I'll give you a moment to find that. Acts chapter 2 will begin in verse 22. This is Peter, the Apostle speaking, and we pick up here in the middle of his sermon that he gives in Jerusalem in 30 AD during the Jewish feast known as Pentecost or Harvest. Acts chapter 2, starting in verse 22, this is God's Word, eternally true. Peter speaking, Minervis real, listen to this, Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge, and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to a cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. David said about him, I saw the Lord always before me, because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad, and my tongue rejoices, my body also will live in hope because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay. You have known to me the paths of life, you will fill me with joy in your presence, brothers. I can tell you constantly that the patriarch David died and was buried and his tomb is here to this day. But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of this act. Exalted to the right hand of God he has received from the Father, the promised Holy Spirit, and has poured out what he now see in here. For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. Therefore, that all Israel be assured of this. God has made this Jesus whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, brothers, what shall we do, Peter replied? Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children, and for all who are far off, for all whom the Lord our God will call. With many other words, he warned them, and pleaded with them, save yourselves from this corrupt generation. Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about 3,000 were added to their number that day. Herein's our reading, let us give thanks to the Lord for giving us his word, responsive thanks is printed for us in our bulletin this morning. The word of the Lord, thanks indeed, let us pray. Our Father, we are grateful indeed for your word given to us. This was inspired, the words we read here, by your Holy Spirit, writing through your apostles. We thank you for this recorded sermon of Peter on the day of the Pentecost feast in 30 AD, that we might benefit from it. We recognize that it was written that you might be glorified through us, and so we ask that you, by your Spirit, would grant us understanding of this text that you would help us to see more deeply the good news of you, Jesus. And that we seen more deeply this news might grasp your love for us all the more, and in return, love you back for all the love you have poured out upon us, that we might live to your glory, to give you our King honor and homage. Jesus preached to us through this your word we ask in Christ's name. Amen. Sometimes we miss things when they first come to us. You ever have a case like that where somebody tells the joke and everybody laughs and then two minutes later you say, oh, I get it. And you wisely refrain from laughing at that point because you just pretend that you got it in the first place or maybe more seriously. We look in Scripture and see the Apostle Paul during the days in which he was known as Saul, Saul of Tarsus. And Saul of Tarsus was a religious guy. A Pharisee of Pharisees. Zealous for the Jewish religion. And he took that zeal and he persecuted the early church, putting to death people like Stephen who were preaching the gospel. Saul didn't get it at first until Jesus literally knocked him off his horse on the way from Jerusalem to Damascus. And when Saul was knocked off his horse, he wondered who this was speaking from this bright light to him and he found out that it was Jesus. The one he was persecuting. Saul found out on that day he was persecuting the followers of Jesus but he also found out something that Peter speaks of here. The God had sent a king for his kingdom, for God's kingdom on earth. And that the Jews, God's people by and large had rejected the king that God had sent. And that Saul in particular had not seen it. He had not gotten it. When Jesus was upon this earth, Saul had not been one of the disciples of Jesus, but then Saul saw his error and he repented. He changed his mind and his heart about who Jesus was.
And that's the subject matter about which Peter preaches. Peter's preaching to Israelites, to Jews here at Pentecost, and he begins this section that we read this morning saying, men of Israel, because they were a men of Israel that were around. There had been this group of 120 disciples of Jesus that we read about in previous weeks who had the Holy Spirit poured out upon them and to signify that the Spirit of God had been poured out upon them. There appeared tongues of fire over the heads of these 120 disciples of Jesus. And this was reminiscent of the pillar of fire that was an indication of God's presence among his people during the days of Moses, a pillar of fire by night, led God's people in the wilderness. And this was a, here's your fancy word of theophany, a visible sign of the presence of God among his people. And that presence of God among his people had continued through the days of the Old Testament where there was a flame at the altar of burn offering in the tabernacle and in the temple that the priests were not to let go out because it symbolized God's continuing presence among his people. God had predicted through Moses and through the prophets that when the kingdom of God was restored, it had been broken apart during the days, the 500, 600 years before Jesus came. There was no son of David raining on a throne in Jerusalem. The kingdom of God had largely gone out of existence but God had promised through the prophets that the kingdom of God would return. And one of the ways God's people could know that the kingdom of God had been restored among them was that God would pour out his spirit upon the people. And God would give the people again a descendant of David, a son of David to reign on a throne as their king.
Peter preaches on the day of Pentecost and if you like to fill out blanks, you're welcome to do so. You don't have to. But here we go in our introduction. Peter preaches on the day of Pentecost that Jesus is king of the kingdom of God. That's your blank king. Jesus is king of the kingdom of God. Peter preaches to these Jews to these men of Israel gathered in Jerusalem. There were three feasts during the year that the men of Israel were required to come to Jerusalem for. The first was Passover. And so these men gathered here there was a great possibility, in fact, probability that these men had been in Jerusalem for the Passover to see Jesus crucified. And so there's a very literal sense and when Peter says this man Jesus, you conspired together with evil men, the Romans, to put him on a cross that Peter was speaking literally. These were the ones that were shouting in the crowd, crucify him, crucify him. Their guilt was upon him, upon them. And so Peter proves to them in the sermon that Jesus was the restoration kingdom king that they had longed for, that they had said they were longing for centuries and they had taken this king that God had sent them and crucified him. How does Peter prove that Jesus is a king, is this king that they had said they were expecting? Well, he proves it by pointing to two things and those are your A and B points in your outline. He points to Jesus' resurrection. How does he do this? Well, he quotes a couple of Psalms that David. He quotes Psalm 16 here at the front, the verse 25, David says, first of all, about himself, that whenever I, David speaking, whenever I was in trouble, whenever I was persecuted, whenever I was, and if you know the life of David, you know this is true of him a lot, whenever I was being chased around in the wilderness by God's own people, whether it was King Saul or even David's own sons, seeking David's life, so that they could reign over God's people instead of David. Whenever this was the case, I remembered something. David said that God himself in what we know is the Davidic covenant, the covenant that God made with David, God had promised to protect his king. God had promised that he would not abandon David to the grave. And indeed, we find out that David dies not at the hands of enemies, but at the hands of old age. We see at the very beginning of Second Kings, chapter one, that David dies of old age, despite all the persecution, despite all the men coming after him, seeking his life, and David in the end ends up dying of old age. And so David rejoices, and David knew in the moments of hiding in caves in the wilderness where his own life was pursued, that God would rescue him.
Because he saw, as verse 25 says, quoting Psalm 16, which David wrote, because David saw the Lord always before him. Because God was at his right hand, this was David's reference to the Ark of the Covenant, sitting next to the palace of David, the throne of David, next to the throne of God, the throne of God being the Ark of the Covenant. So when David said, I saw the Lord always at my right hand, he was speaking of God's throne on earth, the Ark of the Covenant, remaining before him as a reminder that he was ruling under God's authority, throne, next to throne in Jerusalem. The Lord has always before me, because he is my right hand, I will not be shaken. David said, I will have confidence. Therefore my heart is glad, and my tongue rejoices. My body will live in hope, because you, God, will not abandon me to the grave. You will not let me die in this cave. You will not let my life go up to the slaughter in the wilderness. Nor will you let your Holy One, speaking of David, in the first instance, nor will you let me see decay.
Rather, Lord, verse 28, you have made known to me the paths of life. You will find me a way out of this situation, and you will fill me with joy in your presence. This is a reference David was making of his confidence to go back into the presence of the Lord in the temple in Jerusalem. I will not remain here in the wilderness. God, you will restore me to my throne. I will be in your presence again. And so your A in your outline, Peter points to this fact. These things were true of David back then. They were true of our kings, and they were part of God's promises to our son of David kings after him. And it was true of Jesus, but in a greater sense than it was ever true of David. Because Peter goes on and he says, this was true in an earthly, physical, very human sense in the life of David. But ultimately David died, and his tomb is here with us today. But let me tell you ultimately about whom David speaks. Ultimately, Psalm 16 is fulfilled in Jesus, not David. Ultimately, the fulfillment of Psalm 16 is in the son of David, Jesus, who was literally not abandoned to the grave. He sat in a grave for three days, or lay in a grave for three days, but God did not abandon him there. He showed Jesus the son of David, King of God's people, the path of life. And Jesus is today enthroned. He hasn't gone back to Jerusalem from the wilderness. He didn't get down off his cross and walk back into the city of Jerusalem. Jesus went from a grave to the heavenly Jerusalem where it's hold in the New Testament, specifically in Hebrews. And Jesus was resurrected, not abandoned to the grave, and he was enthroned at the right hand of God in heaven. This is proof to us, Peter says, to his brother Israelites, that Jesus is our King. Because the things that were true of David, the things that were to be true of every son of David, raining over us as King, have been true in the ultimate sense in Jesus. He was not abandoned to the grave, even though he really died. His body really did not see decay because he rose from the dead, and we saw him for forty days. And then he ascended to heaven, and he has been enthroned as King over his people at the right hand of God. And he as son of God and King of God's people has joyed today in the presence of his Father and of the Holy Spirit.
So Jesus' resurrection to his enthronement, that's your blank in A. Jesus' resurrection to his enthronement in heaven is proof to us that Jesus is King. Now, how do we know he went to heaven? Well, the apostles here, the 120, were telling us we saw him go up into the clouds, Acts 1. But there's another proof to that. There's proof to us, Peter is saying, that Jesus made it to heaven, that he was received as final and ultimate King over God's people, that he has been placed at the right hand of God upon its own, and that proof is B, the pouring out of God's Spirit that you see here. You see, these tongues of fire over the heads of all those who believe in Jesus as King. This is the Holy Spirit, a sign that the Holy Spirit has been poured out on all who believe. And you know that to be a promise of the restoration kingdom now being realized, but it's also a sign to us that Jesus made it to the throne, received the Spirit from His Father and His poured out His Spirit upon us this day, verse 33. Well, first, verse 32, God raises Jesus to life and we, the 120, are all witnesses to this fact. But, verse 33, Jesus not only left us, but he was exalted to the right hand of God and he has received from the Father, exalted is King language, by the way. It's you climb up to a throne which is literally above, it's on a pedestal above all others in the throne room. He's exalted to the right hand of God and he, Jesus, has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you see and hear. Verse 36, therefore, let all Israel, you be assured of this, you can't dismiss Jesus and you can't look for another King. Because God has made Jesus and has proved it to us in this way, this A and B here, He has proved that Jesus, whom you crucified, is both Lord and Christ. Christ means anointed one, who was anointed King. Jesus has been enthroned as King. As our Christ, as our anointed King.
So Jesus is King of the Kingdom of God and Peter wants all the Jews to know and to have no mistake about it, that there is no other King to come and that the King to come, they had crucified and they had missed him. Well, we see their response there, which brings us to our point number one. It's really point number two, our inspection is point number one, but it's background. God says this this morning, Kingdom membership is by accepting. That's your blank. Number one, Kingdom membership is by accepting the gospel. We read in verse 41, those who accepted Peter's message were baptized and about 3,000 were added to their number that day. 3,000 were added to the kingdom of Christ. What is accepting the gospel involve? Well, it involves hear your blanks, repentance and faith in Jesus as King. If you've been around the believing church in the United States sometimes during the last 20 years, maybe you've heard of the Lordship's salvation debate and this makes nonsense of the whole debate. Because Peter says first and foremost in his preaching of the gospel that Jesus is King. What this means to us is that Jesus is not a suggestion giver. He's not an advice person. He's not a consultant. He is King. And Peter is saying, in this sermon at Pentecost, you have a choice. You can keep shouting, crucify him, crucify him, or you can bow your knee to him as King. And as King, he has law. That law is the moral law, the Ten Commandments written in Scripture, which Jesus sent to his people long ago. But the gospel message delivered for the Jews here was you missed your King. In fact, God sent you a son of David King to restore the kingdom, and you hated him unto death. So the response is repentance. And we see it in a great way here. It says, after Peter twice tells them, you crucified him. Verse 37, what does this response of repentance and faith look like? When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, brothers, what shall we do? We've been awaiting this King for centuries. God sent him to us, and we crucified him. What shall we do? And that's the response everybody is to have. When they hear the good news, God has sent us a King. Now, that may not sound like good news to us, especially as Americans, as those in the United States of America today, because we value freedom. And often this freedom is seen as freedom without constraints toward what we can do and not do. But if we think a little bit deeper, we all know that our freedom is best served by certain constraints. I am best constrained by some kind of law in my mind, at least, that tells me not to hit my accelerator in my Honda Civic as hard as I can and go straight on route. What is it, 1A or what's that route that goes in California on the coast there on the rocky cliffs? What is that? Is there anyone here? What's that? Highway 101 in California. I am best constrained by the law in my mind that says, keep it between the yellow line and the white line when I am driving. I am really free if I do that. If I'm not constrained by that, I'm soon a dead man. And so when God comes to us and he gives us his law and says, I come to you as your King, properly understanding all this, we say that is good news. Because I've certainly tried things on my own without advice, without instruction, and blown a lot of things. And so that is good news to us. So we repent and we have faith in Jesus as our King. And Peter tells them to do something, to mark that they are people who have repented and people who believe that Jesus is King of God's Kingdom on earth. And that thing that they do to mark this membership is baptism. And we see that those who believe were baptized and numbered among those that were a part of Jesus' Kingdom. So that's your second blank there number one. Kingdom membership is marked by baptism. That's not a new thing that God would mark His people. Those who belong to His Kingdom by some kind of sign, by some kind of marking. We saw that in what Bob read to us this morning from Genesis 17, that God desires that there be a sign on His people that is God would be King and God to not only Abraham, but to His children. And so it gives them the sign of circumcision, a little bit further down from what Bob read. And that God includes in the Kingdom, in the church, both those who believe in the children after them. And that's what Peter refers to here, as he says, the promises for you and for your children after you. But secondly, God also says that this Kingdom has a character. Not only is there membership available by accepting the gospel, but this Kingdom has a certain character that we are to know about as members of His Kingdom, having been baptized to be a part of it. And we have kind of a multiple point here, number two, since the Kingdom is characterized by first a having a king. Hey, that makes sense, doesn't it? If you belong to a Kingdom, you have a king, okay? But since the Kingdom is characterized by having a king, God says to us, communicates to us by this, that we are to submit to our king's guidance that he gives us from Scripture. They are king has a law, and we abide by His law for His glory and for our own good. Be since the Kingdom is characterized by expansion, believe until others to join this Kingdom through their own belief too. We see that the Kingdom of God is marked by expansion. When we looked at Genesis 17 this morning, and Bob read that for us, we see that Abraham would be a father of many nations, and that God would bless many people, even those who are far off through Abraham. And so Peter speaks of that, verse 39, the promises for you and your children, and for all who are far off, for all whom the Lord God will call. It is characteristic of the Kingdom of God, it is characteristic of the Church to be growing, to be growing, and to be growing, to be adding members, who become members by bowing their knee to our king. By saying, Jesus, you are my king now. There is salvation, there is forgiveness of sins, in nobody and in no thing but you. And so since the Kingdom is characterized by expansion, we not only believe and include ourselves in the Kingdom, and that's what Peter says when he says, save yourselves from this perverse or crooked generation, he's saying, believe, become a member of this Kingdom that Jesus might save you by his work and the cross. But we not only believe, but we tell others to join. The Jews were being told here, this is not only a message for you, but for those who are far off. For those who have not been a part of the Kingdom of God, who have not been a part of God's covenant community, who have not been a part of the Church up to this point, and we see the rest of the book of Acts being about this, how God spreads his gospel message to all kinds of people, not just to the Jews, but to those who are outside the preaching of God's Word, they are brought into it. God's Kingdom is characterized by expansion, and this means here's another blank for you that no one has sinned too greatly to become a member. No one has sinned too greatly to become a member. This is what the Apostle Paul marveled at through his whole life. This is why he called himself the chief of sinners. He specifically says it's because I persecuted the Church. Jesus said when he knocked Paul off his horse, why are you persecuting me? Paul persecuted Jesus. What was true for the people to whom Paul Peter preached here? They had crucified Jesus. Peter said, you guys nailed him to a cross. Let's think about that. No, let's not think about that. We don't even have to think about that. Is there any greater sin that you could do as a person on this earth than see Jesus before you? Have him attested to you by God through miracles and signs and wonders, and say to the Roman government, crucify him. This is why God's people here are cut to the heart when they hear this. We have crucified the divine son of David, promised to us in Daniel 7 and throughout the prophets. God sent us a son of David who was also himself, and we killed him. That puts our own sins in perspective, doesn't it? So is there any sin to great if God could rescue 3,000 of these people who crucified Jesus if God could rescue and save Paul, the Apostle, who put those who were proclaiming the gospel to death? Then he can save you, then he can save your neighbor who appears in your own eyes right now to be far off. We all have neighbors and co-workers, people that work for us, people that work above us, those kind of folks relatives, and we hear them speak, and we see the things that are involved in, and we say, wow, they are far off. How can they even start to speak the gospel with them? But then we can look at our own lives, and we can say, ah, there's hope. Because one day there was a day I was far off. But even if I grew up in the church, and was faithful as far as I could be till the day I believed that I never had a day of departing from the church, God promises those who are far off. I am bringing in to my church. And so we tell others the gospel because we are confident of this fact that there are none who are too far off to be redeemed, to be conquered by our king, and brought into the kingdom of God. So your blank, this is true for you, and it's true for your neighbor, that no one has sinned too greatly to become a member of the kingdom. Because God, next blank, calls to himself people who are far off. Okay, next. The kingdom of God is characterized by being a spiritual kingdom. Let's take a look at what is offered. Let's take a look at the nature of this kingdom. It's spiritual as Peter preaches it. Your seed to fill in your blanks here, the kingdom is characterized by spiritual benefits and ends. Spiritual rewards, spiritual advantages, that will bleed itself out in your real life here in the world. But because the kingdom of God is characterized by spiritual benefits and ends, don't expect, here's your next blank, world transformation. We have to keep something in mind as we read the gospel of Luke, and the book of Acts. They were written to a guy named Theophilus. And this guy named Theophilus, almost all who studied these two books, believed that this was a man who was in government position, a Roman official. He carries such a name. Luke calls him most excellent Theophilus at the beginning of Luke that's a title that would be given to a government official, similar to the way we would say your honor, if we're speaking to a judge. Even those who don't see Theophilus as a real person, but as a general person, not an actual person, say that one of the purposes of the book of Acts is to show that Christianity is not a rival kingdom to Rome. And that Rome, here's the point, one of Luke's points through the book of Acts, Rome is not to be considered to be threatened by the church, because the church has the message of peace and over and over again in the book of Acts when Luke reports riots that occur because of gospel preaching. He underlines the facts that these were Roman citizens, that these were Jews bringing about the riots, and that the message of Christianity is a kinship by resurrection to a heavenly throne, that the message of Christianity is a message of peace. And so the church should not be persecuted by Rome. In fact, those that are in the church are good citizens in Rome, because they are the people who are told by their king Jesus to submit to all governing authorities. See, there could be a fear in Theophilus's mind as he is a government official and also a Christian, as he receives this document from Jesus, does it mean that I need to leave my position as an official in the government of Rome because Christianity is a revolutionary, a civil revolt revolutionary religion. Do I have some kind of conflict here? What does Peter not say? Peter doesn't say, Jesus is your king, and he will free you from Roman occupation. That's the message that the Jews wanted to hear. He doesn't say, Jesus is your king and cease to obey Roman authorities. He says, Jesus is your king, and here's the freedom that he grants you. Not freedom from Rome, but freedom from death. Jesus was freed from the grave, and you will be too, as you are united to him by his spirit in dwelling you. We'll see this over and over again in the Gospel of Acts. As Paul goes before Roman authorities, he never tells them what to do in their civil authorities, in their civil positions, but he speaks to them of a resurrected king, who reigns from a heavenly throne. All right, let's fill out some blanks here. Jesus is king, doesn't give us a rival kingdom, doesn't give us a political kingdom. What he gives us is forgiveness of sins. Jesus is king, forgives that's your blank sins, a spiritual end. What good is your king? Here's what good he is, he forgives your sins. Jesus as king, next blank, pours out his spirit upon us to endure us. He doesn't give us a tax break or a tax refund. He gives us his spirit. This again is a spiritual benefit or a spiritual end that is part of being a part of the kingdom of God. And then thirdly, Jesus as king reigns over his transnational people. You see here, Jesus is not forming a separate nation, but he's gathering to himself those who are even far off. He's gathering to himself people from every nation as was established in chapter 2 already. These Jews and cells were living in every nation under the earth. And he reigns over its transnational people, not from a earthly throne to accomplish earthly ends, but he reigns over them from heaven that's your blank. This tells us something as we put our thinking caps on. His kingdom is spiritual, not political. Now this does not mean that our lives as followers of King Jesus have no effect in this world. As we follow our King Jesus and love our neighbor as we love ourselves, which was our king's law to us. As we love God with all our heart, soul, and mind, as we understand the good news of the kingdom, which is a message that we are undeserving a favor and have been granted favor by God. Then we begin to treat people with favor who are around us who don't deserve to be treated by favor from us. People who have abused us, we pray for, because our King has told us to do that. We do good to those who do us harm, because our King told us to do that. And through these things some of those people come to believe the gospel, and become members of the kingdom and have God's mercy showered upon them. But even though you don't come to believe the gospel, good is done to them. And the kingdom of God has had an effect upon them, because we have been kind and good to them. We have done good for them in the world. But Jesus told us, and he tells us here at Pentecost, when God sends his people into the world, what happens to them? The world crucifies them. And Jesus told his disciples, don't expect to be treated well. If they hated me, they will hate you. And so we do good to a world that hates us. Does this have a good effect in the world? Does it mean that Jesus' words of the world hating us will be overcome? No, it doesn't. If Jesus, attested by signs and miracles and wonders, was reviled by the world, the world will revile us. God's mercy will be shown through us in the world. But the world system will not be changed. Not a part of the message of the church. Look for it hard and good in the message of Peter here, and you'll not find it. The message of the church is that there is a spiritual king. Not a king just like David, who has kept alive to reign on earth over an earthly kingdom. But a king who was brought back from death, to reign in heaven over a heavenly kingdom, that is full of subjects who obey his law, who do good in the world, knowing that they will not have good return to them by the world. So kingdom membership is by accepting the gospel. It is membership that has a king. And the kingdom will be expanding, and so we show mercy that people were good to people. We proclaim to them the gospel that God might have mercy upon them, and that Christ kingdom might be expand into kingdom whose benefits are spiritual. We have forgiveness of our sins. Colossians 1, Peter Paul tells us that before we came to faith in Christ, we were hostile in mind toward God, engaged in evil deeds verses 21 and 22. But God has shown mercy upon us. He has forgiven us of being hostile toward him, and he has changed our hearts, to give us hearts of flesh, who by his spirit had received him and accepted his message, and been baptized to be marked as members of his kingdom. This is the good news. Let us pray. Father, we are glad for this news. We are glad that none of us is too sinful, that we have been beyond becoming a member of your church. We are grateful and excited to see that 3,000 of the men who had traveled to Jerusalem probably for both Passover and for this feast of Pentecost. Those who had crucified you, 3,000 of them you saved on this day. You rescued. You gave them the response of repentance and faith, where they saw that they had been engaged in evil deeds, and hostile in mind toward you, Jesus, the King, sent by your Father. You should mercy upon them. You have shown mercy upon us, your church. Help us as those to whom you have shown mercy, realize we are part of not just your church, but your kingdom, and that you are king over us. Help us to show honor to you by following your law as our king. Help us to seek those who are far off doing good to them, telling us of the good news of your forgiveness, that they might too repent and believe, and become a member of your church, and help us, Lord, to see, that though we long for everything being good around us, that we long for justice in this world, that we long for everybody to receive this message, to accept the gospel, to embrace you, that this is a world that hates you, and that fulfillment of our longing for a home of righteousness help us to accept the fact that this will not be brought about by our efforts but by your return, as you said to us in 2 Peter 3, that you will come back and bring with you our home of righteousness. But grant us endurance during this time in which we proclaim your gospel by word and by deed. Help us to endure doing good to those who do harm to us because you did good to us when we did harm to you. Help us to accept that your kingdom is spiritual. That was a hard thing we recognized for the Jews to accept during Jesus' day, and that's why they crucified Him. We recognized that this was hard for those at Pentecost to accept, and therefore they first made fun, but you should mercy. Thank you for the spiritual benefits that you have given to us, and your kingdom. The spiritual benefits of placing us as members of your church, of having your spirits and dwell us, and of having our sins forgiven. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen.