A big tool that is at work in our minds against our being successful and victorious as Christians is the work of doubt.
We doubt and question so many things that God has said. We are naturally a show me/prove it to me people.
The disciples were no different. Even when Jesus Himself appeared to them after His resurrection, they doubted in their own hearts.
Jesus confronted the doubt and uncertainty in their hearts and minds however by speaking a word of reassurance, comfort and promise.
1. Jesus brings clarity of mind and understanding concerning the things of the Kingdom.
a. The gospel of the Kingdom is not an easy, feel-good message. The gospel is bloody. The gospel involves death.
b. Jesus Christ really did die on a cross.
c. The message of the kingdom is not a message of forgiveness only, but of forgiveness by repentance.
d. If we do not repent, we are not forgiven. In order to repent, we must obey and submit to the authority of Christ and forsake the sin in our lives.
e. The just take this and leave out that gospel is not the gospel of God.
f. Jesus Christ is the only way of salvation. Anyone who does not repent of their sins and follow Him in their lives will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
2. Jesus employs in the work of the Kingdom.
a. The believer has been employed by God to share the true message of the gospel with the world.
b. Believers do not have the right or privilege to share their own version of the gospel with a desire to be peaceful or “loving”.
c. IT IS AND ALWAYS WILL REMAIN THAT ONLY THE TRUTH WILL SET PEOPLE FREE.
d. Jesus uses some rather harsh words in dealing with those who distort or water down the gospel.
Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are. Matthew 23:15
e. The message of the Kingdom is not always a popular one, but it is always right.
f. If we truly love those who are lost we will tell them the truth.
3. Jesus promises empowerment for the work of the kingdom.
a. The beauty of the Kingdom is that not only have we been employed by God, He has also given us His Spirit to empower us to do what He has employed us for.
b. The believer who longs to fulfill the calling to which God has called him will find his job much easier when he is fully and properly empowered.
c. Imagine the absurd idea of hiring a carpenter but telling him he couldn’t use any tools. Or, what about sending a soldier to the front lines of battle without a single weapon. This is the picture of trying to effectively perform the work of the Kingdom without the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.
d. Jesus told the disciples to wait to do their work as witnesses until they were clothed with power from on high.
e. This power was first poured out upon them on the Day of Pentecost and it is still being poured out upon hungry and willing believers today.
f. The initial physical evidence of this empowering from on high is speaking in tongues, but it really goes much beyond that.
g. We have made a religion out of speaking in tongues, but the importance is the power of God that comes with the Holy Spirit.
h. The empowerment of the Holy Spirit is the power from on high that enables the believer to effectively live for and serve God in a manner that is a demonstration of the Kingdom of God on earth now.
