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New Testament Overview— The King & His Kingdom Come – Session 3

Written by

Jay Downes

in

Led by Central Pastor Sean Haggerty Vox Church

My Personal Class Notes-

🔹 Blog Index: The King & His Kingdom Come

  1. Faith in Christ and the Kingdom of God
    – Preaching the Kingdom through life, parables, and power
  2. Kingdom Thinking and Power Restored
    – Fear of the Lord, submission, and reclaiming original design
  3. Jesus and True Power
    – Servant leadership, prayer dependence, and humility
  4. Kingdom Identity: Sonship and New Birth
    – Baptism, temptation, and the power of knowing who you are
  5. Faith in the Gospels
    – Bleeding woman, centurion, and Canaanite woman stories
  6. Humility: The Center of Faith
    – Trusting God’s authority over worldly reasoning
  7. How the Kingdom Happens
    – New birth by water and Spirit; living the unseen reality

Faith IN Christ is a part of, and the entryway into, having the faith OF Christ.


Jesus preached the Kingdom of God, which is the unifying gospel of the New Testament.


At the center of the Kingdom of God is the meritorious, vicarious suffering life and death of Jesus Christ, including the cross, the resurrection, and Christ’s appearances afterward to the church.


The aim of this gospel is to create new persons.


When we preach the Kingdom of God—when we teach it through His parables, His life, and His wisdom, and when we show forth its power by our actions and words of blessing and mastery over evil—we are expressing the Kingdom of God in such a way as to impart life and create new persons.

The Kingdom of God Happens Wherever Someone or Something Submits to the Will of God

  • If we are saved, we have submitted to Christ and been introduced into the Kingdom of God.

Kingdom of God Thinking

Psalm 147:1–11

  • We do not choose a path of sin primarily for pleasure, but because we do not fear the Lord.
  • One of the primary evidences of sin in us is that we celebrate our own sufficiency.

Principles of the Kingdom:

  • Ruled by where He is exercising His authority.

Questions:

  • Do I desire the authority of God for me in my life?
    (His just decrees — Psalm 147:20)

Jesus proposes that when we come to that revelation, that is the GOOD NEWS.

Proclaim Good News:

  • Good news to the poor
  • Freedom for prisoners
  • Recovery of sight for the blind
  • Freedom for the oppressed
  • Proclaim the year of the Lord

Luke 4:16–21

1 Corinthians 4:20

“For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.”

Power Shift? Authority? Control?

  • To surrender authority is to reclaim the power of original design.

Kingdom of God — Power Restored

Hebrews 2:5–9 compared to Psalm 8:3–9

  • One of the most important biblical truths:
    • The supremacy of Jesus.
    • Jesus is better than angels, better than Moses, better than the Law, better than the sacrificial system.

The Bible’s Story About Power

  • The fundamental power we were endowed with originally was lost at the Fall.
  • We could fill books with evidence that we are powerless today.
  • Christ kills death not just so we could live—but so we could live outside fear and into abundance.

Christ came to do what we could not do, so that we might become what we were always meant to be: FULLY HUMAN.

  • What if He came to make us fully human—with the original power intended by God, used in love and humility?
  • Jesus is reclaiming the power we forfeited.

The Kingdom of God is Not in Talk but in Power

How Does Jesus See Power?

  • He gives it.

Mark 10:45

“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

John 13:1

(Jesus’ preparation to show the full extent of His love before the Passover Feast)

Romans 8:9

“You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you.”

  • God pursues us to give us the same life His Son has.
  • Yet looking around, it often seems the Church doesn’t live like it.

Have Power — the Knowledge of the Love of Christ, Filled to the Fullness of God

Ephesians 3:14–19

Kingdom — Identity and Power Shift: Sonship and the New Birth

  • Power shift: Authority/control
  • Identity shift: Who and Whose we are
  • Life shift: View of the world and values

We must focus on the power:

  • You are not your own; you were bought at a price.

Foundation of the Kingdom: Jesus’ Baptism and Temptation

Luke 3–4

  • Power: Luke 3:21–22a
  • Prayer as Humble Dependence

Prayer matters deeply to the manifestation of the Kingdom.

John 5:19

“The Son can do nothing by Himself; He can only do what He sees His Father doing.”

John 5:30

“By Myself I can do nothing…for I seek not to please Myself but Him who sent Me.”

John 17:7–8

“Now they know that everything You have given Me comes from You.”

John 15:4–5

“Remain in Me, as I also remain in you…apart from Me you can do nothing.”

Prayer Dependence Unto Power

  • Discipline in prayer is good; it represents pushing back on brokenness.

🔹 Discipline Verses

  • 1 Corinthians 9:27 – “I discipline my body and keep it under control…”
  • 1 Timothy 4:7–8 – “Train yourself for godliness.”
  • Hebrews 12:11 – “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but later yields a harvest of righteousness.”

🔹 Dependence Verses

  • John 15:5 – “Apart from me you can do nothing.”
  • 2 Corinthians 12:9 – “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
  • Proverbs 3:5–6 – “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.”

Quick Insight:

Discipline prepares the ground.
Dependence brings the growth.

Identity — Luke 3:22b

  • “You are my Son”
  • “I love you”
  • “I am pleased with you”

It’s in prayer that the power is released by reorienting ourselves to God.

Identity in Christ — Sonship

Romans 8:14–17
Galatians 4:5–6

Prayer ➔ Spirit ➔ Jesus’ Sonship ➔ Power

(Why the order matters)

Faith is the foundation.
Prayer is the engine that brings the Spirit as power to understand our sonship.

Faith in the Gospels — Who Has It? What Does It Look Like?

Mark 5:24–34 – The Bleeding Woman

Condition: Issue of Blood

  • Suffered for 12 years
  • No other solution despite seeing many doctors
  • Materially poor, physically weak, socially outcast, desperate

Great Faith Examples:

Matthew 8:5–13 — The Centurion

  • Recognized Jesus’ authority
  • Trusted Jesus’ word without needing to see physical proof

Matthew 15:21–28 — The Canaanite Woman

  • Condition: Daughter severely oppressed by a demon
  • Knelt and humbly cried out to Jesus:

“Even the dogs eat the crumbs…”

  • Jesus responded:

“Woman, you have great faith!”

Key Insight:

Humility is the center of faith.

Quote by Andrew Murray (Humility):

“Pride must die in you, or nothing of heaven can live in you…”

Why Do People Struggle to Trust God?

  • A materialistic, post-Enlightenment worldview = Reality must be measurable.
  • The spiritual realm is deemed secondary or inferior.

Nicodemus and New Birth — John 3:1–10

Jesus answered him:

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
“Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”

Key Misunderstandings:

  1. Born again? — John 3:3
  2. Born of water and Spirit? — John 3:5

Not everything that is real can be seen.

How the Kingdom Happens

  • Through new birth by water and Spirit.
  • Through faith and submission to Jesus’ authority.

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