The Bible Study Podcast, episode 266.

Today, the Bible Study podcast starts a study on the Kingdom of God.

Welcome to the Bible Study podcast.

I'm your host, Chris Christensen.

I mentioned last week we were going to start a study on the

phrase, the kingdom of God, or the kingdom of God is like, and we're specifically looking in the New

Testament. And the first reference we find as we look through the New Testament is Matthew 12.

And this is an interesting thing because Jesus mentions the phrase, kingdom of God, when he is

accused of being the devil. This is Matthew 12, starting in verse 22. Then they brought him a

demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him so that he could both talk

and see. All the people were astonished and said, could this be the

son of David? But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, it is only by Beelzebub, the prince of

demons, that this fellow drives out demons. Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, every kingdom

divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself

will not stand. If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand?

And if I drive out demons by Bielzebub, by whom do you drive them out, so then they will be your judges.

But if it is by the spirit of God that I drive out demons,

then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man's house

and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can plunder his house.

So the interesting thing about this section here, remember, we're

looking at this particular passage, trying to get some meaning on the kingdom of God. And one of the

things that we understand from this passage is that there is more than just the kingdom of God.

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