The World’s Response toward God’s Kingdom Dr. Joseph Chang 11/16/2014 BOLGPC

Train in Bangladesh (2010 photo)

Two Ways to Govern 1. Reducing human beings to 奴才 (intelligent slave). 2. Elevating the human dignity to the perfect image of God.

Preparatory Stage of God’s Kingdom Fulfilled Stage of God’s Kingdom World’s response toward God’s Kingdom— Negative.

Beatitudes (Matt 5:1-12) 1 Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2 And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: 3 ""Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. " 4 ""Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. " 5 ""Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. " 6 ""Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. “

Beatitudes (Matt 5:1-12) ""Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. " 8 ""Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. " 9 ""Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. " 10 ""Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. " 11 ""Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account." 12 "Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. " 【 Matt 5:1~12 】

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 為義受逼迫的人有福了, 因為天國是他們的.

I. This is not self righteousness, but the righteousness of God. We do not like righteous man: 1. They are rare None is righteousness, no, not one! (Rom. 3:10) 2. We don’t like to look bad in comparison

16 Be not overly righteous, and do not make yourself too wise. Why should you destroy yourself? 【 Eccl 7:16 】 16 不要行義過分，也不要過於自逞智慧，何 必自取敗亡呢？【傳 7:16 】

II. He who that is against us, is against God. 33 ""Hear another parable. There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and leased it to tenants, and went into another country." 34 "When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit." 35 "And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another.“ 【 Matt 21:33~ 】

II. He who that is against us, is against God. 36 "Again he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them." 37 "Finally he sent his son to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.'" 38 "But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, 'This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.'“ 【 Matt 21:33~ 】

II. He who that is against us, is against God. 39 "And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him." 40 "When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?"" 41 They said to him, "He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons." 【 Matt 21:33~41 】

III. We are persecuted together with the prophets and with Jesus Christ. A. Noah 20 because they formerly did not obey, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. 【 1Pet 3:20 】

III. We are persecuted together with the prophets and with Jesus Christ. B. Amos 12 And Amaziah said to Amos, "O seer, go, flee away to the land of Judah, and eat bread there, and prophesy there, 13 but never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king's sanctuary, and it is a temple of the kingdom." 【 Amos 7:12~13 】

III. We are persecuted together with the prophets and with Jesus Christ. C. Jeremiah 1 Now Pashhur the priest, the son of Immer, who was chief officer in the house of the Lord, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things. 2 Then Pashhur beat Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the upper Benjamin Gate of the house of the Lord. 【 Jer 20:1~2 】

III. We are persecuted together with the prophets and with Jesus Christ. C. Jeremiah 6 So they took Jeremiah and cast him into the cistern of Malchiah, the king's son, which was in the court of the guard, letting Jeremiah down by ropes. And there was no water in the cistern, but only mud, and Jeremiah sank in the mud. 【 Jer 38:6 】

III. We are persecuted together with the prophets and with Jesus Christ. D. God might ask us to go the extra mile. Jeremiah was single. 1 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 "You shall not take a wife, nor shall you have sons or daughters in this place. 【 Jer 16:1~2 】

III. We are persecuted together with the prophets and with Jesus Christ. D. God might ask us to go the extra mile. Ezekiel’s wife died suddently.

15 The word of the Lord came to me: 16 "Son of man, behold, I am about to take the delight of your eyes away from you at a stroke; yet you shall not mourn or weep, nor shall your tears run down. 17 Sigh, but not aloud; make no mourning for the dead. Bind on your turban, and put your shoes on your feet; do not cover your lips, nor eat the bread of men." 18 So I spoke to the people in the morning, and at evening my wife died. And on the next morning I did as I was commanded. 【 Ezek 24:15~18 】

III. We are persecuted together with the prophets and with Jesus Christ. D. God might ask us to go the extra mile. Hosea married a prostitute, had children of not his own. 2 When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, "Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord." 【 Hos 1:2 】

18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. 【 1John 4:18 】

Conclusion Pharisees Disciples of Jesus Christ