{"id":19204,"date":"2017-10-25T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-10-25T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/the-coming-kingdom-024\/"},"modified":"2017-10-25T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2017-10-25T05:00:00","slug":"the-coming-kingdom-024","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/the-coming-kingdom-024\/","title":{"rendered":"The Coming Kingdom 024"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[111],"series_event":[470],"sermon_service_type":[473],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-19204","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-revelation","series_event-the-coming-kingdom","sermon_service_type-sunday-school","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"The Coming Kingdom 024","sermon_date":"20171025","sermon_month":"10","sermon_year":"2017","sermon_notes":5079,"sermon_slides":5081,"sermon_mp3":5083,"sermon_id":"1025171818563","series_or_event":470,"service_type":[473],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":111,"chapter_and_verse":"12:5","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nThe Coming Kingdom\n\n10-25-17\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Revelation 12:5-\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lesson 24\n\nLet\u2019s open our Bibles to the Book of Zechariah, chapter 14 and verse 16, and we\u2019re continuing to progress on the subject of the kingdom, continuing in chapter 11 of the book that I wrote which just organizes biblical information, continuing to talk about what does the Bible say about the kingdom.\u00a0 And as we have studied the kingdom was developed and offered to Israel on a silver platter and as you know it was turned down by first century Israel.\u00a0 So we\u2019re in a time period where the kingdom is not cancelled but postponed.\u00a0 And even though the kingdom is in a state of postponement God never leaves the earth without a witness of Himself so He begins to explain, Jesus does, an interim age of time which will take place while the kingdom is not here.\n\nThe first is called the interadvent age developed in the Matthew 13 parables, eight of them.\u00a0 And we\u2019ve had the opportunity to go through those in depth but there\u2019s a second facet of the interim age.\u00a0 It begins with the day of Pentecost and ends with the rapture.\u00a0 And God, in this age, is doing something else, He is building His church.\u00a0 So Jesus makes a reference to the church for the very first time in Matthew 16:18, \u201cI will build My church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.\u201d So Jesus, in so doing, is giving a second phase or development of what is happening during this interim age.\n\nSo we\u2019re spending our time the last couple of weeks and the next few weeks talking about this issue of the church.\u00a0 We\u2019ve talked about the definition of the church; the church consists of all people, Jew or Gentile who have trusted for personal salvation in the Messiah that Israel rejected.\u00a0 And the moment they do that they become baptized or identified with this new man called the church, the body of Christ.\u00a0 And I started a Sunday School class Sunday mornings on this as well, so there\u2019s a little bit of overlap between what we\u2019re talking about here and that Sunday School class.\n\nThen we moved from the definition of the church to the beginning of the church.\u00a0 The church started in Acts 2 and I gave you, I think six reasons why that\u2019s so.\u00a0 And then last time I didn\u2019t plan on this but we spent most of our time talking about the purpose of the church.\u00a0 The church, as we saw last time, has three basic purposes, to glorify God, to edify the saints and to fulfill the great commission.\u00a0 And then we really started getting to the meat of this which is where I really wanted to go last time but didn\u2019t quite get there and that\u2019s an explanation as to why the church, or the body of Christ is not the kingdom.\u00a0 And herein lies the confusion; people believe that we are advancing the kingdom today and you hear it all the time in evangelical vernacular\u2026we\u2019re building the kingdom, we\u2019re advancing the kingdom, we\u2019re doing kingdom work, and nobody really defines what the kingdom is.\n\nAnd what I want to show you is the kingdom is\u00a0 yet future, it\u2019s going to come but it\u2019s not the church.\u00a0 What God is doing today is so unique or different than what the Bible reveals about the kingdom.\u00a0 And if you remember, I said I had 13 points to make on that; 13 points of dissimilarity between the kingdom on one end of the stick and the church on the other.\u00a0 And a lot of people might think this is sort of academic but it really gets to the nuts and bolts of why we\u2019re here, why we exist and what we\u2019re supposed to be doing.\u00a0 And if Satan can confuse\u00a0 us on this fundamental issue he can get us outside of what our priorities should be.\n\nSo reason number one of the 13, I think we covered this last time, Jesus is never called the king of the church.\u00a0 He\u2019s called the head of the church, He\u2019s called the groom and we\u2019re the bride, He\u2019s called the head, we\u2019re the body, but king\/subject imagery is really not used in the New Testament.\u00a0 Now that imagery is used all the time relative to the nation of Israel.\u00a0 For example, in the Book of Isaiah, chapter 33 and verse 22 it says, \u201cFor the LORD is our judge, The LORD is our lawgiver, The LORD is our king; He will save us\u2014 \u201d\u00a0 So king, subject imagery, is used all of the time to describe Israel but it\u2019s never used to describe the church, meaning that the Lord today is doing something very special or unique that\u2019s quite different than the way the kingdom is described.\n\nAnd then secondly, and I think we covered this last time as well, Jesus Christ\u2019s relationship to His church is never depicted through the king\/kingdom metaphor.\u00a0 Now there are many, many word pictures of the church, shepherd, sheep, head, body, bride, groom, temple imagery, high priest, priesthood, the church is the pillar of the truth, he\u2019s the vine we are the branches.\u00a0 I mean, you see all of these word pictures developed in the New Testament but never once do you have a word picture of He\u2019s the King and we\u2019re His kingdom.\n\nSo this takes us to reason number three, I would put it this way: there is a lack of correspondence between spiritual realities and kingdom conditions.\u00a0 One of the things to understand about the kingdom is once it is established on the earth Jesus is going to rule with a rod of iron.\u00a0 Psalm 2:9 talks about that, Revelation 12:5 talks about it.\u00a0 [Psalm 2:9, \u201c'You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.\u201d\u00a0 Revelation 12:5, \u201cAnd she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne.\u201d]\n\nThat\u2019s why I had you open up to Zechariah 14:16-18, it\u2019s a prophecy about the kingdom, it says, \u201cThen it will come about that any who are left of all the nations that went against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Booths.\u201d\u00a0 This is a millennial passage.\u00a0 [17] \u201cAnd it will be that whichever of the families of the earth does not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, there will be no rain on them.\u201d\u00a0 So you see what\u2019s happening there, if they disobey the Lord in the kingdom in the slightest way there\u2019s immediate retaliation.\u00a0 There is no delay of justice at all.\u00a0 And then it goes on in verse 18 and it says, \u201cIf the family of Egypt does not go up or enter, then no rain will fall<\/em> on them; it will be the plague with which the LORD smites the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths.\u201d\n\nSo everybody in the kingdom age is going to have to go to Jerusalem and commemorate Jesus Christ during the Feast of Booths and some folks won\u2019t want to do that.\u00a0 And so immediately God puts a plague on them, He denies their crops, the moisture or the rain that they need, and that\u2019s basically the way the kingdom is,\u00a0 He\u2019s ruling with a rod of iron.\u00a0 And that\u2019s why at the end of the kingdom age in the Book of Revelation, chapter 20 verses 7-10 when Satan is released from his abyss and he goes out to deceive the nations, it talks in those verses, Revelation 20, really verses\u00a0 7-10, it says immediately fire comes down from heaven and devours the adversaries.\n\n[Revelation 20:7, \u201cWhen the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison, [8] and will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for the war; the number of them is like the sand of the seashore. [9] And they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and fire came down from heaven and devoured them. [10] And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.\u201d]\n\nSo any rebellion of any sort God doesn\u2019t put up with, even a worldwide rebellion like the kind you\u2019re going to have at the end of the kingdom, they are instantaneously and immediately dealt with.\u00a0 Now compare that to today.\u00a0 Does God work that way today?\u00a0 Well, we can praise the Lord that He doesn\u2019t, right, or else we\u2019d all be in a lot of trouble because the church age is characterized many times by prolonged carnality.\n\n1 Corinthians 3:1-3 says, \u201cAnd I, brethren,\u201d Paul speaking, \u201ccould not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ. says, [2] I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able [3] for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men?\u201d\u00a0 Now Paul here is describing an ongoing problem in the Corinthian church related to carnality, and here is the famous passage where he divides the world into two parts: unbelievers and believers.\u00a0 And within the ranks of the believers you have spiritual believers (these are all words that Paul uses in these verses that I just read), those are the growing believers.\u00a0 Then\u00a0 you have the infant believers, baby Christians and those are the ones that are sort of cute because they\u2019re doing age appropriate things.\u00a0 You know, it\u2019s cute to see a little baby sucking their thumb, right?\u00a0 But when the child is 16 years old and still sucking their thumb it loses its cuteness.\u00a0 You have sort of a developmental problem at that point.\n\nAnd that swings him in the last category, the carnal Christians. These are Christians that really are still living for the flesh and they should have grown beyond that a long time ago.\u00a0 And when you look at this he says, \u201ceven now\u00a0 you are still not able\u201d at the end of verse 2.\u00a0 You get the idea that these people had been in this state of carnality for a long time.\u00a0 so that, by nature, cannot be the kingdom. Do you see that?\u00a0\u00a0 This kind of thing will not be tolerated in the kingdom; there will be immediate discipline.\n\nOver in the Book of Hebrews, chapter 5 and verse 12, it talks there about the carnal Christian or carnal believer, which a lot of ministries are denying today.\u00a0 A lot of ministries don\u2019t believe there is such a thing as a carnal believer.\u00a0 All you have to do is read what Paul says here in 1 Corinthians 3.\u00a0 Why are they denying the reality of a carnal believer?\u00a0 Because they think we\u2019re in the kingdom.\u00a0 See that?\u00a0 If you think we\u2019re in the kingdom now the doctrine of the carnal Christian disappears.\u00a0 The writer of the Book of Hebrews, we\u2019re not sure Paul wrote it but the writer could be Paul, we don\u2019t know.\u00a0 In the Book of Hebrews, chapter 5 and verse 12 says, \u201cFor though by this time\u00a0 you ought to be teachers,\u201d and he goes on and he says \u201cyou have need of milk, not solid food, solid food is for the mature.\u201d\u00a0 So they had been in the state of immaturity for a long time.\u00a0 And the author of Hebrews says by this time you should have grown up.\n\nNow when you see that kind of language describing the church that cannot be the kingdom, a time of instantaneous discipline, a time of instantaneous justice.\u00a0 That\u2019s why many people refer to our age as the age of grace.\u00a0 Grace is unmerited favor.\u00a0 You\u2019re not going to have that kind of thing in the kingdom.\u00a0 It\u2019s going to be an age of justice.\u00a0 You go into the Book of Revelation, chapters 2 and 3 and you run into seven letters to seven churches and here\u2019s where we discover that five of the seven are in a backslidden state and they need to repent.\u00a0 You go into the Book of Acts, chapter 20:17-38 and Paul talks about an apostasy taking place within the church as the church age unfolds.\u00a0 That cannot be describing the kingdom.\n\nSo John Walvoord puts it this way: \u00a0\u201cThe Christian era has been no golden age of righteousness nor has the church conquered the world.\u00a0 It\u2019s more accurate to recognize that the world, to a large degree, has possessed the church.\u201d\n\nThomas Ice and Wayne House say this:\u00a0 \u201cNotice the large volume of Scripture in the epistles that are devoted to the issue of apostasy.\u201d\u00a0 Apostasy is an issue Gabe is covering as he covers the Book of Jude periodically here at SLBC.\u00a0 And if you have my book and you look at chapter 8 and footnote 12 when you get a chance you\u2019ll see all those verses talking about apostasy within the church and they say apostasy and its evil effects provide the main message for books as Galatians, 2 Thessalonians, Hebrews and Revelation.\n\nSo obviously what\u2019s happening today is something that\u2019s very different than what the kingdom is because none of this is even tolerated in the kingdom.\u00a0 And people say well, you know, isn\u2019t Jesus reigning in our hearts?\u00a0 Well, does He reign in our hearts perfectly?\u00a0 Doesn\u2019t Ephesians 4:30 tells us to not grieve the Holy Spirit?\u00a0 Doesn\u2019t 1 Thessalonians 5:19 tell\u00a0 us to not quench the Holy Spirit?\n\n[Ephesians 4:30, \u201cDo not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.\u201d\u00a0 1 Thessalonians 5:19, \u201cDo not quench the Spirit;\u201d]\u00a0 Those commands don\u2019t make any sense, do they, if Jesus is reigning perfectly\u00a0 in our hearts.\u00a0 So you begin to look at the way the church is described versus the way the kingdom is described and it\u2019s very difficult to confuse the two.\n\nAnd this takes us to number 4, the church age gospel versus the kingdom gospel.\u00a0 The kingdom is going to be preceded by the kingdom gospel.\u00a0 What is \u201cthe kingdom gospel\u201d?\u00a0 It was preached by John and it was preached by Jesus, it was preached by the Twelve, it was preached by the seventy.\u00a0 Does anybody remember what that gospel was?\u00a0 \u201cRepent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.\u201d\u00a0 That is what is being held out to national Israel on a silver platter in the first half of Matthew\u2019s Gospel.\u00a0 And Jesus, when He sent the disciples out to preach this gospel said, \u201cDo not go the way of the Gentiles.\u201d\u00a0 [Matthew 10:5, \u201cThese twelve Jesus sent out after instructing them: \u2018Do not go in the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter any city of the Samaritans;\u2019\u201d]\u00a0 See that there; I mean, is that what we tell people to do with the gospel today, don\u2019t go the way of the Gentiles.\u00a0 No, it\u2019s the opposite, isn\u2019t it?\u00a0 \u201c\u2026do not enter any city of the Samaritans [6] but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of the house of Israel. [7] And as you go, preach, saying, \u2018The kingdom of heaven is at hand.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 The kingdom is going to be preceded by this language.\n\nNow obviously that\u2019s not what we preach today at all.\u00a0 What do we preach to people?\u00a0 \u201cBelieve in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 That\u2019s our message.\u00a0 We don\u2019t go around to people and say, \u201cRepent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.\u201d\u00a0 In fact, that message was preached by Paul, Acts 16:30-31 in Philippi.\u00a0 [Acts 16:30-31, \u201cand after he brought them out, he said, \u2018Sirs, what must I do to be saved\u2019\" [31] They said, \u2018Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.\u2019\u201d]\u00a0 So obviously Paul, to do this, had gone outside the borders of Israel, hadn\u2019t he?\u00a0 So if the message of Matthew 10 is the message of today then Paul just disobeyed Christ\u2019s instructions, right?\u00a0 Because Jesus go only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.\n\nSo the fact that he is going against those instructions must mean that those instructions go only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, those instructions had been suspended in the present age and temporarily replaced with the gospel of grace which is believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.\u00a0\u00a0 And this message, \u201crepent for the kingdom of God is at hand\u201d is not going to be preached again until what time period.\u00a0 The tribulation period.\u00a0 In the church age a different message is going out entirely.\u00a0 So we have to be faithful to the message God has given us.\n\nDwight Pentecost, my professor, says the new command of Christ, \u201cyou shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem and to Judea and in Samaria and to the uttermost part of the earth,\u201d [Acts 1:8] does not coincide with the gospel of the kingdom which must precede the institution of the kingdom.\u00a0 According to Charles Fienberg when men are invited to receive the grace of God in salvation today they not urged \u201crepent for the kingdom of God is at hand.\u201d\u00a0 So that\u2019s another distinction is we have a completely different message than what was proclaimed and what will be proclaimed related to the offer of the kingdom.\u00a0 And yet how many Christians today would you say understand this?\u00a0 It\u2019s such a simple point to make but if you don\u2019t have somebody in front of you explaining these things to you,\u00a0 you just grab any verse you want out of the Bible and toss that into the lap of the unsaved.\u00a0 And yet you can see very clearly here that you don\u2019t just grab any verse of the Bible and toss it into the lap of the unsaved; you grab the message that\u2019s pertinent to our age.\n\nThe fifth reason why the church is not the kingdom, and this is something that I hardly hear anybody talk about, the kingdom\u2019s arrival is instantaneous; by contrast the church\u2019s instruction is gradual.\u00a0 So when we look at various passages about the coming of the kingdom, we think of Daniel 2:44 where that giant stone cut without human hands immediately crushes the feed of the statue and the antichrist\u2019s empire crumbles in a second. [Daniel 2:44, \u201cIn the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever.\u201d]\n\nJesus described His Second Advent and the manifestation of the kingdom as lightning coming, Matthew 24:27-28.\u00a0 [\u201cFor just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. [28] Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.\u201d\u00a0 In fact, when Jesus comes to establish the kingdom there\u2019s going to be so many dead bodies at the instantaneous judgment that takes place that the birds of prey, the vultures, will come and gorge on the corpses, Revelation 19, verses 11 and following.\n\nNow look at those descriptions as I\u2019ve just described them and compare them to how the church is described.\u00a0 The church is never described as something that happens instantaneously.\u00a0 What the Lord is doing is He, for the last 2,000 years has been gradually building His church.\u00a0 Didn\u2019t Jesus say \u201cI will\u201d what, \u201cbuild my church,\u201d which is a lengthy construction project.\u00a0 The Book of Acts, chapter 15 and verse 14 talks about how God in the present age is calling out a people for His own name, sort of a gradual process. \u00a0Ephesians 2:22 says that we are being built into a spiritual temple.\u00a0 You get the same idea in 1 Peter 2:5, that the Lord is gradually putting stones into this temple, metaphorical temple called the church.\u00a0 \u00a0[Acts 15:14, \u201cSimeon has related how God first concerned Himself about taking from among the Gentiles a people for His name.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Ephesians 2:22, \u201cin whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.\u201d\u00a0 1 Peter 2:5, \u201cyou also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.\u201d]\n\nAnd this gradual process that He is doing is not going to be completed until the full number of Gentiles finally comes in.\u00a0 There is a full number that has to be reaches and then the work of the church will be over.\u00a0 So what the Lord did with the church is He, through His death, became the cornerstone.\u00a0 The cornerstone is the most important stone in the temple structure because that stone you use to line up all the other stones.\u00a0 So He put in the corner stone and then He laid the foundation with the apostles and the prophets.\u00a0\u00a0 And then He began to build gradually on this foundation as the various stones were put in, Ephesians 2:22, 1 Peter 2:5, there\u2019s so many verses on this it\u2019s hard to cover them all, I wish I could.\u00a0 1 Peter 2:5 says, \u201c\u201cyou also, as living stones, are being built up\u201d see the process there that\u2019s gradual, you \u201care being built up as a spiritual house....\u201d]\n\nEphesians 2:22, gives you that same gradual building process.\u00a0 It says, \u201cin whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.\u201d\u00a0 So this can\u2019t be the kingdom because when the kingdom comes it\u2019s cataclysmic, it\u2019s instantaneous, it\u2019s violent, it\u2019s so sudden in terms of its arrival, it\u2019s like lightning.\u00a0 And compare that to the church.\u00a0 In the Book of Acts there are these things in the Book of Acts called progress reports; sometimes they\u2019re numerical counts, sometimes they\u2019re just generic mentions of the numerical growth of the church and the Book of Acts covers a time period of about 30 years, really from the ascension of Christ all the way to the first imprisonment of Paul, about three decades there.\u00a0 And all the way through that three decade process Luke, who wrote the Book of Acts, puts in these little reports about how numbers were increasing and there were great numbers at Antioch and 3,000 were saved on the day of Pentecost in Acts 6, right in there, it talks about how there were 5,000.\n\nAnd you see how gradual this process is, this building of the church.\u00a0\u00a0 This is going on over a three decade process as recorded in the Book of Acts.\u00a0 That can\u2019t be the kingdom, which is cataclysmic and instantaneous and sudden.\u00a0 When the kingdom comes it\u2019s not going to be a gradual construction project; it\u2019s going to be here it is, like lightning.\u00a0 The full manifestation of the kingdom will come instantaneously.\n\nThere is a sixth reason why the church is not the kingdom.\u00a0 The church cannot be the kingdom because the church is called the heir of the kingdom.\u00a0 Now when you study kingdom references what you\u2019ll discover in the epistles is the kingdom is almost always, without exception, there\u2019s a few exceptions which we\u2019ll be going into at some point, but the kingdom is almost always put in the future.\u00a0 For example, Paul, in southern Galatia, in Acts 14:22 says through many trials we enter the kingdom of God, indicating that we\u2019re going to enter the kingdom of God yet future but before the kingdom comes we go through many trials..\u00a0 [Acts 14:22, \u201cstrengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying, Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.\u2019\u201d]\u00a0 Jesus said we should pray \u201cThy kingdom\u201d what? \u201cThy kingdom come.\u201d\n\nYou might want to jot down some of these: 2 Thessalonians 1:5, 2 Timothy 4:18, 2 Peter 1:11,\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 and\u00a0 you\u2019ll see it\u2019s always future, future, future, the kingdom, as far as our age is concerned.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 2 Thessalonians 1:5, \u201cThis is a plain indication of God's righteous judgment so that you will be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which indeed you are suffering.\u201d\u00a0 2 Timothy 4:18, \u201cThe Lord will rescue me from every evil deed, and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom; to Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.\u201d\u00a0 2 Peter 1:11, \u201cfor in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.\u201d]\n\nAnd then the Book of James, the Lord\u2019s half-brother, writes this little five chapter book and\u00a0 he seals the deal in chapter 2 and verse 5 and he says, \u201cListen, my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and\u201d what? \u201cheirs of the kingdom [which He promised to those who love Him?\u201d]\u00a0 What\u2019s an heir?\u00a0 An heir is somebody that has a legal right to something, they just haven\u2019t received it yet, they\u2019re not enjoying it yet but it\u2019s legally theirs.\u00a0 So if we are in the kingdom why in the world would we be called the heirs of the kingdom.\u00a0 That doesn\u2019t make a lot of sense, does it?\n\nThe great scholar, G. N. Peters says, \u201cIf the church is the kingdom and believers are now in it, then why designate them as heirs of the kingdom?\u201d\u00a0 Good question.\u00a0 I mean, if we were in the kingdom why in the world would we be called heirs of the kingdom?\n\nAnd this takes us to number 7, the church is not reigning today in kingdom authority, but the church is a suffering people in a hostile world system.\u00a0 Do we realize that when the kingdom comes the tables are switched, just like that?\u00a0 Currently Christianity is oppressed around the world, even in our own country sadly, we\u2019re seeing more and more laws and things turning against Christians and certainly that\u2019s the case in Islamic countries and China and Cuba and Saudi Arabia and it\u2019s almost like medieval times today where you can watch people actually being crucified on You tube, Christians.\u00a0\u00a0 You can watch Christians being put in cages and drowned or burned to death, having their heads cut off.\u00a0 I mean, is this really the kingdom?\u00a0 Come on!\u00a0 When the kingdom comes we will be reigning over our oppressors.\u00a0 That\u2019s what the Book of Revelation says when it describes the kingdom, it says, \u201cand they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.\u201d\u00a0 [Revelation 20:4, \u201cThen I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word\u00a0 of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.\u201d]\n\nIs that what\u2019s happening now?\u00a0 We can\u2019t even get our own Christian country on the right track most of the time.\u00a0 And what the Scripture reveals in the present age is the church is not ruling, the church is not reigning.\u00a0 What is happening is the church is being oppressed.\u00a0 Jesus said in John 15:18-19, He says, \u201cDo not marvel, if the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated<\/em> you. [19] If you were of the world, the world would love its own; [but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.\u201d]\n\n2 Timothy 3:12 says \u201cAll who seek to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be\u201d rewarded with a giant throne on planet earth\u2026 \u201cwill be persecuted.\u201d\u00a0 So the New Testament descriptions of the church in the devil\u2019s world is one of a suffering people.\u00a0 George Peters, again says, \u201cThe church, instead of being represented as a kingdom is held up as a struggling, suffering people.\u201d\u00a0 Now when you read the Book of Corinthians you see Paul being sort of sarcastic about this because the Corinthians actually thought that they were ruling and reigning in kingdom authority.\u00a0 And Paul sarcastically in that book talks about how oh, you\u2019re ruling and reigning but what about us apostles, us insignificant people,\u00a0 you know, we\u2019re only the foundation of the church, us apostles, look at what\u2019s happening to us, we\u2019re being persecuted, we\u2019re being driven from place to place, we\u2019re being martyred.\u00a0 And so you see a lot of this theme sort of develop in Paul\u2019s writings.\n\nThis takes us to number 8, when the kingdom comes satanic influence on the earth is over for a thousand years.\u00a0 I mean, whatever sin man commits during the kingdom is due to his or her sin nature.\u00a0 It\u2019s not due to satanic temptation.\u00a0 And the only exception to the rule is at the end of the thousand years Satan is going to be released from his abyss for a very short time and he and his rebels are immediately judged and Satan at that point his sentence is executed where he will be confined to the Lake of Fire.\n\nSo you don\u2019t have manifestations of Satan during the kingdom age.\u00a0 Revelation 20:1-3 says, \u201cThen I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. [2] And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; [3] and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it<\/em> and sealed it<\/em> over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time.\u201d\n\nThink of a time period with no Satanic interference.\u00a0 Would you describe that as our current time period?\u00a0 [Laughter]\u00a0 If you want to sense the resistance of Satan in your life try to step out by faith and do something for God; you\u2019ll immediately be resisted by Satan and his cohorts.\u00a0 Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 2:18, \u201cFor we wanted to come to you-- I, Paul, more than once-- and yet Satan hindered us.\u201d\u00a0 Think of all the things the devil does to hinder ministries, hinder saints, hinder us from doing the will of God.\n\n1 Corinthians 7:5 also talks about the \u00a0presence of Satan, \u201cStop depriving one another, except by agreement for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer, and come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.\u201d\u00a0 So there\u2019s Satan at work in marriages, seeking any kind of inroad that he can get to tempt one or both marital partners into some kind of sexual immorality.\u00a0 Satan is there soliciting, that\u2019s what a temptation is, by the way, it\u2019s a solicitation to sin.\n\nEphesians 4:26-27, says do not let the sun go down on your anger lest you give the devil a\u201d what? \u201cfoothold.\u201d\u00a0 Ephesians 6:12, \u201cFor 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<\/em>.]\u201d\u00a0 Revelation 2:10, of one of the churches there in Asia Minor, Jesus says Satan is about to throw some of you in prison, to test you for ten days.\u00a0 [Revelation 2:10, \u201c'Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.\u201d]\n\nSo you read the descriptions in the New Testament about the present age and it cannot be the kingdom because in the kingdom none of these things will be possible.\u00a0 Satan will be found.\u00a0 Think of the havoc Satan wrecked by speaking through Peter, by enticing Ananias and Sapphira to lie to the Holy Spirit, and by even getting us to not be forgiving.\u00a0 You know, if we\u2019re unforgiving towards people we give Satan not possession, I don\u2019t think he can possess us because I don\u2019t think God and the devil can be roommates, because your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 But he can certainly influence you as a Christian.\u00a0 He will take whatever ground you want to give him; you give him an inch, he\u2019ll take that and if you\u2019re not careful he\u2019ll turn that into a mile pretty quick.\u00a0 That\u2019s basically his nature.\n\nThis takes us to number 9, this can\u2019t be the kingdom age because the times of the Gentiles keep continuing.\u00a0 You all remember the times of the Gentiles; it\u2019s described in Daniel 2 and Daniel 7; it\u2019s the time period when there is no reigning king on David\u2019s throne.\u00a0 It started with the deposing of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar, 586 B.C.\u00a0 And the times of the Gentiles continue on until when?\u00a0 Not the rapture but the second advent of Christ at the end of the tribulation period.\u00a0 And so what Daniel 2 and Daniel 7 reveal is don\u2019t expect the kingdom, the \u201cstone cut without human hands\u201d to come until the times of the Gentiles, including the antichrist kingdom (which is yet future) run their course.\n\nSo guess what folks?\u00a0 Are we still in the times of the Gentiles now as member of the church?\u00a0 We\u2019re still in it! So if we\u2019re still in that time period then the kingdom of God can\u2019t be here, can it.\u00a0 I like the way Clarence Larkin puts it.\u00a0 He says: \u201cAs the times of the Gentiles is still running the church cannot be in this dispensation a governing, or kingdom power.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0Merrill Unger writes: \u201cHow futile for conservative scholars to ignore that fact and seek to find a literal fulfillment of these prophecies in history or in the church\u201d a lot of people are doing that, \u201dwhen these predictions refer to events yet future and have no application whatsoever to the church.\u201d\n\nThe tenth reason why the church is not the kingdom is New Testament kingdom references, I made a reference to this a little earlier, the New Testament kingdom references are primarily future.\u00a0 So in chapter 11 I have a point here, I list all of the references to the kingdom in the New Testament, basilea,<\/em> and you can look at that list on your own, overwhelmingly the New Testament puts the kingdom in the future, over and over again.\u00a0\u00a0 And what people do is they find a handful of verses that seem to say something different and they build their doctrine on that handful of verses.\u00a0 By the way, this is what people do with the doctrine of salvation.\u00a0 It says 160-200 times that we\u2019re saved by faith alone.\u00a0 I can show you probably 160-200 passages that say that in the New Testament.\n\nSo what do people do when they put their evangelistic tracts together?\u00a0 They ignore all those verses and let\u2019s find the one verse, Romans 10:9-10 where you have to confess Christ and let\u2019s build our evangelistic tract around that one verse and ignore the 200.\u00a0 That\u2019s the mindset that we\u2019re in with folks.\u00a0 Instead of interpreting the one obscure verse in light of the 200 clear ones it goes the other way around.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what people are doing with the kingdom.\u00a0 I\u2019ll show you the obscure verses that they use but you have to understand right out of the gate that the one or two obscure verses that they come up with go flatly against the plethora or the abundance of verses that put the kingdom in the future.\n\nNumber 11, and this one is big; in the present age Jesus is never said to be ruling from David\u2019s throne now.\u00a0 If we were in the kingdom you would be able to travel to Jerusalem under the worldwide rule of Christ;\u00a0 you would be able to go to David\u2019s throne on the earth in Jerusalem and see it occupied by the Messiah, Jesus Christ.\u00a0 That has to be in existence for the kingdom to be here.\n\nNow go to Jerusalem today, I recommend you go, but you\u2019re not going to find Jesus reigning on David\u2019s throne.\u00a0 What you\u2019re going to discover there is a nation in unbelief that\u2019s yet unconverted.\u00a0 So if Jesus is not ruling on David\u2019s throne right now, where is He?\u00a0 He is at (watch very carefully) the right hand of the Father.\u00a0 It is the position, according to John 17:5, it is the position of preincarnate glory that He had with the Father before the world was.\u00a0 And then He became a man, He came into our world, He paid the penalty for our sins and just before His crucifixion in His high priestly prayer, which is found in John 17, he says in verse 5, \u201cNow, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.\u201d\u00a0 So He prayed for that position of glory to be restored at the Father\u2019s right hand and that prayer request has been honored.\u00a0 Jesus ascended, Acts 1\u2026 see, if we were in the kingdom He wouldn\u2019t have ascended, He would have set up His earthly rule from Jerusalem. But Acts 1 tells us very specifically that He ascended and the Bible is very, very clear about this.\n\nRomans 8:34, it says, \u201cChrist Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s where Jesus is now; He\u2019s not on David\u2019s throne.\u00a0 Jesus has three offices: prophet, priest and king.\u00a0 Those are His three offices.\u00a0 He was a prophet in His first coming.\u00a0 He functioned like a prophet because He called Israel to repentance, which is what prophets did, \u201crepent for the kingdom of God is at hand.\u201d\u00a0 He will be a King at His second coming, when He rules from David\u2019s throne (over this planet) in Jerusalem.\u00a0 Matthew 25:31 says when the Son of Man comes He will take His seat on His glorious throne.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s the Davidic throne.\u00a0 [Matthew 25:31, \u201cBut when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne.\u201d]\n\nSo prophet first coming, king second coming\u2026 well, if He\u2019s prophet first coming and King second coming what is He doing now?\u00a0 Right now He\u2019s functioning as high priest, not after the order of Aaron but the order of Melchizedek, it\u2019s a higher priesthood than Aarons.\u00a0 The Book of Hebrews develops it.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what Jesus is doing now; He is not reigning as King;\u00a0 If He was reigning as King this Las Vegas shooting and other terrorist type incidents that we see going on around the world, that wouldn\u2019t happen. All of that would be brought under His dominion.\n\nHebrews 4:15 says, \u201cFor we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.\u201d\u00a0 Now He\u2019s doing a lot of things and what I\u2019ve discovered is most Christians really don\u2019t understand what He\u2019s doing now.\u00a0 They know what He did and what He will do but what\u2019s He doing now?\u00a0 And that\u2019s a section of Christology called the present session of Christ where it details what Jesus is doing now as high priest at the right hand of the Father.\u00a0 He\u2019s not reigning as King but He is building the church, gave the church spiritual gifts, interceding for us (aren\u2019t you glad for that), restoring broken fellowship between us and God the Father when we sin.\n\nAnd what is happening today in the world of theology is the three offices of Christ are being comingled.\u00a0 At Dallas Seminary, my Alma Mater, sadly not everybody but a large chunk of the people there are teaching that Jesus, right now, is on David\u2019s throne reigning.\u00a0 They just say it\u2019s a heavenly throne.\u00a0 Well that can\u2019t be because the Davidic throne is always earthly.\u00a0 And so they\u2019re merging His role as priest and king by arguing that we are in an already form of the Davidic Kingdom. \u00a0That\u2019s a doctrine called progressive dispensationalism which to me is a tragedy because the school wasn\u2019t started on that basis.\u00a0 In fact, that very doctrine will contradict the doctrinal statement of the school which mentions these three offices of Christ and says they are to be kept separate and they are chronological and they\u2019re not to be comingled.\n\nSo the moment you go down the road saying that Jesus is on David\u2019s throne now\u2026 now He\u2019s the heir to David\u2019s throne; He will be on David\u2019s throne one day but what people are doing is confusing the language of Him being the heir to David\u2019s throne to making it sound like He\u2019s on David\u2019s throne now, in heaven, which changes David\u2019s throne, number 1.\u00a0 And number 2, the problem with that is it changes the whole purpose of the church.\u00a0 No longer are we a struggling people in Satan\u2019s domain, suddenly we\u2019re here to take over, bring in social justice, and all of these kinds of things that only the kingdom itself on planet earth, the real kingdom can do.\u00a0 It\u2019s a game changer.\n\nSo should I drop dead of a heart attack (I\u2019m not planning on doing that any time soon) and you start interviewing for a new pastor\u00a0 I hope one of the questions you\u2019ll ask the person that wants the job is do you believe that Jesus is on David\u2019s throne now?\u00a0 Or if you move away and you go shopping for a church and you want to talk to the leadership and figure out where they are on this, that\u2019s question that will just get right to the heart of the matter.\u00a0 Do you believe that Jesus is reigning on David\u2019s throne now, because how they answer that question will shape their doctrine of what the church should be doing in the present. Does that make any sense?\n\nNumber 12, we cannot be in the kingdom now because the kingdom will be a time where miracles will be unrestrained.\u00a0 People say do you believe in miracles today?\u00a0 Yes I do, if I didn\u2019t believe in that I wouldn\u2019t pray for people.\u00a0 The Book of James, chapter 5 I think it is says call for the elders of the church, anoint so and so\u2019s head with oil, pray for them, it talks about if it\u2019s God\u2019s will they could be healed physically of their disease.\u00a0 So there are, I believe, intermittent periodic miracles but many times the prayers go unanswered because it\u2019s just not God\u2019s will for a healing to occur.\n\nPaul, you remember his thorn in the flesh, 2 Corinthians 12:7-10, pleaded with God, take it away, three times, and God said three times no, \u201cMy grace is sufficient for you.\u201d\u00a0 [2 Corinthians 12:7-10, \u201cBecause of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me\u2014to keep me from exalting myself! [8] Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. [9] And He has said to me, \u2018My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.\u2019 Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. [10] Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ\u2019s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.\u201d]\n\nNow in the kingdom had Paul prayed that before the word would even be spoken the healing would have happened.\u00a0 So we\u2019re living in an age where if a miracle happens it\u2019s very intermittent.\u00a0 But that\u2019s not what the kingdom is; the kingdom is a time where miracles and healing are the norm.\u00a0 See right now miracles and healing are the exception.\u00a0 The kingdom is a time period when miracles will be common place.\u00a0 The Book of Isaiah, chapter 35 and verses 5 and 6, of the kingdom, says: \u201cThen the eyes of the blind will be opened and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped.\u00a0 [6] Then the lame will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute will shout for joy.\u00a0 For waters will break forth in the wilderness and streams in the Arabah.\u201d\n\nIt\u2019s just talking about miracle after miracle after miracle after miracle after miracle; that\u2019s what the kingdom is.\u00a0 Now compare that to our time period.\u00a0 You know Paul, the apostle who raised people from the dead as an apostle, you get towards the end of his ministry, what was the very last book Paul wrote?\u00a0 2 Timothy.\u00a0 Paul, who in the Book of Acts, raised people from the dead at the end of his ministry what you start to discover is even that miracle-working ability that he had was starting to peter out because in 2 Timothy 4:20 (keep in mind this is the same man that raised folks from the dead, remember Eutychus, Paul preached too long\u2026 you guys think I preach too long, you wouldn\u2019t want Paul as your pastor, he preached all night.\u00a0 And Eutychus in the window sill fell asleep, this is all in Acts 20, and he hit the ground and he died, and Paul went down there and didn\u2019t say well, you shouldn\u2019t be sleeping in church, you got what you deserved.\u00a0 He laid hands on the guy and the guy rose from the dead.\n\n[Acts 20:9, \u201cAnd there was a young man named Eutychus sitting on the window sill, sinking into a deep sleep; and as Paul kept on talking, he was overcome by sleep and fell down from the third floor and was picked up dead.\u00a0\u00a0 [10] But Paul went down and fell upon him, and after embracing him, he said, \"Do not be troubled, for his life is in him.\u2019\u201d]\n\nThose are the things that are happening in Paul\u2019s ministry.\u00a0 But you get to the end of his ministry, in his final letter, and what does he say?\u00a0 He says sin 2 Timothy 4:20, \u201cErastus remained at Corinth, but Trophimus I left sick at Miletus.\u201d\u00a0 Paul left a guy sick, this is the same guy that rose folks from the dead, he\u2019s now leaving people sick because miracles, in the church age, can happen but they\u2019re not the norm.\u00a0 That won\u2019t be the reality in the kingdom; there won\u2019t be anybody sick.\u00a0 That\u2019s why we\u2019re to pray \u201cThy kingdom\u201d what? \u201ccome.\u201d\u00a0 So a lot to look forward to when the kingdom manifests itself.\n\nAnd number 13, and this is my last one of the 13 reasons, when the kingdom comes there will be total financial prosperity.\u00a0 There won\u2019t be bankruptcies, there won\u2019t be financial stress or pressure, there won\u2019t be budgets, there won\u2019t be scarcity, there won\u2019t be lack of any kind, there won\u2019t be malnutrition.\u00a0 The Book of Amos, chapter 9, verses 11-15, actually let\u2019s do verses 13-15Behold, days are coming,\u201d declares the LORD, \u201cWhen the plowman will overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows seed; When the mountains will drip sweet wine and all the hills will be dissolved.\u00a0\u00a0 [14] Also I will restore the captivity of My people Israel, and they will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them; <\/em>they will also plant vineyards and drink their wine,\u00a0 and make gardens and eat their fruit.\u00a0 [15, \u201cI will also plant them on their land, and they will not again be rooted out from their land which I have given them,\u2019 says the LORD your God.\u201d\n\nThere\u2019s another reference to kingdom prosperity, and see, you wonder why so many people on so-called Christian television are teaching the doctrine of prosperity?\u00a0 It\u2019s related to their doctrine of the kingdom.\u00a0 These folks, nine times out of ten believe we\u2019re living in the kingdom.\u00a0 Well, if we\u2019re living in the kingdom the financial prosperity should be a guarantee, shouldn\u2019t it, to every child of God.\u00a0 And they market this over and over again on so called Christian television.\u00a0 The interesting thing about the prosperity gospel is it all has a tendency to stop at the borders of America, because I can go into Mexico, I can go into some other country, a third world country and you have very devout Christians in those countries and you don\u2019t see them living our standard of living at all.\u00a0 And yet are we more spiritual than them?\u00a0 That\u2019s just silly talk; if anything it might even be the opposite.\u00a0 Those are people that are far more spiritual than us because they\u2019ve got nothing to depend upon but God.\u00a0 We have all of our creature comforts and thing.\n\nSo, you know, you can tell the prosperity gospel doesn\u2019t work if you just travel around the world a little bit.\u00a0 The reason the prosperity gospel thrives in this country is we have an economy that can support it.\u00a0 You don\u2019t have that in other world countries.\u00a0 But in the kingdom prosperity will break out all over the world.\u00a0 Isaiah 65:21-22 says, \u201cThey will build houses and inhabit them; they will also plant vineyards and eat their fruit. [22] They will not build and another inhabit. They will not plant and another eat; for as the lifetime of a tree, so will be the days of My people, and My chosen ones will wear out the work of their hands.\u201d\n\nSee the prosperity that\u2019s described here?\u00a0 Compare that to passages in the New Testament that talk about famines.\u00a0 For example, in the church age in Acts 11:28, tell me if you think this could be describing the kingdom.\u00a0 It says in Acts 11:28, \u201cOne of them named Agabus stood up and began to indicate by the Spirit that there would certainly be a great famine all over the world. And this took place in the reign of Claudius.\u201d\u00a0 Now that could never occur in the kingdom; there won\u2019t be famines in the kingdom.\n\nPaul, in 2 Corinthians 8:1-4 talks about the Macedonians and how they were at a very low level of poverty, yet they gave out of\u2026 whatever they had they gave, they gave to the point that it hurt and He commends them for it.\u00a0 [2 Corinthians 8:1, \u201cNow, brethren, we wish to<\/em> make known to you the grace of God which has been given in the churches of Macedonia, [2] that in a great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality. [3] For I testify that according to their ability, and beyond their ability, they gave<\/em> of their own accord, [4] begging us with much urging for the favor of participation in the support of the saints,\u201d]\n\nWell, that couldn\u2019t happen in the kingdom; you can\u2019t have people living in poverty in the kingdom.\n\nThe Book of Philippians, chapter 4 and verses 11-12 Paul says, \u201cNot that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. [12] I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; [in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.]\u201d\u00a0 So Paul in his life says I\u2019ve seen it all, I\u2019ve gotten along with very little, I\u2019ve gotten along with much.\u00a0 Now Paul wouldn\u2019t be making that statement in the kingdom because the only condition the world will know in that time period is prosperity.\n\nThe Book of Revelation, chapter 2 and verse 9, this is my last verse, Jesus speaking to the church at Smyrna, \u201c'I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich), [and the blasphemy by those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.]\u201d\u00a0 So you\u2019re materially poor but spiritually wealthy.\u00a0 That kind of statement could not be made in the kingdom because in the kingdom financial prosperity will break out all over the world.\n\nSo what am I trying to get at here with all this stuff?\u00a0 My major point is look, folks, if we\u2019re honest with the New Testament and honest with the Bible the current age is an ager where God is working but it can\u2019t be the kingdom.\u00a0 Jesus is never called the king of the church. Christ\u2019s relationship to His church is never depicted through the kingdom metaphor.\u00a0 Prolonged carnality that we see in the church wouldn\u2019t exist in the kingdom.\u00a0 The kingdom gospel is different than the church age gospel.\u00a0 The kingdom\u2019s arrival is instantaneous and the church\u2019s construction is gradual.\u00a0 If anything we are heirs to the kingdom.\u00a0 We\u2019re suffering, not reigning. Satan, as Hal Lindsay said in one of his books \u201cis alive and well on planet earth.\u201d\u00a0 The times of the Gentiles continues.\u00a0 New Testament kingdom references are predominantly future.\u00a0 Jesus is never said to be ruling on David\u2019s throne.\u00a0 Kingdom miracles are absent today; so is kingdom prosperity.\n\nSo the next time we reconvene, next Wednesday we\u2019ll be talking about how not only is the church not the kingdom but just to make the point very clear the church is not Israel.\u00a0 The kingdom is set up to come through Israel; the church, contrary to what many people teach, is not Israel, so we\u2019ll be getting into that subject next time.\u00a0 We\u2019ve looked at the definition of the church, the beginning of the church, the purposes of the church and why the church is not the kingdom.","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t