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The Good News of the Kingdom of God!

April 17, 2026 / / 0 Comments

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(Original radio broadcast from May 1,1998)

In Mat 24:14 We find these words of Jesus:

And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.

In Romans1:16-17, Paul writes: For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.

Many believe that a spiritual intensity is building as we approach the end of this century. Forgive me for not giving speculations of coming world events here. These are not the concerns that Jesus has laid on my heart. But I do believe that many are hearing from the Lord and receiving direction concerning His will for His people in this hour!

There has always been that prophetic element of Christ’s church and She has always been His Voice and witness in the earth. He will proclaim His counsels to mankind as He has always done!

This is a day to bear and proclaim His message to all! It is also a day to seek the Lord, and receive His counsel to us, both as individuals, and as His people world-wide! Let all of heaven and earth, Hear the Word of the Lord! And may we who are His own be already actively tuned in to what He is saying, while the voices of fools vainly attempt to drown out His earnest cry!

The people of God need a new hunger and thirst for His Creative Living Word! But how difficult it is becoming to receive their attention! Many are becoming more accustomed to hearing and understanding the wisdom of men, thus the wisdom of God appears difficult and even foolish to them!

For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to naught things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence.

But of him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: That, according as it is written, He that glories, let him glory in the Lord.

And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.

And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to naught: But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. (1 Cor 1:26-1 Cor 2:10)

This is a day to give an ear to hear what the Spirit of God is saying to the church!

Jeremiah 23:18: But which of them has stood in the council of the LORD to see or to hear his word? Who has listened and heard his word?

Jeremiah 23:22: But if they had stood in my council, they would have proclaimed my words to my people and would have turned them from their evil ways and from their evil deeds.

How often do God’s people tend to be controlled by their circumstances? Why do we so frequently react in fear to the turmoil of our times, rather than in faith and trust in our Lord?

Is it because we have simply failed to hear Him? Have we so little regard to His Word, His Wisdom — His counsel? Or perhaps we are fearful of what He might say to us! He commanded one to sacrifice his son, and another to sell all his worldly possessions for the poor. Where could we find the faith and the courage to obey such a word?

2,000 years ago there were 12 men who also possessed such fears. In fact, some did fail the first great test and ran away during Jesus’ trial and execution. One of His closest associates even denied he ever knew Him, and another actually betrayed Him!

But wait! This is not the end of the story, Jesus prayed a prayer for them — and also for you and me! That prayer kept all but one of them in His care, until they could more clearly see His purpose and triumph in the resurrection! From this encounter with the resurrected Christ, they obtained the faith to wait in Jerusalem, where they came into perfect unity in Him. Then, when He began to fill them with power from on high — the mighty Holy Ghost, they became fearless witnesses unto Him, who rejoiced in the very sufferings that they once greatly feared!

My brother, my sister, you too can know the Resurrected Christ! You too can be filled with power from on high! You too can become a witness to His glorious resurrection! Here the Word of the Lord! Hear the good news, which is the power of God unto your salvation! Believe it!

Right now you can open up your heart and life unto Him anew! You can receive His resurrection life for the very first time, or you can begin returning to your first love in Jesus today!

Oh Praise the wonderful Name of Jesus! We rejoice today in your Lordship! We honor you, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords! Let all of creation sing and shout for joy unto your Name!

It is time for us to forsake the man-centered Gospel. In it everything is directed to our needs and interests. God forgives US. He saves US. He heals US. He prospers US – and all of these things are true, but when the focus begins with us, it often continues with us, and true abundant life is lost.

This is not about us! It is about God! He is both the center and circumference of our being! We need to become absorbed in His Heart, His desires, His purpose! It is for these that He has saved you!

If we are to become a testimony to His reign in the earth, we must experientially know His Lordship! We must not only call Him Lord, but we must also live under His wonderful and benevolent reign, dwelling in the secret place of he Most High, under the shadow of the Almighty!

What peace, safety and security! What love, joy and freedom! Today we are daily learning to trust Him, while our self trust freely melts away. We are forsaking our miserable, self-centered thinking to live and walk the Christ-centered life! He is the Alpha and Omega! He is the First and the Last! It is He Who was, is and is to come the Almighty! Know it! Believe it! His Spirit and Word are making this revelation real unto you today!

The Lordship of Jesus must be realized and proclaimed. This is the good news of the kingdom!

How big is your Jesus? Do you see Him in the fullness in which Paul, Peter, John and the others saw Him! Is He just the simple carpenter’s son, or the suffering servant on the cross? Or have you also caught the vision of His resurrection power, and His ascending Lordship?

Will He only offer you forgiveness, and take you to heaven by the skin of your teeth? Or will He manifest His fullness in your life, as Christ IN YOU the hope of glory? Do see His church as a weak man-made institution, or as His glorious Bride, the Heavenly Jerusalem, the Mother of us all!

It is high time for us all to catch a life-changing, all-consuming vision of Him, that will call us upward to the high call of God in Christ Jesus! It is time for us to be released from our petty arguments and disagreements, that we may join together in resounding praise unto the King of all the earth! It is time for us all to lay down our lives for one another, in expectation for what our Mighty God will do among us and through us! Can anyone say “amen” to that?

From the first installment of this broadcast we have attempted by God’s grace to challenge our listeners to the higher call of God in Christ Jesus. And may we continue to do so. We believe that these are days of renewal, revival, restoration and resurrection for His Church! We also believe that God is calling us all to return to our first love!

All of this can and will come as we lift up the wonderful Name of Jesus, Who is the very image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. By Him were all things made, and without Him nothing can have existence! Are you hearing the Word of the Lord? Is faith and trust in Him welling up within your soul?

If so, then know that God is working in you both to desire and to do His good pleasure! You are beginning to live the Kingdom Life!

Heavenly Father,
We know that our words are so feeble in comparison to the glory that they hope to convey. But we are thankful that Your Words are going forth in this hour! Give us hearing ears and open hearts to receive Your Truth, and fill us as well with the boldness to declare them to our generation.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

Podcast: What can we learn from the First Century Church? Part 12

March 21, 2026 / / 0 Comments

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Unquenchable Optimism

In Ray Stedman’s classic book, “Authentic Christianity,” he describes the ministry of Paul the apostle as an example of genuine faith in Christ. He believed that Paul’s ministry bears five unmistakable qualities of Christianity that cannot be successfully counterfeited. They are 1: Unquenchable Optimism, 2: Unvarying Success, 3: Unforgettable Impact, 4: Unimpeachable Integrity, 5: Undeniable Reality.

Lately I have given a lot of thought about the First Century Church, and have been seeking God for understanding of how we in our time and in our Western culture have sometimes departed from the foundation that has been laid for us by Christ. Many others have thought and written along these lines of course, and this book by Stedman is one that I have found helpful in many ways. The qualities he has listed here are certainly qualities to be desired. The first on the list is especially one that I greatly desire for myself in a time when pessimism seems to reign in our world and often even in Christianity.

The book points out that this optimism can only come out from a genuine connection with the One True God. It cannot be faked. If my hope is grounded in favorable circumstances or the favorable opinions of others it can eventually be lost. If it is based upon One Who cannot fail, and I trust only in Him, it will be unquenchable. The opposite of this kind of optimism is a yielding to all circumstances and to fate. One becomes merely a passive spectator who has surrendered to the idea that nothing can or should be done to change the direction of events.

While Jesus did subject Himself to humiliation and death, it was for the joy that was yet to come! (Hebrews 12:1-2). His return from the grave in an amazing supernatural and yet physical body appeared in the real, tangible and physical world. The knowledge of that truth empowered the first believers to possess a forward looking and optimistic faith. In fact those who opposed them testified that they had indeed, “turned the world upside down!” (In a good way, from our perspective!) (Acts 17:6)

Could this irrepressible joy have also come from the realization that they had been made new from the inside out? It seems to be a very pious and humble statement to confess that “I am just a sinner who has been saved by grace.” However, that was not the message that Paul taught. After naming a list of various kinds of sinners, he tells the Corinthians, “such WERE some of you! But you are washed, your are sanctified, you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God!” He also wrote these words: “Therefore if any one is in Christ, He is a new creation. Old things have disappeared, and—look—all things have become new!” (1 Corinthians 6:11 KJV, 2 Corinthians 5:17 ISV)

This is not a claim to have achieved sinlessness, but it is a bold declaration of what our joyful God has done in us! We who have received Jesus have obtained the power, the privilege of becoming the true children of God! (John 1:12) We have been born of the Holy Spirit, born again, born of God, by the incorruptible Seed, the Word of God, which lives and abides forever! (John 3:5, 1 Peter 1:23)

Because of who were are in Christ today, we can follow His example of service to others. We can let His mind, His perspective, His attitude be in us for we too do not have think of the divine nature as a thing to be forcibly grasped. Through the Gospel and trusting in Christ we are being restored to God’s original plan for humanity (Genesis 1:26). At the same, even in our immaturity we are free as His children to lay our lives down in service to others. Yes, that is our true freedom! That is the source of our joy as well! (Philippians 2:1-11, Galatians 5:13).

People who have an inferiority complex are afraid to lift up others. They are often driven to put others down in an effort to feel better about themselves. Jesus and his followers are not like that. Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He was from the Father and returning to Him; got down on His hands and knees to wash the feet of His disciples. He knew He could lose nothing by becoming a servant, even a slave. (John 13:3-5, 14-15).

If you belong to Jesus, you have access to His joy. You are a new creation in Him, called to a life of true adventure and service to the greatest purpose of all!

1 John 3:1-3
3:1 How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3 Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.
NIV

Podcast: What can we learn from the First Century Church? Part 8

February 16, 2026 / / 0 Comments

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The Servant’s Heart

Why should it be important for us today to consider the First Century Church? My primary reason for this consideration is that I care about the church of Jesus Christ. Some wonderful things are happening today but I also see some dangerous trends these days. After 50 years of observation I have come to the strong conclusion that many of our problems stem from our lack of attention to the original plan of Christ Himself. The men who were personally trained by Jesus had an advantage over us. And yet, God has wonderfully preserved in the bible the results of their experience for our learning!

Hence my enthusiasm for this discussion.

On the other side I would ask this question: Why would we not want to learn from the First Century Church?

Each time I have read through the book we call the Acts of the Apostles, I have been challenged and inspired by the passion, the courage and the power I see in the lives of these followers of Christ. Each messenger of the Gospel had a personal encounter with Jesus that they were able to communicate to others, and to pass along to them. Their enthusiasm was contagious. I want that for myself and all of my fellow believers. I believe we can possess it because God has communicated to us in the New Testament that it is for us as well.

For approximately 3 1/2 years, Jesus took special time with 12 men who were called to be His ambassadors, His apostles. He taught them lessons in private that were not a part of His public discourses. This special attention might have gone to their heads. Feeling privileged and important they began to contend with one another as to who among them would be the greatest.

But Jesus called them to Himself and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 43 Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. 44 And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” NKJV (Mark 10:42-45, see also Matthew 20:25 & Luke 22:24-27)

Here and in other passages Jesus establishes Himself as the prime example of a humble servant and even a slave to others (John 13:13-15, 1 Peter 2:21-22). Likewise leaders in the Christian community were also to lead in this example themselves. (1 Timothy 4:12, 1 Peter 5:1-6).

This is in stark contrast to many leaders in the world, and even in the church throughout history! How much of true intimacy with Christ are we missing when we fail to experience the joy of serving others as He did?

Jesus knew that his disciples would not become servants of all overnight. This is seen in a conversation He had with John’s disciples.

Matthew 9:14-17:

14 Then John’s disciples came and asked him, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?”

15 Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.

16 “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. 17 Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”
NIV

Many Old Testament prophecies were about to be fulfilled. Great changes were to take place involving the people of God. John the Baptist and Jesus had both been tearing up the roots of idolatry, pride, rebellion, and unbelief in their hearts.

His 12 apostles were not excepted from this process.  At this time they were riding high in the success of His mission. The Bridegroom, their Prince was among them, but not for long. He warned them in advance, but they could not hear it. When He was eventually taken from them they were shocked, humiliated, disillusioned, and broken up by the death of their Messiah on a cross.

An old covenant system of worship was on its way out, but the old attitudes and habits of the followers of Jesus also needed to go. These confident young men were about to be used of God to lead this new revolution of faith. They must first learn to transfer all of their confidence from themselves to God. Jesus told them that without Him they could do nothing!

How many of us can identify with this experience? Have you also been brought low by your failures, or the disappointments of life? Have you by God’s grace persevered through it all until the light at the end of the tunnel was seen? Then, when it was all over and a new day became clear, were you also in a better place than ever before?

Can we possibly walk with these First Century believers through the time when their dreams were utterly destroyed? Then, can we embrace with them the unspeakable joy and wonder at His glorious resurrection and escape from a guarded tomb? They could never be the same again. Even though they still did not understand the manner by which His Kingdom would come, it did not matter now! He is risen and alive forevermore!

When they received the promised power from on high and were filled unto overflowing with the Holy Spirit, this time it did not boost their egos. Instead they knew their weaknesses and His power better than before. They became the new wineskin which contained the blessing of the new wine of the Holy Spirit.

In my lifetime I have many times seen the blessing of God upon us as we gather unto Him. At the same time I have also seen the failure of old wineskins to contain the blessings He offers. In our pride we have tried to steer the ship to where we wanted it to go. We have held fast to our man-made traditions that too often serve our pride and egos. We have learned how to please people first in order to gain their support for our vision for our church.

Very recently I have once more witnessed the failure of old wineskins to contain the wine and have seen them spitting open themselves at great loss. We desperately need to return to humility and the simplicity of the First Century Church! Are we willing to receive a fresh vision of Christ in His Church? Are we also willing to give of ourselves with Servant Hearts to build up others in His Kingdom?

Think about it!

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