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[Thanks]

IACFC would like to thank the following for these dynamic studies:

 - VCF

 - John Wimber (deceased)

 - Vineyard - Columbus

 - Nathan Family

 - Beth Crawford, Edt

 - Mike Farley

 - Lori Johnson

 - Tammy Lind

 - Susan Pavilkey

 - Jill Anderson

 - John Ebert

 - Mary Youtz

 

Acts 1:4 - 8 (NKJV) 4And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father,  “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me;  5for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”  6Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. 8But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

 

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Living an Empowered Life

  Living an empowered life means a life that is lead by the Holy Spirit and guided by an intimacy that can only come through a passion for Jesus. This type of passion is at the heart of Spirit-lead love verses fleshly zeal. People really know the difference... Check out this video of people on the street when asked "Jesus vs. Christians" - it is very insightful

THE KINGDOM OF GOD: CENTRAL IN THE MINISTRY OF JESUS

 “For the first twelve years of my Christian life, I gave little thought to the kingdom of God . My pastors and Bible teachers had taught that the kingdom would come at the second coming of Christ and, therefore, had little significance in our lives today…I find my neglect of the kingdom remarkable because it is so clearly at the center of Jesus’ teaching…I [now realize] that at the very heart of the gospel lies the kingdom of God, and that power for effective evangelism and discipleship relates directly to our understanding and experiencing the kingdom today.”

John Wimber

“The gospel according to Mark begins the story of Jesus’ ministry with these significant words” ‘Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel” (1:14-15). Mark thus makes it plain that the burden of Jesus’ preaching was to announce the Kingdom of God ; that was the central thing with which he was concerned. A reading of the teachings of Jesus as they are found in the Gospels only serves to bear this statement out. Everywhere the Kingdom of God is on his lips, and it is always a matter of desperate importance.”

John Bright

“But He said, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.’”

Luke 4:43

When you hear the words “kingdom of God” or “kingdom of Heaven,” what comes to your mind?

Perhaps you have given little, if any thought to the kingdom of God. Maybe you have been taught that the kingdom is something that won’t be experienced until heaven or until some point in the future, so you have not concerned yourself with it in daily life. Certainly anyone who watches the evening news or surfs the web doesn’t see much reporting on the kingdom of God .

Yet the kingdom of God literally dominated the teachings of Jesus in the New Testament. He did not see the kingdom as something restricted only to the future with little relevance to everyday life. In the four gospels alone, the phrase “kingdom of God” or “kingdom of heaven” appears 84 times. In contrast, the cross (undeniably central to the ministry of Jesus and the life the Christian) appears only 17 times. And the words gospel and good news (which is the message Jesus and His disciples preached) appears only 23 times.

The kingdom was central to the teachings of the apostles in the early church as well. When the apostle Paul traveled to Ephesus , he “…entered the synagogues and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God ” (Acts 19:8). 

While under arrest in Rome, “From morning till evening, he [Paul] explained and declared to them [invited Jewish leaders] the kingdom of God...” (Acts 28:23b). 

And the final verse in Acts reads, “Boldly and without hindrance he [Paul] preached the kingdom of God [for two years] and taught about the Lord Jesus” (Acts 28:31).

If the kingdom of God played such a prominent role in the New Testament, then it is vitally important for us to understand the implications this has for our lives.

Is there anything I’ve shared that you had never heard before?

Pray that God’s Holy Spirit would open your mind and hearts to see what He wants to reveal in His Word. Consider this massage:

Luke 4:38 - 44 (NKJV) 38Now He arose from the synagogue and entered Simon’s house. But Simon’s wife’s mother was sick with a high fever, and they made request of Him concerning her.  39So He stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. And immediately she arose and served them. 40When the sun was setting, all those who had any that were sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and He laid His hands on every one of them and healed them.  41And demons also came out of many, crying out and saying, “You are the Christ, the Son of God!” And He, rebuking them, did not allow them to speak, for they knew that He was the Christ. 42Now when it was day, He departed and went into a deserted place. And the crowd sought Him and came to Him, and tried to keep Him from leaving them;  43but He said to them, “I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, because for this purpose I have been sent.”  44And He was preaching in the synagogues of  Galilee .

In this passage, Jesus was at the very beginning of His earthly ministry and His popularity was growing. Luke wrote, “Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God…” (Luke 5:26a). Everyone, that is, except those He knew from His hometown of Nazareth , where an angry mob tried to kill Him after He read from the book of Isaiah in the synagogue (4:14-30). But he quickly regained popularity after traveling to Capernaum where He cast a demon out of a man in the synagogue.

This began as a very typical Sabbath for Jesus and the disciples. Together they attended synagogue and then went to Peter’s house for a meal. What happened there? What do you observe about how Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law?

Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law by rebuking the fever. Luke did not mention that He laid hands on her, although He may have, since He touched her hand in Matthew and Mark’s accounts (Matt. 8:15; Mark 1:31 ). But no one wrote He petitioned God the Father for her to be healed. Instead, He spoke right to the fever and expected it to obey His command! Jesus showed the same kind of confident authority to heal with mere words as a policeman does when he (or she) stops traffic with just a raised hand.

The setting of the sun marked the end of the Sabbath, so the Jews were once again free to travel and work. What did they choose to do? Why?

If you have ever been to third world nation, then you have a feel for what it may have been like to live in Jesus’ day. Doctors and medical treatment were not readily available, so sickness and disease were commonplace. It was no surprise that when word got out about a man in town who could heal, everyone showed up with friends, and all of them had needs!

Luke wrote that Jesus laid His hands on each one, and healed them. He also cast out demons, but would not allow the demons to identify Him. For centuries this has puzzled theologians because they thought it would have been more helpful to Jesus if everyone had known His real identity. What are some reasons He might have silenced the demons?

Jesus had a strong sense of divine timing and said several times, “It is not my time.” What He meant by this was that it was not yet time for Him to die on the cross. In the New Testament, God had planned appointed times for events to take place (Matt. 8:29; Mark 1:15; Luke 19:44; John 2:4, 7:6; Acts 17:26; 2 Thess. 2:6; Heb. 9; Rev. 1:3). Jesus might have silenced the demons because a premature, public disclosure of who He really was would have interfered with God’s timing. Or, He may have commanded them to be quiet because He did not wish to have any P.R. (public relations) from the enemy camp. He also may have silenced them because He wanted people to seek after Him with spiritual hunger and earnestness rather than find out His identity without exerting personal effort.

What unexpected thing did Jesus do as more people came to Him the next morning? Why? How did He arrive at this decision?

Please remember that Jesus did not mean here that the one and only reason He came to earth was to preach the kingdom. That would be inconsistent with other statements He made concerning His mission. However, one of the primary reasons He came was to preach the good news of the kingdom. Of course, He also came to reveal God the Father more clearly, to live an obedient life, and to die as a perfect sacrifice for our sins. So Jesus knew His purpose for being sent to earth, and He based His responses to the needs and demands of others on His mission.

While the Scriptures don’t specify, we can assume people were looking for Him because there were more people to heal and more demons to cast out. But Jesus was comfortable leaving these needs unmet so that He could fulfill His mission. It appears that He made His decision based on His time alone with the Father just that morning. Obeying God was Jesus’ motivation in everything He did. This was certainly more important to Him than pleasing people (John 14:31).

Ask yourself this… What can I learn from Jesus that will help me make decisions about God’s will for my life?

When we are trying to determine God’s will, it is important that we don’t get our cues just from circumstances or other people. As with the case in Luke 4 , God’s will does not always appear to be the best decision. Many might have said it would have been better for Jesus to stay a few more days in Capernaum , heal more sick people, cast out more demons, and then move on. What difference would a few days have made? After all, the people had needs, they were open to Him, and it would have been a tremendous faith builder for the disciples to see Jesus perform miracles.

The only way to be sure about God’s will is to spend time alone with God and hear personally from Him. And the more time we take listening to God, the better we become at hearing what He is saying!

While the passage doesn’t really explain this, why do you think Jesus called His message the “good news” of the Kingdom of God?

There are several reasons why Jesus’ news was/is good.

  • Probably those Jesus was preaching to did not thoroughly grasp what He meant by the kingdom. In fact, their ideas may have been in terms of an historical or political kingdom. But they did understand that the kingdom of God meant that God is King. And this was good news for those who felt God was distant or unavailable to them. Because God is good, He would be a good king, and anyone living in His kingdom would enjoy His blessings. Contrast this with living under the rule of a tyrannical king, who is diabolical, evil, and cares nothing for his subjects. This was precisely the situation humankind was in when Jesus came to earth. Satan was the ruler, the earth was his kingdom-not God’s, and all men and women were his subjects (Eph 2:1-3; Col. 1:13). Jesus’ announcement that a change was about to take place and a new king would take over was indeed “good news” (John 12:31,14:30, 16:11; 1 John 3:8).

Put in simple terms, the kingdom of God can be simply understood as the rule and the reign of God. God is King. He is the sovereign ruler because He is the eternal Creator and Owner of all things (Gen. 2:2-3; Is. 40:28; Psm. 24:1-2; John 1:2-4; Rev. 4:11). Everything and everyone submitted to Him are part of His kingdom. He rules now even while we do not see everything submitted to Him, and He will reign in the future when His kingship will be evident and acknowledged everywhere (Eph. 1:9-10; Heb. 10:12-14; Php. 2:9-11; Rev. 11:15-18. 

John Wimber wrote that we live between the first and second comings of Christ. At His first coming, Jesus inaugurated the kingdom of God (Matt. 4:17;12:28), but it is not yet present in its fullest expression. (Matt. 25:31-33, 46).

If Jesus had simply instructed us how to live better lives, that would not have been “good news.” People are not capable of “just following instructions” because all of us are sinners. The world has been under the reign of a diabolical dictator. This dictator takes full advantage of the sinful nature we were born with, and continually tempts us to rebel against God. Before we were saved, we were slaves to this dictator and to sin.

However, Jesus’ message is that He has overthrown this dictator and established God’s rule and reign. If we are Christians, then:

  • We are no longer slaves; we have been set free!

  • We have changed our citizenship from one kingdom to another.

  • We have changed our allegiance from one ruler to another (Col.1:13-14). This implies both freedom and a radical, comprehensive transformation for each of us.

  • There is further good news! Jesus doesn’t leave all the changes up to us. He has sent His Holy Spirit, the One He called “another Counselor” to be with us and to live in us. We now have the life of the Perfect Son of God dwelling in us, bringing love, joy, faith, patience, self-control, etc., and strength to cooperate with God’s work of transforming us from rebels to children eager to obey Him (Php.1:6; 2:12-13).

Discipleship is applying this message of the kingdom to our lives and pursuing a life-long commitment to stop doing things our way (and Satan’s way). Instead, we commit ourselves to do things God’s way so that He might be glorified in everything. We will have some setbacks and failures, and will need the Spirit’s help to persevere to the end, but we will find no greater purpose or satisfaction than giving ourselves whole-heartedly to King Jesus.

Consider the following passages - Luke 8:1-2; 9:1-2,11; 10:1, 9.

Luke 8:1 - 2 (NKJV) 1Now it came to pass, afterward, that He went through every city and village, preaching and bringing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with Him, 2and certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities - Mary called Magdalene, out of whom had come seven demons,   

Luke 9:1 - 2 (NKJV) 1Then He called His twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases. 2He sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. 

Luke 9:11 (NKJV) 11But when the multitudes knew it, they followed Him; and He received them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who had need of healing. 

Luke 10:1 (NKJV) 1After these things the Lord appointed seventy others also, and sent them two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go. 

Luke 10:9 (NKJV) 9And heal the sick there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ 

What activity accompanied the preaching of the kingdom? Why do you think this happened?

John Wimber called Jesus the “word worker” because he proclaimed the kingdom of God and then demonstrated it through healing and deliverance. In response to John the Baptist’s question in Matthew 11, Jesus says, ‘Go back and report to John what you hear and see. The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor…” (Matt 11:4-5). 

These miracles were more than just a validation of Jesus’ message. Healing and deliverance from demonic powers are tangible signs of the presence of the kingdom, just as much as salvation and the forgiveness of sins are the gifts God bestows upon us when we enter the kingdom. These signs are what we can expect when God’s rule and reign is established here and now. 

People get physically and spiritually better. Although the Church down through history has not always taught this, healing and deliverance should be normative in the kingdom of God . However, we get confused when we don’t see and experience perfect healing and deliverance every time we pray.  

  • Jesus “passed the baton” to His disciples: first to the twelve in Luke 9 and then to the seventy-two in Luke 10 . Now they were to do the things that Jesus did. How are you imitating what Jesus did? Are you preaching and demonstrating the kingdom of God ? Why or why not?

Consider this passage - Acts 1:1-3

Acts 1:1 - 3 (NKJV) 1The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, 2until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, 3to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.

Often the final words a person speaks before leaving are the most important. What did Jesus talk to His disciples about for the forty days before His return to heaven?

He spoke to them about the kingdom of God (v. 3).

Does this surprise you?

APPLICATION

People have attributed many different messages to Jesus:
  • Some say He came preaching brotherhood and love for all men.
  • Some say He preached peace and nonviolence.
  • Some say His emphasis was on self-sacrifice and service to God and humankind.

According to the Bible, what was the primary message of Jesus?

Why?

How is the good news of the kingdom of God different from some of these other “popular” understandings of his message?

Let me ask you a few questions:

  • If the good news of the kingdom of God is central to the life and ministry of Jesus, then as His follower, what might you need to change in your life?
  • What do you think the kingdom of God could look like in your family, school, neighborhood, or workplace if you were open to God’s rule and reign becoming more tangible in your life?

Let me challenge you… this week; pray specifically for God’s kingdom to come.

WRAPPING IT UP

The kingdom of God was central to the ministry of Jesus. He came to proclaim that the rule of Satan was over, and His Father’s kingdom was established and advancing. Once we understand that Jesus came preaching the good news of the kingdom of God, we will be able to grasp more fully everything He taught and did while He was on this earth. We will also see how this relates to being His disciples and making more disciples. As you consider this lesson - pray that God’s kingdom will come to an even greater degree in your own life and the lives those around you.

[Wisdom]

“For the first twelve years of my Christian life, I gave little thought to the kingdom of God . My pastors and Bible teachers had taught that the kingdom would come at the second coming of Christ and, therefore, had little significance in our lives today…I find my neglect of the kingdom remarkable because it is so clearly at the center of Jesus’ teaching…I [now realize] that at the very heart of the gospel lies the kingdom of God, and that power for effective evangelism and discipleship relates directly to our understanding and experiencing the kingdom today.”

John Wimber

Luke 24:46 - 49 (NKJV) 46Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, 47and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48And you are witnesses of these things.  49Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.”

 

Copyright 2006 -  International Association of Cooks for Christ. All rights reserved.

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