Download June 2013 - How You Can Prepare for What Lies Ahead

Kingdom of God Bible Seminar – June 2013
How Can You Prepare for What Lies Ahead? (Part 1)
Welcome to the Kingdom of God Bible Seminars.
Daily headlines warn us about financial uncertainty, terror threats and continuing
culture wars.
How can you be prepared for the next turn in world events?
God wants you and your family to survive and succeed!
Today, let’s learn how you can prepare for the challenges and opportunities that lie
ahead.
This seminar will give you hope which comes from living by the principles of God’s law
and way of life.
Today we will ask and answer four essential questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Why don’t we have world peace?
Why is the Kingdom of God the solution?
What is a major, underlying crisis of our time?
What is Jesus Christ’s plan for your success and future in the Kingdom of God?
Understanding the answers to these questions from the Bible and the wonderful news
about the Kingdom of God will enlighten, empower and encourage you!
In part one of today’s seminar, we will cover the first two of those questions.
Then in part two, after a short break for refreshments, we’ll cover the last two
questions.
Why don't we have world peace?
Peace — worldwide permanent peace among all nations and peoples — has been an
ongoing hope and dream of mankind throughout human history.
It’s the stuff of countless stories, sermons and songs — and wishful thinking.
Endless strategies to promote peace have been proposed and tried.
Think of all the peace demonstrations, peace talks and peace treaties!
Sadly, even sincere negotiations have often been fruitless.
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God inspired the prophet Jeremiah to write a poignant portrayal of world history:
Jeremiah 6:14 “They have also healed the hurt of My people slightly
(superficially), saying ‘Peace, peace!’ when there is no peace.”
Human beings, on their own, cannot discover lasting solutions.
Isaiah 59:8 “The way of peace they have not known.”
Sadly, people are spiritually blind (verse 10).
The conduct of nations reflects the behavior of people.
The fact is international relations will be peaceable only when all people are
peaceable.
However, the inspired scriptures promise that this will eventually come to pass.
What will it take to achieve this?
Genuine world peace will require people to have:
Ezekiel 18:31 “A new heart and a new spirit.”
Only God can give us that new heart and spirit.
For the people God is calling now, He is offering that very change.
When Jesus Christ returns to earth, that offer will be extended to all people.
Unknown to many people, during Christ’s first coming, He was not trying to bring
about peace on earth (Matthew 10:34).
But world peace will finally take root when the Prince of Peace returns to earth.
At that time:
Isaiah 9:7 “The increase of His government and peace there will be no
end.”
Christ’s peacemaking will absolutely not be by appeasement — which is granting
concessions to enemies in the hopes of buying them off.
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Rather, He will forcibly put down rebellion and establish His Kingdom — His
government on this earth.
After that He will set about reeducating all humanity and bring about their spiritual
conversion.
At that time, the nations will be led into great peace, contentment and joyfulness.
War will be utterly banned!
Nations will:
Isaiah 2:4 “Beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into
pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall
they learn war anymore.”
It will be the marvelous time when:
Micah 4:4 “Everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree, and
no one shall make them afraid.”
Yes, one day the people of the world will finally witness and experience genuine and
lasting peace on earth.
Did you know that this is a central aspect of the message Jesus and His apostles
preached?
For example, the apostle Paul referred to the:
Ephesians 6:15 “Gospel [good news] of peace.”
But, why is humanity in the terrible state of suffering, discord and upset that it is?
Why is there no so little peace today?
Why so little cooperation among people?
Why does fighting, conflict and confusion often prevail in human relations?
It all has to do with our sinful human nature.
As human beings we have what the prophet Ezekiel referred to as hearts of stone
rather than compassionate hearts of flesh (reference Ezekiel 36:26).
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Our corrupt human nature and our weaknesses -- combined with the devil's influence,
has led the whole world into a world of hurt, suffering and agony (Revelation 12:9).
Paul explained that:
2 Corinthians 4:4 (NIV) “The god of this age [Satan the devil] has
blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of
the gospel.”
Paul reminds Christ’s faithful disciples that:
Ephesians 2:2-3 “You once walked according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works
in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted
ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and
of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.”
Because of Satan’s deceptions and the sinful tendencies of human nature, the apostle
wrote:
Romans 3:23 “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
We must understand, however, that the devil cannot force us to sin.
He simply influences us through our fleshly weaknesses.
But there are major areas of our fleshly nature that are easily manipulated by Satan.
First, our selfish, physical desires often get us into trouble.
Galatians 5:19-21 (NRSV) “Now the works of the flesh are obvious:
fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife,
jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness,
carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you
before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
The apostle Paul graphically describes the effect physical desires have on human
behavior.
Romans 1:24-32 (NIV) “Therefore God gave them over in the sinful
desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their
bodies with one another … even their women exchanged natural
relations for unnatural ones.
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(continuing) “In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations
with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men
committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves
the due penalty for their perversion.
(continuing) “Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to
retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to
do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind
of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity.
(continuing) “They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice.
They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and
boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they
are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know God's
righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not
only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who
practice them.”
The second, major area of our physical, fleshly nature easily manipulated by Satan is
that our natural deceitfulness, including self-deception, is an incredibly great
weakness.
Jeremiah 17:9-10 (NRSV) “The heart is devious above all else; it is
perverse—who can understand it? I the Lord test the mind and search the
heart, to give to all according to their ways, according to the fruit of
their doings.”
We naturally look for ways to justify our lusts, our sinful desires and the behavior that
arises from them.
We deceive ourselves into believing that, since our desires are natural, they are not
so bad after all.
But God’s Word, the Bible, reminds us that:
Proverbs 14:12; 16:25 “There is a way that seems right to a man, but
its end is the way of death.”
Death is the end result of living that wrong way (Romans 6:23).
The third major area of our physical nature is easily manipulated by Satan — is that
we have a natural tendency to resent having our fleshly desires limited by rules, even
God's rules.
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Paul explains:
Romans 8:5-8 (Holman Christian Standard Bible) “For those whose lives
are according to the flesh think about the things of the flesh, but those
whose lives are according to the Spirit, about the things of the Spirit.
For the mind-set of the flesh is death, but the mind-set of the Spirit is
life and peace. For the mind-set of the flesh is hostile to God because it
does not submit itself to God's law, for it is unable to do so. Those whose
lives are in [that is, dominated by] the flesh are unable to please God”
These and other fleshly weaknesses are what we call human nature.
Satan takes advantage of our weak and greedy nature by persuading us to rely even
more on our emotions, needs and wants than we normally would.
But we play our part — we go along with him — not realizing we are being influenced.
It just sounds good because our human tendency leans toward self-regard and selfrighteousness.
Without the positive influence of God’s Spirit, we are simply not inclined to live
according to God's instructions.
Therefore, Paul warns:
Romans 8:13-14 “For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but
if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For
as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.”
The Bible tells us that:
1 John 3:4 (KJV) “Sin is the transgression [breaking] of the law.”
The fundamental laws of God were summarized for us in the Ten Commandments.
The commandments are listed in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5.
(Our free booklet The Ten Commandments explains God’s laws more fully).
The ancient Israelites were told by God that if they obeyed those laws, everything
would go well for them and their new nation would be truly blessed in every
conceivable way.
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But they were also warned that if they disobeyed those laws, negative consequences
would surely follow.
Do these promises and warnings apply on the world scene and in our personal lives
today?
Many people, ignorant of these laws, have learned the hard way that breaking them,
even without knowing them, carries a penalty.
For example, the Seventh Commandment says, “You shall not commit adultery”
(Exodus 20:14).
Millions of people have broken this law and learned to their regret that the negative
consequences are often endless, leaving a trail of devastated and miserably unhappy
lives.
God’s laws cannot be broken with impunity.
There are always negative consequences, even if it takes decades to see them clearly.
For example, contributing to the breakdown of the traditional family in the Western
world has been the sexual revolution -- which overlapped with the expansion of the
welfare state.
In the United States, President Lyndon Johnson's “Great Society” in the mid-1960s
coincided with the growing use of the birth control pill, which revolutionized
attitudes toward sex.
The result is accurately described in Hosea 4:10: “They shall commit harlotry, but not
increase.”
Sexual promiscuity, contraceptives and the breakdown of the family contributed
powerfully to the decline in the birthrate, which is a major factor in the current
financial crisis.
Abortion is another major factor in this and another example of the negative
consequences of breaking one of the laws of God, “You shall not murder” (Exodus
20:13).
Tragically, in the United States alone, about 1.3 million babies are aborted each year.
What is needed is the restoration of the God-given family unit, making it once again
the fundamental building block on which society is built.
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Of course, the breakdown of the God-designed family unit is not the only problem in
our societies.
Greed has also contributed greatly to our current massive financial problems.
The idea that we can have something now without paying for it by putting it on a
credit card — or that government can pay for its promises to citizens by increased
borrowing or creating money out of thin air goes against the spirit of the Tenth
Commandment, “You shall not covet” (Exodus 20:17).
Breaking the Fourth Commandment has also contributed to our nation's fiscal
problems.
Opening stores seven days a week only encourages overspending, adding to our debt
load.
More importantly, ignoring this command also contributes to the family breakdown by
replacing any semblance of a day of rest and family togetherness with a day when
family members run in all different directions.
Worst of all, though, it adds to the national sin of breaking the First Commandment,
“You shall have no other gods before Me” (verse 3).
Rather than putting God first in their lives people have had an attitude like that
described here:
Revelation 3:17 “I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of
nothing’—when the reality, God says, is that spiritually we are
“wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.”
We can see a lot wrong everywhere we look — and it’s set to get worse as we
progressively turn away from God.
However, while Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28 warn of dire judgment on
disobedience, the same chapters call for repentance, a national and individual turning
away from sin.
Leviticus 26:40-45 “But if they confess their iniquity [sin] and the
iniquity of their fathers...then I will remember My covenant with Jacob
... for their sake I will remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom
I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might
be their God.”
This promise is beautifully echoed here,
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2 Chronicles 7:14 “If My people who are called by My name will humble
themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked
ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal
their land.”
Our nations are unlikely to change before the return of Jesus Christ to this earth —
but you can!
You can follow Jesus Christ and do as He requests.
You can seek the Kingdom of God.
Why is the Kingdom of God the solution?
Mainstream Christianity speaks continually about Jesus Christ — yet it never seems to
emphasize what He really said.
Christ constantly spoke of the Kingdom of God to His followers.
In parables He compared this spiritual Kingdom to earthly, material things so they
could begin to grasp its vital meaning and significance.
Jesus stated:
Matthew 13:45-46 “The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking
beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went
and sold all that he had and bought it.”
Jesus’ clear point is that the Kingdom of God is so precious that it becomes worth
sacrificing everything else to actually enter it.
The previous parable makes the same point:
:44 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field,
which a man found and hid, and for joy over it goes and sells all that he
has and buys that field”
This Kingdom of which Jesus spoke embraces the solution to all our human problems
and dilemmas.
It answers everything!
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This Kingdom should be the primary goal of each of us — the central focus of all our
necessary subordinate goals.
However, a supremely clever but perverted spirit being has sidetracked humanity into
believing all kinds of other philosophies and religions (see Rev. 12:9; 2 Cor. 11:13-15).
But the Kingdom of God is the vital truth directly from the Bible.
Jesus Christ spoke of the prophets and patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob being in
the Kingdom of God (Luke 13:28-29).
Matthew in his parallel account uses the term “kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 8:1112).
He uses the term “heaven” as a synonym for God since he was writing to a Jewish
audience who avoided using the name of God.
Therefore the terms Kingdom of God and Kingdom of Heaven are synonymous.
Just before His suffering and subsequent death by crucifixion, Christ said to His
original apostles:
Luke 22:28-30 “But you are those who have continued with Me in My
trials. And I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as My Father bestowed one
upon Me, that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit
on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”
Jesus is clearly talking about a literal kingdom, with literal people whom the apostles
would “judge” — lead, guide, train and teach!
But the Kingdom will encompass many more than just the Hebrew patriarchs and
prophets and the New Testament apostles.
The apostle Paul, facing the end of his life, wrote to his beloved friend Timothy the
evangelist that:
2 Timothy 4:8 “There is laid up for me the crown of righteousness,
which the Lord [Jesus Christ], the righteous Judge, will give to me in
that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His
appearing.”
These biblical passages show us that people can definitely enter the Kingdom of God.
All true Christians will participate in and have their part in it!
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Jesus Christ is going to return to the earth in power and majesty.
He will establish His Kingdom to rule over all the nations of men.
Here is how the Bible says this will occur:
Revelation 11:15 “Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were
loud voices in heaven, saying, ‘The kingdoms of this world have become
the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever
and ever!’”
Jesus and his spirit born children will bring magnificent changes to the world.
The earth’s wildernesses areas will be fully transformed into gorgeous, productive
lands (Isaiah 41:18, 51:3, Amos 9:13).
The nature of wild animals will be altered so they become utterly tame (Isaiah 11:6).
People will experience God’s loving compassion through miraculous healings (Isaiah
35:5).
Humanity will never again suffer the anxiety, cruelty and devastation of war (Micah
4:3).
The nations will abide in genuine peace as the knowledge of God fills the entire world
(Isaiah 11:9).
Jesus will use those who have shown they will always be faithful to Him to teach
others how to live without abuse, hatred and fear.
Everyone will need to be shown how to love as family and friends, and how to obey
the God who loves them.
You can be one of the teachers who will affect so many lives and do so much good.
If you will learn to obey and faithfully follow God today, He can use you in His
Kingdom to help bring real world peace!
Now, we’ll take a short break for refreshments and afterwards I will be back for the
second part of today’s Kingdom of God Bible Seminar.
See you again shortly.
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