Why do you seldom hear a kingdom message preached?

Matthew 17:
24. And when they were come to Capernaum, they that received tribute money came to Peter, and said, Doth not your master pay tribute?
25. He saith, Yes. And when he was come into the house, Jesus prevented him, saying, What thinkest thou, Simon? of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute? of their own children, or of strangers?
26. Peter saith unto him, Of strangers. Jesus saith unto him, Then are the children free.
27. Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money: that take, and give unto them for me and thee.

I just listened to a very good message by Steve Thompson about the Kingdom not coming with observation.

He basically broke it down in the Greek and said the kingdom does not come by you standing and looking for it because it is within you. You must walk out the Kingdom in your daily life. The Kingdom will be manifest through you so don't expect to look here or there to find it, look within. It won't come by looking for it, it is walked out in our daily lives as we are obedient to God's will.

This is one of the greatest things that we as the church have fallen out of awareness of: that we are participants in the kingdom of God. We lack any eschatological sense of who we are as a people. More often than not, we don't even see ourselves as part of a people anymore! Eternal things seldom enter our thoughts, let alone captivate our attention, let alone guide our lives. Instead we focus on how we can be a better husband, a better wife, a better this, and a better that.

I believe the reason the Kingdom of God is not preached is humanism. Every kingdom points to it's ruler. The Kingdom of heaven points to it's ruler, God Almighty. This is not what people want to hear. Humansism focuses on us so we preach the salvation of man. We preach what God has done for man, not what or who God is.

Thanks Brothers and Sisters for your responses and I thought about this and I hope I will be able to respond as insightfully.

When God saved me the greatest simplest thing happened. He changed the contents of my heart.. Now I have love and charity in my heart and all things flowing in an outward direction. So simple but such a blessing and such a God given power over my flesh to serve the kingdom of God.

Before I was converted I served greed and covetousness of worldly things and everything had to flow in my direction from the worldly kingdom.

There are two kingdoms in the present reality and as one who lived fifty eight years in the worldly one I can say with out any reservation I am a present tribulation believer for all those that serve the worldly kingdom.

I am a present rest believer for all excepted in His Son by our Heavenly Father..
Eddie

Compliments wrote:

More often than not, we don't even see ourselves as part of a people anymore! The reason this is (believe it or not), is because the Church has shifted it's focus off of the body and unto the atheistic nation of Israel, thinking that they are the true Israel of God. They are more gentile then we think!

But because of our love for the Jewish people and our deeply entrenched teachings on the subject of eschatology and dispensationalism this word falls on deaf ears....I am a Jew, and all those who have the Spirit of Christ is a TRUE JEW. Lets get our minds on that, and not be tempted in being partial towards one race of people, when God has bidden us to preach to ALL nations, saying, ALL need to repent. Meditate on the verse below, let it roll around in your mind and allow the holy Spirit to quicken this to you, if you don't, all it will be is an arguement of contention.

Romans 2:28 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:

The question that I pose for all believers is, Where is your Kingdom of God? Is it in you, or is it up in the sky, or is it in Jerusalem?

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I say:

God never changes. And neither do His promises to Abraham, or we Gentile Gentiles could not be grafted into the true vine.

The land that Israel holds only a portion of was promised to Abraham and his decendants.

I will agree that Israel belongs to the Christians, as well as the Jews, but there is still a promise pending on the Land to Abraham's physical descendants.

When the Palestinians, or any other country or group of people that want to see 'Palestine' taken from the Jews, and handed over to anyone for peace, become Christians, they too will have rights to the land, at least spiritually.

Physically, the U.N. ratified Israel's right to some of their heriditary land, so a visa and a large wallet will enable you to buy land in Israel, if Israel's laws permit it.

Personally, I still take the Old Testament promises to Israel seriously, because of the blessing that goes with it. I have experienced it in my life since I began praying for Israel on occasion, and giving a small portion of my alms or tithes or whatever you want to call it, to Migdal Ohr, the Orphanage in Israel each month.

But mostly, I believe that if the 'Palestinians' became Christian's, they at least wouldn't be trying to kill Israeli's, or any one else for that matter.

If you live in Israel, I can understand your frustration with the whole mess there. But as a Christian, not a Jew, you should believe your God never breaks a promise.

Blessings,

But because of our love for the Jewish people and our deeply entrenched teachings on the subject of eschatology and dispensationalism this word falls on deaf ears.

Well, while dispensational theology surely hasn't helped us in our perception of who we are as the people of God, and has managed to spread into most theological systems without realizing it, I don't think it's the main culprit. It's because many people are simply focused on the here and now, and are worldly minded. Some might not like me for saying this, but dispensationalism is generally the product of those embracing a worldly mindset.

They are more gentile then we think!

This is one of the best quotes I've seen regarding the present state of the Jews.

Just for clarification, I do believe that Jerusalem will one day be exalted above all other nations, with Christ sitting on His throne for 1,000 years, ruling with a rod of iron, and that all the nations that do not come up to worship will have rain withheld from them. But I don't say this as a dispensationalist.

I highly recommend the sermons & writings of Art Katz on this matter. For a more scholarly treatment, reading George Ladd, David Baron, and Adolph Saphir are in order.

We are wayfaring strangers in this world

Who rules over you? Who opened the gates to the Kingdom of God for you? We the subjects of The Kingdom of God are the spiritual children of God. The Kingdom of God is spiritual righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost, our Comforter that lives in our hearts. The Gates of Heaven are not opened by the will of man nor by flesh, but by the will of the First Begotten Son of our Heavenly Father. We are changed from being subjects of the spirit of this world into spiritual children begotten of the Holy Ghost . Jesus anointed with the Holy Ghost came by the grace of our Father to anoint us, the spiritual dead, with eternal life. Jesus of Nazareth, The Christ, The Anointed One, the Messiah of the Old Testament is the way, He is the gate and we are the spiritual children of His Kingdom/House after we having been elected by God our father we are anointed with Christ’s sacrificial blood which is our protection, our pass over. Anointing is the only justification we need to claim our new birth right as a new generation with our own Lord of Lords, and our own High Priest who anoints with the Holy Ghost. The spiritual dead can not comprehend that all things have become new and old things have passed away to them that are born again and now all things work together for the good of we who love God. We are a new generation, the sacrificial generation passed away and we are the generation under grace. All power is given unto our Lord in heaven and in earth. We don’t attempt to parcel out power to men or earthly things. Everything we do is our duty to Him, You are to love the humble, you are not a respecter of persons, only God. If you reject the Lord and choose a man to rule over you after He has brought you out of bondage you can trust that the words of the Lord (God) are true and will come to pass in your life as in the days of old.

According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also unto thee. Now therefore hearken unto their voice how be it yet protest solemnly unto them, and shew them the manner of the king that shall reign over them. And Samuel told all the words of the Lord unto the people that asked of him a king. And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you. He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots.
And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties, and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots. And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers. And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your olive yards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants. And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants. And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work. He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants. And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the Lord will not hear you in that day.
1 Samuel 8: 8-18 NKJ
Eddie

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Both John and Jesus said: "Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand". When the Church was birthed on the Day of Pentecost, this message was no longer preached.

Yes it was preached and it needs preached today more than the kingdom! This is why there is a lack of revival. People don't want to hear they need to repent in order to come to the Lord in the first place. They are told to just repeat a prayer or go to an altar and then they are born again when they have mever even repented to begin with. The fact is in many circles all you hear about is the kingdom and you don't hear a word about repentance. Maybe it's not that way where you've been, but it has been the places I've been. Below is what Peter said on the day of Pentecost. Notice the word repent is the criteria.

Act 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Act 2:39 For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.

Our church just finished a 6 week sunday service on all the mentions of the Kingdom of God listed in Matthew.

By Kingdom preaching, I do not mean the teachings of Jesus as expressed in parables or say the Sermon on the Mount. I'm thinking of much of the Word of Faith teaching. I guess what someones definition of Kingdom preaching is has to be stated because it could mean different things to different people.