The Kingdom of God, is it right now or is it future and how can I enter into it?
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The Kingdom of God
Matthew 3:25-33
-By God’s sovereign will my teaching today is a kind of part 2 to Pastor Brian’s message on the Kingdom of God. From Pastor Brian’s talk last week, we learned what a citizen of the Kingdom of God looks like or the attributes that they should display.
Read Text-
1. We learned that we must receive the Kingdom of God like a child or with Childlike faith and that we must be humble
2. We also learned that the Kingdom of God is righteousness, so we should practice righteousness
3. We also learned that entrance into the Kingdom is a work of God and not man.
Read Text
-For me in the past or even some of you today, when you hear entrance into the Kingdom of God or seeking the Kingdom of God you may be thinking of a literal place or a futuristic event. I mean just look at some of the parable that Jesus gives or the events that he uses to describe the Kingdom of God.
Future Kingdom-Last Supper-Luke 22:28-29-“ Who will be greatest”
Right now-Luke 16:16-“Everyone is forcing his way into it”
Colossians 1:13-For he rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son.
Which one is it?
The Kingdom of God is both presently attainable and Future
When a person turns from their sins and submits to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, the Kingdom of God has come to that person.
I like how John Piper puts it in his description of the Kingdom of God, He said, that
“The kingdom of God is reign not realm”
‘Where God is reigning and his will is being done” the kingdom of God is manifesting itself
This is why Jesus teach his disciple to pray,
“Thy kingdom come and thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” Mathew 6:10
So the question to ask yourself is Have I entered the kingdom of God?
-And if you want to know what citizens of the kingdom of God looks like aside to the things that Pastor Brian mentioned last week, look no further than Jesus sermon on the Mt.
Example-Man from India-Looks
This is what a Kingdom of God person should look like, even though we are in the world, the way we talk, the way that we act, our principle are from a different place, a different Kingdom.
We are not being ruled by the prince of the power of the Air or Satan (Ephesian 2:2), those chains have been broken, and we are under the authority of King Jesus.
Sin no longer has dominion over us, the old person was crucified on the cross with Christ. Romans 6
-Let’s look at Jesus description of a Kingdom Citizen-Mathew 5:3-12-Blessed
James 4:9- Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.
But some of you say I do not exhibit all of these and guess what, me either
But Jesus said to seek the Kingdom of God, this is not a one-time thing. It is not like I become a Christian and then say that I got it made, let me just relax. No I am pursuing the Kingdom of God and His righteous.
– Positionally, in the eyes of God we know that we can only be righteous through Christ but practically in the day to day, I am pursing the list that we just read, I striving to put off anger by the power of the Holy Spirit, that is the pursuit of Gods Kingdom and His righteousness.
-As Kingdom Children, One of our greatest pursuits. seeking should be for the advancement or expansion of the Kingdom.
Mustard Seed-Mark 4:30-33-Kingdom Start small but gets big
Only God can cause those branches to grow but we carry the message
-David Platt in his Book said-God could have used one of the airplanes that writes thins up in the sky to present the gospel, he could have also made it rain gospel tracks but he did not choose that method, he chose to advance his kingdom to men and women like you and me
-So we seek the Kingdom of God or its advancement by being obedient to or Lords command to make disciples of all nations it must become a priority and this takes us to the main point of our primary text of Mathew 6:33 which is our priorities.
-I want you to notice something, in the immediate context of this Verse “Seek ye first the kingdom of God” what seems to be the main competitor in our seeking of God’s Kingdom?
Verse 25 gives us our answer: Food, Water, and Clothing and if you look at Luke 9:58-60 Fox have wholes, birds…….Shelter, Family and is added to that list. All of these things are not inherently sinful, they are actually good things, Food is good, water is good, clothing is good, Family is good, working is good but these things can be some of our greatest competitors in our pursuit of God’s kingdom.
Yes, I have to guard my eyes to make sure that I am not lusting after another women but I also have to guard my time to make sure that I am not wasting it hobbies, hobbies are not bad but when they take priority over the Kingdom, they become an issue.
I believe that we find this same thought in Hebrews chapt 12:1
Encumbrance and the sin or weight and sin
-A three piece suit is not a bad thing but a three piece suit at the starting line of a marathon is not appropriate that thing which is good now becomes an encumbrance or a weight that entangles us.
-Some theologians believe that the weight for the Hebrews was the law……they were trying to live under the law and grace and we know from Romans 7:12 that the law is not bad in and of itself.
-Back to Mathew 6:33 Jesus assures the people that if they put God’s kingdom first and His righteousness, their needs will be taken care of.
In Mathew 28:18: Jesus said all authority or power has been given to me in heaven and on earth
Through his Christ, God will make sure that are needs are meet as we seek His Kingdom.
When I counsel people, outside to asking if there is any blatant sin in their life, one of the first things I ask them is are the seeking the Kingdom, are they pursing God because that could be the solution to many of our problems.
Are we putting the Kingdom of God first in our marriage?
Are we putting the Kingdom of God first in our finances?
Before I end I just want to go over the Future Kingdom of the God or the visible kingdom of God.
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