Understanding the Kingdom of God (Pt 20) : Kingdom Hearts: Learning to Wait on God's Timing

Welcome to Understanding the Kingdom of God, Part 20. Today we're exploring "Preparing Our Hearts" and learning to wait on God's timing.

Our key scripture today is Psalm 130:5-6: "I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning."

Psalms 130:5

Another key passage is Isaiah 40:31: "Those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles."

There's a lot of waiting happening around us: - Creation waiting to be freed from the curse - People waiting for answered prayers - Waiting to find God's will and timing - Others waiting for family to come to the Lord - Some waiting for healings and breakthroughs

Why did we focus on the stage area when we moved here three months ago? Like Joshua, we're crossing into a promised land where everything will be different. A whole new season after 27 years in the previous one.

Joshua had to be strong and courageous, keeping God's Word central. The priests and Ark of the Covenant went ahead into the Jordan River. The Ark represented God's covenant and presence among His people.

In this new season, we must put God's presence and worship at the center. That's where we wait and get our strength to take ground in the promised land. Israel's battles happened more in Canaan than in the wilderness.

We have ground to take, people to reach, nations to disciple, churches to plant, leaders to raise and release. And it all happens from "waiting!"

That's why we have prayer meetings and worship evenings. We're in a season of clear expectation with what God is doing. God is fully on mission to reach the lost, broken, and rebellious.

Jesus said in John 5:17: "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working." God is calling us to wait - preparing our hearts as a church on mission.

We should be a warship, not a cruise liner! Listen to the whispers of the Holy Spirit as we anticipate God's work. Look around at salvation responses, ministry, visitors, healing, testimonies.

We're aiming for sustained revival! The disciples' waiting period was nearly at an end. Jesus was going hardcore with His followers.

Jesus knew the cross was ahead of Him. The cross was the entrance point into the kingdom of God. This kingdom advances through warfare and conflict.

Daniel's vision of the stone not made by hands will pull down every other kingdom. Each kingdom has demonic princes governing for Satan's purposes. Christian disciples challenge and pull down these kingdom influences.

Daniel 2:34-35 describes the rock cut from a mountain by divine hands that struck and crushed the statue, becoming a great mountain covering the whole earth.

Daniel 2:34–35

2 Corinthians 10:4-5: "The weapons we fight with are not worldly weapons. They have divine power to demolish strongholds and take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."

2 Corinthians 10:4

Israel's leaders had rejected Jesus, and He accepted their rejection. Jesus turned away from the leaders and the temple. Israel would never have the kingdom they knew again.

Jesus went hardcore in Luke 14:25-33, saying: "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children... he cannot be my disciple."

Luke 14:25–33

"Anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple." Jesus gave parables about counting the cost - building a tower and a king going to war.

"Any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple." This shows the heart and cost Jesus knew would be involved in going into all the world with the gospel.

The turning point began in Matthew 23 - Jesus' final message to Israel as He turned away from them and their institutions. He was grieved over the Pharisees' hypocrisy.

Matthew 23:37-39: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets! How often I have wanted to gather your children together, but you wouldn't let me."

Matthew 23:37

This was when the King took the kingdom away from Israel. In Matthew 24, as disciples pointed out the Temple buildings, Jesus prophesied their complete destruction.

Matthew 24:2: "Do you see all these buildings? They will be completely demolished. Not one stone will be left on top of another."

Jesus wasn't getting back at them for rejection. He was teaching about eternal reality versus mere appearance. The Romans would destroy the Second Temple in AD 70.

Haggai 2:6: "In just a little while I will again shake the heavens and the earth, the oceans and the dry land." God continues to shake man-made religious structures.

Waiting isn't passive - it's preparation for breakthrough. Are you ready to wait with expectation and prepare your heart for what God is doing?