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Good morning! Welcome to Victoria’s Faith! I’m Cherry Campbell. This morning I’m going to continue sharing with you the message that I’ve been sharing with you all this week that I preached in a series of messages in our Victoria’s Faith Services called “The Kingdom of God”. And this is part one in that series called, “What is the Kingdom of God?” And if you’d like to listen to this message again in this entirety, you can go to my YouTube channel which is under my name, Cherry Campbell, C-H-E-R-R-I, Campbell C-E-M-P-B-E-L-L. And there in the top category called Radio broadcasts, you will see this series called “The Kingdom of God.” And when you click on the link, then you will see the list of messages in the series. Now join me in our live service for the continuation of part one, “What is the Kingdom of God?” So let’s say, let’s separate his life ministry from his death and crucifixion. And all of that was the plan of redemption where he bore our sins and our sickness. And he paid the price for us and gave us new birth. But in his life in ministry, what was that all for? Why did he have to walk around for as many years as he did? Why did he just come to earth and die and do nothing else? I mean, if the cross was the only thing that he had to do, he could have done that first and just been gone. Why take those other years of ministry? So I do recognize that there’s a difference in purpose of his death and that plan of redemption there has a different purpose than his ministry. Because if his ministry didn’t have a purpose, he wouldn’t have ever had to do those three and a half years. He could have just gone right to the cross and get it done and go to heaven. So there was a purpose for those three and a half years. And Luke 4.43 tells you his purpose or his mission statement for the three and a half years that he ministered. Luke 4.43 says, but he said, I must preach the gospel of what? The kingdom of God to the other towns also because that is why I was sent. This is my mission statement. That’s why I’m here for these three or three and a half years of ministry. I have a purpose in these three and a half years. It’s the gospel of the kingdom. He lived and ministered for those years for this purpose, the gospel of the kingdom. Separate from his purpose for going to the cross, that was to redeem fallen man. But he didn’t have to minister for three and a half years to do that. The purpose of his three or three and a half years, whichever it was, of preaching, was for the purpose of preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God. Hallelujah. Jesus did not come to establish a religion. He is the head of the church, but he did not come to establish a religion, such as Mohammed establishing his religion or Buddha or other religions that have been formed. He did not come to bring a religion. He came to establish a government. The government of God on earth. One of our favorite Christmas verses is Isaiah 9 verses 6 and 7 for unto us a child is born unto us a son is given. The government of the kingdom you could add will be on his shoulders. And he will be called wonderful counselor mighty God everlasting father, Prince of peace and of the increase of his kingdom in government and peace. There will be no end. It’s actually the increase of his government. It says there of the increase of his government. There will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from then on and forever. That also says why he came, the mission statement of Jesus for unto us a child is born unto us a son is given for the government in the kingdom to be established on earth and it will rest on his shoulders. He came to bring a government to earth. If he was only merely a prophet, he would have come to set up a religion. In that case King Herod would never have been threatened. King Herod would have had no threat but he was born to be a king establishing a kingdom and that threatened King Herod. That’s why King Herod killed all the babies in Bethlehem because of the threat to his kingdom. Isn’t this awesome? If he was just a prophet, he would have been no threat to King Herod. King Herod didn’t care. There were all kinds of religions in the Roman Empire and the Roman Empire did generally tolerate people’s religions but they would never tolerate any other king. And he was born King. King Herod knew the prophecies about the coming Messiah would be that he would be king. And so when the wise men came in from the east to Jerusalem and they came in asking where is the one who has been born King? That was the question of the wise men. Not where is the one who is the prophet of Israel. The King. King Herod asked, “What do you mean king? There’s no other king around here but me.” Find him. Let’s kill all them babies. That was Herod’s threat and why he killed the babies in Bethlehem to kill any other potential king that would be a threat to his kingdom. He didn’t care about religions. He didn’t care if there was another Buddha or Muhammad. So Christianity is not a religion, it’s a kingdom. And it is the government of God with spiritual laws and a system of ruling. The kingdom of God is not a democracy where majority vote rules. It is a monarchy where the word of the king is the law. The Bible is the Constitution of the kingdom of God. A Constitution means a written document stating and describing the fundamental laws and regulations that a nation or state is organized and governed by. It is the fundamental laws and regulations that we are organized and governed by. Now I gave you early the example of when Great Britain brought their government into India. Do we call that? What’s that word? Colonizing. So Great Britain and even the United States had become a colony. And in the era of the great empires, colonizing the earth, empires are great Britain and Spain and other places, they would go into other countries, force their way in obviously, and then bring their government, bring their laws, bring their system, bring their language, bring their school system, bring their currency in and make that other place subject to them and operating by the same laws, government and system. That’s what colonizing is. One government spreading out its territory, taking over other territory and putting its government and system and laws and language into other territories and bringing them in under itself. Jesus came to colonize earth. To bring the kingdom of God and heaven to earth. To extend God’s headship and government rule system and laws which were always operating in heaven, down to the earth and say, now my kingdom will be there, earth will be a colony of heaven. There are my government, my laws, my system, my language, my currency. The interesting thing is, and we’ll talk about this more later, is that the kingdom of God is a spiritual kingdom. We know this. There are actually two spiritual kingdoms. There’s the kingdom of God and what’s also called the kingdom of this world whose head is the devil. The kingdom of God is also called the kingdom of light. The kingdom of this world is also called the kingdom of darkness. So there are actually two kingdoms. And since the fall of Adam, the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of this world was ruling on earth, taking over the whole territory of earth. With the exception of individual people like Noah and Abraham and Jacob who came into covenant with God, they personally received God’s laws in their own life, but not as a country or as a physical spreading out on this earth. So the kingdom of darkness ruled over the whole earth from the time of the fall of Adam and Eve, with just individual men and women calling upon the name of the Lord and entering into covenant relationship with God and then God’s kingdom ruled over them personally and in their lives, while they lived in a world ruled by the kingdom of darkness. Remember Jesus said the kingdom of God is forcefully advancing. He came to bring the kingdom of God to earth, to colonize earth, to establish, I am the king and I’m bringing you the government system and laws for you to follow and live by. And as people enter the kingdom, they take and receive those laws. Now let me stop a minute. What is salvation and new birth? Where as what I call, what we say evangelists who go out and say we preach the gospel, they’re talking about the cross and salvation. That is not the whole gospel. That’s a tiny little tiny part because what they’re talking about is the entrance or the door into the kingdom. Women and new birth are the doorway and the entrance to get in the kingdom of God. Problem is most Christians have learned about the doorway. They just crossed that threshold and they stayed there the rest of their days on earth. They got through the threshold and they’re almost stuck there and some like keep on going, push you on the end and receive the kingdom. What you just heard was a continuation of a message that I preached in a series of messages in our victorious faith services called the kingdom of God. And this is part one in that series called what is the kingdom of God. And 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.
