Kingdom Culture

 

The Culture Of The Kingdom: Message 2Sunday, March 16th

 Mark 1:14-15, 14 Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” NKJV

Matt 3:1-3, 3 In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, 2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” 3 For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying: “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight.'” NKJV

 

Luke 9:11-12, 11 But when the multitudes knew it, they followed Him; and He received them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who had need of healing. NKJV

 

Acts 28:30-31, 30 Then Paul dwelt two whole years in his own rented house, and received all who came to him, 31 preaching the kingdom of God and teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no one forbidding him. NKJV

 

John 3:3, 3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” …5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. NKJV

 

We’ve started a new series of conversations…to truly be able to Multiply…we must understand the Kingdom of God.  Today I want to start this conversation with understanding The Culture of the Kingdom…

I.           Disney

a.  There is within us Through Christ Jesus…Practical Supernatural Power

    • In other words, in our daily routines is where “world-changing power should function and operate…”

b.  The most important experience a person can have is to be “born again.”  Jesus told Nicodemus, a religious leader and more moral than any of us in this room…that he, Nicodemus, had to be born again…and the reason was…not to escape hell or go to heaven (Yes those are Benefits after we die or Rapture)

c.  John 3:3 – “that you may see the kingdom of God…

    • All the verses of scripture I gave to you a moment ago…from John the Baptist to Jesus and then the early church…was to strategically present understanding and participation in the kingdom of God.

d.  Jesus through his marketplace life, Normalized and demonstrated how to live the Kingdom…

Key Point:  “When scripture and my reasoning are in conflict…my reasoning has to change.” 

    •  The Scriptures must determine what I believe…

e.  “The Happiest Place on Earth.” (Disney)

f.    Everyone is a Cast Member

g.  Every person Lives the Vision

    • Disney’s Philosophy is:  “If you can dream it, you can do it.”
    • Every cast member believes, practices and lives the Disney vision.
    • Disney is more than a park, it’s a culture…a culture that has out-lived Walt and Roy…Walt has been gone now for 50 years. But the culture lives on…

If you are born again, saved, you are a cast member in God’s Kingdom…

II.       God’s Grand Plan

a.  The Church is caught between now and not yet.

    • In other words,…the church will not be given the opportunity to remove all evil…
    • However, we are to be involved in the overcoming of evil with good
    • We are to be salt, light…which is influence…

b.  Jesus Prayed…”thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven…”

    • But that doesn’t mean we won’t have conflict, persecution and resistance…we live in the presence of evil…

c.  The Kingdom of God is within us, and we are subject to the rule of Jesus in every area of our lives…because the Kingdom has not fully come.

d.  So, the Kingdom is present and future…

Gen 1:26-31, 26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 29 And God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. 30 Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food”; and it was so. 31 Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day. NKJV

 

Gen 2:15, 15 Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. NKJV

f.    God’s Original Plan for Humanity was:

    • Establish a family of sons and daughters, not servants
    • Establish a kingdom, not a religious organization
    • Establish a kingdom of kings, not subject
    • Establish a relationship with man, not religious formality
    • Extend His heavenly government to earth
    • Influence earth from heaven through mankind

g.  When God told Adam…tend the garden and keep it…He was reiterating Genesis 1:26-28

    • Adam was to expand the Garden of Eden throughout the earth
    • But Adam didn’t do that…instead Adam sinned and now sin spreads throughout the entire earth instead of God’s Kingdom…

III.  Enters Jesus

Luke 12:31-32, 31 But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you. 32 “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom NKJV

a. Jesus came to do more than just take us to Heaven…He came to do the will of the Father…

    •   So, what is the Will of the Father…”to seek and save that which was lost.” (Luke 19:10)
    • So that should make you ask…”what, not just who, was lost.”

b. We know humanity was lost at the fall…

    • As a church and as Christians we need to create a culture of Invitation…
    • Friend to Friend and Known to Community
      • Make a friend
      • Be a friend
      • Bring a Friend
      • Make a Difference

c. But that isn’t all that was lost when Adam sinned…the Kingdom was lost…the influence of spreading the Garden throughout the earth was lost…so Jesus has come to expand Heaven’s reach, to expand the influence of the Kingdom of Heaven back on Earth.

IV.     The Practical How

a. Acknowledge Jesus is the King today…

    •   Now…not in some futuristic time, space and location
    • The Authority of the earth is ultimately His…
    • He has the Keys…
    • Wherever Jesus’ rule is welcomed, it is established…

b. His rule can happen in your home…

c. His rule exists where it is cherished and developed…

    •    We can’t say I want Jesus as King and not acknowledge and surrender to his rulership….

d. We extend Jesus’ Kingdom and Dominion

    •    Jesus came to establish His Kingdom one heart, one person and one family at a time…
    •   This begins first of all in our hearts…through our gifts…our talents…our abilities.
    • If Jesus isn’t King here…all the attempts of Subduing the Earth will only lead to frustration and honestly selfish desires.

e. To Subdue Incorporates

Overcoming…

a.  Have you ever had to swim against the current…that is what it means in the Kingdom of God to overcome…you are swimming upstream or against the current of the World…in every aspect.

b.  So how do I overcome or swim upstream…

    •   Blood of the Lamb
    • Word of Testimony
    • Losing my life everyday…and surrendering it to Jesus.

Occupy

a.  Luke 19:13 “Do Business till I come.”

b.  What kind of Business…Kingdom Business.

c.  Overcoming seems like an attitude…Occupy seems like an action.

d.  The Church Passionately longs for the Coming of Jesus

    •    Not just for an end-time setting…
    • I want Jesus to come and invade different areas of my life, family, church, friends
    • So, I pray, Jesus Come….

WHERE WOULD YOU LONG TO SEE THE COMING OF JESUS?

V.         Jesus and His Kingdom

a.  Jesus is offering you a Kingdom…a kingdom that is life giving, a kingdom that impacts this world…a kingdom where Jesus is the King, and we are not subjects but we are heirs as well as sons.

b.  It is a Kingdom that is in Opposition to this World’s System

    •  So, in this Kingdom you expect hardship…
    • You encounter opposition and ridicule
    • You have trials and tribulations….

c.  This Kingdom is Now (in my heart and areas I influence), but not yet in the rest of the World…that day is coming.

d.  It will take you some time to begin behaving like a Kings kid and like a prince and princess…because we have all been behaving like paupers, we have only seen paupers, until we behold Jesus.

VI.     Conclusion

a.  For many we need to change the way we think…we have fallen humanity thinking.

Rom 12:1-2, 12 So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life — your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life — and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. 2 Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.(MSG)

b. Paul did not write this so we could be moral…he wrote it so we would begin to think from Heaven’s point of View and act accordingly.

c.  Who here is like Nicodemus…”You need to See the Kingdom…”

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