Guest Speaker Vishal Mangalwadi | New Horizon Church

Thank you very much for that warm welcome. I'm keeping

my cap on, not to disrespect Jesus or you, but

I've been spending too many nights in aeroplanes crisscrossing the world,

and my body is no longer taking the lack of

sleep and air conditioning in the plane, so it's good

to keep my cap on. We are very privileged to

be celebrating the Reformation Sunday with you. On the thirty

first of October fifteen seventeen, Martin Luther, professor, pastor and

academic pastor. He nailed the ninety five Theses, which is

his criticism and correction of what the Europeans believed at

that time and how they were practicing.

He nailed his criticism.

And correction on the door of the Castle church in

the city of Wittenberg. This was a call for an

academic debate, and he nailed them at the door of

the church.

Because the church was the university.

All the universities in Europe came out of the church,

out of monasteries or cathedrals, and this was no exception.

He was calling for a debate and that triggered that

triggered a movement that created the modern world.

So it was a battle for truth.

That we must believe what is true, we must live

according to what is truth, and that we looked and

studied that.

In the first service. So if you were not here

in the.

First service, please audio recording is available and I would

encourage you to listen to that. But you are an

unusual church which is optimistic, that believes that future twenty

first century can be greater than the past. That is

not typical a Christian church in America. So I'd like

to study in the second sermon the theme of hope.

Because Reformation was reforming the Middle Ages, and those Middle

Ages were brutal, a young man, William Tyndale, a scholar,

attempted to translate the Bible into English.

He approached three bishops.

Translating the Bible had been illegal in England since the

time of Wickliffe one hundred and thirty forty years before Tyndale,

so he had to leave England, and leaving the shores

of England without permission was also illegal. So he left England,

came to Wittenberg, where Martin Luther was and began translating

the Bible into English. But then he came to Belgium

and the English Channel where he printed that and had

to smuggle it into England. And for the crime of

translating the Bible into English, he was strangled and burnt

at the stake. John huss a reformer prior to that,

had also been burnt at the stake. So the Church

in Europe was brutal. This was the age of darkness

that we call the Middle Ages. A lot of good

things were happening during the Middle Ages, but it was

still dark Ages. But the Reformation believed that the world

can be changed, the world can be better because Jesus

is making all things new. So that's the theme for today,

and I want to look at the first epistle of

John with you. We will look at few verses. So

if you have your Bible and do please open that.

I'd like to begin, because we have more young people

now than we had in the morning, I'd like to

begin with one John two fourteen. I'll read the whole verse,

but focus on the second part of the worse One

John two fourteen. I write to you, dear children, because

you know the Father. I write to you fathers, because

you know him who is from the beginning. I write

to you young men, because you are strong and the

word of God lives in you, and you have overcome

the evil one. Now those are amazing statements. John is

saying that he's writing to you, young men and women,

because you are strong and the word of God lives

in you.

And you have overcome the evil one.

Who are we to overcome the evil one? We can't.

The world has go from back to verse until the

rider on the white horse comes and slays the Antichrist

and establishes kingdom. He has to slay the Antichrist. We

can't overcome the evil one. That's the mindset on much.

Of the American Church and European Church.

But John is actually repeating in verse thirteen what he

has said in verse fourteen, what he has already said

in verse thirteen, so that repetition is emphasized in the point.

He says in verse thirteen, I'm writing to your fathers

because you.

Know him who is from the beginning.

I'm writing to young men because you have overcome the

evil One. Now, with significance of it, we might have

time to look at the end. This is like the

ancient saying to Gideon in a Judges six that God

is with you a mighty young man. And Gideon says,

what look at all the Midianites, and look at all

the Amlakites. Whatever we plant a harvest, they come in

and they overrun the whole land. They've taken over all

the Protestant universities and Christian colleges, and they have they're

robbing the Church of her children. Seventy percent of the

Christian children who grew up in Christian homes. First year

in college university, they're robbed.

And who am I? Angel says to Gideon.

You go in your strengths and you will deliver Israel.

You will change the future. But my clan is the

least in Israel, and I'm the smallest in my family.

You're talking ridiculous. That's what John is saying here that yes,

the great, mighty, famous men and women of God, they

have already been defeated.

But you're strong, you will overcome. That's like Joshua.

If you have time to go back and read Joshua

Chapter one, Moses is dead. Here are these people in

the wilderness, and God is saying, you have stayed long

enough in this camp. Back up your camp and march

in to this land.

That I'm going to.

Give you what All those lands, the universities and political

parties and municipalities and the big industries in Seattle, they're

already already occupied by the giants. They control the money,

they controlled politics, they control the press. Who am I? So?

Joshua was one of the twelve spies who had gone

into the Promised Land to spy out the land before

they are going to take it over, and ten of

them had returned and said, we went there. It is

a great land, just like Seattle. But we're grasshoppers in

front of those giants, right, Who are we? We can't

take it over. We will get Let's go back into

slavery in Egypt. Joshua and Caleb said, well, if this

really is God's battle, if he really is with us,

if he really brought us out of Egypt, we.

Can take over that land.

So, when Joshua is being commissioned to take Moses's place

after thirty three years, no it was forty years, he

is being told three times in Joshua Chapter one, be

strong and very courageous, because God is with him. This

land possessed, controlled, ruled, and ruined by the giants. I'm

giving it to you. So That's what John is saying

in chapter one, verses thirteen and fourteen, that young men,

young women, I'm writing to you because you're strong, even

if you don't believe it, and because you have overcome

the evil one, Satan has no right to rule the USA.

Why because John says in the same chapter, chapter two,

a verse eight. Yet I'm writing to you in New command.

Its truth is seen in him. We talked about truth

in the first service. It's truth is seen in him

and in you. Because the darkness is passing and the

true light is already shining. Oh no, the true light

will shine only after the second coming.

Right now, the.

Darkness is overtaking the USA. Right now, evil is destroying

our families, our marriages, our children. But John is saying, no, no, no, no.

The light came the first time, and the true light

is shining. It's worse. Eight, it's already shining. And that

light you're going to be reflecting. I am the light

of the world. He who follows me shall not walk

in darkness, but shall receive the light of life. You

are the light of the world. So John is repeating

what Jesus has already said in the Gospel of John

chapter eight, etc. But we won't go there. In chapter

three of one John, were taking off now. In the epistle,

First Epistle of John, in chapter three and verse eight,

he explains what he has said in the previous chapter

one John three eighth. The one who does what is

sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been

sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God

appeared for the first time was.

To destroy the devil's works.

So he already came to destroy the devil's work. Therefore,

devil is already defeated. His coming on the cross was

his coming in his glory and power. Ah, that's the

subject for another time, because most of American theology doesn't

believe that the cross is Christ coming in victory, in power,

in glory in his kingdom to defeat the works of

the evil one. I won't go there today. In chapter

four one John, Chapter four, verse four, John says that

you dear children, are from God and have overcome them.

That's the them means Antichrist. One John is the only

epistle where the phrase Antichrist is used, and he says,

there are spirit of Antichrist, and there are many Antichrists

who are post Christ already walking around. But you have

overcome the Antichrist because the one who is in you

is greater than the one who is in the world.

The one who is in you, he said, you are

strong because the Word of God lives in you, and

you have overcome the evil one. And the one who

is living in you is greater than the one deceiving

the world, ruling the world. Let's in the same chapter

he says in verse seventeen that the last phrase that

in this world we are like Jesus. Is Jesus victorious?

Is he the light? In this world? We are like Jesus.

Let's look at chapter five one, John five, verse four.

For everyone born of God, and we'll talk about that

in a minute. For everyone born of God overcomes the world.

This is the victory.

That has overcome the world. Even our faith.

Born of God overcomes the world.

Why then, is the American Church a defeated church? Why

is Evangelical Christianity a defeated religious movement, marginalized ridiculed in America?

Here John is saying that everyone born of God, and

we don't understand what that means. We will look at it.

Has everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is

the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.

So faith gives optimism, hope, and that's the one defining

feature of your church. You're a church that believes in reformation.

You believe in hope. Now verse nineteen of one John

five is a terrible worse one. John five nine h

John says, we know that we are children of God

and that the whole world is under the control of

the evil One. Come on, John, the whole world.

Is under the control of the evil One.

That would be ridiculous. There are so many good people

around Ah running these great technology companies out of Washington.

John has a problem.

He knows many wonderful people in Rome, in the capitol

the swamp Ah. These are hardworking, honest people who are

making their money, feeding their families, paying their taxes, and

the emperor is arresting them, burning them as human tortures

for his evening party because poor fellow doesn't have electricity.

How can these innocent people be arrested and burned alive. See,

we haven't lived in that world. Therefore, we don't know

that the whole world is under the control of the

evil One. I see some beautiful young women here. You know,

if you were married to Abraham, Abraham will have a problem,

he said to his wife, because you're so beautiful, I

will be beheaded. They'll take you. So please don't say

that I'm your husband. Just say that you're my sister.

And then when Pharaoh hears, she stays indoors in the tent.

When Pharaoh hears, and then Abimelech hears that Abraham is

a beautiful woman living in his tent. Why is she

in your tent? Why not in my harem. That's how

most of the world actually lived until the Gospel began

to transform the world.

We underestimate the power of the Gospel.

So John is saying that we know that we are

children of God, and that the whole world is under

the control of the evil one. That's the conflict of

two kingdoms. Is God going to rule? Is God's kingdom

going to be here? Or is Satan going to rule?

It's you haven't experienced corruption in America, and which is wonderful.

You can send.

Your daughters to the school, you can send them to college,

send them to work. But in our villages where we were,

Ruth and I were working, a girl could go up

to the primary school. If the school is in her

own village, she can't go to the middle school in

the next village. She will be rapped. So I could

go and explain more how terrible the situation was. But

you can get the books and you can read some

of our battles. Of one fight that Ruth started about

with parents who are trying to kill their child, and

we struggled for months to try and save her. Ultimately

we lost. They did kill their daughter. So I won't

repeat that story. But that's the background from what John

is describing where parents.

Killed their children.

Because some of the leaders champion massacreing millions of American babies.

How can they do that? John says that we're the

children of God and that the whole world is under

the control of the evil one. But you're strong and

you have overcome the evil one. That's hope, that's optimism.

Now.

I wanted to focus on this phrase, we're the children

of God because we have all heard the gospel that

if you repent of your sin, you believe in Jesus Christ,

you receive him, you're born again to as many as

received Him to them gave you the power to become

the children of God. We become the children of God.

What does that mean? Oh, it means that we will

now go to hell. We'll go to heaven. That's what

we think becoming the children of God means.

But in fact, if you look in the last of.

John's writings, which is the Book of Revelation, John has

a very different idea of what it means for us

to be children of God.

So let's turn to the Book of Revelation.

I don't intend to go into schatology because the Book

of Revelation, the central theme of the Book of Revelation

is kingship of all believers.

To be a son of God, to be a child

of God.

Means to be king. If you're a child of the

King of kings, if the King is.

Your father, then ah, you're a king.

That's the central theme of the Book of Revelation. Revelation,

Chapter one, verse five, he says that Jesus the last

part of verse in the middle of verse five, that

Jesus is the ruler of the kings of the earth.

Later on that is defined as he is the King

of Kings, the Lord of lords, who is Jesus Christ,

the ruler of the kings of the earth to him

verse five, who loves us and has freed us from

our sins by his blood, and verse six, and has

made us to be kings and priests to serve his

God and Father. Now, American translators will often not translate

that he has made us kings and priests, because in

American sociology, the separation of church and straight state, how

can you be priest and king? So American sociology dictates translation.

But it is actually pretty difficult. Because he has made

us kings and priests means.

That we shall rule on the earth.

The past Duran emphasize that you are exercising your sovereignty

when you're voting. In Chapter two of Revelation, John says

in verse twenty six, to the one who is victorious

and does my will to the end, I will give

authority over the nations, that one will rule them with

an ironcepter and will dash them to pieces like pottery,

just as I have received authority from my father. So

what does it mean to be a child of God?

It means to be a king. I am the Messiah.

I'm the son of God, which means that the Father

said to me in some to ask of me and

I will give nations as your inheritance. God didn't say,

ask of me, and I'll give you tons of souls.

He said, ask of me.

And I will give you nations as your inheritance. And

Jesus says, all authority in heaven and on earth has

been given to me. In chapter five of Revelation, or

the title deed of the Earth is given to him

sealed with seven seals.

And Jesus is saying that.

I'm making you God's children, which means I'm going.

To give you authority over the nations.

That's what it means to be son of a king.

That he's the king of kings means you are kings.

He's giving you authority over the nations. Chapter three. All

of you have memorized Chapter three, verse twenty, but read

twenty and twenty one together without the paragraph division. When

will Jesus come again? What are the signs of his coming?

Jesus says in chapter three, verse twenty, stand at the

door and knock. If you listen to my voice, open

the door, I will come in. Which coming is this

first to second? It's first, second, third. Well, well, the

American theology has a problem that we can only think

in terms of two comings, but then the book. In

the Gospels alone, Jesus comes at least seven times when

he's says in Matthew ten that you go and proclaim

the good news to all the villages and towns. Before

you've gone through all the towns and villages, you will

see the Kingdom of God come in his glory. When

did he come on palms? All the gospel writers quote

Zechariah that your king is coming. He is humble, coming

on a donkey. In chapter sixteen of Matthew, when Peter

confesses you're Christ, the son of the Living God, Jesus says,

there are many standing here who will not taste death

until they have seen the Kingdom of God come in

his glory and splendor authority. In chapter twenty four, when

they ask when will these things be, and that he

has said that not one stone will be left upon

another in this temple, when.

Will this be?

Jesus says that this generation shall not pass away before

this has happened. So in the Gospels, Jesus comes at

least seven times. In the Book of Revelation, he comes

at least seven times. On my Facebook and other places

you can get all those references. But today I'm sticking

to one theme, which is a central message in the

Book of Revelation, that to be a child of God

means to be sovereign. To be the son of the

king means that this king, this world is under the

control of the evil one.

The kingdom has invaded.

You have become the children of God, and he is

giving you authority over the nations. So chapter three, verse

twenty You know, but twenty one. We don't ask our

Sunday school children to memorize. In verse twenty one, what

Jesus is saying is that, look, if you let me

come into your heart and make your heart mind throne,

so your heart becomes my throne.

So if you let me sit on the throne.

Of your heart, that your life is now running according

to me my word, I will let you sit on

my throne as I have sat down on my father's throne.

That's verse twenty one, that if your heart becomes my throne,

you become my child. You do my will, I will

let you sit on my father's on my throne as

I have sat down on my father's throne. Now Jesus

doesn't say that I'm sitting on the right hand of God.

Because God doesn't have two hands and God doesn't sit

on a physical throne. Sitting on the right hand of

God is an idiom, which means that all the authority

of the Father is being exercised by the Son. So

Jesus is saying, I will give you authority over the nations.

You will rule them with an inceptor.

If your heart becomes my throne, all authority in America

has been given to me, and I will rule from.

The throne of your heart.

You will rule that Chapter four. In Revelation chapter four,

John has a vision of the throne room. The Father

is seated, the Ancient of Days is seated on the throne.

Around the throne of God are twenty four other thrones

on which are seated elders. Elders manage God's kingdom.

That's going back to Moses.

Then, look, I'm not going to be a king like

children are not going to be your kings. You choose wise,

just righteous, respectable elders for yourself. They will not be

able to govern in their own wisdom and strength, because

you guys are too stubborn, too wicked. So I will

lay hands on them. They will receive the Holy Spirit. Nevertheless,

you must choose them, you must hold them accountable. That's

what you're doing in this election, choosing the elders who

will manage your city, state, your nation, because you are

sovereign as God's children. That's what it means to be

a child of God. It means to be a ruler.

In Chapter five of Revelation, this is still John writing.

It's one of my favorite verses, Chapter five, verses nine

and ten. They're they're in the throne room of God,

and the lamp has come, and all of these.

People in God's presence begin to worship the lamb.

How can you do that? The God is seated right there,

but they're worshiping the Lamb. The only way you can

do that is if if Lamb is God. And Jung

uses a very cryptic phrase in the Book of Revelation,

I saw the Lamb seated in the center of the throne.

This is God's throne. Why is the Lamb seated there?

Unless the Lamb was right that the Father and I

are one. So, but we can't expound the whole powerful

passage there. The point that I want to make is

just in verse nine and ten, as they begin to

worship the lamp. They say, you are worthy to take

the scroll that is the title deed of the Earth,

the authority of the Earth, and to open its seal,

because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased

for God persons from every tribe in language and people

and nation. You have made them to be kings and

priests to serve Our God, and they shall reign in heaven,

they shall reign on thee earth. Why did the Lamb

shed his.

Blood to make you a king?

That's what it means, to make your child of God,

a son of God. That Jesus is saying, I mean,

the heavenly choir is singing that you are worthy because

in this world which was ruled by the devil, have

you were slain? You shed your blood, and we had

powerful song about the blood. And with that blood you

purchase from every tribe and language and people and nation.

Why to make them kings? Although American translation have hard

time translating that this is American sociology corrupting.

The text of the scriptures, that no, no, no, he

didn't make us kings in priests.

He only made us kingdom of priests. But unfortunately even

American translators can't get away from the last phrase. You

have made them to be kings and priests, to serve

our God, and they shall reign on the earth. Now

is John introducing ideas that Jesus never talked about in

the gospel. Blessed that the food poor, for theirs is

the kingdom. Blessed that the meek, for they shall inherit

the earth. Right, that's the essence of the parable of

the prodigal son. The prodigal son rebels against his father

and becomes a slave, eating pigs, food, sleeping with the pigs,

something that a Jew can't do, shouldn't be doing. He

comes to his senses and he says, I will return

to my father and confess my sin. That's conversion, that's salvation.

So he comes back, I'm no longer worthy to be

your son. Please make me so, and because I'm starving.

The father says, nonsense.

You are my son. You were lost, now you're found.

You were dead, now you are alive. He calls his

other servants.

Give him a haircut, shave him, change his clothes, give

him new clothes.

Kill the fight at calf, Bring the.

Best chefs, the best musicians, let's have a party.

They drink a.

Little bit too much, so they all go to sleep

in their jees they drinking wine. Next morning, when they

wake up, what happens. Everybody goes to work in the

father's state. The prodigal son also goes to work. He

works the whole day. Servants works, the whole day. Son works.

The whole day. Servants get paid. He doesn't get paid.

Why he's the owner. This is his father's vinyard, is

his wynard. He has become the son. Servants have to

be told what to do. The son already knows the

father's will and does it right.

He does his father's will, and he makes sure that

everybody else is doing so.

When Jesus is telling us that conversion means being reconciled

to your father as his son, you are inheriting his kingdom.

His kingship belongs to you. If God's will is to

be done on this earth, you have to do it.

You have to make sure that Father's will.

Is being done.

I wish we had time to go through the rest

of the Book of Revelation, but we don't. But I said,

I won't talk about a schatology. But let's look at

the chapter twenty one for a few minutes, just one

point in chapter Chapter nineteen, of course, has the millennium,

where we are told that in verse six, the second

Death has no power over them, but they will be

priests of God and of Christ and will reign with

him for a thousand years. Most American churches read misread

this text that Christ will reign with the saints for

a thousand years. That's not what the text is saying.

The text is saying they will.

Reign with Christ, because that's what he has said in

chapter three that if your heart becomes my throne, I

will let you sit on my throne as I sat

down on my father's throne. You will be managing my

father's kingdom, sayings will reign We seated with him in

heavenly realm of authority. But in chapter twenty one is

the section of this Coming of the New Jerusalem. So

one of the seventh verse nine of chapter twenty one,

one of the seven angels who had seven bolls full

of seven lost Plagus came and said to be come,

I will show you the bride, the wife of the lamb.

And he carried me away in the spirit to a

mountain great and high, and showed be the holy city Jerusalem,

coming down out of heaven from God. It shone with

the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that

of a very precious jewel, like a jasper clearest crystal.

So the Angel is saying to John, come, I will

show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.

He takes you on a very high mountain, and John.

Sees this beautiful, gorgeous city descending. And John says, excuse me, sir,

I'm a little confused. Did you say this is the

bride of the Lamb? Yes, yes, I thought I was

the bride. I never got any divorce papers. Did he

just see a more beautiful ah bride and took this?

How many wives does Jesus have? Is the new Jerusalem

being built somewhere beyond the blue and therefore in so

many light years away that it's taking a long time

for it to come. Will the new Jerusalem descend like

a gigantic U four? Or is the new Jerusalem being

built here now? In the chapter three of Revelation, John

has already told us. Jesus says to the church in

Philadelphia that if you're victorious I will make you a

pillar in the House of God, and I will write

on you the name of my God.

And the name of his city.

In New Jerusalem. Is the New Jerusalem being built somewhere

beyond the Blue or in Philadelphia, in Seattle, in Tacoma,

Galatians for Hebrew's ten, etc. We don't have the time

to look at it, but I am dropping these things.

The heart is if nations. The end of that chapter

twenty one is that the city the Bride has no light,

It has no sun, no moon, because the glory of

God gives it light Verse twenty three.

And the Lamb is its lamp.

The nations will walk by its light, and the kings

of the earth will bring their splendor into it. The

glory in honor of the Nations will be brought into it.

So God is building the New Jerusalem his bride, washing

her with his powerful blood that we sang about, so

that Christ's light and glory might shine to give light

to the nations. Now, the American Church is a American

Evangelical Christianity is a defeated religion because it has it

has not had.

This perspective on.

What does it mean for a sinner to become a

son of God. It means to acquire the kingdom. He's

the king of kings. His children are ruling. So that's

what John is saying. To conclude, I write to you,

young men, because you're strong. The world is under the

control of the evil one. But you have overcome the

world because he that is in you, he's not in me.

He's sitting up on a throne in heaven. He that

is in you is greater than he that is in

the world. Let's pray, Father, We thank you that you

have taken the weak.

Things of this world to shame the Mighty, and we

pray that you will awaken.

The church in America to become city on a hill,

the light that gives light and life to the nations.

In Jesus name, Amen,