The Kingdom Agenda - Bible Study Session One

[Music] did you know that there's a key that unlocks the door to life life as it was meant to be lived an agenda an agenda from your creator and mind for living life his way so that life becomes worth living it's called the kingdom agenda it is the visible demonstration of the comprehensive rule of god over every area of life it's life as the creator meant it to be now there are a lot of agendas out there their racial agendas and economic agendas and political agendas and cultural agendas but then there is the kingdom agenda the rule of god now i don't know what agenda you're on but if it's not on the agenda of the king and his kingdom it's the wrong plan and the wrong program i'm excited to be able to share a divine perspective from the king about his kingdom to his subjects so that we can live life experience life as the creator intended it to be well welcome to our time together discussing the subject that i love to talk about because it's the philosophy and world view of my life and ministry called the kingdom agenda the story is told of a man who went to visit a friend of his who lived on a farm he came into the opening of the farm and had to pass his friend's barn when he passed his friend's barn he noticed something and that is that someone had been using the barn for target practice there were 20 targets with 20 bullseyes and then there was a hole in the middle of each bull's eye there were no extraneous holes on the barn so whoever was using this for target practice was doing it perfectly because every single shot in the target in the bullseye perfect well he had never seen marksmanship like that in all of his life and so he drove and kept going up to his friend's house knocked on the door his friend john came to the door they greeted each other and he said now john i just passed your bond and i saw somebody's been using it for target practice and whoever it is their perfect shot who in the world was that well john kind of smiled and said well that was me uh uh that was that was that was my marksmanship he said john where in the world did you learn to shoot like that how could you shoot so perfectly john said well i shoot first then i draw a picture of the target around the hole it looked like he was on target it's easy to look like you're on target when really you may only know how to paint well you may know how to camouflage it and make it look much better than it really is we're living in a world today that's off target in every dimension that you look you're seeing things out of kilter camouflaged but when you get right down to it and you look at lives falling apart families falling apart when you look at a culture falling apart you're looking at a land off target there are many agendas out here today to try to make things better if i were a non-christian i'd be a secular non-christian psychiatrist because then i could charge people um 300 an hour to tell them why they need to come back next week i can make a lot of money because so many people are broken in so many ways but in the midst of this chaos and confusion there is another agenda another approach another plan another program by which life is to be lived and by which life is to be viewed this agenda the bible calls the agenda of god's kingdom or what i simply call the kingdom agenda the kingdom agenda is the visible demonstration of the comprehensive rule of god over every area of life it is because god has been marginalized he's good for sunday and maybe wednesday but he is not the comprehensive overseer of all of life that life is off target we pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands we grew up with our hands over our heart pledging allegiance to a kingdom called america every day we were reminded in school or at sporting events that we belong to this kingdom and that this event is a privilege of being a resident or citizen of this country well god is after the pledge of allegiance but to another kingdom a greater kingdom an eternal kingdom one run by him in john chapter 18 jesus is before pilate and when he's standing before pilate he makes a statement about the kingdom and its agenda he says in verse 36 of john 18 my kingdom is not of this world if my kingdom of war of this world and my servants would be fighting so that i would not be handed over to the jews but as it is my kingdom is not of this world therefore pilate said to him so you are a king jesus answered you say correctly that i am a king for this i have been born and for this i have come into the world to testify to the truth and everyone who is of the truth here's my voice here jesus prior to his crucifixion serves notice to a representative of the roman government that there is another kingdom of which he rules and he is the king now to put this kingdom in perspective we have to understand how it came about and how it works so let's give a summary of why we even need this agenda operating in history before god ever created man he created angels angels uh were created to be visible expressions of his glory created to do his will the bible says that myriads of angels were created and chief among them was an angel called lucifer lucifer means the shining one angels in the bible are called stars so if the angels are the stars then lucifer was the sunshine it's like a car dealership you have all these new cars but then you have the showroom model lucifer was the show remodel ezekiel 28 goes into this uh big uh definition of how glorious he was in fact he was so spectacular he talks about his pipes because he could sing that's why he hates worship so much it reminds him of his old job he was leading all the angels in the worship and the celebration and the obedience to god almighty but he developed what i like to call a theo ego that's a god complex he looked into the mirror one day and said now mirror mirror on the wall who's the fairest of us all evidently didn't give the mirror a chance to answer because he thought he was and he sought out to establish a rival kingdom in fact five times in isaiah 14 you read the words i will i will i will i will i will and each one was rebellion against god by getting all the other angels to rebel against the living and true god so successful was his coup that the scripture says one third of the angels went and followed him now it's hard to hide a coup from an omniscient being and so god uncovered his rebellion a trial was held he was found guilty along with the fallen angels with him of cosmic treason we're told about that in luke chapter 10 verse 18 because luke 10 18 jesus says i was there when lucifer fell from heaven like lightning now the reason why that verse is important is jesus says he was there which means he existed before his birth it's also important because it tells us what the conclusion of the trial was and that he was removed from his place in heaven it is also important because lucifer got a name change it says i was there when satan fell from heaven light lightning because god always changes your name to fit your character the bible says that hell was prepared for satan and his angels because of his rebellion eternal separation for god was the sentence that was passed but god decided that rather than carry out the sentence right away he would use the rebellion for his greater glory and what god did was kick lucifer out to the third planet from the sun a place called earth that's when you read your bible the bible says in the beginning god created in heaven the heavens and the earth and the earth was without form and void the hebrew word there is tohu and that means garbage dumb see when you read the bible that's why god has got to clean it up he's got to separate the land from the water because it's a swamp the reason why it's a garbage dump is because garbage lives here satan and his angels were removed so god renovates the earth and then comes up with a plan to create a lesser creature a lower creature a constitutionally inferior creature a creature that can't fly around that doesn't have angelic intellect in fact psalm 8 hebrews 2 says that man was created a little lower than the angels that is constitutionally inferior now why would god do that to demonstrate what he could do with less when less was dependent upon him then what he could do with more when more was in rebellion against him it was to demonstrate his greater glory and to advance his kingdom in history but a major part of this is to understand that in god's plan he decided to work through the lesser creature in other words he wouldn't skip man to advance his kingdom he would work through man but only as man was submitted to him and so he puts in the garden two trees the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and he tells man now if you want to live life as i have chosen life to be lived this is the tree for you but if you want to do it on your own and figure it out for yourself the tree of the knowledge of good and evil i'm going to give you the freedom to eat from that tree but you're going to have to work this out yourself god has a kingdom but only if he is king when men try to figure it out for themselves eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil then we find ourselves off target as we are in the world today jesus said that he is a king and that his kingdom very important is not of this world it comes from another realm now uh if you own a home we'll call you a king or queen of your castle that means that you have certain guidelines rules regulations by which you run the place where you live uh the fact that i come over to your house and tell you i don't like where your furniture is is irrelevant the fact that i come over and tell you i don't like the color paint on your walls well that's my problem because it's your house i can't come and dictate to your kingdom of which you are king i may make suggestions and i may tell you what i think but you get to make the final decisions but some of us have teenagers and we all have been teenagers so we know what it is to have rebellion in the kingdom we know what it is to have folk in our kingdom wanting to create their own rules we know what it is they have folks in our kingdom wanting to set up their own agenda and that automatically brings about a clash because you can't have two kings in one kingdom what god has done is he has set up a kingdom but he's wound up with rebellious teenagers many of them christians who want to bring the world's rules into his kingdom and then want the king to okay them well in the same way that a parent is to take responsibility for the order in the house god accepts and takes responsibility for the order in his kingdom jesus makes a statement he says my kingdom is not of this world now don't misunderstand that he doesn't say my kingdom is not in this world he says my kingdom is not of this world it means its source where it comes from its authority where its information is derived from is not from this world order and that's why the bible says so much about worldliness because worldliness is rebellion against kingdomness when we are operating by the standards of this world and the bible says satan is the god of this world like rebellious teenagers in a house we're in conflict with the owner of the house and we wonder why there's not order in the house he says my kingdom is not of this world when you are on a cruise and the ocean liner is in the water you want the boat in the water but you don't want the water in the boat god wants us in the world but he doesn't want the world in us so the question is what does he mean when he says his agenda his plan his program is not derived from this world it means that he wants to set up the governing guidelines and regulations by how life is lived the word world or what we call worldliness it's simply that system headed by satan that wants to leave god out you are worldly when god is no longer part of the equation when you want to do your own thing the bible says let god be true and every man a liar that when god and men disagree man is wrong there are two answers to every question god's answer and everybody else's and everybody else is wrong he has spoken and he has not stuttered and he does not want to compete with the world when we speak of the world we have the world of politics the world of sports the world of finance we're not talking about a location we're talking about an orientation that is we're talking about a theme of which everything else surrounds that theme so in the world of sports we talk about athletics world of finance anything having to do with money the world of politics anything that has to do with the political realm that becomes a world when the bible talks about the world in a negative way it is speaking about a system that satan is meticulous about to get you to exclude god out of the equation the reason why god's kingdom is not fixing what's wrong in our world is that the folks who want god to fix it are simultaneously worldly and since his kingdom is not of this world but his kingdom is from another world when you appeal to this world contradicting that world you wind up living a messed up world and so he says it is sourced from another realm when a scuba diver goes in the water and they're going to be there for an extended length of time they have a tank on their back that tank is filled with oxygen oxygen is the life source for the human scuba diver the scuba diver is now swimming and existing in a foreign world that world is not his or her home it is there for them to function in for a temporary period of time so in order for them to survive in that world they need sustenance from their world if they're going to make it in this world of water if they try to live in that world without the sustenance from their world that world will kill them because there is no provision in that world for their world they need oxygen which the water does not provide and so they put tanks on their back because they clearly understand if i'mma make it in this foreign world i need the life source from my real home and the world in which i live if you belong to jesus christ the bible is clear this world is not your home so in order to function well in this world you need a tank on your back from that world in order to get the life source from that world in order to make it in this world and that life source is the king and his kingdom it's agenda the problem is if you're not used to it and until you get used to it because we spend time in this world we may think this world is the real world while we choke to death trying to survive in it now i don't know how many of you are fishermen or fisher women if that's a word if you go out and you catch fish and you you pull them out of the water they flipping and flopping and jumping and jerking their mouths are opening and closing because they're in a foreign world and they're trying to survive in a world they were never made for they were made for the water but when you catch them and bring them out they're struggling to survive because they've been put in a realm for which they have not been created well the reason why a lot of us are flipping and flapping and jumping and jerking and twisting and tweaking is because we are functioning in a world we were never made for once we belong to god's kingdom and are operating by his agenda the kingdom agenda is the visible demonstration of the comprehensive rule of god over every area of life there is to be no area of life for which god's viewpoint is not brought in and acted on if we are to live life in this foreign world based on the world that we really belong to when i uh travel and i have uh go to a hotel room i never operate out of my uh out of the the uh the the drawers or the uh the packing places in the room i i live out of my suitcase and the reason i do that is because i know this is not home so i don't get so comfortable there that i think i'm living there i'm passing through because this is a pass-through journey what we've done is we've made this world our home its agenda our perspective it's world view our orientation we've made a place home that is not the basis for which we ought to be living life and operating the bible says that when you come to christ you switch kingdoms you come from the kingdom of darkness the kingdom that is rebellion against god to the kingdom of light and the kingdom of his dear son and if you and i are going to see the victory power provision that god is offering us we're going to have to operate according to another agenda another plan another program of uh tied to all of life not just a portion of life because the kingdom agenda is the comprehensive rule of god that's why he goes on to say in verse 37 i am king for this reason i have been born and for this reason i have come into the world to testify to the truth to testify to the truth satan is a liar he's a good one or as my mother used to tell me you were born liar that means from the beginning he only knows how to lie and he can't handle the truth the truth is god's view on any subject the truth is the absolute standard by which reality is measured the truth is transcends feelings it even transcends facts uh if i if if if i have uh the flu you know it's a lot of flu going around and if i have a flu and i think i have a cold but i go to the doctor and the doctor says well no you have the flu well i could think it's one thing when when the professional checks it it could be something else when what you think is all that you use to govern where you are you could be judging wrongly the information or not have all the information or not have the skill in order to determine how things really are he says my kingdom only operates in the truth which is why satan wants to get us operating on a lie because if he can get us operating on a lie he can take us off god's agenda and if he takes us off god's agenda then the thing that his kingdom is designed to provide to us we don't get because god does not leave his kingdom to satisfy our needs in this world he invites us from this world into his kingdom my daughter priscilla she had grown up 26 years in my home i had taken care of her provided for her i had supported her i had done everything then some smooth talking dude came and told her that same old job i told her mother many years earlier and uh she decided to switch kingdoms she decided to leave the evans household and join the shire household she switched kingdoms when she switched kingdoms about a year later a year not even a year a few months later she called me wanting to borrow some money i told her go ask your king if you're gonna switch kingdoms let your new king take care of you we have switched kingdoms yet the old king still wants to run the show call the shots have the bottom line of our lives so it is absolutely critical that you understand i understand that there is a conflict in the kingdoms that god has this comprehensive rule that if you want your life and our world on target then god must be recognized as the comprehensive ruler of this kingdom there was a man one day who was needing to pick up his shoes from the shoe repairman and they closed at five o'clock so he needed to get there because it was just a couple of minutes before five and he came there were no cars on the parking lot so he just knew he had gotten there too late but he thought he'd get out the car and go to the door and just kind of just in case there would be somebody there but there were no cars outside so he looked at the window and knocked on the glass and to his surprise and and uh joy the repair man was there came and opened the door and let him in got him his shoes and the gentleman before he left said but but i don't see any car cars out here and yet you're still here how are you going to get home well guy turned and he pointed to some steps and he said i live up there i just work down here when you have a kingdom mentality you live up there even though you function down here you are to have a heavenly perspective with your feet firmly planted on the ground in super bowl 43 when uh pittsburgh was making the run to with two minutes left in order to win super bowl 43. san antonio homes was thrown a pass and he dropped it now the clock is winding down roethlisberger goes back and he throws another pass to san antonio homes who's in the end zone he reaches up to catch the ball he keeps his feet planted on the ground and it's a touchdown so the pittsburgh steelers won the game in order for him to have won the game he had to reach high but not leave the ground if he would have caught the ball but his feet not land in bounds it would have been an incomplete pass or if his feet were on the ground but he didn't catch the ball it would have been an incomplete pass in order for this thing to work he had to reach high while stepping low that's what it means to live for god's kingdom it means i reach high to get my data while keeping my feet firmly planted on the ground here on earth but i'm doing it from heaven's perspectives not earth's world view it is critical if we are going to see life in the covenants of god our individual lives our families our churches and even our broader society in government function like the creator designed it to we're going to have to come back to his agenda his plan his program his perspective so that his rule that's what kingdom means rule authority it's from the greek word basilia it has to do with that which calls the shots unless god is free to call the shots the transformation we need in our lives will not happen we live in a broken world but until god is treated like god the king is treated like the king we will not see him pull together what has been broken you know the queen of england is well respected her name is held up high when she travels people pull over out of courtesy and respect the only problem with the queen of england there is that while she has respect she has no power she can't make any decisions she can't write any laws they just nod wave and treat a nice that's how we do god in his kingdom we we give him a little nod we pull over to the side a little bit as long as he doesn't get to make any decisions calling his shots run his agenda in our lives the kingdom agenda is the visible demonstration of the comprehensive rule of god over every area of life and when you and i begin to operate in every sphere and lend our influence to every sphere we touch the world in which we live to understand and operate from the rule of the king over the rule of the enemy of the king then we will begin to see god take methods and turn them into miracles god takes circumstances and reverse them in every dimension of life in the olympics you have a lot of talent who show up from all around the world these individuals or teams are experts in whatever the athletic competition happens to be they know how to do what they do and they know how to do it well after the race or the competition of an event is over they then take the podium for public recognition of their achievements in the center of the podium is the gold medal winner this is the one who was the best of the best he stands on the platform he stands tall but they do not then come up to her and ask her what's her favorite song what song would you like us to play what do you groove to that's not what they ask they automatically play the song of the nation of which the gold medalist is a part because even though their individual talent won the goal they belong to a bigger kingdom and they are there as representatives of that kingdom god wants us to all wear his gold medal and the testimony of his son jesus christ but not so that you can play your own favorite song he wants us to do it so that god is glorified and his kingdom is expanded in history let's let god ring his song because we're standing on the podium giving him the glory to his name because we've decided to follow him and the kingdom agenda of heaven not the kingdom agenda of this world [Music] you

Channel: Tony Evans

Views: 120,053

Keywords: Dr. Tony Evans, The kingdom Agenda

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Length: 31min 19sec (1879 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 22 2013