Seeking first the Kingdom of Heaven

“The Pharisees say to Him in effect, ‘You are always talking about a kingdom; you say that your coming means that the kingdom of God has drawn near; what is this kingdom of God of yours?’”

“Now we must remember that He was preaching to Jews, to people who had got their Old Testament Scriptures, who regarded themselves as the people of God and who were concerned about God and about righteousness.”

“There is only one thing to do; we must go back and discover what it was that the first preachers preached and we must go right back to the Lord Jesus Christ himself.”

“Now here is the great message of the Bible, from beginning to end. It is, simply, that God has a plan and a purpose for this world of sin and shame.”

“If I am a herald (and, thank God, unworthy though I am, this is what I am) I am not here to tell you my theories and my ideas about life, for they are no better than yours.”

“No longer is the preacher going out into the world; the world now has to come to the preacher. The only solution that will restore the intended pattern of Christ is a revolt toward obedience.”

“This is the pattern that the Lord Jesus established: go out to the world, preach the gospel of the kingdom, and make disciples. This is how He desires that His church be built.”

“It is unfortunate that the church services of today have become little more than religious amusement parks, where in exchange for the price of admission, commonly known as tithes and offerings, the congregation receives emotional or intellectual titillation that is expected to sustain them for the week.”

“Each week, these visitors and church members leave the services and buildings emotionally satiated but spiritually hungry. They mistake the enjoyment of the pomp and circumstance and pageantry of the church service for being strengthened in spirit.”

“It is unfortunate that there are many who sit in churches week in and week out, anxiously awaiting to hear the good news—but instead, they are subjected to messages laced with varieties of emotions, big words, and violent gestures, which lack the necessary ingredient of the gospel.”

“Someone must be obedient to proclaim the gospel to us in order for us to believe in this kingdom that God has prepared for those who will submit to His rule.”

“In the second definition, it becomes evident that the gospel is not simply the good news of one specific event; rather, it is more of a story or a sequence of events along a continuum.”

“Indeed, the very reason the term gospel is used to describe the message of the kingdom is because it was and is good news. The message is that what God promised, He fulfilled in Christ Jesus, whom God raised from the dead.”

“This glorious gospel, which has been entrusted to the servants of the Lord, is like a giant net that is catching a wide variety of fish. As servants of the Lord, our job is to share the gospel of the kingdom to get as many fish as we can into the net.”

“This is how the gospel works within a person. We don’t see the gospel at work in a person’s heart; we see its effect on the person. The gospel is a change agent for those who hear the gospel and believe it. Those who are changed by the gospel are compelled to share the good news with others.”

“The Lord Jesus made it clear why He spoke in parables—so that those who were born of the Spirit and submitted to Christ would be able to see, hear, and understand. For those who are not born of the Spirit, however, the parables are merely stories designed to tickle the intellect or convey some moral principle.”