Scriptures pertaining to Jesus message:

Matthew 4:17 NIV1984 – “From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”

Mark 1:15 NIV1984 – “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!”

John 3:3 NIV 1984 – “In reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.”

Luke 17:20-21 NIV1984 – “Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is within you.”

Matthew 10:7-8 NIV1984 – “As you go, preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near.’  Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.”

This is the message God has called me to teach:

1. Repent, for the kingdom of Heaven is near.
2. Jesus is The Only Way, The Only Truth, and The Only Life.  No one comes to the Father but through Him.
3. Submit yourself to God.  Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

11-3-23 – Quiet Time Thoughts:

1. Walk humbly with my God
2. Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness
3. Submit to the Lord, resist the devil and he will flee from you
4. Blessed are the poor in spirit

As I was praying to the Father this morning, the Holy Spirit impressed on me those four things to remember.  I asked Him to teach me about submission, about it not being about me but being about Him, about yielding my will to His will, about working through me to glorify His name. 

To remember to pray “thy kingdom come, thy will be done,” was what I asked for. The Holy Spirit responded with those four impressions.

The verse of the day today on bibleportal.com was:

Matthew 10:7-8 NIV1984 – “As you go, preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.”

This was confirmation to me that time is short! The kingdom of heaven/God is coming and that as believers in Christ Jesus we need to wake up and spread His gospel message with fervency. As JD Farag says, there is an urgency to “get people to Jesus and Jesus to people.” Many will leave this earth today for eternity without knowing Jesus as Lord and Savior. As believers in Christ Jesus, we are to be watchman on the wall!

Again, the message God has called us all to teach is:

1. Repent, for the kingdom of Heaven is near.
2. Jesus is The Only Way, The Only Truth, and The Only Life.  No one comes to the Father but through Him.
3. Submit yourself to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

Key words and phrases to understand and meditate on:

• Repentance
  • God is full of mercy, grace, and love for us.  He wants us to repent because He knows how destructive and deceitful sin is
  • It literally means to change one’s mind
  • To stop, turn, and go adifferent direction
  • In the biblical sense it is to:
    • see the destructive effects sin has had not only in my life but in my relationship to God, family, friends, and others in the world
    • it is to mourn over my sin with a deep sense of sorrow and regret, seeing its destructiveness
    • both turning away from my sin and turning to a new relationship with God
  • a relationship with the Father can Only be accomplished through knowing Jesus and calling on Jesus’ name living a life of daily submission of my will to God’s will in each and every situation – day by day, moment by moment

• The kingdom of heaven/God
  • The two phrases ”kingdom of God” and “kingdom of heaven” are synonymous as indicated by parallel passages in the gospels where the two phrases are used referring to the same story or subject.  There are different authors writing to different audiences using the two different phrases to refer to the same thing
  • 3 aspects of the kingdom of God/heaven:
    • the universal reign of God over all creation
    • the spiritual reign of God in my life accomplished through repentance; belief in Jesus’ death burial and resurrection; and confession that Jesus is Lord. “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved “ Rom. 10:13
    • the literal, physical, and spiritual millennial reign of Christ Jesus in the future
• The good news
  • The gospel (literally means good news)
  • God is perfect, holy and loving
  • We cannot live up to a standard of perfection and holiness because of our sin
  • God provided a way for us to be perfect and holy in His sight through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross for our sins
  • Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection turned away God’s wrath against our sins
  • Our task is to follow the ABCs of salvation:
    • Admit/Acknowledge that I am a sinner
    • Believe in Jesus’ work on the cross for me and that He rose from the dead
    • Confess/Call – confess that Jesus is Lord of my life and call on His name
  • The Romans Road (NIV 1984)
    • There is no one righteous, not even one – Rom. 3:10
    • For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God – Rom. 3:23
    • But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us – Rom 5:8
    • For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord – Rom. 6:23
    • That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raied him from the dead, you will be saved.  For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved – Rom. 10:9-10
    • For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved – Rom. 10:13
• Born again
  • We are spiritually dead in our trespasses and sins Eph 2:1-2.
  • We are physically alive but spiritually dead in need of a Savior.
  • We must be born again spiritually.  This is what Jesus told Nicodemus: “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’” John 3:5-7 NIV 84
  • Jesus also told Nicodemus “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” John 3:3
  • Jesus said two things about the kingdom of God:
    • you cannot see the kingdom of God unless you are born again
    • you cannot enter the kingdom of God unless you are born again.
  • To be born again we must see the kingdom of God as the Holy Spirit draws us and then enter the kingdom of God through accepting the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.  Paul wrote to Titus “he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.  He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.” Titus 3:5
• The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation
  • This was a reply to the Pharisees who sought to trick, discredit, and ultimately kill Jesus
  • “’your’ careful observation” refers to the Pharisees misinterpretation/misunderstanding of the Scriptures concerning the Messiah and His mission to restore the nation of Israel and to establish God’s kingdom
• The kingdom of God is within you
  • The Pharisees were looking for a physical establishment of the kingdom of God and misunderstood the nature of God’s kingdom as taught in the Scriptures. 
  • God wanted to take their hearts of stone, give them hearts of flesh, and put a new Spirit in them. “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh” Ezekiel 36:26.
    • As seen above, this is the same process that Jesus taught of being “born again.” 
  • The Ezekiel passage talks of both the future kingdom of God and being spiritually born again in the present time. 
  • The Pharisees missed their current spiritual need thinking that they could be righteous before God by obedience to the Law alone.
  • The kingdom of God “right now” is within those who are born again.