Fourth Sunday of Advent: Kings and Kingdoms - A Now Kingdom - Christmas

Hey, I'm Steve Holt, the senior pastor of The Road at Chapel Hills.

This is the Road Podcast.

Thanks for joining us.

My heart is to empower you to change the world.

I hope this message impacts you.

So let's turn to Matthew chapter 2.

Matthew 2 · chapter mention

But I want to read about the wise men here.

I'm calling this kings and kingdoms, a now kingdom.

We're in a kingdom.

We're living in a kingdom.

You may not know it, but you are your part of a kingdom.

The moment that you gave your heart to Christ, you surrendered to him, you became a part of his kingdom.

And he became your king.

Now he may just be a benevolent, kind, sort of Santa Claus-type king.

Or he might be ruthless and powerful and a ruler that has no compassion.

Or he might be the Jesus of the New Testament.

That's what we preach around here.

He comes with righteousness, peace, and joy.

He wants you to be filled up with joy.

He wants you to be filled up with his peace.

But here in this passage, a lot of kings.

A lot of king stuff going on here.

I like the way Matt talked about a good king and a bad king, Herod the king.

We could talk a lot about him.

He actually was not a tyrannical king, maybe like Caesar Augustus, which we'll talk about on Good Friday, but he was the king of the Jews at that time.

Now, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, so see, this is after the birth of Jesus, in the days of Herod the king.

Behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he who has been born king of the Jews?

Now that's an alarming statement to the Herod, who's considered the king of the Jews, because I'll talk, again, I don't want to start talking too much about Christmas Eve, but I think it's important to hear it now.

That is that the Romans were interesting in that as long as you kept the peace, it was fine with them.

They didn't even care about your religions.

There was a lot of freedom of religion within the Roman provinces, as long as you didn't disrupt the peace.

So they always put a magistrate over a particular region who was of that particular religion so that he could keep the peace there.

So that was Herod's job.

He's a magistrate under the Roman rulers religiously.

When Herod the king heard this, verse 3, he was troubled.

Now what he's troubled about is what they said next, for we have seen his star, verse 2, in the east, and we've come to worship him.

So not only is Herod hearing that he's the king, but that he's God, he's deified.

When Herod heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.

So evidently this really went out among the Jewish sector in Bethlehem and Jerusalem.

And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes and the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ or the Messiah was to be born.

So they said to him, In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet, but you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are not the least among the rulers of Judah.

For out of you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.

Presidents and chiefs of state, leaders.

I mean, you don't want to hear that.

You don't want to hear that there is a king, that there's a ruler in your province that is greater than you.

So then Herod, verse 7, when he had secretly called the wise men, determine from them what time the star appeared.

So this could have been months before, it could have been even a year before.

Determine from them what time the star appeared.

Verse 8, and he sent them to Bethlehem and said, Go and search carefully for the young child, and when you have found him, bring back word to me that I may come and worship him also.

And when they heard the king, they departed, and behold, the star which they had seen in the east went before them till it came and stood over where the child was.

When they saw that then they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy.

And when they had come into the house, so notice that it's they're now living in a house, not uh they're not in a stable, or a cave, they saw the young child with Mary, his mother, and fell down and worshipped him.

And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to him, gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

And then, being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way.

Now, when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, take the young child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word, for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.

And so then in verse 16, then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived, because they had gotten away, by the way, his man was exceedingly angry, and sent forth and put to death all the male children who are in Bethlehem.

So there's always been this spiritual battle around Jesus the king.

Wherever Jesus becomes king, there's a spiritual warfare.

There's a battle that goes on with Satan.

And Satan primarily uses people and authority to carry out his dictates.

He uses kings, he uses prime ministers, he uses leaders, he uses presidents.

He often uses a leader because leaders have influence, and when leaders have influence, they can dictate something that even the people don't want to have.

And so, same here.

It all begins right here.

This is where it started.

And throughout history, there's always been philosophers, religious leaders, political leaders that have dreamed of some kind of a kingdom, some kind of a golden age.

Hesiod dreamed of a coming golden age.

Plato envisioned a perfect state of philosophical principles.

Virgil saying of one who would come, some kind of a deliverer who would come and deliver the world from all its sufferings.

And his great line was the great line of the ages beginning anew.

Karl Marx and Friedrich Ingels developed the political and economic philosophy of Marxism, the idea of the wealthy and the poor in conflict with each other, coming to a classless society.

And in the Hebrew Christian tradition, we believe in a coming kingdom of God.

It was prophesied that the coming Messiah would be a king ruling over a new kingdom on the earth.

Genesis 49.

The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes, and to him shall be the obedience of the people.

So this passage universally accepted by Jews and Christians alike, of this Messiah, this king carrying a scepter who would rule over the world.

A king would come from a man, not a woman.

It would come from a woman and not a man.

It would be one who would come forth, who would come from Noah through Seth, from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, from the tribe of Judah through David.

Isaiah 9.

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulder.

And his name will be called wonderful, counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end.

Upon the throne of David and over his kingdom to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward and even forever.

And the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

And so there's this universal sense among Jewish scholars, Christian scholars, and now historians, that Jesus came, the Messiah came to bring his kingdom.

Let me give you five kingdom promises about the Messiah.

Number one, the Messiah will usher in a kingdom that will rest upon him.

So I'm not here to necessarily define a kingdom, but let me just say a kingdom, and a king is key to understanding what Jesus did in that, in this, that the king always rules over his kingdom.

So you could call a kingdom not necessarily just a territory, but it is the rule and reign of a king over a people.

And sometimes that is territory.

That often is territory.

And we in America kind of built our country as a quote-unquote republic, democracy, not with an understanding of kingship whatsoever.

But in most of Europe, they would understand a king and a kingdom.

And in this perspective, Jesus came as a king, bringing his kingdom, but it rests upon him.

He is the kingdom.

Number two, the character of God's kingdom is embodied in the character of the king.

I love that.

The character of God's kingdom, the kingdom of God, rests in the character of the king.

So the kingdom of God should look like the king.

And we just read in Isaiah 9, he is wonderful, counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace.

This is the kind of kingdom that we, I pray, are bringing here in El Paso County.

Number three, this kingdom will never end and it keeps growing.

The kingdom of God is always growing.

It is always enlarging.

As of today, in 2021, three billion people in the world, all over the world, bow their knee to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Number four, the kingdom of God is established on righteousness, peace, and joy.

The kingdom of God, according to Romans, is established upon righteousness, peace, and joy.

So what that means, church, is that when you, if you, if you want a powerful prayer, you might pray, Lord, I pray thy kingdom come, thy will be done on my family today, on my job today, as it is in heaven.

Lord, I pray that.

And Lord, when I go to work today, may I bring righteousness, peace, and joy.

In my relationship, my marriage, may I bring righteousness, peace, and joy.

In my dating relationship as a single person, I pray righteousness, peace, and joy.

Lord, over my finances, I pray righteousness, peace, and joy.

Lord, over the road, my church, I pray righteousness, peace, and joy.

Lord, I pray when I go into that meeting where there's going to be some sparks flying, I pray that I could be righteousness, peace, and joy, whether they like it or not.

That we would bring righteousness, peace, and joy.

The problem is, is when we bring our own set of hatred, anger, and frustration.

That's not the kingdom, men and women.

That's our flesh, that's the devil.

A lot of times it's actually demonic.

Number five, the zeal of the Lord will bring forth the kingdom of God.

So here's what's fun.

I love this.

Even when I don't feel like bringing the kingdom, when I'm not acting like I should be bringing the kingdom, when I'm not in authority, I'm not under the authority of the king because of my flesh or because of frustrations in my life, the zeal of the Lord still brings the kingdom.

So if the road chooses not to be a part of the kingdom advance in El Paso County, Color Springs, state of Colorado, God's not up in heaven going, oh, I don't know what to do.

I'm just so frustrated with the road.

No, he'll just look for somebody else.

He'll just look for another church.

God's on the move, and he's looking for those who want to be on the move with him.

And that's why it's a partnership.

It's a partnership.

We're in partnership with the King of Kings, the Lord.

It also takes the onus, some of the weight off us, and God, I need your zeal here.

I need you to fill me up with your zeal.

It says the zeal of the Lord will accomplish this.

So we look out, we see what's going on, and we ask, what does it mean?

Look back.

I mean, just can we put that Isaiah 9 passage up again?

Look at verse 7.

Of the increase of his government and peace, there will be no end.

Okay.

So what does that government, that increase of the kingdom, look like?

Because it sure doesn't seem to be happening right now.

Leaders of our day, I'm going to read this to you.

I wrote this last year.

I want to read it again.

Leaders of our day surround themselves with servants.

Jesus surrounds us with his servanthood.

Most governments today imprison their people.

Jesus came to set the captives free.

The kingdom of God is always about liberty.

Leaders of our day use their power to build their empire.

Jesus uses his power to build into men and women who can build and witness to the kingdom of God on earth.

Leaders of our day trade their influence for money.

Jesus gives us influence so we can better society and give joy and peace to others.

Leaders of our day are desperate to be seen and heard.

And they change society through new laws.

Jesus never boasted or tried to be noticed by the world.

He just changed the world through the power of changing hearts.

Jesus is not in charge of the halls of Washington, London, Moscow, or Beijing.

It seems like Satan is in charge of this world.

So how can we ever believe that the government upon his shoulders will increase?

Well, men and women, when we see his government, the kingdom of God at work, when God miraculously restores a marriage and breaks an addiction, we see the kingdom of God increasing.

Whenever loving Christians care for those less fortunate, helping those who have lost hope through their giving, their caring, and their action, we're watching the government of God at work.

Whenever we see people eagerly studying the Word, joyfully worshiping God, we can see the kingdom of God in their lives.

When we see bodies being healed, lives being changed, and families being reunited, we know those people are under a new government.

Whenever we see people give their finances for the king to be lifted up and the kingdom of God advance, we know they're under a new government.

When we see pastors in churches training their people to be Jesus' disciples, we know they're living under the King and his kingdom.

When we see a people spending hours in prayer crying out to God for their friends, their neighbors, their city, and their nation, humbling themselves and believing God can intervene miraculously into any situation, we know the kingdom of God has come.

Hallelujah.

So indeed, this government of God is increasing across this county.

The government of God is increasing in this state.

The government of God is increasing all over the world.

And I challenge you this Christmas, vote the king into your heart and put him on the throne of your life.

Because if you do so, he will change everything.

God's kingdom will have dominion over the entire earth.

Daniel chapter 2, Daniel prophesies: In the days of these kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed.

Daniel 2 · chapter mention

And the kingdom shall not be left to other people.

It shall break in pieces and consume all the other kingdoms.

It shall stand forever.

Habakkuk writes, For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

Psalm 72.

He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, to the ends of the earth.

Yes, all kings shall fall down before him.

All nations shall serve him, all nations shall call him blessed.

Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only does wondrous things.

And blessed be his glorious name forever.

And let the whole earth be filled with his glory.

Amen and amen.

How about that?

That's pretty good.

I've never liked being on a losing team.

I like being on a winning team.

You're on the winning team.

It may look dark.

Christmas Eve, I'll talk about this.

That the light is the brightest in the darkest of times.

And God's light is shining.

Notice it.

Revel in it.

Rejoice in it.

Don't be overly consumed with the darkness.

Be overwhelmed by the light.

And that comes through the power of Christ in our lives.

Our vision at the road is the proclamation and demonstration of the kingdom of God and a kingdom revolution in the Rockies.

We're not responsible for Boston.

We're not responsible for LA.

Praise God.

We're not responsible for anything but this state and this city at this time.

This is our state, this is our city, and this is our time.

So God put every one of you here for a purpose.

And that purpose begins in your own life being a man or woman of integrity.

Telling the truth.

Not lying, not exaggerating.

Being a true man of your word and a woman of your word.

To break the power of the enemy and addictions in your life.

God does that.

But it's not just for you.

It's for your wife and your husband, your family.

Your single.

It's for all your friends, for your family.

To bring the kingdom then.

You become a kingdom person when you put the king on the throne of your heart.

And it doesn't happen overnight.

And every one of us room are got some things that we're up to no good on and we're working on, right?

And that's why we're a road less trouble because we work on those things.

We don't just push them aside and try and become hypocrites.

We are thin it.

Yeah, I'm struggling with that.

And we get some other blood-stained allies and we work on that.

And that's the kingdom.

I mean, you read about those 12 disciples?

I mean, we're talking about a messed up group of guys.

Read the gospels again.

Jostling for position, trying to be noticed by Jesus, boasting, prideful, and making dumb decisions.

And booking it when the going got tough.

Those twelve, of which eleven lasted, and then Paul was added into the twelve, the Lamb's twelve, turned the world upside down because they were worshipers and warriors of the king.

So Jesus came proclaiming a kingdom.

His first words in Matthew 4, 17, is proclaiming the kingdom of God.

Luke mentions the kingdom of God 53 times in Luke Acts, more than any other gospel writer.

Jesus called the gospel the kingdom of God.

So the kingdom of God and the gospel were synonymous.

Jesus spoke of the kingdom of God over 100 times.

The greatest sermon ever given is considered the Sermon on the Mount, which is about kingdom living.

Jesus taught us to seek first the kingdom of God, and everything else that we're searching for would be added unto us.

Jesus taught us to pray, Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

In a recent article in a national magazine, I was called a Dominionist because we turned so many of the elections over in such a powerful way because of our church voter guide and because of our study of, believe it or not, our study of Ephesians, the vote of Ephesians.

I don't know this author.

I think he's a Christian.

I'd like to know what he means by that.

But if a dominionist means what I just read, what scripture says about the dominion of Christ, then I would have to ask that author, ask whoever that person is do you believe in the Lord's prayer?

Probably would say yes.

Do you believe it when you pray it?

Probably say yes.

And I say it says to pray, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

So that's what we're praying for our county and for our city and for our state and for our country.

And I challenge you, every one of you, here, pray that every day.

Our Father.

And we and that's how we concluded our prayer with the city council.

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

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

Give us this day, our daily bread.

Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever and ever and then.

That's what we can do.

So before Jesus had done a miracle, before he had done anything supernatural, Satan knew who he was.

And Satan invited him up to a mountain.

And we pick it up in Matthew 4.8.

Again, the devil took Jesus up on a mountain, an exceedingly high mountain.

I've always wondered if it's like Mount Everest.

Maybe he took him to Mount Everest in the spirit.

He was up there on that mountain.

And he showed him all the kingdoms of the world.

He probably showed him what was happening in the Ming dynasty in China and what was happening in what would be Russia at that time.

You could see all the kings of the world, not just the Middle East, but all over the world.

He showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.

And I don't know what that meant, but maybe he could see the Aztecs and the Incas.

He could see the beauty of all the gold and all the silver in those kingdoms.

He said to Jesus, all these things I will give you.

Can you imagine that Satan can make that audacious of a statement if it wasn't true?

You don't think that there are people in this world that are working night and day to create a one-world government because they're under satanic power?

So even then, the audacious nature of the evil of Satan, to say to Jesus, all these things I will give you if you will fall down and worship me.

Because he knew kings and kingdoms, that that's exactly what they were doing.

So he knew Jesus was a king, and the way to trouble the kingdom and to bring forth his kingdom is to have them worship him.

And many of them were at that time.

And Jesus said, Away with you, Satan.

For it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.

That's the kingdom.

That's the kingdom of God.

And so this warfare began.

And that warfare is with us today.

From tyrannical rules and regulations and laws to anything that might enslave us.

And that's why America is so unique that our founders would build a government for the people and by the people.

And in the history of nations, it's a sad story of power-hungry men who cooperate with Satan through forms of government that enslave their people.

East Anley Jones, the great missionary, Methodist missionary to India, in defining the kingdom of God, said it so well.

The kingdom of God is God's total order, expressed as a rim and a reign in the individual and society, in which it is to replace the present unworkable world order with God's order in the individual and in society.

And while the nature of the kingdom is social, the entrance into it is by a personal new birth now.

The character of that kingdom is seen in the character of Jesus.

The kingdom is Christ's likeness, universalized.

While it comes on the earth in the time process, it is eternal and is the same rule which is in heaven.

And because it is Christ's likeness, this makes it heaven there and here.

And while it is a total order demanding total obedience, it brings total freedom.

That's remarkable, men and women.

There's nothing else in the world.

There's no other order in the world where total obedience actually does not make you a slave, it sets you free.

H.

G.

Wells, the famous writer and historian, when fumbling through history, trying to find the purpose of history and the purpose of life, wrote, why?

Here is the most radical proposal ever presented to the mind of men.

The proposal to replace the present world order with God's order, the kingdom of God.

And so Jesus defined it best when he said, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor.

He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, and set at liberty those who are oppressed to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.

Humankind needs nothing so much as he needs something to bring life together into total meaning and total purpose, and men and women, that's the kingdom of God.

That's what the wise men were searching for and found.

That's what Herod never understood.

You realize Herod?

Everybody knew who Herod was in the probably the Middle East in that section of the world.

Herod the Great, king of the Jews, was Herod the Great, king of the Jews at that time.

Do you realize that he's just a footnote in history now?

You don't know anything about Herod if it weren't for Jesus.

We would know nothing about Pontius Pilate if it were not for Jesus.

We'd know hardly anything about Caesar August if it were not for Jesus.

This is the center of history.

This is what everybody fears, and this is what changes the world.

That baby is the team of man among the Calvary.

So if you want to be on the winning team, join up.

Become a part of the revolution.

The revolution that began at Calvary 2,000 years ago.

The revolution that began in a stable.

The revolution that begins in your heart when you say yes to Jesus.

Hey, thanks for listening to the Road Podcast.

It's been my joy to be a part of your life today.

And you know, that's part of what we do here at The Road, and this is what I do in having this Road Podcast, is to empower people to change their world.

My passion and desire is that you would take God's word through the power of the Holy Spirit and make that relevant for your life.

You know, the reality is that God has placed your life here on this earth to make a difference.

And if you'd like more information about how to grow in Christ, if you need prayer, if you want more equipping in different areas of your life, go to the road.org.

God bless you.