Let’s look over in the Gospel of John. John, chapter 14 and let’s start with verse 25: Jesus said, “These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My Name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.” Well, there is the promise of the Holy Spirit to come—to come to instruct—to teach.

Then let’s go over to John 16, and look at verse 13. Here Jesus, continuing to speak, says, “However, when He, the Spirit of Truth, has come, He will guide you into all Truth; for He will not speak on His Own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.” Verse 14, “He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.” Then verse 15, “All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.” So there we have Jesus promising to His apostles that the Holy Spirit would come, He would guide them, He would further instruct them, He would help them to recall the things that they had already been taught, and He would present to them the things that He hears. What will He hear, where will that come from? It will come from the Mind of God.

After Jesus’ resurrection, He commissioned the apostles to go into all the world and preach and teach this doctrine. You can read on your own Matthew 28, verses 18 through 20 [“And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, ’All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’ Amen.”] See also Mark 16, verses 15 and 16 [“And He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.’”], and Luke 24, verses 44 through 49 [“Then He said to them, ‘These are the Words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.’ And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures. Then He said to them, ‘Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His Name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things. Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.’”]

Let’s turn over together this evening and look at Acts, chapter 1. This is just one more evidence of what we have just said regarding Jesus’ commissioning of the apostles to go forth and to teach His doctrine. Acts, chapter 1, beginning with verse 6, “Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, ‘Lord, will You at this time restore the Kingdom to Israel?’ And He said to them, ‘It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His Own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.’”There you see Jesus’ promise of the Holy Spirit. Just before ascending back to the Father, Jesus is commissioning the apostles to go forth and to preach His doctrine, and gives them another promise of the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Then in Acts, chapter 2, on the Day of Pentecost in A.D. 33, the church was established, and that was the beginning of God’s Kingdom on earth. This came after the visitation—after the fulfillment of that promise that Jesus had made to His apostles that He would send the Holy Spirit. We can read about that in Acts, chapter 2, beginning with verse 1, “When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from Heaven, as the rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” Well, there we have it—there is the fulfillment of that promise that was made by Jesus that the Holy Spirit would come.

Now having been filled with the Holy Spirit, we’ll see later on here in Acts, chapter 2, that Peter stood up and he preached a doctrinal sermon, a sermon that was centered on Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection. And Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection was followed then by His ascension back to the Father and His being exalted at the right hand of the Father, Acts, chapter 2, verses 14 through 36.

So, what was the outcome of this doctrinal sermon—this Christ-centered sermon—that Peter presented on the Day of Pentecost? Well, we know what it was, don’t we! There were 3,000 who responded to that doctrinal sermon, they were baptized and, thus, the church, that earthly kingdom, had its beginning. We see further there in Acts, chapter 2, verse 40, that the apostles encouraged them “with many other words.” Those who were being saved were added by the Lord to the church, Acts 2, verse 47 [“And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.”]

Thus, the church began with the preaching of doctrine. As people heard this doctrine, they believed it and they obeyed it. So, with the presentation of the same doctrine, even 2,000 years removed from that occasion, doesn’t it make sense that the church can be—and IS established—and is perpetuated—based upon that doctrine?