Vance Pitman - "The Kingdom of God"

well good morning it's a great joy and honor to be able to be back here again at this wonderful institution that God is using in such a great way and I do want to bring you greetings today from dr. Kevin Ezell the president of the North American Mission Board and also from your brothers and sisters in Christ at Hope Church in Las Vegas Nevada and I do pray that God would call many of you to the western United States to join in what God is doing in the West one of the things that I have learned over the last 18 years of living in the western United States is that unfortunately many people that have a call to ministry have a call to ministry within a geographical region that is about 200 miles from where their mother-in-law lives yeah so I would pray that many of you would hear the Lord's voice calling you to a place like the West the western United States is an incredible mission field for the gospel people are responding to the gospel in unprecedented ways that I've in my experience in ministry in the United States there's an openness and a Liberty to share the gospel and an openness to hear the gospel many in the West have never been exposed to the Gospels not that they don't have access but they've never been exposed so would love to challenge you to pray about and think about God's call to a place like that and if you have an interest when I finished today Jeff and I are gonna hang around up here for just a moment and we've got some cards we'd love to connect with any of you that have a desire for a ministry internship or residency or specifically if you have a heart for church planting in the western United States or really anywhere in North America but if you have a passion for the West I'd love to help connect you in any way that we can and we have a lot of things that we offer from residences to internships to assessments to intensive xand trainings and coaching's and all kinds of things that we can do to walk along with you so just wanted to give that little commercial as we begin and say come west love to have you out there and you don't have to worry about snow so come on out there all right let me say a word of prayer and I want to jump right in this morning father thank you so much for the incredible privilege to be here today god I thank you for the way you're using this school to raise up leaders to be thrust out into the harvest locally and globally in our nation and all over the world and God I pray today that by the power of your Holy Spirit you would speak to us from your word or most of the men and women in this room have heard more sermons already in their lifetime then most people on planet Earth will ever have the privilege of being able to listen to so Lord we recognize today that we don't just need another sermon another chapel service but God we do need a fresh encounter with you a fresh challenge from your spirit speaking into our lives so god I pray today you take your word and you'd do that it's in the name of Jesus we pray amen in September of 1999 God radically interrupted my life I was minding my own business I was the senior associate pastor of a great Church in Memphis Tennessee it was a church called the Kirby woods Baptist Church I had a wonderful relationship with the senior pastor of that church he was my dad I was the senior associate pastor my dad was the senior pastor we never I was actually telling Adam before this you guys need to have my dad come and preach here in chapel sometime in my opinion my dad is the greatest Old Testament expositor that I've ever heard anywhere but I had the privilege of serving with him for a year and a half as a senior associate pastor and most of the people in our church thought one day my dad would retire and I'd become the next senior pastor of the church my dad and I never one time had that conversation but everybody kind of assumed that's where things were going is a wonderful Church of about 2,000 people the church gave a million dollars a year away as an investment in God's global mission very generous Church but one morning I'm minding my own business in my devotional time my god time just reading the word spending time with God and God begins to speak to me out of a verse in Luke chapter 4 and Jesus made this statement he said I must preach the King of God to the other cities also for I was sent for this purpose and you know there those days when you're kind of reading the Bible and your quiet time and you're kind of reading the Bible and then other days you're reading the Bible and it's like the Holy Spirit of God reaches up and grabs you and pulls you into the text and says son this is for you today I'm speaking to you and that's what happened to me that morning I sensed the Holy Spirit of God and what he was really doing was he was pointing out some stuff in me that was not like Jesus I saw this passion in Jesus for other cities he said I must he didn't say I might he didn't say maybe he said I must preach the kingdom of God I saw this passion for the kingdom of God and I went got my wife and we knelt down in our living room and we said Lord yes you say what was the question well we didn't know we just knew Lord and anything but yes didn't really go together so we just said Lord yes we don't know when we don't know where God we don't even know what and really we thought God was going to uproot our lives and plant us in some culture on the other side of the world to learn a new language and a new people and a new custom and begin to give our lives to take the gospel to some village or tribe and the other in another country around the world but we tried to begin to open those doors and nothing seemed to open and two weeks later a pastor mentor friend of mine named Johnny hunt who pastored the First Baptist Church of Woodstock Georgia Johnny contacted me and said Vance our church in Woodstock Georgia is feeling led of the Lord to start a church in the fastest-growing city in North America Las Vegas Nevada and he said Vance God's put it on my heart year to be the pastor of that church not two weeks earlier we said yes and two weeks later God had the audacity to fill in the blank with Las Vegas he said what do you mean by that here's what I mean by that I'm from Alabama originally if you're from Alabama you don't go to Las Vegas and if you do you don't tell anybody right where I'm from they don't think Las Vegas is hell but they think you can smell it from there it's real close but as soon as Las Vegas rolled off of his lips we knew God had called us so much so that we did something I never teach a trained church planners to do but we resigned our position at the church and began the process of moving to Las Vegas and we've never visited the city yet we've never even been west of the Mississippi River we just knew that for us to do anything but begin to move our family to Las Vegas Nevada we'd be living in direct disobedience to the call and command of God so we began that journey we relocated there moved there December of 2004 the last almost now 18 years of my life have been living in that city joining in God's activity in Las Vegas the West and now all over the world and if there's one subject that I would say over those 18 years God has just redefined my understanding about it's the subject of the kingdom of God and it's what I want to talk to you about for a few moments that we have together this morning the subject of the kingdom of God now I'm gonna in just a moment we're gonna launch from the text of Philippians chapter 4 that's what we're going to be digging in so you can go ahead and take your Bible open it to Philippians 4 but before we get there I want to look at a couple of other passages of scripture to help us kind of have a frame of reference for Philippians chapter 4 so over 17 18 years now God has been radically redefining my understanding of the kingdom of God and it's interesting the kingdom of God is referenced over 100 different times in 16 different books of the New Testament now I would submit to you if God puts something in the Bible one time that makes it important he doesn't have to repeat himself for it to get our attention in Scripture but if something is referenced over a hundred different times in two-thirds of the books of the New Testament we might oughta lean into that a little bit especially when one of those references is Jesus himself out of his own lips saying in Matthew chapter 6 we are to seek what said again seek what first-first the what kingdom of God and for all of you Greek scholars in the room you know this that's not a suggestion that he's laying on the table that's an imperative it's a command it's not an option that he's asking us to consider it's a command from Scripture that we are to order our lives around the kingdom of God as the number one priority so over these last 18 years we've kind of developed a working definition of the kingdom of God that I want to give you today here's the way we believe the kingdom of God should be defined based on our study of the scripture the kingdom of God is God's sovereign activity in the world resulting in people being in right relationship with himself it's the kingdom of God it's God's sovereign activity in the world resulting in people being in right relationship with himself the kingdom of God is the big picture of what God is doing in the world let me prove it to you one of the verses I want you to flip over to quickly is Revelation chapter 5 Revelation chapter 5 and verse 9 listen what the Bible says here you've heard this before especially if you've ever been to a mission conference you've heard this verse worthy are you to take the book and to break its seals for you were slain and purchase for God with your blood men from every what tribe and tongue and people and nation what's it describing there God's glorious eternal redemptive mission that he is calling unto himself a people from every tribe tongue people nation you know the problem with revelation 5 verse 9 we never read verse 10 look what verse 10 says you have made them to be a what say it out loud Kingdom I'm gonna ask you to talk to me a little bit as we go through this and I'm just used to it I have a church in Las Vegas we have 54 languages spoken in our fellowship we're an extremely multi-ethnic multicultural Church and so that means they talk back to me a lot so Apollo upfront if I say hey tell me what that says cuz I'll just do that sometimes but it says you've made them to be it what say it again Kingdom do you hear that the big picture what God is doing what God is building among every tribe tongue people and nation is the kingdom of God where this whole thing called Christianity is moving is the eternal reign of the glorious kingdom of God that's where it's all going it's where we're headed and if you to ask me for most of my Christian life what is the book of Acts about I would have said that the book of Acts is about the local New Testament church it's about the birth of the local New Testament church it's about the growth of the local New Testament church it's about the expansion of a local New Testament church but you know that's not what the book of Acts is about let me show it to you two other verses and we're gonna get the Philippians Acts chapter 1 verse 3 look at it I'm gonna I'm gonna connect this for you just hang on for a second Acts chapter 1 verse 3 look what he says to these he also presented himself alive after his sufferings by many convincing proofs appearing to them over a period of 40 days and speaking of the things concerning V said aloud kingdom of God how about that what is this you know this context it's the last 40 days Jesus Christ is physically on planet Earth it's the last 40 days with his disciples it's after his resurrection before his ascension all of his appearances the Bible says for 40 days every time Jesus showed up whether it was two disciples or five hundred disciples every time he met with them he only talked about one thing the kingdom of God it's almost as if Jesus said if you forget everything else I've taught you in three-and-a-half years of public ministry don't forget this kingdom of God go to the last two verses of the book of Acts Acts chapter 28 verse 30 and 31 now we're talking not about Jesus about Paul and he stayed two full years in his own rented quarters and was welcoming all who came to him this is not Paul on a beach and a condo somewhere right this is Paul under house arrest facing execution for preaching the gospel look what it says verse 31 preaching thee what said I loud how about that the book of Acts opens with Jesus's last 40 days on planet Earth and the Bible says every time he showed up he only talked about one thing makes sense right because he did say that that was to be the absolute number one priority in our lives by way of imperative he said everything should be ordered around this so for forty days he talks about the kingdom of God now you get to the end of the book of Acts and you find Paul spending his last two years on planet Earth and every time somebody got within earshot Paul said sit down let me talk to you about something kingdom of God in between those two bookends we find the birth the growth and the multiplication of the local New Testament church but you cannot separate it from the bookends meaning this the local New Testament church is the temporary tool established by Jesus for gathering people to teach them about the king to disciple them in Kingdom living and then to send them out for the expansion of God's kingdom to the ends of the earth the church is not the goal the kingdom of God being expanded to every tribe tongue people nation is the goal the church is the temporary - now it's an important tool why because it's v-tool established by Jesus for the expansion of his kingdom but it's simply the tool here's what that means you're gonna get your degree you're gonna go give your life to plant a church serve in the church but here's what I want you to know one day the church that you're gonna serve in it's going to die my family's giving our lives to go plant a church in Las Vegas Nevada called Hope Church here's what I know one day the church that we've planted is going to die you know how to know that because all churches do if you don't believe me go to Ephesus go to colossi go to Philip I go to Thessalonica go to all the churches Paul planted in the New Testament guess what dead and gone but the kingdom of God is alive and well so the real question then is making sure how do we connect the the activity of the local church to the big picture of what God is doing in the world that's Philippians chapter 4 what we find in Philippians chapter 4 is a local New Testament church planted by Paul that's being used by God to join in the expansion of his kingdom to the ends of the earth so Philippians chapter 4 I want to go there now and I want to begin reading in verse number 15 here's what the scripture says you yourselves also know Philippians that at the first preaching of the gospel after I left Macedonia no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving but you alone for even in Thessalonica you sent a gift more than once for my needs not that I seek the gift itself but I seek for the profit which increases to your account but I've received everything in full have an abundance I am amply supplied having received from Epaphroditus what you have sent a fragrant aroma and acceptable sacrifice well pleasing to God then the verse of scripture every seminary student knows and my God will supply all your need according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus verse 19 is a conditional promise we're going to talk about that in just a minute it's not a blank check it's a conditional promise verse 20 now to our god and father be the glory for ever and ever amen out of these verses I want to show you three truths about connecting the activity of a local church to the big picture of God's kingdom activity here's the first one when god births a church it's always about something bigger when God births a church it's always about something bigger Paul had planted this church in Philippi on his second missionary journey what we're actually reading in the book of Philippians is a letter that Paul is writing back to the church at Philippi ten years after planting this church on his second missionary journey and it's a thank-you letter for their investment and involvement in the kingdom that's why in chapter 1 Paul opens this letter by saying I thank my god every time I remember you because of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now he's thanking them for recognizing that the church was born for something bigger than just being the church in Philippi Paul writes to them in verse 15 listen what he says he says you yourselves also know Philippians that at the first preaching of the gospel anybody get emotional when you read that phrase this morning I'm not seeing any tears in the building when you read that phrase of Scripture I don't know that that's on anybody's phone as your screensaver right when you the first preaching of what what's he talking about here well you know this the word first here is the word for beginning you know what Paul literally is saying to them here you guys remember 10 years ago when this all started we didn't read that phrase with much emotion but there were a few people in the crowd that day that read it with a lot of emotion because they were there when Paul came to Philip I for the very first time in response to that Macedonian call in act 16 and they remember the story of Paul meeting Lydia on the riverbank there she was out there this business leader on the riverbank inspecting her business and Paul meets her and shares the gospel with her and Lydia's born again into relationship with God and she's so excited about this newfound faith in Christ that she begs Paul to come back to her home and Paul and the disciples that are with him go to her home and they they begin to teach Lydia and her whole household and all of her people that are under her influence they begin to share with him the gospel and Lydia's whole household all of the people that are connected to her embrace Christ and become followers of Jesus and and they begged Paul to continue to disciple them and he begins to disciple them in Lydia's house and one of the ways he's disciple named as he's taking them out into the streets into the city of Philippi and they're sharing Christ all over the city and in the process of doing that this one demon-possessed girl begins to mock them and ridicule them and persecute them and and Paul turns to the demon-possessed girl and they cast the demon out of her and then she gives her life to Christ and is born again becomes a part of this fellowship in Lydia's household but not everybody in the community is happy about that the magistrates take Paul and Silas throw them in prison lock them up they're gonna maybe execute them for the gospel and they're there in the prison in Philippi and at midnight they're singing hymns and rejoicing and praising God and all of a sudden the jail begins to shake and the doors swing open the jailer comes in he's about to kill himself because he thinks men my life is over they say don't do that he says what must I do to be saved the jailer his whole household embraced the gospel or born again into relationship with God and boom brand-new church in Philippi Lydia in her household this demon-possessed girl and her friends Jay learned his household brand new churches born in Philippi when Paul says do you remember when it all began they start telling those stories but here's what Paul's reminding them when the church was born in Philippi that wasn't the end of the mission that was the beginning of the mission you know what's happened in our culture in North America we've made the church the goal we've made the local church the finish line it's almost like this illustration imagine that you and I went into business together and we were going to develop property so we buy this piece of land we hire this construction company we place them on the site and they're to begin building this building that we've tasked them to build so that we can then either sell it or rent it or use it to generate revenue so two months into the project you and I drive up on the jobsite and all the workers are working on their tools and nobody's building the building now I don't know your temperament but let me just tell you what's gonna go down when I walk on the jobsite somebody's losing their job right because I didn't hire them to work on their tools I hired them to build the building now they may have the finest tools in the industry but that's not what we've tasked them to do you know that's a picture of it's a picture of much of the church in North America we spend ninety ninety-five percent of our time our money our energy our efforts on the tool which is the local New Testament church and listen I'm not diminishing the significance of the local New Testament church it is the tool established by Jesus for the expansion of the kingdom but hear me it is simply the tool established by Jesus we think the goal is to grow the church and build the church and have the buildings and have the programs Paul says no that's just the beginning of the work of the gospel in the city the the gospel has been planted in that city so that from that city it might reach the ends of the earth God is alive and it were in the world and God has birthed the church that you're a part of and the church that I'm a part of to join in the big picture of what he's doing as a matter of fact you and I are living in the greatest days in the history of Christianity to be alive there are more people coming to faith today in Christ on a daily basis around the world than in any other single time in human history and God has raised us up for such a time as this not so that we can sit in our holy Huddle's and be content with how good we're doing but so that we can be called and sent out to join in the big picture of what he's doing all over the world let me give you one example of what's happening right now did you know that there's a movement happening right now among Iranian 's coming to faith in Christ there have been more irani ins come to faith in Jesus Christ in the last 100 years than in the previous 19 centuries combined we're seeing it happen in Las Vegas in the last 18 months we've baptized 70 adult Iranian Muslims who have come to faith in Jesus Christ and in Las Vegas Nevada come to know Jesus been born again been baptized publicly declared their faith in Him 70 in Las Vegas along God's moving in the world and you and I we're not just members of a church we are citizens of a kingdom that is alive and well I mean the second thing when God births a church he invites us to join in his kingdom activity look back at verse 15 he says you yourselves also know Philippians that at the first the beginning of the gospel after I left Macedonia no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving but you alone word shared is an important word here it's a Greek word that almost every Baptist knows it's the Greek word Koinonia unfortunately Baptists think the word Koinonia means coffee pots and casseroles because we typically translate it with the word fellowship but the word Koinonia you know this it literally means to share or to join in the life of another this church understood from the beginning that they were born for something bigger and because they understood that they saw in the Apostle Paul the opportunity to join in the mission of God to join in the activity of God by partnering and the life and Ministry of the Apostle Paul you say well how how did they do that well let me give you three ways that all of us can lead the churches that were part of the join in God's activity the first one is every church should cultivate a heart for the kingdom by praying it's a sad sad day in the American church because we have relegated prayer corporate prayer in the American church to moments of transition when we move people onto and off of a stage we no longer pray simply to pray we got deeply convicted about this at our church in Las Vegas so for the last two years we have an 8 to 10 minute block in every one of our weekend services where I'll lead our church in corporate prayer for 8 to 10 minutes every weekend in every service and once a year we take the whole service and dedicate the whole service and in doing that we're praying for God's activity in our city we're praying for God's activity in the western part of the United States and we're praying for God's activity all over the world and so we're just constantly directing people in that pretend this weekend we have a partner who's going to be in our church from Southeast Asia and I'm gonna do a little interview with him and I'm gonna lead our church for eight to ten minutes to pray over what God's doing in Southeast Asia why is that because when you and I pray what's on God's heart moves on the our heart you say this praying really make a difference let me tell you quick story when I first got to Las Vegas Nevada we didn't know a soul we roll into town my first week my telephone rings I answer the phone on the other end of the line is a Filipino lady named Letty Peralta Letty said pastor can I tell you a story I said lady I don't know anybody in Las Vegas you can tell me any story you want to tell me I've since learned be careful with that offer in Las Vegas there's some stories you don't want to hear but she said pastor I'm from the Philippines I moved to Hong Kong to make money for my family that was very poor she said while living in Hong Kong I met an American family moved in with them became the caretaker of their home she said that family became like my extended family she said while I was living with that family they got relocated from Hong Kong back to the United States of America so I moved with them from Hong Kong back to the US with this corporation that transitioned them she said we moved to a suburb north of Atlanta Georgia called Woodstock Georgia she said while living in Woodstock I heard a preacher by the name of Johnny hunt at a church called the First Baptist Church of Woodstock Georgia preached the gospel like I've never heard it before and became a devoted follower of Christ but she said I only got to go to this church about six or seven times and my family got uprooted again and relocated to Las Vegas Nevada she said pastor I've been in Las Vegas for a year and a half and I've prayed every day that the First Baptist Church of Woodstock Georgia would plant a church in Las Vegas Nevada would you please tell me who sent you here two weeks earlier we loaded everything we owned in a green Dodge minivan in the parking lot of the First Baptist Church of Woodstock Georgia and drove 2,000 miles across the country and none of us even knew Letty Peralta existed on planet earth our church is almost 17 years old we just launched our 45th church plant out of our church in the western United States we've sent over 400 people out of our fellowship to join in God's activity up and down the West and around the world we're serving all four continents currently around the world involved in a church planting movement on a couple of those continents and church planters will call me and they'll say Manhattan how does a guy from Alabama how do you how'd you do what was your strategy and I'm not trying to be super spiritual I'm just trying to be honest one lady from the Philippines asked God to do it and we've been riding a wave of the favor of God ever since what if we tried to raise up Lettie Peralta's in our church who would grab a hold of the altar of God and not let go until God did what he said he was going to do we can cultivate a heart by praying secondly we every Church said priority the kingdom by sending I got to do this quick but look at verse 18 verse 18 he says I've received everything and full and have an abundance I'm amply supplied having received from Epaphroditus who in the world is a path for and itis and we think that's something you catch and take penicillin to get rid of right I used I had a bad case of apparent ideas but I'm feeling much better now right now let me tell you he's somebody you're gonna meet in heaven and he's gonna say hey do you like what they wrote about me in the Bible so you better learn his story here's who app afroditi is he's a regular guy in Philippi that somebody led to Jesus and he began to be discipled in Lydia's house and one day the church said hey we want to send some money to Paul we need somebody to carry the money and go join in what God's doing through the life of Paul anybody willing to go heip afroditi said I'm no seminary trained preacher but I can carry a bag of money with the best of them I'll go so how do you know that we don't have time to read it you go read it later Philippians chapter 2 verse 25 Paul calls it Pafford itis their missions your messenger and minister who was sent out to meet Paul's need and he became a cold laborer and brother with Paul you know that afroditi says he's the first recorded short-term mission trip in the Bible he went he worked with Paul I don't know if it was six days six weeks or six months then he came back to the church at Philippi you said how do you know he came back where you think we got the letter from the thank-you letter was given to a Pafford itis to bring back to the church at Philippi what if what if we stopped measuring our success by how many people sat in our church on Sunday and we started measuring our success by how many people have been sent out of our fellowship to join in God's activity in our city our nation and reaching the ends of the earth with a gospel we got it backwards he's called us to Rick why do we think that way because we think the church is the goal so it's get more get more get more get more get more get more Church in the goal the kingdoms the goal when you understand that it's sinned sinned we tell every person in our membership class at Hope Church we tell them if you join our church we're gonna do everything we can to talk you into leaving and they laugh just like you're laughing and now hundreds have been sent out to join in the mission of God and brings me to the third last thing we got to move through this quickly every church should invest in the kingdom by giving I don't the same much here you know this this text is primarily a text about their offering that they gave Paul said men they gave consistently said you gave more than once they gave sufficiently he said you gave for my needs they gave abundantly he said I've received everything in full and having abundance they that we learn in second Corinthians they gave sacrificially Paul says they gave according to their ability and beyond their ability and then you get to verse 19 my God will supply all your needs here's what he's saying when you're a church that cultivates a heart for the kingdom by praying this a praying church some of the deepest verses on prayer and all the Bible are located in this letter they prayed for Baal he said when you cultivate a heart for the kingdom by praying when you when you prioritize the kingdom by sending and when you invest in the kingdom by giving here's what Paul says you can't out give God shouldn't surprise us what Jesus say seek first the kingdom of God and what all these things will be added unto you it sounds exactly like what Paul just said right you begin to live out the principles of verses 15 through 18 here's what Paul said you can't outgive God and we've seen it happen over and over and oh we were a year and a half old when we were a year and a half old we launched our first church out of our church we had about 300 people in our church raised up a team sent out a planter said anybody want to go with him want you to go 40 people signed up to go with him now we only had 340 wind and it wasn't authority I to pick not that there's anybody I would pick but you know what I'm saying it was our best servers it was our best small group leaders it was our best givers went over 10% of your church says hey we'll go how to make you nervous I didn't know what was gonna happen the next Sunday next Sunday we had the largest attendance and largest offering we'd ever had in the history of our church we've now done it forty five times and seen God do it every single time you can't outgive him last thing I'll say when God births the church is born for something bigger when God births a church it's his invitation to get in on something to join in his activity and finally when God births a church it's for his glory look how Paul closes this pericope now to our God and Father be the glory for ever and ever amen why is it important right why would not the last verse of this chapter why it's important right here because Paul had just spent three or four verses saying some really great stuff about the Philippian church but here's what he reminds them it's not about you it's not about whether or not people ever know the name of the church at Philippi it's about the glory of God among every tribe tongue people and nation on planet Earth not to us O Lord not to us but to your name be the glory let's pray together father thank you for the opportunity to share today and this great place Lord I pray for those that sense a calling or some of them to leave their comfort zone and to plant their life in a pioneer area like the western United States or the other side of the world what I pray that we would lay everything we have on the altar that we would abandon ourselves for the sake of your mission God give us a right perspective about the church what is your bride but ultimately that's the kingdom Lord every tribe tongue people a nation that's who you've redeemed under yourself that's what will reign for all eternity or give us a right perspective uses God for your glory it's in the name of Jesus we pray amen you

Channel: Southern Seminary

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Keywords: SBTS, Chapel, Southern Seminary, Seminary Chapel, SBTS Chapel, Vance Pitman, Philippians 4:15-20

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Length: 38min 45sec (2325 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 08 2018