As you go, preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near.’As you go, preach, saying, ‘The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!’And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.
4 sermons cite this verse
… sending out these 12 on a short-term mission is found in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. In Matthew's account, Jesus said, as you go, preach, saying, here's their message, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Luke chapter 9, he sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. Now, I don't know about you, but when I read things like this, I wonder, okay, how did they do it exactly? When they first came to that town, how did they approach people to witness to them? Was it one-on-one? Did they go, excuse me, have you heard of the four spiritual laws? Or, you know God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. Was it one-on-one? because, you know, that's how I used to do it. Not that I use that formula, but I would, when I dated my wife Lenya, we would go up to people on the Huntington Beach Pier and just have conversations with them and share the gospel with them. …
… let's have you do it Matthew 10 verse 7 as you go preach saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand heal the sick raise the dead cleanse the lepers Cast out demons. Freely you received. Freely give. Do not acquire gold or silver, copper for your money belts, or a bag for your journey, or even two tunics or sandals or a staff, for the worker is worthy of his support. Now watch carefully. And into whatever city or village you enter, inquire who is worthy in it. And abide there until you go away. And as you enter the house, give it your greeting. If a house is worthy, let your greeting of peace come upon it. Shalom, shalom. But if it's not worthy, let your greeting of peace return to you. Whoever does not receive you nor heed your words, as you go out of that house or that city, beg them. No, no. Shake off the dust of your feet. I say to you it would be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city. …
… One, proclaim the kingdom of God. But then he goes on to say, also, cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, and drive out demons. Now, if you asked any of the apostles, yeah, do you have the ability? Do you have the power? Do you have the strength to do any of that? The answer would be absolutely no. I don't have the strength. I came across this man. His name is John Lennox. John Lennox is a professor of mathematics. He was emeritus at Oxford. He was also a philosopher of science and a Catholic apologist. And he's from Northern Ireland. He was telling the story of meeting a man who had suffered in the Soviet gulags for seven years. Here's what he said. Just pretend I have an Irish accent because it sounds even cooler. He says, because he uses the word like chap. So he says, I remember one chap who really in a sense humiliated me. John Lennox at this point is telling the story. …
I don't want to be a person that is unaware of the time, unaware of the fact that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Jesus said that so often, and I didn't look it up, so I don't know the exact number, but Jesus said, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. It's here. What are you gonna do about it? How can we manage spiritual time blindness? Well, I think these are a few things that we could do, things that came to my mind. number one, repent. Repent of your time blindness. And you might be saying, but it's not intentional. It's not purposeful. I just forget. Well, whether it's purposeful or not, we need to come to a place where we realize that we have been blind to the time, that we've been blind to the time that God's given us that we have right now to the fact that Jesus is coming quickly, the fact that our lives are a gift, our breath is a gift, and what are we doing with the talents, with the goods, with the services, with the gifts that God has given to us? Repent. Repent. And what that word means is you're going in one direction, and you stop, and you realize that that's not the direction that you want to go. And so you turn in the other direction and then you go that way. And that's what we want to do. We want to be quick to repent of our sins. We want to be quick to repent of where …