The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 1: Thy Kingdom Come

Episode Date: January 23, 2022

“Enemy-occupied territory---that is what this world is. Christianity is the story of how the rightful king has landed, you might say landed in disguise, and is calling us to take part in a great campaign of sabotage" - C.S. Lewis What kingdom are you serving?

Amen and amen and amen. How we doing, church? Doing good? If you got your Bibles, I hope you do, we're going to cover a whole lot. Grab your Bibles and turn with me to Revelation 3318, Revelation 3318, and as you were on your way to that passage, I would like all of our campuses,

whether you're online or San Pablo or Arlington or Bay Meadows or Mandarin or Fleming Island or St. John's County or Union Correctional, all of our campuses to welcome our brand new 1122, Jessup campus in Jessup, Georgia. Would you welcome them? Welcome, welcome, welcome. So far this morning, there are about 380 folks in Jessup that are attending the Church of 1122. Amen? Praise God. Welcome, welcome. All right. If you've had a hard time finding Revelation 3318, it's because there's only 22 chapters in the Book of Revelation. You see, Elder Berry,

3318 was the score of the national championship game. between Georgia and Satan's Sabin's team. So I just thought I'd bring that up. All right, we're not going to start there. We're actually going to start at the beginning of the Bible. But what I want to do is in our time together, in the next two or three hours, it's going to be a long one. So just buckle up.

Don't leave. Don't leave. I'll tase you, all right? You've got to say to the end. So it's going to be a long one. Is I want to give you some lenses by which to see the scriptures. That we live in a world where there's more than just the things we can see and feel and taste and measure.

that there are two kingdoms at work. Now, everybody knows this, everybody believes this. If you're my age, then we know that there's more than meets the eye. The Transformers taught us this. You see it, and you go, that's not a Camaro, that's bumblebee. That's not merely an 18-wheeler. That's Optimus Prime. In every single generation, there are these evidences that we all believe

that there is more than just what we can see. Again, if you're a Gen Xer, if you're in my age, we had the Matrix. You could take the blue pill and just wake up tomorrow just in living this world that you know, or you could take the red pill and see behind the curtain to the matrix that is pulling all the strings. Or if you're a Gen Zer, you have stranger things. There's the upside down world, and it's kind of creepy, right? And it might steal you. Or if you're a millennial, what'd you'll have?

Harry Potter? Harry Potter? Right? It's like you live here, and then you get scooped away to go wherever you go. I don't know. I'm not a dork. I didn't read it. But I know you did, okay? You're into it. About a billion people read it. Now, if you're a boomer, okay, what'd you have? Scooby-Doo? I don't know. You guys are pretty straightforward. Gunsmoke. It was kind of what it was. But we all know that there is more to this world than just what we can see and taste and touch and measure.

And I want you to be able to see the scriptures and see the reality that we live with this tension between two kingdoms. There's the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven. And then there's this kingdom that we live in, the kingdom of this world. The Bible also calls it the kingdom of darkness, the kingdom of this present darkness, the kingdom of the air, the system and the values that we adopt in this world, it's just the air we breathe. We're like fish swimming in the ocean, and we don't even realize that we're wet because we're covered in water. That's what it's talking about.

Everybody around the world understands this. Theologians call one belief system one-ism. And this is where some people believe that there is, it's kind of like the force, kind of like Star Wars, that there is this greater force out there and there's a light side and a dark side and they need to stay in balance. That is not Christianity, that is Eastern mysticism.

Western philosophy teaches a thing that theologians call dualism, that there are two equal and opposing opponents at war with one another. But both of those break down very quickly because where does badness come from? Good can be good for goodness sake, but bad can only be a means to another end. And so what Christianity teaches is not one-ism, it's not dualism, but the Bible teaches that we serve a good God that created a good place that has been corrupted by a rebellion that started in the heavens and has made its way to earth. So we're not going to go to Revelation 3318.

We're going to go to Genesis 1-1. And what I want to do for you is establish in the scripture how the Bible talks about these two kingdoms. And then we're going to talk about what our response is to it. And ultimately, I want to ask you the question, what kingdom are you serving? Genesis 1-1, this is God's intention for creation. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, period.

Paul's, verse 2. I'm not exactly sure how long. long it was between the period at the end of verse one and the beginning of verse two. But verse two says the earth was without form and void and darkness was over the face of the earth. It makes you wonder what happened. Because if God created everything that there is for his glory, where does formlessness and void and darkness come from? Because we're going to find out from the gospel writer John that in him there is no darkness

at all and only light. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the water. Many theologians think that the fall of Satan may have happened between verses one and two. And any time you try to talk about things regarding time when describing eternity, it always becomes problematic. And a part of the reason it's problematic is because our God is not bound by the same kind of time that we are. In the Greek New Testament, there are two Greek words used for time. One is kairos. Say kairos.

It means eternity. It means season. oftentimes when the Bible talks about God's timing, that's the word that it uses. And then the other Greek word is chronos. Say chronos. Like chronology. That's how we experience time. Like your clock is just ticking, ticking, ticking.

It's one event chronologically after another, after another after another after another. So anytime we try to use chronological language to explain eternity, it always gets a little tough. But many theologians believe that God created everything that is, and then, somewhere in that creation there was a fall, there was a rebellion. I want you to jot down these two passages, and if you're like a Bible nerd like me, then you can look these up later and do study on it during the week. I don't have time to fully explain them, but write down this. Ezekiel 28, 11 to 19, Ezekiel 28, 11 to 19, and Isaiah 14, 12 to 14.

Ezekiel 28, 11 to 19, Isaiah 14, 12 to 14, are a description of what sounds like the fall of Satan. Just in case you're new to Bible study, you never heard about all this stuff before. Ezekiel 28, 11, and 19 says that there was this angel who was a guardian cherub and was in heaven with God and he was perfect. And he was created as the chief worship leader of all the angels. And it's kind of hard to understand if either he was made out of gemstones or he was clothed in gemstones. And his appendages were like worship instruments. And what his job was was to stand before God.

who was the source of light, and he would refract and reflect the light of God to all of creation in the heavenlies, and he was the chief worship leader. The problem was, is that he really got into everybody looking at him, and instead of pointing to God, he began to be filled with pride. And then when you get over to Isaiah 14, we find out that he threw a rebellion because he wanted to dethrone God from his rightful throne in heaven, and he wanted it for himself. and so God cast Satan or Lucifer, which means light, he cast him down to Eden, he cast him down to the earth.

Maybe this is why in Luke 10, verse 18, Jesus says, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. That God creates the heavens and the earth, and in the heavens there is this cosmic rebellion. There is this one that was created to worship God, but instead he wanted to be worshipped. And because of his pride, he gets cast down. Now, sometimes people will ask me,

why would God even create a world that could be corrupted? I'll give you at least two answers. There's probably a billion. I can think of two. Number one, for his glory. For the glory of God. That God knew that it was not just enough to glorify himself with the stars

and the mountains and the seas, but so that this great metanarrative of God's redemptive story for his people and creation would be played out in such a way that the king of the universe would one day step off of his throne and go after and redeem a traitorous nation and adopt us into his family as sons and daughters. And then secondly, because God believed that love was worth the risk.

And so in heaven, in heaven, the enemy, Satan, the liar, Lucifer, he rebels against God and he is cast down to the earth. If you get to go down to verse 26, chapter 1, verse 26, the Bible says this about creation. And God said, let us make man in our image. After our likeness, let them have dominion, underline that word. That's like authoritative language. That's kingship language. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock,

and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. verse 27 and so god created man or mankind in his own image in the image of god he created him male and female he created them so one god in three persons out of an overflow of god's love for god's self it spills out into creation and he creates image bearers people have asked well why did god even make us i've heard some people say well god was alone and lonely and he wanted people to hang out with no god was completely fulfilled and self-fulfilled in his relationship with himself. It's not like God wanted to create a bunch of people that we gather together on the weekend, sing him songs, and then disobey him all week long. That's not what he was into. That out of God's love for God's self, it spills out

into creation, and he creates image bearers to image him with dominion. And when Adam and Eve were created, they were created to be like kings and queens on this earth, to have dominion. out of an overflow of their relationship with God, they were going to subdue and cultivate, that they were going to lead with authority, this earthly kingdom that God had created, and in doing so they were going to be an image bearer of Him. Verse 28, and God blessed them. Over 80 times the word blessed is in the book of Genesis. God is a good God that wants to bless his children, and God bless them, and God said to them,

be fruitful and multiply. can't I get a witness from the Mary people? Praise God, all right? I don't have time to tell you what that means, but listen to the Song of Solomon series and get 10 hours worth of it, all right? That's a first rule, by the way. You think God's under rules?

You should read your Bible. That's what he commanded. Be fruitful and multiply, and multiply. All right? Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heaven

and over everything that moves on the earth. In ancient times, in the Middle East and the Far East and in the Near East, when a king would take over a land and he wanted to establish that that was his land, he would do two things. First thing he would do is he would build a statue

that looked like him in that land so anyone that came into that land could see that image and know who it belonged to. And the first thing that God does in Eden is create image bearers to reflect him. The second thing that kings would do is they would try to fill up that land with their people.

They would either move people there or try to reorient people to their, their values, they would be fruitful and multiply. And so God, on this kingdom of earth in Eden, he sets up Adam and Eve as image bearers to be fruitful and multiply. This is what theologians call the cultural mandate. That the way that we are to bear God's image is one by having dominion. That you and I are supposed to steward this resource that he has given us.

That you and I have been called in by a relationship with Jesus to be co-creators in this world. to rearrange the raw goods of the things that he has given us for human flourishing. This is why I don't believe in a sacred, secular divide when it comes to vocation. Like, I don't think my job is holy because I teach the Bible, and your job is not because you're a plumber. That's not how it works. God put both of us on this earth to subdue and cultivate. I mean, I teach the Bible for a living, but some of you take sticks and stones and put them

together in such a way that a family is created, and children are raised up in the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's a part of the cultural mandate that we are to bear his image by having dominion and by being fruitful and multiplying in a relationship with God. Verse 31. And God saw everything that he had made and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning the sixth day. This is God's intention that he was going to create Eden, Earth, and put image bears of his own here to reflect his image having dominion over everything. If you get to chapter 2, verse 7, one of the things I want you to see in our scriptures,

we do not have two creation accounts in the scripture, but Genesis chapter 1 is like the telescopic lens, like the view of creation from 30,000 feet. And then Genesis chapter 2 is like the microscopic lens. It gets very, very personal with Adam and Eve. Why? Because we serve a God who is the creator of all things. It's by his power that he holds the very stars in the universe and he knows them by name. And yet that same God, when you guys, you guys, up this morning, he knew everything you thought, the things you were concerned about, and what's going on in your life. That's how big and how near this God is. So in Genesis chapter 2, he zooms in. Verse 7, then God, then the Lord God formed the man of the dust from the ground

and breathe into his nostrils, the breath, the Hebrew word is ruach, breathe into his nostrils, the ruach of life and the man became a living creature. I love this verse so much. the very first man, when he opened his eyes, his creator, who was also his heavenly father, was nostril to nostril face to face with him. And when he received the spirit of God, the breath of God, the breath of life, he opened his face and he knew that that's what he was created for. And that moment right there has been imprinted on the heart and soul of every human being on this earth. It's why the temporary things of this world just don't fully and finally satisfy because we were created for more than this world. It goes all the way back to this moment. And then the Lord God said, it is not good.

This is the first not good we have in all the scriptures. Birds good, trees good, stars good, mountains good. Adam, by himself, not good. Not good. It is not good that man should be alone. I will make a helper fit for him. Why? Here's why it's not good. How can you image God if you were not in a love relationship. You see, God in the end of himself is in this perfect love relationship with himself. And Adam alone can't do that. And how can you be fruitful and multiply? The brother needs a wife. So puts them to sleep, takes a rib, creates Eve, boom. And they are image bearers of God with the commandment to be fruitful and multiply, subdue and cultivate, and they are like king and queen of the earth. And it is very good.

and it goes really, really good for less than a page in my Bible. Genesis chapter three says this. Now the serpent. Now remember, how did he get here? Well, he got here. What if Ezekiel 28 and Isaiah 14 are talking about the enemy? He has already been cursed and cast down, and he is there. Now, the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.

And he said to the woman, did God actually say, you shall not eat of any tree in the garden and the woman said to the servant we may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden but God said you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden neither shall you touch it lest you die

but the servant said to the woman you will not surely die for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be open and you will be like God knowing good and evil you see the enemy is a liar and when he is lying he is speaking his native tongue and listen to me.

He's really good at it. He's been doing it a long time. The enemy is such a good liar that, according to Revelation in Chapter 8, he convinced a third of the angels to join in on the rebellion against the Almighty God. And when he speaks to you, he lies to you. He's a thief. And all he wants to do is steal and kill and destroy every good and perfect gift that God has for you. and since the beginning of time, here's how he's been lying.

He always lies to us about three things about the Lord. He always wants us to question three things about the Lord. He wants us to question the Word of God. Did God really say, does that still count? I mean, it's just an old book. You don't still believe that thing, do you? He wants us to question the Word of God. He wants us to question the worth of God.

You see what he tells her? God is trying to withhold happy from you. If God really loved you, he'd take it. better care of you than you. He'd take care of your marriage. He'd take care of your finances. He'd take care of your job. You don't owe him worship. He wants you to question the worth of God, and he wants you to question the work of God. This is when you get that little whisper when you're leaving church today and you begin to have this thought. You don't actually believe that when Jesus died on the cross, it counted for you, do you? I mean, surely it counted for all those good

church folk that were there today, but not you. In fact, we're going to find out later that when the enemy tries to tempt Jesus himself, he goes after his identity, if you are a son of God. And so this is what he has been doing from the very beginning, trying to get God's people to question the word of God, the work of God. And so the woman, when she saw that the tree was good for food, that's called lust of the flesh, that's when you think you deserve to feel a certain way, and it was a delight to the eyes, that's called lust of the eyes, that's when you feel like you deserve to own some things, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise.

This is called the pride of life. The way we would say it today is, you do you, boo. That's it. She took of its fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate, and the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together,

and made themselves loin cloth. And the very first religion was born. You see, here's what we say, see, did every single one of us by nature and nurture reject God? That's what Adam and Eve do. And some of us reject God in rebellion. I know you said don't do this, but forget you, I do what I want. And then some people reject God with religion. God, I don't need you to cover my sin and shame. I will do it by my own activity, and there is a rebellion from God's image bears. And here's what I need you to see. in that moment the enemy steals what is rightfully ours,

that us, in right relationship with God, that we have authority over this kingdom. And what I want you to see here in Genesis chapter 3 is this is not merely a temptation to sin and do a thing that you don't want to do or that you shouldn't do, but this is an overthrow of a kingdom. And the trick, the deceit is in that moment. Humanity said, forget you, God,

I'm sitting on the throne, and the deceit was, is while we think we are sitting on the throne, we actually turn the throne over to the enemy. There's a world of two kingdoms, two kingdoms, the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of darkness, the kingdom of the air. It's the thing you drove through to get here today. Now, some people will say to me, you mean to tell me, pastor, in 2022, you believe like in demons, and the demonic and the spirit of the air? Yes, I do.

How do you explain what's happening in our world? You think it's just poor education and bad policy? And if we could just get the right people in the right place to make the right decisions, then one day we would all just hold hands and skip happily ever after? No, that's how you go to hell in a handbasket. That's what that means, okay?

I'm telling you, we are a crooked and to prey folks, and there are, and if you don't believe this, I'm just telling you, God bless you. You were too dumb to talk to. I hope by the power of Jesus, he opens your eyes by the time we leave here. How do you explain child sex trafficking? You think they just have a misunderstanding? How do you explain a group of people in the name of their God feel like if I kill you,

I got a direct line to heaven? You think that's just a misunderstanding? You say that kind of language makes people uncomfortable. I don't know if you remember this was years ago. There was a couple, and their worldview is that we are, all good. Basically, we are good people. So they took their bicycles and their little helmets, and they went over to ISIS occupied territory and to prove to the world the goodness of humanity they were going to bike ride through this ISIS occupied territory. They both got murdered.

My daddy said, if you're going to be dumb, you better be tough. They were dumb. Not that tough. They did. Okay, that's what happened. Why? Because there are evil forces. You ever known somebody addicted to heroin? How do you explain that? Poor choices? Didn't go. enough meetings, there are forces in this world that are against you all day and every day of your life. I'm going to give you at least four examples in the scriptures. I could give you 45, but you'd probably leave for I got done. I'm going to show you four places in the scriptures where the Bible says that there are two different kingdoms. Number one, 1 John chapter 2, beginning in verse 15. John says, do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world,

the love of the Father is not in him. Do you see it? There's the love of the world, love of the Father. Now, if you're like a Bible person, you may think, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. We're not supposed to love the world. Well, John 316, the Bible says, for God so love the world.

So which one is it, pastor? Do we not love the world or do we love the world? In John 316, when Jesus is speaking there, and it says, for God so love the world, he is talking primarily about the people of this world. In 1 John chapter 2, when he says, do not love the world or the things of the world, he is talking about the systems and values of this world.

As followers of Jesus Christ, we are supposed to reject the systems and values of this world and love the people of this world. And what all of us have a propensity to do is to adopt the systems and values of this world and reject the very people of this world that Jesus came on a rescue mission to save. That's the difference.

He says, for all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, the pride of life is not from the father. but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. That's example one. Example two, John 14, verse 30.

Jesus is talking to his disciples. And he's saying, hey, I'm about to go away, and I'm going to prepare a place for you, but don't worry, I'm coming back to get you and take you home. And then he says this in John 1430, I will no longer talk much with you for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me,

but I do as the Father has commanded me so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here. That there is a world that is set against you. And sometimes the enemy comes at you in your flesh. Sometimes he comes at you in a direct demonic attack. And sometimes he comes at us

through the systems, the culture of this world. In Luke chapter 4, Jesus is tempted. This is the third example. In Luke chapter 4, Jesus is led by the Spirit into the wilderness. He fast for 40 days and 40 nights. The Bible says he's hungry. Then in verse 3, the devil said to Jesus, if you are the son of God.

See what he does? See how he goes after identity first? If you are the son of God, command this stone to become bread. And Jesus answered him, it is written man shall not live by bread alone. And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment in time. put on your kingdom lenses so you can see this, and said to him, to you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me.

You see, I think in the Great Rebellion, this earthly kingdom has been delivered unto him. This is why he has the ability to give it away to whoever he wants. And I give it to whom I will. If you then will worship me, it will all be yours. And Jesus answered him, it is written. and you shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve.

You see, worship is war. Here's what he's doing. The enemy knows that Jesus did not only come to save sinners. Yes, he did, but he also came to make all things new. We're going to find out later in Revelation 21 that there's a new heaven, there's a new earth, there's a new Jerusalem. Check this out.

There's a new Jacksonville coming. Yeah, Jags 17-0 in that kingdom by God, all right? Imagine that. Perfect Jacksonville. 2.95, wrapped up and done. Woo! Here we go. Okay? I mean, Jesus isn't just going to throw in the trash, this creation that he made for his own glory. But what the enemy is trying to do is the enemy is trying to get him to take a shortcut.

Look, Jesus, don't, this whole betrayal, death, experiencing the wrath of God, let's just skip all of that. And I will give you what you came for. Just bow down and worship me. See, there are two kingdoms that work. And Jesus is like, nah, that's not how it works. okay, I worship the Lord my God in Him only shall I serve. That's example three, example four. Ephesians chapter two. I love this. Ephesians chapter two is a great grace passage, a great faith passage, a good gospel passage.

But most of the time when we read Ephesians chapter two, we skip down to verse 8. But listen to how it starts. Think about this from the perspective of two kingdoms. And you were dead in the trespasses and sins. which you once walked following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. Well, that's a bummer. Some of you think,

pastor, are you saying that I am a child of disobedience and a child of wrath? Uh-huh, that's what I'm saying. I'm saying when you are born, you are born into the enemy's army, into this present darkness, and by nature and nurture, the way you were born, and I was born with our desires and our full participation in the rebellion against the one true God that loves us. When we say, forget you, God, I do what I want with who I want, when I want. Then that makes us children of wrath. We don't talk about wrath much at church, all right, because you'll get triggered and you'll need a safe space and I'll get in trouble.

It's not real popular these days. We don't sing songs about the wrath of God, right? Your wrath, oh Lord. Burn me to a crisp. What? No, that's not what we do. This is the kingdom of this world. And thank God it doesn't start there.

Stop there. That's bad news. That's the diagnosis. And then here comes the cure. But God. Two of the most hope-filled words in all of the Bible. But God, here we go, good news. Being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us,

even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Do you see the change in citizenship there? You and I, on our own, were members of darkness. and we have been transferred as citizens of his heavenly kingdom, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace

in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus, for by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God, not a result of works so that no one may boast, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. in virtually every book and every chapter of the New Testament, you see this idea of two kingdoms,

which means this. We are at war. And if you were a follower of Jesus Christ, it means that you are not primarily a citizen of America. You are primarily a citizen of his kingdom. I'm not saying you're not a citizen of America. I'm saying it's not the primary thing that identifies you. You're not primarily identified by your race, by your color,

by your creed, you're not primarily identified by your political party or your ideology about this, that and the other, that you are primarily identified by the fact that Jesus Christ is your king. And we were at war. We are at war. And so how do you respond? In Christian history, there's been three primary responses. I think two are bad, one are good. I think two and a half are bad.

I think a half of one is good. Some people respond by fleeing. You just run away. You're like, yep, you're right, Pastor. This world is evil and dark and gross, and I ain't getting any of it on me, so I'm out of here. And sometimes it sounds real sexy, like the monastic life. Just me and my Bible and some herbal tea, and I'm going to go live in a monastery and get away from this world, okay? Some people do like the Amish, right?

The Amish is like, forget this pagan world, we're going to go create our own little heaven right here on earth. And we're just going to not be a part of any of it. Now let me ask you this. What impact are those people having on this plant? What impact are the Amish having for the sake of the kingdom of God? Butter and ice cream? Is that it? Listen.

And somebody at one of the earliest services is like, Pastor, you're going to offend them? How? They ain't listening? They don't even know I'm talking about it. They churning butter somewhere in Pennsylvania, right? Riding around on a horse. You know how many emails I've gotten from the Amish? That many.

And there's a version of this fleeing that I experienced like growing up. Okay, I told you, I didn't grow up in church, got saved at this can. They talked about Jesus a lot, and then I came home and began to get involved in this Southern Baptist church. And we almost had, the church leaders almost had this kind of same idea. Like the world, man, it's gross and it's nasty, and you're going to need a penicillin shot if you get too close to it. So come over here with us, and we will create our own little holy huddle.

Let's forward no more. Get out, all you pagans, all right? And so we created everything. We had our own places to shop. We had our own music. We had our own schools. We had everything our own. And so you couldn't go into this work.

You couldn't shop at Abercrac. Cranby and Fitch, why? They had naked people in their catalogs. That's the devil. So we had our own clothes. We had a shirt instead of saying Abercrombie and Fitch, it said a breadcrumb and fish. That's how we were going to show this world, man.

That's what I do right there, John 6, what? I had one that said it looked like a Budweiser shirt, except it said Bud Wise Up, and instead of King of Beers, it had King of Kings. Not one time ever did some dude come up to me and be like, you know, I was thinking about getting drunk. But I see your shirt, and I would like to surrender my life to the king of kings. We had our own music.

So y'all don't notice. Some of you got saved. You don't understand it. We had our own music. And so right after I got saved, and I was informed that my secular music was of the devil, like if you played it backwards, you go to hell or something like that. And so they gave me this chart. You remember this chart?

Remember the chart? You gave you this chart. And it was like, if you love guns and roses, then you will love Striper. And I listen to Striper. And I thought, these people never heard of Guns and Roses. man, I'm telling you, it ain't a same. My favorite was, if you love Run DMC, you'll love Carmen. Carmen was like a 50-year-old Italian guy that had one spoken word song, the champion.

I was like, how we, brother, have you not heard my Adidas? Anywho. So that's what my little group did, making no impact on this world. The problem is what Jesus prays in John 17. In his high priestly prayer, John 1714, he says, I have given them your word, and the world has hated them. because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world,

but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world, sanctify them in the truth, your word is truth, as you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. You can't change it and hide from it at the same time.

So I don't think we're supposed to flee. The other extreme, and this doesn't happen in like my fun little fundamentalist churches that I was around when I was growing up. This happens in like progressive liberal churches, most mainline denominations, and they just choose to follow. We're just going to go with the flow, man. Times are changing, and so we've got to change with the times. And so they just go with the flow. And ultimately what the fundamental decision you make, if you're just going to follow the pattern of this air, is there's what is and there's what ought to be.

and it is really, really hard to change to what is to what ought to be, to align what is to what ought to be. So then what you do is you just take the word of God and you change what ought to be and just match it up with what is. You come to the scriptures as if you have authority over it.

If you come to the scriptures with some scissors and a highlighter, then all you do is try to conform God into your image. That's what we do when we follow. That's what we do. Begin to look at God and be like, hold on, man.

How are you going to tell me, me how to do money. I know there's all this stuff in the Bible about generosity and debt, but you don't even have a debit card. What do you know about money? Okay? Your disciples are broke. They don't know about money or sex. God, do you mean to tell me in this ancient document you're going to give me some kind of misogynistic advice about husbands and wives and how to do? No, no, no. I do what I want with who I want. Listen to me. If you read the Bible and are not seriously offended by some of the things it tells us we should do, you should get a own person's Bible. Because surely the God of the universe knows how to run life better than we do.

I mean, it took you two tries at the eighth grade. Let's just be honest. What are you going to tell God? You can't even lick your own elbow when you're going to tell the creator of all things how to run the world. And every time I do that, somebody's like, I'm trying to lick their elbow. So what a lot of people do is they just go with the flow. They just go with the flow. Yeah. It's not the way to go to follow. So here's what happens. There's a whole generation of folks, and you reject the cultural mandate to subdue and cultivate,

to be fruitful and multiply. And you sit on the couch in your pajamas at your mama's house, getting super good at Fortnite, and a keyboard warrior just blogging about how the world ought to go and voting for people that just send you checks to do nothing. You do that. Now for everyone clapping. Or,

or you do money, you do power, you do success, you do status, just like this world says, and you care nothing for the things that Jesus cared for, like lost people and the alien and the widow and the orphan. But you go to church every other week so you think you and God are pretty good. Did I get everybody? Yeah. That's what happens. That's the tendency we have. You see, here's the thing.

If you're not, if you're a Christian, if you claim to be a Jesus, Jesus follower, and occasionally you don't feel a little bloody nose from the enemy. It could be because you're playing for his team. You're just following along with the course of the year. Jesus said it this way in Matthew 713, enter by the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many, for the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. So we can flee, I don't think we should do that.

we can follow it's not what god's called us to do option three is fight we fight now i get excited about fight words so there is a wrong way to fight there's a lot of people that fight in the name of jesus and do more harm than good because there's a wrong way to fight when we begin to fight like the world fights then that's not how we're supposed to fight according to jesus in john chapter 18 I can show you 50 places, but in John chapter 18, verse 33, Jesus is standing before Pontchus Pilate. And Pontchus thinks he has authority over Jesus, and Jesus is like, not a scooter, that is not how this works. And Pontius is asking him all these questions. So Pilate entered his headquarters again, and he called Jesus, and he said to Jesus, are you the king of the Jews?

And Jesus answered, do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me? And Pilate answered, am I a Jew, your own nation, and the chief priest? have delivered you over to me. What have you done? And look at Jesus' answer. Put on your kingdom lenses real quick. My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world,

my servants would have been fighting that I might not be delivered over to the Jews, but my kingdom is not of this world. And Pilate says, you're your king, and Jesus answered, you say that I am a king for this purpose. I was born, and for this purpose I have come into the world

to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice. Remember when Peter is in the Garden of Gassimony with Jesus and the soldiers come to take him? And Peter's like, not on my watch, pulls out his sword and chops off a dude's ear. Swing, misses his whole head, just barely gets the ear.

And Jesus, long story short, picks up the dude's ear, puts it on his head, and he's like, Peter, are you even being serious, man? What are you doing? Do you remember sword drills during disciples? No, it's not what we did. You live by the sword, you die by the sword, but have you not learned anything in the three years you were walking around with me? That's not how my kingdom works.

And we've got a whole bunch of Christians in the name of fighting for the kingdom, and there's ears laying all over the place, and Christians are doing more damage than good. You don't have the right to shout at people until you have a heart to cry with people. You see, we just fight differently. We fight differently. I've asked people last. All right, so you're saying Christians should not be involved in me? politics. That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying anybody called to serve in politics should obey

God's call and you should serve. I would remind you it was not supposed to be a career. It was supposed to be service. I think every Christian should read your Bible and vote accordingly. Paul never renounced his Roman citizenship, ever. He did call it bull scubilon as compared to knowing Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. And so I think there are two problems, two major problems when we fight like the world fights politically. Number one is if you put your hope in a broken people leading a broken system, it's always gonna be broken. If you're more concerned about who's in the White House

than who's going to heaven, you may not be a citizen of the kingdom of God. I'm not saying you shouldn't be concerned about who'd hold us the office. I'm just saying you gotta be more concerned about the Great Commission than this temporary place that we live. That's what I'm saying, man. The second one is this.

I know you don't know whether to clap or whatever. That's fine. Here's the one that's so scary these days. So many people today take their faith and it becomes a means to your political end. That you believe what you believe. You've got your political ideas. You've got your idea of what America should or shouldn't be about what's right and wrong. And then you go get the Bible or your faith or Jesus or your knowledge or your attendance at church

and then make that, try to use that as a means to your own political end. If you're doing that, I pray that the Lord would deliver us from that. Because I'm just telling you, if you begin to do that, you begin to try to use your faith as a means to your own political end, then Jesus is not your Lord. He's your lobbyist. And he's never signed up for that job. You can bow at him as king and Lord, or you can reject him as a crazy man.

But he does not work for you, not if he's your king. We work for him. You see, if I hadn't been offensive enough, let me just keep going. I like this, okay? I heard a pastor say this past week. He says, he says, if in your church, Ben Shapiro would feel more comfortable than LaCray, you got a problem. Now, if you don't know who those people are, God bless you.

Okay, now, all right, I'm just going to tell you, I love to watch the little things on YouTube or Ben Shapiro filet is a liberal, and then I go, to put the glasses on him. I'm like, boom, man, he's so smart, all right? And I don't know a Lucre song, okay, just because it's just not my jam. I'm more of like a Johnny Cash guy. That's just me. But hear me. Lecray is my brother in Jesus Christ, and the bond that bonds us is the blood of Jesus.

And if that is not infinitely greater than some kind of political affiliation, then you're doing it wrong. About 60 years ago, C.S. Lewis writes this book called The Screw Tate-Tape Letters. I dare you to read it. It's satire because he writes it like one demon talking to a junior demon on how to tempt Christians. And in that, he says this. So, you got to just in case you missed that part,

it's going to sound like he's saying everything the opposite because he is. Like he calls God the enemy. And the things that the demon says don't do, those are the things that we want to do. And here's what he says. About the general connection between Christianity and politics, our position, the demonic position, is more delicate. Certainly we do not want men to allow their Christian

to flow over into their political life, for the establishment of anything like a really just society would be a major disaster. On the other hand, we do want and want very much to make men treat Christianity as a means, preferably, of course, as a means to their own advancement.

But failing that, a means to anything, even a social justice. Do you see what he say? When you begin to try to use Jesus for your own political or your own individual needs, then you're treating him as if you are first, you are preeminent, and you are Lord. And if you're a believer in Jesus Christ,

what you're saying is Jesus is Lord. So how do we fight? Look, we fight, man. We fight. From the days of John the Baptist until today, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing and forceful men take hold of it. We are supposed to go to war,

but we don't fight like the world fights. Ephesians 6 says this, for we do not wrestle or fight against flesh and blood, against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil into heavenly places. Then he goes on to tell us how we put on the full armor of God to be ready to go to war, and there are two offensive weapons.

There is the word of God and the prayers of the saints, and we go to war. Tony Evans famously says this. Jesus didn't come to take sides, he came to take over. That's what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. And in today's world, this world, this enemy is trying to tear believers apart. I mean, listen, we live in this crazy world right now that says, okay, here are the options. Which one are you? Are you a woke Marxist or a racist nationalist?

Go ahead. And I go, nope. Not the only categories, bro. I am a bud-bought redeemed follower of Jesus Christ who came on a rescue mission to do for me what I could not do. and we do not bow down to the donkey, we don't bow down to the elephant, we bow down to the lion who was slain like a lamb to redeem his people. That's what we do, man. It's different. So how do we fight? It's all throughout the New Testament. If you go to Jesus' most famous sermon, the sermon on the Mount. The reason it's called that is because he went up on a mountain and he gave his sermon.

Matthew 5, 2, and Jesus opened his mouth and he taught them saying, here's where he starts. You've got to pay attention to this. He's going to start with the gospel. He says, blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. There's that kingdom language. And then so many people, I'm going to teach on this in like a month or two. So many people misunderstand the beatitudes. The beatitudes are not eight separate blessings, depending on your situation in life. The beatitudes is an invitation to surrender your life through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And the place that he starts is this. Blessed are you if you are poor in spirit, if you're spiritually bankrupt. And when you get to the place where you realize I can't do this on my own, I need someone to do for me what I can't do for me, you are perfectly positioned and the kingdom of heaven is right there in your grasp. And then when he finishes the beatitudes, his invitation to surrender to him as Lord, then all of the rest of the sermon on the mount is what the symptoms of the gospel-infected life looks like.

And so he talks about how we do money and marriage and relationships and prayer. And even when he's talking about prayer, he goes, when you pray, you pray like this, our father. That was radical. Not my will. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. God use me like a city on a hill, like salt in this world to make the things that are happening in heaven happen right here on this planet. Use me that way. And then he closes with this. The end of the sermon on the mountain is this, and build your life on the rock of this gospel. And if you build your house, if you build your life on any other thing. If you try to build your identity on a political party or some ideology or what you

want or money or how successful you're going to be, all of those things will come tumbling down because the storms are coming, but whoever builds their life on this gospel truth, you will prevail. That's what the sermon on the Mount is. In Colossians, this is all throughout the New Testament, by the way. Colossians 1.13 and 14. Paul says, he has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved son. Do you see the two kingdoms? In whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. And then all of the rest of the book of Colossians

is what does it look like after you have been transferred out of the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of light? And so he says, therefore, this is chapter 2, verse 6. Therefore, as you received Christ the Lord, so walk in him. In other words, if you've been run over by the grace train of the gospel of Jesus Christ, everything about your life should change.

The way you do money and forgiveness and marriage, all those things change. Rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith just as you were taught, abounding in Thanksgiving. See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit

according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world and not according to Christ. In other words, don't buy into the kingdom of this world because this enemy is trying to lie, to you. Stay rooted in the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. You get down to verse 14 and he says by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands, this He, Jesus set aside, nailing it to the cross. Jesus disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open

shame by triumphing over them in him. In other words, we don't fight for victory. We fight from victory. 21st century version, Jesus would say to the enemy, you want to fight? Fight me. Now, that's what Rip says in Yellowstone, but it's the same thing, okay? It should be into Proverbs. That's what he's saying, that Jesus has already won the war. Peter comes along. The followers of Jesus during Peter's lifetime are being persecuted because they don't flee and they don't follow, but they're fighting. And they're not fighting with swords the way that the world fights.

And he says this, in light of persecution, he says, but you, you are. a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession. Notice he starts with identity, not activity, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. That's that kingdom exchange. Once you were not a people, now you were God's people. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. And then he says, beloved, don't run by that word too fast. That's so important. Beloved, that's your identity if you're in Christ, that if we as believers could just be loved,

then we could love one another. That's who we are. Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles. That means your permanent address is not here, so quit acting like it. He says, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh which wage war against your soul.

Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable so that when they speak against you as evil doers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. That's his advice on how to fight. What does that mean? Listen, this is crazy. In Matthew chapter 16, Jesus takes the boys on a camping trip. Come on, we're going to Cessaria Philippa.

And when they heard this, they were like, do what? Cessaria Philippa was Sin City. There were prostitutes and sex gods, and there were some animal people stuff that's super shady. I ain't even going to say out loud makes you feel dirty. And they were sacrificing babies to idols. I mean, it was all the bad things you could ever. think of, it all happened right there. And Jesus is saying, that's where we're going. It's this huge metropolis. And he's got the boys together and he goes, all right, guys, what's the word on the

street? Who do people say that I am? And they're like, well, I'm a good moral teacher. Same thing they'd say today. And then he says, who do you say that I am? By the way, the answer to that question determines eternity for you. And Peter, you know, he's going to talk first. He's like, oh, I should say words. You were the Christ, the son of the living God. Jesus knows Peter. He's like, you did not come up with that on your own, bro. That was revealed to you by my father. By the way, we don't need new information. We need a divine revelation, and we got it in His Word.

And he says, you were the Christ, the son of the living God. And then Jesus says, I'm changing your name, Simon, to Petra, to Rocky. And upon this rock, upon the proclamation that I am the Christ, the son of the living God, I will build my movement, my ecclesia, my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. There was literally a cave in Cessorio, Philippi, and they thought it was the of hell like where the demons entered and exited the world. He says, you see that metropolis down there serving itself? It won't be able to stop this movement we're about to start. And can you imagine if you're one of the disciples? You're like, are you sure, man? We're nobody's from nowhere.

We don't even have enough money to pay taxes. We had to fish a gold piece out of a fish's mouth the other day. Us? And you fast forward 2,000 years. And whether you're sitting in San Pablo or Jessup or Union Correctional, it don't matter. Do you realize you are sitting in the fulfillment of a prophecy of Jesus Christ? Because if I take you back to Cessaria Philippi, guess what ain't there now? Cessaria Philippi, it's just rubble on rubble. And today, almost two billion people will gather all over the world, all kind of different music, all kind of different colors, all kind of different languages, proclaiming that Jesus Christ is Lord. That's how we fight. Do you realize we could do just a little bit, a little bit of history here? Do you realize that

about 250 years after Jesus dies and Paul and Peter and all the original guys, that the authority that said Jesus has to be crucified, Rome, the Roman Empire, about 250 years later, Rome declares itself a Christian nation. And you think, how in the world? How did these 12 guys, one of them didn't even make it, how did these 12 guys following a Jewish rabbi in Nowhereville take over the largest empire in the history of humanity? How'd they do it? Good music? First century Michael Olson riding around just hooking it up. Good preaching. You think one guy planted a church that took over Rome? Uh-uh. Here's how they did it. Number one, they for sure preach the gospel, no doubt about it, but not just in big events like this, day to day, friend to friend.

And then secondly, they lived the gospel. There were four ways that the early Christians lived that was so different than the kingdom of this world that it turned Rome upside down. And here are those four things. Number one is they were radically pro-life. In Rome, if you had a baby, you didn't want, regardless of the reason. whether they were special needs or you just didn't want a girl or whatever.

You would just take that baby, put it outside the city walls, and expose them, and you would be in no trouble for it. It was just the way the world worked then. And the Christians understood that they had been abandoned by this world, and our good and gracious Heavenly Father sent his son on a rescue mission to come

and at great expense to himself to take us as his own and adopt us into his family. And so Christians began to adopt all of these babies in the Roman. and empire. The second thing is that the early Christians in Rome had a radical view of marriage and sex. In the first century, can you imagine if you're a Christian talking to a Roman person about what you're supposed to do as a Christian husband? Because the Rome would be like,

hold on, man, hold on. What are you talking about, bro? You own her. She's your property. You sleep with whoever you want whenever. She can't do anything about it. And the Christian would be like, not, that's not what we do, do. That's not what we do. That I love her like Christ loved the church and I'm willing to lay my life down for her. And when I made a vow to her, it was her alone until Jesus came back or we were dead. That's what we do. And you don't get this to sleep with prostitutes, male or female. That's not how it works. You were bought at a price. You were to honor God with your body. That's what they taught. People thought they were crazy. Now, if you think about it, that sounds like two of the issues on the Republican ticket, does it not? Pro-family, pro-life.

The next two sound like things from the Democratic platform. The third thing, radical diversity. There was diversity in a church that nobody could get their mind around. There was Jew and Gentile, bond servant and master, male and female. All the categories that the world said you got to operate by, the church said that's not how we operate. That we were all equal at the foot of the cross. I'm telling you, even if you just look at the disciples that Jesus chose,

he chose Matthew a tax collector and Simon the Z. zealot, do you understand? The zealot thought that they were going to kill the Romans and Matthew was collecting taxes for them. Let me just put this into our context. It would be like Jesus walking around and saying, hey, you, the guy that leads BLM, you come with me, Sean Hannity, you come with me. You two are now brothers. Do you understand? And people saw this level of radical diversity that these people were bound together as brothers and sisters by the blood of Jesus. And every other political ideology was secondary to that. And then the four things, they took care of the poor.

They took care of the poor. A smallpox disease passed through Rome, and thousands and millions of people were fleeing to get away from it, and all the Christians come running in to take care of the people that had been abandoned. And Plenty the younger, I'm sure you read about him all the time, plenty of the younger said, these Christians take better care of our poor than we do. and this, this is how they fight. This is how they fight.

And so throughout the series, we're going to talk about how do we do money and how do we do power and how do we do work and how do we do forgiveness and how do we do sex and all of those kinds of things. That's how we fight. In Matthew chapter 28, Jesus has lived the perfect life, died on the cross, been buried, resurrected from the grave, appeared to 500 people, more than that, gathers about 120 people. of his disciples together, and then he gives us these marching orders. If you're a Baptist man, you know this. It's the Great Commission, but I want you to see the Great Commission with your kingdom lenses on. And Jesus came and said to them, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Why? Because he came and took it back. He came and he inflicted the mortal wound against the enemy. The enemy tried to bruise his heel, but he crushed his head. And from this day to that day, we're just waiting for the enemy to bleed out. there will come a day that Jesus will return and cast the enemy into a lake of fire forever and ever and ever, amen. And now he said, I, I took the keys of death. I took them down to Hades and I locked it up and I have put death to death.

All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Go therefore and number one, make disciples. You know what that means? Let's share the good news of the gospel with people so that they can bear the image of Christ. Make image bears. And who do we do that with? all people, all nations, all tribes, all tongues. In other words, be fruitful and multiply.

So when a Christian sees, be fruitful and multiply, that just doesn't mean you've got to have a bunch of babies. What that means is you go invite a whole bunch of people into the family of God as sons and daughters. That's how we fight. Here's how CS Lewis says. Enemy occupied territory. That's what this world is.

Christianity is the story of how the right, king has landed, you might say landed in disguise and is calling us to take part in a great campaign of sabotage. My question to you, church, is this. What kingdom are you serving? What kingdom are you serving? Is Jesus your king? Do you realize the first century confession of faith was not, I believe? The first century confession of faith is Jesus is Lord. Is He Lord of your life? There have been dozens and dozens and dozens of people at all of our campuses all weekend long. And we're And for the very first time they have admitted it. I'm a sinner in need of a Savior.

I believe that when Christ died on the cross, somehow that counted for me. And they have confessed Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. I want to give you that opportunity right now. To be transferred from the kingdom of darkness where the enemy wants to steal, kill, and destroy you. And to be transferred and adopted into the kingdom of light as a co-air with Jesus, and adopted son or daughter into the kingdom. And the king of the universe happens to be your heavenly father. Would you bow your heads?

Would you close your eyes? And if you would say that's me, for the very first time, I am ready to surrender my life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, then right now would you lift your hand where you are and say, here I am, God, save me, save me. Our good and gracious Heavenly Father, God, we thank you when we praise you that it's not a hand in the air that saves us. It's the resurrected Christ that saves us. God, I thank you that you did not come to take sides. You came and you take over. Lord, I pray that every single one of us would repent, whether we're fleeing or fleeing or

following or fighting the wrong way, but we would refocus on you, the author and the perfector of our faith. And we would go out from this place and we would walk. We would live in a manner worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ and that you would use us to turn this world upside down. And God, I thank you that even this day, there is salvation in your house for the men, the women, the students that have claimed Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. We prayed in Jesus' name. Amen. Church, did you please stand as we close? we respond to the gospel. And so we're going to pray.

And I want to invite you to pray like your dad's the king of the universe because he is. And so whatever you got going on, come and bring it to him. And he's Lord of all of our life, including our resources. And so we gladly, with the spirit of worship, bring to him our first and best. And I want you to know this too. We're about to sing, but we need to sing like we know what we have been saved into. that one day, one day, and now it's an hour and a half closer than it was when you got here, that Jesus is going to return, and he's going to call us unto himself,

and he's saving us into his kingdom. The Bible says it this way, and then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more, and I saw the holy city, a new Jerusalem coming down, out of heaven from God prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people,

and God himself will be with them as their God. And he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. and he who was seated on the throne said, Behold, I am making all things new. Also, he said, write this down,

for these words are trustworthy and true. And he said to me, it is done. I am the alpha, the omega, the beginning, the end, to the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage. I will be His God and he will be my son. Church, let's respond like we've been saved. that that came to let's go.