingdom with physical borders

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Jesus indicated that the promised kingdom was of a much different nature it was spiritual in nature it would eventually encompass the entire world but there would be unconverted people under the authority of this king and his kingdom even tares among wheat unconverted people intermixed with the citizens of this kingdom but the day would come

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Jesus declared that the king would judge the world and separate the wicked from the just the righteous and then our

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Lord continued to teach regarding the kingdom of God during his final journey to Jerusalem from Galilee this travel narrative is emphasized in Luke's gospel in particular from Luke chapter 9 all the way to chapter 19 and Jesus taught of the present realization of the kingdom the kingdom has manifested upon his ascension from the dead to the present age but also its full and final future manifestation it is second coming the

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Lord Jesus taught that experience his salvation was entering his kingdom they're the same thing

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Jesus said assuredly I say to you whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it eternal life is one of the benefits of possessing the kingdom we read so he said to them assuredly

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I say to you there's no one who's left house or parents or brothers or wife or children for the sake of the kingdom of God who shall not receive many times more in this present time and in the age to come eternal life while giving us all of a discourse in Matthew 24

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Luke 21 Mark 13 he declared this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nation

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Gentiles and then the end will come they were to be preached in the gospel of the kingdom for where the gospel the kingdom had been proclaimed in all the world then the end would come on Palm Sunday when our

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Lord Jesus entered Jerusalem it was the arrival of the Davidic King to Jerusalem Matthew wrote these inspired words all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets aid tell the daughter of Zion behold your king is coming to you lowly sitting on a donkey a colt the foal of a donkey this was a fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah 62 11 the multitude in Jerusalem knew this and acknowledged it was so all anticipated the appearance of the kingdom of God and we read then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried cried saying

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Hosanna to the son of David that's a welcoming of the king blessed is he who comes in the name of the

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Lord Hosanna in the highest and then while Jesus was in Jerusalem during his passion week our

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Lord continued to teach about the kingdom of God he declared that though he was a capstone rejected by the builders the

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Jewish leaders alluding to his crucifixion he would nevertheless be made the capstone that is the ruler or the king over the kingdom of God this was the

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Lord's doing he declared and at the same time he declared that the Jewish leadership of Israel would not serve as leaders in his kingdom rather the kingdom of God would be taken from them as Jesus declared therefore

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I say to you the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bury the fruits of it he was referring to giving the authority of the kingdom to his apostles to become the new leaders of reconstituted

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Israel in Luke's gospel we read of Jesus telling his apostles but you are those who have continued with me in my trials

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I bestow upon you a kingdom just as my father bestowed upon me that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel and so our

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Lord took the stewardship of Israel from the Jewish leaders and entrusted the leadership the oversight to his twelve apostles over the twelve tribes of Israel the apostles are leaders in spiritual

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Israel today in that their witness is contained in our New Testament it governs our faith and life within the kingdom of God and even at the last when our

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Lord was crucified what was it that the one thief asked him remember me when you come into your kingdom and thus we see that through the

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Gospels the kingdom of God is a major theme it is central to our Lord's teaching it's associated with even identified with the gospel the gospel of Jesus Christ is the gospel of the kingdom of God and biblical scholars have recognized and acknowledged this reality

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George Eldon Ladd expressed it in his classic biblical theology a theology the

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New Testament modern scholarship is quite unanimous in the opinion that the kingdom of God was the central message of Jesus well we read even after our

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Lord's resurrection from the dead he continued to teach about the kingdom of God to his apostles he said to them

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Oh foolish ones and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken ought not the

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Christ who have suffered these things and to enter his glory enter his kingdom and beginning at Moses and all the prophets he expounded to them in all the scriptures of things concerning himself here his glory is a reference to his rule as king over the kingdom of God we see a continuity of God's plan and purpose in our

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Lord's rejection and crucifixion his rejection did not thwart or postpone his enthronement his death led to and resulted in his exaltation and enthronement and this is consistent with Psalm 2 which clearly sets this forth prophetically the kings of the earth

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Gentiles set themselves the rulers Jewish rulers take counsel together

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Pilate and Herod became friends against the Lord that God and is anointed that's

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Jesus saying let us break their bonds in pieces cast away their cords from us we will not have this man reign over us he

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God who sits in the heaven shall laugh the Lord shall have them in derision and then he shall speak to them in his wrath and distress him in his deep displeasure yet I have set my king on my holy hill of Zion the devil and the

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Jews thought when they crucified Jesus they put an end to this wrong claim that he was king of the

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Jews and God the Father says you think you're going to thwart my purpose he raised him from the dead on that third day and set him on his throne in heaven and he is

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Lord yet I set my king on my holy hill of Zion I will declare the decree this is

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Jesus prophetically speaking the Lord has said to me you are my son today I've begotten you ask of me and I will give you the nation's the

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Gentiles for your inheritance and the ends of the earth for your possession we as Christians today here so far away from Palestine our fulfillment of this promise of God the

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Father to his son and so in spite of Israel's rejection of Jesus as their promised

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King the father raised him from the dead seated him on his throne in heaven having entrusted all authority in heaven and earth unto his son

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Jesus is Lord now however clear this may seem to us as we recite these many passages of Scripture from the

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Gospels there are some evangelicals in the last century particularly the 20th century who served most who severed most of the teaching of the

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Gospels respecting the kingdom of God from the post -resurrection teaching of Jesus in the early church they did not believe that the kingdom teaching of the

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Gospels was relevant for New Testament Christians and due to their great influence on evangelicalism at the end of the 19th century and throughout the 20th century the teaching of the kingdom of God was removed from much preaching and teaching respecting the gospel of Jesus Christ they said that the

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Lord had offered the kingdom to Israel but upon Israel's rejection of its king they crucified him the message changed and the gospel that we are now to preach to the world emerged in its place they said that we are not to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom but rather were to proclaim the gospel of the grace of God as if there's a difference or distinction between the two but when we continue to examine the scriptures that record the faith and practice of the early church it can easily be demonstrated that the emphasis of the kingdom of God continued into this church era and so let's continue past the gospel now into the book of Acts we read in Acts 1 that during the 40 days of his instruction to his disciples after the resurrection

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Jesus taught them concerning the kingdom of God Luke speaks of this in his introduction to his second volume the book of Acts the former account

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Luke wrote I made O Theophilus of all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day in which he was taken up after he through the

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Holy Spirit had given commandments to the Apostles whom he had chosen to whom also he presented himself alive after his suffering by many infallible proofs being seen by them during 40 days and what did

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Jesus talk about to his Apostles during 40 days speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God and again what was the substance of Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost it was his declaration and explanation of what had transpired he declared that wicked men including

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Jews and Gentiles conspired to put Jesus to death because they would not yield to whom he claimed to be even the promised

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Messiah he was the king the son of David God demonstrated this truth as to his true identity in so many different ways but they rejected him crucifying him but God vindicated his son by raising him from the dead and enthroning him over all creation

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Jesus Christ is Lord Peter declared therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made that Jesus this

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Jesus whom you crucify both Lord and Christ Peter declared that the kingdom of God had been realized

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Jesus is enthroned well later in the book of Acts when the Lord would send forth the gospel into Samaria we read what

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Philip preached to the Samaritans therefore those who are scattered went they were under persecution scattered went everywhere preaching the word so they're preaching the word they're preaching the gospel

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Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them they were not true

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Jews they were Samaritans and the multitudes with one accord he did the thing spoken by Philip hearing and seeing the miracles which he did for unclean spirits crying with a loud voice came out of many who were possessed many who were paralyzed and lame were healed there was great joy in that city but there was a certain man named

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Simon who previously practiced sorcery in the city astonished the people of Samaria claiming that he was someone great to whom they all gave heed from the least to the greatest say this man is the great power of God and they heeded him because he had astonished them with his sorcery for a long time but when they believed

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Philip as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God that's the gospel

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Philip preached to the Samaritans the thing concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ both men and women were baptized the gospel

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Philip proclaimed to the Samaritans was the gospel of the kingdom much later we read of the

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Apostle Paul exhorting and encouraging new Christians Acts 14 when they had preached the gospel to that city made many disciples they returned to Lystra Iconium Antioch strengthening the souls of the disciples they were new

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Christians exhorting them to continue in the faith say we must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God here

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Paul is talking about the future full and final realization of the kingdom at the second coming of Christ and he set that before the believers declaring that there would be difficulty even many tribulations experienced by the people of God before entering the fullness of the kingdom of God there's a present aspect of the kingdom there's a future full revelation of the kingdom at his second coming and then much much later we read when the

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Apostle came to Ephesus and he began to evangelize a city we read of his ministry and message he went into the synagogue spoke boldly for three months reasoning persuading what concerning the things of the kingdom of God when

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Paul was on his third missionary journey returning to Jerusalem he stopped in Asia Minor in order to meet the elders at the church at Ephesus who joined him in Miletus about 20 miles south of Ephesus and we read

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Paul's words to these elders of this church you know from the first day I came to Asia in what manner

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I always lived among you serving the Lord with all humility with many tears and trials which happened to me by the plotting of the

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Jews how I kept nothing that was helpful but proclaimed it to you taught you publicly from house to house testifying to Jews and also to the

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Greeks Gentiles repentance toward God faith toward our Lord Jesus and see now

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I go bound in the spirit to Jerusalem not knowing the things that will happen to me there except that the

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Holy Spirit testifies in every city saying that chains and tribulations await me but none of these things move me nor do

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I count my life dear to myself so that I may finish my race with joy and the ministry which

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I received from the Lord Jesus what was the ministry he received from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of the grace of God and indeed now

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I know that you you all among whom I've gone preaching the kingdom of God will see my face no more and therefore

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I testify to you this day that I'm innocent from the blood of all men here Paul identified the gospel of the grace of God as being preaching the kingdom of God there one and the same and then let's look at the last few verses of the book of Acts the

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Apostle Paul is in Rome under house arrest but the Lord had brought him there and we read of the ministry that Paul had there in Rome so when they appointed him a day many came to him at his lodging to whom he explained and soundly testified the kingdom of God his last ministry in Rome before he was crucified would not read the whole passage but dropping down to verse 30 then

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Paul two whole years well two whole years in his own rented house and received all who came to him preaching the kingdom of God and teaching the things which concern the

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Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence and no one forbidding him and so we read in the book of Acts that the

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Lord Jesus has arisen and thrown King over the kingdom of God continued to be the primary emphasis of teaching respecting the gospel and its expansion into the

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Roman world the gospel is more than just won't you accept

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Jesus your personal Savior Jesus is Lord and it requires a person to repent of their sin and submit to him and begin to follow him as King as Lord and so what we've considered should cause this truth to be abundantly clear and confirmed to all of us that the gospel of Jesus Christ is vitally connected with the province kingdom of God Jesus Christ is

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Lord the Old Testament scripture show forth our fallen race was in need of a king you read the book of Judges there is no king in Israel everybody did what was right in their own eyes we need a king one who will come to rule over us to deliver us from the power and condemnation of our sin we need a king to do for us and enable us to do what

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God has commanded us Jesus Christ is that promise King he is the long -awaited son of David foretold in the prophets who inaugurated the kingdom of God in which its citizens dwell in joy peace and righteousness we enter into this kingdom through the new birth

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John chapter 3 you must be born again unless you're born again you'll not see the kingdom of God nevertheless enter it and this enables us to put our faith in Jesus Christ the

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Savior and Lord and we must underscore that saving faith is manifest in believing on Jesus as Lord submitting to his command to repent of sin and then ordering our life according to his will that's what faith is

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God is entrusted to Jesus authority over all humanity all flesh not just Christian flesh but all humanity he's gone into heaven is at the right hand of God even angels and authorities a devil himself powers having been made subject to him the father's entrusted to the

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Son of Man the authority to forgive sins as he enthroned King he gives gifts to his people principally the gift of the

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Holy Spirit whereby his people may walk in fellowship with him and with one another and progress in the holy walk unto the day when they gather to meet him for God is appointed today on which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man that whom he has ordained given assurance to this to to all by raising them from the dead and so Christ is currently

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King of Kings and Lord of Lords he declared all authorities been given to me in heaven and earth and the

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Jews rejection of Jesus did not thwart Jesus Christ becoming King their rejection of him and crucifying him was the very means and grounds on which the father raised him from the dead and gave him all kingly authority in heaven and on earth the kingdom of God was inaugurated and yet here we are today it's a sad thing that many evangelicals do not believe

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Jesus Christ is the sovereign who is ruling who is the ruling

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Lord of heaven and earth they say he is the Savior but he will not rule until the second coming

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I know of one pastor who happens to be reformed in his view of salvation incredibly he strongly espouses the doctrines of grace but he said this to me once if Jesus is

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King now he's doing a pretty lousy job well that's not only unbiblical it's it's blasphemous

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Jesus said all given me in heaven and earth and so commonly today salvation is presented in terms exclusively on how one may be forgiven by God of one sins the gospel has been reduced to a message of justification by grace through faith alone which is a biblical truth but it's not all the truth in the gospel proclamation little is said about aspects of salvation other than the forgiveness of sins as important and foundational as that blessing is most tracks gospel tracks presented some form of justification only but justification speaks to no change in a person whatsoever has to do with your status before God God declares you righteous he declares you've pardoned but that doesn't change the life just change your standing has to do with a declaration of God regarding his people but justification doesn't address other aspects of salvation particularly direct teaching touching on the kingdom of God to be saved one needs not only to be delivered from the penalty of sin but also delivered from the love of sin the power of sin and ultimately the presence of sin if we're promising the forgiveness of sins apart from being delivered from the love of tyranny of a defilement of sin were not representing the biblical gospel if we offer

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Jesus as Savior but to submit him as to be Lord as Lord is optional we've departed from the biblical gospel let's just take the last minutes we have and I want to just talk about the present -day departure of much of evangelicalism from the gospel to the kingdom and how we got here the question needs to be answered how did we get to this place and why has it not been corrected well thankfully it is being corrected in a measure as we'll point out and I would argue that one of the major reasons is the rise and immense influence of dispensational theology on evangelicalism in the latter 19th century and through the 20th century until this time all

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Christianity including Roman Catholic and all Protestant teaching taught and emphasized the realization of the kingdom of God and the resurrection exaltation of Jesus Christ everybody emphasized he's enthroned in heaven but this changed among evangelicals in the 20th century

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C .I. Schofield study Bible was published by Oxford University Press in the early 20th century first edition 1909 the second the more popular one 1917 it came upon the scene at an ideal time for its widespread use by evangelicals as Bible believers came out of the liberal mainline denominations were apostate they started their own churches denominations

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Bible Institutes mission agencies Bible colleges seminaries and the Schofield study

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Bible became the Bible believer study Bible and Schofield's dispensationalism became the predominant theology of evangelicals and I believe due to the influence of errant dispensational theology on the kingdom evangelicalism has been prevented from recovering and restoring the central message of the kingdom of God in our gospel proclamation dispensational theology has viewed the

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New Testament announcement of the kingdom of God at hand as God as having offered to the nation of Israel the glorious restoration of the

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Davidic kingdom if they accepted Jesus as their promised Messiah but they claim that this

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Davidic kingdom would be realized as a national political and geographical fulfillment of promises which were given unconditionally to the ethnic

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Jewish people although Jesus taught in every place in every way that the

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Jews had a wrong concept of the promised kingdom of God dispensational say really the Jewish people had a true understanding of the future messianic kingdom promised to Israel in the

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Old Testament they claim that in John the Baptist announcement and the announcement of Jesus of the kingdom of heaven at hand what they were really teaching was that God was offering

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Israel this earthly political millennium kingdom in other words the promised thousand -year

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Jewish millennium on which Israel would dominate the Gentile nations of the world but because Israel rejected

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Jesus as their promised King God then withdrew that offer of the kingdom dispensationalism teaches that God postponed the inauguration of the kingdom until the second coming of Jesus Christ and so this age is a parenthetical age of grace not the age of the kingdom and therefore the message of the kingdom of God was removed from the gospel throughout the 20th century

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Jesus will not be Lord and King until the second coming and actually the very early dispensational teachers taught there was a difference between the expression kingdom of heaven and kingdom of God kingdom of heaven used in Matthew's gospel principally because Jesus was rejected as king he would not be the king over the kingdom of heaven until his second coming they've taught that Jesus is our prophet and priest in the current age but he's not

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King now the older dispensationalist taught that like Schofield, J .N.

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Darby, Louis Barry Schaeffer, John Walvoord, Charles Ryrie they taught this

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Jesus is not King currently because he was rejected by the Jews the gospel of the kingdom will once again however be proclaimed after they say a future rapture of the church before the tribulation but once the seven -year tribulation starts the gospel of the kingdom will again be preached just like John the

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Baptist and Jesus did in his early ministry well the conclusion and result of this theology was the setting aside of the message of the kingdom for it was not the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world in this age the gospel of the kingdom is a different message than the gospel of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ and the result was that due to dispensational teaching declaring that Jesus is

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Lord is not the message of the gospel of this current church age for example here's a note from one dispensational study

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Bible this happens to be Ryrie study Bible by the way regarding the message of John the

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Baptist who declared repent the kingdom of heaven as it had this is the rule of kingdom over the earth to the

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Millennium the Jewish people of Christ day were looking for this messianic or kingdom to be established on this earth and this is what

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John declared was near the requirement that people must repent in order for the kingdom to be established was new and became a stumbling block to them the rejection of Christ by the people delayed its establishment until the second coming of Christ dispensationalism teaches that the gospel of the kingdom is different in content than the gospel the church is to proclaim but again they claim that the gospel of the kingdom will again be proclaimed in a future tribulation period to tribulation

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Saints after the church is removed from the world here is their interpretation of Matthew 24 14 which our

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Lord Jesus said and this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations and then the end will come and here is their interpretation this is the good news that will be preached during the tribulation concerning the coming of the

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Messiah and the setting of his kingdom so that's not a direction to preach the gospel throughout all the world it's not even proclaimed in this church age but it will be one day after the church is removed the point that we're asserting is dispensational theology has contributed greatly to this truncated gospel being proclaimed one that's largely silent respecting the doctrine of the kingdom of God the classical dispensational view teaches that our

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Lord failed to inaugurate the kingdom of God because he was rejected by the Jews it's taught that he will be successful when he returns a second time when he then will establish the kingdom that he failed to do when he first came and to me this is near blasphemy in my thinking

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Jesus you failed sit here my right hand in 2 ,000 years I'll give you another shot at it see if you do better the second time in establishing your kingdom that's the bottom line that's what's being declared and that's not that's not biblical now it's true and we can thank

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God for this by the way in the 1980s progressive dispensationalist distinguished themselves and differed they corrected some of the excesses and extremes of the early classical dispensationalist thankfully progressive dispensationalist emphasized lordship salvation he is

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King now including the realization of a present kingdom of Jesus Christ is a reigning

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King one of my dearest friends this was back in the 80s sat me down thoroughgoing dispensationalist

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Lars I'm leaving your church please recognize Jesus is prophet and priest now but he is not

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King Satan controls this world Jesus doesn't control this world and if you don't understand this and believe this

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I've got to leave the church because Jesus was not ruling not reigning that's classical dispensational thinking progressive dispensationalist recognize that error and corrected it namely

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John MacArthur and so they too however believe that a different kingdom will be established at the second coming but they do advocate a present kingdom of God and God bless them for that Jesus is

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Lord he is King and they proclaim that nevertheless the progressive dispensationalist continue to promote the doctrine that there are two separate promised kingdoms one ruled over by Jesus Christ presently but another the

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Davidic kingdom to be ushered in and ruled over by Jesus Christ after a second coming and again we would argue from Acts chapter 2 that's not what

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Peter declared he said David's son is ruling now over the kingdom promised for example here's the note from a study

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Bible a man whom I love dearly appreciate the house of David ended in shame and for nearly 2 ,600 years since Israel had no king of David's line when

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Messiah came they rejected him and preferred Caesar Messiah still became their Savior and will return as their king

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God will someday rule over Israel in a glorious kingdom of the Messiah as though the kingdom of Messiah hadn't yet begun and here's a note on Micah 7 verse 20 in spite of Israel's unfaithfulness to God the

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Lord intends to fulfill his unconditional promises in the Abrahamic covenant made with Abraham confirmed with Isaac and Jacob when enacted in conjunction with the

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Davidic covenant Israel will again be restored as a people in a nation to the land originally promised to Abraham Jesus Christ the ultimate descendant of David will rule from Jerusalem over the world as king of kings and Lord of Lords they still hold the two different kingdoms and here's one more quotation based on Zechariah 9 9

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Old Testament prophets didn't see the great time period between these two comings the

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Old Testament prophets did not see this church age is what they're what they're declaring the church age was a mystery hidden from them no the mystery that Paul talked about was that Jew and Gentile believers would there would be no distinction any longer between them that was the mystery that was never revealed but the church age is everywhere proclaimed in the

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Old Testament and they say it's never proclaimed in the Old Testament so progressive dispensationalist as the classical dispensationalist the preceded them continue to view all of the

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Old Testament promises of the kingdom coming kingdom not to be prophecies of our Lord's present reign as sovereign

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Lord of Lords and King of Kings they believe all the Old Testament prophets foretell of a future earthly kingdom when

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Jesus Christ at his second coming will then be coordinated as king and so when they come to the

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New Testament scriptures they must force their comments to conform to their assumptions regarding the

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Old Testament teaching the result is a diminishment of the importance and stripping of the content of the nature and the role of the realized kingdom of God from the gospel of Jesus Christ you don't have to submit to Jesus says

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Lord just accept him as your Savior and you have salvation that's not the scriptures teach

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Jesus Christ is Lord you're not I'm not and we have to acknowledge that and repent of it when you become a

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Christian you say I am NOT the Lord Jesus is and it's my responsibility and it's my desire to believe on him and do his will and submit to him and he will guide me he'll help me he'll give me the

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Holy Spirit to enable me that's what I want to do he's put that in my heart to do so this is the life in the kingdom of God joy and peace and righteousness and so in conclusion we affirm that at the heart of the

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New Testament is this message Jesus Christ is Lord the promise whosoever and that's whosoever through life calls upon the name of the

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Lord will be saved to be saved from damnation on the day of judgment only kingdom citizens will be granted an inheritance in the kingdom of the

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Father who promised it to them to them only will the King say come you blessed of my father inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world

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Jesus Christ is Lord and that was declared and it came into history it came into being with the resurrection of Jesus Christ's ascension and enthronement and this is the message of Christianity Jesus Christ is

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Lord of Lords and King of Kings and their salvation and no other so we must turn from our sin and believe on him submit to him that's what faith does we believe what

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God says about him and who he is and that he's a gracious God who will forgive us if we acknowledge our failure and refusal in the past and we submit to him as Lord he's carved out this kingdom out of the fallen world and he's promised everlasting life for all kingdom citizens and we may rejoice in this reality in this confidence amen let's pray father help us to understand these things better and more clearly we recognize our

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God that there are many sincere and wonderful servants of Christ that we struggle through this

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I confess myself our God two years struggling with these matters but help us our

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God to affirm very strongly and directly the message of the

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New Testament Jesus Christ is Lord the kingdom of God was established by King Jesus through his death burial resurrection and his ascension enthronement in heaven we thank you our

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God that Jesus Christ is in control of history he's saving his people even as he's bringing his enemies ultimately to their place of damnation on the day of judgment help us our

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God in this time you've given us to proclaim the way of salvation to lost people everywhere help us to have concern and compassion for them