It is both a humbling and a heartening realization for preachers that when Jesus launched His public ministry, He did so by PREACHING the Gospel of God. Jesus Christ opened His redemptive mission by preaching a sermon in Galilee, His home state. Not only does that sanctify preaching to the exceedingly highest level, but it should tell us that the greatest and most gracious spiritual work of all time and eternity, the salvation of the human race, began with a sermon preached by our Savior.

Have you ever realized the following? Listen:

“JESUS PREACHED THE GOSPEL IN GALILEE BEFORE HE BECAME

THE GOSPEL ON CALVARY.”

Or if you will:

“JESUS CAME CLOTHED WITH THE GOSPEL IN GALILEE, BUT HE BECAME

THE NAKED GOSPEL ON CALVARY.”

Never forget:

“ONLY THE PROCLAMATION OF THE GOSPEL TO PEOPLE, WILL BRING THE

GOSPEL TO REALIZATION IN PEOPLE.”

God’s greatest work of grace and mercy began with the preaching of the Gospel of God. The preaching of the Gospel is paramount. It is no wonder that the Apostle Paul states in I Corinthians 9:16,

“For if I preach the Gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I am under

compulsion; for woe is me if I do not preach the Gospel.”

Or the searching and convicting question in Romans 10:14,

“And how shall they hear without a preacher?”

Hear this:

“BECAUSE PREACHING THE GOSPEL IN THE SAVIOR’S MINISTRY WAS HIS PRIORITY,

IT MUST BE THE PRIORITY IN EVERY CHRISTIAN PREACHER’S MINISTRY.”

JESUS – THE PREACHER SUPREME

We read in Mark 1:14,

“And after John had been taken into custody, JESUS came into Galilee

PREACHING THE GOSPEL OF GOD.”

The Holy Spirit will not let me leave this awesome event and scene for all of us preachers. It is a precedent-setting moment for all preachers throughout the ages. Why? Because this is the beginning of the first and only perfect sermon ever preached by the first and only perfect preacher in world history! We wait for the Lord’s words with bated breath! There will never again be A FIRST PERFECT PREACHING MOMENT like this ever again. The suspense is so thick in my heart you can cut it with a knife.

There have been some really STAR PREACHERS throughout church history. Names that randomly come to mind are John the Baptist, Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, Charles Spurgeon, G. Campbell Morgan, Dwight L. Moody, Peter Marshall, Billy Graham, James Kennedy, Billy Sunday, Dan Betzer and many more. They all were and still are shining pulpit stars, but I hasten to add that not one of those stars was, is, or ever will be the SUN-SON.

EXAMPLE:

It has always amazed me that God calls as His preachers unlikely folks like me and you. I mentioned G. Campbell Morgan! In 1888, he was a candidate for the Wesleyan ministry. He passed the doctrinal examination but then faced the trial sermon. In an enormous auditorium that could seat more than 1,000 people, there sat three ministers and 75 others who came to listen. Morgan apparently was evaluated as not being up to the task, and two weeks later his name appeared among those who were refused entrance to the ministry that year.

Morgan wired his father one word, “Rejected.” Then he wrote in his diary, “Very dark everything seems. Still, He knoweth best.” Quickly came the reply from his father, “Rejected on earth, accepted in Heaven. Dad.” G. Campbell Morgan went on to become one of Christendom’s greatest preachers. God has the last word, and can use those that fallible human wisdom deems unusable.

At the same time, we tend to magnify spell-binding orators and preachers, but next to the world’s only perfect preacher, they are mice compared to a behemoth, and little hills compared to a mountain. Yes, and put these eloquent preachers of the world under a microscope, and you would see all their shortcomings and flaws just like every other preacher of the Gospel. But PREACHER GOD-MAN JESUS is far too great to be placed under a microscope, and even if we could put Him there, we would find no shortcomings or flaws whatsoever. HE IS THE PREACHER SUPREME.

What was it that the temple guards said about Jesus in John 7:46? We read,

“NEVER DID A MAN SPEAK THE WAY THIS MAN SPEAKS.”

Unparalleled! Unmatched! What a tribute! Nothing and no one even comes close! Dynamic beyond comparison!

And we recall the reaction of the multitudes in Matthew 7:28-29 after Christ’s Sermon on the Mount,

“The result was that when Jesus had finished these words, THE MULTITUDES

WERE AMAZED AT HIS TEACHING;

“for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.”

But will the multitudes remain amazed and spellbound by the incomparable PREACHER-TEACHER JESUS? No, sadly not.

EXAMPLE:

It reminds me of another stunning episode in the Word of God. We read the following about Moses in Exodus 34:29-32,

“And it came about when Moses was coming down from Mount Sinai

(and the two tablets of the testimony were in Moses’ hand as he was

coming down from the mountain), that Moses did not know that

the skin of his face shone because of his speaking with Him.”

So when Aaron and all the sons of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin  of

 

his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him.”

Then Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the rulers in the congregation

returned to him; and Moses spoke to them.”

“And afterward all the sons of Israel came near; and he commanded them to

do everything that the Lord had spoken to him on Mount Sinai.”

Moses didn’t even know that when he came down from Mount Sinai that his face was glowing. It actually emanated shimmering light. Only later did he realize that something drastic about him had changed up on the mountain that was now freaking out his fellow Israelites. His face was so stunning and the people so scared, that he put some kind of veil over his face when speaking to them, and took it off when he returned to speak with the Lord. (Exodus 34:34-35) If you will, he had to put his head in a bag when he talked to them, and unbag it when speaking with God.

But it wasn’t long and the ALL-AGLOW-PREACHER MOSES would lose his spell over them. They started to complain against him, doubting his connection with God, and declaring that he wasn’t the only one who could speak for God. Those Israelites died in the wilderness in the dark.

So too, it wasn’t long that the multitudes who were spell-bound by Jesus’ words came out of their spell. They doubted that He came from God, and that He spoke for God, let alone spoke as God. How could the DAZZLING LIGHT OF GOD IN MOSES’ FACE grow dark, and the COMMANDING SOUND OF GOD IN JESUS’ VOICE be muted so fast. Simply because in both instances:

“THEY ALL WANTED THEIR GREATEST WISHES TO BE GOD’S COMMANDS,

RATHER THAN GOD’S COMMANDS TO BE THEIR GREATEST WISHES.”

That is the central issue! That will always dim the light of God and mute the voice of God. We are living in the day when people are being taught that OUR WISHES ARE GOD’S COMMANDS and that OUR COMMANDS BECOME HIS WISHES. Either way, MAKE A WISH AND GOD COMMANDS IT TO HAPPEN, or, COMMAND GOD AND YOUR WISHES WILL COME TRUE. But when it doesn’t happen that way, that is when the light loses it luster and the voice loses its majesty.

Sure, the Israelites saw the miracle-shine with THEIR OWN EYES on Moses’ face, and the Jews heard the miracle-sound with THEIR OWN EARS in Jesus’ voice. But, they all still shut their eyes and plugged their ears. All of which only goes to prove that:

“SEEING IS NOT BELIEVING AND HEARING ISN’T CONVINCING.”

 

THE TIME IS FULFILLED

Well then, what were the first recorded sermon words out of Jesus’ mouth? He opened in Mark 1:15 with this,

“The time is fulfilled….”

There they are, the first words of the first sermon from the lips of Jesus Christ. Hear it:

“COMING TO SAVE THE WORLD WAS FOR CHRIST NOT ‘A PASTIME,’ BUT

RATHER, IT WAS AND IS ‘THE TIME.'”

FIRST – “THE TIME”

Jesus did not say something as ambiguous and indefinite as:
-A TIME
-SOMETIME
-ONCE UPON A TIME
-A TIME IS COMING

Thank God He didn’t say:
-WE’RE OUT OF TIME
-TIME HAS RUN OUT
-THERE WAS A TIME

The Christian View Of “THE TIME”:

Jesus said, “THE TIME is fulfilled.” Jesus is with definitiveness proclaiming the dawn of THE AGE OF THE GOSPEL – THE AGE OF THE MESSIAH. The age of B.C.-BEFORE CHRIST is now ended! The age of A.D.-YEAR OF OUR LORD has come. There has never been a time like it before, and there will never be an age like it again. THE TIME!

WE ARE LIVING IN “THE TIME!” However, there are folks, some really well-meaning religious folks, who constantly look back as they point to long ago “BIBLE TIMES.”   You know, the much used “THOSE WERE BIBLE TIMES.” One can sense in their voices that they are saying, “OH, THOSE WERE THE TIMES, SUCH SACRED TIMES.” Which of course leaves one with the hollow feeling that these days are NOT BIBLE TIMES. What may even be worse is that now we are living in UNBIBLICAL TIMES – SECULAR TIMES. What a rip!

Hold on for a great big moment here. Time out! We are not only living in “THE TIME,” but we are living in “BIBLE TIMES,” and they are as sacred as any time can be. GOSPEL GRACE AND REDEMPTION HISTORY ARE STILL GOING FORWARD AS STRONG AS EVER. “THE TIME” THAT JESUS ANNOUNCED IS NOW AND WILL BE TO THE END OF TIME. Quit looking at Paul’s, Peter’s, and John’s time as more sacred than this time, for this time is “THE TIME.”

The World’s View Of “Time”:

Of course to the world we all are simply SPACE-TIME TRAVELERS GOING NOWHERE FAST. Time just keeps marching on with no distinguishing marks or separations. Oh yes, we give certain segments of time names, but always after the fact. You know, like THE DARK AGES or THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT etc. etc. But really, there is no essential difference, for FATHER TIME and MOTHER NATURE just keep on doing their thing and always will. Sure, they are both getting older, but they will never conk out. In fact, they will outlive us all. That is the world’s view.

It all reminds me of the TV Soap Opera:

“DAYS OF OUR LIVES.”

It really should be called:

“THE DAZE OF OUR WIVES – AS SPOUSES WALK IN AND OUT OF MARRIAGES

WITHOUT A CLUE AS TO WHAT MARRIAGE REALLY IS.”

For sure, King Solomon had way too much of a good thing, which became a very bad thing. We  read in I Kings 11:3,

“And he had 700 wives, princesses, and 300 concubines.”

We can accurately say:

“THE REIGN OF KING SOLOMON WAS THE DAZE OF HIS WIVES.”

Modern man in the days of his life is living in a moral daze and haze because he is only living for the times and not for “THE TIME.”

“The Time” as “His Day”:

Jesus once said to His fellow Jews in John 8:56,

“Your father Abraham rejoiced to see MY DAY, and he saw it and was glad.”

Old Abe saw more about Jesus thousands of years before His birth than most people today see two thousand years after Christ’s birth. Did you notice that there Jesus designates “THE TIME” as “MY DAY.” Abraham by faith saw CHRIST’S TIME – CHRIST’S  DAY and was glad. “THE TIME” IS “HIS TIME!” -“THE DAY” IS “HIS DAY!” It is all about Him!

The Apostle Paul quotes Isaiah 49:8 as we read the words of II Corinthians 6:2,

“For He says, ‘AT THE ACCEPTABLE TIME I LISTENED TO YOU, AND ON THE

DAY OF SALVATION I HELPED YOU;’ behold, now is THE ACCEPTABLE

TIME, behold, now is THE DAY OF SALVATION.”

There “THE TIME” is called:
-THE ACCEPTABLE TIME
-THE DAY OF SALVATION

We also refer to “THE TIME” as:
-THE DAY OF DIVINE GRACE
-THE DAY OF DIVINE FAVOR

We are blessed beyond measure to be alive in THE TIME. We live in THE TIME of the fullness of the Gospel of Grace, and of the fullness of the Holy Spirit of Grace. “THE TIME” defines our age and it defines us and everything about us. WE WERE BORN AND BORN AGAIN FOR “THE TIME.”

We must make the most of “THE TIME,” and that is to bring all men to salvation in Jesus Christ, or else we will have tragically missed “THE TIME” and “HIS DAY” where and when God so strategically positioned us. And also because:

“AS IT IS WITH TIME – A TIME – THE TIME – ALL PERIODS OF TIME –

AND TIME ITSELF WILL RUN OUT OF TIME.”

It will soon be night, and there is no stopping the setting of the sun. We all will pass our measure of time during “THE TIME,” and OUR “THE TIME” OPPORTUNITIES WILL BE GONE.

SECOND – The time IS FULFILLED.

Allow me to begin this with a quote from John Aman in his book “Why Aren’t You Tolerant?” He writes, “Brit Hume spent 30 years at the top of the network and cable TV news, serving as White House correspondent for ABC and Fox News anchorman. But his impressive credentials didn’t stop the flood of anger that came his way after he publicly advised disgraced golfer Tiger Woods to find help in Christ. Noting that Buddhism, a faith that Woods said he follows, does not provide the kind of forgiveness and redemption that is offered by Christianity. Hume urged the golfing champ to, ‘Turn to the Christian faith and you can make a total recovery and be a great example to the world.’”

Way to go Brit!!!“All of which was much too much for a very put-out Tom Shales, TV columnist for “The Washington Post.” He chastised Hume for having ‘dissed about a half a billion Buddhists,’ and classified him as a ‘sanctimonious busybody.’” (End of John Aman quote)

Two words make up the word FULFILLED – FULL and FILLED. Jesus is saying that everything that Biblical prophecy pointed forward to, and everything that history has been longing and hoping for is fully standing right there before them and us – HIMSELF. Everything that mankind has so desperately needed has FULLY COME – HIMSELF.

If you will:

“THE YEARNING CRY OF HISTORY CAN BE FULFILLED IN NO OTHER PERSON

AND IN NO OTHER WAY BUT THROUGH JESUS CHRIST WHO HAS

COME AND FULL-FILLED ‘THE TIME.’”

Fulfillment does not come through Baal, Zeus, Buddha, Allah, or any other pagan deity. Theirs was never “THE TIME” and will never be “THE TIME.” They soon will run out of time. They do not and cannot FILL the hunger of the human soul. They do not and cannot FILL the empty God-hole in every human heart. They all leave their worshipers totally UNFULFILLED.

So it is that in Haggai 2:7 KJV the prophet calls Jesus Christ “THE DESIRE OF THE NATIONS.” It reads,

“And I will shake the nations, AND THE DESIRE OF ALL NATIONS SHALL

COME: and I will FILL this House with glory, saith the Lord of hosts.”

If you will:

“IN JESUS CHRIST AND IN HIM ALONE THE DEEPEST LONGING AND DESIRE

OF ALL NATIONS HAS BEEN FULL-FILLED.”

Satan And “The Time Unfulfilled”

Satan has done everything he knows how, during “THE TIME,” to get people to look for false messiahs and false hopes for their fulfillment:
-Judaism – Jewish Messiah
-Islam – Mahdi
-Buddhism – Maitreya
-Hinduism – Kalki
-Zoastrianism – Saoshyant
-Taoism – Li Hong

And the Deceiver has also been very busy to obscure and hide the true Messiah Who has already come to begin “THE TIME,” and Who will come back to end “THE TIME.” Everything possible to make people miss and be out of touch with “THE TIME” and “His Day,”and in touch with “THE TIMES.” That is Satan’s  mission. Why?:

“BECAUSE IF PEOPLE FIND THEIR ONLY FULFILLMENT IN JESUS CHRIST,

SATAN WILL NO LONGER BE ABLE TO GET THEM TO HOOK UP

WITH FALSE MESSIAHS – HE THEN HAS LOST THEM.”

NBC’s Saturday Night Live in December of 2005 featured a ‘comedy sketch’ that showed holiday carolers changing the lyrics of “Silent Night” from “Holy Night” to “Regular Night,” and “Holy Infant” to “Random Infant.” It was all done in the name of “Holiday Time” instead of “Christmas Time,” and all for the purpose of counterfeiting “THE TIME.” O Holy Night was corrupted as follows:

“Silent night, Regular night,
All is calm, All is bright.
Round the fire, Mother and child
Random infant, Religiously neutral,
Sleep in comfortable beds, Sleep in comfortable beds.”

It is no different at Easter Time. To his credit, even Jay Leno, the host of the Tonight Show, recently shared his total confusion as to what in the world bunny rabbits and colorful eggs have to do with the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Of course, the answer is, “Absolutely Nothing.” But that is exactly the point, isn’t it?

Satan OCCUPIES “THE TIMES” stronger than many Christians do “The Time.” In fact, many religious people celebrate Christmas and Easter just like the world does. They observe “THE TIMES” and not “THE TIME.” The SEASON AIN’T THE REASON, but they send out SEASONS GREETINGS like everyone else. Bing Crosby’s White Christmas and Jimmy Stewart’s It’s A Wonderful Life do not have one snowflake worth of Christmas Truth. And the Apostles did not hunt Easter eggs, nor did Christ’s followers find a basket of eggs or a chocolate bunny in the empty tomb.

Satan has a blast each year around Christmas and Easter! Why?:

“BECAUSE HE KEEPS PEOPLE FROM BEING FULFILLED DURING ‘THE TIME,’

SO HE CAN KEEP THEM SINNING DURING ‘THE TIMES.'”

And anytime a wacko extremist predicts the day and the hour that Jesus will return and end “THE TIME,” Satan’s news networks are all over the story like fleas on a dog to discredit the entire idea of Christ’s return.

But then, it shouldn’t shock us how Satan is trying so very hard to trivialize “THE TIME,” simply because of what we read in Revelation 12:12,

“…knowing that he has only ‘A SHORT TIME.’”

Hear it:

“THE HARDER SATAN WORKS TO FALSIFY ‘THE TIME,’ THE MORE WE KNOW

THAT THE COMING OF JESUS TO END ‘THE TIME’ IS SO VERY CLOSE.”

And again:

“IT IS NOT THE TIMES THAT DECEIVE MEN, BUT IT IS SATAN AND HIS

FOLLOWERS WHO CAST A SPELL OVER THE TIMES, SO THAT

THOSE LIVING IN ‘THE TIMES’ CANNOT DISCERN ‘THE TIME’

FOR THE DAYS ARE EVIL.”

THE KINGDOM OF GOD – SO CLOSE YOU CAN TOUCH IT

Please tell us, what did Jesus say next in His debut sermon? Well, it is right there in Mark 1:15,

“…and the KINGDOM OF GOD IS AT HAND.”

There must be a KING to have a KINGDOM, and there stands the KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS right in front of them and us. Therefore:

“THEY (WE) CAN REACH OUT AND TOUCH THE KINGDOM OF GOD, FOR THE

KING HAS BROUGHT THE KING-DOM OF GOD TO THEM (US).”

There are two and only TWO DEFINING KINGDOMS in this world when you boil it all down. Oh of course, there have been and are human empires and kingdoms in the world, all of which empires expire over time, because they totally missed “THE TIME.” But what those earthly kingdoms are like is always determined by which one of the TWO DEFINING KINGDOMS (KINGDOM OF LIGHT – KINGDOM OF DARKNESS)  has the greatest influence over them. And all of us are living as citizens of one of those kingdoms or the other.

We are told in no uncertain terms just what the Kingdom of God is in Romans 14:17,

“For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and

peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”

Therefore we can also know that the other Kingdom, the Kingdom of Satan, is unrighteousness, conflict, and sorrow.

Now then, the great good news is that the King of the Kingdom of God’s righteousness, peace, and joy is at hand, standing right there by you and me, right in front of you and me. To those in Satan’s Kingdom of darkness, sin, turmoil, broken lives and hearts, you can’t fathom there being another Kingdom of righteousness, joy, and peace, but only the dark one you are in. Apart from Jesus Christ, it is the only kingdom you have ever been in. But there stands Jesus, the King of the Kingdom of God’s love, peace, and joy right there at your fingertips. Hear me:

“GOD’S KINGDOM MAY SOUND LIKE NEVER-NEVER LAND TO YOU, BUT IN

FACT IT IS EVER-EVER LAND FOR ALL OF THOSE WHO

TRUST IN JESUS.”

EXAMPLE:

Jesus is saying to us that the Kingdom of God is AT HAND. You already have it within your grasp. It is right there waiting to be entered by bowing down to and giving your life to Jesus the King, the Savior of Sinners, and Lord of the Heavenly Kingdom. Many of you are living impoverished lives in Satan’s domain, not knowing that the Kingdom of God is at your fingertips, and can be yours if we want it badly enough.

Anthony De Mello tells a story about some people who were on a raft off the coast of Brazil. They were perishing from thirst, for as you know, ocean water is undrinkable. What they did not know, however, was that the water they were floating in and on was fresh water. A nearby river was coming out into the sea with such force, that for at least two miles it was displacing the sea water with fresh water right where they were. But they had no idea.

In the same way we are surrounded with righteousness, peace, joy, and the deep love of God, and we don’t have a clue. Well, King Jesus and His Kingdom are at hand, right there where you are. Won’t you enter in through bowing down to King Jesus, and He will take you out of Satan’s Kingdom of sin, conflict, and unhappiness, and with His righteousness, peace and joy, heal your broken life, marriage, and family. Healing is just across the border!

He will do what He promises to do in Colossians 1:13,

“For He delivered us from the domain of darkness (hell on earth), and transferred

us to the Kingdom of His beloved Son (Heaven on earth).

He will do that for you, right here, right now. Reach out and grab the hand of the King – King Jesus!

EXAMPLE:

How close is the Kingdom of Light to the Kingdom of Darkness? Do we have to take a Kingdom Space Shuttle to travel from one to the other? Remember, we are talking about antithetical spiritual and moral kingdoms here, not planetary or continental kingdoms. This is not space or even earth travel, but rather, it is spirit travel which for so many sounds like going to Mars. No, listen:

“TO GO FROM THE KINGDOM OF DARKNESS TO THE KINGDOM OF LIGHT

IS CLOSE AT HAND – A STEP OF FAITH.”

Let’s illustrate it this way. There is an event in the Old Testament that is a very real and actual picture of how very close and yet how very distant the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Satan are to each other.

Exodus 10 records for us a land and a three day period of darkness in which and during which there was not a smidgen of light. A land of darkness so thick that you could cut it with a knife, though you could not see what you were cutting! This wasn’t just a dark, stormy sky, or even a solar eclipse. This was darkness that you could feel enveloping you, somewhat like the darkness in a subterranean cave in Kentucky somewhere, darkness that clothes you. Darkness-blackness that even makes it hard to breath. It was the closest thing to being blind, only darker than even that.

The place was Egypt which in the Bible is a type of the Kingdom Darkness, with King Pharaoh being a type of Satan, and his armies being types of demons. The citizens were types of Hell-dwellers.

The event was the second-to-the-last plague of the 10 that Jehovah God clobbered Pharaoh and all of Egypt with for his and their refusing to let God’s people go free from the land of Egypt. We read in Exodus 10:21-22,

“Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Stretch out your hand toward the sky, that

there maybe darkness over the land of Egypt, even a

DARKNESS THAT MAY BE FELT.”

(Let me interject here that when you are living in bondage to sin and to Satan, things can get very dark inside you and even around you in THE KINGDOM OF DARKNESS. You are surrounded by THE WORKS OF DARKNESS day after day (Ephesians 5:11 – Romans 13:12). Things can look so dark at times that you swear you are going to die, and then even wanting to die.

Jesus suffered Hell on the cross for our sins, and Matthew 27:45 tells us that for three hours there was an ominous and terrifying darkness over Calvary. Jesus was suffering in the dark realm of the damned that we might be brought out of darkness into the marvelous light of God’s love.)

Continuing in Exodus 10:22,

“So Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and there was a THICK

DARKNESS in all the land of Egypt for three days.”

You could not only not see your neighbor, you couldn’t see yourself. All of the Egyptians were sun worshipers, for one of their main gods was RAH their SUN GOD. Without a doubt there was the feeling that their SUN GOD was ticked off at them for some reason and had turned the light off. Sorry, wrong god!

But here is the most incredible part of the story, as we read in Exodus 10:23,

“They did not even see one another, nor did anyone rise from His place of

dwelling for three days (72 hours), BUT ALL THE SONS OF ISRAEL HAD

LIGHT IN ALL THEIR DWELLINGS.”

The children of Israel were enslaved by Pharaoh in that part of pitch-black Egypt called Goshen. Things were bright and sunny in Goshen as if it were Phoenix, Arizona – THE VALLEY OF THE SUN with nothing but bright skies in the forecast. As they say with emphasis to this day, “LAND-A-GOSHEN.”

Yes, that close was pitch darkness to bright light! All that the Egyptians needed to do was to turn their backs on their SUN-ECLIPSED gOD, and turn to the GOD OF ISRAEL and obey and serve him. At least then they could see what they were doing. It was a short walk to Goshen, but for them Goshen seemed like a million miles away. They didn’t take the walk, for as it is with the world, they prefer the darkness to light.

Footnote:

Now get this. When cement-hearted Pharaoh finally let the Israelites go, the Israelites left Egypt and traveled through the wilderness, we read in Exodus 13:21-22,

“And the Lord was going before them in a pillar of cloud by day to

lead them on the way, and in a pillar of fire by night to give

them light, that they might travel by day and by night.”

“He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day, not the pillar of

fire by night, from before the people.”

Listen to me:

“IT WAS THE BIGGEST NIGHT-LIGHT YOU COULD EVER SEE.”

Hear it:

“WHILE IT IS ALWAYS PITCH DARK IN THE KINGDOM OF SATAN, IT IS ALWAYS

LIGHT IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD.”

Have you had enough of the former, and do you want into the latter? Are you sick of being enslaved to Satan and you want the freedom of the sons of God?

CONCLUSION

I ask you, and no pun intended, “CAN YOU SEE IT?” In physics, light does not stop at the city line, but in spirituals it can and often does. THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS AT HAND on the one hand, and THE KINGDOM OF DARKNESS IS AT HAND on the other hand. So close and yet spiritually so far away! Hear me:

“THAT GOD’S KINGDOM OF LIGHT AND JOY AND LOVE IS ONLY ONE FAITH-

STEP AWAY, IS THE GREAT AND BRIGHT TRUTH OF THE GOSPEL OF

THE GOD FOR THOSE IN DARKNESS.”

The Kingdom of God is at hand! Won’t you reach out your hand and accept God’s love and forgiveness in Jesus Christ? Take the step of faith, and discover the righteousness, joy, and peace of King Jesus. Leave Satan’s kingdom of darkness and emptiness and rot and conflict and sorrow forever behind. THE TIME IS FULFILLED – YOUR TIME HAS COME.”

And what Jesus has done for countless thousands, He will do for you, as we read in Acts 26:18,

“To open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light, and from

the dominion of Satan to God, in order that they may receive forgiveness

of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified

by faith in Me-Jesus.” AMEN!

(Jesus First Public Preaching Pt. 3 coming soon)