Characteristics of The Kingdom
Okay, so last week, we were continuing on in our series Kingdom comm. It has been this is week five of it, we started on Eastern, so I'm going to recap a little bit. And then we're going to kind of move forward because we want to know what the kingdom of God is Pastor Mike shared last week, but Kingdom is mentioned by Jesus in the gospels over 120 times. How many of you know if Jesus takes the time to mention something over 120 times we better figure out what that is. Right? That's important. And as believers, the kingdom is our inheritance. It is the goal to live as sons and daughters who are heirs to the kingdom, both here on earth and in heaven. Okay. And so this was the reason Jesus came. It's a big deal. And we better know what we're receiving, so that we don't miss it. Okay. Matthew 610, Jesus is teaching the disciples to pray, and he says, Pray this way, your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. So we know the kingdom is not meant to just be after we die when we go to heaven. But it's also meant to be established here on earth. And God wants us to live it, he wants us to establish it. Week one, we talked about Jesus as the offering and an invitation to meet with him. Everybody receives this invitation. It's amazing. To be a part of the kingdom, we learned that we, we have a need for him that we need to recognize that need for him, we learned that when we recognize that need for him, our appetite changes, right. And then we walk in confession and repentance. We walked towards God, we walked towards him, and it begins to change our life. And then last week, Pastor Mike shared about our desire to seek after the truth, to understand that Jesus is our truth, and to seek after the truth. Now, this is a really important principle. Okay, all of those messages. If you haven't listened, I would really encourage you to hop on YouTube, or our app and, and get caught up because these are really important messages for us in the time that we're living in. Okay, we've got to seek the truth. But in order to seek the truth, we've got to know the truth. And the Bible warns us that in the last days, that we will be deceived into believing a form of truth. What does that mean? It means things might sound good. So you're led away, but then you miss out on inheriting the kingdom. Now, don't let that word scare you the last days, okay. Sometimes we hear those words, and we're like, oh, what? Apocalypse? Like what's happening? Like, as soon as Jesus went to heaven, we were in the last days. Okay, so it's been going on for a while, like, we need to be aware, we need to be in tune, we need to be pursuing Jesus. But I don't really get caught up in all that because I just think I need to be pursuing Jesus. And I need to make sure that everybody around me is pursuing Jesus. And then we don't miss out. Like, I'm not going to be the person that's going to debate with you about all the things okay. You can try and I'll be like, good on. Yeah. Okay, I'm gonna go find some people to win to Jesus, right? That's what it's all about. And we got to know the truth. And in order to know the truth, we got to read our Bibles. That's where the truth is, okay. If you're like, where do I find the truth? It's in the Bible. Okay. It's in the Bible. We cannot know what's false. Unless we know what's true.
We can't know where deception is, if we don't know what's true. The way that we know what's true is we read our Bible, okay? And we apply it, okay. The Word of God is living and powerful. If you're like, I get bored when I read my Bible, anybody thought that? It's okay. We're at Mercy City Church, you can admit it, right. Everybody loves it. You guys are scholars, biblical scholars in the room. I know for me, when I started, I was like, I am confused. I do not understand what's going on. So you know what I did? I grabbed some people who knew a little bit more than me. And I asked questions. I got in a city group I got in connection with people at church in the life of the church, and I said, What is going on? What does this mean? That's okay to do that, if you don't know because the word of God will change your life. Okay. And so today, what I want to talk about is how we recognize the kingdom. What are we looking for? If Jesus talked about it that much, we better know what we're looking for. We're going to be in Matthew seven. You can get there if you have your Bible or you can follow along on the screens with the app and we're going
to read some scripture today, you guys excited about that? Maybe you pretended to know earlier when I just asked that question, but we're going to explain it and you're going to be excited about it. Okay? And you're actually going to know what it means. So let's pray. Father, we thank You for Your Word. We thank you for your power, that we thank you for the power of the Holy Spirit that helps us understand your word and your truth. Give us the tools that we need today.
To understand you in a new way, God give us a higher perspective. Help us to know you more in Jesus name, amen. Amen. Look at your neighbor. So you'll get today
feel like everybody's a little quiet today. Give them a knuckle balm.
Everybody's good. All right, everybody good. Everybody awake chapel you awake. Good chapels awake. I know Seward's awake, they're, they're yelling at the screen, probably in sewer they get a little crazy there. Okay. Over the past few weeks, we've been looking at Jesus's first sermon. That's a big deal, right? Jesus's first sermon is found in Matthew five to seven. Now you might have thought Jesus's first sermon was just like the Beatitudes, like I did for a long time. And then I realized all of that is in red. And when you read in your Bible, and it's all in red, it means Jesus said All of it. Okay, so it was like all his first sermon. And if you're familiar with the Bible, you've probably heard a lot of these verses before, and maybe you can quote them maybe, but But what I want to encourage you today is how are they impacting your life? Okay, I read them. Great. I heard them read. I've seen them on a shirt. Right? Like I know what they say. But what do they have to do with me? And that's what we want to talk about Matthew, five to seven is our kingdom school, as what I like to call it, it's how we understand the kingdom. This was the message that Jesus felt was so important that he began and ended his ministry talking about the kingdom. And guess what everything in the middle, the Kingdom. In Matthew four, he says that he travelled through the region of Galilee. And he was announcing the good news. That's so cool. We've heard that right. Jesus talks about the good news, the gospel, right, but we miss what it says next, the good news about the kingdom. It says that in your Bible, it says he was preaching the good news about the kingdom. And then we end in Matthew 24. And Jesus is like commissioning the disciples. And he says, as the good news about the kingdom will be preached. And the good news sorry, about the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world. The good news was all about the kingdom. And it turned the world upside down. This is the message that Jesus said, Go and take this to the world. It's not just about Jesus, but it's about how what Jesus did gave us access to the kingdom, that the price that Jesus paid was actually giving us the opportunity to be heirs in the kingdom. Has anybody ever received an inheritance?
Thank you to people, okay. Oh, yeah, there we go, oh, everybody's awake. Okay. So if you've ever received an inheritance, you probably received it, because your parent or grandparent passed away, right? Because you were a son, or a daughter. And that's what we get. When we inherit the kingdom. It's not because we're servants and slaves. It's because we're sons and daughters. And you don't have to earn that inheritance. You don't have to do anything. You just get the inheritance because of who you are, not because of what you do. And so this kingdom life is our inheritance. It's important that we understand what we're looking for, where to find it, and who can inherit it. So that's what we're going to talk about today. Okay, we're going to talk about what we're looking for, where we go to find it, and who can inherit it. Okay. I like to give you a lot of Scripture, I really feel like part of what I'm called to do when I speak is to be able to take something a topic and make it more simple, so that we understand that's how my brain works. That's what I have to do. And so I like to do that. So I'm hoping that at the end of today, you're going to be like, Oh, I understand that a little bit better than I did when I walked in. Does that sound good? Everybody's ever agree with that? If you aren't, I'm sorry. That's what I have planned. So, Pastor Matt will be back next week, and he will give you something else. Okay. So we're going to pick up today kind of around the scripture that we've been talking about in in Matthew 633. And then we're going to jump into chapter seven. Okay, so this verse wellknown verse, it says, Seek the kingdom of God above all else. Now, I want to challenge you with something anytime you're reading your Bible. Don't skim over the kingdom. Okay, we're all skimmers. I know. I know you're out there. skimmer. You read and you don't understand something and you just keep going. Right? But if we don't understand the kingdom, let's stop. And let's just make a mark. You can write on your Bible. Everybody Permission granted.
And let's take a picture I
Let's take a color highlighter colored pen who likes to color pencil? Yeah, yeah, this front section, good highlighters and mark it every time you see kingdom, get your blue pen out and mark it in your Bible. Why? Because it's gonna make you stop and think, oh, I can learn something about the kingdom. This scripture talks about the kingdom. It says seek the kingdom above all else. Well if we're supposed to seek it above all else, we better know what it is and live righteously and he God will give you everything you need. This is not a kingdom, like most of us would think this was not a kingdom that was conquered. This was not done through warfare or control. This was conquered through surrender and sacrifice. This is a kingdom that is our model. It's a kingdom of forgiveness. It's a kingdom of mercy. It's a kingdom of love. It is not the way that the world does things, but it's a different kind of Kingdom. And when we choose to seek the kingdom here on earth, we will be invited into God's kingdom in heaven. There is so much to say about the kingdom there was a pastor, I believe he he had a church in the Bahamas, tough life, right?
I might be wrong on that, but we're gonna go with it. And his name was Myles Munroe. And he actually wrote four books. He has a four book series on the kingdom, a four book series, okay. And he preached about the kingdom every week for over four years, four years, Sundays every week about the kingdom. So there is a lot to say about the kingdom. So we're not going to go there today. All right. But don't worry, everybody's like, how long is the service lasting? We're just going to give you kind of some things to start to think about, in addition to what we've already said. And then I want you to circle I want you to recognize that when we're reading in the word pastor Matt already laid out for us over the past few weeks how we live righteously. But what I want to pick up on is these last few verses, okay? When we seek His kingdom first, above all else, what will happen? He will give you everything you need, He will give you everything you need. So when we seek the kingdom, what are we looking for? What is the blessing of the kingdom, its provision?
When we seek the kingdom of God, okay, when we seek it, he will give us What?
What?
What's included in everything?
Okay.
So if I need wisdom,
is that included?
What if I need a job? Is that included? Yeah, it is. And God doesn't call you up and be like, I got a job for you. But what he does is you say, Lord, I need a job. I need to find something better for my family. And then he begins to connect you with the right people. He begins to open the right doors, he begins to give you wisdom to notice things you didn't notice before. How do we seek the kingdom we ask God for what we need. We include him in our life. We say, Okay, I want to seek the kingdom. But I have needs. I need some friends. I need some godly friends. I just got saved. I'm trying to live this thing out. I need some people to surround me. So Lord, I need some friends. I'm going to seek your kingdom first. And then all of a sudden you come to church and someone invites you to go to movement night on Friday night. And you might think, Oh, I don't want to do that. I might feel nervous. That's God, giving you what you need. But we miss it. Don't we don't miss those things that God is providing for us. Right? He has a plan for you. And when we seek Him first, we're accepting the invitation for his plan. We're choosing to put Him as King of the Kingdom. Here's the thing. You're not the king of your kingdom.
God's always King. We're the sons and daughters. So unfortunately, we never get to be in control. That's hard. I like to be in control. I like to control things. It's an issue. I am confessing like, I have to work on it regularly. regularly. Lord, I surrender to you, Lord, I'm not I regularly in my prayer time. Well, we'll just I'll just do this and be like, alright, Lord. I've been tight fisting this. I'm letting it go. And I literally open my hands and I'm like, I'm letting it go. Do what you want. I'm surrendering it to you. I can't control this. You're King. I'm not King. I'm not even queen.
I call myself the queen. I'm not the queen. Okay, I'm the daughter. I'm the heir. Right? That's who we are. He leads us into what we need. Okay, so we're gonna keep reading in Matthew seven.
And we're going to jump ahead a little bit to verse 13. Because the next few weeks, we're actually going to talk around the idea of Kingdom prayer. You're not going to want to miss it. It's going to be really good. Okay. And we're going to do that. So I'm going to do
come down to verse 13. Because what we want to look at now we know that one of the blessings is provision. But let's figure out where can we find access to the kingdom? Because how many of you know if you're supposed to find it? If you're supposed to inherit it, you better know where it is. Right? Where do we find this? This sounds like, I can't see it. I don't understand what you're saying. So where do we find the kingdom of God?
Matthew 713 says this, you can enter God's kingdom, only through the narrow gate. I love this word. Only EU only.
Everybody see that?
Only through the narrow gate, the Highway to Hell is broad. And its gate is wide for many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow, and the road is difficult, and only a few will ever find it. What does this passage mean for us? Why is it the narrow gate? Wouldn't a God who loves us want to offer as many ways as possible for people to get in? Wouldn't that make more sense? If he's like, Hey, come this way, come this way. Everybody come on any way you want? It's narrow, because there's only one way.
Okay? You can enter God's kingdom only through the narrow gate. That's kindness from God. We look at that because our view of God is mean judge. And we think that's rude. It's actually kindness. He takes all the guesswork out of it. You don't have to think how do I get there? There's only one way it's his way. Right? I don't like multiple choice. Anybody get confused and overwhelmed with many, many options.
I like if you are married, and you've ever tried to figure out where to go to eat.
And you might say, where do you want to go to eat? And your spouse will say this.
I don't care.
or god forbid, you ask your children. What do you want for dinner?
Don't do that. If you don't have kids yet, if they're little, it's not too late. You say this? This is what we're having for dinner. You will eat it or starve
it. Thank you. Thank you. We can all
have a mom's Yes, yes, yes. I can tell you 21 years later, it doesn't get any less annoying. Okay. So I like one choice. I like it. When pastor Matt says to me, Hey, let's go to salt NS K. And 100% of the time, I will say yes. Let's go to salt and Skype. That sounds delicious. Thank you for just saying what you want, right? Like it. And usually when I asked him where he wants to go, I know what I want. Why don't I just say I want skeletons. Okay?
Sounds good. It's gonna have a line out the door. Today. If you've never been there, you should go.
This is kindness from God. It's narrow, because there's only one way he has simplified it in such a way that our path is easy. If we have too many options. It's difficult but only the seekers go looking. Only the people who want his way go looking only the people who are searching for truth go looking. That's the way of forgiveness. It's the way of surrender. It's the way of trust and few people find it because few are looking.
When we keep seeking we find when we keep asking he answers. He says Jesus, I love it. And John 14, six, he says I am the way. He's not hiding it from us. He's very clear. It's me. I'm him. I'm the way, follow it and you'll get there. There's only one path. It doesn't need to be wide. We can go single file, right? Like we can get in we're all following that same path. I want to encourage you What path are you on? Are you on the path that leads to life? Or are you on the path that leads to destruction? There's only one choice. It's either life or destruction. So if you're like, No, I'm on my own path, then you're leading towards discover this destruction. Right that if you don't believe me, that's proverbs 1412. God will lead you to life. God will lead you to blessing he will lead you to provision. It won't be easy, because you gotta give up your own way. The Broadway looks easy, it looks comfortable. It looks nice. It's probably paved. Right? The Narrow Way is difficult, because it's not your way.
It's not your way. Who will inherit this kingdom. Right hoo hoo hoo hoo.
That's what I want to know. Is it me?
People whose lives are fruitful?
I love it in verse 15. It says beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep, but are really this vicious wolves. This word vicious here sounds pretty intense, doesn't it? Is Another translation says ravenous wolves, right? I can't help but picture like werewolves, right. Like they're just like, but they're disguised. That's not what they look like. The word actually means robber. These people come in to rob us, of what God has for us. But they're not out in the world. Undercover. Where are they? Who are they disguised as they're disguised as Christians? They're disguised as people within the life of the church, who are sent here by our enemy to steal from us what God has intended for us. So how do we know how do we identify them, we identify them by their fruit.
I love how Jesus just lays it out. If we would just read it and apply it, we would be really, really good. He says, Hey, you can identify them by their fruit. That is love it the way they act, just in case you don't know what that means. It means the way that they act. The fruit we're looking for here is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self control. They're found in Galatians. Five, the fruit of what his spirit? How do we identify people that are going the way that we're going through the narrow way? We identify them by their fruit? A few verses prior to this. It's all about don't judge. Okay. And so as believers, I think we use that don't judge as an excuse to stay ignorant on inspecting people's fruit. I'm not the judge, God's the judge. And that is true. But Jesus tells us, but you have to inspect their fruit. You don't just let everybody in to your life, right? You don't just invite everybody in you got to inspect their fruit with discernment. That word means this. It's a gift of the Spirit. So if you have the Holy Spirit, you've got the gift of discernment. Okay? It's in First Corinthians 12. And it means this perceiving the true character of people. So I'm not judging, you know, like in a hateful way. But I want to perceive your character. I want to perceive Are you following the narrow way?
are you pursuing a relationship with Jesus?
As we inspect the fruit? We also we have start with ourselves, right? How's my fruit? As Pastor Matt talked about that the last few weeks? You got to inspect your fruit first, right?
But you've got to be somebody who is willing to inspect the fruit of people you follow? inspect our fruit as your pastures?
Do we do what we say? Or we kind? How do we treat our staff? How do we treat our kids? How do we treat one another inspect our fruit? We invite you to do that. You don't want to follow somebody who, whose kids hate them. You don't want to follow somebody whose staff hates them. You don't want to follow somebody who says one thing up on the stage, and then does another thing when they're out in the world. Don't follow those people inspect their fruit singles. Can I talk to you for a minute? Should you raise your hand? No, don't raise your hand. Like, let's see to know. Okay. Inspect the fruit of people. You're thinking about dating?
Watch what they do. Watch how they treat people. If you go to a restaurant, how do they treat the waitstaff?
How do they treat the hostess? How do they treat their friends? How do they treat your friends? How do they treat you inspect their fruit? Don't just date someone because you're like, Oh, he's cute. No, not if he's mean, it doesn't get better. If he's always on his phone. If he's ugly to people out in the real world. That doesn't improve because you're dating. That actually gets worse. Marriage magnifies those things. Okay, you're gonna see more and be like, Oh, I do not like this, but then it's too late. Because you're already married and you're like, what am I gonna do? And I'm gonna say, Did you inspect the fruit? We i He was ugly to me when we were dating but I thought it'd be better. It's not.
If he's ugly to you, kick him to the curb.
If she is ugly to you, kick her to the curb. If she's more concerned about how she looks towards people, instead of what God's doing in her life, run, run away.
Before you make it official
Right.
That was for you guys.
I don't know where I'm at.
I'm passionate about that, though. Don't date someone for no reason. Don't settle. inspect their fruit. Don't be friends with people. Yes, thank you chapel. Don't be friends with people who you don't like the fruit be inspect their fruit who's in your life? Those are the people who are going to inherit the kingdom. What's the second group of people? True disciples?
Let's keep reading. Are we true disciples, this is how we know Matthew 721 says this not everyone who calls out to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven. Only those. I love how Jesus just makes it clear, we make it hard. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. On Judgment Day, Many will say to me, Lord, Lord, we prophesied in your name, cast out demons in your name, and perform many miracles in your name. But I will reply, I never knew you get away from me, you who break God's laws, how many of us have been scared to death of this verse, and it has been preached out of context, by pastors your entire life. This verse is only scary if your view of God is scary.
But if our view of God is a loving and kind and forgiving God, that he's giving us a warning. And he's saying, hey, I want you to know that the will of my father isn't just to do it's to know
you will do the things. This is not an excuse, like, we're going to preach, we're going to teach, we're going to do all these things. But it comes out of knowing.
They actually he says, do the will of my Father. Okay, then he says, But didn't we do the things. And it's not just simply doing but it's knowing God, the will of the Father is to know him.
It's to know him intimately. It's the doing that comes from the knowing. In the very beginning of creation. In Genesis, we see that the will of God for humanity, the reason that they were created was for intimacy with the Father, to walk with him to talk with Him. The Bible says that Adam and Eve were naked and unashamed before God, completely open in intimacy. And we've gotten it so twisted and thinking we have to do all the things in order to be approved and pleased and get to heaven. Doing the kid doing the things should come from an intimate relationship that we share the word know, in this verse right here, I never knew you. It's this word. I'm not going to try to pronounce it, but I'm sure write it down. Actually, I think it says it No. So I think that's right. Yeah, I'm good. Okay.
It's, it's a natural word for the intimacy shared between a husband and wife.
It's, it means a closeness, where there is an understanding of one another. There's a closeness that's shared between a husband and wife.
I know secret things about pastor Matt, that none of you know, if you've been here for a few weeks, you know that he's an encourager, that he's excited, you know that he likes Doritos. You know that he is super passionate about Jesus. He's super passionate about people. But you probably don't know, like, how he likes his coffee, right? Like, but if you work here, you know a little bit more, you know, that he drinks coffee, you know that. If you travel with him, like you better book it, because he is not waiting for you. Right? Like, you better know the gate you're going to because he's like, they know where the gate is there adults. And I'm always like, shouldn't we wait for everybody's like, no, let's go. I'm okay. You know, like, I know that about him. That's great. Our staff knows things about him that you don't know, because they have another layer of intimacy, but they're intimate things that I know about him. After 23 years of marriage. I know what he's thinking. I can look at his face. And I know how he's feeling
it. I know what his silence is. I know when he's excited. I know things about him. Because I've been getting to know him intimately for 23 years.
That's the closeness that we have with God when we lean in. And he says, Hey, go and preach the gospel. Go and forgive go. So we're doing the things but they're coming because he's whispering in our heart.
I love you. I am better for you. I want to move you to a new place. I want to move you into a new season. I want to lead you by the hand and show you my kingdom.
It's no secret intimate spaces, where the true disciples are
Jesus is telling us this year, it's not meant to scare us, man, this verses scared me.
But it's, that's not the cool. Jesus is telling us, hey, I want to know you. This is a love verse.
This is a love verse. It's an invitation to intimacy with Jesus with the Father.
I want you to change the tone of how you read Jesus's words.
When you read your Bible this week, if you're reading the soap guide, we're still in the Gospels. And as we're reading the gospels, I want you to change the tone from angry father,
to loving father, angry judge, let's say that
the loving Father, where the words are kind, where you read this, and you think, Oh, my God, he wants to know me not. What if I get to heaven? And he says, I never knew you. That's always my fear. I'm like, Oh, what do I do then? And then I'm, I'm in trouble.
Right? Because it's too late at that point. But that's not what Jesus said. He said, hey, I want to know you. Don't miss it. Come close, I've got the secrets of the kingdom, to give you in those intimate spaces in the secret place. I love it. And I don't know where it's at right now. But it says that God gives the secrets of the kingdom to those who fear him.
What does that mean? Because I want to be with him. I want to know the secrets and everything I do is going to flow out of that, out of that relationship. So who gets to the Kingdom? Anyone who? Anyone who listens and obeys anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise. Like a person who builds a house on a solid rock. Though the winds and the rains come in Torrance and floodwaters rise and the winds meet against the house, it will not collapse. Because it is built on the bedrock. How can we be sure that we're headed on the right path towards the narrow gate, burying the right kind of fruit. And knowing God intimately is because we listen, and we obey.
We listen, and we obey.
Let's circle back to what I said at the very beginning. We have to know what God's Word says. And when we have that understanding of the truth of His Word. We have access to his kingdom, listening to his teaching, both in the Bible what the Bible says, and what the Holy Spirit speaks to us. So some of you have been sitting here and you may have heard something that I didn't say, the Holy Spirit may have said, hey, you need to inspect some fruit. You've got this going on. You need to inspect. I didn't say that. But you heard it, right. That's the Holy Spirit speaking to you. And guess what you can do you confirm it in His Word. You go back to this verse that I just read. Okay, I'm gonna inspect this, I'm gonna go to Galatians. Five, what should it look like? Why do we do that, to make sure that it doesn't ever contradict? Do not ever take our word for it. Go to the Bible, and see what it says and make sure that it's confirmed in His Word, whether you feel like the Holy Spirit speaking to you, if it contradicts his word, that is not the Holy Spirit. That's a robber. That's a vicious Wolf. That's coming to try to steal from you God's plan, do what the Word says, listen and obey. And then your foundation is on him. You are on a solid rock, no matter what comes at you, you are moving towards where he is. You are structured in a way that the enemy can come and try to steal from you. But you are so intimately acquainted with the father that he already says, hey, look out for this. Hey, watch out for this. He whispers the secrets he gives you everything you need for today. He gives you the wisdom to know Hey, that person, you need to take a step back. Hey, that relationship. It's not for you. That's what we have when we seek the kingdom first. Would you guys stand up on your feet with me today?
Many, many, many of us in the room had been seeking our own kingdom. We haven't been listening. We haven't been obeying. The Bible says that. Not obeying God's word is like seeing your face in a mirror. And then immediately forgetting what you look like my prayer today is that you do not hear this word. Hear the Word that the Holy Spirit spoken to you leave this place, leave our location in Seward and forget what God said.
Don't forget what God said to you today. Don't forget the word. Listen, and obey. Listen and walk it out. Listen, and continue to move forward towards that narrow gate. But you do not have to do it alone. Maybe God spoken something to you that's really hard. And you feel like I can't obey. This is a struggle. Maybe you are locked.
In an addiction, and God's saying, I have freedom for you, maybe you're locked in a relationship.
And you need healing, and you need freedom from that. We're gonna have our prayer teams come up, they want to stand with you. It is not our prayer teams. They are not powerful in themselves, but they are all carriers of the Holy Spirit, walking with the right fruit towards that narrow gate. They're gonna stand with you, and they're gonna declare God's Word over you where you can't do it yourself. They're gonna stand with you and declare God's Word over you. So don't leave here today. If your next step is prayer, if your next step is inviting someone into this with you don't leave here today. God has good things in his kingdom for you, He loves you. He's inviting you into a relationship, as your father.
Everybody just lift their hands all in this room upstairs in the chapel and Stuart, I just want to pray over us that we would get a new vision and perspective of who God is God, I pray that we would see you in a new way. God that we would view you from a higher perspective that we would not look at you and feel anger and wrath and judgment that we would look at you and we would feel your love, we would feel your mercy, we would feel your forgiveness and we would walk in it. God I pray that today that that lie would be broken over us right now in Jesus name, and that we would receive the truth of your word that you are a loving God, that you have an inheritance for us as your sons and as your daughters in Jesus name. Amen.
Thanks again for listening to today's message. For more information on all that God's doing at Mercy city, or to share how the message has impacted your life. Visit us online at Mercy City DOT church or on social media.
We can't know where deception is, if we don't know what's true. The way that we know what's true is we read our Bible, okay? And we apply it, okay. The Word of God is living and powerful. If you're like, I get bored when I read my Bible, anybody thought that? It's okay. We're at Mercy City Church, you can admit it, right. Everybody loves it. You guys are scholars, biblical scholars in the room. I know for me, when I started, I was like, I am confused. I do not understand what's going on. So you know what I did? I grabbed some people who knew a little bit more than me. And I asked questions. I got in a city group I got in connection with people at church in the life of the church, and I said, What is going on? What does this mean? That's okay to do that, if you don't know because the word of God will change your life. Okay. And so today, what I want to talk about is how we recognize the kingdom. What are we looking for? If Jesus talked about it that much, we better know what we're looking for. We're going to be in Matthew seven. You can get there if you have your Bible or you can follow along on the screens with the app and we're going
to read some scripture today, you guys excited about that? Maybe you pretended to know earlier when I just asked that question, but we're going to explain it and you're going to be excited about it. Okay? And you're actually going to know what it means. So let's pray. Father, we thank You for Your Word. We thank you for your power, that we thank you for the power of the Holy Spirit that helps us understand your word and your truth. Give us the tools that we need today.
To understand you in a new way, God give us a higher perspective. Help us to know you more in Jesus name, amen. Amen. Look at your neighbor. So you'll get today
feel like everybody's a little quiet today. Give them a knuckle balm.
Everybody's good. All right, everybody good. Everybody awake chapel you awake. Good chapels awake. I know Seward's awake, they're, they're yelling at the screen, probably in sewer they get a little crazy there. Okay. Over the past few weeks, we've been looking at Jesus's first sermon. That's a big deal, right? Jesus's first sermon is found in Matthew five to seven. Now you might have thought Jesus's first sermon was just like the Beatitudes, like I did for a long time. And then I realized all of that is in red. And when you read in your Bible, and it's all in red, it means Jesus said All of it. Okay, so it was like all his first sermon. And if you're familiar with the Bible, you've probably heard a lot of these verses before, and maybe you can quote them maybe, but But what I want to encourage you today is how are they impacting your life? Okay, I read them. Great. I heard them read. I've seen them on a shirt. Right? Like I know what they say. But what do they have to do with me? And that's what we want to talk about Matthew, five to seven is our kingdom school, as what I like to call it, it's how we understand the kingdom. This was the message that Jesus felt was so important that he began and ended his ministry talking about the kingdom. And guess what everything in the middle, the Kingdom. In Matthew four, he says that he travelled through the region of Galilee. And he was announcing the good news. That's so cool. We've heard that right. Jesus talks about the good news, the gospel, right, but we miss what it says next, the good news about the kingdom. It says that in your Bible, it says he was preaching the good news about the kingdom. And then we end in Matthew 24. And Jesus is like commissioning the disciples. And he says, as the good news about the kingdom will be preached. And the good news sorry, about the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world. The good news was all about the kingdom. And it turned the world upside down. This is the message that Jesus said, Go and take this to the world. It's not just about Jesus, but it's about how what Jesus did gave us access to the kingdom, that the price that Jesus paid was actually giving us the opportunity to be heirs in the kingdom. Has anybody ever received an inheritance?
Thank you to people, okay. Oh, yeah, there we go, oh, everybody's awake. Okay. So if you've ever received an inheritance, you probably received it, because your parent or grandparent passed away, right? Because you were a son, or a daughter. And that's what we get. When we inherit the kingdom. It's not because we're servants and slaves. It's because we're sons and daughters. And you don't have to earn that inheritance. You don't have to do anything. You just get the inheritance because of who you are, not because of what you do. And so this kingdom life is our inheritance. It's important that we understand what we're looking for, where to find it, and who can inherit it. So that's what we're going to talk about today. Okay, we're going to talk about what we're looking for, where we go to find it, and who can inherit it. Okay. I like to give you a lot of Scripture, I really feel like part of what I'm called to do when I speak is to be able to take something a topic and make it more simple, so that we understand that's how my brain works. That's what I have to do. And so I like to do that. So I'm hoping that at the end of today, you're going to be like, Oh, I understand that a little bit better than I did when I walked in. Does that sound good? Everybody's ever agree with that? If you aren't, I'm sorry. That's what I have planned. So, Pastor Matt will be back next week, and he will give you something else. Okay. So we're going to pick up today kind of around the scripture that we've been talking about in in Matthew 633. And then we're going to jump into chapter seven. Okay, so this verse wellknown verse, it says, Seek the kingdom of God above all else. Now, I want to challenge you with something anytime you're reading your Bible. Don't skim over the kingdom. Okay, we're all skimmers. I know. I know you're out there. skimmer. You read and you don't understand something and you just keep going. Right? But if we don't understand the kingdom, let's stop. And let's just make a mark. You can write on your Bible. Everybody Permission granted.
And let's take a picture I
Let's take a color highlighter colored pen who likes to color pencil? Yeah, yeah, this front section, good highlighters and mark it every time you see kingdom, get your blue pen out and mark it in your Bible. Why? Because it's gonna make you stop and think, oh, I can learn something about the kingdom. This scripture talks about the kingdom. It says seek the kingdom above all else. Well if we're supposed to seek it above all else, we better know what it is and live righteously and he God will give you everything you need. This is not a kingdom, like most of us would think this was not a kingdom that was conquered. This was not done through warfare or control. This was conquered through surrender and sacrifice. This is a kingdom that is our model. It's a kingdom of forgiveness. It's a kingdom of mercy. It's a kingdom of love. It is not the way that the world does things, but it's a different kind of Kingdom. And when we choose to seek the kingdom here on earth, we will be invited into God's kingdom in heaven. There is so much to say about the kingdom there was a pastor, I believe he he had a church in the Bahamas, tough life, right?
I might be wrong on that, but we're gonna go with it. And his name was Myles Munroe. And he actually wrote four books. He has a four book series on the kingdom, a four book series, okay. And he preached about the kingdom every week for over four years, four years, Sundays every week about the kingdom. So there is a lot to say about the kingdom. So we're not going to go there today. All right. But don't worry, everybody's like, how long is the service lasting? We're just going to give you kind of some things to start to think about, in addition to what we've already said. And then I want you to circle I want you to recognize that when we're reading in the word pastor Matt already laid out for us over the past few weeks how we live righteously. But what I want to pick up on is these last few verses, okay? When we seek His kingdom first, above all else, what will happen? He will give you everything you need, He will give you everything you need. So when we seek the kingdom, what are we looking for? What is the blessing of the kingdom, its provision?
When we seek the kingdom of God, okay, when we seek it, he will give us What?
What?
What's included in everything?
Okay.
So if I need wisdom,
is that included?
What if I need a job? Is that included? Yeah, it is. And God doesn't call you up and be like, I got a job for you. But what he does is you say, Lord, I need a job. I need to find something better for my family. And then he begins to connect you with the right people. He begins to open the right doors, he begins to give you wisdom to notice things you didn't notice before. How do we seek the kingdom we ask God for what we need. We include him in our life. We say, Okay, I want to seek the kingdom. But I have needs. I need some friends. I need some godly friends. I just got saved. I'm trying to live this thing out. I need some people to surround me. So Lord, I need some friends. I'm going to seek your kingdom first. And then all of a sudden you come to church and someone invites you to go to movement night on Friday night. And you might think, Oh, I don't want to do that. I might feel nervous. That's God, giving you what you need. But we miss it. Don't we don't miss those things that God is providing for us. Right? He has a plan for you. And when we seek Him first, we're accepting the invitation for his plan. We're choosing to put Him as King of the Kingdom. Here's the thing. You're not the king of your kingdom.
God's always King. We're the sons and daughters. So unfortunately, we never get to be in control. That's hard. I like to be in control. I like to control things. It's an issue. I am confessing like, I have to work on it regularly. regularly. Lord, I surrender to you, Lord, I'm not I regularly in my prayer time. Well, we'll just I'll just do this and be like, alright, Lord. I've been tight fisting this. I'm letting it go. And I literally open my hands and I'm like, I'm letting it go. Do what you want. I'm surrendering it to you. I can't control this. You're King. I'm not King. I'm not even queen.
I call myself the queen. I'm not the queen. Okay, I'm the daughter. I'm the heir. Right? That's who we are. He leads us into what we need. Okay, so we're gonna keep reading in Matthew seven.
And we're going to jump ahead a little bit to verse 13. Because the next few weeks, we're actually going to talk around the idea of Kingdom prayer. You're not going to want to miss it. It's going to be really good. Okay. And we're going to do that. So I'm going to do
come down to verse 13. Because what we want to look at now we know that one of the blessings is provision. But let's figure out where can we find access to the kingdom? Because how many of you know if you're supposed to find it? If you're supposed to inherit it, you better know where it is. Right? Where do we find this? This sounds like, I can't see it. I don't understand what you're saying. So where do we find the kingdom of God?
Matthew 713 says this, you can enter God's kingdom, only through the narrow gate. I love this word. Only EU only.
Everybody see that?
Only through the narrow gate, the Highway to Hell is broad. And its gate is wide for many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow, and the road is difficult, and only a few will ever find it. What does this passage mean for us? Why is it the narrow gate? Wouldn't a God who loves us want to offer as many ways as possible for people to get in? Wouldn't that make more sense? If he's like, Hey, come this way, come this way. Everybody come on any way you want? It's narrow, because there's only one way.
Okay? You can enter God's kingdom only through the narrow gate. That's kindness from God. We look at that because our view of God is mean judge. And we think that's rude. It's actually kindness. He takes all the guesswork out of it. You don't have to think how do I get there? There's only one way it's his way. Right? I don't like multiple choice. Anybody get confused and overwhelmed with many, many options.
I like if you are married, and you've ever tried to figure out where to go to eat.
And you might say, where do you want to go to eat? And your spouse will say this.
I don't care.
or god forbid, you ask your children. What do you want for dinner?
Don't do that. If you don't have kids yet, if they're little, it's not too late. You say this? This is what we're having for dinner. You will eat it or starve
it. Thank you. Thank you. We can all
have a mom's Yes, yes, yes. I can tell you 21 years later, it doesn't get any less annoying. Okay. So I like one choice. I like it. When pastor Matt says to me, Hey, let's go to salt NS K. And 100% of the time, I will say yes. Let's go to salt and Skype. That sounds delicious. Thank you for just saying what you want, right? Like it. And usually when I asked him where he wants to go, I know what I want. Why don't I just say I want skeletons. Okay?
Sounds good. It's gonna have a line out the door. Today. If you've never been there, you should go.
This is kindness from God. It's narrow, because there's only one way he has simplified it in such a way that our path is easy. If we have too many options. It's difficult but only the seekers go looking. Only the people who want his way go looking only the people who are searching for truth go looking. That's the way of forgiveness. It's the way of surrender. It's the way of trust and few people find it because few are looking.
When we keep seeking we find when we keep asking he answers. He says Jesus, I love it. And John 14, six, he says I am the way. He's not hiding it from us. He's very clear. It's me. I'm him. I'm the way, follow it and you'll get there. There's only one path. It doesn't need to be wide. We can go single file, right? Like we can get in we're all following that same path. I want to encourage you What path are you on? Are you on the path that leads to life? Or are you on the path that leads to destruction? There's only one choice. It's either life or destruction. So if you're like, No, I'm on my own path, then you're leading towards discover this destruction. Right that if you don't believe me, that's proverbs 1412. God will lead you to life. God will lead you to blessing he will lead you to provision. It won't be easy, because you gotta give up your own way. The Broadway looks easy, it looks comfortable. It looks nice. It's probably paved. Right? The Narrow Way is difficult, because it's not your way.
It's not your way. Who will inherit this kingdom. Right hoo hoo hoo hoo.
That's what I want to know. Is it me?
People whose lives are fruitful?
I love it in verse 15. It says beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep, but are really this vicious wolves. This word vicious here sounds pretty intense, doesn't it? Is Another translation says ravenous wolves, right? I can't help but picture like werewolves, right. Like they're just like, but they're disguised. That's not what they look like. The word actually means robber. These people come in to rob us, of what God has for us. But they're not out in the world. Undercover. Where are they? Who are they disguised as they're disguised as Christians? They're disguised as people within the life of the church, who are sent here by our enemy to steal from us what God has intended for us. So how do we know how do we identify them, we identify them by their fruit.
I love how Jesus just lays it out. If we would just read it and apply it, we would be really, really good. He says, Hey, you can identify them by their fruit. That is love it the way they act, just in case you don't know what that means. It means the way that they act. The fruit we're looking for here is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self control. They're found in Galatians. Five, the fruit of what his spirit? How do we identify people that are going the way that we're going through the narrow way? We identify them by their fruit? A few verses prior to this. It's all about don't judge. Okay. And so as believers, I think we use that don't judge as an excuse to stay ignorant on inspecting people's fruit. I'm not the judge, God's the judge. And that is true. But Jesus tells us, but you have to inspect their fruit. You don't just let everybody in to your life, right? You don't just invite everybody in you got to inspect their fruit with discernment. That word means this. It's a gift of the Spirit. So if you have the Holy Spirit, you've got the gift of discernment. Okay? It's in First Corinthians 12. And it means this perceiving the true character of people. So I'm not judging, you know, like in a hateful way. But I want to perceive your character. I want to perceive Are you following the narrow way?
are you pursuing a relationship with Jesus?
As we inspect the fruit? We also we have start with ourselves, right? How's my fruit? As Pastor Matt talked about that the last few weeks? You got to inspect your fruit first, right?
But you've got to be somebody who is willing to inspect the fruit of people you follow? inspect our fruit as your pastures?
Do we do what we say? Or we kind? How do we treat our staff? How do we treat our kids? How do we treat one another inspect our fruit? We invite you to do that. You don't want to follow somebody who, whose kids hate them. You don't want to follow somebody whose staff hates them. You don't want to follow somebody who says one thing up on the stage, and then does another thing when they're out in the world. Don't follow those people inspect their fruit singles. Can I talk to you for a minute? Should you raise your hand? No, don't raise your hand. Like, let's see to know. Okay. Inspect the fruit of people. You're thinking about dating?
Watch what they do. Watch how they treat people. If you go to a restaurant, how do they treat the waitstaff?
How do they treat the hostess? How do they treat their friends? How do they treat your friends? How do they treat you inspect their fruit? Don't just date someone because you're like, Oh, he's cute. No, not if he's mean, it doesn't get better. If he's always on his phone. If he's ugly to people out in the real world. That doesn't improve because you're dating. That actually gets worse. Marriage magnifies those things. Okay, you're gonna see more and be like, Oh, I do not like this, but then it's too late. Because you're already married and you're like, what am I gonna do? And I'm gonna say, Did you inspect the fruit? We i He was ugly to me when we were dating but I thought it'd be better. It's not.
If he's ugly to you, kick him to the curb.
If she is ugly to you, kick her to the curb. If she's more concerned about how she looks towards people, instead of what God's doing in her life, run, run away.
Before you make it official
Right.
That was for you guys.
I don't know where I'm at.
I'm passionate about that, though. Don't date someone for no reason. Don't settle. inspect their fruit. Don't be friends with people. Yes, thank you chapel. Don't be friends with people who you don't like the fruit be inspect their fruit who's in your life? Those are the people who are going to inherit the kingdom. What's the second group of people? True disciples?
Let's keep reading. Are we true disciples, this is how we know Matthew 721 says this not everyone who calls out to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven. Only those. I love how Jesus just makes it clear, we make it hard. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. On Judgment Day, Many will say to me, Lord, Lord, we prophesied in your name, cast out demons in your name, and perform many miracles in your name. But I will reply, I never knew you get away from me, you who break God's laws, how many of us have been scared to death of this verse, and it has been preached out of context, by pastors your entire life. This verse is only scary if your view of God is scary.
But if our view of God is a loving and kind and forgiving God, that he's giving us a warning. And he's saying, hey, I want you to know that the will of my father isn't just to do it's to know
you will do the things. This is not an excuse, like, we're going to preach, we're going to teach, we're going to do all these things. But it comes out of knowing.
They actually he says, do the will of my Father. Okay, then he says, But didn't we do the things. And it's not just simply doing but it's knowing God, the will of the Father is to know him.
It's to know him intimately. It's the doing that comes from the knowing. In the very beginning of creation. In Genesis, we see that the will of God for humanity, the reason that they were created was for intimacy with the Father, to walk with him to talk with Him. The Bible says that Adam and Eve were naked and unashamed before God, completely open in intimacy. And we've gotten it so twisted and thinking we have to do all the things in order to be approved and pleased and get to heaven. Doing the kid doing the things should come from an intimate relationship that we share the word know, in this verse right here, I never knew you. It's this word. I'm not going to try to pronounce it, but I'm sure write it down. Actually, I think it says it No. So I think that's right. Yeah, I'm good. Okay.
It's, it's a natural word for the intimacy shared between a husband and wife.
It's, it means a closeness, where there is an understanding of one another. There's a closeness that's shared between a husband and wife.
I know secret things about pastor Matt, that none of you know, if you've been here for a few weeks, you know that he's an encourager, that he's excited, you know that he likes Doritos. You know that he is super passionate about Jesus. He's super passionate about people. But you probably don't know, like, how he likes his coffee, right? Like, but if you work here, you know a little bit more, you know, that he drinks coffee, you know that. If you travel with him, like you better book it, because he is not waiting for you. Right? Like, you better know the gate you're going to because he's like, they know where the gate is there adults. And I'm always like, shouldn't we wait for everybody's like, no, let's go. I'm okay. You know, like, I know that about him. That's great. Our staff knows things about him that you don't know, because they have another layer of intimacy, but they're intimate things that I know about him. After 23 years of marriage. I know what he's thinking. I can look at his face. And I know how he's feeling
it. I know what his silence is. I know when he's excited. I know things about him. Because I've been getting to know him intimately for 23 years.
That's the closeness that we have with God when we lean in. And he says, Hey, go and preach the gospel. Go and forgive go. So we're doing the things but they're coming because he's whispering in our heart.
I love you. I am better for you. I want to move you to a new place. I want to move you into a new season. I want to lead you by the hand and show you my kingdom.
It's no secret intimate spaces, where the true disciples are
Jesus is telling us this year, it's not meant to scare us, man, this verses scared me.
But it's, that's not the cool. Jesus is telling us, hey, I want to know you. This is a love verse.
This is a love verse. It's an invitation to intimacy with Jesus with the Father.
I want you to change the tone of how you read Jesus's words.
When you read your Bible this week, if you're reading the soap guide, we're still in the Gospels. And as we're reading the gospels, I want you to change the tone from angry father,
to loving father, angry judge, let's say that
the loving Father, where the words are kind, where you read this, and you think, Oh, my God, he wants to know me not. What if I get to heaven? And he says, I never knew you. That's always my fear. I'm like, Oh, what do I do then? And then I'm, I'm in trouble.
Right? Because it's too late at that point. But that's not what Jesus said. He said, hey, I want to know you. Don't miss it. Come close, I've got the secrets of the kingdom, to give you in those intimate spaces in the secret place. I love it. And I don't know where it's at right now. But it says that God gives the secrets of the kingdom to those who fear him.
What does that mean? Because I want to be with him. I want to know the secrets and everything I do is going to flow out of that, out of that relationship. So who gets to the Kingdom? Anyone who? Anyone who listens and obeys anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise. Like a person who builds a house on a solid rock. Though the winds and the rains come in Torrance and floodwaters rise and the winds meet against the house, it will not collapse. Because it is built on the bedrock. How can we be sure that we're headed on the right path towards the narrow gate, burying the right kind of fruit. And knowing God intimately is because we listen, and we obey.
We listen, and we obey.
Let's circle back to what I said at the very beginning. We have to know what God's Word says. And when we have that understanding of the truth of His Word. We have access to his kingdom, listening to his teaching, both in the Bible what the Bible says, and what the Holy Spirit speaks to us. So some of you have been sitting here and you may have heard something that I didn't say, the Holy Spirit may have said, hey, you need to inspect some fruit. You've got this going on. You need to inspect. I didn't say that. But you heard it, right. That's the Holy Spirit speaking to you. And guess what you can do you confirm it in His Word. You go back to this verse that I just read. Okay, I'm gonna inspect this, I'm gonna go to Galatians. Five, what should it look like? Why do we do that, to make sure that it doesn't ever contradict? Do not ever take our word for it. Go to the Bible, and see what it says and make sure that it's confirmed in His Word, whether you feel like the Holy Spirit speaking to you, if it contradicts his word, that is not the Holy Spirit. That's a robber. That's a vicious Wolf. That's coming to try to steal from you God's plan, do what the Word says, listen and obey. And then your foundation is on him. You are on a solid rock, no matter what comes at you, you are moving towards where he is. You are structured in a way that the enemy can come and try to steal from you. But you are so intimately acquainted with the father that he already says, hey, look out for this. Hey, watch out for this. He whispers the secrets he gives you everything you need for today. He gives you the wisdom to know Hey, that person, you need to take a step back. Hey, that relationship. It's not for you. That's what we have when we seek the kingdom first. Would you guys stand up on your feet with me today?
Many, many, many of us in the room had been seeking our own kingdom. We haven't been listening. We haven't been obeying. The Bible says that. Not obeying God's word is like seeing your face in a mirror. And then immediately forgetting what you look like my prayer today is that you do not hear this word. Hear the Word that the Holy Spirit spoken to you leave this place, leave our location in Seward and forget what God said.
Don't forget what God said to you today. Don't forget the word. Listen, and obey. Listen and walk it out. Listen, and continue to move forward towards that narrow gate. But you do not have to do it alone. Maybe God spoken something to you that's really hard. And you feel like I can't obey. This is a struggle. Maybe you are locked.
In an addiction, and God's saying, I have freedom for you, maybe you're locked in a relationship.
And you need healing, and you need freedom from that. We're gonna have our prayer teams come up, they want to stand with you. It is not our prayer teams. They are not powerful in themselves, but they are all carriers of the Holy Spirit, walking with the right fruit towards that narrow gate. They're gonna stand with you, and they're gonna declare God's Word over you where you can't do it yourself. They're gonna stand with you and declare God's Word over you. So don't leave here today. If your next step is prayer, if your next step is inviting someone into this with you don't leave here today. God has good things in his kingdom for you, He loves you. He's inviting you into a relationship, as your father.
Everybody just lift their hands all in this room upstairs in the chapel and Stuart, I just want to pray over us that we would get a new vision and perspective of who God is God, I pray that we would see you in a new way. God that we would view you from a higher perspective that we would not look at you and feel anger and wrath and judgment that we would look at you and we would feel your love, we would feel your mercy, we would feel your forgiveness and we would walk in it. God I pray that today that that lie would be broken over us right now in Jesus name, and that we would receive the truth of your word that you are a loving God, that you have an inheritance for us as your sons and as your daughters in Jesus name. Amen.
Thanks again for listening to today's message. For more information on all that God's doing at Mercy city, or to share how the message has impacted your life. Visit us online at Mercy City DOT church or on social media.
Posted in Kingdom Come (2024)
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