Two Kingdoms: Navigating the Collision of Cultures

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To the Generations Church podcast. Today, we begin a two-part message series entitled Collide.

In this week's message, Pastor Jeff teaches us about the two kingdoms that are

at war with each other, the kingdom of the world and the kingdom of God.

So grab a pen and a Bible and listen as Pastor Jeff brings today's message entitled Two Kingdoms.

If you haven't noticed, there's been a collision of cultures and a collision of two kingdoms.

We just finished a series on fear, and we're moving into just a two-week, not even series,

we're just going to, just a two-week message on the collision of cultures.

How do we do life being part of the kingdom of God, yet living in the kingdom of the world?

And so we're going to do that. before we jump in, I would be amiss to forget

what we're celebrating tomorrow in our country as we celebrate Veterans Day.

We don't take that lightly. And so I just want to invite anyone who has served

their country in any branch of service, would you just stand for a moment?

And can we just look around and acknowledge them?

Thank you. Awesome.

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you guys. Chris, I know you're still active.

Billy, Billy, the one that was playing drums, he served. Thank you for serving, Billy.

Your husband.

It's hard for me, if you know Danny, he's so soft-spoken, but to know that he

was a drill sergeant just cracks me up.

I just imagine him in somebody's face screaming all the time.

We are so thankful and we are so blessed to live in the country that we live in.

You need not look any further than the events of this past week,

regardless of which side you were on, to know that there is a kingdom against kingdom mentality.

Because the reality is there are two kingdoms at work in the world,

the kingdom of man and the kingdom of God.

The kingdom of man and the kingdom of God.

The kingdom of man, also called the kingdom of the world, is the kingdom of

Satan, who is real and is at work with other fallen angels.

We know that scripture says that when Satan rebelled, that a third of angels

went with him and rebelled and were cast out from heaven.

And although that sounds like a lot, and it is, it's still a two-to-one fight.

And because of the cross of Jesus, they have been defeated, amen?

I think you can be a little bit more excited that the enemy has been defeated, church.

But it's a collision of morality and it's a collision of ethics and it's a collision

of sin. It's a war of values, of right and wrong.

And at the heart of it, of holiness and filthiness.

One kingdom of righteousness and one kingdom of wickedness.

And as Christians, we need to know that the values of this world do not align

with the values of God's kingdom.

And the priorities of this world do not align with the priorities of the kingdom of God.

And so here we are.

In this great collision, living on planet earth together, two kingdoms.

Before we dive into the word this morning, I want to invite you to just join me in a word of prayer.

And let's ask God to speak through his word, the Holy Spirit to move,

convict our hearts and minds.

Father we come to you,

because of the blood of Jesus,

we ask that you would take away any distractions this morning that may hinder

us from hearing your voice we ask that you give us ears to listen,

Go ahead, ask him that in your heart, in your mind. Say, give me ears to listen

this morning. Give me ears to listen.

God, I ask that you would give us the will to obey your word.

Ask him, Father, help me obey your word and apply it to my life.

And we ask, Holy Spirit, that you would illuminate the truth of the word of

God, that you would convict us to obey rather than to run from you.

We love you. And we ask your blessing upon this time together.

Speak through me, your servant.

In Jesus' name, amen.

If you came in this morning and did not get a sheet of paper with message notes,

just slip your hand up. Did we do good?

Everyone but Chris back in the back.

Thanks, Mason. I appreciate that. This morning, we're going to jump into this

two-week teaching, and then we'll go into a series of Thanksgiving for Thanksgiving,

and then holy cow, we're at Christmas already.

I saw a funny meme, and if you're new, I'm sorry. I am so ADD.

I could be in the middle of a point and have a squirrel cross,

and I'm just going to—it's just who I am, but I saw a funny meme.

I think it was on Facebook because that's what us old people are on Facebook,

And it was a picture of inflatable Santa laid over, and there was a big,

huge turkey inflated, you know,

the Thanksgiving turkey on top of him.

And it just said, you know, wait your turn, fat man, or something like that.

Let's celebrate Thanksgiving before we jump into Christmas. Christmas.

You know, as Christians, you would think that we would be used to it and we

would just automatically know that in this world,

there's going to be trouble for us, that there's going to be a conflict,

that there's going to be tension because we're doing the right thing.

I want to invite you to read John 15 with me.

And this is what it says, John 15, eight through nine. It says,

if the world hates you, remember that it hated me first.

The world would love you as one of its own. And here's the pretense.

They'd love you guys if you're a part of them, if you belong to it.

But here's the thing. He says, but you are no longer part of the world.

I chose you to come out of the world. And so it hates you. The world hates you.

Glad I could encourage you this morning.

The enemy hates us because we're no longer part of their kingdom.

And God has delivered us out of that kingdom.

The older I get, the more I'm learning not to take it personally.

When someone attacks me on Facebook because I put a verse up or I put something

up and I'm attacked, they're not attacking me. They're attacking the kingdom.

Don't take it personally. They will hate you because you have been rescued from

darkness and your citizenship has been transferred to a new kingdom.

And this morning, we get to have the privilege and honor of practicing communion together.

But before we do that, we're going to take a look at three specific characteristics about each kingdom.

We're going to look at the foundation of both kingdoms.

We're going to look at the identities or what we look like if you're in each kingdom.

And then thirdly, we're going to look at the destiny of each kingdom because

they are different foundations. They are different identities and they are different destinations.

And my goal is this morning is to just say, here it is. And then ask the question,

which kingdom are you part of?

What foundation is your foundation? What identity, what characteristics do you have in your life?

Are they of the kingdom of the world or are they of the kingdom of God?

And what's your eternal destination? Is it hell and separation from God or is

it the kingdom of God in heaven?

So let's look at the foundations together.

The foundation, when we look at the kingdom of God, we see that the foundation

is built on God's righteousness, his justice, his love, and his truth.

Close the Bible. I'm good. I want to be part of that kingdom, right?

I want to be part of a kingdom of righteousness. I want to be part of the kingdom

of justice. I want to be the kingdom of love and of truth.

Psalms 89 says this in verse 14, righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne.

See, the king of the kingdom is Jesus Christ and his throne,

the foundation of his throne, scripture says, is love and faithfulness.

Says they go before you.

Ephesians 2, 19 and 20 says, So then you are no longer foreigners and strangers,

but your fellow citizens with the saints and members of God's household.

Here it is, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets with Christ

Jesus himself as the cornerstone.

So the foundation of the kingdom of God is built on righteousness.

And secondly, the ruler of the kingdom of God is Jesus.

He's the ruler of the kingdom of God. So that's one side.

What about the kingdom of the world? I'm glad you asked.

1 John 2.16 says, for everything in the world, the lust of the flesh,

the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life comes not from the Father.

It doesn't come from the kingdom of God. It comes from the world.

When you look at the kingdom of the world, you see that the foundation is built on sin.

It's built on sin. It's built on the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life.

It's a kingdom focused on personal desires of the flesh.

And those within that kingdom will do anything that they can to find fulfillment.

The world is looking for fulfillment and you'll never ever find it as long as

you're part of the kingdom of the world it's an endless and fruitless pursuit

that ends in death and emptiness,

listen to what ephesians 2 2 says he says in which you used to live when you

followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air.

I underline that in my Bible.

The spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. Who is the ruler

of the kingdom of the air?

If you know scripture, say it with me.

Satan, are we alive? Are we here? Come on.

Thank you, mom. Can always count on my mom.

That's right. In Ephesians 2, we see that the ruler of the kingdom of the world is Satan.

And I know we're going to go through a bunch of scriptures this morning.

We're flying a little bit. Matthew 7 says this, therefore, everyone who hears

these words of mine, and this is Jesus talking, Jesus is teaching the people, and this is what he said.

Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice,

circle that in your Bible, highlight it, is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.

The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that

house, yet it did not fall because it had its foundation on the rock house.

That is not sure why that's there.

And it fell with a great crash.

Oh, my bad. And it beat against that house and it fell with a great crash.

So here we have Jesus comparing two different men who are building two different

houses, and each one represents a different kingdom.

Two kingdoms with two separate foundations.

And so the first man, he built his house on the rock, which has the foundation of who?

Jesus, right? And his kingdom and his righteousness.

And then the second man built his house, built his kingdom upon the foundation

of the world, which is sin and self and pride.

And as we read this passage, did anyone catch that phrase?

That phrase that I mentioned to you, and practice, puts them into practice,

you have to be obedient to the word of God and you have to put them into practice.

Jesus said, everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them and is obedient

is wise and builds his house upon the rock.

You see, the difference between the foundations really is obedience and surrender.

There are people that say, I am part of that kingdom, but they are still building

their lives on the foundation of something else.

They might even know the word of God, but they won't obey the word of God. And it's a travesty.

So we've seen the foundations of each. Now let's look at number two,

the identities, or who we are in each kingdom.

In the kingdom of God, the first thing we need to understand about our identity

is that we are citizens of heaven.

We're citizens of heaven. Philippians 3, Paul says this in verse 20,

our citizenship is in heaven.

It's in heaven. When you come to Christ, there's been a transfer there.

Your citizenship is now in heaven.

And we eagerly wait for a savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Colossians 1, 13, he says, He has rescued us from the domain of darkness or

the kingdom of darkness.

And he's transferred us into the kingdom of the son he loves.

You've been transferred into the kingdom of God.

At the point we accept Jesus into our hearts and lives and we decide that we're

gonna live for him instead of ourselves, we decide that we're gonna be obedient to him,

that we're gonna surrender our lives to him, not just in word, but in deed.

When we yield our lives to the lordship of Jesus Christ, our citizenship is

now transferred into the kingdom of God.

We have a new identity and the old world is left behind. How many of you guys like history?

I need some audience participation. Billy's like, nope, nope,

I don't like history. I like history. Let me show you a picture of Ellis Island.

Apparently, they didn't have color back then in the 1800s. But I love history,

and I especially love watching and learning about history and the history of

our country, about our ancestors who came to this country seeking a new life.

And I remember watching a documentary on Ellis Island.

And as I was just thinking about kingdoms and I was thinking about citizenship

this week, I couldn't help but think of Ellis Island.

You know, it was a beacon of hope for those who were seeking refuge or needing a new beginning.

And it was a gateway to people who just sought out a new country, a new home.

For millions of immigrants, Ellis Island signified the beginning of a brand

new life. and it was filled with hope and possibility and a brand new purpose.

There was incredible hardship to get here.

They would be packed in the bottom of steamships and boats and it would take

weeks and they would get here and they would be put out on the deck.

Put that next picture up, Hudson.

They'd be out on the deck and they'd have to go through this,

says awaiting examination, Ellis Island.

They'd have to go through this examination and they had doctors there.

And for about three to five hours, they would examine their health to see if

they had any diseases or anything that could be carried into the new land, into the new country.

Then they would be asked questions and they would give their papers and most

all of them were permitted to come in.

It was just a small percentage that was not allowed to come in and most of the

time it was because of a contagious disease.

Now, as great as it was to become a new citizen in America, how much better

is it that we can come empty handed in our sickness,

full of our sin disease, and we come to the gates of the kingdom.

We don't even have to have papers. We just say, here I am, a wretched sinner. Save me.

By the blood of Jesus. And he lets us in, he invites us and he closes.

He puts a new robe on us and he closes with his righteousness.

How can we not celebrate it in worship?

How can we not invite others to the kingdom?

How can we not just be blown away by what God has done in transferring us from one kingdom to another?

We're citizens of heaven. If you ever think about how hard your life is and

the things that are going on around, yes, life is hard, but it's temporary.

And remind yourselves that you are a citizen of heaven.

Not only are we citizens of heaven, but the second thing we need to understand

about our identity in this new kingdom is that we're not just citizens,

but we are now ambassadors.

We are ambassadors of Christ.

2 Corinthians 5.20, Paul says, therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ.

Pastor Jeff, what in the world does that mean?

Paul's going to tell us. We're ambassadors for Christ since God is making his

appeal through us. I love this.

Circle this in your Bible. Highlight it. We plead on Christ's behalf.

Be reconciled to God. In the way that we live, in the way that we speak,

as we heard yesterday at men's breakfast,

in the way that we carry ourselves, we should be pleading on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God.

Be reconciled to God.

If you and I are truly Christians, we can't help but tell people about Jesus.

We can't help but say, I once was lost, but now I'm found.

I once was part of this, and now I'm in this kingdom because it's a different world.

And Paul gives us instructions on how we're supposed to carry out being an ambassador for Jesus Christ.

In Romans 12, verse 2, he says, Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world,

Romans 12:2

but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.

Let me just stop there for a moment.

Who transforms you? Is it you working harder?

Is it you serving more? Is it you doing this more or doing that more?

No. He says, let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.

You see, sometimes the first thing that needs to change before we can change our actions is our mind.

Man, I'm so pumped about Rooted right now, this 10, 12 week discipleship plan

that I'm leading on Sunday night. And the group has been amazing.

We meet five o'clock every Sunday at Perkins and they know us there and we enjoy it and we love it.

But we talked this past week about strongholds and we address strongholds and

we prayed over strongholds.

And there are strongholds in men and women's lives and even kids' lives that

they need to be freed from so that they can act on.

It's the power of the battlefield of the mind.

It says, then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

See, coming to Jesus Christ is not following a bunch of rules.

There is protection by the way we live in the kingdom of God.

And it's good and it's pleasing and it's perfect.

What about the identity of the world? Well, it's the complete opposite.

Ephesians 2, 1 through 3 says this, and you were dead in your trespasses and

sins in which you previously walked according to the ways of this world.

That's the kingdom of the world, right? the kingdom of man, the kingdom of Satan.

According to the power of the air, the spirit now working in the disobedient,

we too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires,

carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts.

And we were by nature children under wrath as the others were also.

And before we get into sins, I think it's very important.

Verse three, we too all previously lived among them.

Don't be pointing fingers at other people's sins.

We love them. We speak truth with love and grace and mercy because it's not my job to change you.

It's God that transforms you. It's God that's going to transform you.

The first thing you see in that verse is that as citizens of the kingdom of

the world, you're dead in sin.

You're dead in sin.

And their sin here is their identity.

Now get ready because here's the identity of someone who's dead in their sin.

Romans 1 says this, this isn't my rules. This isn't my description of the world. This is God's.

Romans 1 29 through 32 says, they are filled with all unrighteousness and evil, greed, and wickedness.

They are full of envy, murder, quarrels, deceit, and malice.

They are gossip, slanderers, God-haters, arrogant, proud, boastful.

Inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, senseless.

And he's really got a list. He's not leaving anything out.

Untrustworthy, unloving, and unmerciful. Verse 32, although they know God's just sentence.

So they know there is a consequence for sin.

They know that obedience brings blessing and protection, but they're still choosing

to live outside of God's parameters.

Although they know God's just sentence, that those who practice such things

deserve to die. they not only do them, but even applaud others who practice them.

Does that not describe our culture and our world?

We live in a culture that celebrates living in complete defiance to God.

That's why we must love them and we must plead with them.

And we must live our lives in a way that is salt and light to a dying people.

Paul's gonna continue this great list of characteristics in Galatians 5.

He says, now the works of the flesh are obvious.

Sexual immorality, impurity, depravity, idolatry, sorcery, hostilities,

strife, jealousy, outburst of anger.

I'm sure we can all find ourselves in some of these. selfish rivalries,

dissensions, factions, envying, murder, drunkenness, carousing, and similar things.

I am warning you as I had warned you before.

Those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

That's a big bite. It's a big chunk.

Let me share this with you because each one of us is in that.

We are guilty. We, each one of us has a sin that we are guilty of.

Me, I've shared this with you.

I can get angry at my kids. I've had outbursts of anger.

When Jen and I first got married, we had some good old outbursts of anger,

didn't we? She just wouldn't submit.

I'm just kidding. A lot of them were when the Hawkeyes would lose and I would

just lose my mind and throw something.

I'm better now. Jesus healed me of that. He transformed me.

But listen, the key phrase here, because it says no one who has these inherits the kingdom of God.

So how do we get into the kingdom of God if we have these?

I know some of y'all struggle with these things.

Selfish rivalries, envying, whatever yours is.

You look at this list and you think, man, none of us are going to inherit the

kingdom of God because we all are guilty of these.

But here's what Paul says. He uses this phrase and it's a key phrase and he

uses it not just in this place, but he uses it in other places too in scripture.

Look at that verse again. And it says, those who practice.

Those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Those who practice.

Okay, that's interesting. So, it's those who practice.

Let's look at Romans 1.32. He says it again.

Although they know God's just sentence, that those who practice such things

deserve to die, they not only do them, but even applaud others who practice it.

It seems that Paul isn't saying anyone who's committed these will never get

into the kingdom of God. That's not what he's saying.

He's saying those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

And here's what Paul's saying, and this is important.

He's warning that anyone whose lives are characterized by these sins are not saved.

It's not that you've committed that sin, but it's practicing that sin,

not repenting of that sin and being characterized by that sin.

There's a difference, right? And so the thing that we have to ask ourselves

is, are there sins that we are practicing?

Are there sins that are characterizing the way we live?

Because if there are, we're going to need to take another look at ourselves.

Number three, the destiny of each kingdom.

The destiny of each kingdom.

If you're part of the kingdom of God, you and I, we live with an eternal perspective.

The kingdom of God, it endures forever. It's our future.

There's a new heaven and a new earth.

And we'll live in the glory and the presence of the king forever.

And it's gonna be amazing and it's gonna be beautiful and it's gonna be,

if I were young and hip, I'd say it's off the hook.

That's probably not even, it's probably not even a term anymore.

And that's no cap.

My kids are like, just stop. Don't even try.

Listen, the kingdom of God leads to heaven and eternal blessing.

The kingdom of God leads to heaven an eternal blessing Revelation 21 4 says

he will wipe away every tear from their eyes death will be no more no more grief,

crying and pain will be no more because the previous things have passed away

and for those whose citizenship is in the kingdom of God will enjoy life more than ever more joy,

more love, more peace and the ultimate fulfillment of being with our Savior forever.

Not just that. I'm looking forward to meeting all the saints who've gone before

us and both sets of grandparents and my friends who've passed away, who knew the Lord.

I can't wait. It's gonna be awesome.

But likewise, on the other side.

The kingdom of this world leads to hell and eternal punishment.

And I think we're too soft in churches today where we won't preach on hell. We won't preach on that.

I think it's a big disservice because

if you love someone, you can do everything you can to go after them,

to reconcile them to Jesus Christ.

2 Thessalonians 1, 8, 9 says He will punish those who do not know God and who

do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus They will be punished with everlasting

destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might,

Again, not my words Revelation 20 says And anyone whose name was not found written

in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.

How could we wish that on anyone? Not just wish it.

How can we be okay going home this afternoon and I know my neighbors don't know the Lord?

What am I doing? What are you doing? Are you living your life to rescue them

and to pull them out? I hope so.

Even worse than being sent to hell, I think the greatest punishment is not the

physical torture of being in hell itself for eternity, but it's the absence of the presence of God.

God is love, God is joy, God is peace.

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I don't want anyone to be absent from the presence of god and i don't want anyone

to be cast into a lake of fire.

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The Bible tells us that you do not have to have life that is built on the kingdom of this world.

There's good news. The gospel of Jesus Christ. It's why Jen and I finally said, okay, God, we'll do it.

We'll plant a church that's gonna be all about the gospel.

John 3.16 says, For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son

that whoever believes in him shall perish, not perish, but have eternal life.

God loves you. In fact, he loves you so much, he sent Jesus to die for you.

And he paid the penalty of my sins and of your sins.

And he wants to take the keys and come open the gates that you can exit the

gates of hell and the eternal punishment and be welcomed into the kingdom of God.

Guys, these are real kingdoms. We're not talking fairy tales.

We're not talking movies. This is our reality.

That there is a world that is lost and dying and headed to eternity apart from

Christ, apart from God, in a very real place called hell.

But if you'll call on him this morning and say, Jesus, save me,

he says, I will cast no man away.

Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

And so we're gonna go into a time of communion in just a second, and I'm gonna pray.

And there is nothing more that I want in this world than to know that every single one of you.

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Father, we come to you now and we get to partake in communion.

We get to remember the incredible price that you paid as you turned your back

on your only begotten son, Jesus, and he went to the cross.

He took my punishment for all of my sins and all my wickedness.

He freed me from the kingdom of the world and he gave me a new citizenship that I don't deserve.

He clothed me with a robe of righteousness, which I wouldn't look like without the blood of Jesus.

And if you're here this morning and you don't know where you'll spend your destiny,

where you'll spend your future,

it's as easy as ABC. See, admit that you're a sinner.

Believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that he is God,

that he saved you from your sins. He came to save you and confess that he is Lord.

If you ask him to come in your life right now.

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He says he will.

You've been listening to the generations church podcast if you'd like more information

about generations church feel free to get in touch with us at info at generationchurch.us

or head over to our website.

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