The Reality of the Kingdom of God

amen you can be seated prayer got to me um this time we'll go ahead and dismiss our kids to their little District classroom and U go go learn go learn about Jesus um and for the rest of us go ahead and open up your Bibles Luke Chapter um 17 is where we're going to be Luke 17 and before we get to that I I want to also just Echo what my wife mother of my children just shared with us um about happy Mother's Day and um what I like to say on Mother's Day is um kind of sharing a little bit of an example of

something that a friend of mine shared a few weeks ago is that I think lots of times we want life to kind of be at peace but we kind of think of that as being something that's in the middle as if it's kind of like status quo like we don't you know we're not necessarily experiencing the mountain M or the valley we just want it to be just normal um and in the middle but at the same time like that's not what I believe Human Experience really is I think the Human Experience is experiencing a time to dance and a time to mourn a time

to laugh and a time to cry but that could be one hour apart from each other and so what we really experience more so is taking those two realities and kind of folding them and and putting a pencil through them and like that is the human experience is that you might be on one end experiencing the highest of Joys and then at the same time experiencing the deepest of sorrow and so for the mothers in the room who feel that for the women in the room who feel that I just want you I just want to say we see you and we appreciate you in

what you experience and what you walk through and go through on a daily basis um and the remedy for that is not just flowers and chocolate but we did provide flowers and chocolate for you and so feel free to grab those um on the way out as just a very small token of just our appreciation for mothers um and how much that we love you and care for you um and just thank you for for all that you do and so that's a small gift for you Luke 17 20 through 37 is what we're going to be looking at today and what we're going to

be talking about is the kingdom of God um it's Al synonymous with the kingdom of heaven so often times the Bible kind of uses those two phrases um in conjunction with one another but that's what we're going to be talking about is this reality of what is the kingdom of God also a little bit of what it's not and why is it important for us to know what it is um since we are considered citizens of the kingdom of God and so Luke 17 where we're at in the passage as I mentioned last week Jesus has turned his face towards Jerusalem and he is making

his way there so he's leaving kind of the northern region of Galilee he's on his way South he's kind of in between Samaria and Galilee as he's working his way towards Jerusalem he's entering into towns and Villages he entered in last week to an unnamed Town unnamed Village that was full of lepers and so we believe that that was a leprous community or colony where they would gather together because they were considered unclean and unsafe to be around they're not allowed to be in the congregation they're not allowed to be in the society or the community of those around them Jesus entered into that he

healed 10 lepers sent them to the priest to go show themselves one of them realizes that the actual priest already met with them he turns around he comes back to Jesus and Jesus tells him that his faith has made him well and so we we saw that last week in the midst of that context there are some Pharisees again a crowd that's following Jesus Jesus because at this point he is a celebrity if you will um on the scene of Galilee and the regions around it and so there's people following him there's people keeping a close tab on what he's doing what he's saying what

what he's doing in these cities kind of this cult following that he's created for himself and so these Pharisees are still looking for a reason looking for something to find something to stump him in in order to bring um official charges against him in order to actually arrest him and bring him in uh to to get rid of him really because again what they're seeing in him is combating what they've created for themselves and what they're comfortable in for themselves and so that's one of the reasons why these Pharisees bring up the kingdom of God because again if it doesn't match up with what they've

said is the kingdom of God then that gives them reason to get rid of Jesus and so verse 20 and 21 you see this interaction this small interaction between Jesus and the Pharisees where it says being asked by the Pharisees other translations actually use that as being demanded by the Pharisees um the Pharisees asked him when the kingdom of God would come and he answered them the kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed now he's specifically saying that to these Pharisees because they've created their own way in which the kingdom of God would be observed they've got things they're looking

for that would allow them to determine yes this is the kingdom of God yes this is the king that we are expecting to come sit on the throne and rule over the kingdom that we have created for ourselves so Jesus kind of right out of the gate is already kind of punching them in the face with the the kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed nor will they say look here it is or there for behold the kingdom of God is in the midst of you now I titled this message the reality of the kingdom of God because there is

what it is and there is also what it is not and again I think that matters for us because we're not just strangers and Aliens as I'll show you here in a moment in our world but we are citizens in the kingdom of God if we believe in Jesus if we're under the banner of the Gospel if we've been saved by him then we belong to the kingdom of God so we need to know what it is and that's why certain passages like Ephesians 2 says this therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh called the uncircumcision by what is called the

circumcision that's just a fancy way of saying you're considered Unholy by those who consider themselves to be holy which is made in the flesh by hands remember that you were at that time separated from Christ you were alienated from the Commonwealth of Israel and You Were Strangers to the covenants of Promise having no hope and without God in the world but now Christ or in Christ Jesus you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ and so essentially We Were Strangers we were aliens we were separated from Christ we were separated from God we were not in the family

of God we were not among the people of God we were not under the rule of God and in Christ Jesus he brings us near so that he continues on to say down in verse 18 of Ephesians 2 for through him we now have access in one Spirit to the father so that you are no longer strangers and Aliens but you are fellow citizens with the Saints and members of the household of God built on the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Christ Jesus himself being the Cornerstone in whom the whole structure the whole Kingdom being joined together grows into a holy Temple in the

Lord in him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the spirit so that that's the work of the Gospel in our lives that's what the work of the Gospel is doing is it is making strangers and Aliens fellow citizens of Christ in the kingdom of God where we are living and um and and and um going about our lives in the midst of the world around us we are fellow citizens with the Saints and members of the household of God this is what we are going to be talking about and Diving deeper into today is what does that fun

functionally mean for us because sometimes people will say well I'm saved I'm a citizen of heaven and so this world is not my problem anymore so I'm just going to kind of bide my time I'm GNA wait out my life and my existence and I'm going to eventually go to my true Kingdom which is heaven and I'm GNA when I get there I'm going to rule and Reign alongside Christ coair with him I've got a great inheritance that's coming and that's where peace will be ultimate and it'll be wonderful and beautiful again that's part of it but the Kingdom of Heaven in our midst Christ

coming to establish his kingdom here also plays a part in what he expects of us and what we are to do once he brings us into that Kingdom because again it is an advancement of the Kingdom so it's not just something that gets to you and stops with you but it then employs you to continue advancing the same thing when you look throughout history um and so many different types of kings and what they have established In Their Kingdoms well first of all they were not omnipresent they can't be everywhere at all times and so how did a king Rule and Reign well what he

would do was he would Rule and Reign by his decree by his will by his words and so he would have Heralds that would go out to the local areas of the kingdom and they would establish whatever the will of the King was so even though he wasn't present his rule was present there and so that's kind of what Jesus does with us now we know he's omnipresent through the work of the Holy Spirit he's always with us he's always establishing his kingdom but he uses us as the Heralds to be able to go and advance that Kingdom out and we do it in the

exact same way that Jesus established it again the kingdom of God was the central theme of Jesus's teaching you see this right out of the gate in Mark 1:15 it says the time time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand repent and believe in the Gospel Matthew 4:17 Echoes this repent for the kingdom of God is at Hand Luke 4:43 further adds confirmation when Jesus says I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well for I was sent for this purpose now Jesus being sent for that purpose to come and Proclaim these wonderful truths

about the kingdom of of God is literally the modotto and example for us doing the exact same thing for us being these Heralds that's why first Peter 29-10 puts it this way who are we in the kingdom of God you are a chosen race a royal priesthood a holy nation a people for his own possession that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of Darkness Into His Marvelous Light so if you if you know anything about Colossians 1 you know at the end of it it says that that Christ is transferring us from the domain of Darkness to the kingdom of

the Beloved son so that was his purpose of coming to the world his purpose was coming to establish his kingdom here by transferring us from the domain of Darkness into the kingdom of the Beloved son so that he is making us a chosen race a royal priesthood a holy nation a people for his own possession who then are sent back into the domain of Darkness to proclaim the excellencies so that we continue doing the exact same thing so what I want to do in working through what Jesus is about to talk about with his disciples so he's kind of turning his attention he answered the

Pharisees with literally two statements now he's going to start talking to his disciples about those statements but he's going to let them in a little bit more than he did with the Pharisees of what kind of the culture of this kingdom is that he's establishing on Earth because what we believe the kingdom of God is here is the rule and reign of Christ via the church as it spreads throughout local communities all around the world that's how he's establishing his kingdom when it comes here and so if I were to tell you that there was going to be this miraculous event um in the state

of Indiana if I were to say where do you think that miraculous event is going to take place I would probably answer it's going to take place on the circle downtown because it's literally the center point of all of Indiana that's why they chose to put the city there um but not only that it's it's kind of where influence flows out so like everything starts there and then heads out that's why if there's going to be any type of protest it's going to happen there when Jesus ushers in the kingdom of God he doesn't do it that way he would have started in Jerusalem with

that he would have come and and preached the gospel there but instead he goes out to Galilee he goes out to an area that is considered dark they consider it when you look into the first um Century in in history this is like the Borderlands of of the region of Israel and so it's kind of like not all Jewish it's not all Gentile it's got a lot of mixture in between it um actually the area that he started with scriptures talk about as being Zebulon which was a piece of land or ground that Solomon once had and sold it and literally nicknamed it worthless like

that's where Jesus goes to start ushering in the kingdom of God he goes to where it's considered the most dark and then plants the gospel plants himself and says I'm bringing light as the light of the world into the darkness because again this is what he is wanting to ultimately establish for us that's where the light of the world lights the torch of his new kingdom and what exactly is this kingdom of God that's what I want to ask this first of all it's not a merely Physical Realm all right now we know that like the world is not just stuff um there's there's spiritual

things spiritual components spiritual warfare that's happening it's not just a Physical Realm but it's the spiritual realm of God it's not merely just physical with like a Southern and Northern border like America that's why Jesus says in John 18:36 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 from this world so what he's saying is I'm not adopting anything that's already here but rather I'm ushering in a whole new thing I'm ushering in a new kingdom with a new culture

with a new design with a new way of living and because again he is the truth the way and the life and it's the only way that people can get to the father and so what are the experiences of the present reality in the future hope of this Kingdom well for one it reveals what is in the darkness when Jesus shows up and he says I'm the light of the world and he says that I'm coming into the darkness when he preaches and he says the kingdom of God is in your midst it reveals what that current kingdom is like it reveals the sin that

is there that's why again I believe he opens up with repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand stop living the way you're living and live the way that I am teaching you to live and again he's going to provide all that for us with the grace and the mercy that he gives us in order to live it out to walk in step with the spirit but he does tell us that the way we are living is wrong and of course in our current culture and Society we can't do that right we can't tell other people the way you're living is wrong the way

you're working out your life the way you're thinking your your psyche all those things you're off like because now it's considered hate crime or hate speech or whatever you want to fill in the blank with it and part of that is because of literally how we've structured our society how we've structured even the United States the United States in the Declaration of Independence puts it this way there's a clause in there it says we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights now that sounds good right like that sounds good

it sounds like something that we should hold to but the reality is is that if you continue on with it that among these are life liberty and the pursuit of happiness it only works in life liberty and happiness if we are dependent upon the Creator who gave us the unable rights but because it's the Declaration of Independence we have declared ourselves independent from our creator and therefore now our pursuit of what we believe is life liberty and happiness is going to be distorted and perverted all across the map and so we have an issue in our culture where we are trying to connect ourselves as

the church we are trying to connect ourselves to our creation and let our creator dictate for us what actually leads to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness that's what we want to pursue and that's what Jesus is ushering in with his kingdom is I'm showing you what is life and what is liberty and what is truly happiness when it comes to Joy regardless of your situation but if you find yourself independent from this to where you're not in the kingdom of God but you're in the domain of Darkness and you're seeking out life liberty and happiness then you're going to continue running and running

and running and realizing that all of the things that you're running after are not leading to life liberty and happiness and so keep Reinventing keep trying new things keep pushing the boundaries keep um Reinventing what a woman is keep Reinventing what a man is keep Reinventing what sexual Revolution is keep Reinventing all of these things and changing them hoping that something will eventually bring satisfaction for us and the reality is we know is it's not going to work because God has a way of thinking when it comes to how sex is designed how women are designed how men are designed how relationships are designed how

all of those things are designed so that when we live out his design the kingdom that is established is one that has life and Liberty and happiness and joy and peace and flourishment and fruit like all all of that flows out when it is in connection dependent upon our creator we need that and so those are some of the problems that we have in our current Society is that there is this contesting to the kingdom of God that comes we don't want it and therefore they're at war against it they're at war against it and that's just our reality when when the kingdom of God

is coming and it's pushing against the current culture clment and it's saying that what you're doing is wrong and that you need to repent of it well there's only two ways to accept that you either accept it and say I have eyes to see and ears to hear and you're right I need to stop doing this this hasn't been working and so I want to trust and believe in the gospel I want to trust in the way the truth and the life of Jesus Christ I want to see how he has things to be planned out and I want to walk in that and I

want to work through that and I want to be transformed into that and I want that to bring life liberty and happiness for me if we don't have eyes to see that and ears to hear that all we're hearing is someone external coming in and saying hey you're wrong and you're dying well hold up a second who are you to tell me that I can't do this who are you to Define for me how I should live who are you well now you're a bigot you're narrow-minded you're hateful because you're not accepting me of who I am no what our aim is is to actually

get to you so that what we accept is who God's designed you to be and created you to be and the only thing that ever gets you back to that is the gospel so I'm not accepting who you are when I find you what I'm accepting is who God makes you into when he transforms you with the work of the Gospel in your life that's what we're after like the the I don't know if this a word but I'm going to use it the damnest thing we can do for someone is to meet them see that they're out of step and out of line with

the way the truth and life and to say I I love you and I'm not going to tell you that you're wrong I'm going to let you keep living that doing that working that out in your life but I love you I'm for you I hope things work out I hope you come to know Jesus at some point but I'm not going to tell you that what you're doing is wrong what we're actually saying is you're dying you're going to hell and I'm going to love you on the way there that's not what the kingdom of God is creating in a culture the kingdom of

God is telling us just as Jesus told us you're wrong you're wrong and you need Jesus you need forgiveness of your sins against your Creator and thank God God that he told us that he intervened like thank God that he came to us and He sent Jesus to proclaim the excellencies of his kingdom to tell us to repent to stop and to trust his good grace and his mercy and his design for our lives so that we actually begin the path of life liberty and happiness joy and so Jesus answered them the kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed nor

will they say look here it is or there for behold the kingdom of God is in the midst of you he's telling them they can't observe it in a way in which they've designed it and constructed it and worked it out for themselves because at the end of the day all the Jews were really trying to figure out they love the religious system that they've created and adapting the law and adding to it they love the culture that they've created and allowing them to have the greatest seats in the synagogues and having all the pleasures of the world they love love all those things they

love the tight-knit community that they have among the Pharisees I mean they have some issues with the Sadducees but that's neither here nor there but they they they love what they've created the issue for them is that they were still not powerful enough to have it all to themselves because they were still being oppressed by the Roman Empire so for them they saw it as another Exodus 2.0 they need a king to come fight their battles for them because again they're they're the clergy of the day they're the they're the religious lead leaders of the day they don't fight Wars they don't do those kinds

of things they sit in the best seats they live in the life of comfort they just build their wealth that's what they're focused on and they want just the people to praise them for that but they're not going to stand up against the Roman Empire they're not going to fight their own battles so God send your Messiah send your king he's going to come take his throne he's going to put the Army together so that he is the king of the Jews and then conquers to become the king of all Nations that's what the Jews were looking for so when they ask that question when

is he coming they're waiting to see what Jesus's answer is going to be and Jesus does not give them the answer that they were looking for so then he turns his attention to the disciples as he turns his attention to us in this room he said to the disciples the days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the son of man and you will not see it and they will say to you now he's kind of referencing the Pharisees look there or look here he says do not go out or follow them for as the lightning flashes and lights

up the sky from one side to the other so will the son of man be in his day but first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation so Jesus is trying to allow his disciples to see that hey in this Kingdom because this kingdom is going to be contested by all the kingdoms that are around it there's going to come a day where you're going to you're going to be weary and you're going to long for the day of jesus' return can we just see when that day is coming when is the the kingdom ultimately going to be consummated in the

end when can we no longer be in this contesting and at War when can we be uncontested and at peace like when will that day come and there and so there's going to be a time where he says you're going to ask of that and there are going to be people who come in and try to tempt you by saying oh here's the kingdom here's the actual King here's the actual Messiah I mean you could just do a Google Search right now and just say like how many Messiah claims have there been and there I mean there's hundreds of Messiah claims over the last 2,000

years some that are crazy I remember sharing a message this would last year at some point where we talked about all of the wild claims of messiahship that are out there um and so he says just at the end of the day um don't listen to any of them don't listen to any of them for as lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other so will the son of man in his day um you realize lightning can still not be predicted we we know a storm can come but nobody can figure out when a lightning will start like they know

the concept and like the equations and the math behind like how the I don't know I'm not going to go there but electrons and whatever start working um but they still can't predict like you can't say watch over here here's where it's going to happen he says like the son of man returning is going to be like that like you're not going to know you're not going to be able to predict it I mean and I've mentioned this before there was 88 re there was a book titled 88 reasons why Jesus is returning in 1988 didn't work again now if you want to sell a

book I mean you'll make a lot of money if you want to come out with 25 reasons why it's coming back in 2025 I'm telling you it will jump and you'll make a lot of money now you'll be a liar and you'll need to be held accountable for that but people are like obsessed with this reality of when Christ is going to return When are the end of times going to be ushered in just if if you have that Knack then just read Daniel read reev ation read those things and at the end of it you're still not going to know when because he's going

to come like a thief in the night or in this perspective like lightning in the W in the air you don't know you're never going to know stop trying to figure out and like okay are tanks really what this is saying in Revelation were these helicopters being these flying locusts like don't all right I don't know if my father watches this but he loves that stuff like loves that stuff he's like all in on it like every time I go back to Nashville and I'm sitting down talking with him he's likey I got a show you need to watch like you need to see this

like what's going on over here this is pointing to this and I mean it's like those pictures where you got like all the red string attaching all the things it's like he's that kind of conspiracy theorist type of dude and and it's like if someone would have figured it out I mean I think my dad would have figured it out by this point when Christ is returning but he has no idea but then he says he first must be he must experience suffering many things and be rejected by this generation so Jesus comes and he ushers in the kingdom of God but he says they're

going to reject it and they're going to kill him for it why should you expect anything different so you're going to go through some suffering and there's going to be a moment where you're longing for that day to come because you want this to be done and over with but he says you got work to do though you're my Heralds that are going to go out and you're going to have a reward for your work that's going to I mean it's it's eternity with me like you're going to be hanging out ruling and reigning with me Romans 8 say you're going to be coair with

Christ like that's a pretty good reward for trusting and following Jesus and advancing the kingdom of God and preaching and proclaiming the excellencies of him all throughout the lands and so then he kind of gives them this idea of of the kingdom of God being at hand what the culture is experiencing in the moment and what you can kind of have a warning for in verses 26 through 32 here's what he says just as it was in the days of Noah so will it be in the days of the son of man they were eating and drinking and they were marrying and being given in

marriage until the day when Noah entered the Ark and the flood came and destroyed them all it's basically saying Noah knew what was coming because God told him Noah warned others but they didn't listen and then they went on with their lives and then judgment came while they were eating and drinking and giving in marriage and just living their lives judgment came and and that they were destroyed they died that's reality kingdom of God is at hand we are to go and tell people if they reject it and they go on living their life this is what their reality is going to be death will

come likewise just as it was in the days of lot they were eating and drinking buying and selling planting and building but on the day when lot went out from Sodom fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all so will it be on the day when the son of man is revealed on that day let the one who is in the H on the hous toop with his Goods in the house not come down to take them away and likewise let the one who is in the field not turn back remember Lot's wife so the warning here that Jesus is giving to his

disciples to also give to those that they go out and Herald the news is that here's the assurance and the true reality is there is a day coming when Jesus comes back to consummate the kingdom to complete the kingdom to close the door to the kingdom you were to go warn everybody that hey if you don't repent of your sins and Trust and Believe In Jesus then this is your reality you're going to go on planting and building and living your life and getting married and having kids and doing all the things but if you don't repent and believe in Jesus and trust in Jesus

and and receive forgiveness from him then he's going to show up and he's going to close the door and fire is going to fall judgment's going to come from Heaven they're going to die and spend eternity in hell no that's the reality what you also want to make sure is that you're not putting all your eggs in the basket of what you're building and planting in your life so he says just like the one who is on his Housetop I don't know why he's on his Housetop um but the one who's on the housetop who has Goods in the house when you see the son

of man appear if you run to your stuff and your materials and you're like I got to bring it all with me all that's revealing is you don't care about the son of man returning you care about the preservation of your stuff and your materials and life that you built for yourself so it's showing it's revealing that that's still what I care about more than I care about the Son of God returning I treasure treasure more than the one who gave me the treasure CH Christ himself and that's why he says again remember Lot's wife and so sometimes we we we got to do a

little bit of work Lot's wife um because sometimes people believe man I mean all she did was just turn around like how how ruthless was God but the reality was is like Sodom and gomorra was a pretty rough place to be um I mean we say well it's like Vegas um no it's like everywhere it's it's all of America okay they just love stuff they love themselves they love gratifying the desires of their flesh and so it doesn't matter what you feel in the blank of what that look looks like that's what they cared about Lot's wife is one who cared about and loved her

Pleasures her stuff her materials so that when they're leaving and he's dragging her with him hoping that she'll turn and see the grace that God is providing for them her heart is still there and she turns lamenting what she's losing versus having joy in what she's gaining and realizes that that brings judgment on her and so God was not cruel to turn her into a pillar of salt they're saying don't be like Lot's wife don't care more about what God is saving you from care more about the fact that God is saving you care more about the fact that God is pursuing you that God

is saving you and forgiving you and allowing you the opportunity to repent of that and come into his kingdom his household of God and that's why I believe Matthew 19 23- 24 puts it this way only with difficulty will a rich person enter the Kingdom of Heaven again I tell you it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God like it's because we are designed to treasure we are designed to worship we are designed to to to not be our own Kings but rather to give Glory glory to a

King to rather give worship and praise to something like that is our literal W like hard wiring and so what I mean by that is is there's no there's nothing in us whether fallen or redeemed that is designed to to just receive Glory we are designed to express and treasure something something else we are designed to long for to be hungry for to be thirsty for we are designed to go out and get something that provides and the way God designed the whole thing to function is that we receive all of that from our King from our creator that we are in relationship with him

that we are thankful for everything that he has provided for us that he is our King but when we see what he is given to us Garden of Eden the world relationships spouses children when we see the things that he's given to us if we Declaration of Independence if we um set ourselves apart from him or or um cut ourselves off from him and we focus on the material if we focus on what he gave us the gift and we start worshiping it that's where we fall because now instead of ascribing praise and honor and worship to the god of the Kingdom we are now

ascribing praise and honor and worship to the kingdom rather than him that is sin that is missing the mark that is what all of humanity is guilty of and this Kingdom that Christ is ushering in for us is reversing that curse so that we are able to turn our eyes from the kingdom from the stuff or from the world and turn our eyes back to Christ being the king and and the ruler over our lives so that when we serve him and worship him we are then able to Steward and properly manage all of the relationships all of the stuff so that we're not longing

for hungering for thirsting for those things but we're back into relationship with God where we long for Hunger for thirst for for him and then it allows us to actually manage these things without abusing those things that ushers in actual life liberty and peace on the earth that's the culture of this Kingdom that we have established if you if you don't have God that everything points to and you only have the kingdom that's why we kill each other right because you're now threatening my kingdom that I'm building here you're threatening my happiness you're threaten in my life and my Liberty and so I got to

have more than you in order to have a better position here and so we that's why we ruin friendships that's why we ruin marriages that's why we ruin um our our budgets that's why we that's why we enter into debt I mean that's so many things are distorted and perverted and we just keep digging deeper into it because again we were designed to get satisfaction out of it but we're trying to get it here instead of up here and so this Kingdom that he is bringing and ushering in for us is fixing our situation but it is a new kingdom that he's cultivating amongst the

kingdoms of this world and I think that's where we have to come to a reality of where our heart is where our heart is that's why we say at the district church we treasure Christ we treasure Jesus and we help others follow him like we treasure Jesus because what our tendency is in a fallen nature is to treasure treasure is to treasure stuff is to treasure people is to treasure uh relationships to treasure career to treasure building your kingdom that's never going to go well that's what the Bible tells us that's pillar of salt stuff we want to get back to Treasure measuring Jesus so

that we then are able to establish and build out the kingdom that he is ushering in that is actually leading to peace Walking In step of the spirit and I think that's why um he finishes out with this in verse 33 whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it whoever seeks to preserve their Kingdom will not only lose their Kingdom because you can't take with you after but you then lose everything including your life when you go onto an eternal death but whoever loses his life willing to give this up will actually keep it for eternity that's why there's the the Jim Elliott quote

he is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose Jesus says I tell you in that night there will be two in one bed one will be taken and the other left there will be two women grinding together one will be taken and the other left and they said to him where Lord he said to them where the corpse is there the vultures will gather weird way to cap it off here but he says in that day there's going to be some Mass confusion happening where there will be two people in a field one repented the other

didn't they're gone there will be two Wom women working one will go and the other will still be here where the corpse is there the vultures will gather is a picture of there will come death to one the other goes on to life there will be death to one and all this left for them is for the birds to Circle and to come down and feast what is the culture of the kingdom of God what he's desiging building amongst us in order to go out and help others is to love him first and then love others like that's the I mean that's the great commandment

right love God and love others that's Mark 1 or Mark 12 29-31 it comes from Deuteronomy 65 and Leviticus 1918 this is where we establish the mission for our church which again is to treasure Jesus which is the loving God peace and to help others follow him which is the loving others peace our culture outside says love yourself and hate others who disagree with you but we say commit cultural blasphemy and live out the culture of the kingdom of God by loving God and loving others by denying yourself and loving others who disagree with you we got to let them know we got to let

them know and that's why like evangelism is such a push for our church when it comes to intentional discipleship that in increases evangelism we can't just focus on the intentional discipleship piece because if we do then we're kind of like the Pharisees who are just building our kingdom and we're not going out and seeing the reality that there are others who are in need of Jesus transferring them from the domain of Darkness into the kingdom of the Beloved son we need to see that and go to them and tell them in love they're not all going to receive us with open arms there's going to

be some who will probably cuss you out when we do the the um walking the neighborhood on June 8th and we look for opportunities to share the gospel on that day there might be some people who are like are you an affirming Church what's your Doctrine what's your denomination what your and they might cuss you out in the moment I don't know it might happen it's happened to me it just it might happen and that's okay again his kingdom is not of this world we should expect there to be people who contest it and are at war against it but there might be someone on

that day that God has been working on who's opening up their heart who's regenerating them that when we preach and proclaim the gospel to them they repent and they believe and trust in Jesus Christ and they will be eternally grateful for you for the rest of your life I mean I still every time I say it I always send a text to Clint Lamberth who was in fifth grade who shared the gospel with like thank you thank you like we're looking for that we're looking for that we are the Heralds on behalf of the king establishing his Rule and reign in their hearts so that

they treasure him and not their stuff let's pray to Father we thank you so much for your good news to us we thank you that you are a good King a benevolent King a righteous King we thank you that you did not leave us to our devices thank you that you did not leave us um just wowing in the domain of Darkness but that you pursued us that you came out of Heaven into our world into our domain of darkness and you came to Proclaim your kingdom you came to Proclaim your good news in offering forgiveness to Sinners because of your life your death your

Resurrection you lived the life that we could not live you died the death that we deserved and you Rose three days later guaranteeing for us that that your father was satisfied with your payment on our behalf so you brought them back to life and that also allows you to give us new life in you and we believe and trust in you so we thank you God for what you have done we pray amen as we come to this time of communion if you go ahead and stand Jesus ushered in his kingdom again opposite of what the Jews expected they expected him to show up like

he's going to the second time but instead he showed up not in Jerusalem at the center piece of civilization in their little kingdom that they had but he showed up in what kind of refer to as like New Town Indiana if you've never been there it's like a population 600 people the gas station is also the post office there's like a Distillery there The Distillery tried giving out free hand sanitizer back during covid time but high schoolers were drinking it so they had to stop like it's just a place that's a little dark like that's where Jesus would go first and say doesn't make sense

but that's where I'm going to start my kingdom they didn't expect that he came in a little town like Bethlehem and then when he started his ministry he went out to literally a place nicknamed worthless and because of his contested Ministry they killed him for it now Jesus playing chess with them didn't realize that them killing him is actually the thing that allows him to forgive them allows him to actually serve the penalty on their behalf and that's why from the cross he says father forgive them for they don't know what they are doing they don't know what they're doing they're sinful and they need

their eyes open if we've been living to build our own kingdom and not treasuring Jesus instead if we're kind of like Lot's wife and we constantly just keep looking back well this it's this it's this and we're not just treasuring Jesus then again from the cross him breaking his body and shedding his blood he's looking out at you and he's saying father forgive them forgive them if you believe that if you believe that what he accomplished for us on the cross is to forgive you of your sins and to bring you into the kingdom of God and to make you a child of his father

that's what makes you a citizen that's what makes you a saint that's what makes you a Christian trusting and believing in the work that Jesus did if you believe that we invite you to come down grab the elements bring them back to your seat and we will partake together