{"id":3737,"date":"2020-06-10T06:00:02","date_gmt":"2020-06-10T11:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/southsidealive.com\/?p=3737"},"modified":"2020-06-10T06:58:01","modified_gmt":"2020-06-10T11:58:01","slug":"word-pictures-of-the-church-the-kingdom-of-god-heaven-continued","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/southsidealive.com\/index.php\/2020\/06\/word-pictures-of-the-church-the-kingdom-of-god-heaven-continued\/","title":{"rendered":"Word Pictures of the Church – The Kingdom of God\/Heaven (continued)"},"content":{"rendered":"
We are continuing to look at how the Church and the Kingdom of God are synonymous. Remember, Jesus used it in a more narrow sense as He was referring to the rule and reign of God in the lives of His followers.  In that light, the Kingdom of God is synonymous with the Church.<\/span><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
Also, since my position is that the Kingdom of God and Kingdom of Heaven are referring to the same thing (see yesterday\u2019s thoughts), I am simply using \u201cKingdom of God\u201d or \u201cKingdom\u201d while referring to both phrases.<\/span><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
Why is the theme of the Kingdom of God so important? Because it was the central message of Jesus\u2019s preaching and teaching.<\/span><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
He began His public ministry with it. From Matthew\u2019s Gospel, we learn that right after Jesus is baptized, He is thrust into the 40 days and nights of wilderness testing by the devil. Immediately after that, we learn\u2026<\/span><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
Matthew 4:17 (ESV)<\/span><\/div>\n
17<\/sup><\/span> From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, \u201cRepent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
Jesus then appoints His disciples who would be His apostles.<\/span><\/div>\n
Mark 3:13\u201315 (ESV)<\/span><\/div>\n
13 And he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him. 14 And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach 15 and have authority to cast out demons.<\/span><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
His purpose for the apostles is clear.  He wanted them to spend time with Him so that they might catch His vision and His message. As He began to develop His disciples, Jesus taught them to preach the same message He was preaching, and for training, He sent them out.<\/span><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
Luke 9:1\u20132 (ESV)<\/span><\/div>\n
1 And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, 2 and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal.<\/span><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
Here we see that Jesus bestowed on His apostles the same power He had and it was for the same purpose. Who would believe this straggling bunch of misfits without specific miraculous signs from God? So, the power to heal was given to validate their message just like Jesus.<\/span><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
And what was their message?  Their message was about the Kingdom of God.  Certainly that included the need to repent.<\/span><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
Sometime later, Jesus sends out 72 other disciples as part of His training.<\/span><\/div>\n
Luke 10:1\u201320 (ESV)<\/span><\/div>\n
1 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go. 2 And he said to them, \u201cThe harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. 3 Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves\u2026.. 9 Heal the sick in it and say to them, \u2018The kingdom of God has come near to you.\u2019..<\/span><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
Jesus then gives the 72 similar instructions that He gave the 12 when He sent them out. Specifically, they were to preach about the Kingdom of God.<\/span><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
The 72 returned rejoicing over the wrong thing. Verse 17 tells us, \u201cThe seventy-two returned with joy, saying, \u2018Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!\u2019\u201d <\/span><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
Now, look how Jesus is using this teachable moment:<\/span><\/div>\n
18 And he said to them, \u201cI saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. 20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
To we who are committed to being used of the Lord to carry out His will in this world, Jesus gives us some valuable advice. If we are not careful, we can focus too much on the results and find our joy in the successful work of the ministry. However, if your joy is wrapped up in the results of your ministry, <\/span>then your sadness will be tied to the sometimes negative results of your ministry. <\/span><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
What Jesus is saying is this: \u201cDon\u2019t look for joy in the successful things that happen to you in this world. Let your joy be in only this: that you have an eternal relationship with God.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
Jesus not only preached about the Kingdom coming.  He taught His disciples to preach about the Kingdom.<\/span><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
Today I want us to see that in order for His disciples to preach about the Kingdom, they needed to learn about the Kingdom.<\/span><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
Many people fail to appreciate the enormous value of the Kingdom of God. People in every nation may possess these true riches if they enter into God\u2019s Kingdom.<\/span><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
Jesus\u2019s primary way of teaching was through parables.  We will explore a few of them next to better understand the Kingdom and the Church.<\/span><\/div>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We are continuing to look at how the Church and the Kingdom of God are synonymous. Remember, Jesus used it in a more narrow sense as He was referring to the rule and reign of God in the lives of His followers.  In that light, the Kingdom of God is synonymous with the Church.   […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false},"categories":[140],"tags":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/southsidealive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3737"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/southsidealive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/southsidealive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/southsidealive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/southsidealive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3737"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/southsidealive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3737\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3740,"href":"http:\/\/southsidealive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3737\/revisions\/3740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/southsidealive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/southsidealive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/southsidealive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}