Good morning. Welcome to Victoria’s Faith. I’m Cherry Campbell. This morning I’m going to continue sharing with you the message I’ve been sharing with you in the last several broadcasts that I preached in a series of messages in our Victoria’s Faith Services called the Kingdom of God. And this is message three in that series called a spiritual kingdom first. And if you’d like to listen this message again or either of the previous two messages or if you’d like to share them with your friends and family, you can go to my YouTube channel which is under my name Cherry Campbell. CHE RRI Campbell CAM PBELL. And there on the top category called Radio Broadcasts you will see this series called the Kingdom of God. Now join me in our live service for the continuation of message three called a spiritual kingdom first. They never saw and comprehend it his death even though he said it several times and go through the gospels read again and see how many times he told them about his death before it happened. He said, I’m going to die three days and nights and then I’ll be raised again. And several times he told them they never got it because in their mind that can’t happen. He’s going to be crowned king. He’s going to live. We’re going to sit on kings with him. We’re going to rule with him. We’ll fight to protect him. So don’t worry. Jesus, you’re not going to die. We won’t let that happen to you. And so here they are now facing the Romans and Jesus says put away your sword and mass of confusion just blows through their mind. What do you mean? We don’t understand. What’s going on? And then Jesus gives himself over into the hands of the Romans. Well, at that, that’s why the disciples fled. They were confused. What about the battle we were supposed to have? This was our moment of making him king and now he’s in chains. We lost our king. Our king is now a prisoner. And we were the ones who were saying we were going to fight. So if they were to come after his army, they’d be coming after us next. And so they fled. And then Jesus is killed. Now that was never in their thinking. So here was their hero who was going to be crowned king. And he’s dead. And there’s no more kingdom. Think of the depth as they were on such a high for three three and a half years. We’re going to sit on kings. We’re going to rule. He’s going to be our king and our hero. I mean, these huge high hopes and dreams and expectations and plans and plots. Shot down in just moments as he has taken away as a prisoner and then killed. And then after he’s buried in the tomb, the darkness. I mean, they plummeted to the depths of confusion, despair, hopelessness. Their dreams are shattered. Their expectation is shattered. And with the confusion, what’s going on, they still can’t understand. And perhaps some shame is there as other people perhaps even who knew them said, where is your king now? The one you were going to make king he’s dead. So they could have even felt shame and embarrassment. And thinking, okay, here was this teacher. You followed for three and a half years. You gave up three and a half years of your business to follow a teacher and he’s dead. Now what about everything he said, bunch of lies, everything he said was alive. There was massive confusion among them. Darkness, hopelessness, despair, heartbreak. They loved him. They loved him truly. But what about everything he taught? What about the kingdom? What about what about endless questions? Why did you say this? What did you say? What did you mean when you said this? We’ll say what you want to know. Nothing made sense anymore. Think about the depth of discouragement, hopelessness, darkness, and confusion. Mixed with some shame and embarrassment perhaps because they followed a teacher who’s no longer there and he’s dead and what’s going to happen next. And that’s why some of them said, what’s left to do now? Let’s go back to fishing. Where we were three and a half years ago. So they went back to fishing. And that’s where Jesus found them. They didn’t know anything else to do. Let’s try to just forget these last three or three and a half years ever happened and maybe God will answer and make it all clear to us someday. But we’ve got to pick up the pieces, pick up our lives. We’ve got to move on. And what we know is go back to fishing. So let’s just do that. He’s dead and he’s gone and we have to go on with our lives. Because they did not expect him to raise from the dead. They didn’t. Now go to Acts chapter 1. And you know that he went to the seashore after he was raised from the dead. And he called them in to the fire and then they recognized him and I think it was John that jumped out of the boat and swam to the shore. It’s the Lord. And then different ones of them began to see Jesus alive. Let’s go to Acts chapter 1. Now I want you to see this because I want you to see again. And I want you to read the four gospels again and make a note if not even underline everywhere you read Kingdom of God. It was the whole theme of everything that was said. Even their eating and sleeping was all around the Kingdom. And now he’s raised from the dead. Acts chapter 1. In my former book Theophilus I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day he was taken up to heaven. After getting instructions to the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. Now verse 3. After his suffering that’s his death and resurrection he showed himself to these men these apostles and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. And make a note of this or underline this. He appeared to them over a period of what forty days and spoke about what the Kingdom of God. So they’re completely confused in darkness. What is this kingdom that he talked about? You know he died and they don’t understand and the king is gone and the kingdom is gone. And what? What? What? What? So he raised from the dead and he said it’s not over. It’s not over. The Kingdom of God is still here. And so he preached for forty more days about what? The Kingdom of God. Yay! He preached to them about the Kingdom, the Kingdom, the Kingdom, the Kingdom. And now the blinders are coming off and they’re beginning to understand. Now they’ve been born again because on the first day of the week it says in John 20, early on the… Okay John 21st one, early on the first day of the week while it was still dark Mary Magdalene went to the tomb so it was empty. So he was raised early on the first day of the week. But John 20 verse 19 on the evening of that first day of the week. Same day he was raised from the dead. He had gone into heaven with his blood and he came back. And in the evening when the disciples were together with the doors locked for fear of the Jews Jesus came and stood among them. He said, “Shalom be with you peace.” And after he said this he showed them his hands inside. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. Jesus said, “Peace be with you as the Father has sent me. I’m sending you. I’m still sending you as apostles and preachers of what? The gospel of the Kingdom of God. I’m still sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” Now that is the new birth right there. The baptism of the Holy Spirit happened in Acts chapter 2. The new birth happened in John 20, 22. So they’re born again now. Well being born again makes a huge difference in understanding. Jesus said even in John, “Everything you read, John 3, to Nicodemus, no one can see the Kingdom of God unless he is born again.” See what? See what? The Kingdom of God and see meaning two things, see physically with your eyes be there, be in it. But it also means understand. So you won’t understand the Kingdom of God unless you’re born again. So that’s why born again is part of the gospel of the Kingdom but it’s the entrance. But it’s only the first step. It’s the entrance into the Kingdom. You can’t see the Kingdom. You can’t enter in and be a partaker and inherit the Kingdom unless you’re born again. But neither can you see or understand or conceive the Kingdom unless you’re born again. So it was a mystery while they were sinners before they were born again. It was a mystery they couldn’t see. But now they’re born again. The veil is removed. Now they’re beginning to get revelation. They’re seeing and understanding what Jesus is talking about the Kingdom of God. So they were born again in John 20, 22 and he’s talking to them in Acts 1 verse 3, over and over for 40 days about the Kingdom of God. The scales are coming off. They’re opening their eyes are beginning to see. Oh, now we see the first time you came you had to die on the cross, save man from sin, not from King Herod and the Roman Empire. So his first coming was not to rescue them from the Roman Empire and King Herod and the Roman Emperor. The first coming was to rescue them from sin. But his second coming which is still in our future is when he will set up a throne in Jerusalem and he will rule the whole earth with an iron scepter. So he is coming again the second time to rule the physical Kingdom on earth with the iron scepter and the whole earth will be subjected to him. But his first coming in other words was to bring a spiritual Kingdom not to set them free from the Roman Emperor but to set them free from Satan. Set them free from the real tyrant, the real oppressor, Satan. You are free from Satan. You are free from sin. And in the meantime, keep going and preaching the gospel of the Kingdom of God in the whole earth. And let me take you back to this verse. I love this verse of Matthew 24, 14 because people have misunderstood the gospel as being the message of the cross. And Jesus said, and this gospel and I’m going to skip the next three words right now and I’m going to read it the way the body of Christ has stopped it was read. This gospel will be preaching the whole world as a testimony to all nations and then the end will come. So people are thinking we need to preach the cross all over the world and then the end will come. Well guess what? The cross has been preached all over the world. It’s been preached in the depths of Africa. It’s been preached across China and Indonesia and the satellites give it all over the world. What you just heard was a continuation of message three that I preached in a series of messages in our victorious faith services called the Kingdom of God. And this message three is called a spiritual kingdom first. We will continue and conclude this message tomorrow. So join me again tomorrow and remember God loves you. You are blessed and highly favored by the Lord.
