We're going to be in Acts chapter 1 for our time today in God's Word. Acts chapter 1. This is different. Since we're leaving, we have left Luke, finishing a study in Luke, and coming to Acts. It's different than if we just start a book with no background, because we have all the background of Luke as we enter Acts. But we are still in that place that we want to lay a good foundation for our thinking and for our study, get our minds set right. I think of the 40 days that Jesus spent between his resurrection and his ascension. And I think of the work that he did to teach the disciples about the kingdom, that they might have error removed from their minds, removed from their thinking, and that they might have it replaced with truth. We talk a lot about that. We'll talk a lot about that this week. We touched on that Wednesday night as well, this past. And there may be some repeats and some things that we say again today that we said on Sunday night. But as I think about that time that the Lord saw, it was necessary for him to be with them and to teach them for that 40 days. I think how necessary it is for us as we embark on a study anywhere in God's word, really, but especially in the book of Acts, that we have a really good understanding, a good foundation on the kingdom. As we study some of these things, you may say, some of this is new to me. Some of this I've not heard before. Some of the things that we'll talk about are not what's being taught in the majority of the churches in our nation and around the world. But we are teaching what the scripture has, what God has revealed to us in scripture. So we're teaching what the Bible says here. And so if it's new to you, and if you're thinking well, I don't know that I fully grasp it. Let me say this We know that the Lord spent 40 days with the disciples 40 days Teaching them by many proofs of his resurrection and then teaching them about the kingdom But after the Lord ascended after he ascended and sent the Holy Spirit to indwell Those believers in the upper room at Pentecost We still see the Apostles struggling with the things that were so embedded in their thinking, so seeded in them. We still see them struggling with this. So if you still struggle, do not despair. Trust the Lord. Study His Word. And if there's any way that your pastors can help you with this, then we would be glad to. I'm going to go to the book of Acts, chapter 1, and read the first 11 verses. The first account I composed Theophilus about all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day when he was taken up to heaven and after he had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom he had chosen. To these, he also presented himself alive after his suffering by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of 40 days, and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God. Gathering them together, he commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised. which, he said, you have heard from me. For John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. Verse six, so when they had come together, they were asking him, saying, Lord, is it at this time that you are restoring the kingdom to Israel? I will tell you this, this verse six will be much of our focus today, and what we will talk about from here, so I'll read that again, verse six. So when they had come together, they were asking him, saying, Lord, is it at this time you are restoring the kingdom to Israel? He said to them, it is not for you to know times or epochs, which the father has fixed by his own authority. Verse eight, but you will receive power. After that, the Holy Ghost has come upon you and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the uttermost parts of the earth. Verse nine, And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. They also said, Men of Galilee, why stand ye here gazing? This same Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will come in just the same way as you have watched him go into the heaven. Heavenly Father, we pray that you would bless our time together in your Word. God, we pray for clarity. I pray that you would give me clarity as I speak. I pray for the understanding of those who hear. God, we pray that your Holy Spirit would keep us from error and guide us in truth. And we ask this in your precious name. Amen. Jesus, has spent more than three years preaching and teaching about the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God. Now, you will hear and you will read in scripture the kingdom of God, you will read and hear the kingdom of heaven, and the kingdom of Christ. And these are synonymous with one another. These mean the same things. They are different titles, different ways of saying the same kingdom. The kingdom of God, the kingdom of Christ, the kingdom of heaven. Jesus has taught for three and a half years in his earthly ministry, as we've seen in our study of Luke, plainly and openly. Sometimes he taught using parables. If you remember the parables, many of them start with, the kingdom of heaven is like unto. The kingdom of heaven is like a man who went out to sow. The kingdom of heaven is like a king the kingdom of heaven is like. So we get many of these parables that Jesus used to teach. And parables, if you'll remember, are tools of teaching to reveal as well as to conceal. By teaching with parables, Jesus revealed the teaching of the kingdom for those for whom he came to die. And at the same time, by teaching with parables, it concealed from those who were his enemies. Jesus taught about the kingdom. Jesus taught using parables. Jesus also demonstrated kingdom power. He demonstrated and taught about the kingdom and the nature of the kingdom by many miraculous works that he performed. He did many things that showed kingdom power and they revealed truth about the nature of the kingdom. Now, as Jesus is teaching about the kingdom, many didn't get it. They didn't grasp what he was teaching. They were filled up with the error that they had been taught in the Jewish synagogues. The Jews had held a view of the kingdom of God that was erroneous. The Jews' view of the kingdom was focused primarily on themselves, focused on their nation. It was a me and my and us focused view of the kingdom of God. It focused on how they, as the nation of Israel, would rule and reign on earth in this life. So their view was a temporal view focused on themselves. We know that this error that the Jews held, an error of a temporal on earth right now kingdom, that error still exists today. There are those who have no thought for the eternal kingdom at all. No thought at all. And I think of those who are lost. who have no thought for eternity, no thought for the Kingdom of God, they are deluded to believe that they are a king unto themselves sitting on the throne of their own life. They will one day find the truth. For every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord and King to the glory of the Father. So this error still exists. There are some who still do not think about an eternal kingdom. They're focused only on this temporal world. Some hold error about the kingdom. Some who go by the name theonomist, and I'm sure there's great detail that we could go into as we talk about some of these things. Some are looking for the redemption, for the salvation of society. uh... looking for the redemption of the world's politics they focus on making the world's systems into a christian version of the same world systems uh... just think about those and maybe you have been one who has said this you know what would fix america if we could make the political realm more christian if we could get more Christian in our society. I would not in any way deny that the world would be a better place if people behaved according to the law of God. If people behaved as Christians. If Christians behaved as Christians. I have no doubt for that. But what we need to understand is that Jesus did not come to redeem society. I spoke to someone yesterday who was who was just lamenting this current political environment that we have today. And they were choosing a particular political party and blaming the problems and saying, there's where the problem is, it's in that political party. And I had to say to this person, the Democrats will not fix what's going on in America. and the republicans will not fix what's going on in america and i didn't say this to someone yesterday but i will say it here now an independent person who is not connected with democrat or republican will not fix what is wrong with america but one day jesus christ will return And then our hope will be realized. Our hope is in Him and in His return. As He ascended, He will return. And we look to that day for He is our hope now. And I'm off my notes, so forgive me. Christians who are citizens of the state in which you live in the country in which you live Exercise the the rights that you can I hope everyone in the United States of America goes and votes and votes their conscience and votes As they feel the Lord would have them to vote. I hope that you do that, but do not put your hope in in politics. There are those who believe that the world needs to be redeemed and society will be saved and politics will be then pious. But no, they are focusing on the world's systems and that is the wrong place to focus. That is the wrong thing to think about when you think about kingdom thoughts. We don't think about this world. Many Christians fall into the trap of having a one kingdom mindset. We can only think about one kingdom and they fall into the trap of having a one kingdom mindset when the reality is we live in a two kingdom reality. We live in a two kingdom existence. That is what God has had us. We live in this world, Americans, we live in the United States of America. but we also, as Christians, are in the Kingdom of God. Now, we need to understand, and there's much of this that I want to be clear on, and so I'm adding, as I work through my notes, I'm adding a few things. When we say we are citizens of the United States of America, citizens of the state of Texas, or citizens of wherever you are, We are not saying that that realm, that kingdom, is outside of the control of God. We're not saying that in any way. All things are under the authority, under the sovereign power of God. God is over all things. So we are certainly not saying that that's outside of His control. What we are saying is that there is a worldly kingdom that God has has operating for now and one day he will destroy all of the worldly things but there is a heavenly kingdom that will continue and that kingdom will have no end. So I need to get back to my notes here. So we don't need to fall into the trap of having a one kingdom mindset. The kingdom of God exists as well as the kingdom of the world. One day, I have in my notes here, one day Christ will destroy the kingdom of the world. But for now, we live in the reality of two kingdoms. We live in the reality of two kingdoms. Now some of you may be thinking, Well, the Bible says no man can serve two masters. What are we to do if we live in two kingdoms? You are to serve King Jesus. You are to serve King Jesus. And by serving King Jesus, He is going to instruct you in His Word by His Spirit how you should behave in this worldly kingdom. So we live in the kingdom of the world, but we are not Christians. We are not of the kingdom of the world. We live in the kingdom of the world, but we are of the kingdom of God. So this is an important thing for us to remember. Many among us have error in their thinking about the kingdom because they just think of one kingdom. We need to remember that there are two. And this is why, by the way, our confession is very much a two kingdom confession. If you hear someone say, they are a 1689 subscriptionist or they they subscribe to the second london baptist confession of 1689 they have to be a two kingdom uh theology adherent and here's why the confession speaks about uh about oaths, about serving in public office in the worldly kingdom, about serving in the military in the worldly kingdom. Our confession is very much a two kingdom thing so that we see the things of the kingdom of Christ and we see the things of the kingdom of the world. So there are some who try to redeem the kingdom. There are some who think there's only one kingdom. Our dispensationalist brothers err, and I did say dispensationalist brothers, but our dispensationalist brothers err in only thinking about the kingdom of God on earth. They find the goal of God's work in history to be the physical establishment of the Davidic kingdom on earth. And they do not focus God's supreme glory in the eternal state, but in what they would call the millennial reign for a thousand years. They find that God's focus of His work in history is in the physical establishment of the Davidic kingdom on earth. The physical establishment of the Davidic kingdom on earth, I believe it could rightly be called the kingdom of Israel. because many dispensationalists, if not all, see the nation of Israel, as a matter of fact, this is put down as one of the marks of a dispensationalist, they see the nation of Israel as a distinct people of God, distinct from the church. And those people, The nation of Israel, they see, will be the citizens of the kingdom of God. The nation of Israel equals the kingdom of God. We're gonna see that that's the same error that many held and that the apostles held during this time between the resurrection and the ascension. So we can see the error of the apostles in verse six. as it is manifested in modern error. The errors that we see that were when Christ walked the earth between, and especially between the resurrection and ascension as he's teaching, we see those errors still with us today. In verse six we see that the apostles asked Jesus when would he restore the kingdom to Israel. When would He restore the kingdom to Israel? Still thinking of the nation and the kingdom, the nation of Israel and the kingdom of God as the same thing. That was their error to think that the nation of Israel and the kingdom of God is the same thing. The Lord would use the next 40 days before He ascended to be with the Father to teach the apostles about the nature of the Kingdom of God. They would come to understand all of Israel are not Israel. All who are of Israel are not Israel. They would come to understand that. And I hope through our study in the book of Acts, through our study in the New Testament for years to come, that we too will come to understand all of Israel is not Israel. This is a great distinction that needs to be made. This we need to understand. The distinction between the nation of Abraham's physical descendants, the nation of Israel, and God's covenant people, spiritual Israel. That's the distinction we want to understand today. The nation of Israel and spiritual Israel. The physical descendants of Abraham and those who are descendants of Abraham by faith. And we read, if you want to see more of this, you could go back and read from Galatians that we read earlier today and you can see those things are outlined there as well. We may become confused on this if we're not careful to pay attention. I'm going to do my best to explain what I'm trying to say very clearly. Some of the physical descendants, I'm going to name Abraham and some of his physical descendants, those who would be part of national Israel. Think of Abraham and Isaac. Think of Moses and David. You could name many others who are physical descendants of Abraham who were part of national Israel by birth. But these men that I named, Abraham, Isaac, David, Moses, they were part of national Israel by birth, but they were also members of the spiritual Israel by faith. They were part of national Israel and also part of spiritual Israel by faith. But the two groups must remain, in our understanding, distinct. And this is demonstrated by some people who were members of one group and not the other. And I would be interested to see how many examples you could come up with, those who were members of one group, but not the other. The example that I'll offer to you is the easy one, low hanging fruit today for me. Esau, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph were all members of spiritual Israel, but Esau is this brother who was a citizen of national Israel a child of Abraham by birth But not a member of God's covenant people not a part of spiritual Israel So Esau is one example. I'd be interested to see the examples that you can come up with The distinction between national Israel and the spiritual Israel of God. You'll hear me call this spiritual Israel. You may hear me call this people the Israel of God. But the distinction between national Israel and spiritual Israel or national Israel and the Israel of God was something that for the apostles was new. They had been taught error in the synagogues as they grew up as members of national Israel. They had been taught that national Israel and spiritual Israel were the same group. And they are distinct and have been distinct. And you look through the Old Testament, you see that distinction. You see it throughout. There were many who were members of both, but there were some who were only members of one. Think of those who died, I shouldn't be giving you the examples, right? Think of those who died in the wilderness. They were all descendants of Abraham by birth, but not by faith. Verse six, the disciples asked this question, and it reveals to us their error. Is it at this time that you will restore the kingdom to Israel? This is the question. Is it at this time you'll restore the kingdom to Israel? The good thing, the one thing that we can say, well this is good that they believed, and it's evident from their question, they believed in a kingdom. They believed in a kingdom. So that is good, that's a correct statement as far as it goes, but it just doesn't quite go far enough. They believed in a kingdom. but they needed more. The error that we see, they believed that the kingdom of God was the same as the nation of Israel. Is it at this time that you will restore the kingdom to Israel? As they said this, restore the kingdom to Israel, they have in their thinking that Israel, the nation of Israel, is the kingdom of God. So they have this error in their thinking. Also, they were expecting an immediate consummation, an immediate establishment and ruling of the kingdom on earth. Is it at this time? You can almost hear. And they had asked this question before. We see this in the past. You think about when James and John and their mother came to Jesus. And she asked that one be seated on the right hand and one on the left hand. And as she is coming and asking this question, you can hear the anticipation that the kingdom The kingdom of God, the kingdom of Israel should be established here and now. And here we find the disciples asking the same thing. Is it at this time? Is it at this time? And if you hear, well, it's not at this time, it's not today. Well, it's gotta be soon. It's gotta be immediately coming. It's gotta be imminent upon us. So we hear this error. They are thinking that the kingdom is the same as the nation of Israel, and they are thinking that the time is immediate for the consummation of the kingdom on earth. The apostles had been taught for so many years, error. Now Jesus is taking this 40 days between His resurrection and His ascension and He is re-teaching them what we have called in the past corrective discipline. Corrective discipline. To tear down the error and to build back the truth. Tearing down the error and building back the truth. This corrective discipline. We saw last week that Jesus had already been teaching about the kingdom. They had already been taught about the kingdom. They were taught that Jesus is a present king. Remember from way back at the beginning of Luke, Jesus would take the throne of his father David. Jesus is not a one day to be king. He is king in a present kingdom. Jesus had told the Pharisees, the kingdom of God is upon you. If I do these works by the power of God, the kingdom of God is upon you. We know that from the The model prayer. Jesus teaches believers to pray for the kingdom. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And this is not that your kingdom would come into existence. It is that your kingdom would come to be would be broadened, that your kingdom would be grown, that your kingdom would be expanded by the gospel on earth. So that we would see the kingdom on earth as it is seen in heaven. Gospel advancement. is kingdom growth, and we are taught to pray, thy kingdom come. I did not look it up and put it in my notes, but we have a catechism question that asks, what is meant by thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven? It's gonna be a good exercise this afternoon to look that up, look it up with your children, look it up with your spouse, and see that catechism answer. the kingdom is already we also know that the kingdom is not yet and we as christians find ourselves saying that many times it's an already and a not yet the kingdom is already christ is king he was not one day to be king he is king the kingdom is at hand jesus taught the apostles taught john the baptist taught the kingdom is at hand the kingdom is upon you the kingdom is here But we are waiting still for the consummation, for the completion of these things. We're waiting. One day. Jesus taught about the kingdom, that his kingdom was not of this world. So as we talk about this, remember Jesus speaking with Pilate, my kingdom is not of this world. Think about the two kingdom theology that we talked about, the two kingdom mindset. Jesus here is speaking to a king, he's speaking to a ruler, he's speaking to one who is in authority over a worldly kingdom. He's speaking to Pilate. But He is speaking about His kingdom, and He's saying, My kingdom is of a different essence, of a different type, of a different kind. My kingdom is different from yours. If My kingdom was the same as yours, then My servants would fight. If My kingdom was the same as yours, we would be at odds. But My kingdom is not of this world. Christ's kingdom is a spiritual kingdom. Pilate is in the kingdom of the world. Jesus is king of the kingdom of God, of his own kingdom, the kingdom of Christ. Matthew 21 speaks of the kingdom and tells us that the kingdom is only for those who are repentant. So the disciples asked this question and it reveals the error. Is it at this time that you were restoring the kingdom to Israel? And Jesus answers, some have said, well, Jesus doesn't answer. Jesus doesn't answer. It surprises me, even growing up in church, how many times I hear, you know, you go to John 3, and you see the conversation between Nicodemus and Jesus, and because we don't want to admit the sovereignty of God, we say, oh, well, Jesus changed the subject. He was just talking about something completely different. And here, people come and they say, oh, well, Jesus is not talking about the kingdom. He just skipped over the answer completely. Because they want to say Jesus will restore the kingdom to the nation of Israel. But Jesus did answer the question. He gave the answer that they needed to hear. He gave them what they needed to know. He told them what they didn't need to know. You don't need to know about times. You don't need to know about epics that the fathers established. And this is in verse 7. You don't need to know about these things. He gave them what they needed to know. He spoke in verse eight, this is the answer. Now we think of verse eight as a commission for the church, as a commission for the church, and we're gonna see that it is certainly a commission for the apostles as they went forth and they planted churches. It is certainly a commission for them, but it is also kingdom teaching. They ask about the kingdom, And Jesus comes back with this answer, but you shall receive power. You shall receive power. Now that's not an evasion of the question. That is an answer. This is soon coming kingdom power. Now how soon is it coming? He taught them for 40 days and at day 50 at Pentecost the Holy Spirit came and indwelled believers and they received power. You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. It was soon coming for them. This is soon coming Kingdom power. It's not just general some kind of power. It's kingdom power. Kingdom power. Jesus had displayed kingdom power by working miracles, by raising the dead, by himself being resurrected from the grave. He had displayed kingdom power and He says to them, you want to know about the kingdom? You're going to need kingdom power. And this kingdom power is soon coming. You will receive power when the Holy Ghost has come upon you. And then He spoke to them about kingdom advancements. Soon coming kingdom advancements. Now think about this. They've walked with Jesus Christ for three and a half years. And in that three and a half years, there has been some growth. There have been those who believed in Jesus. There have been those who followed Him. There has been some growth. But remember, when He fed 5,000, when He fed at another time 4,000, Those were not all followers, believers by faith. They were just there for a good meal. They were not followers of Jesus. When we look at the numerical alms, growth, the numerical advancement of the kingdom during Christ's earthly ministry, it was very small. Now that's not what He came to do while He walked the earth. He came for a different purpose. He is preparing these men to go and plant churches and for kingdom advancement. But they had had no experience for kingdom advancement. They had had very little, what we would term today, success. We need to really reevaluate our view of success when we go to the scripture. And we would have to say, based on modern church growth ideas, Jeremiah was a failure, Jesus was a failure. Jesus was not a failure. Jesus was not a failure at all. Jesus spoke to them. It's raining here, so I hope you can still hear. Jesus spoke to these apostles about soon-coming kingdom power, and He spoke to them about soon-coming kingdom advancements. You shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, where they had had very little success, but you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem. You will be my witnesses in all of Judea and Samaria. They had had almost no success in all of Judea. And Jesus did not even permit them to go to Samaria. They were not prepared being dare I say racist against the Samaritans. They were not ready to go to the Samaritans, so Jesus had not even permitted them to go and minister in Samaria. But now, there is soon coming kingdom advancement to Jerusalem, to all Judea and Samaria, and to the remotest parts of the earth. All the earth. All the nations of the earth. What one pastor said is that what we find here is that Israel, the nation of Israel, is too small to contain all the covenant kingdom blessings that God has for all the nations of the world. It is not that the church replaces Israel, It is that God's Israel is expanded to include all the nations from every tribe, every nation, and every tongue. I'm really concerned that you're not gonna be able to hear me and that we are having poor internet connectivity. Let me look and see if anybody's having any trouble. Let me know if you can. As of a few minutes ago, we're still good, so I'm gonna try to keep up. So continuing, and we're almost done here. The idea of the kingdom of God being synonymous with national Israel was a false notion. It had been false all along, but it had become adopted as the thing that everyone in Israel believed. We are the nation of Israel and we are, by virtue of being born into the nation of Israel, we are part of the kingdom of God as well. To be clear, God's Israel includes some believers by faith from the tribe of the Jews, from the nation of Israel. But they're not synonymous. They're not the same. Jesus taught the apostles on the kingdom for 40 days and it didn't fix every problem. It didn't fix everything. This would continue to be taught. Remember, there's coming a day where Peter is going to see a vision And he is going to say, Lord I will not eat that pork, I will not eat that shrimp, I will not eat those things that are there because they are unclean. Jesus is going to take him through this after his ascension by the work of the Holy Spirit. God is going to take him further and he will take the other apostles further in their discovery this is re-education re-teaching tearing down what is there and rebuilding tearing down the error that exists and rebuilding truth and this is much harder it's easier to teach truth from the outset. It's easier than it is to tear down. You think about if you were building a house today and you went to a vacant lot, a blank slate, and built, all you've gotta do is build a house. But if you went to a place where there was an existing structure that had to be torn down, that's gotta be taken down, that's gotta be moved away and moved out, and then you can begin building. This is the work of reteaching or reeducation. Many of us who were brought up in churches who had a mixture of error are learning and we are being re-taught some of these things about the Kingdom of God, about the nation of Israel and God's Israel. And it is a difficult journey. glory and give praise to God that we have so many who are raising their children in our church and in other churches like ours around, who are raising their children, who are catechizing their children, who are teaching their children rightly from the beginning. And I hope that you are doing that. The apostles had been taught error in the synagogue. Jesus took this time to reteach. The kingdom is not about human bloodline. That was the error. The kingdom is not about human bloodline. The kingdom members, the members of the kingdom of God, covenant kingdom members, are citizens by faith. We are children of God by faith. This is something for every one of you who are listening, who are without Christ. You're not born into the kingdom of God by human descendancy. You're not in the kingdom of God because you attend a church. You're not in the Kingdom of God because you walked down the aisle of it as your Lord, as your Savior, repenting of your sins, then you're not in the Kingdom. Come to Jesus today, repenting of your sins, believing by faith in Him for salvation. Christians, discipleship, growth in Christ, and obedience, keeping Christ's commands. This is not optional. For those who are in the Kingdom of God, for those who are by faith, children of God. By faith, the Scripture we read earlier says, by faith, children of Abraham. Meaning, children of Abraham's faith. The same faith that Abraham had. in the Messiah, faith in Jesus Christ. As children of God, by faith, obedience is not optional. He is the King. There are those who want to separate this. Well, is Jesus your Savior and your King? Or is Jesus just your Savior and not your King, not your Lord? That is nonsense. That is nonsense and finds no traction anywhere in scripture. He is Lord and Savior. In your life, he is, someone said, Lord of all. He's not Lord at all. He is our Lord and discipleship and obedience are not options. This is what we are called to. I wanna close by reading again from Galatians chapter three, verses 23 and following. But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up into the faith, which was later to be revealed. Therefore, the law has come to become our tutor, to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourself with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither slave nor free man. There is neither male nor female. Let me pause there. In this world that we live in, we need some clarity there. When it comes to being a covenant member of the kingdom, this verse is telling us it matters not if you are Jew or Gentile. It's God's Israel that matters. It's not the nation of anything that matters. It matters not if you are slave or free. When it comes to being a citizen of God's kingdom, a slave can be a citizen of God's kingdom, a child of God, just as much as a free man. and there is neither male nor female. You remember in the Old Testament all of the separations that happened. Remember at the temple all of the walls and dividers of separation that separated what? Jew and Greek? that separated slave and free men, that separated male and female, that separated, separated, separated. This verse is telling us those separation walls have come down in Christ. In Christ Jesus, when it comes to salvation, there is neither Jew nor Greek. Now, are we to understand that we should ignore our heritage that we should ignore, our nationality that we should have no reverence or allegiance. We should be proud of who we are. We should love our heritage. We should love those who came before us, who paved the way. That's a good thing to be proud of. But not proud in a sinful way to the point that we say, we are the people of God and you are not. No. As an American, as one born in Louisiana, you who are born in the great state of Texas. You can be proud of where you're from. You can be proud of your people, but that will not get you into the kingdom of God. That's what's being stated here. Slave are free. Does this mean that a slave can show up for work tomorrow and say, hey, listen, In Christ there's neither slave nor free man, so today I'm going to be the boss. I'll tell you what to do. No. Scripture instructs this slave who is in Christ how he is to live and how he is to obey and be toward his master, toward those who are in authority. Scripture instructs him on that. He's not to just ignore it, but it does not have bearing on his entrance or his membership into the covenant kingdom. There is neither male nor female. Now here's where in our world people really get off base on this. There is male and female. The Bible is very clear. There is a difference. There is a distinction between male and female in so many things and how God has made us and how we are wired internally. In marriage, there's distinct roles. And these distinctions between male and female are beautiful gifts from God. They're wonderful distinctions, but don't think that your gender affords you entrance into the kingdom more or less than the other gender. Entrance into the kingdom, citizenship in the covenant kingdom, covenant people of God, male or female doesn't matter. Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female, those things do not matter. when it comes to being a member, a citizen, a child of God. So I got a little off on a tangent. I'm gonna read that again. For all of you, verse 27, who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourself with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendants, heirs according to the promise. We're not part of national Israel, but if you belong to Christ, Galatians 3.29, if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendants. And that is why, as a Gentile, I look at you Gentiles who are in Christ You belong to Christ, and I say, you, you are not second class citizens in the kingdom of God. You are not, it's not like, well, here's the Christian Jews, and then here's everybody else. There is neither Jew nor Greek. You are God's Israel. Heavenly Father, I pray that you would help us As we seek to understand Your kingdom, as we seek to know what You have taught about Your kingdom, I pray that You would help us, that You would guide us. God, we pray that Your church would be strengthened. We pray for kingdom advancement. We thank You that we have kingdom power. the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the blessing of your word, we pray for kingdom advancement. God, help us to be, as your people, focused in our hearts on building your kingdom, on building your kingdom in our thinking, in our behavior, in our church, and on expanding your kingdom. God, we pray that you'd begin expanding your kingdom with our children. That it would grow beyond that, but Lord, we pray that, first of all, that you would save our children. God, we pray these things. We ask all this with your kingdom in mind. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Amen. Thank you for tuning in. Please check in on the group chat if you're part of our Waco family members and attenders. If you are not, we'd ask that you would visit our website, www.wacofamily.com. www.wacofamily.com. We'd ask that you visit there. There's a section where you can communicate with us, leave us a note. We would love for you to do that and hope that you will be blessed by the Lord. Thank you very much.