Weekly Pursuit – Week 4 of June
Verses:
Acts 14:22 “Establishing the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith and saying that through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God.”
Excerpts:
[In Acts 14] Paul was exhorting [the believers] to enter into the realm of the full enjoyment of the resurrected and ascended Christ as the kingdom of God. Here he seemed to be saying, “I have preached to you the resurrected Christ. The full enjoyment of grace, eternal life, and the Spirit is a realm, and this realm is God’s kingdom. You have not yet entered into this realm—you are on the way. Therefore, I exhort you through many tribulations to enter into the kingdom of God. You should expect opposition and be prepared for it. You will face much tribulation. But through all these tribulations you must endeavor to enter into the realm of the full enjoyment of the resurrected and ascended Christ as the kingdom of God. When you have the enjoyment of such a Christ, you will be under the divine rule. Then you will become the kingdom of God, which is the proper church life.
Our ministry is to propagate the resurrected Christ as God’s kingdom. But today every city is the kingdom of the devil. Hence, the prevailing ministry for the propagation of Christ is a fighting, a battle, for God’s kingdom. The whole earth is the kingdom of darkness…If our ministry is truly prevailing, there is bound to be opposition. We all need to realize that a battle is raging between God and Satan. If we carry on a prevailing ministry, eventually, we will be attacked. However, instead of being dismayed by this, we, like Paul, should be encouraged. (Life-study of Acts, msg. 40, 52)
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