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    The Gospel of the Kingdom: Seven Bible Studies
    The Gospel of the Kingdom: Seven Bible Studies
    The Gospel of the Kingdom: Seven Bible Studies
    Ebook98 pages1 hour

    The Gospel of the Kingdom: Seven Bible Studies

    By Jim Prestidge

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    About this ebook

    The book is a course of seven Bible studies. They address matters such as What is God’s Kingdom? What is God’s plan for man? What is christianity really about? The studies came from an extended examination of what Jesus taught, as recorded in the four Gospels, and what the prophets and apostles had to say. It was presented originally as an inter-church Lent course.

    The studies give an alternative approach to christianity, having in mind christians who want to delve more thoughtfully into their faith. It also addresses the 35% of western populations who may consider themselves christians but do not go to a church, and the churches to which they do not go.

    The studies promote a relationship with God and a living out of our faith.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWestBow Press
    Release dateSep 22, 2020
    ISBN9781664202733
    The Gospel of the Kingdom: Seven Bible Studies
    Author

    Jim Prestidge

    Jim has behind him a lifetime of Bible reading. He uses a variety of Bible translations and computer technology. Jim has travelled extensively in most of the continents, worshipping with christians of differing christian traditions and cultural environments. He draws on his wife’s studies of Bible background. Jim and his wife spent time in Israel, the land of the Bible. It was a prayer and study tour, with other christians and Messianic Jews. They visited the places of the Bible, reading what happened there, and praying peace on Jerusalem. Jim wants the Bible to speak for itself. He wants to revive Bible reading. He wants Bible study to be guided, not by church doctrines, nor by commentators, nor by videos, nor by Jim, but by the Holy Spirit. Jim aims to expose the real Jesus and his message: God enters our understanding of his world and how to fit in.

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      Book preview

      The Gospel of the Kingdom - Jim Prestidge

      Copyright © 2020 Jim Prestidge.

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means,

      graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or

      by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the

      author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

      This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author

      and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of

      the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of

      people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

      WestBow Press

      A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

      1663 Liberty Drive

      Bloomington, IN 47403

      www.westbowpress.com

      844-714-3454

      Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or

      links contained in this book may have changed since publication and

      may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those

      of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher,

      and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

      Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are

      models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

      Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

      Interior Image Credit: Jim Prestidge

      Scripture quotations taken from the Revised English Bible, copyright © Cambridge

      University Press and Oxford University Press 1989. All rights reserved.

      ISBN: 978-1-6642-0272-6 (sc)

      ISBN: 978-1-6642-0274-0 (hc)

      ISBN: 978-1-6642-0273-3 (e)

      Library of Congress Control Number: 2020915932

      WestBow Press rev. date: 09/16/2020

      1.jpg

      St George’s Chapel at London Heathrow airport

      It was located at the exact centre of the original airport

      and built partly underground to be a place of quiet

      From that centre the airport extends, taking

      travellers to near and far places over the world

      But he said,

      ‘I must give the good news of the kingdom of God

      to the other towns also,

      for that is what I was sent to do.’

      Luke 4: 43–44

      Photographs by the author

      CONTENTS

      Preface

      Introduction

      How to use this book

      1 .   The Gospel of the Kingdom

      2 .   Kingdom behaviour

      3 .   God calls us into his Kingdom

      4 .   The darkness and the Light

      5 .   The Vine and the branches

      6 .   Justice, judgement, forgiveness

      7 .   Eden restored and extended

      PREFACE

      I am not a theologian and I step into writing this book with some trepidation, and a great respect for those who have studied theology, and more for those who have contributed to it. I do not want to undermine their work in any way, only to present an alternative perspective of christianity, which does not contradict established theology, but approaches it differently. Theology embraces the whole of the Bible. I only consider what I understand to be the teaching of Jesus, as each gospel writer reported it from his point of view.

      I consider St. Paul as the first great christian theologian. As a Jew, an educated and sincere Jew, he set his mind to reconciling the new faith with judaism. As I see it, his prolific contribution to the New Testament maintained an emphasis on sin and redemption and added salvation by faith and the work of the Holy Spirit. Salvation by faith was a key point of Martin Luther and the movers of the reformation. Yet christianity still homed in on human failing and God’s forgiveness. As I read the gospels I see Jesus as more of a teacher than a theologian. His statement ‘I have not come to replace the law but to fulfil it’ expressed his desire to purify judaism. Beyond that, he called on man to come to God in respect, service and cooperation.

      Quite a long time ago I began thinking about what Jesus taught. That is not the same thing as thinking of him as just a teacher. Armed with a Bible program on my computer I noticed that he actually said much less about being saved than he did about God’s Kingdom. It seemed to me at the time that he wanted to save people from unprofitable things, more than save them from God’s wrath. He said that the law was basic. It was of God. Obeying the law kept communities and nations together in the world which God had created. But Jesus presented the law in an open way. It was not that the meticulous obeyer of the law pleased God, but that God had given man a set of principles which guided us into fruitful and trouble free living on a higher plain. The underlying idea was not man’s efforts to do the right thing, but a principle of love that oiled the works of God’s design.

      One day a friend of mine, who became a christian pastor, lent me a book. The first chapter expressed exactly what I had worked out myself, and put it very well. It encouraged me greatly, that someone who could write a book had come to the same conclusions as me. I did not get on with the rest of the book, only through that first chapter God was speaking to me. And so I began seeing what Jesus said in a new light. I saw the Kingdom as fundamental, not salvation. That light clarified some awkward things and removed others.

      What I want most is for God’s church to look again at what Jesus said. Perhaps to complete the reformation. I don’t know.

      As I began talking with my sisters and brothers in Christ at meetings they too began talking more about the Kingdom, and clergy and bishops and those without titles began saying the same thing. I saw that God was not just speaking to me but to his people. And so I have set down some of the things I have seen, to offer them to others as a possible starting point for their own prayerful thoughts.

      INTRODUCTION

      To proclaim the Gospel of the Kingdom was Jesus’ own description of his work on earth. He came to God’s people, the Jews, at a time when they had had a chequered history and were then under

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