“The Good News of the Kingdom” (Mt 9:35)

Posted on June 23, 2026 by Pastor Foley

Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. (Matthew 9:35)

From the time of the early church, there have been weekly lectionary readings. This tradition grew out of synagogue lectionary readings that predated the birth of Christ and continues today. The early church adapted these readings to include the New Testament, especially selections from the four Gospels each week. The reason is simple: the church prioritizes the direct teaching and words of Christ, just as he commanded.

and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you…” (Matthew 28:20)

Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah. (Matthew 23:10)

Jesus teaches us the gospel in each of the four Gospels. The gospel is not only about Jesus; it is also taught by Jesus. This is why the full title of each Gospel is “The Gospel of Jesus Christ According to (author).” They record Christ’s gospel—that is, the things of first importance about who Jesus is and what he does, as taught by Jesus himself. If we teach anything else as the gospel, we are teaching a false gospel different from that of Jesus Christ.

The gospel Jesus taught must remain at the center of our daily lives. That is why the lectionary is centered on the Gospel reading. As we hear the words of Jesus each week, the Holy Spirit gives us the ever-living words of Christ and the faith to believe them. In this way, Jesus himself teaches us the gospel.

The gospel is the announcement that God the Son has taken on human flesh and, on the cross, has defeated all the enemies of God—including us. Through his resurrection and ascension, he now holds all authority in heaven and on earth. He uses that authority to rule today as the all-powerful King of creation. No one can hinder his reign; even those who resist him only end up accomplishing his purpose. Jesus could have destroyed all his enemies when he defeated them on the cross. Instead, he offers forgiveness and mercy, and even the full inheritance of his Father—including his throne—because through his blood we too are made children of God.

If Jesus is ruling, why is it so hard for us to notice? It is because he does not rule from the top down like worldly leaders. He rules from the bottom up. He rules as the servant of all. This is not a temporary way of ruling that will change when he returns and displays his “real power.” God’s eternal character is and always will be that of a servant and shepherd who lays down his life moment by moment for those under his care. Because they recognize only top-down power, none of the “rulers” of this age can perceive his bottom-up reign.

The rulers of this age still exercise power as they always have, and those under them still act as though they hold the power. Only through hearing the proclamation of the gospel can we know that Christ is truly reigning, and we are invited to stop rebelling against him and submit to his reign. We do so through baptism. In baptism, we enter Christ’s death and die with him to this world. We receive the indestructible and inalienable life of Christ, who is the Holy Spirit, who brings Christ’s teachings to life so that we know how to relate to God and to our neighbors. We relate to both only on the basis of Christ’s teachings.

Evangelism is not a method we memorize or a tract we hand out. It is our day-to-day words and actions bearing witness to God and others that Christ is our only King. In this way, everyone can see that we rely on Jesus as our only teacher and provider. Just as Jesus rules by laying down his life, we serve him by willingly laying down our lives moment by moment—not only for our friends, but also for our enemies.

We willingly give up what this world considers valuable because God provides for all our needs. Each day, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit give us a small portion of our inheritance from the age to come. We are able to lay down our lives for Christ because we know that our bodies will be raised from the dead when he returns.

On that day, the rule of Christ, already underway, will finally become visible. All who rejected his rule will experience eternal destruction. Those who welcomed his kingdom by faith will reign with him forever in the new heavens and new earth.

This is the gospel as taught directly by Jesus in the Gospels and in Revelation. It is the same gospel the apostles recorded in their letters. None of it can be omitted without creating a false gospel. Jesus called it “the gospel of the kingdom,” and so did the apostles.

“Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again. (Acts 20:25)

They arranged to meet Paul on a certain day, and came in even larger numbers to the place where he was staying. He witnessed to them from morning till evening, explaining about the kingdom of God, and from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets he tried to persuade them about Jesus. (Acts 28:23)

The apostles did not create new teachings that did not originate with Jesus. Instead, they answered questions and gave instruction about how to live according to the gospel Jesus taught. Their letters were written with the assumption that readers already had a basic understanding of the gospel of the kingdom.

Unfortunately, many pastors today preach their own selected topics, claiming to be led by the Holy Spirit in what to preach each week. Others preach verse by verse through the Bible, believing this is the best way to hear Jesus directly. But the Gospels were written to be read aloud in a single sitting, sometimes more than once. If we preach only verse by verse, it may take years to hear key context from earlier or later passages. This is one of the tragic consequences of the modern church’s abandonment of the lectionary.

During the Protestant Reformation, reformers such as Zwingli and Calvin, in a sense, over-reformed by doing away with the lectionary and advocating verse-by-verse preaching. Later, Methodists and Anabaptists promoted preaching whatever the Holy Spirit seemed to lead at a given time and place. After that, many Christians in the United States began to preach primarily about personal salvation.

There is no separate gospel of personal salvation that the Lord Jesus taught before the gospel of the kingdom. Jesus did not teach a personal-salvation gospel. So later evangelists constructed one by patching together passages from across the Bible and centering them on personal salvation. They also developed methods for evangelizing with this new gospel. Because this evangelism was often done outdoors or one-to-one, where baptism was impractical, conversion came to be identified with the altar call or the sinner’s prayer. As a result, baptism largely became a formality for church membership rather than an essential part of entering Christ’s life.

As a result, many modern Christians believe the gospel is simply, “Jesus died for my sins, and if I believe in him, I will go to heaven when I die and live forever.” But this is a false gospel. They do not know the words and gospel of Christ. To set aside Christ’s words in exchange for ideas that seem more attractive or easier to understand is folly. Churches and organizations built on this false gospel are now falling with a great crash.

Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” (Matthew 7:24-27)

The proponents of the gospel of personal salvation believe that people must first be prepared through relationships and need-meeting without talking about Jesus and then receive personal salvation before discipleship happens. But Jesus commanded us to use his own words and teachings for baptism and for our discipleship. He commanded us to preach the whole of his gospel of the kingdom, omitting nothing. He is the one who tells us what is of first importance about who he is and what he does:

  1. When the time was fulfilled, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born of the seed of David.
  2. He died for our sins as according to the Scriptures.
  3. He was buried.
  4. He rose on the third day as according to the Scriptures.
  5. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
  6. He will come again to judge the living and the dead.

We are not free to invent the meaning of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. Rather, we must learn and teach what Jesus himself said about his death and resurrection and how they fulfill the Scriptures. Sadly, most modern Christians do not know what Jesus taught about his own death and resurrection.

In every situation and on every subject, we are to begin by reading and teaching the actual words of Jesus himself. The words and teachings of Jesus have primacy for the Christian.

We should never begin with the words of the apostles and only then move to the words of Jesus. If we do, we risk ending up with a false, partial, and distorted gospel, because the apostles assumed their readers already knew the gospel Jesus taught. We read the words and teachings of Christ first, and then consult the rest of the New Testament as inspired commentary on Jesus’ words—not as additional or new teaching. The apostles preached the gospel of the kingdom faithfully to the end.

He proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ—with all boldness and without hindrance! (Acts 28:31)

It is important for the church to be built on Jesus’ gospel and to hear it every week. The lectionary is one helpful tool for doing so. We are not saved through a “personal salvation method,” nor are we prepared to hear the gospel by having our “soil prepared.” We are saved by entering into the life of Christ through hearing his gospel. And when we are persecuted for the gospel, we do not flee merely for our own safety; we flee so that the gospel may be preached in other places.

You may think, “If we only focus on the words and teachings of the Lord Jesus, don’t we         neglect the Father and the Holy Spirit and the Old Testament and the writings of the Apostles?” The answer is no. Jesus’ words and teachings are all about the Father and the Holy Spirit and the Old Testament, and the writings of the Apostles are all about the words and teachings of the Lord Jesus. From the beginning, Christianity was called “The Way”. What way? The way of the Lord Jesus. In every situation, about every subject, we are to begin and end with the words and teachings of the Lord Jesus. They are our standard and the reason for our existence. As Paul writes in  1 Timothy 6:3:

If anyone teaches otherwise and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, they are conceited and understand nothing. (1 Timothy 6:3–4a)

Let us repent of any gospel that does not give primacy to the words, teachings, and way of Jesus.

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Have you ever heard of The Great Declaration?

Posted on June 9, 2026 by tdillmuth

For centuries, Christians did not view Matthew 28:16-20 as “The Great Commission.” Instead, it was seen as a revelation of who Christ is and as an invitation for us to join his work. This passage could be renamed “The Great Declaration,” since through his declaration, he reveals who he is.

What does this Scripture passage reveal about Jesus Christ?

Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:16–20)

First, it reminds us of who Christ is as Emmanuel, “God with us”. The very beginning and end of Matthew contain this same promise about who Christ is. Being with us is not only something that Christ does; it is who he is. It is his character. In Greek, the word “always” means “the whole of every day”. In the details of every day, Christ is with us.

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)

In more than one hundred verses in the Old Testament, God promises to be with us. But, in the Old Testament, the Lord was present through various mediators, such as Moses, the tabernacle, the temple, etc.

Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them. (Exodus 25:8)

When the priests withdrew from the Holy Place, the cloud filled the temple of the Lord. And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled his temple. (1 Kings 8:10–11)

In the beginning of John, in the Greek, it says that Jesus “tabernacled” or “pitched his tent” among us. In the Old Testament, it says that God dwelled in the tabernacle. But in the New Testament, Jesus “tabernacled” among us. In the Old Testament, God’s glory was shrouded by the cloud. But now God’s glory is fully visible to us in Jesus Christ.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

In the New Testament, Jesus describes himself as the temple, and since we are being built together in Christ, we also have a part in God’s temple. This very real temple is being built with living stones, and the Bible says we are those living stones. We are God’s house. The presence of God now dwells in us.

As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him—you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 2:4–5)

This Old Testament promise of God’s presence has been specifically and completely fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ. This promise is given to us through the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ. The promise of his direct, unmediated presence.

Jesus not only gave the disciples the promise of his presence, but also the promise of his power in Matthew 28:16-20. He told them that all authority in heaven and on earth had been given to him. We know from John 3:35 that it was given to him by the Father.

The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. (John 3:35)

This is confusing because we know that Jesus has always been God. So has Jesus not already had all power and authority? In fact, John 1 tells us that the Word is God and that all things were created by the Word. So why must power and authority be given to Jesus?

Because, as we read in John 1:14, the Son took on flesh.

Jesus has two natures. He has human nature and divine nature. There have been many issues throughout church history understanding this. Some cults have said that Jesus has a kind of “third nature” or that the two natures are separate. But, in Christ, Jesus’ two natures are inseparable.

In the Father’s exalting Jesus, God’s original plan for humanity, that humanity would reign as God’s image on earth, is fulfilled. Not only is Jesus’ divine nature exalted, but his human nature is as well. As the “Son of Man” he is given all dominion.

In my vision at night, I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. (Daniel 7:13-14)

Now that we understand Christ’s character, we can properly understand what he commanded us to do.

In Matthew 28:19-20, in English there seem to be four commands “go, make disciples, baptize, and teach”. But, in Greek, there is properly only one command, “make disciples”. The other verbs in this passage modify the verb “make disciples”. We don’t have to come up with our own plan of how to make disciples. We don’t need larger churches, outreach events or humanitarian aid projects. We only make disciples through the word (“teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you”) and the sacrament (“baptizing them”).

Because Jesus uses many words interchangeably, instead of “teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you”, he could just as easily have said, “teaching them to abide in my word” or “teaching them to believe in my word”. The main point is to have firm faith in all that he taught.

Jesus also says that we make disciples by baptizing. Disciples are not made by having them come forward during an altar call. Disciples are not made by praying the “sinner’s prayer”. According to scripture, disciples are made through baptism, through which we die and are raised with Christ and receive the Holy Spirit.

It may seem like we should first get saved and then get baptized so we can publicly declare our faith. But that is not how the Bible describes baptism at all. Baptism is a gift of God. It is not something that we do, it is something which God does to us.

A person once said that making disciples is like one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread. We are beggars who bring other beggars to Christ for Christ to work, not for us to work.

In Matthew 28, everything seems upside-down. The Jewish elders and Roman guards conspired to lie about what happened to Jesus’ body. The disciples even doubt Jesus as they are looking at him. In the midst of all this, Jesus declares his absolute authority in front of only eleven people. It is quite an anti-climactic moment.

But remember, this has always been the way that Jesus has worked. He doesn’t work according to the ways and standards of this world. His ways are totally different from our ways.

In John 13, Jesus washed the disciples’ feet. But the story starts out much differently than we would think. It starts with Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands.

Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; (John 13:3)

We would think that Jesus would take all power and use it to humiliate his enemies and stop them from crucifying him. But, instead, he washed the feet of the disciples who would later betray and deny him.

On the cross, we see the true power and authority of Jesus on display. And, on an obscure mountain before the disciples who had just failed miserably, we see the same power and authority of Jesus on display.

This upside-down work of Jesus is the same with making disciples. We think that if we had enough money, power, and freedom, we could make disciples better. But God always works through his word, which may seem weak and inefficient to us. But Jesus says that is what is powerful and effective.

Christ’s presence is not dependent on how you feel. You don’t have to feel good or happy. You can’t use your emotions to determine whether God is with you or not. The Bible tells us that God’s presence is a gift which is given to us in the person of Jesus Christ. His name is Emmanuel.

Through his death, resurrection, and ascension, we are given the gift of unmediated access to God himself.

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If your gospel omits Jesus’ ascension, it’s not the gospel

Posted on May 28, 2026 by Pastor Foley

If your Easter is a single day of the year, your Easter is too short. And if Jesus’ ascension is not part of your gospel, it is not the gospel.

Jesus’s ascension to heaven as depicted by John Singleton Copley (1775)

The teaching of the Lord Jesus is not “On the cross, the Father transferred our sins to Jesus and poured out his wrath on Jesus and forsook him. Then the Father’s wrath was satisfied, so, if we believe in Jesus, we can go to heaven when we die.”

If this is what you believe, there is no need for the burial, resurrection, ascension, or any other part of the gospel beyond the three hours of Jesus’ time on the cross. If this is what you believe, what you believe is not the gospel.

Sin is a broken relationship with God, not an invoice for which God demands payment or punishment. When Israelites brought an animal to offer to the Lord, they weren’t transferring their sins to the animal so that it would be killed instead of them. They were acknowledging their guilt in breaking the relationship with God. They offered the animal as a sign of their repentance. The person making the offering could not enter God’s presence because of their sin. That was why the animal was slain outside the temple, and then the blood was brought into the temple and sprinkled on the altar as their offering. Why was the blood the offering?

For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life. (Leviticus 17:11)

The Father never turned away from the Son. Even when Jesus said, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” he is quoting a passage of scripture the way rabbis do in abbreviating it by quoting the beginning of the passage.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish? (Psalm 22:1)

Jesus wants us to read the entire Psalm. And, when we do, we get a picture of what is being accomplished on the cross.

For he has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help. (Psalm 22:24)

All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him, (Psalm 22:27)

This is why Jesus says, in John 12:32:

And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself. (John 12:32)

When Jesus says “lifted up”, he doesn’t only mean lifted up on the cross. He means lifted all the way up—lifted up on the cross, then lifted out of death, and then lifted into heaven.

Jesus is slain outside the city just as the animals were slain outside the temple in the sacrificial system. In the sacrificial system, the blood is brought inside the temple and sprinkled on the altar. In the same way, Jesus ascends to the highest heaven to offer his blood in the heavenly temple. It is on the day of Jesus’ ascension, when he offers his blood, that the Father gives us repentance and the forgiveness of sins.

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. (1 John 1:7)

It isn’t that God was demonstrating his wrath for us on the cross. Scripture says that God was demonstrating his own love for us through Christ on the cross. God’s wrath will be poured out at the end of the age by Christ himself on those who have rejected God’s offer of repentance in Christ Jesus.

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

When Christ’s wrath is poured out, you will know it because you will see it. It will destroy the whole of creation.

But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:8–9)

The Father never forsakes the Son. Everyone else forsook Jesus when he was on the cross. But the Father did not.

“A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me. (John 16:32)

Always remember that the persons of the Trinity always act jointly. On the cross, the Son is revealing the patience, love, and mercy of the Father.

Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. (John 5:19)

We can see a good picture of the joint ministry of the Father and the Son in John 17. We are used to thinking of the ascension narrative as appearing only in Luke and Acts. But in John 17, Jesus prays about his coming ascension.

After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. (John 17:1)

The Father glorifies the Son by revealing himself through the Son on the cross, raising him from the dead, having him ascend, receiving the sacrifice of his blood, and having the Son sit at his right hand, ruling and reigning over all.

Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. (John 17:3)

“Eternal life” does not mean “going to heaven when you die.” That is a false gospel. Eternal life is not about where we live. It is about who lives in us and who we live with. We are seated with Christ in heaven from the moment we are baptized.

And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, (Ephesians 2:6)

But our stay in heaven is temporary because we go wherever Jesus goes. So, when Jesus comes at the end of the age, we will come with him.

In John 3:16, Jesus does not say, “Whoever believes that I died for their sins will go to heaven”. He says, “Whoever believes in me will have eternal life”. At our baptism we receive the Holy Spirit. Through the Holy Spirit, the Father and Son come to live in us forever. That, says Jesus, is eternal life.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

The reason why Jesus says, “It is finished” before dying on the cross is because, at that moment, Jesus completed all the work God gave him to do on earth. But that doesn’t mean his offering is finished. His work on earth is completed on the cross, but his offering for our sins is made in heaven at his ascension.

I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. (John 17:4)

Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” (John 20:17)

Amazingly, Jesus prays that the Father would glorify him “now” in John 17:5 before he went to the cross.

And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began. (John 17:5)

The reason he does this is because, for Jesus, his death, burial, resurrection, and ascension are all part of the same “hour”.

“I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. (John 17:6–8)

Jesus says that his words and teachings come from the Father. At our Baptism, the Holy Spirit is given to us to remind us of his words and teachings and to reveal them to us fully. Just as the Son only says what the Father says, the Holy Spirit only says what Jesus says.

The Father and Son dwell through the Holy Spirit in the one who holds to the words and teachings of Jesus.

I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. (John 17:9–10)

It is quite amazing the glory comes to Jesus through us, his disciples. Christ is glorified when we only relate to God and one another according to the teachings of Christ.

We may know that Jesus is interceding for us in heaven. But you may not know what he is praying for. What would there be to intercede for if the Father has already given us the forgiveness of sins? He intercedes for us the same way he did in John 17.

I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. (John 17:11)

You may think, “There are very many churches and denominations. All Christians are not ‘one’ like Jesus prayed, so the Father must not have answered Jesus’ prayer yet.”

But that is not true. Jesus says that when we believe in him, he and the Father come to live in us through the Holy Spirit. That’s not a metaphor. They really and truly live in us. And their living in us is what unites us with each other as the body of Christ across all times and places. Churches and denominations may be divided, and there may be some sheep who are pastors’ sheep or denominational sheep rather than the Lord’s sheep. But all who belong to the Lord are in fact one because the one God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—lives in us. How do we experience that oneness? By leaving behind all that does not come from the words and teachings of Jesus as taught to us by the Holy Spirit.

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