Thursday, April 21, 2011

Jesus... 'I must preach the kingdom of God...'

Mat 10:7 And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.


Mar 16:15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.


Luk 4:18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
Luk 4:19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord


Luk 4:43 And he said unto them, I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also: for therefore am I sent.


Luk 9:2 And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick.


Luk 9:60 Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.


Act 5:42 And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.


1Co 1:23,24 But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.


*******

Preach the KINGDOM of heaven.


Jesus said these words- 'I must preach the kingdom of God…'


I MUST… What does that mean, that word- must.


Let's look at the dictionary definition-

must
1 [muhst]
–auxiliary verb
1.
to be obliged or bound to by an imperative requirement: I must keep my word.
2.
to be under the necessity to; need to: Animals must eat to live.
3.
to be required or compelled to, as by the use or threat of force: You must obey the law.
4.
to be compelled to in order to fulfill some need or achieve an aim: We must hurry if we're to arrive on time.
5.
to be forced to, as by convention or the requirements of honesty: I must say, that is a lovely hat.
6.
to be or feel urged to; ought to: I must buy that book.
7.
to be reasonably expected to; is bound to: It must have stopped raining by now. She must be at least 60.
8.
to be inevitably certain to; be compelled by nature: Everyone must die.

Pasted from


Do you see the words used to describe 'must'… OBLIGED, IMPERATIVE REQUIREMENT, NECESSITY TO, REQUIRED or COMPELLED TO, FORCED TO, URGED TO, EXPECTED TO.


Jesus said… I MUST meaning that Jesus was obliged, Jesus was bound by imperative requirement, Jesus was under the necessity to, Jesus was required to, Jesus was compelled to… PREACH the kingdom of God! Yes, the verse goes on to say more but for this moment right now let's just try to comprehend the importance of what is being said here.


We don't imagine anyone in control having to do much of anything, do we? We believe deep in our hearts that time and time again people who have power don't have to answer to the rules the way the average, common person has to. Power has given them the unspoken right to kill, cheat, lie, steal, rape, beat, abuse as they desire to. Throughout time people in power have lived horrible lives of debauchery this is undeniable. Many of those in power hear the words 'you must' and they turn around and say they will do as they like, there is nothing they 'must' do.


When we think of God the ALL powerful... to use the words- God must- seems absurd. God can do anything, right? Yet we read these words-- Jesus said 'I must'. He didn't only use those two words with preaching the kingdom of God, but this is what we've been studying lately and that is why we are studying this particular instance.


Luk 4:43 And he said unto them, I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also: for therefore am I sent.


Jesus said He MUST preach the kingdom to other cities. Preaching the kingdom was WHY Jesus was sent. SALVATION! REDEMPTION! This is the preaching of the kingdom! All preaching should revolve around salvation in Jesus Christ. The entire Bible is about this- the old testament looking forward towards it and the new testament looking back at it- salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord.


There is no wonder whatsoever that our Savior said He '...must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also, for therefore am I sent. ' It is the pure truth.


The kingdom exists. The kingdom is NOT fantasy. The kingdom is LIFE everlasting. Preaching the kingdom, preaching the gospel is revealing this reality. We must ALL live in this reality but sadly many don't, many refuse to even think about this reality preferring to live without any thought of the kingdom. It's tragic, very, very tragic but people go day after day after day without truly understanding these words….


'Thy kingdom come', 'Thine is the kingdom'.


They might say these words - some might say them even daily- but do they live them? Do we live with the living kingdom of God in their hearts as a reality they need to share with others? A reality that Jesus came to preach? A reality we must preach, a reality we must live.


By the grace of God may we live the kingdom that Jesus was born to give to us, that Jesus preached to us, that Jesus died to fulfill, that Jesus was resurrected to give to us fully.


Amen!

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