WEBVTT NOTE Podcast: Acts 29 Vancouver Episode: GO - Proclaim Kingdom Publishing Date: 2024-12-24T05:04:44-08:00 Podcast URL: https://acts29.ca Episode URL: https://acts29.ca/go-proclaim-kingdom/ 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.000 . 00:00:25.140 --> 00:00:27.940 If you are here for the first time, you chose the right time. 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:35.000 We don't meet here on Sundays. We meet at Kingsway and Imperial. 00:00:35.000 --> 00:00:38.000 Right at the corner there's a church called Forest City Church. 00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:40.000 That's where we normally meet. 00:00:40.000 --> 00:00:46.000 So this is, like I said, George and Anna's other church. 00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:03.000 . 00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:23.000 You're making me too short. I'm taller than you. 00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:33.000 . 00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:45.000 Jared, I wanted to know why my parents gave me an easy name like Jacob. 00:01:45.000 --> 00:01:48.000 . 00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:54.000 All right, guys, John 18, verse 37. 00:01:54.000 --> 00:01:58.000 Hey, can I have a little more volume? Otherwise I might start shouting. 00:01:59.000 --> 00:02:02.000 It is love. 00:02:06.000 --> 00:02:09.000 John 18, 37. 00:02:09.000 --> 00:02:12.000 John 18, 37. 00:02:12.000 --> 00:02:15.000 . 00:02:23.000 --> 00:02:29.000 So they're having this discussion between Pilate and Jesus about kingdoms. 00:02:29.000 --> 00:02:38.000 Because Pilate was appointed by Rome to rule that part of the world. 00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:41.000 And so if you go to verse 36, it says, 00:03:08.000 --> 00:03:11.000 Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice. 00:03:11.000 --> 00:03:16.000 So guys, here's what Jesus is saying. Jesus is saying, 00:03:16.000 --> 00:03:23.000 actually, Pilate, you're right. I am a king. And this is the reason I was born. 00:03:23.000 --> 00:03:29.000 One, yes, I'm a king and I have another kingdom that I want to bring into this world. 00:03:29.000 --> 00:03:30.000 That's one reason I was born. 00:03:30.000 --> 00:03:36.000 The second reason I was born is because I came as a king to testify to the truth. 00:03:36.000 --> 00:03:40.000 Two things, eh? First one, yes, I'm a king. 00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:46.000 I love the fact that the cross overshadows the manger. That's the way it should be. 00:03:46.000 --> 00:03:57.000 We romanticize Christmas to a point where the little baby Jesus overshadows the risen Christ. 00:03:57.000 --> 00:04:05.000 Shouldn't be that way. We have 364 days to read the Christmas story and we should. 00:04:05.000 --> 00:04:14.000 It's part of the Gospels. But the Christmas message is really not about baby Jesus. 00:04:14.000 --> 00:04:20.000 It's about the Christ who rules with absolute sovereignty. 00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:25.000 And he is the one we're going to talk about today. 00:04:25.000 --> 00:04:33.000 And so here's what he's saying. He's saying, I am king and that is the reason I was born. 00:04:33.000 --> 00:04:42.000 I was born to come to the earth as a king because I'm bringing to the earth a kingdom that has existed from everlasting to everlasting. 00:04:42.000 --> 00:04:50.000 And then he says, the second reason I'm here is yes, I am king and I am going to testify to the truth. 00:04:50.000 --> 00:04:53.000 I'm here as a witness to the truth. 00:04:53.000 --> 00:04:58.000 And then you go to Isaiah 9 verse 6 to 8 and that's a passage everybody knows. 00:04:58.000 --> 00:05:07.000 Isaiah 9, 6 to 8. And it says there, for a child has been born to us, a son has been given, 00:05:07.000 --> 00:05:12.000 and the government shall be upon his shoulders. Again, this is idea of rulership. 00:05:12.000 --> 00:05:20.000 The idea of government being on your shoulders was the idea of a ruler who carries all authority and all rule on his shoulders. 00:05:20.000 --> 00:05:23.000 That's the idea. 00:05:23.000 --> 00:05:30.000 So, however we look at it, you must realize that one of the reasons Christ came to the earth, 00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:40.000 one of the reasons he was born was to come here as king to bring in a kingdom and to testify to the truth of a kingdom that existed before and now exists here on earth. 00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:43.000 And that's what we want to talk about today. 00:05:43.000 --> 00:05:52.000 Isaiah 9, 6 to 8. Unto us a child is born, but unto us a son is given, and the government, as in all rules, shall be upon his shoulders. 00:05:52.000 --> 00:06:02.000 So, Christmas announces the in-breaking of a kingdom, 00:06:02.000 --> 00:06:09.000 Christmas announces the in-breaking of the kingdom of God, not with a coronation, but with the cry of a baby. 00:06:09.000 --> 00:06:14.000 Christmas announces the in-breaking. 00:06:15.000 --> 00:06:27.000 Guys, just imagine this, eh? For years and years and years, this kingdom that existed before never came to the earth the way it came when Jesus was born. 00:06:27.000 --> 00:06:35.000 It's an in-breaking. It's like someone breaking glass or breaking a door and entering with force. 00:06:35.000 --> 00:06:45.000 You must realize the force of this kingdom. It didn't come in like one of those cats that just creeps into your house. 00:06:45.000 --> 00:06:50.000 It didn't come in that way. It came with force, eh? 00:06:50.000 --> 00:06:55.000 It's an in-breaking. It's a breaking of everything that was status quo. 00:06:55.000 --> 00:07:02.000 One of the things God loves doing is interrupting status quo. And He usually does it by the Spirit. 00:07:02.000 --> 00:07:06.000 Look at the force with which Jesus appears. 00:07:06.000 --> 00:07:15.000 He appears in the womb of a woman who is not married, who is young, who is betrothed, 00:07:15.000 --> 00:07:21.000 who will now have to face a life where she'll be slandered as having slept with someone, 00:07:21.000 --> 00:07:30.000 a child conceived illegitimately at a time when Herod is slaughtering children. 00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:35.000 The moment you think kingdom, you must think conflict. You must think hostility. 00:07:35.000 --> 00:07:44.000 You must think opposition. And in the midst of it, it begins to rip off its shirt like Incredible Hulk and show you what muscles it has. 00:07:44.000 --> 00:07:51.000 There's a force to this kingdom. It's an in-breaking. Christmas is not a soft story. 00:07:51.000 --> 00:07:56.000 It's a violent, tragic circumstance in which it comes forth. 00:07:56.000 --> 00:08:01.000 And those that stick with it have the ability to see it. 00:08:01.000 --> 00:08:06.000 Passivity has nothing to do with Christmas. 00:08:06.000 --> 00:08:12.000 There's a force to this day, man. 00:08:12.000 --> 00:08:20.000 Everything about Christmas is a disruption of status quo. Who gets to see the child first? The lowest of the low. 00:08:20.000 --> 00:08:30.000 Shepherds. Who gets to see the child first? Magicians from the East. 00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:34.000 Everything about this is wrong. 00:08:34.000 --> 00:08:43.000 But in the presence of all this is one who is bringing in a kingdom that has always existed 00:08:43.000 --> 00:08:49.000 and that now is being ushered in by Christ. And it is not through a coronation. 00:08:49.000 --> 00:08:52.000 It is an in-breaking of the kingdom of God through the cry of a baby. 00:08:52.000 --> 00:08:58.000 So how did the kingdom break in? Go to John chapter 1. John chapter 1, verse 1 to 5 and verse 14. 00:08:58.000 --> 00:09:07.000 John chapter 1, verse 1 to 5 and then 14. 00:09:07.000 --> 00:09:10.000 I'll read it from the message. 00:09:10.000 --> 00:09:17.000 The word was first. The word present to God, God present to the word. 00:09:17.000 --> 00:09:23.000 The word was God in readiness for God from day one. 00:09:23.000 --> 00:09:29.000 Everything was created through him. Nothing. Not one thing came into being without him. 00:09:29.000 --> 00:09:34.000 What came into existence was life and the life was a light to live by. 00:09:34.000 --> 00:09:38.000 The life light blazed out of the darkness. The darkness couldn't put it out. 00:09:38.000 --> 00:09:41.000 And then go to verse 14. 00:09:41.000 --> 00:09:48.000 This word that we were just reading about became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood. 00:09:48.000 --> 00:09:56.000 We saw the glory with our own eyes. The one of a kind glory like father, like son, generous inside and out, 00:09:56.000 --> 00:09:59.000 true from start to finish. Awesome, eh? 00:09:59.000 --> 00:10:04.000 And then John points him out and says, this is the one I told you about. 00:10:04.000 --> 00:10:08.000 That's how he comes to the earth. That's how he brings in the kingdom. 00:10:08.000 --> 00:10:14.000 One man brings in a kingdom that has existed from the beginning and will exist forever. 00:10:14.000 --> 00:10:18.000 One man brings it in. 00:10:18.000 --> 00:10:22.000 What we need to understand is, yes, it's not none of us are Jesus. 00:10:22.000 --> 00:10:32.000 But we need to understand that in most situations, it takes only one man or one woman to initiate an in-breaking. 00:10:32.000 --> 00:10:42.000 And that one man and one woman will face scorn, will face accusations, will face slander, will be flawed, will make mistakes, will fall. 00:10:42.000 --> 00:10:47.000 But that one man or one woman always brings in the in-breaking of the kingdom. 00:10:47.000 --> 00:10:50.000 It's just the way it works. 00:10:50.000 --> 00:10:53.000 Because the Christ in you is sufficient. 00:10:53.000 --> 00:11:01.000 And the thinner the veil of the flesh, as in, if you've learned how to subdue or live by the Spirit, not subdue the flesh, 00:11:01.000 --> 00:11:10.000 if you've learned how to live by the Spirit, you will find Christ revealed even more. 00:11:10.000 --> 00:11:15.000 And so this one man brings the kingdom into the world. 00:11:15.000 --> 00:11:17.000 And so there are three things that we need to remember. 00:11:17.000 --> 00:11:23.000 Whenever we think of life in the kingdom or life in Christ, these are the three stages. 00:11:24.000 --> 00:11:31.000 If you want to function well in this kingdom, then one, you have to be disestablished from the kingdoms of the world. 00:11:31.000 --> 00:11:39.000 You have to be disestablished, as in, can you undo the effect and the influence, the ambitions and the success, 00:11:39.000 --> 00:11:42.000 the lure and the seduction of the kingdoms of the world? 00:11:42.000 --> 00:11:46.000 There is a scripture in Revelation 11.15 which says this, 00:11:46.000 --> 00:11:52.000 Behold, a time has come now where the kingdoms of the world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and Christ. 00:11:52.000 --> 00:11:59.000 The first thing I need to do is disestablish myself, pull myself out of that matrix. 00:11:59.000 --> 00:12:01.000 We teach our children that, eh? 00:12:01.000 --> 00:12:05.000 To do well in the world, to listen to the world, to listen to the experts. 00:12:05.000 --> 00:12:09.000 Disestablish yourself. It's not to shun the world, but to disestablish. 00:12:09.000 --> 00:12:12.000 Your roots no longer belong in the world. 00:12:12.000 --> 00:12:16.000 They are not of the world, though they live in the world. 00:12:19.000 --> 00:12:21.000 Disestablish yourself from the world. 00:12:21.000 --> 00:12:24.000 The second thing is, deeply establish yourself in the kingdom of God. 00:12:24.000 --> 00:12:27.000 Deeply establish yourself in the kingdom of God. 00:12:27.000 --> 00:12:29.000 Roots have to grow. 00:12:29.000 --> 00:12:35.000 And when the roots don't grow, it's only a matter of time before a gust of wind blows you down. 00:12:35.000 --> 00:12:40.000 And third, manifest kingdom life in the world. 00:12:40.000 --> 00:12:42.000 Manifest kingdom life in the world. 00:12:42.000 --> 00:12:44.000 Manifest it. Show it. 00:12:44.000 --> 00:12:47.000 Show it in how you take care of someone you don't know. 00:12:47.000 --> 00:12:52.000 Show it in how you put warm clothes on someone, not because of charity, 00:12:52.000 --> 00:12:55.000 but because your desire is that anybody who is... 00:12:55.000 --> 00:13:00.000 You know what it is to be cold, and you therefore want someone not to be cold. 00:13:00.000 --> 00:13:04.000 It's never love somebody instead of you. 00:13:04.000 --> 00:13:07.000 It's always love somebody else as you love yourself. 00:13:07.000 --> 00:13:09.000 It's not instead of. 00:13:09.000 --> 00:13:11.000 It's always as. 00:13:13.000 --> 00:13:17.000 Love your neighbor as yourself, not instead of yourself. 00:13:17.000 --> 00:13:19.000 Love your neighbor as yourself. 00:13:19.000 --> 00:13:21.000 Just like you desire warmth. 00:13:21.000 --> 00:13:23.000 Desire warmth for your neighbor. 00:13:23.000 --> 00:13:27.000 Just like you desire companionship in a place that is strange. 00:13:27.000 --> 00:13:29.000 Desire companionship for your neighbor. 00:13:29.000 --> 00:13:32.000 Just like you desire a good education for your children. 00:13:32.000 --> 00:13:34.000 Desire a good education for their children. 00:13:34.000 --> 00:13:36.000 Just as you desire security. 00:13:36.000 --> 00:13:38.000 Desire security for them. 00:13:38.000 --> 00:13:40.000 That's where it begins, eh? 00:13:47.000 --> 00:13:49.000 So Christ comes in the flesh. 00:13:49.000 --> 00:13:52.000 And guys, when you read Romans chapter 8, 00:13:52.000 --> 00:13:55.000 go to Romans chapter 8, verse 2 and 3. 00:13:55.000 --> 00:13:59.000 I'll read verse 3 first and then read verse 2. 00:13:59.000 --> 00:14:01.000 Romans chapter 8. 00:14:01.000 --> 00:14:03.000 Something else happens with Christ coming. 00:14:03.000 --> 00:14:05.000 Romans 8. 00:14:05.000 --> 00:14:07.000 And this is one of those Selah statements. 00:14:07.000 --> 00:14:09.000 You'll have to go and think about it. 00:14:09.000 --> 00:14:14.000 I'll read it from the New English translation and the message. 00:14:14.000 --> 00:14:16.000 Romans chapter 8, verse 3. 00:14:16.000 --> 00:14:21.000 God went for the jugular when he sent his own son. 00:14:21.000 --> 00:14:23.000 Let's start at verse 2. 00:14:23.000 --> 00:14:25.000 Look at this, eh? 00:14:25.000 --> 00:14:27.000 A new power is in operation. 00:14:27.000 --> 00:14:31.000 Guys, guys, right now, right now, there's a new power in operation. 00:14:31.000 --> 00:14:33.000 Here. 00:14:34.000 --> 00:14:39.000 Go back to some normal version. 00:14:39.000 --> 00:14:41.000 Let's try NIV. 00:14:41.000 --> 00:14:44.000 Because we are familiar with this word, 00:14:44.000 --> 00:14:47.000 so let me read it from a familiar translation. 00:14:47.000 --> 00:14:52.000 Through Christ, the law of the Spirit who gives life 00:14:52.000 --> 00:14:55.000 has set you free from the law of sin and death. 00:14:55.000 --> 00:14:58.000 For what the law was powerless to do 00:14:58.000 --> 00:15:00.000 because it was weakened by the flesh, 00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:04.000 God did by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh 00:15:04.000 --> 00:15:07.000 to be a sin offering, and so he condemns sin in the flesh. 00:15:07.000 --> 00:15:10.000 Guys, think of it this way. 00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:13.000 Now go to the message, and we'll read it from it. 00:15:13.000 --> 00:15:15.000 Go to the message. 00:15:15.000 --> 00:15:17.000 Romans 8.2. 00:15:17.000 --> 00:15:19.000 A new power is in operation. 00:15:19.000 --> 00:15:23.000 The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, 00:15:23.000 --> 00:15:26.000 has magnificently cleared the air, 00:15:26.000 --> 00:15:30.000 freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny 00:15:30.000 --> 00:15:32.000 at the hands of sin and death. 00:15:32.000 --> 00:15:35.000 God went for the jugular when he sent his own son. 00:15:35.000 --> 00:15:39.000 He didn't deal with the problem as something remote and unimportant. 00:15:39.000 --> 00:15:43.000 In his son, Jesus, he personally took on the human condition 00:15:43.000 --> 00:15:47.000 and entered the disordered mess of struggling humanity 00:15:47.000 --> 00:15:49.000 in order to set it right once and for all. 00:15:49.000 --> 00:15:53.000 The law code, weakened as it always was by fractured human nature, 00:15:53.000 --> 00:15:55.000 could never have done that. 00:15:55.000 --> 00:15:59.000 The law always ended up being used as a bandaid on sin 00:15:59.000 --> 00:16:01.000 instead of a deep healing of it. 00:16:01.000 --> 00:16:03.000 Guys, think of it this way. 00:16:03.000 --> 00:16:07.000 Here's how you can define the law of sin and death 00:16:07.000 --> 00:16:09.000 and the law of the Spirit of life. 00:16:09.000 --> 00:16:12.000 The law of sin and death is very simple. 00:16:12.000 --> 00:16:20.000 Every time you sin, sin has the binding authority to bring you death. 00:16:20.000 --> 00:16:22.000 Just think of that for a second. 00:16:22.000 --> 00:16:24.000 It isn't complicated. 00:16:24.000 --> 00:16:30.000 Sin has the binding authority, as in it has the authority and the power 00:16:30.000 --> 00:16:33.000 to bring death to you. 00:16:33.000 --> 00:16:38.000 It is so powerful that there is not a single person on the earth 00:16:38.000 --> 00:16:41.000 that is going to escape it. 00:16:41.000 --> 00:16:44.000 That's the binding authority of sin. 00:16:44.000 --> 00:16:47.000 There is not a person on earth. 00:16:47.000 --> 00:16:48.000 Forget a person. 00:16:48.000 --> 00:16:50.000 There is not a thing on earth. 00:16:50.000 --> 00:16:51.000 Forget a thing. 00:16:51.000 --> 00:16:53.000 There is no inanimate object that God has created. 00:16:53.000 --> 00:16:55.000 Forget inanimate objects. 00:16:55.000 --> 00:17:01.000 There is nothing in creation that can escape the binding authority of sin. 00:17:01.000 --> 00:17:05.000 It's going to decay and destroy and kill everything. 00:17:05.000 --> 00:17:09.000 That's the law of death. 00:17:09.000 --> 00:17:14.000 And now, with Jesus arriving in flesh, 00:17:14.000 --> 00:17:20.000 it says in the message that a new power is in operation. 00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:21.000 And what is that new power? 00:17:21.000 --> 00:17:24.000 It's the law of the Spirit of life. 00:17:24.000 --> 00:17:25.000 What does that mean? 00:17:25.000 --> 00:17:30.000 That now there is the binding authority of the Spirit of God 00:17:30.000 --> 00:17:36.000 to bring life into every life, every person, to the earth, to creation, 00:17:36.000 --> 00:17:41.000 to everything you do, He can bring life. 00:17:41.000 --> 00:17:44.000 If you think death can be brought, 00:17:44.000 --> 00:17:47.000 then you must understand that the Spirit brings life. 00:17:48.000 --> 00:17:51.000 Every time you look at your body and you see sickness and disease, 00:17:51.000 --> 00:17:55.000 know that the Spirit of life has binding authority, 00:17:55.000 --> 00:18:00.000 as in authority that can absolutely wrap you up and bring life. 00:18:00.000 --> 00:18:04.000 Every time you have a sinful habit or an addiction that you cannot escape, 00:18:04.000 --> 00:18:09.000 know that the Spirit of the living God has binding authority to make things new. 00:18:09.000 --> 00:18:12.000 Every time you think you cannot change your thinking, 00:18:12.000 --> 00:18:15.000 know that the Spirit of God brings in a new power 00:18:15.000 --> 00:18:18.000 that now operates that can change. 00:18:18.000 --> 00:18:23.000 Every time you look at 20s and 30s that cannot find God 00:18:23.000 --> 00:18:24.000 and are going down the wrong way, 00:18:24.000 --> 00:18:27.000 you know now there's a new power in operation. 00:18:27.000 --> 00:18:32.000 Where? Through you, through us. 00:18:32.000 --> 00:18:33.000 How did it come about? 00:18:33.000 --> 00:18:39.000 Simply because someone came down in flesh to destroy the law of sin and death. 00:18:39.000 --> 00:18:43.000 The more we get aware of it, the more we live in its reality, 00:18:43.000 --> 00:18:46.000 the more you will begin to believe every second of your life 00:18:46.000 --> 00:18:50.000 that life can be breathed into me even though I'm dying. 00:18:50.000 --> 00:18:53.000 You will die because of your sin, I will die because of sin. 00:18:53.000 --> 00:18:54.000 That will happen. 00:18:54.000 --> 00:18:58.000 But Paul put it this way, even though my outer man is decaying, 00:18:58.000 --> 00:19:01.000 in the inner man I become more and more powerful, 00:19:01.000 --> 00:19:04.000 more and more strong, more and more Christ-like. 00:19:06.000 --> 00:19:10.000 Treasure in jars of clay. 00:19:10.000 --> 00:19:13.000 There is a Spirit right now operating here. 00:19:13.000 --> 00:19:16.000 It's called the Spirit of Life in Christ. 00:19:19.000 --> 00:19:25.000 There is nothing that the Holy Spirit does not want to breathe life into. 00:19:25.000 --> 00:19:27.000 How did it all start? 00:19:27.000 --> 00:19:29.000 God breathed life. 00:19:29.000 --> 00:19:31.000 How did it all start? 00:19:31.000 --> 00:19:33.000 Chaos was brought into order. 00:19:34.000 --> 00:19:36.000 You think He has changed? 00:19:36.000 --> 00:19:40.000 If there's anybody who does not change, it is the Spirit of God. 00:19:43.000 --> 00:19:46.000 My words will do nothing. 00:19:46.000 --> 00:19:50.000 Why? Because John 6.63 says, 00:19:50.000 --> 00:19:56.000 the flesh profits nothing, but the Spirit gives life. 00:19:56.000 --> 00:20:00.000 All I have to do right now is stick to the Scriptures. 00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:04.000 Trust that the Spirit of God will hold your attention. 00:20:04.000 --> 00:20:07.000 And let the Spirit of God go to work, 00:20:07.000 --> 00:20:11.000 because there is a new power in operation in this space, 00:20:11.000 --> 00:20:14.000 called the Spirit of Life in Christ. 00:20:14.000 --> 00:20:20.000 And He is enough to put a stop to the spirit of death. 00:20:23.000 --> 00:20:27.000 What does death look like? Decay, damage, disease, the demonic. 00:20:28.000 --> 00:20:30.000 That's what death looks like. 00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:32.000 Death is not someone dying. 00:20:32.000 --> 00:20:34.000 Death is damage. Death is decay. 00:20:34.000 --> 00:20:37.000 Death is disease. Death is demonic. 00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:42.000 And then you have the Spirit of God. 00:20:42.000 --> 00:20:44.000 And He's operating right now. 00:20:51.000 --> 00:20:53.000 So what does kingdom mean? 00:20:53.000 --> 00:20:56.000 We say that Jesus says in John 18.37, 00:20:56.000 --> 00:20:58.000 For this reason I was born. 00:20:59.000 --> 00:21:01.000 One, to usher in the kingdom of God 00:21:01.000 --> 00:21:03.000 that has been from everlasting to everlasting. 00:21:03.000 --> 00:21:09.000 Two, to usher in the truth, to be a witness to the truth. 00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:14.000 And He's not backing away from the claim that He was a king, eh? 00:21:15.000 --> 00:21:17.000 That's a discussion He and Pilate are having. 00:21:17.000 --> 00:21:21.000 So how do you describe kingdom? 00:21:21.000 --> 00:21:24.000 Guys, kingdom is not a realm. 00:21:25.000 --> 00:21:30.000 First, kingdom is the rank, the authority, the rule, 00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:33.000 the sovereignty exercised by a king. 00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:38.000 Kingdom is not a place. Kingdom is not a realm first. 00:21:38.000 --> 00:21:43.000 Kingdom is first, the rank, the authority, the rule, 00:21:43.000 --> 00:21:47.000 and the sovereignty that a king exercises. 00:21:49.000 --> 00:21:51.000 Now you can see why we can sing songs like, 00:21:51.000 --> 00:21:55.000 Your name, what's the rest of the words? 00:21:56.000 --> 00:21:57.000 Sorry? 00:21:59.000 --> 00:22:01.000 Tony, shout it out loud, I can't hear it. 00:22:02.000 --> 00:22:04.000 Yeah, but what's the words? Your name is? 00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:11.000 Derek, you're the singer. 00:22:14.000 --> 00:22:17.000 Your name is the highest, 00:22:17.000 --> 00:22:20.000 Your name is the greatest, 00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:25.000 Your name stands above them all. 00:22:37.000 --> 00:22:42.000 Yeah, it's putting to shame every other rank, every other authority, 00:22:42.000 --> 00:22:46.000 every other ruler that thinks he rules, every sovereign, 00:22:46.000 --> 00:22:50.000 any fiefdom, any power is put down. 00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:52.000 Another song that talks about it is, 00:22:52.000 --> 00:22:56.000 Above all powers, above all thrones. 00:22:57.000 --> 00:22:59.000 That talks about the same thing. 00:23:01.000 --> 00:23:03.000 So kingdom is not about a realm. 00:23:04.000 --> 00:23:08.000 It's about rank, it's about authority, it's about sovereignty, 00:23:08.000 --> 00:23:10.000 and it's about rule. 00:23:11.000 --> 00:23:14.000 Psalm 103, verse 19. 00:23:14.000 --> 00:23:16.000 Just go to Psalm 103, verse 19. 00:23:17.000 --> 00:23:21.000 I'll read it from the NET, New English Translation. 00:23:22.000 --> 00:23:26.000 Psalm 103, verse 19. 00:23:31.000 --> 00:23:32.000 Look at what it says, 00:23:32.000 --> 00:23:36.000 The Lord has established his throne in heaven, 00:23:36.000 --> 00:23:41.000 his kingdom extends over everything. 00:23:41.000 --> 00:23:45.000 Is it true that his kingdom at present rules over all the earth? No. 00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:46.000 So it's not a realm. 00:23:47.000 --> 00:23:52.000 It's rank, it's sovereignty, it's rule, it's authority. 00:23:52.000 --> 00:23:55.000 He has authority over everything guys. 00:23:55.000 --> 00:23:57.000 That is why a day is coming. 00:23:57.000 --> 00:24:01.000 Perhaps not in our lifetime, perhaps in Phoebe's lifetime or Mia's lifetime. 00:24:01.000 --> 00:24:05.000 A day is coming when they will hear a voice from heaven saying, 00:24:05.000 --> 00:24:12.000 Behold, the kingdoms of the earth or the world have become the kingdoms of our God and Christ. 00:24:12.000 --> 00:24:14.000 That day is coming. 00:24:14.000 --> 00:24:18.000 Why? Because there is one who has absolute authority. 00:24:23.000 --> 00:24:28.000 So kingdom refers primarily to reign, not to realm. 00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:32.000 It will be a realm when we finally go to heaven, 00:24:32.000 --> 00:24:41.000 but right now it is, hey, there's nobody else who has clout, authority, rule, sovereignty like me. 00:24:43.000 --> 00:24:46.000 Please get used to it church because it's your appointed time. 00:24:47.000 --> 00:24:53.000 You know, it's only in the kingdom of God that morality and authority are directly proportional. 00:24:53.000 --> 00:24:55.000 In the world, it doesn't matter. 00:24:55.000 --> 00:24:57.000 You can be corrupt and you can still rise in authority. 00:24:57.000 --> 00:25:02.000 In the kingdom, morality or purity and authority are connected. 00:25:02.000 --> 00:25:05.000 No purity, no exertion of authority. 00:25:06.000 --> 00:25:07.000 Strange, eh? 00:25:07.000 --> 00:25:13.000 The citizens of Babylon can live any which way they want and have power, wealth and authority. 00:25:13.000 --> 00:25:18.000 But when it comes to the kingdom, purity and authority are totally linked. 00:25:18.000 --> 00:25:20.000 You can't separate one from the other. 00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:29.000 So one of the things we have to do is that, guys, the gospel, Jesus talked about the gospel of the kingdom, 00:25:29.000 --> 00:25:31.000 as in, hey, I'm a king. 00:25:31.000 --> 00:25:33.000 I was born for this reason. 00:25:33.000 --> 00:25:40.000 But one of the things that's happened, and I've talked about this before, is that we present Jesus as, 00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:44.000 hey, Videsha, do you want to receive Jesus into your life? 00:25:44.000 --> 00:25:46.000 And Jesus says, hey, I'm a king. 00:25:46.000 --> 00:25:50.000 Hey, Videsha, do you want to receive Jesus into your life? 00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:55.000 And she then receives Jesus into her life and she's personally saved. 00:25:55.000 --> 00:25:58.000 That has very little to do with Bible truth. 00:25:58.000 --> 00:26:00.000 Jesus was not trying to do that. 00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:03.000 Jesus wasn't saying, invite me into your life. 00:26:03.000 --> 00:26:06.000 Jesus was saying, hey, Megan, I've got a kingdom. 00:26:06.000 --> 00:26:09.000 I'm inviting you into the kingdom. 00:26:09.000 --> 00:26:17.000 And the only way you can enter this kingdom is if you, like a child, will receive my rule. 00:26:17.000 --> 00:26:19.000 We've got to go back to this as a church. 00:26:19.000 --> 00:26:24.000 We are not asking people to invite Jesus into their lives. 00:26:24.000 --> 00:26:31.000 Our witness to the truth is this, that there is a kingdom ruled by a king called Jesus. 00:26:31.000 --> 00:26:36.000 He is inviting you into that kingdom. 00:26:36.000 --> 00:26:44.000 If you want to enter that kingdom, you have to, like a child, receive the rule of the king. 00:26:44.000 --> 00:26:47.000 That is the gospel of the kingdom. 00:26:47.000 --> 00:26:54.000 We've got to stop this other spin on it because it makes salvation personal 00:26:54.000 --> 00:26:56.000 and makes it something where you invite Jesus. 00:26:56.000 --> 00:27:01.000 Now, Jesus is saying, I'm inviting you into a kingdom. 00:27:01.000 --> 00:27:05.000 Change it around. It's important. 00:27:06.000 --> 00:27:10.000 I'm inviting you into a kingdom. 00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:15.000 One of the ways we display this kingdom is through signs and wonders, 00:27:15.000 --> 00:27:20.000 which is why signs and wonders are essential to Christianity. 00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:23.000 We never see it in its fullness. 00:27:23.000 --> 00:27:31.000 The only time we will see the kingdom in its fullness is when this earth is done and that happens. 00:27:31.000 --> 00:27:34.000 Not this. This is where we are at right now. 00:27:34.000 --> 00:27:36.000 Eden is shut. 00:27:36.000 --> 00:27:39.000 Cain has murdered Abel. 00:27:39.000 --> 00:27:42.000 The Tower of Babylon is being built. 00:27:42.000 --> 00:27:45.000 Noah's come and go and they bring rest. 00:27:45.000 --> 00:27:47.000 God establishes the covenant. 00:27:47.000 --> 00:27:49.000 Some people get into the boat, some don't. 00:27:49.000 --> 00:27:54.000 But a day is coming when that will happen, when Eden will be restored. 00:27:54.000 --> 00:27:57.000 That day we will see the kingdom in its fullness, 00:27:57.000 --> 00:28:02.000 where the trees, where the leaves of those trees are for the healing of the nations. 00:28:02.000 --> 00:28:08.000 But till then, people still need to have a partial taste of the kingdom. 00:28:08.000 --> 00:28:15.000 And that partial taste of the kingdom is only through signs and wonders and compassion and power. 00:28:17.000 --> 00:28:21.000 And that is why I say it is our appointed time. 00:28:21.000 --> 00:28:26.000 Twenty years ago, a man walked into the church like this and his name was Keith Abraham. 00:28:26.000 --> 00:28:29.000 And he said, this church has wells of healing. 00:28:29.000 --> 00:28:32.000 Every time he sings that song saying, dig up the wells, 00:28:32.000 --> 00:28:36.000 I think of healing being splish splashed upon people. 00:28:36.000 --> 00:28:45.000 In numbers it said, the leaders of Israel took their staffs and their shovels 00:28:45.000 --> 00:28:50.000 and they started digging and they sang the song, spring up o wells. 00:28:52.000 --> 00:28:55.000 This is the appointed time. This is that. 00:28:55.000 --> 00:28:58.000 This is that. Press in. 00:28:58.000 --> 00:29:04.000 The veil is so thin that if you tear it, you will see it and it will burst forth. 00:29:06.000 --> 00:29:09.000 Because the kingdom must be made visible. 00:29:09.000 --> 00:29:12.000 And one of the ways it's made visible is through compassion, 00:29:12.000 --> 00:29:17.000 through power, through signs, through wonders, 00:29:17.000 --> 00:29:23.000 so that the prisoner, the oppressed, the blind of Isaiah 61 can walk free. 00:29:23.000 --> 00:29:27.000 And if we don't press into it, who will? If not now, then when? 00:29:31.000 --> 00:29:38.000 Who does he choose? Usually the most ordinary, the most unknown. 00:29:38.000 --> 00:29:41.000 Therefore we say to people, now that the king is inviting you 00:29:41.000 --> 00:29:47.000 and you can only come into this kingdom through receiving the rule of the king like a child, 00:29:47.000 --> 00:29:53.000 repent, turn away from your ways to receive the rule of this king. 00:29:54.000 --> 00:29:58.000 That's how this works. Change your ways. 00:29:58.000 --> 00:30:00.000 Change your ways. 00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:02.000 Change your ways. 00:30:02.000 --> 00:30:04.000 Change your ways. 00:30:04.000 --> 00:30:07.000 Change the way we present salvation. 00:30:07.000 --> 00:30:10.000 We are inviting people into a kingdom. 00:30:13.000 --> 00:30:15.000 We are not asking them to invite Jesus. 00:30:15.000 --> 00:30:17.000 We are not selling heaven. 00:30:19.000 --> 00:30:22.000 We are saying there is this kingdom and in that kingdom there is healing. 00:30:22.000 --> 00:30:26.000 Well then show me. In that kingdom there is deliverance from demonic oppression. 00:30:26.000 --> 00:30:29.000 Show me. In that kingdom there is a preaching of good news. 00:30:29.000 --> 00:30:31.000 Where is the good news? 00:30:31.000 --> 00:30:33.000 In that kingdom there is a preaching of good news. 00:30:33.000 --> 00:30:34.000 Where is the good news? 00:30:34.000 --> 00:30:36.000 In that kingdom blind eyes are open. 00:30:36.000 --> 00:30:39.000 Show me. In that kingdom there is light and there is life. 00:30:39.000 --> 00:30:41.000 Show me. 00:30:46.000 --> 00:30:48.000 What a demand to be placed on us, eh? 00:30:53.000 --> 00:30:55.000 What a demand to be placed on us. 00:30:55.000 --> 00:30:58.000 I love a religion that challenges you. 00:31:01.000 --> 00:31:03.000 Forgive me. 00:31:08.000 --> 00:31:10.000 Forgive me. 00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:12.000 Let's end with a thought. 00:31:12.000 --> 00:31:14.000 I talked about this in 2022. 00:31:14.000 --> 00:31:17.000 Another way of looking at the kingdom of God. 00:31:17.000 --> 00:31:19.000 What is the kingdom of God? 00:31:19.000 --> 00:31:21.000 The kingdom of God is God acting as king. 00:31:21.000 --> 00:31:25.000 The kingdom of God is God acting as king. 00:31:25.000 --> 00:31:29.000 The kingdom of God is God acting as king. 00:31:29.000 --> 00:31:36.600 If I looked at your life, if I looked at, if you looked at my life, do you see Jesus Christ acting as King in my life? 00:31:39.360 --> 00:31:45.480 If I looked at your life on any given day, not during church, if I visited you and I looked at your life, 00:31:46.520 --> 00:31:50.960 or you looked at mine, would you see Jesus Christ acting as King? 00:31:52.040 --> 00:31:54.880 The question is what in the world does that look like? 00:31:54.880 --> 00:32:03.120 I mean we talked about this two years ago, I said we need to come up with a word called Kinging. 00:32:03.120 --> 00:32:13.200 It's not English but God is Kinging. God is Kinging. God is Kinging 24x7. Is God Kinging in my life? 00:32:13.200 --> 00:32:21.760 Right now he's having a ball. When this is over and I go home and you see me tomorrow in the middle of traffic, 00:32:21.840 --> 00:32:26.560 is God still Kinging? So what does it look like when God Kings? That's the problem eh? 00:32:27.360 --> 00:32:31.840 And I can only answer it in terms of a question. What does it look like when God is Kinging? 00:32:31.840 --> 00:32:39.760 Does it look like salvation? Does it look like healing? Does it look like prophetic declarations? 00:32:41.360 --> 00:32:48.080 Does it look like deliverance? Does it look like mercy or does it look like justice? 00:32:48.960 --> 00:32:55.120 Does it look like settling issues of race? Does it look like being environmentally mindful? 00:32:56.400 --> 00:33:02.960 Is it a stream or is it a river that's increasing in depth? Is it a mighty waterfall? 00:33:03.600 --> 00:33:11.200 Is it always the same? Now you realize that my God you can't take Jesus and miniaturize him, 00:33:11.200 --> 00:33:16.400 put it in your locket and say this is what the kingdom looks like because it has so many 00:33:16.400 --> 00:33:21.920 expressions through so many people that when it all comes together it's brilliant. 00:33:23.840 --> 00:33:30.240 So for some here the kingdom will look like great mercy. For others here the kingdom will look like 00:33:30.240 --> 00:33:37.760 ridiculous generosity. For someone else the kingdom will look like just foolish joy. For someone else 00:33:37.760 --> 00:33:43.760 the kingdom will look like no panic absolute peace in the middle of a storm. For someone else it'll 00:33:43.760 --> 00:33:50.400 look like shucks how do you walk in this kind of righteousness? Your purity is so overwhelming 00:33:50.400 --> 00:33:57.280 that you become a plumb line that sometimes rebukes me, sometimes sets an example. The kingdom looks 00:33:57.280 --> 00:34:04.240 like people getting healed when a child lays their hand on them. The kingdom looks like witches walking 00:34:04.240 --> 00:34:09.920 up on stage and not able to come near you because they've fall down. What does the kingdom look like? 00:34:09.920 --> 00:34:15.280 Does it look like a river that's in full flow and getting higher and higher or is it a babbling 00:34:15.280 --> 00:34:23.040 brook or a stream where sheep lie down? Guys there's no limit to this and why is there no limit to this? 00:34:23.040 --> 00:34:29.360 Because everybody needs to be included. Anyone who has received the rule of the king 00:34:31.120 --> 00:34:34.960 gets to participate in this kingdom. This is why he was born. 00:34:35.120 --> 00:34:42.240 He was born to bring on to the earth a kingdom that has been from everlasting and will be for 00:34:42.240 --> 00:34:48.560 everlasting. I want to be there when they speak revelations 1115 and when they speak revelations 00:34:48.560 --> 00:34:56.080 215. Two places in the book of revelation that I want to be. 1115 and I heard a voice from heaven 00:34:56.080 --> 00:35:01.920 saying the kingdoms of the world have become the kingdoms of our God and Christ. Revelations 215 00:35:01.920 --> 00:35:09.280 and I heard a voice from the throne saying behold I have made everything new. 00:35:10.240 --> 00:35:17.120 And when he says everything he doesn't mean saving souls. He means the earth. He means 00:35:17.120 --> 00:35:29.200 caterpillars. He means cats. He means he means plants with thorns. He means men, women, 00:35:29.360 --> 00:35:34.400 he means just everything being made new brought back to pristine condition. 00:35:36.560 --> 00:35:45.120 That is your job description. I'm here to make everything new. I'm here to walk with him every 00:35:45.120 --> 00:35:53.680 day and through little gestures or magnificent gestures through unobserved signs and wonders 00:35:54.000 --> 00:36:02.800 unobserved signs and wonders and through massive miracles I'm here to make all things new. And if 00:36:02.800 --> 00:36:09.760 how do we do this? One life at a time. One life at a time. Everything in the kingdom works at that 00:36:09.760 --> 00:36:16.320 level. There is no macro in the kingdom. It's always micro so that we can get to that place. 00:36:17.120 --> 00:36:22.480 It's one life at a time. The nations of the earth one life at a time. 00:36:26.160 --> 00:36:31.920 I have come to make all things new. Every time you pray can you pray with the understanding that the 00:36:31.920 --> 00:36:37.440 Holy Spirit wants to make things new? As I'm praying for you there is only one desire I have 00:36:37.440 --> 00:36:42.720 that there are things that God wants to make new in your life and I'm here to pray that oh God 00:36:42.720 --> 00:36:48.400 please bring into this person that which is new from your spirit. Why? Because there is a new 00:36:48.400 --> 00:36:53.680 power in operation and what is that power in operation? The spirit of life in Christ. And 00:36:53.680 --> 00:37:01.440 what are you coming against? The spirit of the law of death. Man we're a special species eh? 00:37:03.680 --> 00:37:09.120 We got God living in us. Christ living in us. We are a gift to mankind. 00:37:09.120 --> 00:37:12.480 Someone was a gift to us and we changed. 00:37:15.440 --> 00:37:20.560 I remember saying this two years ago and perhaps a few times in between. In the Lord of the Rings 00:37:21.840 --> 00:37:33.280 there is a scene where Sam thought he was dead and now he is lying on a bed and he slowly comes 00:37:34.240 --> 00:37:40.720 back and opens his eyes and he realizes oh shucks I'm not dead, I'm alive. And then he turns to 00:37:41.680 --> 00:37:48.880 Gandalf and here's the dialogue that happens between them. Sam is recovering in a friend's 00:37:48.880 --> 00:37:57.440 home. He is injured but will survive. The last he knew the wizard Gandalf had fallen into an abyss 00:37:57.440 --> 00:38:03.680 and died. But now at the end of the story he hears a voice calling him back to consciousness. 00:38:04.800 --> 00:38:11.840 Gandalf says, well master Samwise how do you feel? Sam lay back and stared with open mouth 00:38:11.840 --> 00:38:17.280 and for a moment between bewilderment and great joy he could not answer. At last he gasped, 00:38:17.280 --> 00:38:23.840 Gandalf I thought you were dead but then I thought I was dead myself. Then he says his line with 00:38:24.000 --> 00:38:28.320 I thought you were dead myself. Then he says his line with, preachers have used 00:38:28.320 --> 00:38:33.200 ever since the Lord of the Rings was written. And here's the line, is everything sad 00:38:34.080 --> 00:38:39.360 going to come untrue? Is everything sad going to come untrue? 00:38:41.120 --> 00:38:48.800 Is everything sad going to come untrue? And our resounding answer as witnesses to the truth 00:38:48.800 --> 00:38:55.600 and witnesses to the king who was born for this reason is yes a day is coming when everything sad 00:38:57.040 --> 00:39:00.880 will come untrue and we will be restored to how we were supposed to live. 00:39:02.160 --> 00:39:07.840 And it's your job and my job to make sure that we partner with the spirit to make things new, 00:39:07.840 --> 00:39:14.000 to make that which is sad untrue. When that grips you inside that is when crying will begin. 00:39:14.000 --> 00:39:22.640 You know the kind of crying when you see your child hurt or when you see a mask on your child 00:39:22.640 --> 00:39:29.520 or a IV tube running to your child? What do you want to do then? You want to do something that'll 00:39:29.520 --> 00:39:34.720 make it all go away. It's that kind of thing that grabs you. It's that kind of compassion that would 00:39:34.720 --> 00:39:40.400 drive Jesus where he would look at them and he would say it feels like they are a sheep without 00:39:40.400 --> 00:39:47.280 a shepherd. Nobody to feed them and then out of compassion would flow power. Compassion is the key 00:39:47.280 --> 00:39:54.880 to power. Compassion is the key to power in this season in this appointed time church. 00:39:55.440 --> 00:40:02.400 Beg for compassion. Compassion that melts your heart. Compassion that goes the second, third, 00:40:02.400 --> 00:40:09.200 fourth mile. Compassion that functions even when you're not noticed. Compassion that does not keep 00:40:09.200 --> 00:40:16.240 a record of things I've done and things not done. That kind of compassion releases power even when 00:40:16.240 --> 00:40:22.720 you give a bowl of water which is why Jesus said you don't know it but when you gave that guy a 00:40:22.720 --> 00:40:33.840 glass of water you were serving me. Beg for the sake because it releases power. 00:40:34.560 --> 00:40:42.080 A great is everything sad going to come untrue? A great shadow has departed said Gandalf and then 00:40:42.080 --> 00:40:48.640 the wizard laughed and the sound was like music or like water in a parched land and as Sam listened 00:40:48.640 --> 00:40:54.960 the thought came to him that he had not heard laughter the sound of merriment for days without 00:40:54.960 --> 00:41:01.200 count. It fell upon his ears like the echo of all the joys he had ever known but he himself 00:41:01.200 --> 00:41:06.960 burst into tears then as a sweet rain will pass down a wind of spring and the sun will shine out 00:41:06.960 --> 00:41:13.520 clearer his tears seized and his laughter welled up and laughing he sprang from bed. How do I feel 00:41:13.520 --> 00:41:18.800 he cried? Well I don't know how to say it. I feel I feel he waved his arms in the air. I feel like 00:41:18.800 --> 00:41:24.160 spring after winter the sun on the leaves trumpets and harps and all the songs I've ever heard. What 00:41:24.160 --> 00:41:30.800 does it mean to make the sad untrue? Can this really happen? Can this really happen? 00:41:31.200 --> 00:41:38.400 One day the father will welcome all his children home. Set them up in places of their own. 00:41:39.520 --> 00:41:45.200 Put them in charge of something. Let me change it. One day the father will welcome you home. 00:41:46.320 --> 00:41:51.840 He will set you up in your in a place of your own. He will put you in charge of something suitable 00:41:52.400 --> 00:42:00.800 so that you can honor your maker. Then the sun and the spirit will join him and from that point on 00:42:01.600 --> 00:42:08.480 there will be no more mourning, no more crying, no more pain and you'll hear a voice from heaven 00:42:08.480 --> 00:42:18.240 saying, behold I have made all things new. This is what we're waiting for guys. 00:42:21.840 --> 00:42:31.760 I'm gonna sing two songs now as we finish.