The Kingdom of Heaven

Hey everyone, this is Charlie from Encounter

Church Henley and thanks so much for tuning into

our podcast. Our prayer is that through this

podcast, you can have an encounter with Jesus

that will change your life. And now get ready

for an inspiring message from our preaching team.

Happy International Women's Day. Do you guys

know that? It's International Women's Day, so

that's not why I'm preaching today, but you know,

it's good, it's great. Well, let me pray. Heavenly

Father, thank you that we can gather here and

worship you. Lord, thank you that where two Amora

gathered, your presence is with us. Lord Jesus,

I just pray that as I bring the word today, Lord,

anything that is of me will just fade away. And

Lord, that we will hear your word and what you

are trying to teach us and speak to us today

about. We thank you, Lord, and we give this all

to you. In Jesus' name, amen, amen. How many

of you here have seen the Lion King? Yeah, most

of you, how many of you, I probably should say

how many of you have not seen the Lion King?

Anyone? I'm really sorry, Campbell, but there

is gonna be some spoilers today, but it's been

on for 30 years, so I feel like that's on you.

So the story of the Lion King is there's some,

there's a pride land and it's called the pride

lands and it's a beautiful land. It's full of

green trees and fruit and vegetables and all

these animals that wander around. There's no

humans there, but there's lots of animals and

there's some lions, giant lions. And in the beginning,

this kingdom is awesome because there's a king

and his name is Mufasa. Mufasa, say it again.

And that kingdom is flourishing because the right

king is in charge, King Mufasa. Mufasa has a

son and his name is Simba. And he says to Simba,

Simba, everything the light touches is our kingdom.

It's a beautiful kingdom because the right king

is ruling it. But then unfortunately something

happens and Mufasa dies and Simba runs off to

have some teenage angst. And Scar, his uncle,

takes over. And Scar is not a good king. Scar

does not look after the land, nor does he look

after the animals in the land. And there's some

really funny and awful hyenas that take over,

and you should watch it, it's really funny. But

they also, what's not so funny is they ruin the

land. And because of the way Scar rules the land,

the animals leave, the rain stops, and it becomes

a wasteland. The wrong king, King Scar, is in

charge. But a great thing happens. Simba turns

about, what is it, like 25 or something, and

then returns from his teenage angst years, and

he defeats Scar. And all of a sudden, things

start to get put right again. It's really awesome.

The land, the animals come back. It's beautiful.

It's exactly where you want to be. The Lion King,

interestingly enough, I had never thought about

this before this week. The Lion King is a pretty

good representation of the Bible. Maybe I'm reaching

a little bit for analogy, but it's not bad. The

entire Bible is really about a story, about a

kingdom and a returning king, which is kind of

like the Lion King, which is why I've said it.

God created the world good. But the wrong ruler

entered the story and everything became broken.

And then the true king came back and the world

was set right again. And that's exactly what

Jesus is talking about when he speaks about the

kingdom of God in our scripture today. So tonight,

I want to unpack the kingdom of God with you.

It's funny, Jesus actually talks about the Kingdom

of God about 120 times just in the Gospels. That's

a lot for only a couple of books. And it's interesting,

the Kingdom of God is an extremely big topic

that I'm not gonna cover all today. But when

the Kingdom of God arrives, it doesn't look like

a roaring lion like Simba probably looked like.

Instead, it looks like a crippled woman being

healed. It looks like a mustard seed growing

in the dirt. It looks like yeast quietly working

through dough. The kingdom doesn't arrive with

spectacle. It begins small, quiet and powerful.

But just like the Pride Lands needed Simba to

thrive, our lives and our world needs God's kingdom

to take root for us all to thrive. And in this

passage, Jesus shows us three things about the

kingdom of God that I want to unpack today. The

kingdom saves people. The kingdom grows quietly

but powerfully. And the kingdom of God changes

how we live today. And when I talk about the

kingdom of God, many of you think of heaven,

right? You think of something you can touch like

the Pride land. You think of, you know, trees

that you can see or beautiful animals, all the

things you've probably seen in movies. But the

Kingdom of God is actually really complex. It's

the past and the now and the not yet. So Jesus

says the now and the not yet is the Kingdom of

God. And that's a huge topic to cover. I can't

do that justice in, what have I got, 23 minutes,

20 seconds left. So I'm gonna focus on the Kingdom

of God now today. A really simple explanation

that I found this week to explain the Kingdom

of God. Oh, by the way, I'm Jenny, sorry. Hi

everybody. If I don't know you, my bad. I'm one

of the pastors here. I probably should like stop

talking at people if I haven't even introduced

myself. So anyway, let me tell you about the

simple explanation of the kingdom of God. We're

gonna roll on. It is anywhere God's reign or

rule is, anywhere He's in control. So yes, that

is heaven, but it is much more than that. The

kingdom of God is not a place or a people. The

kingdom creates a place or people, but it's there

without those things. I did mention it's slightly

complex. Richard Viola says this, the kingdom

of God is what the world looks like when God's

in control. What the world looks like when God

is in control. When God's in control, people

are set free, His kingdom grows and it changes

how we live. When we allow God to be in complete

control, it changes us. Now, some of you are

thinking here, well, God doesn't have complete

control over me because I have free will. Yes,

you do. You absolutely do. And that is why we

have the now and not yet. We see the kingdom

of God on earth. We saw it in Jesus and we see

it in his followers today. But we also won't

see it fully lived out until the second coming

and all is put right again. That's why it's the

now and not yet, as Jesus says. The kingdom of

God changes how we live, friends. And I wonder

tonight if you want God to change how you live.

See the first thing that Jesus teaches us about,

about the kingdom in our scripture that we read,

the angel read to us, is that the kingdom sets

people free. So in this story that we're reading

in Luke, Jesus is in the temple and it's a Sunday

or whatever day of the week it is and he's teaching

and it's a Sabbath day. And so, you know, he's

meant to be just worshipping and just teaching.

The Pharisees are sitting around just watching,

seeing what Jesus is going to do. Is he going

to do something right or wrong in this moment?

And this woman walks in, in the middle of his

teaching and she's completely hunched over, right?

She's walking around like this and she can't

even like stand up straight. So she can't quite

look up at Jesus. She's been bent over for 18

years. I imagine she's come into that place many

times and asked for healing, asked for someone

to pray with her. And maybe, maybe the teachers

have said, oh, come back tomorrow. Come back

next week. Not today, not right now. The thing

I love about Jesus is he sees people and he saw

that woman. I imagine if she's hunched over,

you can't really see her through everybody else,

right? But he sees her and then he calls her

up. So Jesus is preaching, so he's probably doing

something like me up here, and so he calls her

up. He's not trying to hide what the kingdom

of God is about to do, but he's also not trying

to make a spectacle of her, but he quietly says,

come on up here, calls her, calls her daughter,

come on up here. And then. And then he reaches

out to her and he says, woman, you are freed

of your disability. Can you imagine that moment

as she stretches her back, like the best chiropractor

appointment you've ever had? She stands up and

she's like, this is the best thing ever. I'm

healed, praise Jesus. But the thing that happens

next is actually more spectacular than the healing

itself. He says to her, daughter of Abraham.

In that moment, He is not only healing her physically,

but He is inviting her into the kingdom of God,

into a relationship with God. He is suddenly

saying, you have been an outcast and now you

are welcome back. The kingdom of God doesn't

just heal physically, but it sets people free.

And that's what we see in this woman. When the

kingdom of God is at work, it restores all people.

to God Himself. I wonder if some of us have come

into this room and we're just like that woman.

You know, we're kind of bent over. Maybe it's

unforgiveness in our heart. Maybe it's hurt.

Maybe we've had real trauma happen in our life

and we've barely made it in here. And we've walked

in just going, Jesus, will you see me today?

I need you to see me today. Maybe some of you

walk in here with your head held high because

you don't want anyone to see that the pain that

you're in. But the thing about Jesus is he sees

you. He sees what's going on in your life. You

know, we long for healing and we long for wholeness

and I want to encourage you where the kingdom

of God is, there is healing and there is wholeness.

And if we allow God complete control in our life,

the kingdom of God restores all things right.

The kingdom of God sets us free. And you could

look at the woman and you could see her physical

healing and that would be awesome. But I want

you to look at that woman and see the healing

that was done internally that made her fully

alive. Tonight, Jesus is welcoming you into His

family. He is calling you a child of God. You

are deserving of healing. Hear that. You are

deserving of healing, friends. Now, then Jesus

goes on and the Pharisees, He's talking to the

Pharisees and He says, Satan has bound this woman.

Now, why does that matter? Why did I bring that

up? I think it matters because we have to understand

that when the Spirit of God is breaking forward,

there is a Spirit of darkness that fights up

to fight that, that wants to stop that, that

doesn't want to see the kingdom of God move forward.

Now we know that Jesus has defeated the darkness,

right? We are very aware of that. But in the

moment when we are seeing healings and we are

seeing miracles, sometimes we also see the darkness

try and push back on us. And so, Right now, Jesus

has done this healing. And what happens? The

Pharisees start to push back. They are annoyed.

And in their defence, Jesus has just totally

embarrassed them. Like, you know, and He hasn't

broken their laws. He's just healed on the Sabbath.

And so they are mad. They are annoyed. They can't

do a lot about it because all the other people

are really excited, but they are mad because

the darkness doesn't like it. when the Spirit

of God is at work. And so friends, we've got

to remember that healing is a spiritual battle.

Ephesians 6 says, for our struggle is not against

flesh and blood, but against the rulers and against

the authorities against the powers of this dark

world and against the spiritual forces of evil

in the heavenly realms. The darkness has taken

over the world, but Jesus is here to put it right

again. And we start to see Him do that in the

passage tonight. Jesus is revealing even to these

Pharisees that He is King of the kingdom, that

He is reclaiming His creation from the demonic

rulers who have enslaved the world. The woman

was set free from darkness and welcomed into

the kingdom of God. And it's funny, when we hear

those words that someone was set free and someone

was welcomed into the kingdom of God, we think

about it as a huge moment where everybody is

celebrating and everyone's excited and, you know,

he gets her up there and shows her off. I don't

think that's really the way Jesus works. Most

of the time Jesus does healing, he sits with

someone. He sits with them in a well. He goes

over to their home. He bends down and he lays

his hand on them. or they simply touch him. The

kingdom isn't explained in bombs and loud noises

and someone yelling from on stage at you. The

kingdom grows quietly but powerfully. The kingdom

grows quietly but powerfully. Actually, Jesus

says in verse 19, what is the kingdom of God

like? What should I compare it to? It's like

a mustard seed which a man took and planted in

the garden. It grew and became a tree and the

birds perched in its branches. The kingdom isn't

explained to us in scripture like bombs hitting

us. It's explained to us like a mustard seed,

something that's so small you can barely see

in the palm of my hand. And you look at this

mustard seed and it looks like nothing. Right?

It's so small. It's so tiny. But from this mustard

seed that's planted in the ground, produces a

tree just like this. Now the cool thing... about

a mustard tree is it's not like an oak tree,

right? That stands up proudly, really high, huge

trunks. No, the mustard tree, and you can't actually

get proper mustard seeds in Australia because

it grows in Israel. It spreads, right? So it

goes out. So it's not just a tree that reaches

up and shades everybody. It's actually a tree

that has so much depth to it that there's so

much room. It's like God saying, there is so

much room in my house. There's enough room for

each of you. These mustard seeds, when they're

on their own, they look significant. They don't

do much. If I throw them at you, they're not

gonna hurt. Actually, some of you might've sat

down on some tonight. Some of you might've seen

them on your seat and brushed off and thought,

wow, encounter's a bit dirty. Man, they should

clean up their seats. Because when we see something

small like this, we don't think anything of it.

We don't think about the power. But if the kingdom

of God is like a mustard seed, think about the

power in the tree as the mustard seed grows.

And it's funny. It feels insignificant in my

fingers, if I'm really honest with you. These

tiny little seeds. But we can actually take comfort

in the mustard seed. We can take comfort that

God uses the insignificant and small moments

in our lives to see his kingdom come on this

earth. That he uses us in small and quiet ways

to further the kingdom of God. Talks in the scripture

about the yeast. and the way the yeast works

quietly unseen, but transforms a whole batch

of dough. That's how the kingdom of God operates.

Sometimes small, sometimes unseen, but always

powerful. And when God moves in you, you might

simply get a sense of peace that eventually builds

up to the point that you can share that peace

with someone else. Or maybe when the kingdom

of God starts to move in you, you start to realise

who you are and whose you are. And then it gets

to a point that you've allowed that to dwell

within you. So you can then tell someone else

who God has created them to be because that's

the way the kingdom of God works. It starts to

work in people's hearts, tugging, asking the

question, who is Jesus to you? And it grows into

a passionate heart on fire for Jesus. The kingdom

of God is shown every time someone is healed,

someone is released, and someone finds the truth

of Jesus in their lives. The kingdom is shown

every time a Christian lives out faithfully the

gospel of Jesus. So don't expect the kingdom

to show up always in huge moments. Something

small to something large. From a few believers

in the world to everybody bowing at the knee

at the feet of Jesus. This is the power of the

kingdom and it's that power that changes us.

The kingdom changes how we live today. The power

of the kingdom changed that woman's life and

it can change your life today. The kingdom you

need in your life is not the kingdom of the world.

It's not the one that leads you to darkness or

fear or anger. No, the kingdom you need in your

life is the kingdom of God. A place where His

rule and reign is. A place where there is healing

and hope and a place where Jesus is King. So

what does it look like for you to live in the

Kingdom of God when you live in the now and not

yet? Well first you've got to remember who you

are. Who you belong to. You are not the disability

that you live with. You are not the pain that's

inside your heart. You are not the shame that

you live with. You are a child of God, delivered,

saved and set free to let God fully be in control

of every part of your whole life, friends. I

said before that you have free will and you absolutely

do but you have free will to allow God to control

every area of your life. You will see this really

small seed grow in your life and you will see

the kingdom of God expanded right around you

when you allow God to fully have control. Living

in the kingdom of God is freedom. That thing

you're worried about? That problem that's too

big? Well, in the kingdom of God, we actually

don't need to worry. Through Jesus' death and

resurrection, we were transformed, transferred

from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of

God. And we can fully live in the presence of

God. What a blessing to fully live in the presence

of God. To have the kingdom of God alive in you.

And Keese, you can come on up. I want to go back

to the Lion King again because it's great film.

There's three of them? Oh, I thought you said

there's three of them. Oh gosh. Oh gosh. All

right. Cool. Anyway, watch the first one. But

let's go back to the Lion King for a second.

The son, Simba, he comes back and he sets right

the world. Friends, in Matthew 6, it encourages

us. It says, when we seek first the kingdom of

God, when we seek Jesus, He sets things right

again. Kind of like Simba did in the Lion King.

When we seek first the Kingdom of God, Jesus

sets things right again. The Kingdom of God is

what the world looks like when God is in control.

When Jesus is revealed as the Son and God shows

us His power and presence in human form. Kingdom

is about how God wants us to live here and now.

Jesus in charge on earth and we the church starting

to implement that. Friends, this world right

now is in a fair bit of turmoil. If you've been

watching the news, you'd understand. And this

world needs us to live out the kingdom of God

in power. in small and what may sometimes feel

insignificant moments. Maybe it's a moment that

you have with your student in the classroom where

you remind them that how Jesus fits into their

issue. Or maybe it's a moment when your child

sees grace in your eyes where they're expecting

anger. Or that moment where you hold the hand

of your dying grandparent and you remind them

that they're going to heaven and you have faith

for them both. Or that smile on your school friends

face when you invite them in to your game, into

your world. The kingdom of God rarely starts

in spectacular ways. It starts small. A prayer,

an act of forgiveness, a moment of faith. And

these moments really matter. You're doing them

day after day after day. And you think they're

insignificant and they don't matter. But people

thought the mustard seed was insignificant and

didn't matter. And yet Jesus said, this is like

the kingdom of God. And just like the yeast affected

the whole dough, you will affect the whole world,

one person, one moment at a time. But we've got

to allow God and the kingdom of God to rule in

every area of our life. Tonight is the time to

surrender your life to His rule. and to live

in the kingdom right now. We don't have to wait

until we get to heaven. That's the beauty of

the kingdom of God. It's at work right now. So

if the kingdom of God is anywhere God reigns

and rules, does God fully reign in your life?

Or if you come here today and you are bent over,

the weight of the world is upon your shoulders.

It's now you've come into this place and you've

thought, does anybody see me? Jesus sees you.

Jesus knows what's going through your mind right

now. He knows the pain you're in. He knows the

burdens you carry. And he simply says, come to

me. I will set you free. You might have been

a Christian for a really long time, but you have

let something twist the insides of you. And that

anger comes up too quickly. And that pain comes

out in different ways as you speak to people.

And maybe tonight you need to let that go. You

need to let God rule and reign and heal you.

We're going to come to a time tonight of response.

And I really want to encourage you. If you've

come here tonight with pain, maybe you've come

with anger. Maybe you've come with physical pain

that you need healed. We want to pray for you.

We want to see the kingdom of God move in that

small way tonight. We're gonna have elders down

the front, there's some oil down there and they're

gonna gnaw at you with oil and they're gonna

pray for the kingdom of God and to heal and to

restore you. All you need is faith as small as

a mustard seed. So I'm going to invite the band

up. I'm going to pray and I'm going to pray that

God would reveal to you any area that you need

to surrender back to Him, that you need the Kingdom

of God to move in power tonight. And I'm going

to ask you to be brave. If you need healing,

if you need to surrender something, to come down

the front and get prayer from some of our elders

and some of our staff and team. and allow the

kingdom of God to move just like Jesus did for

that woman in the scriptures. So why don't you

stand with me if you're able and I'm going to

pray and we're going to continue on in worship.

Come Holy Spirit. Come Holy Spirit. Come Holy

Spirit. Lord God, You are a God who forgives.

You are a God who heals. You are a God who sets

us free, Lord. Father, we wanna live fully in

the kingdom of God. We wanna live fully surrendered

to You. And so Lord, as we kneel before You tonight,

as we come and as we allow You into every area

of Your life, Will you grow the kingdom of God

within this church, within your people, Lord?

One person, one moment at a time. And Father,

as people step out in faith, will they receive

healing tonight, Lord? Holy Spirit, will you

do what only you can do? We thank you, Father.

We thank you, Jesus. If the Lord is calling you

to respond, I want to encourage you to come down.

Receive prayer. Receive healing. So we continue

to worship in Jesus' name. Amen. Thanks so much

for tuning into this week's message. If you felt

challenged or need prayer, we would love to hear

from you on Instagram at EncounterHendley. Or

if you're interested in how you can support this

ministry, please go to our website, EncounterAdelaide

.com .au. Thanks again for listening. God bless

you.