[0:00] Good morning, everyone. I'm just going to get some idea. I'm missing. Still a great to know that!
[0:12] I was blessed with a very simple thought on the tree and how that represents us.
[0:26] So bring a message out of this family. I thought I wanted to speak on something, yet I didn't feel like they were qualified to do it. Yet I thought that's what I should do.
[0:38] When yesterday I was studying on the kingdom of God. What the kingdom of God is. What is what does it look like and how good it is about.
[0:50] And so with that, I thought that today we have a lot of if you ask people in general what is the kingdom of God about and what does it represent.
[1:06] I feel like the main thing that we hear is Jesus came to forgive me in my sins. Jesus loves me. Jesus died on the cross so that I can have eternal life. And I'm not taking away the significance of that in any way.
[1:20] I think that that's very true. But also he brought with them the kingdom of God. So if I I have a couple of thoughts that I want to go with in a couple of ways.
[1:34] So with that the kingdom of God is more than just It is first I feel like we need to talk about what is the kingdom.
[1:46] How does the kingdom work? In the in the physical sense our kingdom that we live in today has first of all it has a king or it has a root right.
[1:58] And then it has a domain or character. So we have a kingdom we have a ruler of a certain nation then we have a nation we have a place where these people reside.
[2:09] And then we have we have citizens or and then we have laws. So there's not a nation that I'm aware of that doesn't have laws. If it didn't have laws the citizens who incumption are in God.
[2:22] And so I don't think the kingdom of God is any devil. We have a ruler which is God. We have a domain which is universal. We have citizens and subjects which are only brought into this kingdom through the new birth through the death of Jesus Christ and from us surrendering ourselves and then God does commandments.
[2:41] I'm not talking about the commandments of the Mosaic law which were put which were satisfied when Jesus died. I'm talking about the law as the new commandments that Jesus brought forth.
[2:52] and so I feel like today there's a watered down the virgin I guess I have a burden for them. There's a watered of what Jesus came to do. And what the kingdom of God actually represents.
[3:04] With that I believe with this watered down the virgin we have people that want forgiveness without repentance. We have people that want love without sacrifice or obedience.
[3:15] We have people that want God's kingdom without total allegiance. We have people that want power without submission. So with all these things I don't believe we can live in the kingdom of God or that we're going to be able to represent it or really be affected in this kingdom.
[3:31] So I was just doing some studying and what was the theme of Jesus. What was Jesus' theme of the kingdom of Israel? If we look through the four gospels of the next part of Newton John there are roughly 29 terrorists where Jesus references to the kingdom of God.
[3:52] And he mentions the kingdom of God about 85 times in the New Testament. So I believe that the kingdom was very important. The kingdom of God is very important not taking away that the wrong that God had for us.
[4:06] That Jesus coming and dying on the cross and all those things are not important not taking away from God. But I feel like anymore the significance of the kingdom and the allegiance that we should have to the kingdom of God is maybe him but it's not really it's not really spoken well as much in our day.
[4:24] So with that I was thinking about in Daniel chapter 7 we don't have to turn there's just a verse that I that Daniel prophesied about and he was having a vision of the son of four beasts.
[4:39] And then in verse 13 Daniel says I saw in my visions and behold with the clouds of heaven there came one man and was presented before him and the man was given dominion and glory and a kingdom yet all peoples nations and languages should serve him.
[4:58] And then the beautiful part of it it says his dominion is an everlasting which shall not restrain his kingdom and his kingdom not that shall not be destroyed. So there's kingdoms that rise and fall in this human nation right?
[5:12] There's always kingdoms Rome was a great nation in the time that Jesus was here where they came and they fall but Daniel prophesied that this kingdom that Jesus brings here and once he brings it to the total fulfillment on the second coming it's something that will never fall.
[5:25] It will never fall. We can trust that when we enter this kingdom we will be saved their bread for eternity. So I think it's important that I recognize where I'm spending each other and where each other is and how I get there.
[5:40] So with that I'd like to turn to Luke chapter 14 if this makes sense. I would like to start with the cost of evangelism. That this demon is not just me coming to Jesus and telling him I love you but yet nothing changes.
[5:54] That this demon has any cost and if we don't pay this cost then we aren't truly very good for us. So starting in verse 26 and Luke chapter 14 it says that any man that is not just me coming to Jesus and telling him but yet nothing changes.
[6:09] That this demon has any cost and if we if we don't pay it says if any man come to me and hate not his father and mother and wife and brother and sister and his own life also.
[6:25] a disciple. So for us to be a true disciple I don't believe that he's talking in a way physically hating our children our wives our fathers and mothers but I think what he's saying is that we cannot forsake these things.
[6:40] If God calls us for if there's things that we're not not willing to let these things fall away that's why it takes then we cannot be a disciple. And then he says that in 27 and whosoever does not bear his cross and come up we cannot be a disciple.
[6:57] So others will say that we if we don't do we cannot be a disciple. It's if we do not bear with your eyes. If we do not deny self if we do not let self be completely dead as Job spoke about the truth.
[7:09] that we if we are not completely dead to sell then we don't have hope to pass. It said that then he goes in verse 28 for which of you intending to build a tower sitth not known first in front of the cross whether he have sufficient to finish it lest have made out or he have laid the foundation and is not able to finish it all that behold yet began to mock me saying this man began to build it was not a word to finish.
[7:36] So I feel like today the cost is not really representative in a fair way. Today we want the benefits without the cost.
[7:48] It's like me going to town and getting things that I need without paid. We want the benefit of Christ but we don't want the cost. We want to be into the kingdom of God but we don't want the nations.
[8:00] Yeah it's ironic that if we have somebody that comes from another country into our country the first thing that that person is give total allegiance to this country. To be a citizen of this country he has to give total allegiance to this country and he has to completely forfeit everything that he's had in the past.
[8:18] Those things are not wrong. He is not a citizen of this country or this kingdom. But yet we think that it might be different. Why would it be different in God's name? God wants our total allegiance.
[8:30] That's why his allegiance comes first when we are in his kingdom then everything else has to be separate. And so with that I would like to turn to Luke chapter 17 starting in verse 20 because the question now arises then what is a statement of the world and the other problem and the other problem and the other problem and the other problem and the other problem and the other problem and the other problem it starts in verse 20 and I'm not just when I teach these things that I'm just giving kind of the things that have been on my heart I can open the direction and open the burden of other things that other people have that I might not see.
[9:11] I consider myself to be a young Christian in the world. Right? So therefore I feel like there's lots of things. The more that I see that I think that I tend to learn more the more that I know more.
[9:22] in the world so with that being said it's starting again in verse in verse 20 it says in chapter 17 and when he was demanded of the Pharisees when the kingdom of God should come he answered them and said the kingdom of God comes not without salvation.
[9:44] So it says the Pharisees were demanding this and were they demanding in a way that they were just trying to pardon him or just put him on the spot and I'm not sure why they demanded it but it says they demanded it and Jesus said the kingdom of God comes not without salvation neither shall they say lo here or lo there or behold the kingdom of God is within you.
[10:10] So the kingdom of God is within us. And every believer that accepts that accepts the cross that denies self and accepts Christ the kingdom of God is within you.
[10:21] And he's going to represent that wherever he goes. As we study in Acts chapter 1 verse 8 we are the ones. So when I am blogging I'm not saying that we are also to speak and hear it but we are a living witness.
[10:36] We are that that all straight tree that you're talking about. We are that that's who we are the kingdom of God is within us. And then he said in verse 20 2 and he said the day will come when ye shall desire to see what are the days of the Son of Man and ye shall not see.
[10:54] And ye shall say and they shall say to you see here or see there go not out with them nor follow them. So the leader Jesus is telling the disciples that the days are going to come when he sees me and he's running and when they're telling you do this and do that don't go out of that.
[11:09] Don't follow them. Don't follow these things that are not. There's going to be things that the devil is going to create love because of me and we are not grounded in the foundation as we believe we will be swayed by those things.
[11:24] And then verse 24 he says or as the lightning that lightning out of the one heart of the heaven shined unto the other heart of the heaven so shall also the Son of the man in his day be.
[11:37] So I think that he might have the talking there about his coming the second coming of his the red of Christ how that's actually going to be. But we are not to we are not to let ourselves I feel like we are we are in the division we are to be always the words we are to be always watchful and always seeking and always studying and always learning and always learning always like that's that's our greatest purpose right?
[12:05] We have people in our physical government today that that's their purpose right? Is to protect this moment to watch for foreign enemies to watch for threats that might threaten our democracy in our country.
[12:16] We are to be those superiors or soldiers that we are in the life. But he says in 25 before that day comes light lightning when he comes back he says but first must he suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.
[12:31] I feel like that's a great thing that for me is are we willing to suffer are we willing to suffer rejection? Or do we maybe just try to make things work you know to where we don't want nobody wants to be rejected right?
[12:47] We all want to be liked we all want to have people think of us as as good people that's just natural but yeah Jesus said that he must be rejected so therefore how is it going to be any different for us?
[12:59] Once we are in his name we do not realize that there is going to be rejection there is going to be persecution and those are the hardest of the costs that we are in our life when we enter this kingdom those are the costs that we recognize and we recognize we are not open we don't just go into it not knowing these things and verse 26 it says and it was and as it was in the days of Noah so shall it also begin the days of the sun they did eat they drank they heard it all they were given to the age until the day that the life of the ark of the earth came destroyed them all likewise also as it was in the days of life they did eat they drank they walked they didn't like they do it in a sense here people were like yeah Lord you know these things may happen but I don't know my grandpa came with me I had I had to go up and then I just days come and yeah it might happen and we just kind of get stuck in this scatophie or become just kind of just it's it's reality but yeah it just kind of is not it's reality but isn't it and then he says but the same day that Lot went all of a sudden yet rained fire and earth and snowing from heaven and destroying them all now I think it's very important if you read verse 30 in the law he says even though shall be in the day of the sun in the day which shall be in that day he which shall be upon the house not many and he's stuck in the house let him not come down and take it away and he that is in the field let him light the God return
[14:41] I really personally I'm hoping for Craig to believe that he's talking about what God calls us in this world we are not to remain because the next verse he says remember Lot's fault remember Lot's fault we heard that literally in the messages uh headed in our meetings along us it says that she uh that he remained and Lot's wife didn't want to leave but she turned down she turned down she turned down to a salt so I think it's important that we recognize that when God calls us to take action we are we don't let anything stop us we don't linger and we don't worry about the things uh things that that we might face because we know that the kingdom within us is what saves us all the kingdom within us is what we're what we're looking for the other shall lose his life shall preserve I believe he's talking in the physical when we lose ourselves when we die to self then we can be lifted up in Christ and also um when we seek to save our life and when self begins to rain we're actually losing the spirit and he says one shall be taken and one shall be left two women shall be grinding together the one shall be taken and the other left two men shall be in the field and one shall be taken and the other left and they answered and said unto him where Lord and he said unto them whosoever the body is thither will eagles be gathered and eagles be gathered together so I feel I feel like maybe the last part there he's actually talking about when he comes back how the where we will actually physically see the difference from the people that were in the kingdom the people that were not but with that being said so what did with that did Jesus then just bring the kingdom and is that kind of where it ended is that where then the apostles from there did not really teach the kingdom or were they what the kingdom was and what what the cost and the cross was or did they well if we if we read if we read on in I one one verse that I would like to read which we don't have to turn there is in uh in John chapter 18 verse 36 talking about the kingdom um
[16:57] Jesus said to holy holy holy kingdom the kingdom of God was separate that we live out that is within us and can only be done when the cross is more and when oneself is dead and so he did give uh the he also gave the apostles instruction about the kingdom in Matthew 10 verse 7 he says as you go preach saying the kingdom of heaven is at 10 is at hand Luke 9 verse 1 and 2 then he called his 12 disciples together and gave them power and authority over all devils and to cure disease cure diseases and sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick Acts 1 verse 3 to whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion or his uh suffering by many infallible proofs being seen of them 40 days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God so I feel like uh Jesus made it very clear um that he was that the kingdom of God was very important and that we cannot have the love of Christ and we cannot have we cannot have eternal security without us bearing the cross and and have uh walking in the walking in the kingdom uh of God in his in his will and in his uh um commandments so I um would like to talk a little bit about the cross um I believe that the cross is another thing that is not really preached um we want we want the benefits without the cross I feel is kind of a a gospel that's uh preached today a lot in Matthew 10 so I want to just go over a couple a couple verses you don't have to turn there if you don't want to um that Jesus talked about the cross um that was very specific about the cross in Matthew 10 verse 38 he says and whoever does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me I think I might have read the one in Luke but Matthew 16 verse 24 again says if anyone desires to come after me let him deny himself take up his cross and follow me so before the person takes up his cross this verse I believe there's two things that he talks about first first he has says if anyone desires to follow me and then he says let him deny himself I don't think we're going to be able to carry the cross of Christ without the death to self he says let him deny himself take up his cross and follow me Luke 9 verse 23 if anyone desires to come after me let him deny himself take up his cross daily and follow me so Luke even goes into it a little more specific he says daily let him carry his cross daily not just when I run up against and then go to God and say Lord I'm in a pickle can you help me out today um maybe or maybe pray when I everything else fails I pull it out of the back hip pocket and say okay
[20:34] Lord I'm going to begin praying I feel like I'm not I'm not say I'm saying this as a general term I feel like I find myself there quickly when everything is going well we're just like Lord I thank you for everything yeah and I just go about my work the Lord is here but he's when things become hard and I face uh you know uh certain difficulties all at once the Lord well okay I need to go find the Lord again but I believe that the Lord wants us to do this daily it says to take up his cross these are Jesus' own words to take up his cross daily and follow me so I believe that the the cross is a surrender of self and it also it is sacrifice and obedience and with that I think that it brings us I should maybe clarify a little bit I feel that the kingdom of God is is completely upside down to how we view the kingdom of this world so first of all it's it's surrender of self and it's sacrifice and obedience if we if we bear this cross and it also it brings victory through weakness how does how do we be how do we attain victory through weakness if this country in the physical sense would show weakness there's other countries that would run over us it doesn't really make sense right but unless we are weak unless we recognize the weakness and the things in in our body that need to die only then can we be strong in Christ and in first Corinthians to to kind of verify this a little bit in first Corinthians uh verse eight one chapter one verse 18 it says for the wood of the cross is folly to those who are perishing but to us who are being saved it is the power of God so isn't that a beautiful beautiful promise it is to those of us who are being saved it is a power of God it's not just a burden it's not just something that we bear because we think we have to because we don't want to be left behind um and then it also brings the cross also brings transformation with the cross in Galatians 2 verse 20 and 21 it says I have been crucified with Christ it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me so I feel like the the cross that Jesus that that we have to bear is not is not to be burdensome the reason I I say that is because if we go to um Matthew chapter 11 verses 28 29 and 30 I believe um Jesus I feel we have a beautiful uh uh a beautiful promise there from the cross to the yoke and I was studying that about and I this is what I came up with and I'm open for correction or input on this but I was like so what is the difference between the cross and the yoke and he talks about the cross that we don't bear the cross but then he also in in Matthew chapter 28 or chapter 11 verse 28 he says come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest I don't know about the rest of you but I find myself a lot of times uh in labor and heavy laden it can be about you know just our family and our children or things that we're facing in life in the physical and whatever it may be he says I will give you rest in verse 29 he says take my yoke upon you and learn from you and I was thinking oh this yoke what is this yoke well if we take the definition of of a yoke a yoke is something that they used to pair a pair of oxen together so it made the load lighter it made a half lighter because there were two oxen pulling but if these oxen are not pulling equally then it becomes chaotic and it doesn't work it becomes burdensome it becomes toilsome and heavy and yet when they work together it makes each oxen's load half lighter and so Jesus wants to carry these burdens with us he wants to yoke
[24:35] himself with us so isn't that a beautiful thing he wants to yoke himself with us and he wants us to learn from him as we go through this life so I found this I found this as as a blessing like no Jesus wants to carry these burdens with us and he wants to know us and he wants us to learn from him he wants to teach us but am I on this side of the yoke maybe just kind of ramming back and forth and Jesus is wanting to help me but I'm not really I'm not really I think I know better maybe um because then he goes he says for I am meek he is meek he is he's lowly in in my mind I feel like Jesus doesn't have the need to be meek and lowly he chooses to be he's God he's supreme yet he chooses to be meek and lowly and he chooses to yoke himself with me and walk with me um and and then he says I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest unto your souls and then verse 30 he says for my yoke is what it's easy and then he says his and my burden is light so he doesn't say it's not a yoke and he doesn't say it's not a burden but he says it's easy and it's light I believe that the only way it's going to be easy and light is if we are completely submitted and completely surrendered to truly want to learn from him he is our all in all he is our has our total allegiance we are not distracted by anything else in this world only then will his yoke be easy and his burden and I other than that it's going to be a toil and it's going to be it's just it's it's going to be drudgery and I don't think that that's what the walk of Christ and the walk of the cross was meant to be to be drudgery even though we recognize that it's a burden and we recognize what it is but yet we do it willfully out of the love that he has because this one song we sang today is we love uh the i think tony sang have the song um because jesus first we love him because he first loved me so in in uh tying this all together um i feel like today it seems that the revolutionary teachings of Christ have been turned to little cliches or maybe nice quotes to talk about but not to take too literally you know not to apply it uh too literally or make us too uncomfortable we'll talk about the beatitudes we talk about the beauty of Christ and the love that he has for us but we don't let's not take it too literally or make people too uncomfortable because you know it's not me that takes myself to heaven it's not my righteousness it's the righteousness of Christ and so therefore we you know we want to talk about these things but we're not too literally but i believe that jesus was telling these things to his disciples to take it seriously to come to grips with eternity and to know where we're going to spend it and another thing that i uh wanted to i was sharing this with brother uh laverne the other morning going to work from a message that i was listening to um an example that we could put in the physical of what the how the kingdom of god is completely the opposite how it turns everything that i it it completes a complete paradigm shift like it completely changes the pattern and the model that i used to walk in and with that comes if we take the definition of water h2o um when it's above 32 degrees it's a running liquid right that we can drink we can swim in we can use to water plants and everything but if it drops a few degrees fahrenheit it completely changes the characteristics of water what you could swim in now you can walk in and what you could drink now you can eat so if if if you if we use some of these physics and think about the christian walk where i was headed and where i was walking completely takes a different shift it completely changes and i think unless that happens we can talk and preach about the love of god we can talk about the beauty of god we can talk about the greatness of god and the power of god but without that complete transformation and complete paradigm
[28:38] shift in our lives i don't think that we're going to be walking in the true resurrection of christ um so that was kind of my my uh burden i guess or my study that i had been having um i feel like i don't really qualify to explain it sometimes i i think well i'd like to explain it this way or that way and then when i come to it it's like it looks so much greater than what i had anticipated um but i i feel like the focus is of what i want to bring is that the kingdom of god has a cross and it has a cost and there is a beautiful part to it in matthew 11 verses 28 through 30 that jesus is there for us he's willing to carry that yoke with us and he's willing that we learn from him he wants us to he wants to teach us and with that he also cares about our burdens we can cast them upon him we realize that this life is not going to be a life of comfort but yet there's a beautiful part of knowing where we're headed there's a beautiful part in knowing that we know the one like as we're yoked with him like somebody made the comment about charlie kirk's death um why did god let that happen we don't know that it seems like he had a lot of uh he was bringing a lot of light or goodness if you will to a lot of young people in dark college campuses but this one gave me the comment but we hang on to the one that does so i don't have to have afraid to say i don't know why god let that happen but i am yoked with the one who knows and there i find comfort and i find peace and that is sufficient for me i don't have to know all these answers but i know the one that has me and so that was i guess my heart is that with this kingdom is within us and it's going to completely radically transform me from who i was to who i am going forward and that it has a cost and that it has a uh it has a cost and it has a cross that needs to be born and that we don't do this out of drudgery but out of love because he first loved me so hopefully that made sense um if anybody has anything to add feel free to um it's just uh i feel like it's i'm we're very blessed to be part of a a group of people that that i feel um want to make their vision of the kingdom first the kingdom is what we ultimately seek it doesn't matter what everybody and anybody else says we we are open to learn but yet we just we just want to we want to rest in the simplicity of the gospel we don't want to make it complicated or over you know over complicate things we want to just um try to keep it as keep it simple and to know that these are the truths of the gospel and the things that we don't understand or don't make sense that we know the one that does so blessings and thank you you you