SUNDAY SERVICE
Sermon Summary

08.02.26

“The Grand Opening Festival of

God's Kingdom”

Acts 2:1-4

Pastor Jeremy Park

The Pentecost was the opening celebration of God’s kingdom.

At Pentecost, the disciples trusted Jesus’ promise and waited for Him. Then the Holy Spirit came upon them with great power. This event was like the spectacular opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. At the Olympic opening ceremony, the torch is lit, and fireworks explode to announce that the games have begun.

God the Holy Spirit came like wind and like fire, and the disciples began to speak in other tongues. These signs were like celebration fireworks announcing that the full season of God’s kingdom, which Jesus Christ had begun, had now arrived.
The message inside these signs is more important than the supernatural signs themselves. When you understand the story of The Odyssey, Christopher Nolan’s new movie The Odyssey becomes even more interesting. In the same way, when we understand God’s great story of salvation for the whole universe, we can discover the purpose of our own lives within that story.
We need to understand the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God was the great project that Jesus taught about and demonstrated throughout His public ministry. It is the story of God restoring the world, which was broken by sin, back to His original purpose for creation.
To understand the kingdom of God clearly, we need to study the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts. Luke and Acts, written by Luke under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, are not two separate books. They are two connected parts of one series. Together, they make up about 30 percent of the twenty-seven books of the New Testament. In fact, they are longer than all of Paul’s letters combined. The central idea woven throughout Luke and Acts is the kingdom of God.

1. The Door to the Kingdom

When Christians are asked why they believe in Jesus, many answer, “So that I can be saved and go to heaven.” They often think of heaven as another spiritual world that they enter after death. For them, the most important thing is simply being saved. Their view is that we have no choice but to live in this sinful and broken world, continue struggling with sin, and then go to heaven when we die. This is not much different from a faith that reduces Christianity to nothing more than receiving salvation.
People whose faith stops at salvation barely manage to attend Sunday worship. They practice their faith to reassure themselves that they are saved, to remove their guilt, and to make sure they do not lose God’s blessings. However, people who understand the kingdom of God live with energy and purpose. They willingly offer themselves so that God’s rule may enter every part of their lives. They become part of God’s amazing project of restoring this world.
Remember this: salvation is only the door through which we enter the world of God’s kingdom. Imagine going to Disneyland but staying at the entrance the entire time. In the same way, believing in Jesus Christ is not about remaining at the entrance of God’s kingdom. The purpose is to enter and enjoy the whole world of God.
Jesus said that the kingdom of God began through His coming, His death on the cross, and His resurrection. When Jesus returns, this present age will be judged, and the kingdom that has already begun will continue forever. This is very different from the simple idea that we die and go to heaven. We will discuss next time whether the earth will be thrown away, restored, or completely recreated.
The central theme of Luke and Acts is the kingdom of God, or in Greek, hē basileia tou theou—ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ. The expression appears about forty times in Luke and about nine times in Acts. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus proclaimed the kingdom of God, taught about it, and lived it out. Many miracles followed as signs of the kingdom. After His resurrection, Jesus spent forty days giving His disciples an intensive lesson about the kingdom of God. Then, in Acts 28, the book ends with Paul proclaiming the kingdom of God in Rome.

“For two whole years Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him. He proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ—with all boldness and without hindrance!”
Acts 28:30–31, NIV

“But he said, ‘I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.’”
Luke 4:43, NIV

A literary method that places the same theme, word, expression, or event at the beginning and the end of a story is called an inclusio. Everything in between is connected by that one central theme. The Book of Acts begins with the kingdom of God and ends with the kingdom of God!

2. From Prototype to Scale-Up

Brother Sam is a business consultant who is currently leading the marketing for BTS concerts in the Americas. While giving advice to UpChurch, he taught us two practical ideas: prototype and scale-up.

Before a company grows, it goes through many challenges while creating its prototype. A prototype is the first working model that contains the company’s vision, purpose, values, and method of operation. Creating this model is usually the most difficult part, and it takes the longest time.

The next step is scale-up. Once a strong prototype has been created, investors can join the project, and the company can begin to expand.

In the same way, the one theme that runs through both Luke and Acts is the kingdom of God. The Gospel of Luke tells the story of Jesus establishing the prototype of God’s kingdom. The Book of Acts tells the story of the Holy Spirit expanding that model through the church to the ends of the earth.

“Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, ‘The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, nor will people say, “Here it is,” or “There it is,” because the kingdom of God is in your midst.’”
Luke 17:20–21, NIV

“Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come…”

This shows that the Pharisees were also waiting for the kingdom of God. In other words, Jesus did not invent the idea of God’s kingdom. The idea was already deeply rooted in the Old Testament.

Israel longed for the Messiah who would save the broken world and restore the kingdom of God. The Old Testament is filled with prophecies about the Messiah, beginning in Genesis and continuing all the way to Malachi. As time passed, those prophecies became clearer and clearer. It is like a light that appears brighter as the darkness grows deeper.

However, by the time Jesus began His ministry, many people had changed the meaning of the Messiah. They expected Him to rescue Israel from Roman political oppression and restore the glory of King David’s kingdom.

But Jesus announced that the kingdom of God had already arrived. According to the Gospel of Mark, which was probably the earliest of the four Gospels to be written, Jesus’ first public announcement was that the kingdom of God had begun.

“After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. ‘The time has come,’ he said. ‘The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!’”
Mark 1:14–15, NIV

The original meaning of the words “The time has come” is “the appointed time has now been fulfilled.”

This does not simply mean that a certain amount of time had passed. It means that the promise of God’s kingdom, which began as a faint promise in Genesis and became clearer through progressive revelation, had finally been fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

Jesus told the Pharisees, “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed.” He did not mean that the kingdom of God is invisible or unreal.

The kingdom of God is not a fantasy. It is a real and concrete reality. God’s rule produces change in every part of the lives of those who follow Jesus.

When Jesus said that the kingdom would not come in a way they could observe, He was also pointing out that although He was the Messiah standing right in front of them, they could not recognize Him. The next statement confirms this meaning.
Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is in your midst.”

He was speaking about Himself. The world of God’s kingdom was present in the person of Jesus. Wherever Jesus went, the order of the universe that had been broken by sin began to be restored to God’s original order of creation.

Then what is at the heart of the kingdom of God?

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Luke 4:18–19, NIV

These words excited the hearts of everyone who was longing for God’s kingdom. Jesus was quoting Isaiah 61, a prophecy about the Messiah who would one day restore Israel.

When Jesus said, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,” He was declaring that He Himself was the Messiah—Christos, the Anointed One.

The final expression, “the year of the Lord’s favor,” meant that when the Messiah came, the Jubilee would begin.

The Jubilee was a law given in Leviticus 25. It was proclaimed in the fiftieth year, after seven cycles of seven years.

During the Jubilee, debts were canceled. Servants were set free, or at least treated as brothers and sisters rather than as property. Land was returned to its original family owners. Rest was restored.

In other words, the Jubilee was about restoring life to the order that God originally intended.

The Jubilee was not simply an economic system. Through this law, God taught Israel the principles of His kingdom. Fifty years is almost a lifetime. God was telling them that at least once in a lifetime, they were to put the principles of His kingdom into practice.

Whether a society follows capitalism or socialism, a system that freely cancels people’s debts for no economic reason is almost impossible to find.

When Jesus announced that “the year of the Lord’s favor” had arrived, He meant that the Jubilee would no longer be something that happened only once every fifty years. Its principles would become the normal values and standards for people who live in the kingdom of God.
Wherever Jesus went, the kind of society people had always longed for began to appear.

The Jewish people had expected a political Messiah who would free them from Roman oppression. But Jesus moved in a completely different direction. In front of this one man, people began to change, and society itself began to move.

Sinners were welcomed into His arms. People experienced such powerful teaching, love, and grace that their former sins no longer defined them. Some were so deeply changed that they sold their possessions and used their wealth to help others.

Jesus became a friend to those who were oppressed, rejected, and lonely.

For three years, Jesus built the prototype of God’s kingdom through the power of the Holy Spirit. His life and ministry were a public demonstration that the age of the law was passing and that the time of grace had finally come.

Jesus’ final act—His “last dance”—was His death on the cross and His resurrection.

The Book of Acts contains the testimony of what happened next. The kingdom of God expanded from the city of Jerusalem to all Judea, Samaria, and eventually Rome.

Even today, the Holy Spirit continues to write Acts chapter 29 through churches around the world. Jesus completed the prototype of God’s kingdom, and now the Holy Spirit is scaling it up through the church.

3. Already, but Not Yet!

There is a very important idea we need to understand: “already, but not yet.”

This idea answers an important question: If Jesus began the kingdom of God, why does Satan’s power still seem to operate in this world?

After the Allied forces landed in Normandy on D-Day in 1944, their final victory was basically decided. However, the war did not end immediately.

Fierce battles continued for about eleven more months. Finally, in 1945, V-Day—the day of victory—arrived.

This is similar to the “already, but not yet” reality of God’s kingdom.

Jesus’ first coming into the world was D-Day. This is called the inaugurated kingdom.

Jesus announced that the kingdom of God had arrived, and He established its prototype. Through Jesus’ death on the cross and His resurrection, Satan’s final defeat has already been decided.

But not yet has every form of evil disappeared.

We are now living between D-Day and V-Day. The kingdom of God has already begun, but it has not yet been fully completed. When Jesus returns, Satan will be completely defeated.

This is why demons recognized Jesus before many people did. They trembled in fear and left when Jesus commanded them. Just as darkness disappears when light enters, the powers of evil cannot remain when the King arrives.
We must ask for the Holy Spirit. We are living in the age of the Holy Spirit.

The power to fight and overcome sin comes from the Holy Spirit. The power to change the world also comes from the Holy Spirit.

The main actor in the kingdom of God is not me, and it is not even the church. It is God Himself. The Holy Spirit expands and completes the project of God’s kingdom through the church.

Those who understand, believe, and live according to God’s promised kingdom respond to Jesus’ invitation and join His kingdom project.

We are moving temples of God because the Holy Spirit lives inside us.

The Holy Spirit leads us to Jesus. The Holy Spirit helps us remain in Jesus and produce the fruit of a character that looks like Jesus.

The Holy Spirit gives us a dream for the kingdom of God and gives us spiritual gifts and talents.

The Holy Spirit unites us. He leads us into every area of society so that God’s rule may enter those places.

This is the kingdom of God.

Let us remember again: The kingdom of God is not only a door. It is a kingdom.

Let us not practice a faith that stops at salvation. Let us become people who dream about the kingdom of God.

The kingdom of God must scale up through the moving church. Let us pray that through UpChurch, God’s kingdom will come to Pico and Kingsley.

Until the kingdom of God comes in its fullness, Satan will continue to attack and trouble us. Therefore, let us ask to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

As Zechariah 4 declares, it is:

“Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,” says the LORD Almighty.
Zechariah 4:6, NIV

Let us dream of God’s kingdom, work for God’s kingdom, and live for God’s kingdom through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Let us pray that God’s rule and God’s order will begin in every part of the city where we live!