Today, we begin a brand new series on the Kingdom of God. What is the Kingdom? As we drill down into that question, we will see that it’s probably not what you thought it was. Matthew 6:33 is the kingdom verse almost every Christian knows, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” What does this verse mean and how do we apply it to our everyday lives? We trust that this verse will become more real to you than it ever has as this series progresses.

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Accept the Challenge

Each week’s podcast contains a call to action. The Word of God will not produce in your life unless you put into operation.
This week’s call is:

Reigning is part of Kingdom life. Take the time this week to learn about the Kingdom by doing a Bible search for it in the New Testament, especially in the Gospel of Matthew.

Join the Conversation

Each week’s podcast also contains a question designed to encourage testimony. Testimony is vital to a believer’s life. We overcome by it (Rev. 12:11).
This week’s question is:

Question: As it stands today, what is your concept of the Kingdom of God? Would you please share your thoughts in the comments section below?

About Emery

Emery committed his life to the Lord Jesus Christ over 40 years ago and has served as both a full-time pastor and an itinerant minister. Both he and his wife Sharon of 35 years emphasize personal growth and development through the Word of God. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is both the focus and the hallmark of their mission. Read more about them here.

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If you enjoyed the podcast, please rate it on Stitcher Radio and leave a review. If you have a suggestion for a Bible topic you would like to see taught, or if you have a question, please e-mail me at emery@emeryhorvath.com

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Podcast Notes

The Prominence of the Kingdom in the New Testament

• The exact phrase the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven is referenced in the four gospels one hundred and nineteen times.
• It’s referenced in the rest of the New Testament thirty one times.
• It is not a light matter.
• Repetition means importance.
• When you see a thing mentioned over and over and over again in the Bible, hone in on that.
• The repetitive nature of the idea means that it’s important.
• When you mention the Kingdom, there are several verses which Christians are hugely familiar with but mostly don’t have a clue how to live them.

Matthew 6:33 (NKJV) 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

Matthew 6:10 (NKJV) 10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.

• In the Sermon on the Mount, the greatest message Jesus ever preached, the Kingdom is referred to eight times.
• In the gospel of Matthew, the Kingdom is mentioned fifty-seven times.
• We are going to use Matthew’s gospel as a base for this series and we are going to look at it from every angle ‘Matthew style.’
• The very first time the kingdom is mentioned in the New Testament, in the book of Matthew, is on the lips of John the Baptist.

Matthew 3:2 (NKJV) 2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”

• The Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus, had revelation about the Kingdom.
• He knew about it.
• His message was repent because the Kingdom is here.
• There is something about the Kingdom which requires repentance.
• The Greek word ‘repent’ is a verb which action is required of the hearers.
• The action required is to reconsider; to have a change of self (heart and mind) that abandons former dispositions and results in a new self, new behavior, and regret over former behavior and dispositions.
• The idea of repentance was a new idea for the Jewish hears of these words.

• Matthew is saying to his Jewish readership that there’s something about your lives that needs adjustment in order for you to embrace the Kingdom.
• You understand that Matthew’s primary emphasis was to write about Jesus to the Jewish people.
• How do we know Matthew was written to the Jews?
• We know it simply because a great amount of Jewish terminology is used without explanation.
• If you were trying to communicate with someone in another country and you mentioned ‘Wall Street’ to them, you would have to explain what ‘Wall Street’ is or they would be lost.
• There would be no communication.
• So, Jewish terminology like the ‘Abomination of Desolation’ mentioned in Matthew twenty-four would have to be explained to a Gentile.
• But, there’s no explanation.
• So, this is one way we know who Matthew’s audience was.
• The point of this is the idea of repenting to enter into the Kingdom was brand new to a Jew.
• They thought they were automatically in the Kingdom because they were who they were as a people.
• Who they were because they were children of prophecy.
• Who they were as children of Abraham.
• Who they were as sons of Moses.
• John the Baptist said no.
• You have to repent, you have to have a change of disposition and mind, you have to abandon former dispositions in order to enter the Kingdom.
• Another way we know Matthew’s gospel was written to the Jews is that Matthew uses the phrase the ‘Kingdom of heaven’ because the Jews did not want to mention the sacred name of God.
• So Matthew, substitutes the word ‘heaven’ for the word ‘God.’
• Fifty-two times out of the fifty-seven times in his gospel he uses ‘kingdom of heaven’ instead of ‘kingdom of God’.

Jesus Message Was the Same as John’s

• You remember that Jesus did not have the anointing of the Spirit for most of His natural life.
• But, He always had a sense of mission about Him.

Luke 2:49 (NKJV) — 49 And He said to them, “Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?”

• The question we have to ask was what was His Father’s business?
• We find out after he was anointed.
• He was thirty years old when the Spirit of God first came upon Him in power.

Matthew 3:16 (NKJV) 16 When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him.

• The very next thing which took place after Jesus was baptized was that He was driven into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

Matthew 4:1 (NKJV) 1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

• You remember that one of the devil’s temptations was to show Jesus all the ‘kingdoms of the world’ with the promise that all of those kingdoms would be His if He would simply fall down and worship Satan.

Matthew 4:8–10 (NKJV) 8 Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ”

• One of the temptations was about kingdoms.
• Satan showed Jesus the kingdom’s of the world and gave Him the opportunity to get them back.
• Jesus declined vehemently with a ‘it is written.’
• Immediately after that, we have this first statement about Jesus ministry.

Matthew 4:17 (NKJV) 17 From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

• Same message as John the Baptist.

What Jesus Preached

• Jesus preached two things.
  • Repentance
  • The Kingdom of God

Why Must the Kingdom Be Number One in Our Thinking?

It’s What Jesus Taught

• What did Jesus preach?
• One minister said, he heard a news person say that Jesus preached ‘love and acceptance’.
• He said that phrase bothered him in his spirit and finally the Lord spoke up inside him and said, ‘No, I did not.’
• Jesus did not preach love and acceptance.
• So, what did Jesus preach?
• I got curious about what people think Jesus preached, so I looked it up on the internet.
• Here’s one list.
  • “Jesus taught us about love and forgiveness.
  • He taught us not to judge others.
  • Jesus taught us to give to the poor and to be careful not to let wealth become too important.
  • Jesus taught us to be genuine and not hypocritical, to pray and to have faith.
  • Finally, Jesus taught us to follow Him and to place our faith and trust in Him.”¹
• Is this what the Bible says Jesus preached?

Matthew 4:23 (NKJV) 23 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people.

• The list above misses the theme of what Jesus preached.
• He preached the Kingdom of God.
• It’s like if someone asked ‘What’s the name of that forest over there?’
  • And you respond by naming all the different kinds of trees in the forest.
• People focus on certain aspects of what Jesus taught but they have a disconnect from what it all ties back to.

• They focus on the trees and not the forest.
• Jesus did have some days where He taught on love.
• He did have some days where He taught on forgiveness, where He taught on not judging others.
• Those are individual trees.
• The name of the forest is the Kingdom of God.
• People go down these trails and get lost in the details all the while not realizing what the whole thing is about in the first place.
• We are not here just to make sure that we don’t judge people, we are here to establish the Kingdom.
• We’re not here just to make sure, we walk in love with everyone, we are here to establish the Kingdom.
• We’re not even here just to make sure people just get saved.
• We have to get them saved AND get them established and built-up.
• We need functional saints not flopping floundering saints.
• It’s just like God didn’t give you a house just so you have something to clean.
• Don’t miss the purpose of why you’re doing what you’re are doing.
• Jesus preached the gospel of the Kingdom.

Gospel Is Short for The Gospel of the Kingdom

• It’s the gospel of the Kingdom not just ‘the gospel.’
• People say we are preaching the gospel and gospel means ‘good news’.
• And they immediately think ‘salvation’.
• Salvation is one tree in the forest.
• Love is one tree in the forest.
• Not judging is one tree in the forest.
• Spiritual gifts are one tree in the forest.
• Faith is one tree in the forest.
• All the trees combined together is the Kingdom of God.
• The good news is the good news of the Kingdom of God.
• Gospel means good news but gospel is shorthand for the gospel of the Kingdom of God.
• If we are ‘preaching the gospel’ what we are really preaching is the Kingdom of God.
• So, shorten it up if you like to ‘gospel’ but don’t forget the name of the forest.
• Jesus had ‘Kingdom of God’ on the brain.
• He talked about it all the time; constantly, continually.

Acts 1:3 (ESV) 3 He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.

• They crucified Him.
• They put Him in the grave.
• He pops up out of the grave talking about the Kingdom of God.
• The only think that stopped Him from talking about the Kingdom was that He paused for three days and nights in the heart of the earth.
• So, He started His ministry preaching the Kingdom and ended His earthly ministry talking about, answering questions from His disciples about the Kingdom.
• Now, we have witnesses to this fact that all Jesus did was talk about the Kingdom of God.

Acts 1:6 (ESV) 6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”

• The disciples had ‘restoring the Kingdom’ uppermost in their thinking.
• It was uppermost in their thinking because that’s all they heard Jesus talk about.
• So, naturally the disciples inquired.

Matthew 20:20–21 (ESV) 20 Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to him with her sons, and kneeling before him she asked him for something. 21 And he said to her, “What do you want?” She said to him, “Say that these two sons of mine are to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.”

• He talked about the Kingdom so much that Momma Zebedee thought, ‘You know I have to take care of my boys. I have to look out for my sons. Hey Jesus what about my boys position in your Kingdom? You know they’re good boys. What about putting them really close to you in your Kingdom?
• How did Momma Zebedee know about the Kingdom?
• She heard it from Jesus.
• She heard from her boys who came home and talked to her about what they heard Jesus teach.

Jesus Prayed the Kingdom

• One day the disciples came to Jesus and asked Him to teach them how to pray.
• He preached like no man they had ever heard preach.

John 7:46 (NKJV) 46 The officers answered, “No man ever spoke like this Man!”

• No one ever prayed like this man either.
• And so the request came ‘Lord teach us to pray.’

Luke 11:1 (NKJV) 1 Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.”

• And so, Jesus taught them to pray.

Matthew 6:9–13 (NKJV) 9 In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. 10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors. 13 And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

• The first thing Jesus did in prayer was acknowledge the Father and give praise to His name.
• The very next thing that came out of Jesus mouth?
  • “Your Kingdom come.”

Defining the Kingdom

Mark 1:14–15 (NKJV) 14 Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”

• The Greek word Kingdom is the next word we need to define.
• And we want to define it by looking at the three ‘W’s’.
• What is the Kingdom?
• When is the Kingdom?
• Where is the Kingdom?

What Is the Kingdom?

• The word kingdom means the domain ruled by a king or queen.
• We have heard it said that a democracy is the best form of government there is.
• It is not the best form of government.
• If it was, then God would be using it.
• Why would God use something inferior?
• The Kingdom of God is a Kingship not a, democracy.
• A kingship with God as it’s King is the best form of government.
• Maybe in the world of men, shared rule like in a democracy might offer some benefits to help keep in check mens appetite for power.
• Listen to this quote on kings.

In every language, a “king” is a head of state, a sovereign, a monarch; by extension, a head or representative of a group, one who reigns or presides at an event. A “kingdom” is the land or state governed by a king, and by extension a collective or persons or things ruled by a common principle (cf. the animal kingdom, the plant kingdom). “Reign” is the exercise of royal power, domination, either absolute personal power or dominating influence. ²

• Shortening this whole definition of ‘king’ down, you have these words.
• In every language, a “king” is a head of state, a sovereign, a monarch; by extension, a head or representative of a group, one who reigns meaning he exercises royal power, domination, or dominating influence.
• Now, apply this definition and truth to the Kingdom of God.
• A king is a sovereign ruler.
• You see the word ‘reign’ is in the word sovereign.
• Reigning is part of ‘kingdom life.’
• Reigning is the exercise of royal power.
• Reigning is about domination.
• Reigning is about dominion.

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References