OK, Bible students, here's a quick study to get you ready for Sunday

We are ramping up to Matthew 13 for our new sermon series beginning June 10. Prepare yourself with a little background study!

The book of Matthew was written to show that Jesus Christ is the promised King from David’s line (2 Samuel 7), the Son of God, and the Messiah. You see an element of Jesus’ Kingship in every chapter!

Chapter 1 – Jesus Christ’s kingship is confirmed in His lineage, as He is born through the messianic line.

Chapter 2 – Jesus Christ’s kingship is confirmed by the magi, or wise men, who themselves were king-makers.

Chapter 3 – Jesus Christ’s kingship is confirmed by John the Baptist, the preordained forerunner to the King.

Chapter 4 - Jesus Christ’s kingship is confirmed by His conflict with Satan, resisting temptation and conquering the kingdom of darkness.

Chapters 5-7 - Jesus Christ’s kingship is confirmed through His teaching.

Chapters 8-10 - Jesus Christ’s kingship is confirmed through His miracles. Many really begin to reject the King, and the greater the evidence given, the greater the rejection becomes.

Chapter 11 - Jesus Christ denounces Israel for rejecting Him as their King (and Savior) and promises severe judgment. Yet the invitation to come to Him is still given (vs 25-30).

Chapter 12 – The rejection of Jesus Christ reaches a climax, and so does the pronouncement of judgment. The rejection goes to the point that Jesus us accused of being satanic. Jesus points out that such a mindset indicates someone beyond the point of being forgiven (vs 31-32). There is still yet another invitation given (v 50).

To sum up: Christ is proven to be the King, but He is rejected as King, so He pronounces judgment on those who have rejected Him. Yet the invitation is still open to those who would receive Him.

Israel has rejected the King, therefore, the kingdom is also rejected. For centuries, the Jews were looking for the Messiah to establish God’s kingdom on earth. At last it was offered to them, but they refused it. When we get to chapter 13 in Matthew, we see a new perspective in the ministry of Christ.

Three big questions need answered about all of this:

Big question #1: If Jesus came to establish the kingdom of God on earth, which was promised through Israel, but Israel refused Him and His kingdom, then what happened to the kingdom? Matthew 13 has the answer. The kingdom cannot come until Israel receives the King. Until then, the kingdom has to be postponed in terms of its complete fulfillment. It has to be postponed to a future time. What time is that? The second coming of Christ. Jesus is coming a second time because His kingdom was rejected the first time He came. Jesus, John the Baptist, and the apostles all preached that “the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17, 3:2, 10:7), but because the King and kingdom were rejected, this kingdom is postponed.

Big Question #2: Why didn’t God just eliminate the kingdom? Because He promised Israel a future kingdom! Now there is an internal aspect of the kingdom for those who have received Christ, but there will be an external aspect someday as well (Zechariah 12:10, Zechariah 13:1, Romans 11:26, Revelation 20). At Christ’s reign on the earth during the Millennium, the kingdom will be fulfilled – internally AND externally.

Big Question #3: What happens in the time between the rejection of Christ and the Second Coming of Christ? There are different names for this time period: the parenthesis, the interim, the interregnum (yeah, my favorite). As discussed earlier, it is a period not seen in the Old Testament. In fact, in Mark 4:11, Jesus calls it a “mystery”, that is, “what was hidden is now revealed”. Part of mystery is that in this period of the kingdom, Jews and Gentiles would be part of a combined identity (Ephesians 3:5-6), something else not seen in OT.

So Matthew 13 has 7 parables that describe what the interim period will be like. During the interim, the kingdom goes on while the king is absent. Jesus, at this point, is in heaven, at the right hand of the Father, but that doesn’t mean He isn’t present in our midst...the Bible says He is!

I am so excited to be exploring this passage with you, starting this Sunday (June 10)!

p.s. - class dismissed!

(Note: This material adapted from John MacArthur‘s The Kingdom of Heaven)

Get Ready for Our Next Sermon Series: The Kingdom of Heaven

You can’t miss it. Throughout the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus over and over kept talking about the kingdom of heaven. “It’s like this, it can be compared to this…” It was the theme of many of His parables. But what is the kingdom of heaven?

We will be immersing ourselves in Jesus’ key teachings on this subject. The sermon series “Jesus Introduces the Church Age” will begin June 10 and run through most of the summer. Why is this such an important series? Because Jesus is describing, in detail, the very day that we live in! We don’t have to wonder what God is up to between the first appearance and the second coming of Christ. Jesus spells it all out!

These are the questions Jesus answered that we will be diving into:

How will people respond to the Gospel?

How do we deal with unbelievers?

How far can this go?

What is it worth?

How will it end?

What is my part in all of this?

The next few blogs will give some context and background to prepare us for this study. I encourage you to be reading these and preparing for this series. You will see the Gospel in a fresh and exciting way as Jesus describes how His Kingdom will advance on the earth until His return!

Join us!

Why I Love Harvest University

This week, a few of my favorite people from Harvest Bible Chapel Pittsburgh North went with me to Harvest U 2012. It was so good… so God-glorifying, Christ-exalting, ministry equipping - I still haven’t had time to process it all. It was so refreshing for my spirit and mind! And everyone else who went would say the same. It was a time of intense joy.

What’s so great about it? I am still playing catch-up for the week, but quickly, here are a few of my favorite aspects of HU:

Worship

Revelation describes worship in heaven: And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth." (Revelation 5:9-10, emphasis mine)

Are you excited for that? Harvest U gives us just a taste, a glorious taste, of that as Harvest Bible Chapels from all over the world assemble to give praise to the King of Kings!

So I love the preview of what is awaiting us eternally!

Connecting

I have been blessed to make friendships with Harvest Pastors and Staff from Chicago and all over the world. Harvest U is a great time to catch up with everybody and boast in the Lord at what He is doing.

Time with my people

The highlight of the trip didn’t come from Chicago. It actually came from Pittsburgh with me! To have four days of just being with our own people from HBC Pittsburgh North - worshiping, praying, learning, planning, talking, laughing, eating - I enjoyed every second I was blessed to spend with these people I love so much. And this only served to deepen my love for them. (PS If you didn‘t go this year, you gotta go next year!)

p.s. - would totally do it all over again next week

Bringing back an old-school word...

Proverbs 1:1-4: The proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel: To know wisdom and instruction, to understand words of insight, to receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness, justice, and equity; to give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the youth--

God’s Word is so amazing. It gives us wisdom and discipline. It helps us to understand the ways of God. It gives us instruction on dealing properly with people.

To sum it up, Proverbs 1:4 uses a word we don't use much anymore: Prudence.

What is Prudence?

Prudence is doing the right thing, in the right way, at the right time, for the right purpose.

First, it’s doing the right thing. We all have choices every day. Prudence says I am going to, by the grace of God, choose to do the right thing. I am not going to entertain sinful, or even unprofitable, ideas. I am not going to hope I make a good decision. I am making it now. I am making a choice ahead of time. I am going to do the right thing.

But it is also doing the right thing in the right way. You know you can do the right thing but in the wrong way, right? Showing your boss that you are concerned for her is a right thing. Showing it by taking her on a date, wrong way. It’s using discretion: I know what I need to do, what is the wisest way to go about it?

Prudence is even more thorough. It is doing the right thing in the right way at the right time. It has taken me a while to learn this (almost 37 years): but timing is everything. When I have to have a hard conversation, I try to do it ASAP. Not always a good plan. I am not discounting urgency, but I have learned that sometimes it is wiser to wait until a better time to say something hard.

And finally, prudence means doing the right thing in the right way at the right time for the right purpose. What is my purpose? Proverbs 20:5 reminds us a motivation check is always in order. Why am I doing this? To exalt myself? To prove am I right? To put this person in his place? To appear more spiritual than I am? Is this really for the Lord?

In other words, in every choice you have to make, examine:

WHAT is the right thing?

HOW should I go about doing the right thing?

WHEN should I get on this?

WHY am I doing this?

p.s. - this is the proverbial truth. literally