The Kingdom of God Part 2 The Kingdom

The Kingdom of God Part 2

The Kingdom of God • • • Why talk about the Kingdom of God What the bible is all about Defining the Kingdom Jesus and the Kingdom Entering the Kingdom Living in the kingdom

Kingdom of God Part 2 • • • A king A Kingdom A government A royal family And a colonisation project of the king.

Kingdom of God Part 2 • Colonisation project • God’s original plan was and still is to extend and establish his kingdom on earth through man. • Man was at the centre of God’s plan before the foundation of the earth • Ephesians 1 Verse 4 says He choose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight”

Kingdom of God Part 2 • A kingdom is the governing influence of a king over his territory and impacting his citizens with his nature, intention, his will and purpose • God’s intention was for man to be holy and blameless manifesting his nature, and culture and language and the way he thinks. • But something went very wrong. Man was thrown pout of the garden of Eden.

Kingdom of God Part 2 • After man was thrown out God’s intention did not change. John 3: 16 says “For God so loved the world that he gave his own begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life” • God’s intention was to re-colonise the earth through Jesus. He preached one message “ repent for the kingdom of heaven is near. • He brought the good news. That we can be made Gods children again and assume the same status that we lost “ having dominion over the earth”.

Jesus came to…. • Re-colonise the earth for his father and hence restore man to his original position as a child of a royal family – • He was going to do this through – Offering himself as the perfect sacrifice – Entering into a new covenant with man – Offering himself as the mediator and perfect high priest]. • Introduce the holy spirit as the one who will complete the work in man

Redemption • Man has sinned and as a result of this he must die. As stated in Romans 6: 23 for the wages of sin is death • Mark 10: 45 and also Mat. 20: 28 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many • Jesus’ sacrifice is the means by which God delivers, or saves, humankind from sin and death • Jesus then re-purchased man so that God can impact him again with his nature, purpose and intention and be holy and blameless in his sight.

A new covenant • • Jesus came to give us a new covenant. The Holy Communion. 1 Corinthians 17 verse 25: "In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me. '" What is I the new covenant all about Jeremiah 31 verse 31 Also Heb 8: 8 “Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant which they broke, though I was their husband, says the LORD. But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it upon their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. . . [and] I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more”. Ezekiel 36: 27 puts the new covenant commitment of God like this: "I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances. "

Jesus as mediator • Jesus came to establish himself as a mediator between God and us. • …because Jesus lives forever He has a permanent priesthood interceding for us. • As a man, He was subject to all the weaknesses and temptations that we are, so that He could personally relate to us in our struggles

Jesus introduces the holy spirit as our advocate • John 14: 16 and I will ask the father and he will give you and advocate to help you and be with you forever • In Ephesians 1 when you believed you were marked with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit as a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession…

Kingdom of God Part 2 • Man fell from God’s Kingdom after he ate of the fruit of knowledge. He fell from the Kingdom of light into the Kingdom of Darkness. God was not happy with this and devised the redemption plan. • Jesus came to re-colonize the earth by paying the price through his blood, through establishing a new covenant and also to be the guarantor of the new covenant by being the mediator between God and us.

You and me • Are we citizens of the Kingdom of God? Do we reflect the nature of God in us. When we go about our daily activities can people say I have met a citizen of the kingdom by the way we behave, the way we speak, the language we use. • Do we think like him. Is his will being done in us as it is in His kingdom in heaven? • We come together as we celebrate the Lords Supper but is God’s law written in our heart so that we can say we are his people and he is our God?

You must be born again • For you to be a citizen of the kingdom of God you must be born again. You have to confess with your mouths that Jesus is Lords and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead. • If you want to be born again I want you to please step aside during the last song and before the benediction and come to the front and one of the elders will come to you and pray with you a prayer of salvation.