The Kingdom Of This World

Deals with the power of the kingdom of God. It touches on issues like keys that make the Kingdom function, The present and future reality of the Kingdom and the original message and purpose of Jesus.

After proclaiming that God's Kingdom had come near, Jesus died on the cross. This is hard to reconcile with what Jesus announced at the start of his ministry. It can only be understood when we realize the relationship between the Kingdom of God and his death. Jesus said flesh and blood can't inherit the Kingdom of God, but only those who are born of the Sprit, and for this reason Jesus had to die on the cross. Jesus explained this to Nicodemus that only those who are born of the Holy Spirit can enter into the Kingdom of God. He came into the world to make it happen, because without the cross of Jesus there is no fulfillment of the Kingdom. The proclamation of Jesus, his works and his life have strong bearing on his mission. Jesus proclaimed that the Kingdom of God had come near. He healed the sick, fed the hungry and gave hope to the poor. He lived a very basic life with his disciples and had no earthly possessions. This was the Kingdom that Jesus proclaimed. It gave the power back to the people, it gave them dignity and a life of joy and contentment. It was about the wellbeing of the whole community and where the leaders served others. Jesus explained the mysteries of his Kingdom through many parables, which turned the whole concept of the kingdom on its head and only a few were able to understand it then, as it is now. It was a new and unique concept for the disciples to grasp, but after his resurrection when he was with them for forty days, Jesus explained everything to them as recorded in the book of Acts. He instructed them to remain in Jerusalem till they were baptized by the Holy Spirit. Their empowerment which is usually understood in terms of Peter's bold preaching of the gospel was in fact more than that. It was to give them the courage to leave their earthly possessions and relationships and accept the other believers as their new family, where God lived with them and looked after their daily needs, spiritual as well as material. This was a very bold step for them to take. It was more daring than standing up to preach before a large crowd on the day of the Pentecost. The first church in Jerusalem became a place where God's Kingdom had come. They rejoiced together as they shared everything and God did mighty works among them. This would not have been possible, if they hadn’t left their own families and possession to join the new community of God’s people. The church lost the initial impetus that the early Christians had, in the way they lived and preached the good news of the Kingdom, especially during the post-Constantine period when the church leaders were seduced by the wealth that came from the state treasury. The way Jesus, the apostles and the early Christians had lived was completely forgotten or overlooked. The sixteenth century reformation tried to recover some of the important aspect the Christianity but it did not go far enough. At present the church has become its own worst enemy. Some churches are trying to destroy the very foundation of our salvation by denying the existence of historical Jesus. In others the faith in Jesus has failed to translate into a living reality. It judges the world harshly and does not reflect the values of God's Kingdom in its daily life. We need to reaffirm the apostolic faith and the community life of the early church. And become a community of God’s redeemed people who follow the principles of his Kingdom. This is the true life and witness of the church.

Ladd's magisterial work on New Testament theology has well served scores of seminary students since 1974. Now this comprehensive, standard evangelical text has been carefully revised by Hagner to include an update of Ladd's survey of the history of the field of New Testament theology, an augmented bibliography, and an entirely new subject index.

"This book is a game changer and will teach you what it means to be part of This Kingdom." ?Pastor Marilyn Bailey, Teleios Church, Johannesburg, South Africa "There is perhaps no greater time to revisit the spiritual and practical understanding of the kingdom of God than right now. Apostle Scantlebury addresses and corrects, common misconceptions, explains the contrasts in the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness, properly aligns the Kingdom and the Church, and propels us toward a holistic understanding of Kingdom life in the earth. With great patience and clear articulation, Apostle Scantlebury lays out a compelling case for the people of God to give priority to understanding and walking in the principles of the Kingdom of God in life and ministry. Do yourself a favour; set aside some time to read through and study this transformative volume. You will be challenged, changed, and equipped to be a proper representative of the kingdom of God. ?Apostle Eric L. Warren, Eric Warren Ministries, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA

Many evangelicals have come to embrace a populist eschatology that has neither the support of the historical church, nor of the scholarly world today. For some, this has led to a disillusionment with eschatological speculations. For others, the results are apathy and a failure to understand the mission of God's people. This is tragic! For when the entirety of the New Testament is read and understood from an eschatological perspective, the grand narrative of Scripture and its fulfillment in Jesus comes clearly into focus. A proper framework for understanding eschatology directly correlates to a proper understanding of the mission of God's people, who are themselves carrying forth the biblical story as we approach the New Jerusalem. To fail to comprehend eschatology is to fail to comprehend our mission. This book has two objectives: First, to provide a proper hermeneutical framework from which we may discern a biblical eschatological worldview. Second, to demonstrate that a proper eschatological framework relates to the mission of God's people and the demand for holiness. Thus, eschatology matters!

More Christians live in the Majority World than in Europe and North America. Yet most theological literature does not reflect the rising tide of Christian reflection coming from these regions. Bringing together theological resources from past and present, East and West, this work engages conversations with leading global scholars on theology, faith, and mission for the enrichment of the entire church.

A 'kingdom' is a group of people ruled by one person, the 'king', who makes all the laws himself without their votes or approval. The concept is anathema to contemporary democracy and its confidence in government by the people, the naive assumption that majorities will always get it right. History does not encourage optimism. There have been more bad kings than good, even in God's chosen people Israel. Behind our world's problems, which baffle our finest politicians and philosophers, lies a fundamental, racial and fatal error of having chosen the wrong king. Born into his kingdom, he has deceived us into thinking we can each of us be our own kingdom, inevitably clashing with each other, as individuals or nations. The only solution is to find the right king and become his loyal citizens. One day all other kingdoms will be shaken to pieces but this will remain, for ever. Only then will the conflict, in which every one of us is involved, be resolved.

This timely book explores the wisdom of the Gnostic Jesus, who challenges our preconceptions about the world and ourselves. Based on the Gospel of Thomas, the book recounts the missing years in Jesus’ life and his time in Egypt and India, learning from Egyptian secret societies, then Buddhist schools, then Hindu Vedanta. Each of Jesus' original sayings is the "seed" for a chapter of the book; each examines one aspect of life — birth, death, love, fear, anger, and more — counterpointed by Osho’s penetrating comments and responses to questions from his audience.

The book of Revelation is perhaps the most theologically complex and literarily sophisticated text in the New Testament. In this commentary John Christopher Thomas and Frank Macchia make the brilliant but challenging text of Revelation more accessible and easier to understand on its own terms, rather than as a futuristic prophecy. In addition to their literary, exegetical, and theological analysis of the text, they offer sustained theological essays on the book's most significant themes and issues, accenting especially the underappreciated place of the Holy Spirit in the theology of the book.

First-century followers of Christ (representatives of the Kingdom of God on earth) lived in accordance with what they preached. Many laid down their lives rather than compromise Kingdom values. For them, the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was more than words; it was about imitating Him. There is utter confusion in the twenty-first century Christian world because unfaithful stewards over the centuries added to the gospel of Christ. Their creation--a new Christianity ("Religious Christianity")--commingled Kingdom and worldly values, shut out the Holy Spirit from His Church, and undermined Christ's teachings. The result: many Christians cannot differentiate the wheat from the chaff, the truth from the lie, the gospel of Christ from the false gospels, biblical churches from syncretistic churches, good stewards from bad stewards, and Kingdom values from worldly values. Stewards of the Kingdom takes away the grey, brings clarity, exposes centuries' old conspiracies and lies, and calls on followers of Christ (Kingdom representatives) to rise up and take back their stolen Kingdom.

This book argues that Christians have a stake in the sustainability and success of core cultural values of the West in general and America in particular. Steven M. Studebaker considers Western and American decline from a theological and, specifically, Pentecostal perspective. The volume proposes and develops a Pentecostal political theology that can be used to address and reframe Christian political identity in the United States. Studebaker asserts that American Christians are currently not properly engaged in preventing America’s decline or halting the shifts in its core values. The problem, he suggests, is that American Christianity not only gives little thought to the state of the nation beyond a handful of moral issues like abortion, but its popular political theologies lead Christians to think of themselves more as aliens than as citizens. This book posits that the proposed Pentecostal political theology would help American Christians view themselves as citizens and better recognize their stake in the renewal of their nation. The foundation of this proposed political theology is a pneumatological narrative of renewal—a biblical narrative of the Spirit that begins with creation, proceeds through Incarnation and Pentecost, and culminates in the new creation and everlasting kingdom of God. This narrative provides the foundation for a political theology that speaks to the issues of Christian political identity and encourages Christian political participation.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1872. The publishing house Anatiposi publishes historical books as reprints. Due to their age, these books may have missing pages or inferior quality. Our aim is to preserve these books and make them available to the public so that they do not get lost.

Since 1988, hundreds of thousands of evangelical Christians have migrated to the United States of America from former Soviet Union countries, establishing many Russian-speaking immigrant congregations across the country. This study analyzes how these immigrant churches function in their new cultural, social, and religious context. Dr Vyacheslav Tsvirinko, a Russian who lived in the USA for over twenty-five years, examines the holism, authenticity and contextuality of the mission work done by churches in the Pacific Coast Slavic Baptist Association (PCSBA) in America. He defines authentic mission in light of three major Christian groups – the World Council of Churches, the Lausanne Movement, and Anabaptists – and uncovers startling insights on how PCSBA churches engage in mission, both back in their homeland and in the USA. The findings and conclusions of this work are invaluable to diasporic Christian communities who wish to address their authenticity in the way they do mission, both internationally and in their local context, creating a path to more fruitful gospel and kingdom work.

The present volume is the fifth in a five-volume study of church doctrine. The multivolume set covers the major parts of church doctrine: Canon, God, Creation, Reconciliation, and Redemption. The first volume begins with an introduction to the entire project on why doctrine matters, which stresses the ecumenical, global, and above all biblical horizons of church doctrine as a primary expression of Christian witness. The purpose of this fifth volume is to explicate the full reality of God’s redeeming love for the whole creation. In the doctrine of redemption, the church looks forward in hope. Through the gift of the Spirit at Pentecost the church is gathered out of all nations and peoples of the earth, and looks forward to the coming day of final redemption for the whole cosmos. Yet even now, the promise of God’s coming is active in the world, rendering the church into a new humanity, establishing a new society, calling every individual to a new life of joy in discipleship. Church doctrine is not a luxury, but a necessity for the living community of faith, by which its witness in word and deed is tested against the one true measure of Christ the risen Lord.