The Kingdom That Matters - Week 1

Amen, We're gonna be starting a brand new series today

called The Kingdom That Matters. But I'm sorry, my microphone

does that.

We have no idea.

We tried to make it make that sound before service

and we could not. We dropped it on that, we

bounced it. That's probably why it's doing it. But anyway,

we tried to make it make those noises and it didn't,

So just overlook it. And because replacing it is very expensive. Amen,

And I'd rather help people and y'all listen to static.

So I just we're starting a brand new series because

there's a lot of attention on an event that's coming

up in just a couple of days.

On Tuesday.

There's a significant event that's happening in most people's lives

and has most people's attention. And you know, it's so

easy for us as believers to get caught up in

the kingdom that doesn't really matter what expecting very many

amens right there. But you know, we look at earthly

kingdoms because we can see them because they're tangible, they're visible.

But the reality is we are secondarily a citizen of

the Kingdom of the United States of America and primarily

citizens of the Kingdom of God. And a lot of

times we get this whole ideology in this thought process

that God's Kingdom, that the Church lives inside of the

Kingdom of the United States of America, that somehow we

have to fit in to the governmental system that's here.

But the reality is is that the United States of

America and its government has to fit inside of the

Kingdom of God because the Kingdom of God is bigger

than our country. The Kingdom of God is bigger than

any entity. The Kingdom of God is bigger than the

rulers and the people that are lusting for power. The

Kingdom of God is so much bigger than that. And

we have to get rid of the mentality that somehow

we're supposed to be, that we're supposed to make our

belief system. Come on, somebody, see, here's what the world

tells us, is that you've got to.

Make your belief system fit.

Inside the confines of this thing and a valuable document,

the Constitution of the United States. But your belief system

does not have to fit inside that. It has to

fit inside your belief system. We have allowed the enemy

to convince us of things that are completely backwards from

the way that the kingdom functions, and I want to

talk a little bit about the kingdom that really matters.

Now. I say all that, but I do.

Want you to go vote right. I had a guy

that came and knocked on my door the other day.

He's like, I'm just here for get out to vote.

Who you're gonna vote for?

I told him? He said, have you already voted? I

said now?

He said why not? I said, well, because I like

to vote on Tuesday. He said, well, why don't you

vote early? I said, because I like to vote on Tuesday.

He said, would you go vote tomorrow? I said, Mars Friday,

I'm gonna vote on Tuesday. He said, well, why do

you like to vote on Tuesday? I said, because then

I can go stand in line with people and I can't.

Talk to them.

He said, will you campaign? I said no, I just

love people, man. I'm just gonna go stand in line,

and I want to talk about whatever I can think

to talk about. If I could talk about football and

start a conversation, I'm gonna talk about football.

If it needs to be the weather, I'll talk about

the weather.

If the guy looks like you deer hunts, I'll talk

about deer hunt anyway to start a conversation that I

can mention Jesus. So that's why I go vote on Tuesday.

And I asked, I said, if you voted yet? He

said no, I just loaded it made a It was perfect.

First Peter Chapter two. First Peter Chapter two, Starting in

verse four, it says, coming to him as to a

living stone, rejected indeed by men, but.

Chosen by God and precious.

You also, as living stones, are being built up a

spiritual house, a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifice

is acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Therefore it is also contained in the scripture. Behold, I

lay in Zion a.

Chief cornerstone elect precious, and he who believes on him

will by no means be put to shape. Therefore, to

you who believe he is precious, But to those who

were disobedient, the stone which the builders rejected has become

the chief cornerstone, and a.

Of stumbling and a rock of offense.

They stumble being disobedient to the word to which they

also were appointed.

Let me stop right there for a second. That scripture

says that.

Every single person, every bit of.

Mankind was appointed.

Has the same opportunity for salvation, has the same opportunity

to grace, has the same opportunity for transformation that you do.

As someone who is already a believer.

So don't allow theology that says otherwise to permeate your

thinking and think that God is only the one who chooses,

because God has chosen everybody, and He's chosen you to

be an actor on his behalf, not an act actor

with someone who makes action, to be part of his

reconciliatory plan to impact humanity.

It's not up to anybody else. It's up to you

verse nine.

But you say me, But you are a chosen generation,

a royal priesthood. Here's the one, a holy nation, his

own special people that you may proclaim the praises of

Him who calls you out of darkness into his marvelous light,

who were once were not a people, but now the

people of God, who have not obtained mercy, but now

have obtained mercy. Fool Father, we thank you for your word.

It's the only change agent on the face of the planet.

Pray that it is.

Planeted deep at the very fabric of our soul in

Jesus' name.

Amen, Amen, and Amen. The Kingdom of God.

You know, Jesus mentions the Kingdom of God one hundred

and twenty six times in his teaching. One hundred and

twenty six times Jesus mentions the Kingdom of God, and

he says a lot of things, especially through his teaching

in parables, about the Kingdom of God.

And we have come to the.

Place as the Church that we try to understand Jesus's

teachings out of the context that they were all set

in his understanding and his teaching of the Kingdom of God.

We must understand the Kingdom of God in order to

understand what a successful, fulfilling Christian life of purpose really

looks like. Because when we take it out of the

Kingdom of God and understanding what that is, then we

only have a shell of what really Jesus intends for

you and for me as believers in the Kingdom of God.

The Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven are

separate things that Jesus talked about. The Kingdom of Heaven

is God's rule and reiin in heaven. The Kingdom of.

God is God's plan, rule and rain.

Here on earth. The Kingdom of God is now. It's

not then come on, somebody see I think that we

keep waiting, and we keep thinking that a lot of

the promises Jesus made are for eternity. They're on the

other side of on the other side of death, and

on the other side of resurrection. But the reality is

those Kingdom of God teachings are for the right here,

right now, God's plan, God's purpose established on earth. When

we really look at the Kingdom of God, it's described

throughout Scripture as as a dynamic, transformative reality that transcends

all world's processes and rules.

You know, when we.

And I'm struggling with its microphone today. The reality of

the Kingdom of God is that it's not bound by

all the things that we feel like we're bound by.

Throughout Scripture, Jesus ignores the natural progression of things many

many times where Jesus himself walks on water and he

goes out to a boat and he calls Peter out

of Peter walks on the water, where Jesus speaks to

a storm and says peace be still in the storm

stops where the wind and the waves obey him, where

he goes and he speaks a word and people are

healed and then he lays his hands on someone and

they're healed. And then he spits in the dirt and

he makes a mud and he rubs it in a

blind man's eyes and the blind man can see. And

Jesus healed in so many different ways. Number one so

we don't think there's a formula to it. And number two,

so that people can realize he's able to do it anyway.

He chooses to do it because the Kingdom.

Supersedes the rules that we feel obligated to. But the

Kingdom of God is the basis of reality for every

single believer on.

The face of the earth.

The Kingdom is governed by an all powerful, unmanipulatable, sovereign.

God.

And the world's kingdoms don't like it because the world's

kingdoms are all about gaining power and control and influence.

And no kingdom likes it because it presses against their

ability to control your life. Now, this is not an

anti government sermon. First of all, it's not. There's a

lot of things I disagree with. Number One, I believe

that every person in this room is over tax and

aroar from heaven, you know, in the pursuit of trying

to somebody bring me a handheld microphone, because I got

some things to say. If that's the way the devil's

gonna act about it, we need a different way to

communicate them.

But in the oh you're the man number one.

Check.

Oh yeah, devil, you had it now.

So the reality is that you're over taxed, and it's

an extension of control. It's an extension of control, and

it robs you from the destiny and the purpose that

God has for you. Not because you can't buy a

new boat, but because in an attempt for the worldly

kingdoms to try to be God. Because that's what every

kingdom's attempt is, if it's a reach for power and control,

it's their attempt to be God. That even well meaning

things have pride God's purpose away from the Church and

away from God's people, to the point of even systems

like welfare whose purpose is to take care of the

needy and the poor and the disenfranchise and all of

those things. That was never the purpose of a governmental

system on the face of the planet. It was the

purpose of the church to take care of the poor,

to take care of the widows and the orphans.

That's God's plan is for the church.

To do that, but in an attempt to diminish the

church being what the church is supposed to do, you're

over taxed so that they can do it in a

much more inefficient way. And every single one of those

pressures that we feel on us, it's an attempt to

squeeze a little more control out of God's people away

from him and make us more dependent on a worldly system.

But I want to tell you every worldly system will fail.

I was expecting that. I actually was expecting to shout

right there. But every worldly system will fail, every single one.

It doesn't matter what it is. You're like, oh no,

not the United States. We're gonna be forever. I want

to give you a revelation. Send your emails, Russell, what's

your email?

And I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding.

Send your emails to Clay at seastone dot TV after

I make this statement, okay, and and if his inbox

gets full, Gary at seastone dot TV. Because here's here's

here's the reality is that God is willing to sacrifice

this country.

If it saves people's souls.

He's willing to sacrifice this governmental institution if it is

best for people, and draws them into a closer relationship

with him. God is not married to any governmental institution.

As a matter of fact, America, we now live in

a post Christian culture. The culture used to be predominated

by Christian values. We have moved past that and we're

now living in a post Christian culture. In other words,

we look back to the good old days. And the

good old days were when our government looked different because

it was based on a set of values. And I'm

not talking about any singular issue. I'm talking about in

functionality in every way, we have moved past those principles

and we've moved into a place where it's about overreach

and control and more and more and more. And the

reason that is happening, the reason the government wants to

be every part of your life, is because it's God's

place to be every part of your life. And when

we compare the two kingdoms together, you can see that

the Kingdom of God, in its purity, in its sincerity,

in its authenticity, that everything it is is every everything

we need. But the worldly systems try to be an

impostor to that. But they're kingdoms that don't matter. The

only kingdom that matters is God's kingdom. Why should we

fear him that can only take our physical life, fear

him who has the power to condemn our souls.

Our allegiance belongs to God.

In Genesis chapter one, verse twenty eight, we see God's

plan for mankind. In John chapter I mean, Genesis chapter one,

verse twenty eight, it says, then God bless them, give

just a little woop woop if you like blessings. I

didn't hear everybody, So the rest of y'all just gonna

have to I guess, wait, borrow from everybody that's blessed.

I don't know.

Then God bless 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, over every living thing that moves on

the earth. He says, Listen, here is the blessing, is

that you be fruitful and multiply. Now listen, it's more,

and it's more than just having babies. Cornerstone got that down. Listen,

we got we can have some babies around here. I'm

telling you, I mean, you know what I'm talking about, Terry.

I mean, how many times do in there do I

talk about how we're running out of space because people

just keep having babies, keep having them, though, keep having them.

But it's more than that.

It's being fruitful and multiplying in everything that's in our

individual purpose. It's about being fruitful and multiplying in the

tasks at hand. It's about taking the life that's inside

the Kingdom of God and pressing it out beyond those

borders so that other people can see the amazing life

that's inside the Kingdom of God. You know, we have

this approach to people a lot of times that's not

scriptural because when somebody tells us what's troubling them and listen,

it's called mimicking, right. It's a communication tool. And we

do this mimicking thing where somebody is down that we

act like we're down too, because we think that somehow

that's sympathetic, that we're showing them sympathy.

But I want you to.

Understand that if you're sad, I don't have to be

sad to be simple pathetic to you.

As a matter of fact, if.

You're sad and I'm in love with Jesus, I'm upset

that you're sad, and I want you to have the

joy that I have. That's why when you tell me

you're sad, at some point in our conversation you laughing.

It's my anointing, it's my purpose, my purpose. Now, I'm

not a.

Comedian, and despite what some people think, I'm not a comedian.

But but my purpose is to bring laughter to the world.

I enjoy lifting people's spirits through humor. If you don't

like that, then you're not gonna like my preaching, because

I'm pretty funny. But he says, be fruitful and multiplied,

expand the life of abundance that you have. And you're like, well,

I'm broke. That's not abundance, that's wealth. Abundance is nothing missing,

nothing broken. That I live in the peace and joy

of God, and no matter what the enemy throws at me,

it doesn't sway me in any way. Listen, I've been

to the poorest places on Earth, and I watched the

kids run around and laugh and have a good time.

Been to the poorest places on Earth, and I've seen

the adults that as they are scrubbing their clothes on

a rock to try to get them clean, that they're

laughing and telling stories about when they were kids.

Been to places in the.

World where just upstream they're washing those clothes, and upstream

from that they're livestalker using the bathroom in the water,

and downstream from that the kids are taking a bath,

and downstream from that they're taking water to their homes

to drink. And every one of those stations there's laughter

and enjoyment because they understand.

And it's not just about wealth.

It's about the peace and the enjoyment of whatever journey

we're on.

See, it's not about wealth.

That's not what that's not what fruitfulness and multiplication and

all of those things are.

It's about the abundance in the life of.

The kingdom that I can that I can manage through

things that crush people that don't have Jesus on their side.

Be fruitful and multiply. And then he gives two other things.

He says, be fruitful and multiply. But then I want

you to fill the earth and subdue it. I want

you to arrest control. That's what subdue means, means literally

to chase down and hold.

To subdue it.

That you stop being afraid of everything that's happening around you,

and instead of being affected by the culture, you bring

effect to the culture that instead of being a thermometer

and you simply monitor the temperature, that you take on

the thought process of being a thermostat and you change

the temperature.

See subduing means that.

I understand that God has given me gifts and purpose,

and He's given me favor, and there are things that

I can accomplish that nobody else can accomplish because God

said I can. And I stop thinking like I'm a

second class citizen, and I stand up and realize that God,

of all the people in the world, chose me for

such a time as this. Now there's so many more

people gifted that can do what I do, so much

better than I can do it. I know that I

listen to those guys every week. They're just better at

this than I am. And I absolutely am glad they are,

because if I was the best, who would I listen to?

Who would I be encouraged by? I'm glad I'm not

the best. But God didn't choose them to be here

today right now.

He chose me.

And that's just the favor of God. God chose you

to be where you are. He could have put anybody

in your job, He could have made anybody the father

or the mother of your children.

But he didn't.

He chose you because you're perfectly positioned to make the

maximum impact in the sphere of influence that you're in.

He says, go subdue, go arest, control, stop being kicked around,

and stand strong. And then he doesn't just say some do.

He says, have dominion, So I want you to go

and take control. And then basically he says, I want

you to occupy it. I want you to stay there.

I want you to establish the Kingdom of God in

your home, and I want you to keep it there.

I want you to establish the kingdom God and your

relationships at work, and I want you to keep it there.

I want you to I want you to go and

establish the things that God has called you to, and

then I want you to keep them there. I want

you to build longevity. I want you to build a

legacy so that it goes beyond your life, because people

that are attracted to your anointing will be attracted to

your annointing when you live in it, and there'll be

a perpetuation of what God has called you to.

See. That's the plan of the Kingdom of God.

It's not that we just simply meet on Sundays and

sing some songs and hears some preaching, and shake some

hands and hug some necks and give a few dollars

and go home. This is an event in the journey

that happens every single week.

That's all it is.

It's just a very small piece of your kingdom citizenship

where you go and live a life that is marked

by the grace and the purpose and the favor of God.

The fall.

Snapped the authority for all mankind, and fallen man has

been clawing to get that control back under their own

power since that very first day.

And we have.

Now set ourselves in a system where we believe that

those that have, those that are living in that fallen state,

are more powerful and better equipped than those than those

of us who were redeemed with The reality is is

the moment you are redeemed, the moment you accept Jesus

as your savior and he forgives you of your sins.

He restores that authority from that original dominion mandate into

your life, and you can live as that kingdom citizen

because you're not bound by the kingdoms of this world

that are trying to tell you what is real. You're

bound by the kingdom of the invisible that knows what

is real, and everything they speak becomes real.

You know.

In Second Corinthians, chapter five, starting in verse seventeen, Clay,

you guys can come and get ready, it says, therefore,

if anyone is in Christ, that means any If you're saved,

let me tell you what that means. You've asked Jesus

to forgive you of your sins. You've made him the

lord of your life, and you have repented, which means

I'm turning and going in the opposite direction. Therefore, if

anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. He

is a new creation. He is the creation that is new,

the original creation. He is transported backwards to that moment

of creation where Adam and Eve were in the garden

and He issued the dominion mandate to them that the

moment you're saved, you're not something that has never existed before. Suddenly,

in a moment, in an instant, you're what was originally

created and God's original intent and purpose for this planet,

that you.

Are the arm of Christ. Stay for just a minute.

Now, all things are of God, who has reconciled us

to himself through Jesus Christ and has given us the

ministry of reconciliation.

He gave that to you.

That is that God was in Christ reconciling, reconciling the

world to himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and

is committed to us the word of reconciliation.

Now, then.

Watch how this ties new creation. Watch how it ties

back to the Kingdom of God. Now, then we are

here's a kingdom word. We are ambassadors of Christ. We

are agents of the Kingdom. Listen, who have the ability

to speak on behalf of the highest level of that

kingdom and government. That we have been given the privilege

to speak on behalf of God because you were His

representative in this foreign land.

It's committed.

Now, then we are ambassadors of Christ, as though God

were pleading through us.

We implore you on Christ's behalf. Listen to Paul's words.

He says, Listen, I'm imploring you to stop living the

way you've been living.

Just a few years.

After Christ's death, they had already sliden, slid into this

place where the Kingdom of God was something that was

no longer an understanding, and they were marked through fear

and intimidation and meekness and insecurity and all of those things.

I implore you, on Christ, behalf, be reconciled to God,

for He made him whom you know sin, to be

sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of

God in Him, That we might become the righteousness of

God in Him, that we might become the right standing

of God in Him, that we might be, that we

might become the contractual peace. It's what covenant means. It's

a contractual term that we have an agreement with God,

and God says, it's not just that you have an agreement,

but you are the agreement for all of mankind.

That you are an agent of reconciliation.

Now, Christ, clave you voted Tuesday right.

The election.

Does it matter who wins and who loses? I believe

for the governmental system that we call the United States

of America, it matters.

A whole lot. I believe it does.

Does it affect the Kingdom of God who wins and

who loses?

No, it does not. It does not.

Because you're the Kingdom of God in good times and

you're the Kingdom of God in bad times. You're an

ambassador of Christ. Whether you feel good or whether you

feel bad. You are Christ representative whether things are going

good or things are going bad. You are a citizen

of the Kingdom of God, and there is no vote

in that kingdom because it's a theocracy, and he reigns

supreme and what he says goes.

Now, I want to go ahead and tell you this,

as long as you love.

Jesus first, you can also love America.

I want to repeat that for you. As long as

you love.

Jesus first, you can love America too.

I love America. I can't think of a better place

to live. As a matter of.

Fact, I'm thankful and gracious that God allowed me to

be born here. What a privilege and an honor we

have that just by being alive here, you're in the

top two percent of income earners all the way across

the world. But I'm not going to forsake my place

in the Kingdom of God for a place in this

worldly kingdom. I want everybody to stand with me. You know,

there was a movement a bunch of years ago now.

Where some some Christian.

Business owners and some wealthy kingdom people came together and

they implored Billy Graham.

To run for president.

They had a meeting and they said, listen, you're not

going to have to worry about money. We're going to

finance your campaign, but we want you to run for president.

Of the United States.

Billy Graham was a very humble man, and in that

meeting he said, you don't know what it means to me.

That you think this much of me.

He said, I'm honored that you think I could, that

I could lead this country, And at.

The same time, I'm so insulted.

That you would ask me to take a demotion in

order to do what you want me to do, because

there is no greater call on earth than the one

in which I'm called. Now, listen, most people believe that

what Billy Graham was saying is that being a preacher.

Is the highest call there is. But that's not what

he said in that interview.

Matter of fact, he was questioned about it later and

he said, oh, no, I had nothing to do with preaching.

He said, the greatest call on earth is the one

in which your call to And that's what I said.

Whether it's preaching or whether it's cleaning toilets, it doesn't matter.

The greatest call you can be called to is the

one in which you're called to and don't.

Take a demotion for anybody.

Listen, I want you to know that there's value in

who you are, that God has a plan for you

that's so much more imaginable than you could think, and

he's waiting on you to embrace the complete kingdom citizenship

that he's called you to.

Now, if you're here.

Today, you've never asked Jesus to forgive you of your sins.

You've never asked him to be the lord of your life.

In these next few moments, as we read, you can

be transformed out of light, out of darkness and into

light and become a citizen of the Kingdom of God.

If you're here and you've got sin in your life

and you just know that you're not where you.

Need to be with Jesus.

When I make this altar call, come and make things

right with Jesus, and he'll reveal purpose and destiny to you,

and he'll.

Give you peace and strength and joy because you're struggling.

Don't sit where you are or alter team. Come quickly.

You know a lot of times we'll say by your

head's close your eyes, But you know, I think it's

time that we start walking in the light. As he

is in the light that you're in a room full

of people who love you and want the best for

you to make a decision to follow him.

And this environment should be pretty.

Easy, because if you can't do it in here, you

won't be able to do it out there. So, if

you're here and you want to ask Jesus to be

your savior, if you're here you want to repent of

your sins and make sure everything.

Is good between you and him. On the count of three,

I want you to step out and move.

The band's gonna play or altered team's gonna pray for you.

On the count of three, I want you to step

out and move one, two, three, step out and move

right now, Come on, where are you? I just want

to be closer to Jesus. I want to be an

effective member of the Kingdom of God. I want to

know that I know that I know that I'm on

the right path.

A man. Let's go past your plane.

The altars are open. As the Holy Spirit moves on

your heart, you can feel free to come