Words To Live By: Kingdom

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Well, they're not content today just to sing about that we're fighting a battle.

Some people walked in here today and in their mind they just thought, man, if these people knew how I do not have it together, they probably all have it together.

No, we don't.

Everyone in this room is facing something difficult right now.

We're fighting a battle.

But we just proclaim, because of the gospel, because of the king and the kingdom, you've already won.

The king has won.

This is our understanding.

So the task for us is how do I appropriate the victory of God, the victory of King Jesus over whatever I'm going through right now.

So I pray for victory, I pray for freedom, for release, for deliverance, for intercession, for you to interject yourself in these situations and for you to come through in a way that glorifies you, God, and satisfies your people.

Now, Lord, we're going to open up your word and we pray that you would satisfy our deepest thirst with revelation and wisdom and knowledge and awareness and opportunity.

All these things we ask for, we ask for them in Jesus' name.

And everyone said, Amen.

Amen.

You can have a seat.

If you got a Bible, I want you to invite, I invite you to take it, open up to Mark chapter one.

And I want to begin with a confession this morning.

When I first became a Christian, my Christian life, uh, it took off like a rocket because I was a great sinner.

And so there was a marked difference in me.

Uh but about six months in, the rocket began to kind of spit and sputter and run out of gas.

And if I had to describe it, I would say that my life was like a car with an automatic transmission, okay?

You just put it in D for drive or determination, and it had two pedals on the floor, like a gas and a brake, and it was doing and not doing, doing and not doing.

There was no pedal over here for enjoying, uh, because I wasn't really enjoying it.

I was going to church Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, Tuesday night visitation.

If you remember Tuesday night visitation, say amen.

Oh, old school Baptists up in here.

Oh yeah, oh yeah, we believe the Bible and we're mad about it, okay?

But about six months in, I was just like, I'm I'm tired.

This is not any fun.

And I don't I don't think I understand what I'm supposed to be doing.

So it's like a kid in the choir that forgot the words, I just went and moved my mouth and banana, banana, banana, and no one would figure it out.

Uh, it was not enjoyable.

And here's my confession.

I almost quit going to church because every time I would go, it was more doing and not doing.

Do this, don't do this.

And so what I felt like, if I had to describe my Christian life, it was like I had great insurance on a car that didn't work.

And I was just like, I don't know how much more of this I can take.

And so, and here's what the part I want you to hear.

My great response to that was I started reading my Bible.

Crazy.

Uh, I would go to work, I would come home, I'd take a shower, I would eat supper with my mom in front of the TV watching mash.

I would lay on the couch and my mom would bring cook supper and bring it to me, which was a great utopian paradise until I got married.

Uh actually, it was, I wouldn't even marry.

We were dating, and my mom said, because my mom's from Minnesota, she said, Oh, would you like a cheeseburger and a glass of tea?

Yes, ma'am, I would.

Lay it on the couch, and my wife walked over.

My wife, my mom walked out, my wife said, What are you doing?

Get up off that couch and go in there in the kitchen.

I said, It's my mom.

She likes to serve me.

Get uh, you better get used to this now because this ain't happening when we get married.

I almost broke up with her right there, but I stayed with her.

And I was like, What is the big deal?

She goes, She is your mother, and she's waiting on you hand in foot.

She's my mom.

She likes doing that.

Oh my gosh, you're pathetic.

I was like, easy on the pathetic lady, okay?

But what I would start doing after we'd have lunch, we'd watch MASH, and then my mom would go to bed like 7:15.

I was like, Oh, I'm going to bed.

I'm like, the sun's still up, Mom, it's summer.

Uh, and so I was bored.

We had three channels, we couldn't afford cable, so I would just read the Bible.

I'm not making this up.

And so what happened as a result of that, I discovered that this thing was not a standard.

It it, I mean, excuse me, it was not automatic, it was a standard, it had gears, and this thing had a hemi in it.

And I began to underline and mark and ask questions, and so much so I began to grasp.

And here's the biggest difference, and it's the word I want to talk to you about today.

I began to understand the kingdom of God, and that has made all the difference in my life.

And so, if I had one sermon to talk to preach to you before I died, it would be this one.

I don't plan on dying today, just for the record, because I want to see the Bengals and the Eagles win and go to the Super Bowl.

Amen?

Yes, yes, yes.

And so uh let me just read.

I'm gonna read from Mark chapter 1, verses 14 and 15.

Mark 1:14

And uh, because if you're our guest, we're in a series right now called Words to Live By, where we just take a word every Sunday.

We say, let's think about this word.

And our word today is kingdom.

Kingdom.

And I think it'll make sense.

I'll try to explain it in the in the in the body of the sermon.

But Mark chapter 1, verse 14, it says this.

Mark 1:14

Now, after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God and saying, The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand.

Repent and believe in the gospel.

Hear that again.

Jesus said, This is the gospel of God.

The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand.

Repent and believe in the gospel.

There's four words in there that I want to point to and talk about, okay?

And I'll make four points this morning.

Number one, Jesus came to make available the kingdom of God.

It is the sole mission that he came for.

It's the thing that drove him every day is to come and make available the kingdom of God.

Now, when I say make available the kingdom of God, it's not not the opportunity.

I don't want you to think today we got to build the kingdom, we got to manufacture it, we got to come up with it.

No, if you read the verbs in the Bible, they're not verbs like create or expand or build.

When the Bible talks about the kingdom, the verbs that it uses are verbs like receive, inherit, and enter.

The kingdom is a gift that God gives us, not a project that He expects us to accomplish.

So relax.

I'm not putting you under the gun and giving you a list of a religious to-do list today.

I'm saying to you that the reality that you were created for is all around you, and it would be hell on earth if you spent your whole life missing out on that.

You say that I don't know what you mean.

What I mean when I say Jesus came to make available the kingdom of God, Jesus is the king whose words and deeds bring the spiritual kingdom of God, okay?

He proclaims the kingdom and it's coming.

Uh, he preaches the parables of the kingdom, that's Matthew 13.

He declares the ethics and the nature of the kingdom, that's the Sermon on the Mount, and his deeds usher in the kingdom.

Uh, there's a philosopher.

Now, by the way, I was greatly helped in my understanding of the kingdom of God by a man named Dallas Willard.

Dallas Willard taught and a man named Scott McKnight.

Uh uh, but Dallas Willard taught philosophy at the University of Southern California, okay?

And people were like, why don't you go teach in a seminary?

He goes, because I want to be around lost people.

Uh and so he taught philosophy at the University of Southern California, and he was a brilliant man, but he summarized what I just read in Mark chapter one this way.

He says, Jesus then came into Galilee announcing the good news from God.

All the preliminaries have been taken care of, and the rule of God is now accessible to everyone.

Review your plans for living and base your life on this remarkable new opportunity.

Dallas Willard was a guy.

He had these black horn room glasses, he wore black slacks and a white shirt almost every day.

He wasn't hip, he wasn't cool.

He looks like he sold insurance or gave trips to the Holy Land.

And he would crush these college kids, these pot-sming lefties would get in his class and want to talk about philosophy.

And Dallas Willard would just smile and say, Hey, all the preliminaries have been taken care of, and the rule of God is now accessible to everyone.

And your problem is you don't want to submit to the rule of God because you want to submit to your rules.

And they would pull their hair out, and then the next semester they'd come to faith and he would disciple them.

Because the kingdom of God is that consequential, it's that big.

And so you may be thinking, okay, Jesus came to bring the kingdom of God.

I've got it.

What does that mean for me?

I don't understand what the kingdom is.

Let me give you a definition again from Dallas Willard.

He says the kingdom of God is the realm within which what God wants done gets done.

It is the realm.

Think of it as a big hula hoop you carry every day.

Every one of you in this room that are Christians, and I don't presume just because you're at church, you are.

But if you're a Christian, it's like you carry a big hula hoop every day, and you have the capacity to set the kingdom down, or you have the capacity to totally misrepresent both king and kingdom.

Because you don't get a kingdom without a king, and you don't get a king without a kingdom.

That's what makes him a king.

And so the kingdom of God is the realm within which what God wants done gets done.

And this is the thing that Jesus came to inaugurate.

The kingdom of God is already, and it's not yet.

Because see, there's a thought process that I think is wrong, it's not biblical, that says basically the kingdom of God is a party in heaven.

And if you endure here on earth, you get to go to heaven when you die.

And this is why six months into being a Christian, I had run out of enthusiasm and momentum, and I had no joy.

And I was just like, basically, Jesus came to forgive me for my sins and let me go to heaven when I die.

But in the meantime, this is gonna be a really boring life.

And I almost wanted to go to church and say, hey, y'all can have this back.

I don't want this anymore.

And some of you in this room feel the same way.

You've never put words to it, you have great insurance on a car that just doesn't work.

It's not enjoyable to drive.

Jesus comes to inaugurate and introduce and make available the kingdom.

Second thing the Bible tells us is that repentance is the doorway into the kingdom.

He says the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand.

Repent and believe in the gospel.

Repentance is the doorway into the kingdom.

Now, the word for repentance has more to do with changing how you think than changing how you live or what you do.

Yes, how you live and what you do needs to change.

But if all you do is try to change your behavior, you'll eventually fall back into that same behavior because the way you think hasn't changed.

You say, where do you get that?

When he says the time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand, and then he uses that word repent.

Repent is the Greek word metanoeo, and it means rethink how you think, change the way you think.

So I talk to people a lot in counseling about their thinking, not their behavior.

Like this past week, I excuse me, it's actually last week.

I met with a real sinner.

I said, Tell me why you're here.

And he goes, Man, I I commit all the big sins.

I'm not a moral person when it comes to my sexual ethic.

Uh I smoke weed consistently, I cheat, I steal, I'll tell a lie.

I've lied so much, it didn't even bother me when I lie anymore.

I said, So you steal?

He goes, Oh yeah, I steal from work.

He's a matter of fact, if you walked out of this office, I'd steal from you.

And I was like, Man, you're going to hell on a slipping side if you steal from the preacher, okay?

We don't have security cameras.

The eye in the sky is watching you, my man.

And he's like, I don't know what my deal is.

And I said, I do.

And he looked at me like, what?

You ever been around somebody?

They just make a throwaway phrase like, I don't know what my deal is.

And you actually answer it.

He said, I don't know what my deal is.

I said, I do.

And he goes, Are you serious right now?

I said, Yes.

Your deal is not what you do, it's not your behavior, it's how you think.

If there was one thing about that you could change about the way you think that would change what you do, what would you change?

He goes, I don't know.

That's why I mean I thought you would know.

I do.

Let me suggest to you, you should change one simple thing.

How you think about this.

The rules do not apply to me.

And I said, by the way, the rules, when I say the rules, I don't mean that God's up there in the sky trying to modify your behavior or get you to stop doing bad.

God created you to be a part of the kingdom where good happens, where what God wants done gets done.

You live in a really small circle where only what you want done gets done.

And that's hell on earth.

Easy, bro.

Don't you ain't got you ain't gonna hate on me like that.

I'm not hating on you.

This is love.

Because repentance is changing, having your mind changed so that what you do change.

This is why Jesus in Matthew chapter 4, verse 17, says the same thing.

Matthew 4:17

He all the gospel writers get it right to talk about when Jesus announces his ministry, he does it with this repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.

Your thinking is the problem, not your doing.

So I asked my friend a question, I said, Have you ever had your mind changed about your sin?

And he said, What do you mean?

I said, Yeah, we'll end on this question today.

Have you ever had your mind changed about your sin?

Is there ever a moment where God's so active in your life that you could not think the same about sin anymore?

Well, I mean, I don't I don't understand that.

I said, like you catch yourself, like in a conversation.

I would ask all of you this.

Have you ever had your mind changed about your sin?

To where you're in a conversation and you're you're getting ready to shade the truth, which the Bible calls lying, uh, and you catch yourself, you're kind of like, uh, and your friend says, What was that?

I was fixing to shade the truth because I want to manage your impression of me, but I refuse to lie anymore.

As a matter of fact, I the longer I walk with God and I reside as a citizen of the kingdom, I find it more and more difficult to lie.

But anyway, go ahead.

People are drawn to people like that because it's not authentic, it's integrated.

And I just said, I said, here's the other half of the question.

Have you ever changed your mind about your sin?

Because what I think you're doing is you're waiting for God to change his mind about your sin, and he's never going to.

You say, I would never say it like that.

You wouldn't say it like that, but we all well, really, what you're doing is you're waiting for God to change his mind about your sin.

You say, Well, it's not that big of a deal.

We're consenting adults.

You expect God to change his mind about your sin.

He's not.

Because for God to change his mind about your sin, he has to undo the cross.

And the cross is the biggest statement God has ever made about our sin.

He takes sin seriously.

And so you're not gonna just determination, like pull yourself up by your bootstraps and change your behavior.

You're gonna have to repent.

So, what I'm really asking you, has that ever happened for you?

Have you ever repented?

Have you ever, has God ever so changed your mind that your behavior began to change because you could no longer be who you've always been?

See, this good news of the kingdom, it's both cosmic and it's personal.

It's not simply that God's establishing his rule in the world, righting wrongs, reversing sin, the effects of sin and suffering and doing something about climate change and all this other stuff.

That's all cosmic and it's good.

But the good the good news is also includes the message that Jesus bore the wrath of God on the cross in your place and for your sin.

And because of his death and his resurrection, you can repent and be a part of the kingdom.

That's personal.

So there's not a person in this room that has sinned so much that God's like, I tell you what, you are beyond the pale, my man.

Good luck.

No, when Jesus came and said, Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.

You know who the first people to respond were?

The dregs of society, the prostitutes and the tax collectors.

Just look sometime at Luke chapter 15, verse 1.

Luke 15:1

It says right there, before we hit the stories we're familiar with, like the prodigal son, it says that the sinners and the tax collectors were gathered around listening to him.

And the Pharisees, the religious people, they murmured and said, This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.

This is why Jesus tells the three stories that we love so much: the lost sheep, the lost coin, the lost sun.

Because basically, what Jesus is saying is he knows what they're thinking.

He's like, You religious knuckleheads think God, you're bothered that I love sinners and I eat with them.

I'm really gonna push the envelope now.

And he tells these stories that they're just like, Whoa! Because the people that welcome the kingdom the most are the people that believe they didn't deserve it.

And the people that rejected it the most were the people that knew they deserved it.

You're on one side of that coin, beloved.

And repentance is a doorway into the kingdom.

So again, ask yourself has God ever so changed your mind that what you do changes?

Because that's biblical repentance.

The third thing the text tells us is that believing is our response to the gospel.

The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand.

Repent and believe in the gospel.

Now there's a difference in believing and simply agreeing.

Many people, I would say a lot of people, I would go as far as to say most people say they agree with most of what the Bible says, but they don't really believe it.

You say, What do you mean?

Here's my definition for belief.

Okay, it'll come up on the screen.

When you believe something, you experience conviction towards it, and it produces trust in you that causes you to submit yourself to it and live in the joy of it.

Let me say it again.

When you believe something, you experience conviction towards it.

It's not external.

When you have conviction, it's internal.

You don't need people to agree with you.

You don't need any.

It's the guy that goes to lunch with his buddies and they're like, hey man, we're going to hooters.

And he's getting out of the truck.

He's like, I'm not.

I'm going over here to Captain D's.

I'm like, dude, that's like a nasty, yeah, but I'm not going in there.

Not because I'm better than y'all, but because my wife is so satisfying, I don't want to disrespect her this way.

So you guys go, I'll meet you back at the truck.

And he sets in Captain D's by himself and eats his lukewarm fish fillets and some greasy French fries.

And his buddies get back in the truck and they got beer on their breath and they're all giggling and smiling, and yet he's the most content guy on the ride back to work.

Why is that?

It's because he experiences conviction towards it and produces trust in him that causes you to submit yourself to it and live in the joy of it.

To repent and believe is to embrace God's comprehensive rule over every aspect of life.

It's a far cry from merely asking Jesus into your heart.

It means a new life, a new identity, a new kingdom, and a new king.

Fourthly and finally, it says the text tells us that the gospel is what we're to believe in.

The gospel is what we are to believe in.

Notice that the text says that Jesus came proclaiming the gospel of God.

Big distinction.

Jesus came proclaiming the gospel of God.

Why is that a big deal in verse 14?

Because most of what you've heard, if you've gone to church your whole life, is what I call the gospel of man.

The gospel of man, uh, the gospel of God is much more expansive than the gospel of man.

The gospel of man is how do I get forgiveness and know that I'm going to heaven when I die?

And so here's one of the characteristics, two characteristics of people that believe in the gospel of man.

Uh, it's always in the past, and it's always about what they did, not what they're doing now.

You say, What do you mean?

You talk to people, hey, well, tell me about where you where are you spiritually?

Oh, I went to church I was a kid, I got baptized, I was 12.

Well, you're 39, and your life doesn't really reflect the character or the content of the king or the kingdom.

Yeah, but I was baptized.

I remember, I've got a certificate.

It's like, oh, or this.

I went to catechism, I went to catechism, confirmation.

I've been confirmed.

How do you live right now?

Well, I was I was confirmed.

My mom took me, made us all go.

Yeah, me and my brother and sister, God, I've heard this, and I'm not mocking that.

I'm just sad because I'm like, why is your Christianity always in the past and never in the now?

Why is it not informing and influencing what you do right now?

So, two characteristics of people that believe in what I call the gospel of man or heard the gospel of man their whole life was it's always in the past and it's about what they did past, not about what they're doing.

The gospel of God is quite different.

Let me give you a definition for that.

The gospel is the story of the work of the triune God, Father, Son, and Spirit to completely restore broken image bearers in the context of the community of faith through the life, death, resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the gift of the Holy Spirit to union with God and communion with others for the good of the world.

You hear the difference of those two?

One of them, it's a really small, it's not a hula hoop, it's more like a wedding ring.

You can barely stand in it, the circle's so small.

It's about me and my personal forgiveness, and I'm gonna go to heaven when I die.

The other one is hey, yes, it is about I repented, I put my faith in Christ, I know that I'm forgiven, but I've also been reconciled to this community of faith because of the life, death, the resurrection of Jesus, the gift of the Holy Spirit.

I have union with God and communion with others for the good of the world.

Because everywhere I go, I'm setting the kingdom down.

And what God wants done is getting done.

Because I understand the Lord's prayer, the part that says, Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Too many Christians today think that salvation is leaving earth and getting to heaven.

I'm gonna escape the earth and get to heaven.

It was a real obstacle for me as a baby Christian.

I was just kind of like, so wait a minute.

I this is terrible.

But at one point I just thought, I wished I would not become a Christian so early so I wouldn't be bored for so long.

I thought that.

Now, you you know the only thing worse than going to church was going to Sunday school.

Because I would go to Sunday school and it was a small room of phony people.

And they would ask questions like, You got any prayer requests?

Yeah, pray I don't smoke weed.

I miss smoking weed.

I have withdrawals every day.

And the teacher would be like, No, son, we don't talk about those kind of things at church.

Well, where do we go talk about these things?

Because all y'all talked about is a high school football game for 30 minutes, and then you did 10 minutes of a little cheesy devotional about a sky fairy that's not even the God of the Bible.

I remember I told him one time, I think I would be doing the world a favor if I burnt this church down.

Now, by the way, if you want to go see the pastor, that's how you go.

I mean, I got a call on Monday.

Neil, the pastor would like to see you.

Oh, he's gonna help me with my questions.

No, no.

He said, son, do you know arson's a crime?

I didn't know what arson was.

I was like, I don't know what you're talking about.

Well, is it true?

You threaten to burn the church?

No, I.

I just, I mean, y'all do this every Sunday?

Because if I'd had a ball ping hammer, I'd have just beat myself to death.

It's terrible.

He's like, well, we're doing our best and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

And it's just like, oh, give me a brick.

See, here's the thing: the whole message that I was taught as an early baby believer was simply this: hey, you Jesus forgives you for your sin.

You get to go to heaven.

Now, Christianity is about leaving the earth and going to heaven.

But when I begin to read the Bible, I begin to understand that's not what Christianity is about.

Christianity is about bringing heaven to bear on the earth.

And it's not.

Again, how do you explain the Lord's prayer?

That kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as is in heaven.

I even said to him, I said, I'm not being disrespectful, but I think you're trying to reverse the Lord's prayer.

Well, so you need to show respect.

I'm being respectful.

Oh my gosh.

You just want to retire with a house on the lake?

Is this all this is about?

We'll take up a love offering.

You can leave tomorrow.

And everybody's like, Oh, that kid's angry.

I wasn't angry.

I was just like, the church that they preached to didn't look anything like the church they preached about.

Does that make sense to anybody but me?

And so I had, yes, I was angry, but I was just like, is anybody gonna tell the truth?

What are we doing here?

Again, the message of the kingdom is not an escape from earth to heaven, but it's about God's reign coming from heaven on the earth.

And God's reign, the focus of God's reign is his people, but the scope of God's reign is all creation.

And for this, you need what I call the gospel, what the Bible calls the gospel of God, or what Scott McKnight in one of his books, he called uh a robust gospel.

Now he goes on and has these eight points.

And so I just pulled four of them and kind of rewrote them to where they're more accessible.

Uh here's some of the characteristics of a robust kingdom gospel.

The first one is this the robust gospel is a story.

It's a story.

Uh, what do you mean?

Jesus did not drop out of heaven uh into Bethlehem, into the manger from nowhere, okay?

It's a story.

He comes in the midst of a story that has a beginning and a problem and a lengthy history.

He's always existed, Jesus has, but but it starts off with a problem, okay?

And then and then and then there's this lengthy history.

And so when Jesus stands up to announce that the gospel of the kingdom is here, the first thing his hearers thought about, where their minds went to was not gospel.

He says, This gospel of the kingdom, Matthew 24, this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached until the whole world, and then the end will come.

He says, repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.

And people didn't hear gospel because it's like, oh, yes, I can be forgiven.

You know what they heard?

Kingdom.

Why?

Because that was the solution to the deepest problem.

This is why all through the gospels you see the disciples saying to Jesus, Are you now going to restore the kingdom to Israel?

Am I going to get to be the treasury secretary?

Is he going to be the secretary of state?

Are we going to have good positions in your cabinet because we're going to overthrow these bad Romans and we're going to be in charge?

And Jesus is like, Oh my gosh, this is about God being in charge.

If you look in the book of Acts, which we're going to start preaching through next next month, Acts chapter 1, verse 6, Jesus has died.

Acts 1:6

He was buried.

He rose from the dead.

He appears to the disciples.

Guess what question they're asking?

Acts chapter 1, verse 6.

Acts 1:6

Lord, are you now going to restore the kingdom to Israel?

Are we going to get to be in charge?

See how they can't get out of their smallness.

They're just stuck there.

Kingdom is a story.

Now, why do I why do I tell you that?

Because gospel preaching from Jesus' perspective, it has its hope and the fulfillment of the story, which is not salvation for me.

It's the kingdom of God coming here on the earth.

Why is that a big deal?

It's a story.

Because to believe the gospel is to enter into the story and realize that your story only makes sense in the context of his story.

Some of you in this room, you think, man, there's no way if I was honest that anybody could accept me or understand me.

Yes, they could.

The only thing that makes sense of your story and will make a difference in your story and change your story is the story that God has been telling from the very beginning.

Maybe this will help.

Here's the second one: a robust gospel deals with big problems.

You got big problems, the gospel's bigger.

You should learn to ask yourself, how does the gospel speak to this?

Ask your children, stop answering all your kids questions.

Your kids ask questions to make a point.

Some of you send us emails to make a point.

And then when we respond back and your little I found this on the internet thing goes away, you don't know what to say.

Because the gospel is always bigger than the problem you're facing.

You should learn.

You want to catechize your kids, it means teach your kids the gospel.

When they come to you with a problem, ask your kids, how does the gospel speak to this?

Because they got to go, oh, I don't know.

My friends are being mean to me.

How does the gospel speak to this?

Genesis 1 and 3 teaches us that humans are made in the image of God and his likeness.

These image bearers were in utter union with God, at home with themselves, in communion with one another, and in harmony with the world around them.

The garden is the first picture that you see of the kingdom of God.

This is the way it's going to be when he comes again.

And in the meantime, this is how we're to be making the earth to be right now.

However, when Adam and Eve sinned, that image was cracked in each of these four directions.

God alienation, self-shame.

If you had any idea how much shame the person sitting right next to you right now feels on a consistent basis, you would be overwhelmed.

They're alienated from God, they have a sense of self-shame, other blame, and Eden expulsion.

Sins results not in just alienation from God, which is the biggest one.

It's also this sense of shame about yourself.

Blame or antagonism towards other people and banishment from the world as God made it to be.

How does the gospel speak to this?

Let me bring it down to where you live.

If you turned on your TV Friday night at 6 o'clock or 6:15, they dropped a video, the Memphis Police Department did in Memphis, Tennessee.

And people were already lined up, had signs, and they said, you know, jail, killer cops, and all this kind of stuff.

And listen carefully.

Absolutely, those men deserve to be punished to the fullest extent of the law.

That was police brutality, what they did to that man, no explanation, no excuse whatsoever.

But if you turned on your TV, you saw a lot of talk about police brutality and peaceful protests and blah, blah, blah.

But nobody talked about the sanctity of human life.

You saw no signs that said, let's have a parade and a march and a demonstration for the sanctity of human life.

Now you're probably thinking, I don't get the connection, bro.

What are you talking about?

Here's what I mean when I say the robust gospel deals with big problems.

Because the man's 29 years old.

Sanctity of human life means, sanctity means your life has value.

You're created by God in the image of God, okay?

We settle for talking about race in America, which is cheap and lazy and is racism real?

Absolutely.

Is it an overused word?

Absolutely.

Why?

Because you never get to the core issue of the sanctity of human life.

A person has dignity and worth and value, whether they're black or brown or yellow or red or white, because they're made by God in the image of God.

And if you allow to get stuck in the place of racism, all you're gonna do is talk to and over each other.

Because, see, here's the problem.

Here's why there's no signs that said we need to have a national summit on the sanctity of life.

Because if this 29-year-old man has rights because he's made by God in the image of God and it's wrong to beat him, look at me.

Then you've got to change your belief about abortion.

And we don't want to do that.

Because we as a culture are hypocritical because life has no sanctity in the womb.

But all of a sudden it has sanctity out here when the cops pull you over.

You're a hypocrite.

If you protest on Friday and you believe in abortion, you're a hypocrite.

See how the gospel speaks to big problems?

You feel what just happened in here?

Some of y'all are like, easy, bro.

Pastor mad today.

I'm not mad at all.

I'm gonna leave here and go eat lunch and watch seven hours of football.

I got some duct tape, I'm gonna put over my wife's mouth.

I'm gonna write on over the black sharpie.

Do not remove until 9:30.

Y'all are all looking over there, aren't you?

By the way, that's my father-in-law sitting right next to her.

I'm gonna put the tape on her.

He's gonna write the message.

Yes, yes, yes.

Now, listen, when a white person says racist or racism, everybody gets all on alert.

Go deeper.

Stop being so intellectually lazy and stop just talking about racism, talking about the sanctity of life, because I don't need one of the race pimps in America like Al Sharpton to tell me how to treat black people.

The gospel already does.

It already does.

I'm sorry.

You have dignity in my eyes.

I don't care what your skin color is.

You're made by God in the image of God, whether you're born in America or Afghanistan or Iraq or Japan or Tennessee, another foreign country.

Again, you've got to have a robust gospel because it deals with big problems.

Here's the third reason a characteristic of a robust gospel includes the whole life of Jesus.

The whole life of Jesus, you can't stop.

Now, by the way, I'm gonna go about six minutes over.

Can you stay with me?

Football doesn't kick off till two.

Buck up, little soldier.

Stop being a baby.

Stop being American Christians.

We're here for an hour.

Yeah.

You get tired of not knowing what to say at work.

Listen, okay?

It includes the whole life of Jesus.

You can't stop at the cross in Good Friday because that's where our sin is dealt with.

We have to look at the whole life of Jesus to better understand our capacity and our responsibility.

And this is where I look to my friend Scott McKnight, who said this.

He said, if our only problem is individual guilt, the solution can be reduced to Good Friday.

But as we acknowledge our problem in its true biblical proportions, we need more than Good Friday.

We need Christmas as incarnation, Good Friday as substitution, and Easter as new creation, and the Pentecost as empowerment.

The robust gospel incorporates us into the life of Jesus Christ, into his death with us, for us, and instead of us, into the resurrection that justifies and creates new life, and the Pentecostal spirit that empowers us to live together as image bearers of God in such a way that we glow with the glory of the blessed God.

Yes.

You need the whole life of Jesus.

Let's not just stop at the cross.

We need all the other manifestations of the work of God.

Fourthly and finally, a robust gospel emerges from and leads others to the church.

You say, What do you mean?

A robust gospel emerges from and leads others to the church.

The church is not an institution that provides benefits for individual Christians so they can carry on their personal relationship with God until we disappoint you or stop scratching where you're itching and you go down the road to get more simulation.

You don't need stimulation, you need an education.

Instead, the church is the focus of God's redemptive work on the earth in the present age.

It's not a building, it's people.

We have a building.

Why do you build a building?

We build a building because we need a place to equip the people.

Why?

Because equipped people are enlarging the kingdom through their personal obedience and example.

And people are drawn to them.

Let me say that again and I'll demonstrate.

You need equipped people.

You enlarge, every time you obey, you are enlarging the kingdom.

You are saying this is the realm within which what God wants done gets done.

Whether that's in your bedroom or at your bank, you're enlarging the kingdom.

That's what you should be doing.

This is the realm within which what God wants done gets done.

And when people see that, they are drawn to it.

People aren't drawn to the church, people are drawn to the kingdom.

He said, What do you mean?

Allow me to demonstrate.

A while back I was having lunch with a pastor here in town, and he pulls up.

We're meeting at Denny's.

He pulls up like 26-foot-long Cadillac de veil.

I'm like, dude, what are you like?

A preacher or a pimp?

Where'd you get this thing?

And I mean, he was like the seats laid back, and I was like, just I'm gonna take a picture of this.

He goes, man, please don't.

My wife's grandmother died and gave us this car.

And I was like, You should, this is not good optics, man.

You're wheeling around as a pastor in a Cadillac.

Are you a prosperity guy?

Man, shut up.

Let's go.

Go in the restaurant.

And so we're having, and I said, What's it then?

He said, actually, we're trying to sell it.

Uh and there's a guy in my church that wants it because we're gonna sell it and we got a little money and we're gonna get a different vehicle that better fits our family.

And I'm clowning on him, giving him a hard time.

And clear as the bell, the Holy Spirit says, You buy it.

And so I left there as I'm prone to do, because I don't have money, but I called friends that do.

And I said, Hey man, here's the deal.

There's a guy in town, a preacher needs to sell his car so he can buy a car for his family.

And there's a guy in his congregation that wants a car.

The guy's like, Man, I want it, but the guy's just been visiting.

He and he said, I don't even know if he's a believer.

This guy that wants a car.

And he said, Oh, uh, okay.

So I called, made a couple phone calls.

Two days later, called the guy back.

The pastor said, Hey, listen, I want to buy your car.

He's like, dude, I can't picture you driving a Cadillac.

I wouldn't drive a Cadillac.

Come on.

Unless it was an escalade, then I'd I'd drive that bad boy.

Uh anyway, uh, I wish you could see some of your faces.

Like, are you serious?

Listen, I I I couldn't afford to sit in an escalade, much as drive it.

But if you've got to escalate, look at me.

I don't care.

I don't care.

Drive it guilt-free, okay?

Stop looking over your shoulder.

Okay?

If you've got to feel guilty, give it to somebody that won't.

I can alleviate your guilt, all right?

Uh no, but I called the pastor, I said, Listen, I want to buy your car.

And he goes, Oh man, that's great.

But there's a guy in my church that he wants, I said, we want to buy your car and we're gonna give it to him.

He's like, Are you serious?

So we set it up on a Tuesday.

I met and met the pastor, and the guy was there, and the guy didn't know what was coming.

He was just kind of like, this guy looked like he was he'd been on Bill and Ted's excellent adventure, okay?

I'll just say this.

He has an ELO album at his house, all right?

Anyone know what ELO is?

Okay.

Uh and he's just kind of like, hey man, what's up?

You're your Chuck's friend.

I said, Yeah, nice to meet you.

He goes, Man, uh, what do you think about this Cadillac?

I said, uh, no.

Uh, but anyway, and he said, Yeah, I was trying to save money, buy it, but you know, uh, and I said, Hey, by the way, I came today because this car is yours.

And he collapsed on the fender.

He said, Oh my gosh, what are you doing?

I mean, what's happening right now?

What's happening?

I said, Today the kingdom of God has come to you.

Now I got that right out of the Bible.

In Luke and in Matthew, Jesus sends out the apostles and gives them a power to cast out demons and heal the sick.

And he says, Hey, when people ask you what's going on, just say, Today the kingdom of God has come to you.

Translation, this is the realm within which what God wants done gets done.

And by the way, it happened in the lobby between services.

Last week I was talking to a friend and he said, Yeah, I gotta take my wife to work and then I'll be there.

We've only got one car.

He said, I've just been praying since then.

God, you know, give them a car.

They need a car.

God, would you just open up the windows of heaven and pour out a car?

We need a car.

You people got places to go.

And there's a lady in the first service, she stopped me out in the lobby and I was getting coffee, and she said, Hey, I've got a 2005 Mercedes 320.

And she said, I it's a good car, it's got it, but it's old, but it those things they're great.

Mercedes run forever.

Do you know anybody needs a car?

I won't drive a Cadillac, but I'll drive a Mercedes.

No, look at me.

When you learn to operate in the kingdom, things come to you on their way to someone else.

Stuff stops stopping with you.

You're not a reservoir, you're a river, it just runs through you.

I said, Actually, I do know somebody that needs a car.

So why just after y'all took communion, I slipped in, sat down, and said, Hey, would you could you guys use a Mercedes 320?

And she was like, Shut your filthy mouth.

I said to the lady, do you want to sell it?

She goes, No, I want to give it away.

She goes, I was in your service, the first service, and I just want to give it away.

So the kingdom came this morning, right here in our church.

And so ever since then you know I've been praying, that we'd become a church that just gives our cars away.

Oh, yeah.

Y'all said amen to that first part.

I don't know about that.

I'm not saying if you got a new escalate, give it away.

I am saying if you got a used car that you're like, hey, I can get trade in.

And look at me.

Some of you are like, I need to make money off this.

That's great, but some of you don't.

Let's just give them to each other.

Some of y'all are like, what's your email?

I've got a need.

Yeah.

Again, when people, equipped people, obey, they enlarge the kingdom.

And people get a whiff of the king in the kingdom, and they can't.

By the way, you may be like, oh, I don't can't buy cars and I don't have rich friends.

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

It happened this past week at Good Company Seafood.

I'm having lunch with a friend of mine.

And we're sitting there talking, and our waitress starts talking, and then my buddy starts just being intentional.

And I start speaking into her life, and she bursts into tears.

I want to cry.

And she cries.

I'm like, well, you may not want to cry, but you're crying.

It's kind of awkward.

Now my favorite part was she just stood there.

Because when the kingdom, when you set the kingdom down, people are just drawn to it.

It's like, oh my gosh.

There's two older men right behind them, and they're like, hey, uh, is she our waitress?

And I'm seeing them, and I'm kind of like, hey, turn back around.

But she can't stop talking to us.

And finally, I just said, Hey, I think you've got customers behind you.

And she goes, Oh, yeah, I might be your waitress.

Now, what am I telling you that for?

Here's what I'm telling you that for.

We're not that interesting.

You don't have to be interested.

The kingdom of God is that enthralling.

And when you set it down before people, they're struck by it.

So I want you to walk out of here.

I don't want you just to hear a sermon on the kingdom of God.

I want you to walk out of here today and ask yourself a couple of questions.

One of them being, when's the last time you set the kingdom down?

But before that, I would ask this do you understand that Jesus came not just to forgive you for your sins, but to involve you in the kingdom of God?

This is what the gospel is all about.

That's why he talks about the gospel of God and the gospel of the kingdom.

It's not a gospel of forgiveness and a gospel of heaven, it's a gospel of the kingdom.

And the kingdom is already and not yet.

And you get to be a part of it right now.

Let's pray to God.

If you're a guest, just relax.

We'd like to teach the Bible and then give you some soul space to think about it.

So a voice of prayer, some questions come up on the screen.

Those are for our contemplation and discussion in our community groups when they meet next.

Let's pray.

God thanks for the truth.

That it finds us and it's unwinds us.

And a lot of people, there's a lot of juniors in high school in here that came to faith as a little kid, as a little girl.

And now they're jaded and cynical.

It's not because they're bad kids or they've done bad things or they're sinners.

It's just that they've never they were converted on a gospel of their sin and forgiveness, not a gospel of the kingdom.

They don't realize when they go to the 11th grade at Travis High School, they're going there to set the kingdom down.

The kingdom is the only thing that displaces us from the smallness of our kingdom.

And it's the crying, aching soul need of everyone at Travis High School, Austin High School, Seven Lakes, Two Lakes, and the Pond.

It's the aching need of every kid at George Ranch.

Just please, please, someone demonstrate to me that there's more than this.

And God, we want to repent where we've been small and selfish and stingy.

We want to be juicy, savory, generous, enjoyable people.

Because that's who the king is, and that's what the kingdom's like.

And so, Holy Spirit, brood over us for just a moment before we go.

Press these realities in on us.

We pray.

Lord, we're grateful today for the kingdom gospel.

The gospel of God, the gospel that Jesus came to preach.

This big and expansive and ever-enlarging.

That's why the Bible says in Revelation that the kingdoms of this world are becoming the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ.

Because the kingdom is here right now.

It's not as it's going to be in heaven, but it's getting bigger every day when we do the right thing.

So we take seriously and with sobriety our privilege of being kingdom people who do the right thing and expand people's exposure to the kingdom in the king.

We're humbled by that and grateful for the privilege.

So we say thank you in Jesus' name.

And everyone said, Amen.

Amen.

If you're a guest today, let me say thank you for being here.

You're always welcome.

If you heard something today you have questions about, or pastors will be available down front, we'd love to pray with you, answer any questions.

All we ask of you is you just text welcome to that number on the screen.

We'd love to have a record of your visit.

We want to be the church to you.

I want to be a pastor to you, not just somebody that talks to you on Sundays, preaches to you, but somebody that knows your kids' names.

And when you're like, hey, I'm not doing well, you can pick up the phone and say, hey, I need to meet for coffee.

Absolutely.

I'd love to, okay?

Uh, we got some other things going on in the life of our church want you to know about.

So give your uh attention to the screens for like two minutes to see what's coming up.

I'm Dr.

Dan Allinger, co-author of the book Redeeming Heartache, and with my co-author, Kathy Larcel, we're very much looking forward to being with you on March 4th, 2023, at the Grand Parkway Baptist Church.

At this conference, we're inviting people to look at the reality of what it means to live in a fallen world where it is inevitable that we are going to know harm.

The Old Testament talks about that kind of harm as being an orphan, a stranger, and a widow.

Those archetypes are true for living in the world, and yet they are the context for us to begin to not only have healing, but to actually move into something of the calling, of what it means to live out the person and the mission of Jesus Christ.

We look forward to the opportunity not just to offer hope, but to offer a kind of meaning that takes our lives into the future with a greater sense of power and purpose than we would have had before if all we had done is to avoid looking at the past.

If you want a greater understanding of your own life and your own place and the purposes of God, we invite you to join us.

You can now register at theallendercenter.org.

And we have to admit, living in Seattle, we are looking forward to move from this gray world into your lovely warmth in Houston.

Look forward to seeing you soon.

That's what it looks like when a hippie comes to Jesus.

Dan Allender is probably one of the most insightful people you'll ever be around.

And so uh Kathy Lorzel, somebody ladies will remember, was here for the table last year.

Uh, she reached out to my wife, Marcy, and said, Hey, we're taking this on the road, and we we want to know if you guys would host a conference.

And so we're hosting it here in this building, uh, but it's open to people all over this area.

So I would strongly encourage you to take advantage of this opportunity.

Uh uh they're insightful, pastoral, just graceful people.

Okay.

You can you can register there on their website if you have any questions, ask any of us.

We'll help you understand.

It's going to be on that Saturday, I think, from like nine to three or four, uh, with breaks and lunch and everything.

But a great opportunity to understand how what you've experienced in your past affects who you are today, okay?

Uh, not psycho babble, but understanding.

All right.

We'd like to conclude our service with a spoken blessing.

So stand at your feet.

Hold your hands out.

The king is one.

So every battle you fight, you're fighting a battle that's already won.

Therefore, your privilege is to appropriate the victory of King Jesus in your life over your circumstance and your situation.

He loves you, he cares about what you're going through, and he can make a difference in it.

Depart now and practice these realities in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Bless you.