In Your Bible Read This
1 Corinthians 15
Here Is Your Memory Verse
And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change
and become like little
children, you will never enter the
kingdom of heaven. Matthew 18.3
Afterwards Talk About
This
Is Jesus really the King over your personal life, marriage,
family, workplace
and church. Where are you not obedient to his commands?
In those areas we can repent and change with Gods help.
Something To Do Before
Next Time
Go for a walk near the main institutions of your district.
The government
office, the police, the army, the orphanage, the schools. Pray
over them
that Gods kingdom would break in and the plots of darkness
be defeated.
Written Diploma Work
What did you think the kingdom of God was all about?
How would you describe it now in one page of writing?
Meditate Word By Word On
This Verse
Matthew 6.33
- Spend
a Minute to Change the World
- Pray for Brunei - Only
300,000 Malays and Chinese
- Incredibly wealthy
from oil, 71% Muslim, 8% Christian
- No evangelism of
Muslims permitted
-
Be sure to
teach this lesson to others.
-
Always pray
and prepare well adding
-
your own verses and stories to
bring it to life.
1. What Is The Kingdom?
Is it an inward power which
enters the human soul? Adolf von Harnack.
Is it uniquely in the person of
Jesus when he entered time? C H Dodd.
Is it an apocalyptic realm to be inaug-urated
by an act of God when history is broken off and a new
heavenly order begins. Altogether future and supernatural?
Albert Schweitzer.
Can we can stretch out our hands and
grab great handfuls of it and drag kingdom life, spirit,
truth and principles into our personal morality, our
relationships, finances, business life, ministry and travels.
The Kingdom of God is at hand? Roger Forster.
Or is the kingdom not primarily concer-ned
with individual salvation or with the future but with the social
problems of the present? (Popular liberal view)
Or is the kingdom only identified with
the true Church, which as it grows, the kingdom
extends by mission to slowly win the entire world to Christ
and thus transform the world order into the Kingdom of God?
Augustine.
Can it be that the Kingdom and the
Church are not the same thing, but church is Kingdom
community. The Kingdom is the reign of God, which is
far greater? John Wimber.
2. Which Is The Real
Kingdom Of God?
Let us go back to the Bible and see what it
says about the kingdom:
- A present spiritual reality,
Rom. 14.17
- A future inheritance which God
will bestow when Jesus returns in glory. Matthew 25.34.
- We are already in it now! Col.
1.13, Luke 16.16
- A later realm we enter when
Jesus returns. 2 Peter 1.11, Matt. 8.11, 13.41
- The Bible says that the kingdom is in
you so it must be here. Luke 17,20-21
- Jesus said that his kingdom is not
of this world at all! John 18.36
Are you clear now?
No, well do not be surprised. Why so many opinions? Surely
there is only one kingdom?
"There is such a lot in the Bible
about the kingdom and that explains the many interpretations
with verses for all. The kingdom is a present reality, and a
future blessing. It is an inner spiritual blessing which
comes by new birth and yet it has to do with government of
the nations. It is a realm that men enter now, and also a
gift of God which he will bestow in the future, yet which
must be received in the present. Obviously there is no simple
explanation! "
Abbreviated from G. Ladd, Gospel of The
Kingdom
Matt. 12.28; 1 Cor 15.50; Romans 14.17;
John 3.3; Rev.11.15;
Matt. 21.31; Luke 12.32; Mark 10.15.
3. The Key That Unlocks
The Kingdom
What does kingdom mean? In modern language
it means a geographical state with a monarch and people who are
ruled. The bible word for kingdom is basilea which means royal
power, kingship, dominion, rule, not an actual kingdom but the
right or authority to rule over a kingdom; the royal power of
Jesus. In ancient languages this is exactly what kingdom meant.
When God judged Belshazzar, it was his kingdom rule not
Babylon that was terminated, Daniel 5.26. In the parable of Luke
19.11 the nobleman went to receive his basilea or right to
rule.
4. Your Kingdom Come
Jesus said we must pray for his kingdom to
come, and we must seek it first as little children. Matthew 6.33;
6.10; 18.3.
But What Are We Asking For?
Is it more church? Or heaven on earth, solutions to human
disorder, or power to colonise the world for Christ ? We are
asking for Jesus, the King, to reign in me and in all of us.
We are asking for the doing of his will, the increase of his
rule, his lordship or kingship. When our prayer for his
kingdom to come is answered then heaven enters into our lives,
families, churches and cultures.
"You can tell when the kingdom is
present in a situation when you see harmony in it, when
people are right with God and with one another. When you dont
see harmony, its a clear sign that Gods rule has
been thwarted and something must be done about it." From
John Wimber.
5. So, Where Is The
Kingdom?
" The kingdom of God is full of people
hungering thirsting and seeking; knocking on the doors of heaven
and hoping to empty it of its truth, power and integrity until we
have heaven on earth. Of course there are many things that are already
and some that are clearly not yet. The kingdom
of God does not consist of dragging our past around with us, it
consists of dragging Gods future into the present."
From Gerald Coates, Kingdom Now.
"The kingdom of God is present
in every nation where people own Jesus as King. It is
essentially spiritual with tangible, visible manifestations
of love from another world. The kingdom of God is also
future, when Jesus delivers the kingdom to God and puts
an end to all enemy rule, power and death, and one day brings
in a new heaven and new earth. 1 Cor 15.24-26. Until then
we live in a world where many enemies of God and his people
are still present. Satan is called the god of this age, the
prince of the power of the air and has the whole world under
his sway. And that written after the Cross! Before the Cross
Satans control almost total, he could offer the world
to Jesus. But the world is about to hear some good news
because the kingdom of God is near and a liberating army is
at the doorstep of humanity."
From C Peter Wagner, Spreading the Fire
2 Cor 4.4; 1 John 5.19; Eph. 2.2; Luke 4.6.
Taken from the
Joshua Project Unreached Peoples List
these people have no church and as yet
no cell, church or mission has committed themselves
to prayer, adoption or church planting among this people.
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