 Okay, welcome back after the break and just before we went for the break, we were looking at, you know, about how Jesus introduced the kingdom. We saw that he preached the good news, the kingdom, he taught the principles of the kingdom and he demonstrated the power of the kingdom of God. And we looked at, you know, what we need to preach about God's kingdom. Now we look at, you know, what Jesus taught concerning the kingdom of God. So we look at a few things that Jesus taught within the context of, you know, the kingdom. Okay, so in Matthew chapter five verse three, we read that Jesus says, one of the Beatitudes is, blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Okay, so who are the poor in spirit? Those who are constantly hungry for more of God, for more things of God, you know, more revelations from His Word. They are more hungry for the spiritual things of God. Okay, then the constant state of wanting, begging, crying out, you know, for more of God in their lives, more of demonstration of God's power in their life or in and through their life or, you know, hungry and crying out to God for, you know, for Him to reveal more of Himself through His Word or to reveal, you know, what He has written in and through His Word. And He says, those who are poor in spirit, those who are hungry in their spirit man for more of the things of God, you know, they will experience the kingdom of heaven. And in Matthew chapter five verse ten, we read that another Beatitude where we read Jesus saying, blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of God. So, you know, remember that when we are persecuted or when we are wrongly judged or we are mistreated, when we do what is right, what is the truth, what is honorable in God's sight, remember that, you know, the kingdom of heaven is yours. And even though you suffer persecution or mistreatment or you are looked down, you know, remember that the glory of God will be revealed in and through you both in this life and when God comes to establish His natural kingdom and also when we spend time with God in eternity. Okay. The second Corinthians chapter four verse seventeen says that, you know, all that we suffer now are very momentarily. Okay. They're just for the moment. They will pass away compared to, you know, the kingdom of God, which is much greater than all of these sufferings, all of these difficulties that we'll face. So, you know, even as you're going through sufferings or even when you go through sufferings, remember there is something that far outweighs all of these suffering, the stipulations, these difficulties that is the glory of God that will be revealed through you and that you would, you know, be part of God's natural kingdom and also His eternal kingdom. Okay. And another teaching that Jesus, you know, thought regarding the kingdom of God is in Matthew chapter five verse nineteen. So, can somebody read that please? Matthew chapter five verse nineteen. Matthew five verse nineteen, whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches men, so shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. So, here Jesus, thank you Paul. Here Jesus is saying who is great in the kingdom of God. So, who is great in the kingdom of God? From this verse, who is great in the kingdom of God? Who is the one who does His Word? One who does His Word. Thank you. And teaches. And teaches His Word. Thank you, Rosalind. Thank you, Rosalind. So, the one who does the Word and the one who teaches the Word is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, which is so contrary or very different from what, you know, the kingdom of this world is. In the kingdom of this world, who is great? One who has more money, Jeffrey is saying. Okay. Who is great in the kingdom of the world? One who has great possessions and one who has great position. Okay. Possessions and position. But, you know, so different in the kingdom of God. In the kingdom of God, who is great? One who does the Word of God, who not just reads the Word of God, but does what it says and also teaches the Word of God. And also, Jesus said in Matthew chapter 18, verse 4, he also thought that who is great in the kingdom of God? One who becomes a childlike, who humbles himself like a child will be great in the kingdom of God. And also in Matthew chapter 20, verse 26, Jesus says that, you know, if you humble yourself and you become a servant of others and you serve others, you will be called the greatest in the kingdom of God. Okay. So Jesus is instructing us here in Matthew chapter 5, verse 19, that when we do His Word in our personal lives and we live by His Word, we follow it and then teach others to live by His Word, then we will be called great in the kingdom of God. So it's actually doing His Word in our personal lives. It's living by it. It's following it and then teaching us, teaching others to do it. You know, they will be called great in the kingdom of God. Okay. And then he talks about, in Matthew chapter 7, verse 21, he talks about doing the will of the Father. Jesus says in Matthew chapter 7, verse 21, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but He who does the will of my Father in heaven. Okay. So Jesus is emphasizing that doing the will of God is more important rather than, you know, just worshiping God or just honoring Him through our lips or just teaching others through our lips and not doing it ourselves. It says it's very important for us to do the will of God. Okay. He even revealed that knowing Him personally is more important than being familiar with just using His name or ministering in His name. And sadly, we get into this whole, you know, this whole rut or this whole motion of it that, you know, we become so familiar with just speaking God's name, using His name, you know, using His name to command sickness and disease and oppression and, you know, bondages to be broken. But, you know, we get so caught up in doing things for God than just being with God. Okay. It's more important for us to be with God than just being busy bodies, doing things for God. Because the more time we spend being with God, you know, we know that the kingdom is here in our hearts, you know. And when we spend time with God, His presence and His power is manifested in and through us wherever we go. And it doesn't, it becomes so effortless. We don't have to put in so much of effort because we're just coming out of His presence. And when we come out of His presence, we are just manifesting the power of His kingdom. We are just manifesting His kingdom presence, His reign and rule, wherever we go and whatever we do. And then also we know that Jesus thought many different mysteries or aspects of His kingdom through His parables. And we will look at it in one of the other chapters in this book. So we'll not look at it here. Okay. Now we look at the third where Jesus, you know, or the third approach of how Jesus introduced His kingdom. We saw that He preached the good news to the kingdom. He taught the principles of the kingdom. And the third one is He demonstrated the power of the kingdom of God. Okay. So we read in Matthew chapter 12 verse 28, Jesus says, If I cast out demons by the spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. And in Matthew chapter 10 verse 7 and 8, Jesus says, As you go preach, you know, He tells His disciples, as you go preach saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand, heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons, freely you receive, freely give. Okay. So we read here in Matthew chapter, we also read in Matthew chapter 4 and, you know, in Matthew chapter 9. Just before the break, we looked at those passages how Jesus went about preaching and teaching and healing the sick and raising the dead and casting out demons. And we also look at this in, you know, Matthew chapter 12 verse 28, which I just read. So Jesus was saying that, you know, this is me ushering the kingdom of God, even as I cast out demons, even as I heal the sick, even as I raise the dead. So He demonstrated the power of the kingdom. And that is how He ushered in the kingdom of God. So how did Jesus usher in the kingdom of God? He ushered in the kingdom of God by demonstrating the power of the kingdom of God. And He also, you know, pointed out to His science, miracles and wonders as a clear, you know, expression or an indication that God's kingdom is come among men. Okay. Or God's kingdom has come here on. Then how did He, you know, express this? He pointed it out to the demonstration of the science, miracles and wonders, the works that He did. And He said, these are clear indications or these are clear expressions that the kingdom of God has come among you. Okay. And not only did Jesus demonstrate the power of the kingdom, we see that, you know, He calls His 12 disciples. He gave them the authority and the power to go preach and teach. And I just read that in Matthew chapter 10, verse 7 and 8. He says, preach saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand, heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead and cast out demons freely you have received freely. So we see that, you know, Jesus not only had the authority, but He gave His 12 disciples the authority. Then He gave the 70, He called out the 70, He gave them the authority also to do the same thing. And also even before He went up, He ascended back to the Father, you know, He gave all those who believed in Him, the authority. That means we read in John chapter 17, Jesus in His high priestly prayer tells the Father, you know, I want those who believe in Me to share the same glory that I had when I was here on earth. So, you know, He gave us the glory, the sonship glory. Remember we learned about this in Christology, He gave us a sonship glory to manifest who He is and what He does here on earth. So even as you and I are part of this kingdom of God and we are, you know, this generation now of the church who has been given the authority or the keys of the kingdom, you know, we don't have to come up with any new methodology or new way of doing things. You know, yes, we can invite new ways of how we can creatively, you know, initiate or establish the kingdom of God here or further the kingdom of God here. But the same methodology we can use that Jesus used, the same approach that Jesus used of preaching, teaching and demonstrating the power of His kingdom is the same thing that we can use in our time, in our generation, both to announce the kingdom of God and to demonstrate His presence and His power of His kingdom here through science, miracles and wonders. Okay. So even as we are part of this kingdom of God, we have this privilege, but we also have this responsibility and God has given us, you know, different ways in which we can assure in His dominion, His power, His government here, how we can decree, we can command through prayer and through His names that we looked at in Isaiah chapter in 9, verse 6 and 7, you know, how we can speak the different names of God, which is an expression of who He is and what He wants to see in His kingdom. And even as we do that with boldness, with authority, in humility, you know, poor in spirit, you know, hungry for more of God, humbling ourselves by not just being a hero's the word, but doing God's word, living God's word, walking God's word and then teaching it to people, you know, we will be able to see the power of God demonstrated or the kingdom of God being established, manifested and, you know, growing in our midst wherever God has placed us. Okay, so that is chapter 2. Anyone has any questions? I hope all of you are following through. You are able to understand. Am I too fast? Am I too fast? Or you're able to understand? You're able to catch? Okay, I said before in the class. Hi, Paul. Okay, thank you, Zillatoli. Thank you, Subashish. Okay, any questions? Thank you, Rebecca. Okay, if there are no questions, can we move on to chapter 3, please? Is that okay? Yes, okay. Yes, ma'am. Okay, so in chapter 3, we are going to look at the church and the kingdom. Okay, so we look at what part does the church have in the kingdom of God, and what is the relationship between the church and the kingdom. So we're going to look at two things. What part does the church have in the kingdom of God, and what is the relationship between the church and the kingdom of God? Okay, so we see that the church is part of the overall kingdom of God. At this present time, the church is the representation of the kingdom of God here on earth, and God has vested on the church the authority of the kingdom, and how do we know that? We read this in Matthew chapter 16, verses 18 and 19. It's on page number 27 in your PDF, so can somebody read that, please? Matthew chapter 16, verses 18 and 19. Matthew chapter 16, verses 18 and 19. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of hate shall not prevail against it, and I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you lose on earth will be lost in heaven. Thank you, Rosalind. So Peter had just revealed that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God, and Jesus is saying this to Peter, that on this truth, Jesus is saying, I am going to establish my church, and this church will overthrow the powers of hell, and I will give the church the keys of the kingdom of God, and here the keys signify authority, okay? So Jesus is saying he will give the church the keys, which signifies the authority of the kingdom of heaven. So the church will have the authority on earth to bind even as it is bound in heaven, and the church will have the authority on earth to allow whatever is allowed in heaven. So the church has been vested with the authority, or the church has been given the authority, okay? Here we see also that Jesus says that the gates of hate will not prevail against it. The gates of hate will not prevail against it. Now, in Olden times, or in the Old Testament times, the gates of the city were a very important place. It was a place where the rulers sat and brought about judgments, or if anyone had any disputes, that's where they would bring the disputes at the gates where the rulers sat and they would pass their judgment. So it was a seat of power. The gates were considered to be the seats of power. It was also a place of protection and control. So the watchman who used to guard the city gates would not allow anyone and everyone to enter the cities. Like we have gated communities where in apartments, not everyone is allowed. If you're a visitor and they call the person whose home you want to visit and they ask permission and then you are allowed to enter. So there is restrictions there of entry and exit and things are controlled at the city gates. So it's a place of protection and control. And so here, you know, gates of hell or gates of hate is actually talking about the powers of hell. Now we need to understand that gates don't move. They are stationed, they are positioned in one place. They don't have legs to move. They are just stationed at one place. So here it says that the gates of hate shall not prevail against it. So gates are stationary. They don't move. And so it's the responsibility of the church to advance against the gates of hell. We don't sit waiting for the gates of hell to come to us, but we as a church that Jesus is building, we need to confront and we need to overthrow the powers of hell. So we need, we have given the authority, you know, the weapons that they've given Paul says is not carnal, but you know, is strong enough to tear down every stronghold, every forces of darkness. And so we have been given the authority. We've been given the keys of the kingdom. The keys of the kingdom is, you know, we've been given the authority to use God's name. We also studied in the last semester, you know, what weapons that God has given us for our warfare and God has given us everything we need for life and godliness, everything we need to fight against the enemy. So the church is, you know, is equipped, strengthened and given everything that is required to advance against the gates of hell and to overthrow it. Okay, so you and I are in a position and we have the authority to overcome the gates of hell and not succumb to it or not live in fear of the enemy or of his curses or the schemes or what he can do against us. Okay, and we also know the keys of hell and death, meaning here is that Jesus has conquered Satan, you know, he has the authority over Satan. He's received back the authority that man gave to Satan when, you know, when they disobeyed God, the Garden of Eden, and Jesus has taken back the authority. And, you know, he's also broken the power of death and the power of sin. So, you know, he has now given us the church, the keys of the authority, what he has won on the cross, what he has taken back from Satan, he's given it to us as the church. And who is the church? So you and I, okay, you and I are part of the church and we have been given that responsibility and we have been given the keys of the authority to overthrow the devil and all of his works and schemes and to usher in the kingdom of heaven here on earth. Now, let's go back and look at what happened in Genesis. We look at Genesis chapter one was 26 to 28. Okay, so can somebody read that quickly please Genesis chapter one 26 to 28 Genesis chapter one 26 to 28. Then God said, Let us make man in our image, according to our light, our likeness, let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God, he created him, male and female, he created them. Then God bless him and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it, have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air and over everything, over every living thing that moves on the earth. Amen. Thank you Rosalind. So here we see that we read that God created both Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve were both created and made. How do we know that? We read that in verse 26. God says, Let us make man in our image. So God made man and we also read in verse 27. So God created man in his own image. So we see that Adam was both created and made and when God said, Let us make man in our image. Now Adam was an offspring of God, his origin, he had his origin in God, his origin was of God. So just imagine this king who is the omnipotent ruler, who is almighty, who is all powerful, who is so magnificent, so awesome. He created Adam and Eve and he tells them or he issues this decree to them to have dominion on the earth. So just as the king spoke into the lives of Adam and Eve and told them to have dominion on the earth, the kingdom of heaven is also speaking to each one of us. So he's speaking into our lives and telling us that we are created to have dominion here on the earth. So God gave or the king gave dominion to man on the earth. So whatever transpires here on the earth is under our jurisdiction because God has given us the dominion and the authority. So whatever transpires here on the earth is under our jurisdiction because we are being given the authority or we have the authority on this planet and God says I am giving them the authority. So he's given us the authority and he says let them have dominion. Now these are not just small words that we can just take it very lightly when we read it. This is the king of the kingdom of God, this is the king of the kingdom of heaven, who is so magnificent, who is so awesome, who our minds cannot even reason or fathom or understand, who no man has seen and he lives in unapproachable light. This great, awesome, mighty, wonderful God is actually transferring or actually delegating his rule, his lordship, his authority, his dominion to mankind. He's actually giving this authority and this dominion to each one of us. And it's not something that we can take very lightly, it's not something that we can read it all very lightly. These are not just small words but we need to understand who is giving us and what is he giving us. The king of this great mighty, the ruler of the heaven and earth who created the planets. We don't even know how many planets are there or how many universes there are or how many stars there are. You know, so magnificent this God is but yet he has given us, he's transferring, he's delegating his rule, his lordship, his authority, his dominion to us as his sons and daughters and we have been designed by God for dominion on the earth. You know, we have been designed for dominion, we have been designed to rule, we have not been designed to be slaves, we have not been designed to live in fear of the enemy. We have not been designed to give, you know, say, okay, I can't overcome temptations or weaknesses or, you know, I just can't stop this or I can't just give up this weaknesses. No, we have not been designed to be slaves. We are not slave material, we are not servant material. We have been designed to rule, we have been designed to have dominion, we have been designed to have authority on this earth. And, you know, on this earth God has given us the authority, we are in charge. You know, whatever happens here is under our jurisdiction. So we need to understand that and we need to take that very seriously and we need to also understand, you know, from what mindset and perspective we need to operate out of and what God has given us, you know, and what he has called us to and how we can, you know, express his kingdom here on earth. He's given us everything, he's done everything, he's revealed everything to us. All we need to do is we just need to take the authority, we just need to speak, decree, command God's victory, you know, and ask him to bring about expression of who he is here on his kingdom. And we need to just believe that and see it as a done thing happening in the area where God has given us his domain and his rule. So we also know that man's authority is spiritual because it comes from God. Okay, man's authority is spiritual because it comes from God. So God was saying that through mankind, his rule, his reign, his kingdom, his government will be extended throughout the earth. Okay, and through us, God wants who he is to be expressed and what we looked at from the book of Isaiah. He wants all of that to be expressed through us in his kingdom and he will express himself here on earth through us, through you and me. God wants to express himself through you and through me here in his kingdom. So all that I am, I will release, God is saying that all that I am, I will release through them so that the kingdom on earth will be a true representation of who I am. So God wants to release all of who he is through each one of us so that we can be true representatives of him here on the earth. And how can he release that through us is only when we are mindful of who he is and how can we be mindful of who he is? We need to read his word. We need to understand the perspective, the mindset that God is calling us to have and to operate out of and to know who we are, that we are kingdom citizens, that we are sons and daughters, that we've been given the authority and to know what authority and power that he's given us and to use it. So Adam was a spirit being but he was made out of the dust of the earth and we know that his authority came from the invisible to the visible. So his authority came from God who is invisible to the visible. So it is made known here on earth. His authority came from the spiritual because God is a spirit being and it came into our natural realm. So even as we are spirit beings now because we are born again, we are not dead in our spirit man but we are alive in our spirit man. So we are spirit beings so God's authority comes through the spiritual into the natural. So that is why it's so important for us to feed our spirit man, for us to grow in our spirit man and not to feed our carnal nature, to put down the things of the flesh but to grow in the things of the spirit, to be poor in the spirit, to cry out, to beg out for more of God, for more expressions and manifestations of who he is in and through our spirit being. So that can be revealed in the natural realm. So God's authority will flow from the invisible to the visible because we can't see God, we can't see Kevin's invisible but it flows out of the invisible into the visible into our natural realm and God's authority flows from the spiritual into the natural. And that is why we say we are part of a spiritual kingdom now because God is spirit being and everything is through the spiritual. So our authority, our dominion on the earth comes from God who is spirit and it is flowing through us here on this earth. So anything that we do by ourselves we will fail because our authority does not come from our self, does not come from the natural but our authority comes from God. And the key thing here we need to know is that the key for us to operate out of this authority is obedience. As long as Adam and Eve walked in obedience they had the authority, the dominion on the earth that was delegated to them by God himself but when they disobeyed they lost the authority and we know that they became slaves of Satan. So obedience to God is absolutely vital for us to walk in dominion, to walk in authority, to walk in the power that God has vested upon us that God has given to us. So as we walk in obedience we will be able to walk in the authority that God has vested in our lives. So in the church, the church today, the church that is the redeemed saints of God, God has restored his dominion, he has restored his authority. Why do I say restored? Because we know that when Adam and Eve sinned they lost their authority, they lost their dominion but when Jesus died on the cross he took back the dominion and the authority so it was, he restored it back to us because we know that Adam and Eve had lost it and Satan took it away but Jesus redeemed us and brought us back and then Jesus says I'm giving you back the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven which means I'm giving you back the authority of the Kingdom of Heaven I'm giving you back the authority of Heaven and the authority has been vested back into us who are people who are redeemed from slavery of sin back into the Kingdom of Heaven, from the Kingdom of Darkness into the Kingdom of Light and we are the redeemed saints of God given the authority of God's Kingdom and so God is looking at your life and my life and saying I've given you the dominion I've given you the authority on the earth and I want you to establish my rule, my kingdom presence, my kingdom reign, my kingdom government here on this earth so even as the King has given us the authority and the dominion and the power we also as realize that we have the power and authority over the demons which means the demons have no authority to infest your life or my life now if we spot a cockroach in our house or a rat or anything, any pest we just don't take it very lightly we just don't let them be in our house we don't just let them infest our house we either take a broom or we take a slipper or shoes or whatever and we run behind it and try to do everything to just kill that pest because we know that one is enough to infest the entire house and to create a nuisance and to create a mess so the same principle applies here God has given us the authority, he's given us the power, he's given us the weapons that we need to fight Satan but we don't just allow him to infest our life and to have room in our lives and him to play with our lives but we take the authority that is vested by God the authority that he's given us and we, you know, that is given to us by the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords and we speak, we decree, we command the devil to leave or his demons to leave and we cancel and nullify every power of the enemy, every demonic affliction that is in our lives or we see in our family or the people that we're ministering to or the ministry that we are involved in so let's look at the Kingdom of God in the early church we see that Jesus even as he proclaimed about the Kingdom of God during his three years in his ministry we also see that he spent much time talking about the Kingdom of God and demonstrating the power of the Kingdom of God the last 40 days he lived here on the earth after he died and he resurrected from the dead and we see him speaking even about the Kingdom so we see that he continued to emphasize about the Kingdom of God even after he died and he rose again now it's the same thing has been given to us and trusted to us as a church but it's sad that the church of today, you know, we don't look at the things with the Kingdom of God perspective even our lives we don't look at things with the Kingdom of God perspective but it's important for us to do that as a church, as people who've been redeemed and brought back into the Kingdom and been given the authority of the Kingdom so even as we go through this study it's our prayer, it's our hope that this will change your mindset, your perspective that we will begin to think and live, you know, and we will become like Kingdom citizens having a Kingdom mindset and we see this happening even in the lives of the early church, the apostles not only did Jesus preach and teach and demonstrate the Kingdom of God not only did he emphasize about this in the 40 days when he came to live here when he came back and, you know, he rose from the dead and even before he ascended to the Father he thought about the Kingdom of God, he demonstrated the power of the Kingdom of God and we read this in Acts chapter 1 verse 3 it says, to whom he also presented himself alive after his suffering by many infallible proofs being seen by them during the 40 days and speaking of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God and so we see that the same mandate was carried on by the early church by the apostles they also focused on preaching and teaching the Kingdom of God and also demonstrating the power of the Kingdom of God we see Philip, you know, was one of them who served in the early church and then when persecution broke out he went to Samaria and he taught and preached about Jesus, about the Kingdom of God and people were awed by the mighty science, miracles and wonders he did and they received Jesus Christ and they were baptized in the water so we see that in Acts chapter 8 verse 12 Philip began preaching these things concerning the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus and both men and women were baptized we also see Paul and Barnabas talking about the Kingdom of God when they went about preaching in different cities it's mentioned here on page number 30 in Acts chapter 14 verses 21 and 22 where they preached in Listerap, Iconium and Antioch they strengthened the souls of the disciples they encouraged them to continue in their faith and also said that they will face tribulations even as they are part of the Kingdom of God but to hold on to their faith even as Paul was in Ephesus he spoke boldly for three months in the synagogue reasoning about things of the Kingdom of God in Acts chapter 20 verse 25 we see Paul preaching about the Kingdom of God and we see also in Acts chapter 28 verses 23 and 31 when Paul was under house arrest in Rome he just does not sit down and do nothing but even as he is in house arrest he continued what he had been doing and what was that preaching about the Kingdom of God what he mentions in Acts chapter 28 verse 23 and 31 he says preaching the Kingdom of God and teaching the things which concerns the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence and no one forbidding him and we also see that the companions and workers of the Kingdom of God Paul himself and his ministry team worked for the Kingdom of God wherever they went they taught they preached they demonstrated the power of the Kingdom of God and they also suffered for the Kingdom of God and we read that in Colossians chapter 4 verse 11 it says in Jesus who is also called Justice these are my only fellow workers for the Kingdom of God who are of the circumcision and they have proved to be a comfort to me Paul is saying all of his team members who preach about the Kingdom of God who build the Kingdom of God they are a comfort to him in his time of trouble, difficulties and tribulations and Revelation chapter 1 verse 9 John says, I John both your brother and companion in the tribulation in the Kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ was on the island that is called Patmos the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus so he says you know I was going to persecution and tribulation and you know was put in this island because I preached the Kingdom of God about and also about Jesus Christ so the early church thought about the Kingdom of God and we need to also understand the importance of preaching and teaching the Kingdom of God focus on teaching about the Kingdom of God now church today and preach the Gospel of the Kingdom of God that is what is mentioned in Matthew chapter 24 verse 14 says and this Gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all nations and then the end will come okay before we close we will just look at Matthew chapter 21 verses 33 to 46 so can somebody read that please? Matthew 21, 33 to 46 can somebody read that quickly? Matthew 21, 33 to 46 here another parable there was a certain land owner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it dug a wine press in it and built a tower and he leased it to the wine dressers and went into far country now when vintage time drew near he sent his servant to the wine dressers that they might receive its fruit and the wine pressers took his servants beat one killed one and stoned another again he sent other servants more than the first and they did likewise to them then last of all he sent his son to them saying they will respect my son but when the wine pressers saw the son they said among themselves they seized the heir come let us kill him and seize his inheritance so they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him therefore when the owner of the vineyard comes what will he do to the wine pressers they said to him he will destroy those wicked men miserably and lease his vineyard to other wine dressers who will render to him the fruits of their season fruits in their seasons Jesus said to them have you never read in the scriptures the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone this was the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes therefore I say to you the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing fruits of it and whoever falls on the stone will be broken but on whomever it falls it will grind him to powder now when the chief priests and Pharisees heard his parables they perceived that he was speaking of them but when they sought to lay hands on him they feared the multitudes because they took him for a profit Thank you John. So here we see in this parable Jesus is talking about you know how the kingdom of the God had planned to establish his kingdom through the nation of Israel and how the nation of Israel you know went away from fulfilling his plan and purposes and how God sent prophets and kings and judges to remind them, people to remind them but they still did not heed and they did not fulfill God's plan and purpose they did not use the authority and power that God had given them and to be that kingdom of priests a kingdom that will represent who God is to the other nations so since they failed you know God we see that they were temporarily rejected by God and God has offered his kingdom to another nation and who is the other nation here? It's the church, okay the church is you and I comprising of believers from all over the world so you know the Israelites even though God sent different people to remind them of their calling and their purpose and how to represent him as king and how to be you know kingdom citizens they failed and they rejected God and God you know temporarily also rejected the Israelites and he has offered his kingdom to another nation which is the church which is comprising of believers that is you and I so the church which comprises of all the believers of all nations of every people group of every tribe and language you know they will bear fruits of the kingdom so as believers you know God is looking up to each one of us and we don't want to reject him we don't want to disappoint him we don't want to break his heart like the people of Israel has done so as believers you know we are to bear fruit God is looking for fruit in our lives and you know he's looking for the outworking of the kingdom of God to be released and to be expressed in and through our lives so God desires that his rule and reign and who he is, his name, his nature his attributes and what he does to be expressed in and through us here on the earth so are we willing you know just to take on this position and enjoy this benefits or are we willing to take on this responsibility as well about what God has given us and who he's called us to be what is our position and authority the dominion that he's given to us and to establish his kingdom here and express all of who he is and what he does in and through his kingdom here on earth okay so we'll stop here anyone has any questions? okay no questions okay if there are no questions we'll end class here, thank you for joining class please take time to read the chapters and I hope whatever we are learning that is you know going to transform your mindset in your perspective that you begin to operate out of a kingdom perspective in a kingdom mindset okay thank you everyone have a blessed day ahead and I'll see you next week okay bye bye