[Greetings, friends and radio listeners!]

In our broadcast last time, we were talking about the Gospel of the Kingdom of God as the revealed true gospel that is contained in the Bible. In this world now, and even in the Christian world, we find something that is a problem even in the world of Christianity. We all know in this world about pollution. We have water pollution, air pollution, food pollution, pollution of our environment, pollution of morals, pollution of the mind, pollution in many aspects. But you know what? There is one kind of pollution, which has also entered the world of Christianity. And that is of all things, gospel pollution. Or in other words, the true gospel of God's Kingdom has been polluted by man's ideas, by man's interpretation of what God's message truly was and truly is. That is something that is surprising in this world. But we should not be surprised because there is a great enemy and the one who pollutes not only our minds, our morals, but even human activities including religion in itself.

This subject of religion of this world is one of the most confused issues in this world. There is no greater division; there is no greater conflict except in religion. In fact, in history we know that the greatest wars have happened in the name of religion, and history students can easily verify that.

Now, in the realm of religion, let's take away all the other religions of this world, but let's zero-in on the Christian religion. We find as we mentioned earlier the subject of pollution, gospel pollution has also happened. We have such things as social gospel and many other kinds of versions of gospels. But it is important for us Christians, followers of Jesus Christ, to be able to really identify from the Bible what really is the true gospel because this subject has greatly been polluted in this world. Even among Christians, there is a great conflict; there is a great misunderstanding on what really is the true gospel.

In our broadcast last week, we discussed a little bit about this. I'd like to review some of the salient points, some of the basic important points on these things because many people have assumed things that they heard. And people also assumed things that they heard from others, whether they heard that from other people, from seminary schools, from other teachers, from other pastors, they simply passed it on down the line without really checking their Bibles. But for us who want to really follow the words and the teachings of Jesus Christ, it is very important that we really look into our Bible, really find out and see with our own eyes, read with our own eyes what the Bible really talks about. Let us not take things for granted. Many people assumed the things that they heard. And they know a certain person, they have a good reputation of that person, everything that person says, they take it in hook, line and sinker. But that should not be the case of us Christians. It is important and incumbent upon everyone to stand on his own two feet and to really know what he believes and know where he gets his belief and it should be straight from the Bible, from the words of Christ, not what men says but what God says.

I'd like you to look with me in a form of a review from what we mentioned last time. I know that many of our listeners might not have listened to the previous broadcast. It's important to establish what we are saying here. I was saying that there is gospel pollution in this world. People have assumed different ideas about what Jesus Christ really taught, what Jesus Christ really believed, what early Christians really taught and practiced. But I'd like us to really look into our Bible and to find out and read with our own eyes what the Bible really says.

I'd like us to open to Mark 1 and determine what really is the gospel of Jesus Christ? In Mark 1:1, I'd like you to follow that in your own Bibles, open it up, and if you don't have the Bible handy, be sure to get a paper and a pen or pencil and jot down the scriptures that you hear me mention. Do not believe me, you believe what you see, what you read in your own Bibles.  Mark 1:1, "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God." The very first verse, it introduces the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's the gospel coming from Jesus Christ, and this Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And that is what the Bible says. Now, let's identify what really is this gospel? Now, in the same way, the one who announced His coming, John the Baptist preached the same thing also, but let us identify in verses 14 and 15 of this same chapter what really Jesus Christ preached. Many people assumed that Christ talked about His life, His death, His resurrection… is that what He preached? Or some assumed that Jesus Christ came and pleaded with people to give their hearts to the Lord, to open their hearts to Him, or to praise Him, is that really what He said? Let us open our Bibles and really read what the Bible says.

Mark 1:14 says, "After John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God." That's the gospel that He preached. He did not talk about Himself. He did not talk about His crucifixion. He did not talk about His resurrection. He did not talk about His life. He preached the gospel of the Kingdom of God. In fact He said, "the words that I speak come from the Father." And in verse 15, He said, "saying, the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: (not any other kind of kingdom, but it's the Kingdom of God. It's not the Kingdom of the church, not the kingdom of any other nation, it's the Kingdom of God. He said is at hand) repent you, and believe the gospel." So we find here, clearly stated, the true unpolluted gospel message stated in the Bible and preached by no less than Jesus Christ. Can you believe the Bible? Can you believe what you read in your own Bible?

Let us also see Jesus Christ's firsthand testimony. Why did He come? Luke chapter 4, let us get a firsthand testimony from the Witness Himself in why Jesus Christ came. I'd like you to follow that in your own Bible. Please look it up. Do not believe me, believe what you read in your Bible. And Jesus Christ declared after healing many others, He said unto them in verse 43 of Luke chapter 4, "I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also (that was what He was preaching, it's not the social gospel, it's not any other message, He was preaching the gospel of the Kingdom of God and why?) for therefore am I sent." Or in other words, it is for this reason that I am sent, this is the reason why I came and we have to believe what we have read in our own Bibles.

How about the writer Matthew, what does he have to say? We have already seen Mark, we have seen what Luke has to say, how about Matthew? I'd like you to open with me and find out from our own Bibles what the Bible says. Matthew chapter 4, and what did it say in verse 17? Let us see what it says. Matthew 4:17, "From that time Jesus began to preach, and say Repent for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand."

Now, here Matthew used the word Kingdom of heaven. In many other places he used the phrase the Kingdom of God. We find that Matthew used these words interchangeably. Some of you radio listeners might not know why this is so. Let us get a little bit of background here, which I'd like to mention.

Matthew was originally written in Hebrew for the Hebrew people. He was proving here the messiahship of Jesus Christ through His lineage. Now, in writing to the Hebrew people and to Jewish nation of his day, they believed that they, the nation of Israel was already the Kingdom of God, that is why God inspired Matthew to write in an alternative way about the Kingdom of heaven because they believed they are the kingdom of God and they are not going to look for any other kingdom. They say, "we are the children of Abraham, we are the kingdom of God,” but God wants them, Jesus Christ wants them, to focus to a kingdom not of their own making, not of their own culture, not of their nation, but a kingdom that is not of their own. It will still have to come, and it will come from God who is in heaven. That is why it said, it is the Kingdom of heaven, to disassociate it, and to delineate and to differentiate it from what they have always believed that they composed and they constitute the Kingdom of God. So in this particular case, he said, the Kingdom of heaven. However, we will see that there are many other scriptures here which talk about the Kingdom of God.

Now, let us open to Matthew chapter 6. Before we go to that, Matthew chapter 6, we might ask the focus, what should be the focus of our life? What should be the focus of our prayer? Jesus Christ in the sample prayer or what is commonly called the "Lord's prayer," led His listeners, including us, to focus on the Kingdom of God. Many of us or probably all of us are familiar with what is commonly called the "Lord's prayer." You find that in Matthew chapter 6 and it says in verse 9, "After this manner therefore pray you: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Your name." In other words, we address our prayers to God, not to any one else, not to any person, not to any statue, but to God, the Father. Not to any other personality, not even to the Holy Spirit. But Jesus Christ told us to address our prayers to God the Father. And what did He say, the very first thing after addressing our prayers to God the Father? What did He tell us to focus on and to request and to pray for, the number one, the first thing, the primary thing that we should pray for? He said, "Your Kingdom come." And that is the central message and the central point of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's talking about the Kingdom of God. "Thy will be done in earth (or on earth) as it is in heaven." This earth is subsidiary of the Kingdom of God which is ruled from heaven. But of course, Jesus Christ has not yet established that Kingdom. That is the good news that is still to come. This world now is not ruled by God from heaven. It is ruled by another usurping power who claims to be the god of this world, and that usurping power who claims to be the god of this world has been identified by the apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 4:4, as Satan who is the god of this world whom many people ignorantly or innocently obey and worship. The Kingdom of God is not here yet. It is still to come. It has been a message from the very beginning. And that message is going to be fulfilled because that is God's plan and purpose on this earth.

Now, I mentioned the focus of our prayer. How about the focus of our life? What did Jesus Christ said should be the focus of our life, every Christian. Is it on wealth, is it on fame, is it on glory, is it on beauty, is it on bank accounts, is it on properties, is it on achievement, is it on good works? I'd like you to follow with me in reading Matthew 6:33, because before this He mentioned about the aspiration of most people. And focusing on the Gentile nations and all people, He said they labor, they toil to have all of these things: food, shelter, clothing, in our case now, education, transportation and many other things. But what did He say? What would be the central focus of our life? Let us let the Bible give us the answer. Not my answer, not anyone's answer, but let us see the answer from Jesus Christ Himself. Mathew 6:33, He said, "But seek ye first the kingdom of God (that should be the focus for life) and His righteousness." Now, what is righteousness? Many people have their own definition of righteousness. But if we let the Bible define itself, which should be the correct principle, because many people have their own definition of many things... the important principle is to let the Bible define itself.

What is righteousness? Can we find a biblical definition for righteousness? We find in Psalm 119:172, He said, "all your commandments are righteousness." There you have the biblical definition of righteousness. It will be all that is in accordance to God's commandments, that is righteousness. And departure from God's commandment is the opposite, it is lawlessness, and that is wickedness, and that is evil. And righteousness is good, it is godly, it comes from God. So He said here in Matthew 6:33, "But seek you first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things (all the material aspiration, dreams, goals, purposes of men) shall be added unto you."

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We could see here, therefore, the primary message that comes from God, from Jesus Christ Himself—His teaching. Now, after Jesus Christ died and rose again, did the people talk about His life, death and resurrection as the central message? I'm not saying that we should not talk about that, but is that the central message that we find being preached in the entirety of the Bible?

Let us see one account here of the evangelist, one of those being ordained as deacon in Acts chapter 6. Now, after Christ died, rose up, went to heaven, sits on the throne at the right of the Father, we find the followers of Jesus Christ beginning to go into all the world and preaching. Let us see different examples here. The evangelist Philip, what did he do, where did he go, and what did he preach? This evangelist as true to what Jesus Christ commanded them, to go, starting from Jerusalem, and into Judea, and into Samaria and into the outermost parts of the earth. They have been preaching on the day of Pentecost starting in Jerusalem. On the Pentecost after Jesus Christ died and rose, they preached in the city of Jerusalem and three thousand were baptized and five thousand were baptized later on. And then they preached in Judea. And here, we find an account of Philip preaching into Samaria, true to what Jesus Christ commanded.

Let's open to Acts chapter 8 and see an account here. Let us see what the evangelist Philip preached. The former deacon now we might call him an evangelist because he came or went rather to evangelize into Samaria. Acts 8:12, "But when they believed Philip preaching (what did he preached?) the things concerning the kingdom of God, (that's what he preached) and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women."

We don't find infant baptism here or any other kind baptism and the true gospel message concerns the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, because Jesus Christ will be the ultimate ruler of that kingdom. He will be King of kings and Lord of lords in that kingdom. He will be the Prince of peace in that kingdom. He will be the integral and central part of that message because He will be the central focus of that kingdom. But the gospel message that they preached concerns the Kingdom of God. Would you rather obey what you read in your own Bibles? Or what man tells you to obey?

I'd like us to focus again on other examples here. When the apostle Paul, as we all recognized, preached, he was the apostle ordained to be the apostle to the Gentiles. What did he preach? Let us find out in the Bible what he preached. I'd like you to open with me to Acts chapter 19. He visited different churches. I'd like you to follow with me a case and point. In Ephesus, the apostle Paul visited this area sometime probably in the mid-50s A.D. And what did he tell the Christians in Ephesus? Did he tell them anything? I'd like us to open our Bible and read with our own eyes what he preached. In verse 8 of Acts 19, it reads, "And he went into the synagogue, and spake boldly for the space of three months (three months in the city of Ephesus, and this was in the Gentile region of Asia Minor. And what did he preach for three months?), disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God." It was not a one topic message. It was not a one day message. It was not a weekend message. But for three months, he was disputing and persuading the things concerning the Kingdom of God.

Now, some might say, "Well, that was in Ephesus, but probably not in other places." If we are going to look into the Bible, we will see that there are about in the New Testament alone, 53 references to the Kingdom of God. And that is significant. That is something that we cannot just ignore, or turn a blind eye to. It stares us in the face. It gives us a big central message which we cannot ignore if we profess to follow the Bible and the teachings of Jesus Christ.

But I'd like us to focus on the summary of the life of the apostle Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, the apostle of the new covenant, the preacher of the message of the new covenant. What did he preach? The book of Acts is a record of the first century church history, their acts and their works, and their message. This was written by the companion of Paul, Luke, and what was written? I'd like us to open to the last chapter of the book of Acts. In other words, this is summary of all things before finally Paul's life and ministary was ended. But we see here, sometime prior to that, his message.

And by the way, by this time it has been more than... this was written about mid-60s, so this was about 35 or almost 40 years since the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That is a long, long way. Any changes, any deviation, any modification should have been effected in the message, in the practice, and the preaching of the apostles, including the apostle to the Gentiles, including the message of the new covenant. What was the message that we hear?

I'd like us to look at Acts chapter 28, first of all in verse 23. Of course, verse 22 gives us a little background and there were people, it says here, who desired to hear him (in verse 22) what he believes. And because he said, "as concerning this sect". Now remember, the church or the body or the fellowship or the group that the apostle Paul was affiliated with or which he represented, has been derogatively despised as this sect, or a sect, and that is a derogatory term that is used even nowadays for anyone who that does not follow the popular mainstream beliefs. And here, the apostle Paul was found not to be following the mainstream beliefs of his day. And he said, "We know everywhere that is spoken against." Let us not be surprised that the true message of God and even the group or body that is bringing that message will be spoken against. And what did he say? "And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his lodging; to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning to evening." It was not just one sentence, it was not a ten-minute message, it was from morning to evening.

Some people might say, "Well, maybe for that day that was the theme of His message when people came to Him." But let us see the testimony of the whole Bible itself. The testimony of the life of Paul as recorded in the history of the New Testament church. I'd like you to read with me to the last two verses of this book of Acts, the last chapter, Acts 28, verses 30 and 31, "And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and received all that came unto him, preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ (these two always go together, the Kingdom of God and the Lord Jesus Christ), with all confidence, no man forbidding him."

We find that this is the consistent message in the Bible.

We will see into the Bible next program, proving many other things, calling that the eternal gospel and we are going to see what is this gospel of the Kingdom of God, what is the nature of the Kingdom of God? We are going to discuss that because many think it is set up in man's heart, it is among you, it is the church, but we have to find out really what the true gospel of the Kingdom of God is.

Be sure to listen next broadcast to find out answers for these very intriguing questions, yet it is the truth from the Bible.

[Until next time, thank you for listening. This is your anchorman, Ed Macaraeg.]