Spiritual Lessons from our Walk with God - Part 6: Rival Wars - Rival Kingdoms | Jeff Dieselberg

Good morning, everyone. Well, you heard Pastor

Pablo correctly that this is a series on spiritual

lessons in our walk with God. But Pastor Pablo,

I have a problem. I have a problem with your

creative artwork, your creative backgrounds.

It's so idyllic. It's so like I'm walking through

this enchanted forest. Nothing could possibly...

Happen wrong. It's just, what a wonderful walk

with God. I'm here to say today, hogwash. What

about the childhood traumas that we experience

in life? Boom! In that idyllic walk. What about

teen years? Pimples. Right? pimples and pressure

and also passion that's starting to grow up.

Does it match that scene of serenity? And then

all of a sudden we get into the young adult,

at least the first part of young adult, where

we have to make the decision whether going to

university or are we going to just start our

career? By the way, money is starting to add

up if you know there's more dollar signs that

are coming as we go along. Or in phase two of

young adult, maybe now we're going to get married.

Maybe we're going to stay single. Maybe we've

already launched our career now, but more and

more money. And then we get to middle age. And

maybe we are married already. And maybe we're

divorced. And maybe we're still single. And maybe

now we have... A couple of kids. And of course

the dollar sign keeps going up. Can you click

that for me? Thank you. Ah, now we get old. We

get older. And we might still be married. We

might be divorced. We might be single. We now

have adult children. We might even have grandchildren

now. And you know what? This is where the medical

comes in. You know, it's at this age where we

start to think, where did that come from? I don't

remember seeing that. Well, actually, it was

over there the other day. Now we're here. And,

you know, all of a sudden, our world, this nice,

serene world gets disrupted. It gets disrupted

by our aging, by the passages of life, by the

growing of our children, or still waiting for

that person who is going to be the one that we

will marry. And then we reach even a much older

age. Are we still married? Has our spouse passed

away? Are we still single after all those years?

Maybe. We have children and grandchildren, possibly

even great -grandchildren. Where are they? Why

are they not coming and giving us money? After

all this time that we have put out all that money,

and where are they? Yeah, this is more realistic,

Pastor Pablo. Okay? Your nice little green scene

of running through the enchanted forest does

not match. my experience of the passages of time.

He did say to share our experiences. So here

we are, kind of like throwing these bombs onto

that idyllic scene. I guess we're going to have

a problem with this today. Let's close in prayer.

Too soon? Sorry. Really, it's an honor to be

able to come and share with you what I really

believe was a download from the Lord and reflects

all the bombs that you saw along that idyllic

pathway and that I want to share with you about

kingdom wars and rival kingdoms. I believe that

Jesus is my king. I believe that Jesus has come

to set up his kingdom. And I believe that the

enemy doesn't just sit back and go, while that

happens. Instead, I believe that Satan and his

temporary kingdom is manifesting itself to fight

against. God's kingdom. And I want to show you

today a couple ways in which that happens and

how that also was in my life, in personal life.

This is not Christmas, but I need to read this

to you, or you need to read it with me. You will

conceive and give birth to a son, and you are

to call him Jesus. This is Gabriel talking to

Mary. And he will be great and will be called

the son of the most high. The Lord God will give

him the throne of his father David. And he will

reign over Jacob's descendants forever. And his

kingdom will never end. Think about how profound

the words that we just read in there. Jesus means

what? Savior, salvation, great, son of the most

high, throne, who sits on thrones, kings do.

David, reign, kingdom will never end. This is

from Gabriel to Mary saying this is what is going

to happen. This is what is happening. There are

kingdom wars. Because there are rival kingdoms.

Satan is not just turning over and saying, yeah,

whatever. But he attempts to rival. Now, I know

there's that great song, you have no rival. Okay,

I know that. It's true. No rival can beat Jesus.

But that doesn't stop the enemy from rivaling.

against the kingdom of God. And so if you will

look carefully, I have seen in my life, and I

imagine that in your life, you have seen these

too, these rival kingdoms, these attempts to

rival against Jesus. The first one I would like

to bring to you. is the kingdom of Herod. What

a nice looking guy. The kingdom of Herod. I'm

talking about, yes, the historical Herod, but

also the spiritual Herod. Let's revisit this

passage. In Matthew 2, verses 1 to 3, and then

Matthew 2:1–3

verse 16, we hear, After Jesus was born in Bethlehem

in Judea during the time of King Herod, magi

from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, where

is the one who has been born king of the Jews?

King of the Jews. Like this thing just vibrated

a minute ago. It's like, huh? What? King of the

Jews. We saw his star when it rose and have come

to worship him. When King Herod heard this, he

was what? Disturbed. That's not very disturbed.

He was what? Disturbed. And all Jerusalem with

him. And when Herod realized that he had been

outwitted by the Magi, he was furious. Oh, that's

such a kind furious. He was furious. Look at

that face. And he gave orders to kill all the

boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two

years old and under in accordance with the time

that he had learned from the Magi. So what happened

here? Herod heard about this boy, this birth

that was going to happen. He was going to be

king of the Jews. And he cannot allow that. I

am king of the Jewish people, says Herod. So,

we have to cut them down. We have to prevent

that. We have to stop that. And the kingdom of

Herod does not want... Jesus, if he's still out

there in Bethlehem, does not want Jesus to grow

up. So let's just kill everybody, every boy who's

two years old and under. And that way we're okay.

But the spirit of the kingdom of Herod continues

as a manifestation of how the enemy so wants

us to stop. Our lives. Stunt our growth. Arrest

our development. Because he doesn't want us to

grow up. Did you know that? Did you know that

there is an opposition. That there is a rival

kingdom. A spiritual kingdom of Herod. Which

of course is spawned from our enemy Satan. Who

does not want us to grow up. How is that possible?

Look at the tone and the words in this Hebrews

passage, which is exposing what happens when

Herod's spiritual kingdom of not wanting us to

grow up gets inside of us. This is from Hebrews

5 .11 to chapter 6 .1a. We have much to say about

this, but it's hard to make it clear because

you no longer try to understand. In fact, though

by this time you really ought to be teachers,

you need someone to teach you the elementary

truths of God's word all over again. You need

milk, not solid food. Anyone who lives on milk,

being still an infant, is not acquainted with

the teaching about righteousness. But solid food

is for the mature, who by constant use have trained

themselves to distinguish from good and evil

along that idyllic path. Oh, that's a bad dude.

That's Jesus. That's good. That's bad. That's

good. Discerning and distinguishing. Between

good from evil. Therefore. Therefore. Let us

move beyond. The elementary teaching about Christ.

And go on to. What? Maturity. No. You shall not

grow up. You shall stay immature. You shall still

be. a child and childish, says Herod's kingdom.

But friends, we are really blessed. If you believe

that Jesus is your king and he's come for you

to be your king and he has set up a kingdom for

us to be in together, if you believe that he

has provided for us the weapons, that we fight

with, to not be weapons of this world. On the

contrary, they have divine power to demolish

strongholds, and that's what that is. That is

a stronghold. A stronghold, in this case, does

not just mean like the castle of Herod. It means

deeply entrenched, deceptive patterns of thinking

that oppose God's truth. deeply entrenched, deceptive

patterns of thinking that oppose God's truth.

Truth about God, truth about you, truth about

me, truth about this world, truth about who Jesus

is, truth about what the kingdom is, truth about

the Bible, everything. It is something that is

in opposition to that. And they have divine power,

these weapons do, to demolish strongholds. We

demolish arguments and every pretension that

sets itself up against the knowledge of God and

take captive every thought to make it obedient

to Christ. No! You shall not grow up! Desperately

yelling out at us, arguing with us, trying to

keep us down. And while Herod and the spirit

of Herod is saying, no, you shall not grow up,

ECB, what can we say? Yes, we shall grow up.

Could you say that again? Yes, we shall grow

up. What you've just done is you have begun to

dismantle. A stronghold. Because if you believe

that Jesus is your king and that he's come to

set up a kingdom and we are in this kingdom together,

then the rival kingdom of Herod and the strongholds

that he brings with that must be torn down. And

it starts with the proclamation. We will grow.

We will not stay as children. Zero to two. So

that you can kill us and stunt our growth. So

that you can continue to arrest our development.

No. You say no to us, but we say no to you. And

we say yes to God. We're going to grow. 1 Corinthians

13 .11. Would you read this with me? I love this.

When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned

as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish

things. Childish things. Not childlike. Childish

things. It's time to grow up. It's time to want

more. It's time to mature. Despite all the landmines

along the way. Those actually can help us grow.

There are kingdom wars because there are rival

kingdoms. A personal story about growing up.

I didn't grow up until I was 60 years old. Thank

you for that laugh. I appreciate that. Let me

say it again. I didn't grow up until I was 60

years old. And the reason I can say that is because

so much of my life I believe me, trust me, I

performed as an adult. I took on very adult responsibilities

and did them very well, by the way. I could tell

you all kinds about ministries and things that

have gone on that I did. But it wasn't until

I was about 60 that I realized that all these

little kids from my... explosions that you saw

on the idyllic walk through life. All these little

children, all these little fractured moments

and fractured soul. And when all of this experience

of life, you know, really kind of messed with

me inside. So there's an adult and then there's

chaos of all these. Little children running around

inside my soul. But God is good. And God is a

healer. And God knows how to restore and to bring

together all those fragmented pieces of our past.

All those childhood traumas. Because I'm telling

you, that idyllic path, again, Pastor Pablo,

I'm so sorry. That idyllic path that we have

painted for us is fraught. With crises and trouble.

And there's just going to be crazy stuff that's

going to happen. But when Jesus is your king

and you align yourself with the kingdom, God

brings that and integrates us and makes us whole

in his kingdom. So that's why we can say what

we can say to Herod and say, no, I'm growing

up. And I'm growing up whole. Not fragmented.

But I'm going to be whole. Because that's how

God made me. Then there's another rival kingdom.

The kingdom of temporary things. The kingdom

of temporary things. I'm going to ask you as

we read this next. I'm going to read it for you.

As we read this next scripture. I want you to.

Put your finger up, not like this. That's rude.

Put up your finger and kind of count every time

that you see the word worry or hear the word

worry, okay? Just kind of every time you hear

it, one, two, and do that, okay? This is the

kingdom of temporary things. Do they look worried

to you? Yeah. Some of you look pretty worried

too. I hope this, I hope this, Message is going

to help you. The kingdom of temporary things.

Another rival kingdom besides Herod. Of course,

coming from the evil one. Matthew 6, 25 to 32.

Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your

life and what you will eat or drink or about

your body, what you will wear. Isn't life more

important than food and a body more important

than clothes? Look at the birds of the air. They

do not sow or reap or store any away in barns,

and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are

you not much more valuable than they? Who of

you, by worrying, can add a single hour to your

life? And why do you worry about clothes? See

how the lilies of the field grow? They do not

labor or spin, yet I tell you that not even Solomon

in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.

If that's how God clothes the grass of the field,

which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into

the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O

you of little faith? So, do not worry. saying,

what shall we eat or what shall we drink or what

shall we wear? For the pagans, the pagans run

after all these things and your heavenly father

knows that you need them. So the new rival kingdom

is the kingdom of temporary things and what this

rival kingdom that Satan has set up to oppose

the kingdom of Jesus. wants us to worry about

all these things. Just like the pagans. And the

pagans worry about all these things, it said.

Wants us to worry about all these things. Before

I even show you the scripture, despite the fact

that I grew up a little late and matured and

moving toward maturity a little late in life,

That worry kingdom, that kingdom of temporary

things is really a nasty thing. Don't be fooled

by Herod's. That's really obvious. But this kingdom

of temporary things and wanting us to worry is

really, really pesky. And the number of things

in that verse, four, I counted four. Did you

count four worries? Worry, worry, worry, worry.

And for me, My personal testimony to you all

is that Annie and I are missionaries. And when

we started working as missionaries, we didn't

have to raise a single dollar. Not a single dollar.

Our mission organization paid for everything.

And we just went through life here in Bangkok

doing this and doing that and never had to think.

Never had to worry. Never had to do anything

to raise funds. Only thing we were obligated

to do was just when we go back for our U .S.

assignment, speak in churches, tell them the

good things that God's doing in your ministry.

Well, then things changed. The mission organization

started not having enough money for everybody.

People in churches started to leave churches.

People in churches started to be less interested

in some type of global mission and became more

interested in local or maybe not interested at

all. And pretty soon they said, okay, everybody,

you're going to have to raise your own funds.

But those of you who have been out there for

a while, we're going to kind of grandfather you

in. Don't worry. Don't worry. you can raise X

percent first. Whatever percent it was, I don't

remember. But it was enough to say, oh, we have

to raise money. And if you don't raise that money,

then we'll have to call you back to the United

States and we'll have to give you some training

on how to raise money and then maybe you can

go back if you raise that money. And that was

the new reality. And you talk about triggering

that rival kingdom of worry. Every single year

there is this trigger and this temptation to

spiral down into worry. Do we have enough support?

Do we have the money we need to be here according

to our mission's perspective? I am confessing

to you. I am confessing to you that I have worried

a lot about this. I want to stay here. I want

to keep working. I want to keep serving the Lord.

I want to keep doing this. But I have to look

at these numbers that say, oh, I'm still short

after all that, after that little campaign we

just did and everything. And the rival kingdom

of worry, rubbing his hands and saying, exactly.

Worry more. These little things worry more. Well,

I just share that as my personal struggle as

a missionary. And any of you who ever had to

raise funds for yourself or for an organization,

you probably can understand what I'm talking

about. Let's look at some scripture. But seek

first his kingdom. And his righteousness. And

all these things will be given to you as well.

No. Not. You must seek these things first. That's

what the kingdom of temporary things says. Seek

these things first. Don't seek first the kingdom

of God. Are you crazy? Look to the Lord. Look

to the Lord in his strength. Seek his face. Always,

says 1 Chronicles 16, 11. No, look at this face.

I'm worried. Keep that face. Keep that worried

face. Walk around worried. People will know you're

worried about something. Maybe they'll give you

money. No, look to the Lord and His strength

and seek His face always. Jeremiah 29, 3. You

will seek me and find me when you seek me. with

all of your heart. No! You must divide your heart.

You've got stuff you've got to do. You've got

to raise money. Seek me with all your heart.

Seek me with all your heart. Not the temporary

things. Not the missionary goal to raise X amount

of money in time for the... Seek me. And what

do we say again? How do we deal with this? Well,

we demolish arguments. We demolish arguments

and every pretension that sets itself against

the knowledge of God, and we take captive every

thought and make it obedient to Christ. We did

that with Herod, who doesn't want us to grow

up, and now we're going to do that with worry.

Amen? That worry, worry, worry, worry, worry,

worry. We demolish those arguments and say that

we have to be worried. This is a worrisome thing

and keep worrying four times. We demolish arguments

and every pretense sets itself up against the

knowledge of God and we take captive every thought

to make it obedient to Christ. Well, the kingdom

of temporary things is saying, No, we will seek

the kingdom of temporary things. ECB, what do

you say? No, we will seek first the kingdom of

God. Say it again. No, we will seek first the

kingdom of God. One more time. No, we will seek

first the kingdom of God. Amen. By that time,

we're not even thinking about all of these things,

are we? We're just seeking the kingdom of God.

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness.

And all these things will be added to you as

well. Praise God. There are rival, there are

kingdom wars because there are rival kingdoms.

Let's take a look at one last one. The kingdom

of Kronos. The kingdom of Kronos time. Yes. Kronos,

the kind of time that is measurable, sequential

passage of time, clocks, calendars, hours, days,

years. I wonder what that sneaky little kingdom

is up to, that rival kingdom. James 4 .13 gives

us a little bit of a hint of what that might

look like if we were to give ourselves over.

To that kingdom. Instead of proclaiming Jesus

as king. And we are aligned with his kingdom.

In James 4 .13. Today or tomorrow. We will go

to this or that city. And we're going to spend

a year there. And we're going to carry on business.

And we're going to make money. I got it in my

calendar. I got it in my planner. Luke 12, 18

and 19. This is what we'll do. This is what I'll

do. I'll tear down my barns and build bigger

ones. And there I'll store all my grain and my

goods. And I'll say to myself, you have plenty

of good things laid up for you many years. Take

life easy. Eat, drink and be merry. That's in

my calendar. Going out to eat tomorrow. Because

I got everything I need. It's all set. Psalm

9010. Moses kind of drops a little bit of reality

on the measurable time and passages in his psalm

here. The length of our days is 70 years or 80.

Those of you who are over 80, congratulations.

You have proved Moses wrong. Okay. The length

of our days is 70 years or 80 if we have the

strength. Yet their span is but trouble and sorrow

for they quickly pass and we fly away. So Moses

gives the sobering account of this Kronos in

our lives. The rival kingdom of Kronos, time

wants us to be. Wants us to be bound to measuring

sequential passages of time, clocks, calendars,

hours, days. And does not want us to get involved

with something else that's called Kairos. Kairos

is God's time. Kairos is something that... might

use the time of Kronos, but is God's timing and

time appointment. Therefore, from Ephesians 5,

15 to 16, therefore be careful how you walk,

not as unwise people, but as wise, making the

most, making the most of your time, that word

time is kairos. Making the most of the opportunity

that God gives you. Making the most of this episode

that God is giving you. Making the most of this

period, this time that is not bound to the clock.

Make the most of your time because the days,

Kronos, are evil. Make the most of the kairos

because the kronos, the days, the calendar, those

can bring about evil things. Everybody has to

plan. Everybody has to put stuff in a calendar.

I get that. But God wants to meet us in a kairos

moment, in an opportunity. And we need to make

the most of those moments. The rival kingdom

says, no, you've got to stick to the time. You

keep your own time in rebuttal to Psalm 31, 14

to 15. But I trust you, O Lord. I say you are

my God and my times, every way that I can think

of the word time, my times are in your hands.

Deliver me from my enemies and those who pursue

me. No, you must keep your own time. Keep your

own time. Keep track of your own time. Do your

own thing. Write it down in your own calendar.

That's what you do. That's the rival kingdom

of Kronos. And once again, how do we deal with

this? We demolish arguments and every pretension

that sets itself up against the knowledge of

God and we take captive every thought. To make

it obedience to Christ. No. You are bound to

Kronos. The rival kingdom says. You are bound

to Kronos. Don't fool yourself. You can talk

about Kairos all you want. But Kronos is how

we live in reality. Okay. Can you just picture

this? If you have children who go to school.

Honey. Time to wake up. You have to go to school.

I'm on Kairos time today daddy. I'm not going

to go to school until God gives me that opportune

time to say it's the right time to go to school.

No. You're going to get your Kronos out of bed

and you're going to go to school. Okay, obviously

God, if we put all our times in God's hands,

we're saying both the Kronos and the Kairos,

that belongs to God. And God said, there are

some things I need you to do. In Kronos. I need

you to get up. I need you to go to school. I

need you to go to all your classes. I need you

to do your homework. Turn your stuff in on time.

And guess what I'm going to do. I'm going to

do a boom. I'm going to do a Kairos in the middle

of your Kronos. That's going to just be amazing.

And you're going to on your way to work. Or in

the middle of your work day. Because you had

to be there at 9 o 'clock. And check out at 5.

You're going to get the Kairos. And it's going

to happen. You wait for it. You look for that.

While you're doing your Kronos. But don't let

that Kronos bind you. We demolish arguments and

every pretension that sets itself up against

the knowledge of God. And we take captive every

thought and make it obedient to Christ. Okay,

ECB. Kronos is saying, no, I will tell you what

time it is. And that's what time it is. So what

do we say, ECB? No. We trust God for his timing.

Say it again. No. We trust God for his timing.

Amen. Mark 115. The time has come. The time has

come, he said. The kingdom of God is near. It's

come. It's here and near. Here and near. Repent.

and believe the good news. Yeah, sure. I have

exploded with many explosions, the idyllic walk

through the forest, growing spiritually. I've

done that. But know this. Know this. There are

kingdom wars. There are rival kingdoms, but...

You are to call him Jesus. He will be and will

be called the son of the most high. The Lord

God will give him the throne of his father David

and he will reign over Jacob's descendants forever.

His kingdom will never. His kingdom will never.

His kingdom will never. Praise God. That's the

kingdom I want to be a part of. I know they're

going to keep launching bombs at me from these

rival kingdoms. But I want to say Jesus is my

king. And I want to walk in his kingdom. Because

that's the only way I'm going to get to the other

side of that little path that Pastor Pablo has

drawn for us. If God is calling you to support

our ministries, you will find giving options

on our website. And remember to join us next

week. God bless you.