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[0:00] Good morning you all. Great to have you here on this rainy spring morning. Okay, you bunch of magpies.

[0:23] Court is coming to order, I think. Okay, thank you all. I trust you're enjoying that liquid sunshine out there.

[0:40] Okay, well, thank you for your presence with us this morning. Let's look to the Lord in a word of prayer, shall we? Our Father, we are grateful for these spring rains because we know how beneficial they are, and we know that you are continually looking out for the best interests of your creation.

[1:03] And we recognize that we live in a fallen world, and there are negatives that go with that because of its fallenness. Yet you have promised the ultimate corrective. And we'll be looking at that once again this morning and what you desire to do, what you have pledged and promised with your integrity to do, to right the wrongs of this world and to make things as they ought to be.

[1:26] We are far from that now, but we know that is in your sights, and it is provided with your integrity and your power behind it. We are so grateful.

[1:37] Thank you for this time to gather this morning, for the presence of each one here, for the truth that is before us. We pray for a facility of understanding it and the implications thereof.

[1:49] In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Well, we are attempting to dispense with some of the faulty assumptions that have plagued Christendom for the last 2,000 years.

[2:04] And they didn't start then. They started in the Old Testament with Israel and their faulty assumptions. And I do not know of anything that has so negatively impacted the whole human race as thinking that something was true and it was not.

[2:26] And it began in Genesis 3. Yea, hath God said, you shall not surely die. God knows that when you partake of that, you will be as gods, knowing good and evil, etc., etc.

[2:39] And he had a line to give to Eve. It was all untruth. It was all a big lie. But she assumed that it was accurate. And she went with it.

[2:51] And everything came crashing down. And after that, there has been one faulty assumption after another. And I do not overemphasize I am confident what is involved in this because it is so absolutely critical.

[3:11] We have nothing that is so important to our being and to our existence as truth. And truth is the what is-ness of life.

[3:25] Truth is what is. And the false assumptions that are abounding in our history have done a very negative job on us because the real danger with faulty assumptions is people act on them.

[3:40] People go with it. People believe it. And it is sometimes fatal. And while we are rooting out these faulty assumptions, there is a major caveat that we all need to make sure that we are in tune with.

[3:56] And that is this. We are not in any wise exempt from making faulty assumptions of our own. Whereas we strive to correct those who have made faulty assumptions and we can turn right around and make some of our own.

[4:15] And nobody is the better for it. Because you are just compounding what the error already is. And that is something that we exercise diligence to avoid.

[4:25] And I am convinced more than I have ever been in my entire life that when it comes to spiritual truth, the greatest safeguard... Matter of fact, I would go so far as to say, to the best of my knowledge, the only safeguard against faulty assumptions is a right division of the Word of God.

[4:49] And if you do not make that division, you are bound to make faulty assumptions, draw wrong conclusions, and then act on them. And we see that so very many times played out.

[5:02] One of the things that we are trying to explain in connection with this nine o'clock hour with the transition within prophecy is the fact that this message we are dealing with, which has to do with prophecy and primarily related to the kingdom and everything associated with it, is the principal message for humanity of all times.

[5:32] This is the biggie. It's the kingdom. The church, of course, is terribly important because Christ loved the church and gave himself for it.

[5:42] And we've got a very strategic place to play in the plan and program of God. But the kingdom concept is the overarching plan that God has for the restoration of the whole planet.

[6:00] And the nation of Israel is key to the realization of that. This makes them extremely critical. And it also makes them have a big bullseye printed on their back insofar as the adversary is concerned.

[6:21] Now, it is true that Israel as a nation has established itself as a disobedient and gainsaying people. It started all the way back in Exodus, and it is repeated one time after another.

[6:36] God would raise up prophets and send the prophets to them to warn the people to turn from their idolatry and turn back to God. And they would refuse to do so. Jeremiah said it.

[6:47] Isaiah said it. Ezekiel said it. Daniel said it. They all warned them. God sent one prophet after another. And when they refused to hear the word and refused to repent and return to the Lord, God raised up Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians.

[7:03] And you know what? These people are pure pagans. And he used those more pagan and more idolatrous than themselves to chastise his own people. And then he used the Medes and the Persians.

[7:16] And then he used the Greeks. And then he used the Romans. And then he used Adolf Hitler. How about that?

[7:30] He too is an individual who I believe was completely under the influence of Satan himself.

[7:41] And do you know, because of these faulty assumptions and because so many in the Christian church, which in its very early stages, and you must deal with this, you must recognize this, the Christian church in its early stages was the Roman Catholic Church.

[8:00] Eventually that morphed from Judaism and the carryovers into the Roman Catholic Church. And they brought a lot of faulty assumptions with them. And the first one that they brought was that Israel is set aside permanently and God is fulfilling all the promises that he made to Israel, but he's fulfilling them in the church instead, the Christian church.

[8:20] And that confuses the kingdom and the church and a whole host of other things that we're trying to sort out. And in the midst of all of that, something that adds even more fuel to the fire of confusion is the fact that we've got a 30-year period here in the book of Acts where two messages that are different are being communicated from two different groups.

[8:50] And before we look at that a little bit further, I want you to go and see the real, in my estimation, the crystal clear expression of that.

[9:01] And it's in Galatians chapter 2. We've looked at it before, but I want to take you there again because it is so very, very important. Galatians 2. We are well into the ministry of the Apostle Paul.

[9:17] He's already made at least one or maybe two mission trips by this time. So what we are reading here in Galatians chapter 2 is probably, after 20 years of history have gone by from the resurrection of Christ.

[9:39] Think of that now. Two decades. 20 years has passed. And we read in Galatians chapter 2 beginning with verse 6.

[9:51] From those who were of high reputation, what they were makes no difference to me, God shows no partiality, while those who were of reputation contributed nothing to me.

[10:02] That simply means they could not reveal anything to Paul that he didn't already know. They didn't add anything to him. But on the contrary, seeing, understanding, agreeing, that I, Paul, had been entrusted with the gospel or the good news to the uncircumcised.

[10:26] That's just another word for Gentile. That's how they were designated. The uncircumcised, just as Peter with the gospel to the circumcision, for he who effectually worked in Peter for his apostleship, and you remember how effective Peter was?

[10:47] Remember the man laying at the temple gate beautiful? James and John healed him, big crowd, and then he delivered that message in chapter 3, and then he stood up before the rulers and defended their case in chapter 4 when the persecution started and Peter was taking the lead and they threatened them and demanded that they not speak anymore in the name of Jesus in this resurrection.

[11:11] And Peter said, we cannot be silent. We know what we know and we have to speak and we will. And they paid a price for doing so and the persecution set in and it intensified and eventually Peter is arrested, thrown into prison with the intent that he's probably going to be executed the next day.

[11:30] This is in Acts chapter 12. And God sends an angel, miraculously delivers Peter, and he is the key principal person for these first 12 chapters of the book of Acts.

[11:44] And that's important to note, very important to note. Don't take anything away from Peter. He was very strategic. He was the leader of the pack of the 12. And it was to Peter that Christ said he would give the keys to the kingdom and Peter is getting this thing underway.

[11:59] But with the ongoing and continual rejection of Jesus as Messiah, even after the resurrection, what we have developing is a whole new kind of scenario in that the emphasis is moving from Peter to Paul.

[12:29] This is a transition. And from Acts chapter 13 on the beginning of Paul's first missionary journey, the emphasis is on Paul and Peter is de-emphasized.

[12:44] What's taking place here? This message that Paul is preaching, he explains here in verse 8. He says, He who effectually worked for Peter in his apostleship to the circumcised, effectually worked for me also to the Gentiles or the uncircumcised, and this is 20 years later, and recognizing the grace that had been given to me, James and Cephas, which is another name for Peter, and John, who were reputed to be pillars, that is leaders, gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship that we might go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.

[13:32] And what he's doing this, of course, is in verse 2, he submitted to them the gospel which I preached among the Gentiles. Why in the world would it be necessary for Paul to do that if he was preaching the same thing that the Jews were preaching?

[13:50] This is so critical and I can't tell you how embarrassed I am to have read this as a younger Christian and even preached from it and simply went right over my head.

[14:03] I did not see it at all. Just did not see it. And what we've got here is a very, very dramatic difference that is so often overlooked by people just like I overlooked it.

[14:18] What's the point in going and briefing them as to what he's preaching? Because Paul was preaching the very same thing that Peter and the 12 were preaching. No, he wasn't. He wasn't at all.

[14:30] He was preaching the gospel of the grace of God. And that was a message that was foreign to Peter and the 12. They were preaching, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

[14:44] So you've got both of these messages during this 30 year period that is spoken of here. Actually, this probably isn't as accurate as it could be because the church, the thing didn't start all the way back here with the church and the mystery.

[14:57] But it did start here in the beginning with the kingdom and the prophets. And they both are traveling together with two different messages emphasized to two different groups of people, Jews and Gentiles.

[15:14] If you do not make that distinction but you insist on blending them, you're just going to have all kinds of problems. That is a faulty assumption. This is just one critical example of rightly dividing the word of God.

[15:32] We're not minimizing any part of it. We are saying things have to be kept in their proper place. And that's all we're trying to do. So, I've got a number of references here but I'm not going to get underway because I know you probably have questions and I want to make sure that we get them in or your comments.

[15:50] So feel free. Anybody? Gary? Based on what you just said a minute ago, Mark, are you saying that where that diagonal line starts up would start further over?

[16:02] Yeah. Yeah. It would start maybe midway and then go up when they start preaching the grace message? Yes, it would. It would. But this message, this probably, I don't know exactly where it started.

[16:17] Well, actually, That makes sense. It starts maybe in here, something like that. And up until then, this is all kingdom stuff. This is all kingdom.

[16:28] Even Paul was teaching the kingdom message when he first got converted, right? Well, that was all he knew other than the fact that he had been saved, he had been called, and Well, Paul began, Paul began his ministry.

[16:53] And I cannot say that he was preaching death, burial, resurrection, forgiveness of sins through Christ. But let's go to Acts chapter 9, Acts chapter 9, and see exactly what he did preach.

[17:09] And I am confident that it was still focused on the Messiah claim of Christ. And in the conversion account, we'll put that behind us.

[17:21] And if you will, come to verse 18 of chapter 9. This is after the Damascus road. Immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales.

[17:32] He regained his sight. Rose was baptized. And by the way, I have absolutely no doubt at all, he was baptized with the only baptism anybody knew anything about.

[17:43] That was John's baptism. It was John's baptism. And he took food and was strengthened. And for several days he was with the disciples who were at Damascus and immediately.

[17:56] Look at that. He began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, that's as Jewish as you can get, saying, He is the Son of God.

[18:11] That's his principal message right off the bat here. And he is very emphatic about it. And we are told that he is going to be boldly preaching this. And all those hearing him say, wasn't this the fellow who called on his name came here to the purpose of bringing them bound before the chief priest?

[18:29] And now he's fellowshipping with them and embracing them? But Saul kept increasing in strength and confounding the Jews who lived at Damascus by proving that this Jesus is the Christ.

[18:45] Now I ask you, how did he prove it? Old Testament. It's all that existed. He went to the Old Testament. And I, I, I'm just, I bet the farm he went to Isaiah 53 and revealed Jesus there.

[19:02] And he is found in so many places in prophecy and by proving that this Jesus is the Messiah. Jesus of Nazareth was the real deal.

[19:13] And nobody is more convinced of that than this man who encountered him on that road to Damascus who identified himself. I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.

[19:24] It's hard for you to kick against the pricks, isn't it, Saul? Joe, what? With, I mean, evidence that what you just said is true that he started out with the kingdom gospel message.

[19:38] If you look at 15 which we had last week on verse 12 he says this is when he went to the assembly. The whole assembly became silent as they listened to Paul, Barnabas and Paul telling about the signs and the wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them.

[19:55] Right. They were still doing, Paul was given the ability to do signs and wonders, miracles. Absolutely. And you've got to keep in mind the fact that that the prevalence of miracles is, in my estimation, proof positive that they were the, the, what shall I say, the badge of authority, authentication of the message that they preached and as long as these miracles were continuing, the kingdom remained a viable possibility to the nation of Israel.

[20:30] John. In, two or three weeks ago you were talking about Acts 2 where Peter gets up and preaches and all these people heard, heard one language, their own language where they spoke in tongues and you said that was a, a, millennial stuff that was going on there.

[21:00] Right. Now, here's a question. I've heard it said that Acts 2 where they spoke in tongues is a reversal of the Tower of Babel. Now, will we all speak one language in the kingdom?

[21:16] Yes, I think so. That was before the Tower of Babel. We'll all understand each other and we won't have different languages. Yeah, and I don't know what that language was before the Tower of Babel but they were able to communicate.

[21:31] There wasn't, there wasn't even two languages. Everybody spoke the same language and when God confounded the languages that forced them pretty much to break up and according to language groups because you went with a group that you could communicate with and they began populating that whole area.

[21:47] So, what we have in Acts chapter 2 and I'm not, I can't say technically that it was a reversal of the Tower of Babel confusion of tongues but I'm suggesting that it was similar to that.

[22:03] It was like that. It was as if everyone was hearing in their own language which they were at the Tower of Babel too. And I think the reason for that is because and actually it was a miracle and it was the grace of God that was making sure that all of these Jews and they were all Jews there on Pentecost would get the message that Peter is preaching and of course keep in mind as you read there in Acts 2 all of these people are from different places all over all over the country you can see in verses verses 9 through 11 they're from all over the Mediterranean basin and they are hearing Peter's message and those who are from all of these other areas speaking different languages they're all pilgrims they're Jews and they're there as pilgrims celebrating this feast of Pentecost and what information do you think they're going to take home with them they're going to tell about what they experienced there in

[23:14] Acts chapter 2 and the message that Peter had and that's going to give this message a flying start really and when Paul goes to different places he's going to find some that have heard of this and even in Rome that will be the case what Joe earlier you were in Galatians gave us scripture there about Peter and Paul going their own ways one to the Gentiles one to the Jews we have to go up ways to verse 2 this is in chapter 2 verse 2 here's Paul speaking this is Paul I went in response to a revelation and meeting privately with those esteemed as leaders I presented to them the gospel that I preached among the Gentiles now he wouldn't have had to told them about this gospel if it was the same gospel exactly that's the very important point he wouldn't have to told them that's why he went up exactly and he wanted actually he wanted to clear his message with them because he wasn't preaching what they were preaching he was given a different message and his message as being called the apostle to the

[24:23] Gentiles and let me ask you this if Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles well not not only to the Gentiles but because we read that in in Acts 9 when Ananias was reluctant to go the Lord told Ananias that go he's a chosen instrument of mine to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel who's left out nobody nobody Paul is kind of like the universal apostle so if he is called primarily to go to the Gentiles why whenever he arrived in a new town why did he always head for the synagogue now we know he was to minister to the Jews too but in the Greek in the Greek they do not have a way of identifying something that is special or more important like we do we put it in bold print or we put quotation marks around it or something like that but when they wanted to say something and begin a sentence that would emphasize something they always put what they wanted to emphasize first they always put it right at the beginning and what do we find here at the beginning

[25:51] Gentiles Gentiles that's his primary ministry he's going to go to the Jews too and when he does go to the Jew what do you think he is presenting to the Jews let's look at chapter 13 Acts chapter 13 Acts chapter 13 and we read beginning in verse 14 they are at Pisidian Antioch and we told you earlier this is not the same Antioch from which they embarked and by the way just as an aside you should note that the earliest reference regarding the beginnings of Christianity and what came to be recognized as the headquarters and the center of Christianity contrary to what you might think was not

[26:54] Jerusalem it was Antioch Antioch and it's not even in the country of Israel for crying out loud it's in Syria Antioch and we read that phrase about them and they were called Christians first at Antioch and it was from that Antioch that they went over to the coast and then got on the ship and sailed across the Mediterranean and they arrived at a different Antioch Pisidian Antioch on the Sabbath day went in the synagogue and sat down after reading the law and the prophets the synagogue officials sent to them saying few fellows they recognized they were visitors strangers they were going to extend to them the courtesy of giving a greeting or saying whatever they wanted to say and Paul used that opportunity to really proclaim the gospel and we read over in verse 32 the same chapter and we preach to you the good news of the promise made to the fathers that God has fulfilled this promise to our children in that he's raised up Jesus as it is also written in the second psalm there's that old testament thou art my son today I begotten thee and as for the fact that he raised him from the dead no more to return to decay he was spoken in this way

[28:11] I will give to you the holy and sure blessings of David therefore he also says in another psalm thou wilt not allow thine holy one to undergo decay for David after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation fell asleep he died and he was laid among his fathers and underwent decay and we know where he's buried so the psalmist wasn't talking about David he's talking about David's greater son and he would be born a thousand years after David so therefore and Paul says what I'm getting at because of everything I just said let it be known to you brethren verse 38 that through him the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you and through him everyone who believes is freed from all things from which you could not be freed through the law of Moses wow listen folks we read this and to so many

[29:15] Christians this is just old hand but to these people who constituted this audience this was dynamite stuff I mean this was this was cataclysmic they never heard anything like this this man that God raised up is here beginning to impact the world and this thing is going to spread from right here it's going to blanket across Europe and eventually people from Europe are going to come to what is called the new world and we are going to be beneficiaries of it yes Peter realized right at the end of his life too because the very last verses of chapter 3 of 2nd Peter Peter says well he realized that this thing of Paul was preaching this gospel that he's preaching may be out there a while folks in other words the second coming may not be just around the corner like we believe and think

[30:16] Peter gets this because in verse 8 he says but do not forget this one thing dear friends and he's talking to Jews he's writing this letter to Jews with the Lord a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years are like a day the Lord is not slow well that right there tells you that he's trying to warn them hey it may be a while you're going to get this and then he goes on the Lord is not slow in keeping his promise and just because it's going to it doesn't mean he's slow because it's going to take many maybe 2,000 years as some understand instead he is patient with you not wanting anyone to perish in other words he's given plenty of he's long suffering he's given plenty of time for people to accept him as the Lord and Savior to be saved and have salvation and go to heaven Peter realized that okay thank you Joe and in connection with this now here's here's where the plot thickens and the things get sticky in the midst of preaching this message of the grace of God freed from all things from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses the availability of the kingdom that is being preached to

[31:31] Israel is still a possibility is still viable there is still hope for Israel in fact this is a principal reason why Paul goes to the synagogues each time it is to inform the Jew hey it's still not too late you still have a chance and the whole thing dependent upon the reversal and the repentance of the Jew and the embracing of Jesus and we sell this in chapter 3 of Acts and he will send Jesus back again who was appointed for you well he'd only been gone a few weeks but he's talking about his returning all contingent upon Israel repenting that is not going to happen now we've got to look at some gospel things because this is actually supposed to be the prophecy section so let's go back if we may to Luke chapter 19

[32:32] I'm sorry Luke 9 Matthew Mark Luke 9 and in verse 18 Luke 9 and verse 18 here the question comes up about his identity and they respond you know in Matthew 16 and 18 is Peter who says thou art the Christ the son of the living God and he tells them beginning in verse 22 the son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised up on the third day and that message simply did not compute to them they just did not get it and evidence of that is come over while we're still in Luke to chapter 18 you've got to put these things together because it is so powerful to understand this

[33:42] Luke 18 and beginning with verse 28 this is right after the rich young ruler thing where he told him go and sell your possessions and give to the poor and so on and then in verse 27 verse 28 Peter says we've left our own homes and followed you in other words Peter is saying we've done what you told the rich young ruler to do we've done that we've left our homes and we're following you what are we going to have what are we going to get out of this and Peter says we left our homes and followed you and he said to them truly I say to you there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God who shall not receive many times as much this and in the age to come eternal life and he took the twelve aside and said to them behold that's interesting he took the twelve aside because what he has to say is just for their ears and he said behold we are going up to

[34:44] Jerusalem and all things which are written through the prophets about the son of man will be what was he talking about he's talking about the old testament this is all they had remember talking primarily about Isaiah and Jeremiah and so on about the son of man will be accomplished for he and Jesus is speaking here in the third person he does that often calls himself the son of man but he says he in other words he could say for I will be delivered up to the Gentiles he's talking about the Roman authorities and will be mocked and mistreated and spit upon and after they have scourged him they will kill him they will kill me that's what he's saying could it be any plainer this isn't double talk and the third day he will rise again now this is on the record but look at verse 34 and they understood none of these things because and this saying this expression was hidden from them who hid it

[36:08] I can only suggest the Holy Spirit hid it from them but the beauty of it is the beauty of it is after the fact this is going to come back to them then they will remember and you know what that will do that will empower and embolden them because after the resurrection and by the way the text goes on to say they will kill him and the third day he will rise again who were the first ones to refuse to believe that Jesus had risen from the dead these same guys the apostles law that gives tremendous credibility to the message those who most wanted this to be true were the first ones to deny that is really saying something and they are going after the fact they are going to you know

[37:11] I remember he said that yeah remember he said and these guys are pointing to each other and they're shaking their ears yeah he did say that yeah I remember but it didn't register at the time and I suspect that the biggest reason it didn't register was that it was kept from them and not only that but they had so pre-programmed their anticipation and their mind that when he got to Jerusalem Katie barred the door he's going to kick out the Romans and establish that kingdom and it's going to be wonderful and we know of course that is not going to happen now I want you to come while we're still here in Luke this is tremendous but you've got to look at it and keep it in context Luke chapter 12 and verse 31 yes before you before you get to that just a thought on your last comment taking

[38:14] Jesus as your heart and your mind and the fact that the disciples still didn't believe but the women the women were the first ones to see yeah yeah and and do you know what do you know what the estimation was when the women told the apostles he's alive we saw him I can see Peter and John looking at each other and saying these women really get emotional and they they they just you know and by the way this is not flattering to femininity but you need to know that a woman's word was not accepted in court why well because she's a woman I mean you can't believe you know women get they their their thinking is all well she married you didn't she but this is this is this is so powerful

[39:19] I want you to look at this Luke 12 Luke 12 and verse let's just jump in with verse 30 for all these things the nations that's the Gentiles of the world eagerly seek but your father knows you have need of these things but seek for his kingdom and these things shall be added to you now look at this look at this do not be afraid or fear not little flock what's this little flock flock it's the twelve apostles that's a pretty little flock for your father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom what does that mean and by the way did these did this little flock ever get received the kingdom no no where is the kingdom it's in abeyance it's never happened it's still on hold the time is coming when you who have followed me in the regeneration when the son of man comes into his kingdom you little flock you will sit on the twelve thrones of Israel judging the twelve tribes that is when it will be delivered to them then they will have that kingdom and look at what he's telling verse 33 sell your possessions and give the charity what does that sound like is that familiar what did he tell the rich young ruler go sell what you have and give the charity and come and follow me why is he saying that it's because that's the kingdom motif that's the methodology for the kingdom that's that's when you say you mean business for this kingdom thing and why in the early acts were they doing that all had things common and those who had land sold the land and brought the money and laid it to the apostles feet what is that that's kingdom stuff that's kingdom stuff that's not church truth church has got nothing to do with it the church is the body of

[41:36] Christ got nothing to do with that this is an entirely different entity altogether and what we are saying and so anticipated has never happened but so many in Christendom could not accept that and they came to the conclusion I've got it the kingdom that Jesus was talking about is the church the church is the kingdom of course they just cannot entertain the idea at all that something that God promised could not be brought to pass in short order but be reminded from the time God promised a Messiah it was 4,000 years before he came this thing called the kingdom is on hold it has been suspended we are right now we don't belong to the 69th week of

[42:54] Daniel we don't belong to the 70th week of Daniel we belong we belong we belong where there is no place cut out for us in prophecy because we're mystery we're just injected there not prophesied not promised not planned for just boom there it is what is this this said Paul is the secret that God has kept hidden from eternity past and was not revealed to the sons of men and you will not read this in Jeremiah or Ezekiel or Daniel or Isaiah none of the prophets said anything about it this thing called the church is just something that God sprung on everyone unexpectedly it was hidden in the mind and heart of God from eternity past but never revealed until this specific time and what God has done he has taken Israel and set them aside for unfinished business and the time is coming when the church when he's finished with the church we're gone then what's the reversion what do we go back to the kingdom again and this is what

[44:02] Matthew is talking about what Jesus said in the Olivet discourse and the gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world before the end comes and he's talking about the tribulation period and when that time passes then Christ will return Matthew chapter 19 and that kingdom is as far as I'm concerned that kingdom is as definite as if it were already here because it's linked to the integrity and the power of God Mike earlier it was mentioned that the Lord is being very patient so that others can come to understand he was speaking of the Jews right he was speaking of the Jewish people coming to accept the Messiah yes and so what's the implication to us as a church we we're not necessarily under those marching orders to wait and wait and wait or you know

[45:15] I'm confused about the two distinguishing groups Jews and the Christians but that statement was made to the Jews what statement is made to us as far as waiting goes Marv I got a verse that might speak to that in 2nd Peter in chapter 3 verse 15 the very towards the end this is when Peter knew he was going to leave this world soon it says bear in mind this is Peter talking bear in mind that our Lord's patience by not coming the second time he hadn't come back yet after he went up to Pentecost he hadn't come back yet our Lord's patience means salvation just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him so he's tying it in with Gentiles too here this patience this waiting before

[46:17] Christ comes a second time it looks to me like he's tying it in to Paul's gospel to Paul's preaching because it goes on he writes the same way he's talking about Paul he writes the same way in all his letters speaking in them of these matters that's that's Peter his letter and he you know he kind of understands it sounds like what Paul's doing the Gentiles and this is going to take some time boys we're going to be patient and it's for the salvation of I think both you know Jews and Gentiles I mean yeah well you can take that verse and God does everything in the fullness of time like he mentioned even with the birth of Christ when he wrote to the Galatians that in the fullness of time God sent forth his son made of a woman made under the law that he might redeem them that are under the law so God has a timetable that is not only precise but it's perfect and we don't know what that timetable is all we know is we are supposed to anticipate we are supposed to be ready coming of the

[47:25] Lord draweth nigh it always is it's what we refer to as the possibility of Christ returning at any time it is imminent we do not know when he is going to come for the church all we know is that he is coming and when that time comes you lift up your heads or your redemption draws nigh and there will be the shout of the archangel and the dead in Christ shall rise and we who are alive shall be caught up together with them in the clouds and so shall we ever be with the Lord and we're going to be there enjoying an incredible marriage supper of the Lamb and when that is concluded then we are coming back to earth with him with him we will not be combatants but we will be spectators as to what is going to occur in Revelation 19 and of course we'll have glorified bodies then we will not be in these frames and these shelves and our time is gone as I can see by the way since we don't have a coffee break now it's not so important that we quit at the usual time so maybe we could take an extra couple minutes and if you got other comments or questions anyone yes Ron you know that timeline you got there in the book of Acts

[48:46] God used two men in the book of Acts Stephen and Paul and they both had the message Israel go back to your history yeah go back to that history and you see yeah but they just would not do that yeah you're right you're absolutely right Peter and Paul are the two really principal characters and Peter was initial Peter was the first and he is very active for particularly the first twelve chapters in the book of Acts and then as you move on through the book of Acts Peter kind of subsides and you don't hear much about him and all of the emphasis is on Paul and I am satisfied that that is just one more indication that the kingdom message is fading out and the Pauline message of the grace of God is becoming more and more front and center and by the time the book of Acts ends which is very close to 70 AD it's about 60 AD it will be followed in 70

[49:53] AD with the destruction of Jerusalem and that appears to be I don't know this for sure and I'm not dogmatic about it but that appears to be God finally setting Israel aside and the kingdom is no longer available to Israel due to their unbelief and Jerusalem is destroyed the temple is destroyed Rome came in and just devastated everything and the Jew has been put on a nomadic kind of trail he's been called the wandering Jew and you find Jews in virtually every part of the world today and they are they are looked upon as by many they are looked upon as Christ killers and this and by the way this is another subject altogether apart but it is amazing how so many who called themselves Christians in the early ages saw it almost as a responsibility to take vengeance on the Jewish people wherever they found them by way of persecution and sometimes even death because they were considered or their ancestors were considered responsible for the crucifixion of

[51:11] God and the person of Christ and all Jews should be forced to pay the price for that and that becomes the basis in the minds of a lot who called themselves Christians for the pogroms for the Spanish Inquisition how many of you realize that in 1492 when Columbus sailed the ocean blue Ferdinand and Isabella also issued a decree that all Jews in Spain must leave and they gave them a deadline and you will not take your wealth with you and they were excommunicated forced to leave the country and that's not the only place there are other places like that too one final comment the very last words that Peter said inspiration words God given words that he said on earth were this but grow in the grace and knowledge of our

[52:13]  Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to him be glory both now and forever amen that's a very fitting closing thank you Joe okay I appreciate your kind attention your interest we'll continue this and I'm enjoying and I hope you are too you are dismissed thank you