It's all actually how the kingdom is, what the kingdom of God is like. He taught about the kingdom all the time. In Matthew 24 and 25 they said when there's a sign of you coming, and you know what He began to teach? He began to teach parables about the kingdom again; the kingdom of heaven's like five wise virgins, five foolish virgins. Then He talked about the kingdom of heaven is like the king who went to a far country and he called to himself his servants, and he gave to everyone talents and said occupy until I come, or be busy and trade and be productive until I come. That's the kingdom. So He talked - all His teaching was about the kingdom, the kingdom. And guess what, after He rose from the dead in Acts 1:3, would you believe what He spoke about for 40 days? Yeah God, do you know what He spoke about for 40 days? He spoke to them things concerning the kingdom, and you know what the disciples asked? When's the kingdom going to come?
He said don't worry about when the kingdom's coming. He said you'll get power you see, because kingdom and power are associated with one another. The Holy Ghost will come on you and you'll be witnesses unto Me. Now the problem the disciples had was they kept thinking of the kingdom as being an earthly kingdom with an earthly king, and they expected Jesus to arise and overthrow the Roman government. They expected a natural thing; that's why they missed the cross altogether. They were so convinced - because when He talked kingdom they're thinking David and a king and the glorious days of Israel. They're thinking all of this; He's thinking of a spiritual kingdom. He said My kingdom is not of this world, it's from another world. It's from heaven, see? Now this is Jesus, so Jesus all His [unclear 00.20.00] now I've only given you a little of all the verses there are on the kingdom. Everywhere Jesus taught about the kingdom. Have another look at those parables and start to re-read them, and you'll see they're all about what the kingdom is about.
Then the apostle's ministry, in Matthew 9:35, guess what the apostles did when they went out? Matthew 9:35, you got it up there? And Jesus went about teaching, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, healing every sickness and disease among the people. [I'm guessing 00.20.28] the disciples did the same thing. In Acts 8:12, Philip went out preaching and doing miracles. Guess what he was preaching about? The kingdom of God, and Paul when he was preaching, Acts 19:8, guess what he preached about? The kingdom of God. Now we don't seem to realise just how much the total emphasis of the Bible from one end to another is about kingdom. Now when you're talking about kingdom you're talking about a realm of government. See, every society needs governing some way and next week I'll look at some of the different styles of government that they have.
Of course the one we're in right now is democracy, and we kind of think democracy's the only way. Of course the Americans think democracy is the only way. Actually the only way ultimately is the kingdom of God. However democracy's got tremendous advantages in it, except when you try and impose it on a tribal culture. Then you find you run into a - a tribal culture is essentially another kingdom, so if you look into tribes they've always got a king at the top of the tribe. The king rules over everyone in the tribe, so when you come and have a look at a country like Iraq you've got different tribal groups, or different ethnic groups and religious groups. Of course they are led in a tribal type fashion, and then when you try to bring them together the only way it's ever worked is if there was a strong man ruled over them and he actually ruled by force. See, so you have a look at Yugoslavia for example; immediately the strong man was taken away, the tribal rivalries arose again and they all fought one another. The ethnic killing was horrendous. It's all an issue of government, how will we be governed.
So all the fighting that goes on in the world is all about either religion or government, or a mix of the two. It's all about that and it's because at the core of man's problem is what we lost was the good government of God in the earth. That's why there's all the wrestling, so the conflict of the universe is who will be in charge? Who will be in control? Who will rule? It's always that. In every conflict between a husband and wife do you know what it'll always be about? In the end who will rule - unless they learn how to work as a partnership, how they work as a team, how to learn to work under God's rule to achieve an agreeable solution. All the conflicts that kids have with their parents are all about who will rule - especially if you're a teenager. Teenagers want to rule, parents want to rule, so the conflict's about who will rule. It's always that, and so when we get to the whole series on Undercover it's actually about recognising and positioning yourself so that you're in a position where you can bring the influence of God into the earth.