The Kingdom of God- 6

Subtitle:  Serving a Crucified King

1 Corinthians 1:18-31.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Resurrection Sunday, April 20, 2025.

We have been talking about the Kingdom of God.  It is important to see the events of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus as foundational to all that we believe as Christians, but particularly about the Kingdom of God.

There would be no Kingdom without the appearance of King Messiah.  Yet, when he comes, his foundational act to set up his kingdom is dying and rising again.  This would have been very perplexing to a Jew of the first century.  This strange kingdom that is now, but not yet fully, was always God’s plan A.  It is not a plan B.  God is trying to teach us something through the way that Messiah Jesus fulfills the Kingdom of God.

Therefore, we are citizens of a kingdom created by a crucified Lord.  It is not easy serving a crucified king because you are misjudged, maligned, and rejected by a world that is not looking for a crucified savior.

If you are going to serve Jesus, then you will have to swallow your pride, let go of the accolades of this world, and pick up your cross and follow him.

Let’s look at our passage.

The message of the cross (v. 18-24)

We need to keep in mind as we go through this that Paul is writing to Christians in Corinth about their penchant to operate with the wisdom and power of this world.  They had grown up in a world of Greek wisdom and Greek power.  Of course, it doesn’t matter what nation or part of the earth people are from.  All of these things are worldly wisdom and worldly power.  Essentially he is trying to convince them to embrace the wisdom and power of God.  Jesus is the very Wisdom and Power of God.

Of course, the believers of Corinth had believed in Jesus.  They were Christians.  However, their choices and actions were contradicting their professed faith in Jesus.  They were mixing God’s word with their own culture, and not in a good way.  Paul goes back to the fundamental issue of how God had provided salvation through Jesus, and why He did it that way.  He is also making it clear that you cannot follow a crucified Lord with the thinking of this world.  They are antithetical to one another.

Verse 18 talks about the “word of the cross.”  This is similar to the way we might say that we want to “have a word with someone.”  It is more than one word.  It refers to a main message that the cross is intended to represent to us.  It speaks volumes about the purpose and intent of God’s plan of salvation.

The cross was necessary to remove sins and provide a covering for them.  We should pay attention to this.  Why did it have to be this way?  Essentially, the cross shows us just how bad sin is.  It is so bad that it requires God to become a man and die on our behalf.  It also shows us what it takes to please God.  A person who believes God will not retreat in the face of laying down their mortal life.  A person who retreats from faith under threat to their life cannot please God.  Jesus was pleasing to God.  Not because of his horrible suffering, but because of his unflinching faith in the face of the horrible persecution of the wicked.  Like Noah (much greater than Noah), Jesus found grace in the eyes of God the Father.  He offers up his sinless life as an offering for humanity, and God the Father puts him in authority over the universe, heaven and earth.

The devil counts on you balking on following Jesus because you are so afraid of losing something, even your life.  Yet, if the Christian dies, God has not failed us because the resurrection of the righteous was always His plan.  He is fulfilling His promises, not just to you, but to all humanity.

When we look at the message of the cross, Paul says that it is foolishness to those who are perishing, but the power of God to those who are being saved.  Of course, those who are being saved used to be those who were perishing.  The message of Jesus and the cross is part of God’s way to break through to a person’s heart and mind.

We can understand why the cross would be a shock to people who were from other nations and followed other religions.  Yet, the cross was a shock even to Israel.  Yet, in that shock, they would have to embrace the message of a crucified lord (savior) over the top of their impression that it was weak and foolish.  Of course, we could not do this without the help of the Holy Spirit.  Yet, a person must make a real choice.  This was hard for religious Jews, just as it was for Gentiles (religious or otherwise).  No one has it easy.

To believe in Jesus and to live as he commanded us is simultaneously to become a fool to the world around you.  No one likes being labeled a fool by others.  However, God didn’t desire only to save us.  He has a purpose in this.

Verse 19 goes to the heart of why God requires us to embrace a crucified savior.  God doesn’t only want to save us, but He also wants to destroy the wisdom of the wise in the way that He saves us.  Paul quotes from Isaiah 29.  This passage is not written about Gentiles.  Rather, God is chastising Israel for her unbelief.  They had given lip-service to God, but had developed a system by their own wisdom that was contrary to God.  What God intended for good, they had turned into a system of harm.  Doing God’s things with our wisdom is a common tendency for humanity.

Their wisdom had so perverted the things of God that He was intent on destroying their wisdom and cleverness.  He would save humanity in such a way that it would make a spectacle of their wisdom.

The same mechanism works in the political realm.  No matter how good t he principles of a society are, if we only give lip-service to God (as we use our own wisdom), then we will pervert that system and use it for our own gain, for our own ends.  This is the basis of all human wisdom and power.  It takes the things of God (He created all things), and it twists those things to the “satisfaction” of ourselves, regardless of God’s purpose in it.

In verse 20, Paul tells them that this is what they were seeing in their day.  The great wise men of Israel and the great wise men of the Gentile world, the scribes and debaters of the world, were not used by God to save humanity.  They were woefully ignorant of what was happening.  And, they were even used by God in their ignorance to bring about salvation by crucifying Jesus.  They don’t get credit for it because Christ’s death saves in spite of what they were trying to accomplish.  I mean, they weren’t trying to cooperate with God.  They were trying to do the opposite.

Is that any different than our day?  Can we not see that the wisdom of this world, whether religious or not, is still dismissive of what God is doing?  The cross begs the question, “Whose side are you on?”  Even some within the Church today have continued down the same path that these Corinthians were following in the first century, and the same path that the Sanhedrin was following back then.

We can say that we believe in Jesus as the Christ, but are we following him with the wisdom of our modern age?  Are we “following him” by employing his things with the power of man?

In verses 22-23, Paul recognizes that the false wisdom of Jewish people was for different reasons than the false wisdom of the Gentiles.  Jews want a powerful sign from God.  Whereas, the Gentiles want something that sounds wise to them.  Yet, God gave them both a crucified Messiah, which was a stumbling block to those who want powerful signs and foolishness to those who want something that sounds wise to them.

In order to embrace the cross, a person has to die to their own wisdom and power, and the wisdom and power of this world.  This is the only way to salvation.  You can ignore it and walk on by Jesus because it looks foolish and weak.  However, he is the wisdom and power of God displayed for all to see.

The wisdom of God versus the “wisdom” of men (v. 25-31)

Paul then takes some time to explain the wisdom of God compared to the wisdom of man.  Another way to look at this is the wisdom that comes from God (from above) versus the wisdom that is not from God (within us, down here, even from hell).

James 3:14-15 says it this way.  “But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth.  This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic.”  Notice those last descriptions of the false wisdom.  It is of this world, of our own flesh, even of the devil.  This is the same enemies that I pointed out several sermons ago.  It is a wisdom that comes from our enemies to separate us from God.

We must always ask ourselves, “What is the source of my wisdom?”  If it is not sourced in God, then know this.  God is determined to destroy any wisdom that is not rooted in Jesus, and him crucified.  However, the good news is that you don’t have to be destroyed with your bad “wisdom.”  You can let go of it.  You can let go of the world’s wisdom, the devil’s wisdom, and even your own self-made wisdom, in order to receive Jesus, the wisdom of God that comes from above..

In verse 25, Paul is not saying that God sometimes actually does foolish things and other times actually does wise things.  The same is true of the “weakness of God.”  Everything that God does is absolutely wise and powerful.  However, Paul is talking about our impression of what God does.  Our judgment of what God is doing is sometimes impressed with what God does, and other times it is not impressed.  We declare it to be foolish and weak. 

Yet, the way that Paul states this slams the point home powerfully.  The things that God does that seem foolish to us are actually greater than our greatest “wisdom”- remember it is we who call our thoughts wise.  Also, the things that God does that seem weak to us are actually stronger than our greatest “strength.”  If we reject His wisdom and power for something else that we think is wiser and stronger, then we will be just like the Corinthians: worthy of rebuke from our Lord!

In verse 26, Paul reminds them of how they believed in Jesus and the kinds of people who were being saved in Corinth.  What kind of person let’s go of the wisdom and power of this world in order to embrace God’s “foolish and weak” salvation?  In general, it wasn’t the wise, powerful, and nobles who were believing.  It is easier for me to let go of the wisdom of Plato than it is for Plato to let go of the wisdom of Plato.  It is easier for me to let go of the power of the United States of America than it is for the powerful people in our Republic.  In truth, it is hard for us all, but not impossible.

If God asks you to give something up, it is so that He can give you something better.  However, sometimes, He asks us to give something so that He can teach us how to receive it back in the right way.  God is concerned with dethroning the idols of our heart that are revealed in this way of salvation.

Of course, there is nothing wrong with being educated and having power in this life.  But, we can let those things divert us from the wisdom and power of God.  We must submit all things that we have to God and let them take their proper place in our life submitted to the wisdom and power of God.

In verse 27, Paul talks about God choosing the “foolish” to shame the “wise”, choosing the “weak” to shame the “strong.”  Everyone who puts their faith in Jesus steps out of the “wise and powerful” class and steps into the “foolish and weak” class (that is, according to the world). 

God knew that this would be the case.  In eternity past, He saw this and chose to help those who would become foolish and weak in order to shame the wise and powerful.  Of course, shame is not the end of the world.  In our shame, we can see our need of Christ and His wisdom.  The grace of God is present when sinful things are brought to the surface.  In our shame, we can finally die to the things that are pulling us down into destruction.   It is in truly seeing our shame that we are enabled to embrace the message of the cross.  God does not call us to stay in our shame, but following Him will cause you to carry the stigma of shame because of the world’s judgment of you.

Paul then ends this section with an anthem to Jesus.  Jesus is the wisdom of God, the righteousness of God, the Holiness of God, and the Redemption of God (v. 30).  There is no hope for these things outside of Jesus and his “foolish and weak” way.

We should boast in no man, but the LORD Jesus!  This is not to put anyone down, but rather, to put Jesus up above in the place that he deserves.  Yet, today, the Church has become full of men and women that we boast in.  We are like the foolish Corinthians and in need of deep repentance.

The message is the same to us as it is to the world.  Humble yourself.  Divest yourself of the wisdom of the world and worldly Christians.  Refuse to follow the path of power developed by the strong.  Pick up your cross and follow Jesus, regardless of what others say.  And, may the Holy Spirit show us all the ways we must die to ourselves, die to the world, and die to the devil, in order to bring forth the power and salvation of God!  This is what it means to serve a crucified Lord.  It means being a crucified servant.

Serving a Crucified King audio

The Kingdom of God- 5

Subtitle:  Our Battle in the Kingdom

Ephesians 2:1-10.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on April 13, 2025.

Today, we are going to identify some enemies of the Kingdom of God and anyone who is a part of it.  We need to see these in our own life and learn how to deal with them.

Let’s look at our passage.

Our enemies (v. 1-3)

When we talk about enemies as Christians, it is important to recognize a huge shift from the Old Covenant with Israel through Moses and the New Covenant with “whosoever will” through Jesus.

Israel was commanded to go into a specific area that had been judged by God.  Thus, there were literal battles between Israel, representing God’s people, and the nations that were in rebellion against God.  Israel would be a sword to some nations, but also a revelation of the One True God to the nations surrounding the area that God had given to them.  In other words, Israel was not trying to take over the world, nor were they commanded to do so by God. 

Yet, even in the Old Testament, we see that these enemies were not the only enemies Israel faced.  There were Israelites who were unfaithful to God and misled the people.  There is even a testimony from the prophets that there wasn’t one of them that was totally righteous before God.

God shows anyone with eyes to see through His interactions with Israel that no amount of fighting bad people, bad nations, and stamping out the sinners in their own nation, would fix this world.

Yet, in the New Testament, the command of Christ to his disciples does regard battles and going to the ends of the earth, but it is not about fighting physical enemies and taking physical territory.  The battle is more about the spiritual enemies that are keeping the world captive to sin. 

This highlights a common mistake that atheists will make.  They will challenge Christians with a statement like this.  “Your God commands you to kill homosexuals!  How can you defend that!”  Of course, they have clearly not understood the message of the Church, and more importantly, Jesus Christ.  The New Testament presents that all people (including Israel) are sinners in bondage to sin.  All are guilty before God and deserve death, rather than salvation.  Yet, God sends us Jesus.  He is the divine intervention that helps us in this tragic predicament.  Yes, we are all worthy of death, but Jesus has obtained for us the hope of forgiveness and redemption.

Jesus is not currently taking territory geographically, but rather, internally.  Those who believe on him are not only forgiven, but the Spirit of God enables them to take possession of their inner souls.  This is intended to spill out into their life and affect the people around them.  It spills out into their family and neighborhood.   If enough people in an area are transformed by faith in Jesus, then it can even spill out and affect a whole nation.  Thus, geography can come under the rule of Jesus, but that is not the current focus, the heart of people is the focus.

For the Christian, there are still very real enemies, and some of them are even people.  Yet, we do not deal with them in the same way as Israel was commanded.  So how are we to deal with them?  This passage in Ephesians chapter 2 helps us to identify them, and then, we will talk about how to battle them.

#1 The World-

In verse 2, Paul talks about how each of them (of us) were before the believed on Jesus.  They walked “according to the course of this world…”  The word translated “course” in the NASB speaks of the systems of humanity within a nation and the world as a whole.  They may have distinctions, but there is a bent to them that is away from God.  This can be more or less, religious or secular.  Humans born in those societies tend to follow this course that is away from God.  Israel, which was supposed to represent a system of God, had become deep-captured, until they were just like the world around them, standing against God without even knowing it.  These systems of the world are more than just a bunch of individuals doing bad things.  It becomes a system that is greater than any one sinner, and is more than the sum of its wicked parts.

Of course, we cannot blame all of our sin on the world and culture around us.  However, a culture that is far from God makes it easier for a people to fall into the trappings of sin, and even define it as good.  If adults teach and model things to their kids that God says is sinful, then they are more likely to follow them, and that place becomes a place of bondage and tyranny, both spiritually and literally.

This can even happen in a society that claims to follow God.  The political leaders of Israel (Herod when Jesus was born) had created an anti-God power structure, no matter how much lip service He might give to Him.  Similarly, the religious leaders of Israel in the first century had also created an anti-God, anti-Messiah, religion in God’s name.  Think of that.  In God’s name, we put to death the very Messiah that He sends.  Of course, this isn’t an Israelite problem.  It is a human tendency driven by this world.

Christians do not fight the world systems primarily through political means.  We know that no amount of laws, punishments, prisons, wars, etc. will ever fix this world.  This doesn’t mean that we don’t have laws and such, but that we are not looking to these things to fix the world.

Jesus sends us to the world with the message of the Gospel.  We are to tell people the truth of their peril and God’s offer of forgiveness through Jesus out of love for them.  We also live our lives according to the words of Christ and his apostles (the New Testament).  Thus, we refuse to conform to the ungodly pressures of the society around us.  We go to battle against the philosophies, ideas, and false religions that hold them captive, rather than against them.

Though our primary focus is not political, the politics of a nation will change when enough people repent and believe on Jesus.  When enough people are living out the commands of Jesus, that nation will be transformed.  We are not talking about reaching 51% and taking over.  Rather, a life that is lived for Jesus by the Holy Spirit’s leading is far more powerful than a mere vote in an election.  Thus, a once pagan place that persecuted Christians can become a place in which they are free to worship God.

The difference here is that our focus is not on the political, but rather on changing hearts.  The Scriptures are clear that Christianity will impact the whole world and make a huge impact upon it.  However, it also makes it clear that the political powers of the nations will not embrace Jesus when he comes back.

#2 The devil-

Verse 2 also says that they walked “according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience…”  This prince of the power of the air is a reference to a spiritual enemy, the devil.  Him and the spiritual entities in league with him have deep captured the world.  Yes, the world is bent away from God, but the devil takes advantage of that and harnesses it for his ends.  2 Corinthians 4:4 says that the “god” of this age [the devil] blinds people from believing God and the Gospel of Jesus.  This spiritual layer lies behind the world system.  It ends up doing the bidding of the devil.  Some people do so knowingly.  We would call them satanists.  However, most people do so unknowingly.  They are simply caught up in a way of living that they have known from birth.  It becomes natural for them to do the bidding of the devil without actually trying to follow him.

We should recognize that, though the sin of humans is definitely a big part of our problem, the interference and misleading of these spiritual beings has made it far worse than it would have become.  Those who think we can build a Utopia by casting off Christianity do not understand the fire they are playing with.  These spiritual beings do not love humans.  They want to destroy us forever.  It is only by the grace of God that they haven’t done so already.

So, just as we can picture humans deep capturing the governmental structures of a society for criminally helping themselves to the people’s treasury, so we can picture the devil and his spiritual cohorts deep capturing the systems of this world to trap people in blindness to God’s offer of help.  This is what Jesus faced: a corrupt Roman system of government and religion, and a corrupt Israelite political and religious system.

There is a spirit (and spirits) working through those who are in disobedience to God (sons of disobedience) in order to create a world system that keeps humans in bondage to sin and blind to the Gospel.

How do we fight these spiritual enemies?  First, we put our faith in Jesus.  We listen to the teaching of Jesus and obey his commands.  This will immunize us to the false teaching and wicked commands of this world.  We also fight him by being alert to his schemes.  The Bible records all the ways that humans are tempted to rebel against God and live contrary to His design.  We fight him by being spiritual people who are not in bondage to sin (James 4:7).  We fight him by using the spiritual armor that Jesus supplies to his people (Ephesians 6:10-18).  We fight him through praying for one another.

Of course, some people say to themselves that they will not listen to the world or God.  They believe that they can somehow just serve themselves.  However, serving yourself only ends up serving the devil.

#3 Our Flesh-

Our third enemy is outlined in verse 3.  “We all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind…”  Yes, we have the world and the devil to watch out for, but the most difficult enemy is internally ourselves.  Paul speaks of lusts of our flesh that fulfill the desires of the flesh and mind.  The desires are the simply what we want, our wishes.  These are connected to what is pleasing  to the senses of our body and what is pleasing to our mind.  Whereas, lusts refer to a strong passion for these things.  We can imagine a spectrum of intensifying desires that go from a low level preference for something all the way to a heated desire that is hard for us to restrain.

It is not that a pleasure in and of itself is evil.  Rather, when we live only to satisfy the desires of our body and mind, then we become captive to our flesh.  It knows no boundaries.  Without the help of the truth of God and the Spirit of God, we will become enslaved to the lusts of our flesh.  This can also happen when we pursue a spirituality that has no connection to the truth of God.  False religions all have their source in the devil and his cohorts.

We might even try to blame God for our penchant to over indulge our flesh.  However, God made these things to be a joy when they are not in control of our life.  If we listen to Him, then they will take their proper place and be His gift to us.  However, if we ignore Him, then they will become a curse to us as they continually seek pleasure at the cost of truth.

This is what we used to be.  However, now, we have become spiritually alive in Christ.  We are still in a body that is used to having its desires and lusts satisfied.  Thus, we have an internal battle against these.  Romans 8:13, “if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”  This is not just a list of do’s and don’ts.  We are called to be led by the Holy Spirit in putting them to death.  This begins with the Word of God, but is empowered as we listen to the leading of the Holy Spirit.

We also fight these lusts by staying in a community of Christ-followers.  Thus, we have a Kingdom Community, the Holy Spirit, and a new spiritual life that corresponds to the old world, devil, and flesh.  When you lean into these things, you will find a growing victory over time.

We are to fight this battle of sin in a spiritual way.  Thus, the Word of God, which is spiritual, is essential, as well as prayer and fellowship with other believers.  If we feed upon the garbage of this world, then our old nature will overcome our new nature that is spiritually alive to Christ.

Up until now, Paul has reminded them of their old way of life that they had left behind.  Yet, notice in verse 4 that there are things that God is doing.

Our heavenly Father (v. 4-10)

No matter how bad our situation was, or is, or even could become, God is for us.  He has helped us, is helping us, and will complete the good work in us, if we will simply trust Him.  We are His family, and He cares for us.

Paul emphasizes that our heavenly Father is merciful and loving.  He may seem hard and unloving at times.  However, He wants to break through our blindness and our stubbornness.  No matter how failed and plundered a person may become- think about the thief on the cross- you can still believe in Jesus.  The mercy and love of God is not just offered to some.  It is offered to all who are lost.  This doesn’t mean that everyone will embrace it.  But, they reject it over the top of God’s amazing love.

It is His covenant-keeping, merciful, faithful love that makes it possible for a person who is under the tyranny of a spiritual enemy, stuck in the ruts of this world, and enslaved to the lusts of their flesh, to be able to break free, even when they are dead in their transgressions.

Verse 5 reminds us that it is God who makes us spiritually alive together with Jesus.  This is a very real spiritual work that is done by the Spirit of God when someone believes in Jesus.  From this point on, we can read the Scriptures and sense the Holy Spirit speaking to us.  We can be led by Him through the Word, Prayer, and actions of faith.

Paul reminds us that we have been raised up with Christ and seated with him in the heavenly places.  This is a spiritual connection that we have to the greatest throne in the universe.  Yet, upon our deaths, we go to be with Christ, where we belong.

Verse 7 explains that our connection to Christ and the now, but not fully yet, aspect of the Kingdom has a climax.  In the age to come, God will demonstrate the surpassing riches of His grace toward us who have believed in Christ.  Yes, we will see the riches of God’s grace, but ultimately, we are the demonstration of God’s riches to the heavens and to the earth.  The resurrection promises to give all who have died and those who are still alive in Christ, glorified heavenly bodies.  We will shine with the glory of Christ at his side.  This is what Paul is talking about in Romans 8:18-25.  The heavenly beings, the faithful ones and the fallen ones, will see the faithful of humanity not just restored, but raised in glory.  Even rebellious and wicked humans will see the glory of those who trusted in Christ.

However, in all of this, the greatest battle is keeping ourselves focused on God’s purpose.  Thus, in verse10, Paul reminds us that we are God’s workmanship, His special work.  He works in us to do the good works that He has prepared for us in Jesus.

There is nothing wrong with making money, saving up, retiring, etc.  But, if that is all you are living for, then it will be wrong.  It is not the thing really, but me that is wrong.  When Christ comes in, all things should take their proper place so that we are no longer a slave to them.  We don’t have to be a slave to the lusts of our flesh, the course of this world, and the devil.  We can be free in serving Christ!

Our Battle audio

The Kingdom of God- 4

Subtitle:  Living in the Kingdom of God

Various passages.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on April 6, 2025.

We have talked about the means of entering the Kingdom.  We do so by putting our faith and trust in Jesus.  We trust in who he is as the Lord and Savior.  It is he who has taken our sins upon himself so that we can be free from them.  He is giving us a taste of eternal life through the Holy Spirit, and will raise us up in the Resurrection of the Righteous in order to make us a completed testimony of His eternal life.

We are citizens of this strange, spiritual kingdom, that is very much unlike any other kingdom on this earth.  Today, we will look at what it means, what it looks like, to living in this spiritual kingdom.

Let’s look at some passages.

The Holy Spirit gives us life (Romans 8:11-14)

In this chapter, Paul is describing how our spiritual life is a result of the work of the Holy Spirit.  Verse 14 lays out the reality that we can only become the sons of God through the help of the Holy Spirit.  This is part of the life giving work of God’s Spirit.

He first leads us to see who Jesus is and our need to trust in him for salvation.  When a person responds with faith in Jesus, the Holy Spirit does a real work of making us spiritually alive.  Thus, the Spirit works to put the life of Christ in front of us, and He does a spiritual work of making us a new creation, born from above.

This is foundational to our new life in this new kingdom.  I can know for certain, I can have faith in the fact, that the Spirit of God is giving me life, and will continue to supply spiritual life to me.  No newborn baby brings themselves into existence.  God is the One who makes us spiritually alive.  However, in the case of spiritual birth, there is a cooperation between God and the one becoming a spiritual newborn.  Thus, by our faith in Jesus, God gives us spiritual life.  Also, by our continued faith in Jesus, the Spirit continues to lead us in this new spiritual life.  Over time, this spiritual nourishment causes us to become more and more spiritually mature.

This is what Paul is talking about in verse 12.  He uses the idea of a debt on the heels of all the life that the Spirit of God is giving us.  The Spirit has brought us to Jesus, made us spiritually alive, and continues to nourish us with spiritual life daily.  We are in debt to this great act of love. 

On the other hand, some people live as if they are in debt to their flesh.  What has the flesh ever done for us?  The flesh drew us into sin and bondage.  It makes us guilty before God and without any power to save ourselves.    A Christian knows that the gracious work of God’s Spirit is giving us life over the top of a life of the flesh that only brought death into our lives.

Now, this is not a debt in the sense that we need to pay it off in order to come into the Kingdom, etc.  Rather, Christ died for us so that we might live.  We owe him our lives, so we live life for his purposes.  The Holy Spirit supplies that spiritual nourishment for us to do this work and become more like Jesus, a maturing process.  This is a debt of love that is never intended to be “paid off.”  He first loved us.  We will never fully reciprocate that love.  Yet, He still loves us!

Paul’s point is that a Christian should no longer live in order to satisfy the lusts of their flesh.  This self-focused life is a part of our old life before Christ.  We are to put those lusts to death, and choose to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit.  We are led by the Holy Spirit in putting our fleshly desires, and the deeds that flow out of them, to death and replacing them with life-giving righteousness.

If you pay attention to the argument throughout the chapter, you will see that Paul has more in mind in verse 11 than spiritual birth and spiritual maturity.  He is looking ahead to a point in the future when Jesus Christ will resurrect the righteous by that same Spirit that raised him from the dead.  Paul is reminding us that this is a real spiritual work that impacts not only how we live today, but also our eternal future.  Our Christian life on this mortal plane will some day come to an end in death.  Our bodies will be laid in the grave, but our spirits will go to be with Jesus in heaven.  There we will await the day of resurrection.  When that occurs, we will receive a glorified body that does not grow old and die.  We will be immortal as Jesus is.  This is pictured as an inheritance that has been reserved for us by God.

Think of it.  If the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwells in you, then you have nothing to worry about.  The Spirit is our source of life, even if our mortal bodies die.  We will live eternally in perfect fellowship with God.  We have fellowship now, but it is not perfect yet.  When we step into the eternal state, we will not have to take God by faith.  Instead, we will dwell with Him within His blazing glory and immediate presence.

Notice that Paul is using battle imagery here.  We do not fight against people and put human enemies to death.  Rather, we battle against our fleshly lusts, which are easily stirred up by this world and wicked spiritual forces.  Even bringing the Gospel to others can be seen as setting captives free from slavery in a wicked kingdom.

This may feel like a hopeless battle, but we are not doing this alone.  The more I learn to rely upon the Holy Spirit’s help, the better I will do at removing sin and replacing it with the righteousness of Jesus.

Our heart is like a garden.  In this mortal life, we will always have to weed out these lusts. We would like to believe that we could weed the garden of our heart so well that we never had a stray thought or desire ever again.  This is not the case.  You will not be perfect and complete like that until the resurrection.  Yet, we should take heart.  The task of putting our lusts to death becomes easier with daily focus.  Once a garden has been weeded, it requires much less energy if we check it every day.  However, if you “take a break from weeding,” or only periodically have a fit of weeding, you can expect that it will be spiritually taxing all of the time. 

Matthew 7:24-25.  At the end of the sermon on the mount (Matthew 5-7), Jesus gave us a different image of this same thing.  Our life is pictured as the building of a house.  If we build our life by trusting in the teaching of Jesus, then our house, our life, will withstand the coming storm.  However, if we do not build our life upon the teachings of Jesus, then our house will be destroyed by the coming storm.

The storm can be applied to the difficulties of this life.  The cares and difficulties of life can test our faithfulness to the teachings of Jesus.  They come along and test just how well we have been building.  Yet, I do believe that Jesus has a different storm in mind.  He is speaking of the time of judgment after this life is done.  We will stand before God.  This is the ultimate test of whether our house will stand or not.  My house is all of the ways that I have lived and the reasons for why I have done what I have done.  Only those who have truly listened to Jesus will survive it.  Of course, none of us do it perfectly.  Jesus is not talking about a person who never made a mistake.  In fact, building can sometimes be analogous to warfare.  You wrestle with the imperfection of the building materials in order to get things in a good relationship to one another.  A perfect house that has no imperfections, subtle or otherwise, doesn’t exist.  However, many good houses do exist.  No matter how beautiful the house, if it is not built upon the foundation of the teachings of Jesus, it will not survive the Judgment.  These two images of a spiritual battle and a spiritual building are both important and simply two different ways of looking at the same thing.

A disciple of Christ is devoted to Jesus

As a disciple of Jesus, we need to stay close to the master so that we can learn from him.  A disciple is devoted to the master and his wisdom, his way of life.

A disciple will be a student of the Bible.  In 2 Timothy 3:14-17, Paul encourages Timothy in the work ahead of him.  He speaks of the “sacred writings” that Timothy had known from his youth.  In verse 16, he refers to these sacred writings as the Scriptures.  Of course, Paul is talking about the Old Testament (note: the New Testament was being written at that time).  The same is true of the New Testament, but let’s put that point aside.

Paul wants Timothy to remember that the Bible is given to us to do several things in our life.  He first points to the teaching we receive through the Bible.  The disciples of the days of Jesus were taught directly by him.  Each day, he would take time to teach them his way of living versus the way they had been living on their own.  We do not have the luxury of this same relationship.  Of course, Jesus teaches us through the Holy Spirit, but he is not physically in our lives.  Thus, the Word of God becomes even more critical for us.  The Bible is a confirmed and sure teaching from God through Jesus and his apostles.  We don’t have to guess at how to live for Jesus.  We can read it and obey.

All Christians should make sure that they are reading the Bible each day.  The Spirit of God will help it to be profitable to us spiritually.  It teaches us those things that we don’t know.  Not all of us were like Timothy, being taught the Bible by a mom when we were young.  It will take time to learn what Christ wants us to learn.  However, a little each day will slowly build up over time.  We will not just grow in what we understand, but then the Holy Spirit will teach us how to live those things out in our life.

The Bible is also profitable for reproving us.  This is the idea of convincing us, or proving something to us.  This is a natural part of all learning.  It is not enough to be able to regurgitate an answer on a paper test.  We have to be convinced of the truth, the wisdom, of Christ in order to live life as he commands.

The Bible is also good for correction.  It can correct bad ideas, poor choices, and bad habits that we have built up through the years.

Lastly, Paul mentions that it is profitable for training in righteousness.  There are two ditches that Christians can fall into in this area of righteousness.  We can make the mistake of thinking that our salvation and hope is based upon how well we live righteously.  We can focus on lists of things that we can’t do and things we can do.  The emphasis is that it is all on me.  The other mistake is the opposite.  This view basically surrenders to the point that we cannot be righteous like Jesus.  Jesus died on the cross to be my righteousness.  Therefore, I shouldn’t diminish his perfect work by trying to do righteousness myself. 

This sounds better and sees everything resting upon Jesus.  However, it misses one thing: the purpose of God.  God did not set us free from our sins so that we could just go on sinning, but now without consequences (tongue-in-cheek “Praise the Lord!).  Yes, only the righteousness of Jesus can pay the price of our sins and save us.  Yet, God saved us in order for us to be trained in the righteousness of Jesus.  Training involves a lot of messing up, but also, getting up and going back into the battle of learning.

Some people shy away from this out of a strange sense of trying not to diminish God.  They are stuck in seeing all righteousness about being saved.  However, once we have been made alive in Jesus, we can now follow the Spirit as He leads us to do the righteousness of Christ.

Why do Christians do the things they do?  If we are simply doing good things so that our Christian friends will remark how much like Jesus we are (for social image), then we are only trying to live a Christian life from the leading of our flesh.   Getting our name on a building and feeling good about ourselves around other Christians are not the “good works” for which the Holy Spirit is equipping us.  A true disciple of Christ does what they do because the Spirit of God is prompting them as they read the Word and in other ways that we will see.  They are being led by the Spirit out of love for Christ.  This is what makes their works acceptable to God.

A disciple of Christ is devoted to the teachings of Jesus and his apostles.  This is given to us in the Bible.  Thus, the Bible can be seen as our textbook, and life can be seen as our homework.  Yet, there is another area that is important for a disciple.

A disciple will be a person of prayer.  Philippians 4:6-7 points to the importance of prayer for the disciple.  Prayer is communication with God.  It may seem strange at first because God is Spirit and speaks to us in ways different than we have experienced.  In truth, we should prayerfully read the Word of God.  It is a spiritual book breathed forth by God through faithful men.  We should not think that we can understand it without God’s help.  “Lord, help me to hear what you are saying to me today.  Lead me; guide me, and help me to live for you!  Give me some homework today so that I know what I should be working on.”  This is how we should approach the Bible.

That said, a disciple of Jesus needs to set aside time to pray.  There are different kinds of prayer.  This passage really focuses on 2.  An acronym that is used for types of prayer is ACTS:  prayers of Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication (Petitions). 

Paul is focusing on the anxiety that believers can have in this life.  He points to our ability to request, or petition, God for the things we need, or at least, we think we need.  The believer who lays such requests before God should also do so with a heart of Thanksgiving.  Paul sees this as a great source of peace for the believer.

Requests by their very nature can easily deteriorate into whining and complaining.  We can grow angry with God when He doesn’t do exactly what we want, or even does the opposite.  This is why Thanksgiving is so important, as well as prayers of adoration and confession.  These kind of prayers keep us grounded in the truth of who we are when we approach God to ask Him for something.  In the end, we are the recipients of His great love.  Before you ask God for anything, make sure that you take time to thank Him for all that you have.  In fact, a thankful heart never treats a request as a means for God to prove His loyalty and love.  Jesus proved the heart of the Father at the cross.  Prayers of Thanksgiving ground our requests in the goodness and faithfulness of God.  Like a child, we can ask our heavenly Father.  Yet, we can also rest in the knowledge that that request will be filtered through His love and wisdom.

Intercession is prayer for someone else.  This too is the kind of prayer that helps ground requests to ourselves in something other than fleshly desires.  As we pray for others, we also see ourselves in them.  We recognize why God may say no to us at times.  He might even say yes, but not now.  Regardless, it is ours to make our request known, and then to rest in the peace that His Holy Spirit wants to give to us.  This peace will guard our hearts and minds from the thoughts and fears that we can have.  Thoughts and fears like Eve had when she listened to the serpent.  “God doesn’t really care about you.  He only wants to hold you back from something good.”  This is a lie that the serpent spun for our first parents, and he is still spinning that yarn to this day.  Have you ever believed it?

Prayer is the ground where we humble ourselves and talk with God.  No one prayer time will fix all our questions and problems.  It is a daily and lifelong communion with Him that will only be perfected as we go into eternity.  If we don’t spend time touching base with the master, then we will not become more like him.  Thus, it is not enough to read about Jesus.  We need to spend time in prayer talking with him.

A disciple will take their place in the family of God.  In Hebrew 10:24-25, the writer tells believers not to forsake the assembling together.  He even points out that some people in those days were doing exactly that.  They became believers, joined the Church for a season and then, they walked away.

This can be for various reasons.  Some people are walking away from Jesus, and so, walking away from the his Church is the natural second action.  Others convince themselves that they still believe in Jesus, but they think they don’t need other believers.  Perhaps, someone said something that hurt them.  Or, maybe, they are just reclusive.  The writer of Hebrews tells us that part of being together is to “stimulate one another to love and good deeds.”  We should be prayerfully considering how we can encourage other believers, and they should be prayerfully considering how to encourage me. 

This is what the Holy Spirit is leading you to do.  Thus, a person who walks away from a body of believers is refusing the leading of the Spirit.  Of course, there are some churches that you may need to flee.  They are a cult or have allowed the flesh to corrupt the leadership and activity of the church.  Regardless, we need to go somewhere.  You can say that you can’t find a place, but that is usually a cop-out.  The Holy Spirit will lead you somewhere, and that somewhere will not be a place peopled by perfect Christians who never make a mistake.

Why will you not step up and let the Lord work through those relationships to make you more like Jesus and to make them more like Jesus?  The answer is in our flesh.  The solution is in dying to the desires of our flesh and saying yes to the desires of Jesus.

The Church is like a family, a family of God.  We have to learn how to say that we are sorry.  We have to learn how to say that we forgive.  This is not easy, and we can be stubborn.  Yet, may God help us to become quicker and quicker at yielding to the teachings of Jesus.  There is life in it.

When we humble ourselves through prayer, we may with frustration say that we don’t see what God sees in those other people.  However, the Holy Spirit will remind us that we also don’t see what God saw in us.

When we give mercy to others (even undeservedly), we are actually making the case for why others should have mercy on us.  If you don’t have mercy on others, do not think that you will receive mercy from God when you stand before Him on Judgment Day.

All of this to say that a true disciple will learn to take their place in the body of Christ.  They will learn to receive and give stimulus that leads us all to love others and to do the good works that God has for us to do.

Of course, this is a hard thing to do.  It can be intimidating and uncomfortable.  We may even fear doing it.  However, this is God’s signature.  You were made to be able to do things far beyond your comfort level.  Every little boy who thinks about growing up and working 40 to 60 hours a week can balk at growing up.  Every teenage girl who thinks about giving birth to a baby and raising a child can be intimidated at the thought.  However, God made little boys and little girls to grow up into men and women.  It may be scary, but there is a greater good in it that we can’t understand until we’ve done it.

In the end, it is the same as our salvation.  A disciple who has faith in Jesus will trust that Jesus will help them to join other Christians and live for him.  Somehow and someway, we can become family by the help of God’s Holy Spirit.

These are not the only ways to show our devotion to Jesus.  However, they are very important things that we need to embrace by the Spirit’s help.  May God help us to be devoted followers of Jesus!

Kingdom of God 4 audio

The Kingdom of God- 3

Subtitle:  How to Enter the Kingdom of God

Various passages.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on March 30, 2025.

Last week, we talked about the distinction between the present Kingdom of God and the future phase of that Kingdom at the Second Coming of Jesus.  This present phase is predominantly spiritual, but it makes an outward difference in our lives.  This is a strange kingdom that is not like any kingdoms of this world.  It is not limited to particular borders, and though it is world-wide, it is not an empire that forces nations into compliance.  Jesus is a different kind of king reigning over a different kind of kingdom, a Kingdom of God.

In Matthew’s account of the sermon on the mount (Matthew 5-7), Jesus is presented as King Messiah calling people into his kingdom.  He is also presented as the New Moses, sent to set up the New Covenant with God.

Israel was under a true bondage.   Yes, the Romans had them under their boot.  However, their biggest bondage was spiritual.  They had a king who wasn’t even from the tribe of Judah.  The priesthood and leaders of the Sanhedrin had developed a corrupt system under the color of law, but working counter to the purposes of God.  The spiritual Pharaoh of this world kept them in servitude to his purposes every bit as much as was the case before the exodus.  Those who would follow Jesus would escape by God’s strong right arm.

An Israelite who was in Egypt when Moses appeared had a choice to make.  They could follow Moses out into the desert, risking death in one form or another, or they could stay in Egypt and not rock the boat.  Even when we want free from some things, we can fear what might happen.  They had worked out a compromise with their situation.  They knew exactly what to expect from the Egyptians.  The comfort of the devil we know can outweigh any promises of God to bring us into a better kingdom.  Yet, the only way they could have participated in the kingdom that God was promising was to follow Moses, the one He had sent.

The same is true of Jesus.  He was initiating a kingdom that would be different than what national Israel had become.  Those who wanted to participate in it would need to listen to him and follow him.  This is the template for entering the Kingdom of God.  We can even recognize that God did powerful signs and wonders with Moses and again with Jesus in order to help them to have faith for such a choice.

So, as we look at entering the Kingdom of God, let me just say this.  Entering the Kingdom now is prerequisite for entering the next phase of the Kingdom at the Second Coming of Jesus.

Let’s look at some passages.

Matthew 21:28-32

Jesus used this parable to challenge the religious leaders of his day.  The tax collectors and prostitutes (among others) of their day were like the first son.  They were not interested in being a part of the Father’s work and the fruitfulness He intended.  However, now they were regretting (repenting of) their callous response to the Father.  Now, they were believing God and entering the Kingdom. 

The religious leaders on the other hand were like the second son.  They had responded in their life like they were going to do the work of the Father, but they have not actually done it.

This would have seemed to be a false analogy to them.  However, Jesus points to the prophet, John the Baptist.  His message was a simple one.  It is hard to say that there was something wrong with it.  “Repent for the Kingdom of God is near.”  He also quoted a passage in Isaiah to highlight their need to get ready for Messiah.  Messiah was coming and they would want to be spiritually ready for him.  Many people in Israel responded to John’s teaching.  They recognized that they were not ready.  They needed cleansing in their life in order to be ready. 

Why wouldn’t the religious leaders like this message?  It is because he called them to repentance as well.  Just read Matthew 3:7-12.  They were a brood of snakes who had no clue about the wrath of God that was about to pour out upon Israel.  The Messiah was coming as the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.  This baptism would be life to those who repented and believed, but it would be a fiery destruction for those who did not.  These religious leaders would not acknowledge John as a prophet, and therefore believe his message, because he dared to speak to them as if they were not right with God.

Thus, they refused to do the work of God, i.e., to believe upon the One He had sent.  This is the key to entering the Kingdom.  Repentance has two components to it.  It involves a change of mind that is spurred by the conviction of the Holy Spirit.  I realize that I have been rejecting the way of God and trying to forge my own way.  This change of mind about our way (and God’s way) leads to the second component: turning away from our sin and towards the way of the Lord.  These tax collectors and prostitutes were not just believing that Jesus was the Messiah.  They were also walking away from lives of sin and turning towards living out the words of Jesus.

Jesus is the litmus test for all mankind.  You can say that you love God, but what you do with Jesus and his teachings will reveal exactly what is in your heart.  Of course, no person is perfect in following Jesus.  We do not get into the Kingdom because we have a perfect record of obeying the words of Jesus.  It is his perfect performance that provides a place of grace by which we can spiritually grow to become like him, little by little.

These religious leaders probably fell into different categories.  Some of them really did think they were doing what they were supposed to do.  They had been taught by others that this system was God’s system, and that they were God’s faithful representatives.  However, they had to ignore all kinds of spiritual red flags that would have surfaced as they read the Scriptures.  On the other hand, there were most likely some of these men who really had no faith in God.  They simply had learned how to harness the system to their benefit.

The problem with self-justification is that it doesn’t serve you well in the end.  It only serves to blind you to the grace of God.  We would all do well to sleuth out the self-justifications that we are using to avoid obeying God.

Thus, Jesus points out that those who were believing in him, putting their trust in who he was and what he taught, were entering the Kingdom of God.

John 6:27-28

The work of God and the will of God are the same thing in this passage.  Jesus had performed a miraculous feeding of thousands in the wilderness around the Sea of Galilee.  He had then left the area at night without their knowledge.  Many of these people searched along the Sea of Galilee for Jesus, until they found him in Capernaum.

In this passage, Jesus is not mad that they worked so hard to find him.  Rather, he is pointing out that they were not as interested in what he was teaching as they were about a free lunch and a spectacle to see.  Jesus is challenging them to work for spiritual food that can give them everlasting life.  Again, it is not about the act itself.  It is about the internal intention of the doer.  Jesus wants us to come to him and learn.  However, he wants us to do it for the right reasons.

There are many today who have attached themselves to the Kingdom of God.  They call themselves Christians, but they are really looking for a free lunch.  They see it as a ticket to something in the natural: wealth, friends, good times, clean fun, etc.  However, their flesh resists the word of God making any real change in their life.  They are like the religious leaders of the days of Jesus, thinking they are good with God and incensed that anyone would say they need to repent.

This passage spells out exactly what God is asking of us.  “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”  This word for believe means to trust in him, to put the full weight of our life upon him.  It is far more than just believing that he existed, or that he is the Messiah.  It is about trusting that he is the Word of God to us, that we do or don’t listen to him at our own peril.

Even though it is true that putting our faith in Jesus is how we enter the Kingdom of God, we wouldn’t be able to do that if it weren’t for God’s grace.  It is He who has formulated a plan for redeeming us out of our sins.  It is He who sent Jesus to be the perfect image of Him and the perfect sacrifice for our sins.  It is He who wants us to trust in Jesus, promising to forgive us of our sins if we do.  Entering the Kingdom is a cooperation between what God does and how we respond.

Some people try to minimize our choice by saying that it threatens the sovereignty of God.  An example of their argument is this.  “You can’t really have a choice, otherwise God isn’t sovereign.”  Of course, that turns sovereignty on its head.  It is a human telling God that He can’t create humans with the ability to choose, even when they are stuck in sins.  If God truly is sovereign, then He can do whatever He wants.  A humble reading of the Scriptures will always see the absolute challenge from God to take hold of the salvation that He has made available to us.  God’s Word can be boiled down to His hand reaching down to us and saying, “Why will you die?  Take hold of My Hand!”

Of course, even our response to that is helped along by the grace of God.  When we take hold of His Hand, we find underneath of us the Everlasting Arms of God holding us up.  Entering the Kingdom is not just a choice of man, but also a choice of God.  His Holy Spirit not only transfers us from the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of the Son of His love, but He also makes our spirit come alive.  We are spiritually new babies, born into a Kingdom that has older siblings to help us grow.

John 3:5-6; 14-15

In this context, one of those religious leaders, named Nicodemus, had come to Jesus late at night.  He was bucking the trend of his peers, but didn’t want them to know that he was having second thoughts.  He knew that only Messiah could do what Jesus was doing, but he was perplexed by what Jesus taught.

In this passage, Jesus explains that natural birth is not enough to bring someone into the Kingdom.  It takes a spiritual birth.  It has to be an operation of the Holy Spirit that convicts a man to believe God and do what He is saying.  A person who refuses to do this remains dead spiritually, but a person who does is made spiritually alive, born again (or born from above).

As Jesus is explaining the need for a spiritual birth, he points to an event in Israel’s history to illustrate what he means.

 Numbers 21 tells a brief story of Israel in the wilderness.  They were complaining against God and even calling the manna that He supplied “worthless bread.”  God then sent poisonous serpents into their camp.  Many people were dying from the serpent bites.  When they came to Moses repenting and asking what they should do, God told Moses to make a bronze serpent and put it on a pole.  Those who are bitten could look upon the serpent and be healed.

This might seem strange.  Why would God make such a weird requirement of them?  When we compare this to what Jesus is talking about, spiritual birth, it is understandable.  They had sinned and were suffering the effects of their sins.  However,  the root of their sin was a lack of faith in God’s leadership and intentions for them.  Looking upon the serpent would be both simple (no great righteous work of their own) and an act of faith.

We see this in the story of Namaan the Syrian general who had leprosy.  The prophet told him to dip in the Jordan seven times and he would be healed.  Namaan did not want to do it at first.  He was headed home, incensed that the prophet didn’t come out to see him.  Yet, his servant talked him into doing it because it was a simple thing to do.

There is no healing properties in a bronze snake, but it represented something that they would not be inclined to go look at.  They would have to trust the Word of God through Moses.  It was their faith that allowed them to live.  Spiritual birth is similar.  We are all bitten by sin and dying from it.  Unless we look upon Jesus with simple trust in him, we will die in our sins.  Spiritual birth is listening to the Holy Spirit and doing what He is calling you to do.  It is saying no to the flesh and yes to the Spirit.  The Spirit is calling all men everywhere to put their trust in a crucified Lord.  This seems silly to our flesh, but it is the requirement of the Lord in order to receive eternal life.  When people put their trust in Jesus (look upon him), a real spiritual work of the Holy Spirit is done in their life.  They are made to be spiritually alive.

Let’s go back to Matthew 21 where Jesus tells a parable.

Matthew 21:33-42

Jesus tells a parable about a landowner who plants a vineyard.  It goes to great expense to set it up and create protections around it.  He then leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country.  At vintage time, he sent servants in order to receive its fruit.  Yet, the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another.  The landowner sent more servants, but they did the same again.  Then, the landowner sent his son believing that they would surely respect his son.  However, when they saw the son, the wicked vinedressers killed him so that they could steal the inheritance.

After telling this story, Jesus asks the religious leaders what the landowner would do.  They answered rightly that the landowner would come and destroy them.  He would then lease the vineyard to others who would render to him the fruits of the vineyard in the proper season.

Of course, this story is about them.  They are the wicked vinedressers who are killing the prophets that God sent to them.  Last of all, they are even now preparing to kill Jesus, the Son of God.

Jesus then points them to Psalm 118:22.  There, the psalmist speaks of the builders rejecting a stone that then is chosen to be the chief cornerstone by the Lord.  The message is the same.  Those who were supposed to be leading Israel to be fruitful for the purposes of God were not doing that.  Those who were supposed to be building Israel into a great temple unto God the Father were rejecting the very rock of Israel that the Father had sent to be the Chief Cornerstone.

This is not so much about Israel as it is about the religious leaders of Israel.  They were being fired by God.  He was raising up new vinedressers from among Israel and even from among the Gentiles.  They would do a better job.  These vinedressers would be Jews and Gentiles working together.

It is important to see that the present phase of the Kingdom is about fruitfulness.  God wants those who have put their faith in Jesus to be fruitful and to help the Church be fruitful.  When Christ returns, will he find a harvest of righteousness and strong believers still trusting in him?  Or, will he find us drinking with the sinners and beating His servants?

Many have served Jesus and died through the centuries.  Yet, Jesus will resurrect all the righteous who have died and all of the righteous who are still alive.  These will then enter into the next phase of the Kingdom of God.

Are you in the Kingdom now?  Put your faith in Jesus and turn from your sin.  Live your life for His purposes instead of pleasing yourself.  This will give you a place in the Kingdom of God today, and an inheritance in the future phase when Christ returns to take over the kingdoms of this world.

Kingdom 3 audio