The Kingdom Present and Yet to Come

Milestone Church - MA

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The Kingdom Present and Yet to Come

John 5:24-29

August 20, 2023 • Edgardo Rosa • John 5:24–29

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With the paradigm of an already-but-not yet, we will rightly understand the extent of

the kingdom of God. With that in mind, we read from John 5:24-29.

To what extent has the kingdom of God been established here on earth and what are the blessings dispensed by the King and his kingdom"?

1. The Extent of the Kingdom

2. The Blessings of the Kingdom

The nature and extent of New Testament eschatology in three points:

a. The great eschatological [end-time] event predicted in the Old Testament has happened.

b. What the Old Testament writers seemed to depict as one movement is now seen to involve two stages: the present age and the age of the future.

c. The relation between these two eschatological stages is that the blessings of the present are the pledge and guarantee of greater blessings to come

We celebrated a baptism at Milestone. In obeying the command to be baptized, we testifies to the in-breaking of the power of the kingdom. Identifying us as a kingdom member and as such, we have experienced the power and blessings of the kingdom as follows:

a. A New Status

b. A New Ethic

c. A New Hope

d. A New Life

We are all part of a kingdom. Some of us are building our own kingdoms of comfort, money, success, and accolades. Others build their kingdom around relationships, their kids, their friends, social acceptance, or beauty and trends. All of these kingdoms will fall. There is only one King and one kingdom that will remain forever and that is Jesus Christ and the kingdom of God. It is only in His kingdom that we find our truest freedom, our truest joy, our truest satisfaction, and you and I don’t have to wait for it, we can now, currently, in the present get to taste and savor the blessings of the kingdom, while awaiting the full menu that is yet to come. He came and laid down His life so that we would have life and have it abundantly. By the Spirit He made a pledge; He has given us a deposit which guarantees the fullest to come.

In the Beginning: The King, His People, in His Land

June 18, 2023 • Edgardo Rosa • Genesis 1:26–31, Genesis 2:15–17

We study the following under these two markers: Identity and Purpose 1. Land 2. People 3. King Let us approached the beginning of the story. Let us reconsider how deep and meaningful the Genesis 1 and 2 are. It is not only good enough to know what day God created what. We must dig deeper into why He created. Genesis 1 and 2 are inviting us to see the narrative of God and to get or mistreat the beginning will have catastrophic results. The reason we dug, and will continue to dig into land, people, king is because these three themes will ultimate and continually point us to Jesus, His character and work. All of Scripture, everything written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms, is pointing and culminates with Jesus (Luke 24:27, 44). So, the more we contemplate and mediated on the narrative of Scripture—from Genesis to Revelation—the more that we will encounter and delight ourselves in Jesus. So, please keep joining us as we unfold this summer the narrative of Scripture.

In the Beginning: The King, His People, in His Land Pt. 2

June 25, 2023 • Edgardo Rosa • Psalm 95:1–7

What do we learn about the King in the first two chapters of Genesis? He is: 1. Transcendent 2. Source & End 3. Rules By His Word 4. Benevolent This morning we started by reading Psalm 95 and not reading from a portion of Genesis. This is because the aim, the end, of creation is God’s glory that is magnified in our praise. If we did not praise and worship God after studying His kingly rule over his creation, we would be falling short of our creaturely purposes. As we read in Psalm 95, a right posture before the King is a posture of praise and worship. We bow the knee in adoration. This is the posture of all of subjects of his kingdom. While Psalm 95 gives us an earthly picture, Revelation 4 gives us the heavenly picture. We read in Revelation 4 that the heavenly beings praise the King before his throne crying out. The question is not whether God is king or not, the questions is whether you recognize him as your king. The questions this morning is, “Who is the king of your life? God or you? You see, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess his rule. But will you confess his rule over you as your King or as your conqueror? We will either bow the knee in praise and worship or bow the knee in defeat. We hope that you would see that there is no greater or kinder King to follow. He is the great King who stands above creation; the great King who is the source and end of all things, working everything out for his glory and our joy; the great King who rules justly and joyfully by his word; the great benevolent King who seeks the good of his people. This world and our own sin temp us to doubt and usurp his rule over us, but we must know that his rule is not heavy but light. To live under the rule of the King is to live under peace, under love, under grace, under mercy, under hope, under victory, under protection, under his blessing. By grace through faith, in Jesus we hostile enemies are reconciled to the King and are promised to one day live in his land with him and his people forever. This is the great narrative and promise that the Bible lays before us.

The Deceit, The Despair, and The Defeat of Sin

July 2, 2023 • Edgardo Rosa • Genesis 3

Continuing with The Narrative of Scripture we look at what Bible has to say about Morality and read Genesis 3. Understanding what God has to say through His Word in Genesis 3, we see: 1. The Deceit of Sin 2. The Despair of Sin 3. The Defeat of Sin