Being Kingdom Conscious- (Doug Batchelor) AmazingFacts

I want to welcome again any who may be visiting based on the traffic yesterday afternoon there are a lot of people on the road we know that some of our folks are gone for the weekend but we also know there are others in the neighborhood and we're just glad that you chose to come in and worship with a Granite Bay church today we hope that you meet all of our friendly people and you don't meet and even aren't friendly in the girl our message today is dealing with Kingdom consciousness being aware of the kingdom thinking about the kingdom now this is very very important because when Jesus came the first time because his people did not understand the nature of the kingdom they were not ready to receive him when he came the first time the devil has not changed his tactics and I expect that there may be a similar problem because many in the church not to mention those in the world do not understand the nature of the kingdom of God many will not be ready to receive him when he comes so we're gonna talk a little bit about what it means to be Kingdom conscious to be thinking about understand what it means to have both membership in the spiritual and the physical kingdom of God now there's a verse I'd like to begin with and an interesting story Matthew chapter 16 verse 19 jesus said I will give to you the keys of the kingdom of heaven now was he just saying this to the apostles was he saying this to every believer what you'll bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you will loose on earth will be loosed in heaven the keys of the kingdom we were visiting this week with a friend who had an interesting experience I'm not going to tell you his real name I told him I was going to share this story and he asked me to change the names to protect the guilty we're gonna call him Wilbur Wilbur went to Montana to visit his brother and his sister-in-law and in the course of events his plane was delayed and into you know traveling all night long and bags didn't come and had a whole disaster getting so it was very tired the next day his brother said I've got to stop at the dentist office the dentist office was in this large mall in Missoula Montana it's probably what biggest mall in the state and so he walked around the mall a little bit with his brother and he went to his appointment he said I was just so tired he told his brother give me the keys to the car I'm gonna go lay down in the car for a little bit I'm just exhausted so he walked out of the parking lot into the mall and of course the mall is surrounded by many square miles of cars now have you ever not paid attention to where you parked and then you walk to hell and you thought I know somewhere out there is my car but I really wasn't thinking when I came in where it is have you ever walked up and down the aisles and pressed a little panic button or little key button hoping that one of the cars out there would be anyone want to admit to that oh good that's gonna make Wilbur feel a lot better well it so happens that his sister-in-laws car that they driven to the mall that day was a white Subaru do you have any idea how many white Subarus there are in Montana everybody drives a Subaru it may not be patriotic but they're four-wheel drive and so all these people have Subarus out there and he said I didn't even know where to begin my brother was in this dentist appointment he said I did I walked up and down the rows and I'd press the button and he said finally a white Subaru would blink and he walked over but the key didn't fit I thought well it just got the same signal for the light so he walked for a little further another one blinked and he tried the door and he said I must have tried 20 white Subaru doors and he said I was just so afraid someone with a conceit me trying all these door and think I'm just trying to break into a car then I went down another aisle and he said I looked off quarter mile away and he said I could see the parking lot security was watching me with binoculars so I was really tired as I knew the car was out there somewhere so I said I walked he said I kept trying and so finally I I pressed the key the little light flashed I went and tried the door and it opened and he said I was so relieved he's I sat down inside and I put the seat back and I took a nap I said and then about a half an hour later I woke up and realized oh yeah I was supposed to meet my brother in the car by the front entrance and so he said I went and put the key in the ignition said it didn't work he said he didn't turn at all so as I was taken in half in someone else's car said that could have really ended badly if like some jealous husband hadn't come and checked on the car but he said he got out of the car and he walked up and he saw his brother quarter-mile away waving at him pointing another correction said they finally did kind of find the car and leave but the key only fit one car in the parking lot out there but there are a lot of counterfeits well there are a lot of counterfeit keys to the kingdom out there and some people have not discovered the mysteries of the kingdom they're sitting in the wrong car so many people misunderstand what it means to be a citizen in God's kingdom we're gonna talk about that today because it is crucial to the teachings of Jesus to understand those priorities Christ says in Matthew 13 11 because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven but to them it has not been given that's why Jesus taught in parables Christ is the one who has these keys to the kingdom now a professor a theology professor to Christian school asked the class of about 40 students if you were to summarize the message of Jesus in one word what would that word be write it down and turn it in to me and so these are Christian kids they're in a Christian College a Christian professor and they all wrote down their different things and what do you think some of the main words were love faith grace gospel take your pick he said out of the 40 students only two of them got it right he said the right answer is kingdom did you know that that is the main thing that Jesus talked about you will find the word kingdom 391 times in the Bible gospel is found a hundred and three times more than the word faith you'll find the word kingdom you will find the word kingdom mentioned more in the New Testament than you will find the word love Jesus ministry was all about talking about this kingdom now we're talking about kingdom consciousness and what is a kingdom a kingdom is a political or territorial unit ruled over by a sovereign it's the realm of that sovereignty it's a realm or sphere in which one thing is dominant and of course conscious means to be aware of and responding to one surroundings to be awake we need to be aware we need to be awake to what is this Dominion that the Lord is talking about the king the word Kingdom actually is talking about the Dominion of a king yeah you got Dom King Dom is the Dominion of a particular King when Jesus began preaching and all I should start with John the Baptist beginning of the gospel Matthew 3 verse 1 John the Baptist came preaching saying what repent for the kingdom of God is at hand then Jesus from that time Matthew 4:17 began to preach saying exact same words repent for the kingdom of God is at hand it's within reach it's right here Jesus sent out the disciples he said as you go preach saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand matter of fact in the Lord's Prayer when he said pray pray in this Manor you don't find the word love you don't find the word faith you don't find the word gospel you don't find the word grace in the Lord's Prayer but you find the word Kingdom twice I don't think we fully understand how important this kingdom concept is to the Lord mark 1:14 Jesus came to Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom saying the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand so he said there's a time fulfilled something was it here what does he mean by at hand what Han means something is within reach it's either imminent or it's available but it's near and I believe that the way Jesus meant it is the kingdom of God is here now because a time hints a will be fulfilled he says is fulfilled and what time was he talking about big prophecy in Daniel you know what the principal theme is in the Book of Daniel the kingdom if you study the book of Dan'l it's all about which king is gonna prevail it begins by talking about how the kingdom of God was conquered by the kingdom of Babylon and this is struggle all through the Book of Daniel and prophesies in in reality between kingdoms the whole story about when they took the vessels from the kingdom of God and they began to toast their gods it's a battle between gods and kingdoms and when the Persians conquer the Babylonians and all of it is this conflict between kingdoms that's taking place Daniel had a prophecy where he talked about when the Messiah would begin his ministry it's called the 490 year prophecy so when Jesus said the time was fulfilled what is that time the time for the anointing of the Most Holy after Jesus was baptized he was anointed with the Holy Spirit he began as ministry no miracles before that point and he said the kingdom of heaven is available it's at hand for that reason you must repent to gain entrance in that kingdom because if you want to be a citizen in God's kingdom the devil was cast out of heaven person you're not going in that way you must be saved and cleanse from your sin to be a citizen in that Kingdom so this was central and not only when Jesus during his life in his ministry what he told the disciples to say you can also read in acts 1 to whom he also presented himself alive after the resurrection after suffering by many infallible proofs being seen by them during 40 days what did Jesus say after he rose from the dead speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God over and over the emphasis of Christ was on the kingdom of God the whole story in the Old Testament is how God saves a nation of slaves and makes them citizens in his kingdom what is the gospel he saves us from slavery of sin and makes us citizens in his kingdom now even as I'm sharing all of this with you I can just see some of it's going you know why because many of you are Americans and Americans don't speak Kingdom our nation was formed several hundred years ago revolting a bit against the concept of having a king we rebelled against the kingdom now when you start talking about kings and kingdoms and the sovereignty and the absolute power of Kings we just have trouble relating to all that but you have to go back in time to understand what is Jesus talking about when he says the word kingdom America it's just so different it is just diametrically opposed to our mindset to talk about us being servants of the king we all want to be employees with benefits we want to have unions to protest if the King doesn't treat us fairly that's not the way it was in Bible times so you've got to you've got to become disembodied from your American ways to think now it's not just America there's very few true monarchies left in the world today no offense Debbie but even the Queen of England is not a queen in the sense that the absolute power they used to possess back in the days of Elizabeth and even prior to that so these Kings used to have supreme power they were dictators if they were unkind they were called despots you read about what Daniel says to Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel says you are the head of gold who you set up you set up who you put down you save alive who you will you kill who you will I mean the Kings word was law he was an absolute ruler you did not dare to speak against the king there was a way that you were to walk towards the king you didn't even turn your back to the king when we were in Israel and we went to the Wailing Wall they told us that the right protocol for going to the Wailing Wall to pray because it represented the dwelling of the king is that after you went up to the wall before you turned around you didn't turn your back on that because it represented turning your back on the presence of the majesty of heaven you were supposed to take three steps back before you turn around left the Wailing Wall I mean there's a whole protocol around showing reverence for a king and the dignity that he deserved now to better understand it if you know history a little bit think more about the time of Christ and the time of the Romans because the Romans their idea was to go forth conquering and to conquer and so what they would do is they invade a new territory and when they invaded a new territory they would declare this is now the territory of Rome Spanish did that all through Central and South America they claimed the country for God and the queen or the king whoever happened to be at that time right and they claim the carat or territory they they then start to build their temples or their churches they teach about their gods they'd introduce their customs they'd set up their law they would teach their language they'd get the people to wear their clothes and it was called imperialism America has been a used of that before because we fought against other countries they say you're trying to spread Americanism it's like you're a kingdom once again trying to colonize you know we think about the colonies and I remember when I was young I went to the Caribbean and there were different places there that were colonies of England there's still something around here and there we were in India this year colony once of England and they'd sprint their English influence so when Jesus says the kingdom of heaven is at hand if you want to be a citizen in that Kingdom you get a the idea what he's saying you have an absolute king he's telling you to go forth to conquer he's wanting you to introduce his culture to establish his religion to bring the mindset and the truth of your king into that place so when the king when the emperor of Rome would go and visit any of the colonies of Rome he felt right at home because they're speaking his language they got their architecture they've got their clothes they've got their food it was expanding the culture of Rome everywhere and that's why the Roman influence is even seen in our country this is what Jesus is singing when he said the kingdom of God is at hand it's not what his people were expecting their idea of the kingdom of God was the physical kingdom of God Jesus divided it in two parts you've got the external Kingdom and the internal Kingdom the first of all just to reiterate how much this was core to the teachings of Jesus Christ said the kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field I'm most of this is just mark 13 it's all through the Bible the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed the kingdom of heaven is like leaven the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in the field kingdom of heaven is like a seeking a merchant seeking beautiful pearls kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet casting the sea kingdom of heaven is like a householder the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to take accounts of his servants the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who ranged a marriage for his son on and on it goes have you ever noticed how much in the teachings of Jesus it's in the context of a king and a kingdom even above the head of Jesus when he's crucified what does it say this is the king of the Jews and it was Hall and what did Pilate want to know from him are you a king and the Jews accused him saying we we have no king but Caesar and he this man claims to be a king it was all a a conflict about kingdoms but Jesus John the Baptist's disciples Paul they were preaching repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand now the availability of God's kingdom has Jesus ever revoked that so if the kingdom of heaven was at hand 2,000 years ago when he began his ministry is it still available today but how come we don't see Jesus sitting on a throne anywhere because he's talking about two things when he says Kingdom the physical and the spiritual the external in the internal Kingdom all right let me now this takes us back to our memory verse so we just heard Luke 17 I'd like to repeat this and he was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come now what were they thinking when they asked Jesus about the kingdom of God they're thinking back to the glory days of David and Solomon when they conquered all of their enemies around them the the Moabites the Syrians the Philistines all conquered by David they had outposts and Garrison's in all of these countries they tax them one reason that they spread their Kingdom that it was good for the economy because if you could conquer another Kingdom and they had to pray tribute to you Jesus told parables about that too then you had more money you had more power you could run things the way you wanted to and they said is the kingdom of God coming they thought that when the Messiah came only about the physical kingdom that this son of David this Messiah was going to have the power of David and power of Samson the wisdom of Solomon the courage of Elijah all wrapped up in one person which Jesus did have and he was going to lead a rebellion against the Romans and just subjugate damn and they are their kingdom would spread even wider than the kingdom of the Romans and they then would be the people that ruled the world so that's what they were thinking when you can establish this physical kingdom Jesus knew they misunderstood and he said the kingdom of God does not come with observation it's not through talking about political intrigue nor will they say see here or see there for indeed the kingdom of God is within you do you have the kingdom of God within you how do you know the kingdom of God is within you Jonnie 36 jesus said My Kingdom is not of this world when he was being tried by Pilate he said my kingdom is not of this world it's talking about the spiritual Kingdom if my kingdom was of this world My servants would be fighting you right now you don't see anyone out there fighting to release me that I should not be delivered to the Jews but now my kingdom is not you notice he were in clear to the word now so yea my kingdom will be a physical Kingdom but now it's not now it's a spiritual Kingdom my kingdom is not from here the Bible tells us Colossians 1:27 - then God will to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the gentiles here's the mystery keys of the kingdom unlocked this mystery what is it Christ in you the hope of glory he begins raining in your hearts and in your mind someone once said wherever God rules over human hearts as king there is the kingdom established when someone accepts Jesus that's new territory that means now his government his principles govern in your life Romans 6 to Paul said do not let sin reign who who yearly reigns the King reigns right so don't let sin reign in your life Christ reigns not sin Romans 6:14 sin shall not have dominion there you got another kingdom word Dominion sin shall not have dominion over you so the internal Kingdom means that Christ reigns on the throne of your heart that you have accepted accept him in as Lord Savior King the thief on the cross who was dying how do address Jesus Lord remember me when you come into your kingdom it's all about the kingdom now there's a constitution for a kingdom you know even in England they had the Magna Carta what is the Constitution for Christ's Kingdom it's in the scriptures jesus said it is written man doesn't live by bread alone but by every word of God Matthew 24 heaven and earth will pass away but my word will not pass away and John 17:17 sanctify them through thy truth thy Word is truth so if you want to find out what is the constitution of the kingdom this is it what is the highest court in our country supreme court and in the supreme court we're right now on the cusp of what is gonna probably be very interesting debate to confirm another justice and why does that fill the news when they do that because the most important thing more important than the president presidents got for eight years a justice might have thirty going to change the laws of the country and then they just make up laws or what is the foundation for the Supreme Court the Constitution the last word in our law is the Constitution of the United States what is the Constitution for the Christian the final word is what is the word of the Lord saying what does the Bible say so Jesus has told us what the Constitution is for that kingdom how do you become a citizen in that Kingdom now we get a lot of you that are citizens here and of the US and there's a number of different ways that can happen a lot of debate about those who are trying to do it illegally I hope you doesn't mind my putting him on the spot pastor Ross was born in South Africa but he recently and we're so glad that me and Robert Ross hold your hands up John just brought his family to California and we're glad that you better be members here I'm really gonna be hurt talk about putting on the spot but pastor Ross was born in Africa not too long ago he got his American citizenship and he had to study and I'll bet you he knows more about the government than a lot of you born in the country because you got to answer all these questions before you're voted in and but you know you can't take a test yeah and be part of Christ's Kingdom by transferring like that you must be born now I'm born American I'm born California the only way that you can be part of God's citizenship is to be born again you need a new birth John 1:12 and thirteen but as many as received him - then he gives power to do what becomes sons of God sons and daughters of God even to those that believe on his name so how do you get that new birth by believing those who are born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh not a physical birth or the will of man but there's a new birth that says born of God we become born again you become a citizen in that Kingdom then jesus said John 3:3 most assuredly I say to you unless one is born again he cannot see the one the kingdom of God and that famous passage where he talks to Nicodemus it's about the kingdom how do you become part of that kingdom you go to church someone said going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car so it's good to go to church but that's not what makes you a Christian singing Christian Psalms does not make you a Christian having Christian friends people sometimes think I have my I was born in a Christian family I've heard people saying my father was a pastor as though they get some merit for that God has no grandchildren the only way to be a citizen and his kingdom is you must have Christ born in you the hope of glory you by faith experience that conversion that new birth where your life is now governed by new principles I remember a few years ago I was in Cameroon Africa and gotten the elevator and you know it was nice to see someone from home there was a marine an American Marine I recognized them because our son was in the Marines and he's wearing his dress blue uniforms were the brass buttons and he's wearing his finest attire and talked to him a little bit and he said yeah I'm going to the marine ball he says I am with the American Embassy and the Marines have a birthday ball once here to celebrate the organization of the Marines and it's you know big festive time as it really said you do that even here he says yeah I said how many Marines are here say five of us says you're having uh they're having a ball for five of you said yep he said when we're in the embassy said it's a little piece of the United States and whatever happens in the u.s. happens within the walls of the embassy says we celebrate Thanksgiving we celebrate the fourth of July said there might be three of us but he said it is a piece of our country it's an unclaimed of the u.s. in a foreign land and we speak the language and we observe the customs and it's a little piece of America in that land and that's what happened their church is something of an embassy in a hostile country right question is does the Lord have an embassy in your heart is there a little piece of his kingdom within you as you move around through the day and through the week where you work are you taking the kingdom of God with you and I should also say that Jesus was the perfect embodiment of God's kingdom in an individual and so it's really reflecting him is what we're talking about so and a church is supposed to be an embassy event one of the most offensive things that could happen is when a US Embassy is breached or attacked in a foreign country because that's supposed to receive the highest respect and if you want to make and it's true probably of any country but if you want to make the United States angry attack our embassies in another land we see it as an attack on us and so that's why the Bible tells us that either touches you touches the apple of his eye because you are a piece of God's kingdom you are citizen of his kingdom I always was moved by the story how when Scott O'Grady was shot down back in the 1990s during that Serbian war the whole US military was mobilized to rescue one soldier that was down in a foreign land and this is how heaven feels about its citizens are you a citizen of that country how do you know not one thing is if if you recognize Jesus as king if the kingdom of God is in you you obey the king you are not an employee the Bible writers did not say I am employed by you get that American idea he's Paul said I am a slave I am a servant all the parables Jesus talks about the servants of the King you can't be thinking with the American mindset of employee rights and privileges and all the retirement the benefits and Jesus told a parable one time he said if your master comes home from eating so you might be coming from the fields but you don't eat until you have served him the King had the priority it was the most important and he was to be respected but greatness in the kingdom of God is measured in terms of obedience John Stott said that Robert Ashcroft said all of heaven is waiting to help those who will discover the will of God and do it and Jesus was pretty clear it's not everyone that says unto me Lord Lord that will enter the one the kingdom but those that do the will of my father in heaven now will the king ever ask his servants to do something that can't be done no no good king will expect that and he certainly won't punish him for doing something that can't be done so within every command of God is the power to obey that command now when you talk about the kingdom of God keep in mind it is something radically different it's very different from the thinking of this world Matthew 18 for Jesus said whoever humbles himself as a little child he's the greatest in the kingdom of heaven well we don't typically think about the children being the greatest we think of them being the weakest and the smallest and the most uneducated but Christ said in his kingdom things are different Matthew 23:12 whoever will exalt himself will be abased and he that humbles himself will be exalted the principles that govern God's kingdom are so different for the principles are from the principles of our world in our world we all applaud those that you know get all the notoriety and the visibility and God says now the ones that haven't applause are the ones that do not seek it they are the humble they are the meek who will be in the kingdom of God blessed are the who the poor in spirit they will be in the kingdom of heaven and so if you were to advertise come to this place and be poor in spirit how many would come to that place not too many but Jesus said if you want to be in his kingdom you must appreciate what that means that that we are spiritually bankrupt that we humble ourselves before God he tells us how to conduct ourselves as citizens in that Kingdom Jesus life was an example of that instead of pride meekness instead of retaliation forgiveness in fact you're supposed to love your enemies that's pretty hard to swallow sometimes isn't it you don't fight evil with evil now some people think the Bible teaches do unto others as they do to you it's not what it says it says do unto them as you want them to do unto you you don't overcome evil with evil you overcome evil with good in God's kingdom you bless those that curse you you pray for those who take advantage of you I mean it's a whole different kind of government there you tell the truth even if it will kill you you thank the king even when things go badly you praise the poor for their sacrifice servants are regarded as the highest position in our world we measure success by how many work for you in God's kingdom you measure success by how many do you serve you have peace regardless of what your circumstances might be in God's kingdom you're not a slave to your circumstances it got the peace that God gives you the devil can't take it away it's just a whole different economy you believe in and you live for something that you cannot see you believe in the invisible it's different there's a different language that is spoken in God's kingdom you know as the Romans went from placeable Alexander the Great did this is he went everywhere he introduced the Greek learning the Greek literature the Greek language and that's why everybody was still speaking Greek when Jesus was born and you've heard the expression is a Greek to me that's because finally it became hard to understand but they speak a different language Christians should be known that we speak differently the Bible says out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks if your heart is changed if the King is in your heart your speech will be different Jesus said for one thing don't swear Christians should never swear not by heaven above or the earth beneath he said let your yes be yes and your no be no Colossians 4:6 let your speech always be seasoned with grace that you might know how you ought to answer each one we shouldn't be characterized by gossip by coarse jesting there ought to be a difference and we have an ear to listen to him speaking to us in his kingdom I remember years ago here in a story about this business back when they used the Telegraph to communicate across the country they had one opening available for a telegraph operator and the economy wasn't too good so seven individuals showed up in this Telegraph company office applying for the job and there there's a lot going on there and in the background you could hear the clatter of the Telegraph going off and and the secretary asked the applicants to fill out the application and while they were sitting there filling out the application the last gentleman came in they gave him an application he jumped up ahead of all of them and he ran into the office of the boss soon the boss came out with him and said I've hired this young man you can all go home now this if that isn't fair why are you doing that is that he came in last that we didn't even turn in our applications he said while you are all sitting in there the Morse code was beeping out in your hearing and the message was the first one who hears this message and comes in will get the job said we need someone who can have a near keen - Morse code all the time it's a different language how many of you know somebody that still remembers how to operate code not too many people know that anywhere hear me radio operator yeah we had a dear friend up in Colville Oh and he was on the ham every morning and he could just he'd hear all those dots on those dashes he could tell you exactly what they're saying it's like another language if you're a citizen of his kingdom it's just a whole other language you know when Christians get together in church we speak Christianese right we talk about you know justification and sanctification and washed in the blood and and we in our church we'd not only cut Christianese we got Adnan T's it's just it's very difficult to understand it's a special dialect and Visitor's you have to be sensitive that sometimes visitors come in and and you've got to you be able to switch languages so they understand what the what you're talking about need translators for them every now and we need to be praying for the kingdom I told you there twice in the Lord's Prayer it says your kingdom come your will be done yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever that's the priority are we do you pray how often do you pray Lord I can't wait for your kingdom to fill this earth you can't wait for you to come as king of kings Lord be king of my life there was an English visitor commented about us churches you Americans are so concerned about being happy as if our kingdoms were the focal point of God's designs rather than God's kingdom the focal point of ours that's true now the Lord will not endure divided loyalty we must be completely a hundred percent loyal if we're going to be part of his kingdom John 12:31 now the judgment of this world has come the ruler of this world will be cast out there is someone who is contending the rulership of Jesus who is that the devil rebelled against his king what happened when Absalom rebelled against his creator his father he ended up dying he was cast in a pit and that's what the Bible says will happen to Lucifer Jesus said you cannot ride both sides of the fence you are we either with him or against him that doesn't sound very politically correct we can't you compromise no he said you're either 100% with me or you're against me and some people who say well you know I'm not quite ready to surrender to the Lord but I'm not gonna serve the devil and I'm praying about it well if you say you're not surrendering to the Lord you are serving the devil there's no third option I remember hearing one time during the civil war as men lived close to the border between the north and the south and he didn't want to get involved and so he wore grey pants to satisfy the Southerners and he wore a blue jacket to satisfy the Yankees and in the end what happened was the Yankees shot him in the pants and the rebels shot him in the jacket you don't make anybody happy right you've heard me share that before I like it though they put a sign above Jesus head saying this is the King of the Jews you know King is not satisfied until he possesses every corner of a territory Alexander the Great when he went conquering he went through the land of the Phoenicians by tyre and sidon and the people of Tyre would not surrender where's Jerusalem did surrender he spared Jerusalem matter of fact they came out and showed him the prophecies of Daniel and he went into their temple he worshiped God I don't know if you've read there before and Josephus and but tyre would not surrender Alexander put his whole March on hold until they could build a bridge out to the island and conquer it they were not gonna go any farther as long as there was a rebellious territory when the little city of Jerusalem rebelled against the Babylonian Kingdom Nebuchadnezzar came in person he besieged the city for two years to take down that one little city says I'm not gonna have anybody think that they can get away with having partial surrender I am gonna have absolute surrender some of you know the story of Masada we were there earlier this year stood on this Mason it's a Mesa you know what I mean it's like you we have him in America in Arizona where you get this tablelands very steep flattop steep sides he's almost like it just juts up like a volcanic core out of the earth with a flattop Masada was like that King Herod the Great built this beautiful palace with I found ingenious way to capture rainwater and cisterns and filled it with grain 900 Jewish rebels would not accept the Roman power even after Jerusalem was destroyed and the whole Land of Israel was subjugated they held out out in the middle of this burning desert on top of a mountain the Roman said we will not tolerate any rebellion in our Empire no we will allow it to go on you surrender or die they surrounded the city a little tabletop Fortress of Masada with a Roman army they spent three years besieged in 900 Jews distracted the whole Roman Empire because the kings will not tolerate insubordination within their kingdom and they overthrew Masada most of them committed suicide but they took it they said we are not going to have any rebellious territory in our Dominion so there may be some of you and you say I've invited Jesus into my heart Jesus is the lord of my life does he have all of it do you have a little rebellious tabletop fortress somewhere were you saying you can have everything Jesus in my life but not this I'll give you 90% but there is a room in my house that is off-limits you don't have the keys to that room chances are most of you can resonate with that but how does the King feel about that when the Bible says the kingdom of God is at hand and you say alright Lord I want to invite you to be King and let's make a deal you get 80 percent I get 20 percent you get 90 or 5% I get 5% and Jesus is gonna look like you like you out of your mind I'm the king I made you I own the universe you're gonna negotiate with me that's like a person who's on death row and the governor sends someone to the prison they're about to be executed and they say the governor is offering you a stay of execution he's gonna set you free but in exchange for that you've got to turn over your bank account and you say well I'll give the governor 50% wouldn't that be stupid you're gonna die what goods are gonna do you it's really the same thing when you think that you're gonna hold I cannot surrender all to the Lord exactly what is your position of negotiation with the King of Kings do you have any position of negotiation he says I want a hundred percent of your heart so you're gonna argue with him and what's wonderful about it is he's gonna take it and make it better what do you give up when you give up all to the Lord name some sin that makes you better makes name some sin that brings you real peace and happiness he's asking you like not just the king but a loving father to only give up that which hurts you but he's not gonna he'll never be satisfied with a partial surrender it must be a complete surrender if you're gonna have that peace if you're gonna serve the Lord it's it's being all-in eventually it won't just be the spiritual Kingdom right now our job is to expand our Kings territory in this world right until ultimately he will have everything Daniel 2:44 speaking of in the last days in the days of these Kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed and the kingdom will not be left to other people it will break in pieces and consume all of these kingdoms not 50% or 80% of 99% or 99.999% a 100% of all the other kingdoms will be gone if you are not a full citizen in God's kingdom you don't get dual citizenship friends if you're part of an earthly Kingdom that Kingdom will be destroyed you must be part of God's kingdom because he is gonna have a kingdom that will fill the earth zechariah 14:9 and the lord shall be king over all the earth does that happen yet no that's why we say thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven the kingdom of God in heaven right now is going to come to this earth the New Jerusalem is going to descend down to earth the Lord is going to reign over the whole world revelation 11:15 the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms our Lord and His Christ and he will reign forever and ever so I'd like to have citizenship in that Kingdom we must be born into that Kingdom amen it must be a hundred percent priority you know if you're a pilot you go through a checklist some things are not optional one things you don't say I wonder if I should check the gas today because running out of gas in an airplane is very unforgiving it's got to be a priority you know what I need my priorities sometimes people say well you know pastor I just don't have time to read the Bible you know I've discovered people have time for what they want I sometimes say they don't have time to pray if I got time for TV they got time for goofing off with their favorite hobbies are diversions don't have time for prayer it's just a priority people do what they want to do what is your priority is the kingdom of God the priority in your life Oh church you know I have tired this week you know so busy working for the boss don't have tired time for the King of Kings to come and worship Him people do what they want to do jesus said seek he what third fourth fifth first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and the promises if you do that everything else you need for happiness will be given to you if you make God's kingdom the priority everybody wants the kingdom of God but if you wanted first luke 9:62 jesus said to him no one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God you know this year sir roger bannister died how many of you know who he was he was the first human that we know of that broke the four-minute mile and he did that back in 1954 one month later John Landy on Australian beat him by one point four seconds it's actually huge well eventually they knew the two of them we're gonna have to face off together the Aussie and the Englishman so they gathered in Vancouver later that year and there was a race there are many others involved and after the gun went off Landy and Bannister sought out in the front of the group and John Landy was ahead of Bannister going down the final stretch and he was like you know one stride ahead and it was pretty clear to everybody that he was gonna win the crowd was on its feet and Landy admits he could not resist the curiosity of wondering how far back Bannister was he didn't realize that he was right on his elbow and when he turned and he looked back he lost his stride and all it took was one step and Bannister beat him by a fraction of a second later when he was interviewed he said if I hadn't looked back I would have won the race Jesus said no man having put his hand to the plow and looking back is worthy of the kingdom you know back in Bible times if you were plowing a furrow if you wanted your farm furrow to be straight you can't plow and look back it's kind of like you ever tried to ride a bicycle on a straight line I can do it try doing it looking over your shoulder if you look over your shoulder while you're riding the bike you will turn it's human nature you can't go straight and if you keep looking back at the world and thinking about what's behind you you cannot faithfully serve the Lord you can't live a straight life so to speak God's calling you to make his kingdom a priority to think with a kingdom consciousness how many of you want to be citizens in that Kingdom the Bible tells us that you invite Jesus to come in and reign as Lord of your life to give you that new birth and then he had DOPS you as his children and he promises that he'll give you a new heart and you any hair at the kingdom you don't have to be afraid of the Lord's coming because your king is coming he's your king he's your friend the king that's losing is the prince of this world you will be on the winning team that gives you a whole new perspective on life doesn't it and your mission in life is to expand his kingdom would you like that friends as your priority we're gonna sing about it as we close and I love it when you're really saying we'll have the words on the screen four six eight why don't you stand with me a child of the King thought that would be appropriate for six eight [Music]

Channel: 11:11 Ministries

Views: 4,400

Rating: 4.9083967 out of 5

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Id: Vbb1er0LtHw

Length: 51min 20sec (3080 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 15 2018