Chapter
2 - The Preaching of The Kingdom
As
God’s church in the earth, the body of Christ, we must have a kingdom
mentality. Everything that we do,
everything that we preach, and everything we are from the standpoint of
corporate and individual identity must flow from and fall under that
mindset. I have heard it said many times
by many preachers that “you get what you preach.” In other words, if you want your church to be
holy, you must preach and teach holiness.
If you want your church to be passionate about winning souls, then the
pastor of that congregation must preach frequently on the subject of soul
winning and evangelism. There is a power in preaching to change the mindset of
a congregation as well as an individual believer. In light of that, we must preach the kingdom
of God.
The preaching of the Kingdom of God was
the primary focus of the New Testament Church.
This should highlight for us, especially preachers, not only that the
pursuit of this Kingdom must be our priority, but also that the preaching of
the Kingdom should be central in the messages that we are presenting to our
congregations. In the following pages,
you will see with me that these mighty men and women of God blazed a trail
through the pages of the New Testament with one central message: the kingdom. Not only will we see that they preached the kingdom,
but with their preaching they demonstrated what they preached. These were not services where cold words were
spoken and every one simply went home back to their regular daily lives. These were words accompanied with the power
and demonstration of the Spirit in a variety of ways.
“And my language and my message were not set forth in persuasive
(enticing and plausible) words of wisdom, but they were in demonstration of the [Holy] Spirit and power [a
proof by the Spirit and power of God, operating on me and stirring in the minds
of my hearers the most holy emotions and thus persuading them],”(I Corinthians
2:4 Amplified)
“For our [preaching of the] glad
tidings (the Gospel) came to you not
only in word, but also in [its own inherent] power and in the Holy Spirit
and with great conviction and absolute certainty [on our part]. You know what
kind of men we proved [ourselves] to be among you for your good.” (I
Thessalonians 1:5 Amplified)
“For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power.”(I Corinthians
4:20)
Before we move much further, be
careful not to misunderstand these passages.
Neither the Bible nor the Spirit of God is against us using words in the
literal sense. God has given us the gift
of language and words in order to communicate His spiritual truths. The Bible itself is called the word of
God. Christ Himself was the Word made
flesh. What the scripture is showing us is
that words from a preacher’s mouth don’t need to be merely hot air. It is not God’s will for the preacher to
spout forth hollow words ringing from the recitation of a dead letter. These texts are indicating that the word that
is preached should be accompanied by apostolic power! What we preach should be something that can
be demonstrated and experienced. It is
this type of preaching that is the hallmark of a man of God with a kingdom
mentality.
In this late hour, when souls are
perishing, people are sick, and families are broken and without hope, we cannot
afford to water down our message. We
cannot preach philosophy. This world
doesn’t need more good advice. They need
to hear the real word of God preached, and I would say far beyond the necessity
of having our doctrine correct, is the need that what we preach is demonstrated
and experienced. For example, when we
preach healing people should get healed.
Sickness should depart. This won’t
be possible without a kingdom mentality.
The kingdom is reality whereas religion is abstract and even at times
theoretical. Sick people don’t need
theory, they need healing. They don’t
need merely to understand that the Jesus in the Bible healed the sick, but they
need to be persuaded that they can be healed by that same Jesus now.
In this section it is my goal to
persuade you that John the Baptist, Christ Jesus, and the early church had this
very mentality, and that mentality fed their preaching with the power necessary
to demonstrate what it was they were presenting to the masses. We must pursue the kingdom, and we must
preach the kingdom.
John the Baptist Preached the
Kingdom
The preaching of the Kingdom begins
with the ministry of John the Baptist.
It is true that the Old Testament preaches the Kingdom in a typological
sense, but as far as directly preaching the kingdom, you will see with me that
it emerges in the pages of our New Testament.
In observing these passages about the preaching of the kingdom, many
truths about the kingdom will begin to unfold which will be very helpful in our
pursuit of that kingdom.
“The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man
presseth into it.”(Luke 16:16)
One great recurring truth in
scripture is that when it comes to different dispensational periods, God has
always had a man to bridge the gap between dispensations. Here
Christ makes a powerful statement about the ministry of the John the
Baptist. This is in retrospective, but
look at it again: “the law and the prophets were until John.” Looking back on the Old Testament, we
have the books of the law and the books of the prophets, and they point the
believer forward. The Old Testament does
in a sense preach the kingdom, but it is hidden away. There are great truths about the kingdom of
God, but they were in the prophetic shadows, pointing forward to some great
happening in the future. Oh, we can see
it now! The Old Testament viewed through
the revelations of New Testament truth reveal much about what the law and the
prophets were speaking of. The law and
the prophets were the best guide the world had until John. Something stopped and something started with the
ministry of John the Baptist. His
ministry bridged the gap between the testaments. Here is how the Old Testament ends:
“Behold, I will
send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of
the Lord:
6 And he shall turn
the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to
their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.” (Malachi 4:5-6)
According
to Christ, it was John that fulfilled this prophecy.
“And if you are willing to
receive and accept it, John himself is Elijah who was to come [before the
kingdom].” (Matthew 11:14 Amplified)
These are staggering
statements! The ministry of John the
Baptist reached back over four hundred years of silence and grabbed hold of the
final prophecy of the Old Testament and literally fulfilled it. Not only did he fulfill that prophecy, he
closed the gap between that final Old Testament prophecy and the ministry of
the Savior. God will always find a man
to fill in the gap! In light of these
revelations about John’s ministry, we search the holy writ to see what
preaching came from this ministry.
“And saying, Repent ([a]think
differently; change your mind, regretting your sins and changing your conduct),
for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
(Matthew 3:2 Amplified)
John’s ministry message was that it
was time to change. Why was it time to
change? The kingdom of God is at hand,
or near, or arriving in this period of time.
John was preaching the kingdom!
His boldness and persuasiveness was rooted in his conviction that this
was the time for the kingdom of God to be manifest in the earth, and that God
wanted people to be ready to enter that kingdom, lest they miss it! Not only did John preach the kingdom, but he
got results.
“This is he who was mentioned by
the prophet Isaiah when he said, The voice of one crying in the wilderness
(shouting in the desert), Prepare the road for the Lord, make His highways
straight (level, [b]direct).
4 This same John’s garments were
made of camel’s hair, and he wore a leather girdle about his waist; and his
food was locusts and wild honey.
5 Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the country round about the Jordan went
out to him;
6 And they were baptized in the
Jordan by him, confessing their sins.” (Matthew 3:3-6)
Please
do not misread this following statement.
As preachers in our day we must have the understanding that John’s
ministry was not conventional. His
ministry was not birthed in a bible school or seminary somewhere. It was birthed and bloomed out of a barren
Judean wilderness. He didn’t come out of
that wilderness in proper preaching attire, but clothed in camels hair,
munching down on locusts and honey. What
he lacked in proper orthodoxy, he made up for in the results in his
ministry. Verse three indicates again
for us that this was a prophecy fulfilling ministry. People came to him in swarms and repented of
their sins and were baptized in water.
The bible records no specific number, but it must have been in the
thousands. Why were they repenting of
their sins? Why were they being baptized
in great numbers? I believe it was
because John was preaching that the kingdom of God was at hand!
I
would like to establish this as a great model for our preaching. I don’t think we need to necessarily live in
the woods (although all my hunter friends may disagree,) and I do think we need
to dress respectably (though I long for the day that ties are no longer
required.) We need to pave the way for
the second coming of the Lord. We need
to turns the hearts of men back to God.
We will only accomplish this by preaching the kingdom. Our greatest challenge lies in the following
verses.
“But when he saw
many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, You
brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee and escape from the wrath and
indignation [of God against disobedience] that is coming?
8 Bring forth fruit
that is consistent with repentance [let your lives prove your change of heart];
9 And do not
presume to say to yourselves, We have Abraham for our forefather; for I tell
you, God is able to raise up descendants for Abraham from these stones!”
(Matthew 3:7-9 Amplified)
The
greatest challenge that lay ahead for any man or woman of God, any church body,
or any organization that decides to preach the kingdom is ruffling the feathers
of religious hierarchy, as did the ministry of the both John and Christ. If we are to bridge the gap between the
church age and the millennial reign of Jesus Christ we must stand bold in our
pulpits, our homes, our jobs, and even on our street with one unified message
of Christ and His kingdom! This will not
sit well with some, because it will demand change and commitment. It will not sit well with others, because it
will require sacrifice.
John’s
ministry successfully introduced the world to God manifest in the flesh, Jesus
of Nazareth, and this was done through his preaching that the kingdom was at
hand. There was a fateful day that came
in John’s ministry where the torch was passed to the next man that would preach
the kingdom. This was more than just a man, this was the God-man. Jesus Christ not only, as we will see,
preached the kingdom, He was the very kingdom He preached. John baptized Jesus in the Jordan, the Father
voiced his approval from heavens, and from that point Christ headed into the
wilderness. He was there for forty days,
fasting, being tempted by satan, and overcoming His adversary with the sword of
the Spirit. When Christ came out of the
wilderness, He began to preach. Note
carefully with me, what our example preached, and the results of that
preaching.
Jesus Christ
Preached The Kingdom
“Now after John was
arrested and put in prison, Jesus came
into Galilee, preaching the good news (the Gospel) of the kingdom of God,
And saying, The [appointed period
of] time is fulfilled (completed), and the
kingdom of God is at hand; repent ([k]have a change of mind which issues in
regret for past sins and in change of conduct for the better) and believe
(trust in, rely on, and adhere to) the good news (the Gospel).
16 And passing
along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon [Peter] and Andrew the
brother of Simon casting a net [to and fro] in the sea, for they were
fishermen.
17 And Jesus said
to them, Come after Me and [l]be My disciples, and I will make you to become
fishers of men.” (Mark 1:14-17 Amplified)
Jesus has good news for His
hearers! The kingdom of God had
arrived. This text highlights how He
continues the message of repentance that John preached. They preached repentance, a turning away from
sin because God’s kingdom is not defined by sin. It is defined by righteousness, which at its
core is obedience. Here He invites Peter
to become a fisher of men because God’s kingdom is not stationary; it is in the
business of winning souls from the kingdom of satan. The borders of the kingdom of God are not stationary;
they are expanding with each soul that crosses over into it. Any one that joins this kingdom signs up to
be a fisher of men, just as Peter did.
“40 Now at the setting of the sun
[indicating the end of the Sabbath], all
those who had any [who were] sick with various diseases brought them to Him,
and He laid His hands upon every one of them and cured them.
41 And demons even came out of many people, screaming and crying out, You
are the Son of God! But He rebuked them and would not permit them to speak,
because they knew that He was the Christ (the Messiah).
42 And when daybreak came, He
left [Peter’s house] and went into an isolated [desert] place. And the people
looked for Him until they came up to Him and tried to prevent Him from leaving
them.
43 But He said to them, I must preach the good news (the Gospel) of
the kingdom of God to the other cities [and towns] also, for I was sent for
this [purpose].
44 And He continued to preach in the synagogues of Galilee.” (Luke 4:40-44
Amplified)
Jesus of Nazareth, God manifest in
the flesh, was the perfect prototype of what the kingdom is supposed to
be. To phrase it a different way, He was
a one man demonstration of the kingdom.
Pay close attention to the supernatural power that is accompanying his
ministry. In verse forty we the sick
being healed. The preaching of the
kingdom of God is not merely the presentation of a doctrine, but it is that
presentation with demonstration. In
God’s kingdom there is perfect wellness.
There is no sickness or disease in heaven. As a one man kingdom invasion Jesus
demonstrates this aspect of the kingdom.
He doesn’t just talk about it, but He is able to demonstrate it. Sickness and disease is a stronghold of
satan’s kingdom! When there is healing,
there is victory in spiritual warfare.
When there is healing the kingdom gains territory. It is God’s will to heal the sick, and here
in this passage and throughout His ministry Jesus performed the will of God in
the earth as it was already established in heaven.
Sin is not permitted in God’s
kingdom, neither is sickness! This is
why you will see these particular supernatural manifestations repeatedly in
scripture whenever the kingdom is preached.
Neither is satan allowed in the kingdom!
He’s been banned for eternity.
“And he said unto them, I beheld
Satan as lightning fall from heaven.”(Luke
10:18)
“Thy kingdom come, Thy will be
done in earth, as it is in heaven.”(Matthew 6:10)
In
verse forty one we see demons coming out of many people. In the heavens, sometime before the world
began, or perhaps between the first two verses of Genesis, depending on which
theologian you talk to, Lucifer attempted to usurp God’s throne in heaven. God said “nope, not permitted,” and at the
blazing fast download speed of 186,000 miles per second God’s will was done in
heaven. It was not God’s will for satan
to stay around and try to assert satan’s will.
Again, depending on whom you read after, satan is condemned to be the
prince and the power of the air of the earthly realm. Before Jesus comes there was no help for
demon possession. When the kingdom began
to be preached and demonstrated in the earth that began to change. The reason it began to change is because
God’s kingdom on the earth is to be an outpost for what His will has already
declared in heaven. Every time this one
man kingdom meets a demon, the demon gets expelled. What was really going on? God’s kingdom was taking new territory! He was planting a flag in the hearts of men
saying “this is God’s territory now, no demons allowed!”
We
have to make this connection or we will miss a powerful truth. It is because many have already missed this
truth that the devil has been able to run roughshod over their lives. Satan cannot do anything in your life or to
your life unless you agree with him to do it.
He only has the power to run his mouth and accuse the brethren. When saints begin to agree with him, it is an
open door for an invasion of the wrong kingdom.
Satan is in deep trouble if the church ever gets a kingdom
mentality. If we operate like Christ
did, with a kingdom mindset, we will be able boldly stand against our enemy and
declare “you are not allowed to operate here!”
These
demons that Christ cast out were even proclaiming His divine identity! When there is a supernatural manifestation of
God’s kingdom, there will be no denying who God’s true church in the earth is;
even the devil will have to confess it. People
may be able to debate doctrine, but it is difficult even for the most learned
scholars to debate cancers disappearing from x-rays and lives being
transformed.
Verses
forty-three and forty-four reveal and reiterate Christ’s purpose in the earth
as the Son of God. His purpose was to
preach. He said He must preach. It was not optional. It was His driving purpose to preach the
kingdom, and so it must become our driving purpose to preach this kingdom. When we connect priority and pursuit of the
kingdom with the preaching of the kingdom, then we will experience the power of
the kingdom. I firmly believe that the
preaching of the kingdom will not deter from our long held apostolic doctrinal
positions (i.e. the oneness of God, baptism in Jesus’s name) but will confirm
them and even enhance their importance in light of the overshadowing priority
and purpose of God’s kingdom. He must
preach, and thus He continued to preach.
For those among that have been preaching apostolic truth coupled with
the kingdom of God, we must continue to do so!
“And Jesus went about all the
cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news (the Gospel) of the kingdom and curing all kinds of disease and every
weakness and infirmity.
36 When He saw the throngs, He was moved with pity and sympathy for
them, because they were bewildered (harassed and distressed and dejected and
helpless), like sheep without a shepherd.
37 Then He said to His disciples,
The harvest is indeed plentiful, but the laborers are few.
38 So pray to the Lord of the
harvest to [m]force out and thrust laborers into His harvest.” (Matthew 9:35-38
Amplified)
Here in Matthew chapter nine we see
a few more vital truths come to light in view of the earthly ministry of this
man Jesus. Along with His preaching of
the kingdom, we see again the healing of the sick. In this case, He was “curing all kinds of
disease.” Not just headaches, hangnails,
and dandruff, but all kinds. AIDS,
cancer, and diabetes should be nervous when they walk into an apostolic,
kingdom minded church.
Notice in verse thirty-six that He
was moved with pity and compassion. The
kingdom of God is not a machine. It is
not some cold corporation without a heart and soul. Truly, it is quite the opposite. At the core of the kingdom is the heart of
God. He is Love. It is not merely His purpose to grow a
kingdom for the sake of growing a kingdom, but at the core of His purpose is a
love for all people. Christ looked on
those that were downtrodden, and dirty, and sinful not with disdain! No, but with compassion. So must we look. If we are to embody and preach the kingdom as
He did, we must preach the truth in love.
We must have compassion on the infirm.
Our churches ought not to be stained glassed museums for the saints in
which to hang their plaques of achievement, but they need to be hospitals for
the broken.
Sickness moved Him. Lives being destroyed by sin and the devil’s
tactics moved Him. Here it would seem
that what moved Him most of all was that these people had no shepherd. They were like scattered sheep with no
purpose and no protection. It is the
business of the King and kingdom to establish shepherding relationships in
every life. After all, He is the Good
Shepherd of John 10, the one that leads us beside the still waters and green
pastures in the spirit. This is why
having a pastor and a home church is paramount to God’s purpose in the
kingdom. The kingdom of God on a local
level needs to become a place where any scattered sheep or lost sheep can come
home and find protection, and care, and rehabilitation without worrying about
judgment from their fellow sheep.
The pages of the four gospels are
replete with many more examples of Christ’s earthly ministry. Those that are familiar with it know that
this small cross section that I have used here is consistent with all that He
did and taught. It was not God’s will
that the earthly ministry of Christ die out with the Savior’s death on the
cross, but that it would live on through the enterprise of the kingdom. As we move ahead in our study we will see how
His ministry provided the prototype for kingdom ministry to follow after.
The Twelve Disciples Preached The
Kingdom
“And when he had called unto him
his twelve disciples, he gave them power
against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness
and all manner of disease.
7 And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.
8 Heal the sick, cleanse the
lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.
9 Provide neither gold, nor
silver, nor brass in your purses,
10Nor scrip for your journey,
neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves: for the workman is worthy of
his meat.” (Matthew 10:1, 7-10)
The
twelve disciples were to form the foundation of the church age. It was to be a kingdom enterprise. During the time of His earthly ministry,
Christ provides for these twelve men hands on training as to what they were
supposed to do during the church age. This
time period in His ministry was a predecessor to the church age, but it shows
what the church age is supposed to be in a twelve man microcosm.
Matthew
10:1 states that “he gave them power.”
Let’s start with that, because power is a vital principle. We cannot endeavor to do the work of God
without the power of God. We cannot
receive the power of God if we are not under kingdom authority. Power and anointing always flow in a downward
direction. We must be connected to the
power source! Therein lay the purpose of
the baptism of the Holy Ghost. “Ye shall
receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you…” In the church age that is our power
connection. In this passage, the
disciples now preach the kingdom and demonstrate the power of the kingdom. Let it serve as another example for us to
follow.
Christ
gave them the power to do so (again notice how power is always connected to
purpose) and because of that the disciples were able to perform the purpose of
God just as Christ was performing it.
The disciples also were able to cast out devils, heal the sick, and even
raise the dead, and all of this was in light of them preaching the kingdom.
In
verse nine Jesus told them not to pack any money. The kind of power he gave them was not the
kind that money could buy. I don’t think
God is against His people having money.
We need to be able to finance the earthly side of this kingdom;
buildings, missions, and of course we do have to eat sometime. In this case, though, there is a little shake
down before He sends them out. The
temptation is that when we do have money, we may try to buy results, and
substitute real power for just programs.
If we are able to truly connect to God’s power, He can provide the
supernatural whether money is involved or not!
Big churches, small churches, rich churches, poor churches (now I’m
sounding like Dr. Seuss) – those variables are not truly factors in the results
if a church is connected to kingdom power, which it will be if it is connected
to the pursuit and purpose of that kingdom.
Not
only did he take their money, he stripped down the luggage, too. Dressing at top of the line fashion levels is
not necessary to have revival in the kingdom.
I’ll go another step and even say that when the church becomes heavily
focused on fashion it becomes a substitute for real power the same way money
does. When we have money and we dress
nice then we are naturally inclined to feel like we have power. What we really have in that case is
pride. Does God want us to be
presentable? Of course we need to
represent him with dignity and present ourselves well, but there is a
difference between being presentable versus looking to our clothing, or our
money, or our talents as being vital to revival. Jesus wanted the twelve to learn by
experience that revival in God’s kingdom doesn’t require, and may in fact even
be deterred by some earthly things that we consider important and some of us
may even obsess over. Look again at
Matthew 6.
“Therefore
take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
32 (For after all
these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye
have need of all these things.
33 But seek ye
first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be
added unto you.” (Matthew 6:31-33)
Do
we need clothing and money? Sure we
do. Do we need them at levels of decadence
and gratuitousness to build the kingdom?
I think not. I recently watched a
video on the internet of a minister preaching in one of our churches. This man is well known among us. He was preaching a revival out of town and
his luggage was lost and had to preach in an athletic suit. God was not hindered. God’s power was still there! God will provide what we need, but we should beware lest the kingdom enterprise becomes a
money making scheme and/or fashion show.
The Early Church Preached The Kingdom
“Until the day in which he was
taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen:
To whom also he
shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of
them forty days, and speaking of the
things pertaining to the kingdom of God:
When they therefore were come
together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt
thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?
And he said unto them, It is not
for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own
power.
8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you:
and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in
Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” (Acts 1:2-3,6-8)
The
book of Acts is our point of reference for early church history. It records for us the birth of the church on
the Day of Pentecost in Acts chapter two, complete with tongues of fire and
Jesus name baptism. From there on it
serves as our blueprint for the modern church.
Before the church was born in Acts chapter two, it was conceived in Acts
chapter one. Jesus, having been through
the cross at Calvary, and rising from the dead after three days in the grave,
now spends forty days (forty always speaks to generation and preparation) with
what was to become the first generation of His church in the earth. Having said that, it is interesting to note,
with the exception of the great commission as recorded in the gospels, that
Jesus spent that forty day time period doing just one thing: teaching his
future church about “the things pertaining to the kingdom.” The church age was to become the invasion
phase (of which we will discuss the four phases of the kingdom in a later
chapter) of the kingdom in the earth. In
His ministry, He served as a one man prototype for everything that the kingdom
is and that the church is supposed to be.
Now it was time for His ministry to be carried on by His church, and it
was to be a kingdom enterprise.
Along
with kingdom purpose also came kingdom power.
The church can do nothing supernatural if God does not empower it, hence
the purpose of the Holy Ghost is to connect us to that power. We receive power when we receive the Holy
Ghost. In view of verse six, it was not
time to restore a physical kingdom to the Jews on the earth, but it was time to
set up an invisible spiritual kingdom in the earth. This is a vital truth because we are still
living in that phase of God’s kingdom.
We are still his church and his kingdom in the earth.
The
kingdom was to spread outward. Once they
were empowered, they were to be witness in Jerusalem, Judea, and the uttermost
parts of the earth. The epicenter was in
the upper room, but from there it was to spread.
“And again he said,
Whereunto shall I liken the kingdom of God?
21 It is like
leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.”(Luke
13:20-21)
What
is the kingdom like? It is like leaven,
being planted in the three measures of the earth until everything in that meal
has been affected by the leaven…
“And this gospel of
the kingdom shall be preached in all the
world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.”
(Matthew 24:13)
The
kingdom of God is not defensive in nature.
It is not ingrowing, it is outgrowing.
In the picture of the leaven, it is literally changing everything it
comes in contact with. It is God’s will
that his spiritual kingdom in the earth fully overturn the kingdom of satan in
every corner of the world. From
sickness, disease, sin, and idolatry, it is God’s purpose in the earth that the
kingdom go forth and change its world.
Let me bring that down to where we live.
We cannot keep the kingdom within the four walls of our church
buildings. It must spread outwardly into
every community within our cities. As we
will see in the passages ahead, the early church did just that: spread
out.
“But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the
kingdom of God, and the name of
Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.
13 Then Simon himself believed
also: and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip, and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were
done
17 Then laid they their hands on
them, and they received the Holy Ghost.”
(Acts 8:12-17)
It
was happening just as Jesus said it would.
The Holy Ghost fell on the Jews on the day of Pentecost, beginning this
great dispensation of God’s kingdom in the earth, but from there it would
spread. When we get here to chapter
eight of Acts we find Phillip going down into Samaria doing exactly what he was
trained to do: preach the kingdom. He
wasn’t preaching a denomination, or an organization, but he was preaching the
kingdom of God. Note very carefully the
results of his preaching.
“They
were baptized both men and women.” We
will clearly see that in the book of Acts when the kingdom of God was preached
and believed that baptism both in water in the name of Jesus and the baptism of
the Spirit, evidence by speaking in tongues, was a consistent response and
experience by the new believers. Peter
preached the famous Acts 2:38 message on Pentecost, and this message still
serves as the banner of the true kingdom of God. We will discuss the new birth in depth in a
later chapter, but we must understand that this new birth experience was the
only legal spiritual entry into this kingdom that was preached. Maybe it has been a while since you’ve had
anyone baptized in your church or filled with the spirit. Could it be that this is the result of not
having a kingdom mindset?
Baptism
in water puts us into Christ (Romans 6:3), but the baptism of the Holy Ghost
puts Christ in us! (Colossians 1:27) I
would like to submit to you that the baptism of the Holy Ghost is the birth of
the kingdom within the individual believer!
“…behold, the kingdom of God is within you.”
(Luke 17:21)
Every
soul baptized with the baptism of the Holy Ghost is territory gained in the
kingdom! It is the literal experience of
handing over the individual thrones of our lives to the true King of Kings.
Not
only was the Holy Ghost poured out, but signs and wonders were supernaturally
performed wherever the kingdom was preached and believed. Healings, miracles, signs were staples in
this first generation church. Any church
or organization that touts that the supernatural no longer takes place, or even
that baptism is no longer necessary, is not an embodiment of the kingdom of
God. The kingdom is planted on the inside,
but it manifests itself in tangible ways.
“Now when they had passed through
Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of
the Jews:
“And Paul, as his manner was,
went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned
with them out of the scriptures,
3 Opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen
again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ.
4 And some of them believed, and
consorted with Paul and Silas; and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and
of the chief women not a few.
5 But the Jews which believed not, moved with envy, took unto them
certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the
city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them
out to the people.
6 And when they found them not,
they drew Jason and certain brethren unto
the rulers of the city, crying, These
that have turned the world upside down are come hither also;
7 Whom Jason hath received: and
these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus.
8 And they troubled the people and the rulers of the city, when they
heard these things.” (Acts 17:2-8)
The impact that the early church had
on the world cannot be understated.
According to their own critics they had turned the world upside
down. The truth of the matter is they
were turning the world right side up, one city and one soul at a time.
In verse three we see that Paul was
preaching Christ; His death, burial, and resurrection and His Messiahship. The preaching of the kingdom is not the
minimization of the preaching of Christ, but rather it is the magnification of
the preaching of Christ. Wherever the
kingdom was preached, Jesus was preached!
The preaching of the kingdom is not the absence of the preaching of the
gospel, but it is the preaching of the gospel in the proper context: as the
entry point of the kingdom. This kingdom
was open to all people! Jews, Greeks,
multitudes of men and women. The doors
were opened wide to “whosoever will.”
In verse five we see that the “Jews
which believed not” were “moved with envy.”
This is a startling statement that should serve as an indicator light to
the true church of the living God. We
cannot realistically expect that the religious mainstream establishment, as the
Jews were in that day, be happy at all about this preaching of the
kingdom. While the Pharisees and
Sadducees had history, and pedigree, and heritage, they lacked what this band
of unorthodox and uneducated followers of in their minds a rogue pretender to
the throne of Israel were experiencing: growth and the miraculous! The classic thought has always been that the
religious Jews were persecuting the early church out of some type of righteous
indignation, but I submit to you that they were moved to action by envy and
jealousy. In their belief that they had
the market cornered on God, they tried to stamp out what was in their mind this
upstart competitor who was gaining results far and above anything they had
experienced in their generation. We
should expect no less in our day when we elect to preach and reach for the true
kingdom of God.
In verse six these same Jews brought
these rogue upstarts before the city leaders.
Why in the world would they have brought them before the city
authorities? Seems like a strange way to
solve a religious argument. Why not just
have a debate? Here is what I feel to be
the revelatory truth of this passage, and it has to do with spiritual warfare. The authorities were involved because the
preaching of the kingdom is an authority issue.
“For we wrestle not against flesh
and blood, but against principalities,
against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world,
against spiritual wickedness in high
places.” (Ephesians 6:12)
The
early church had the authority from their king to set things in a right
order. It is the business of the king
and kingdom to set lives in God’s intended order, which is the order of heaven
and earth (of which we will have much to say in a later chapter.) When the early church preached the kingdom
and gained converts, they were spiritually annexing satan’s territory, and
therefore satan’s placements got involved in the process. The rulers of that city were troubled the
same way any kingdom would be troubled if it new a superior army had just clandestinely
invaded its borders. The Jews were
losing business, and satan’s kingdom was losing souls, and this set the city on
an uproar! Authority does not come from belonging to an organization or
religion, authority always comes from authority. Because this early church was part of a
kingdom, and they had authority from their king, they were able to persuade
people to change their allegiances.
We
can meet the world’s needs with one unified message: there is another
king! For too long this world has been
under the wrong authority and thus their lives have been out of order. Sin, sickness, and satan and this world’s
system has ruled for far too long over those that are lost. We need to tell them that the would be Caesars
and Nebuchudnezzars are no longer in charge.
We are not preaching Jesus as a religion, we are preaching Him as a
king, and thus a ruler of our lives.
