Beyond the Building: Reclaiming Jesus’s Message of the Kingdom

[00:04:50] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:04:50] Church Family. Super excited to get to worship Jesus with my church family this morning. I hope you guys are. Would you guys stand and I'd love to read Psalm 100. Shout with joy to the Lord all the earth. You guys want to do that? Let's shout. Woo! Worship the Lord with gladness. Come before him singing with joy. Acknowledge that the Lord is God. He made us and we are his. We are his
[00:05:27] people the sheep of his pasture and this is the verse that i want to highlight enter his gates with thanksgiving go into his courts with praise and in hebrew that thanksgiving and praise is referred to as tada um shung this morning made a joke and he said it's like tada um you can thank
[00:05:55] Chung for that one, but this is the way to describe tada. It's a key aspect of tada is that it involves praising God before a requested miracle. Deliverance has occurred as an act of faith and trust in his promised salvation. This is why it's frequently referred to as
[00:06:19] a sacrifice of praise. It's praising God for what He will do, trusting in His promises before they come to pass. So I don't know where you're at or what kind of miracle or breakthrough or promise
[00:06:35] you're looking for this morning, but this is one of those types of praise that God asks His children to give Him as a ta-da kind of praise. So whatever it is you're going through this morning, would you
[00:06:49] just offer it up to the Lord as a sacrifice. Can we give him a ta-da praise right now and just say thank you anyway? Would you guys pray with me? Jesus, we know that you're the God of miracles.
[00:07:09] You're the God of breakthrough, of change, of healing, of salvation. We put our hope in you right now. We put our trust in you right now. Before we ever sing anything, we declare that you are so good. We put thankfulness on our hearts and on our minds and on our lips. We say,
[00:07:35] thank you, God. With everything in our being, we say, thank you, God. We look to what you've done in the past, what you're doing now, and what you're going to do in the future. And we say,
[00:07:48] thank you for all of it. Thank you for your sacrifice on the cross for each one of us.
[00:07:54] we didn't deserve it but you died for us anyway willingly the perfect and spotless lamb we thank you jesus we see your sacrifice and we give back to you our sacrifice of praise to you

[00:08:11] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]
[00:08:11] we love you so much jesus your name also we pray amen and so often father we just make this so

[00:38:57] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:38:57] complicated but really at the core of it we're here this morning to tell you that we love you and we want to know you and it really can be that simple so Jesus would you just be the center of
[00:39:09] everything that we do that our eyes would be focused solely on you and father we thank you for your presence with us God that you are Emmanuel father that you don't pick and choose seasons to dwell with us but you are a constant presence and Jesus we just thank you for your
[00:39:29] sacrifice for what that means for us what that gives us and so father we just look to you this morning and we just say we love you and we want to know you would you be the center and well thank
[00:39:45] you worship team and welcome everyone who is joining us here and also online it's good to have you guys if you would like to connect with us you can stop by the welcome desk if you have
[00:39:56] questions but you can also we have a connect card you can scan this qr code and fill out a digital version. We have hard copies there at the welcome desk as well. If you'd like to give us your
[00:40:07] information so that we can connect and get to know you a little bit. We only have two announcements today. So the first is baptisms. So this is always really special. We have baptism Sunday coming up
[00:40:18] February 1st. It's going to be during the second service. So if you are wanting to take the next step in your relationship with Jesus and you'd like to get baptized, please do sign up. Again,
[00:40:29] you can register on the app, on the website. If you need help, you can see the welcome desk and they'd be glad to help you get signed up. And then the next announcement is our welcome lunch. So
[00:40:41] we are really looking forward to that this afternoon after church. If you have signed up and registered to attend our welcome lunch this afternoon, don't forget that that is happening.
[00:40:50] We are looking forward to seeing you. If this is the first you're hearing of this and you think this sounds really awesome, don't worry. We will have another opportunity. We will have another opportunity for you to sign up and attend one of these welcome lunches. And that is all the
[00:41:04] announcements that we have today. Of course, there's four ways to give. And I said this during the first service. I had somebody ask me where the drop box is. So it is back there by the exit sign.
[00:41:16] It looks like a little green pillar. It's got hand sanitizer on the top of it. So that's where that is back there if you'd like to drop it in the drop box. But there are the other three options
[00:41:25] as well. So I'm going to pray over our offering, and then we will meet and greet for a little bit.
[00:41:31] So if you'll pray with me. Father, thank you so much for all that you've given us. God, there's so much that we can name off the top of our head, but there's so many things that we don't even
[00:41:41] realize we've been given. And so God, we're just grateful this morning for the things that you have gifted us with, most of all your presence and salvation. And so we just thank you for that
[00:41:51] this morning. And God, I just ask that you would bless each and every person who is giving of their time, of their prayers, of their finances. God, we have so many people who give at this
[00:42:02] church. And God, we're just grateful. So Lord, would you bless our offering this morning? And we just thank you for it in Jesus' name. Amen. All right. If you want to get up and find somebody

[00:42:11] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:42:11] and introduce yourself. All right. Well, good morning, everybody. It is great to see you all.
[00:45:22] If you guys all want to come back in, begin to move back toward your seats.
[00:45:27] As you can see, I am not alone.
[00:45:30] But she cannot see.
[00:45:32] She forgot her glasses.
[00:45:33] You want to grab them?
[00:45:36] Okay, this is going to be interesting.
[00:45:38] This will be interesting.
[00:45:39] I saw her trying to shake hands with a Christmas tree, and now I know why.
[00:45:44] So it is great to see you all, and welcome again to those joining us online.
[00:45:49] It's great to have you with us no matter how you're here.
[00:45:52] And we've had a great morning so far.
[00:45:53] I believe we're going to keep having a great time together.
[00:45:57] And the reason Nicole's up here, as you all know, we are at the beginning of a new year.
[00:46:01] And so what we want to do was just share some things that we have to celebrate from 2025.
[00:46:07] And she's going to help me do this.
[00:46:09] We're going to have some information on the screens you guys can see as well.
[00:46:13] Just to share some things that God did in our midst during this past year to celebrate, to remember and to praise him for and then look forward to next year as well. So honey, you start

[00:46:25] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:46:25] us off in the general category. You got to have this. I'm sorry. I can yell really loud too.
[00:46:34] Yeah, I don't know if you're anything like me, it's very easy for me to always look at what's next. I'm always like, what's the next thing we're doing? What's the next thing we're looking at? And
[00:46:44] so this is really important, I think, for us to look back and to really thank God for all he did here last year. So every Sunday we are worshiping with 300 people in our community between both
[00:46:56] services and the kids building, which is just a huge, huge praise. 24 baptisms last year. It says eight baby dedications, but I'm pretty sure we just had eight at the last baby dedication. So I
[00:47:08] think all combined, I don't know how many of this church is exploding with babies. We tell people don't drink the water. It's not safe here. When Mike and I started coming here, I just had
[00:47:21] Amelia, and then we had pictures of all the women lined up. It's crazy. So Angie did a great job launching a church newsletter last year. If you're not signed up for that, I definitely would
[00:47:34] recommend doing that. It's just a great way to keep in touch with all that's going on here. We had a couple of things about the building update, what's going on there. We try to feature a family
[00:47:45] in there every month just to let you guys get to know each other well and to celebrate also what God's doing in individual homes. That's so important, and it's something we don't always get to see here on a Sunday morning, but God's at work at people's homes as well, right? 71 people
[00:48:03] completed sons and daughters, which is incredible. We have sons and daughters one, two. We also added Sons and Daughters 3 this year. We had our second women's retreat, which was beautiful. If you were there, raise your hand, wave it around. It was amazing. We had about 30, yes, that's right. We
[00:48:21] photoshopped his, no, that was the Christmas party. We photoshopped your face in the picture.
[00:48:25] And then Shung reminded us that we did have our first annual men's gathering, men's retreat. They went whitewater rafting last year. And I think there was a lot of snoring on that trip. Is that

[00:48:38] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:48:38] is that right okay a lot of snoring not much sleeping all right let's go to the youth category and we would love to have each individual department head come do this that just wouldn't have been practical but so i'm going to share about the youth and austin and molly do a fantastic job
[00:48:53] with their team leading our youth department so 41 of our students attended youth camp out of that there were three salvations four baptisms yeah go ahead let's go ahead and celebrate that for sure that's wonderful that's the most wonderful thing to celebrate
[00:49:08] 17 of our students attended a discipleship class, and that is in addition to what they do on Wednesday nights. That is on Sunday afternoons after everybody's tired. 17 of our teenagers went through an in-depth
[00:49:22] discipleship class, so that's a celebration. Makes me very happy to know that. Ten large group events, and they also as a youth group read through and did an in-depth study of two books of the Bible together. So a lot of things

[00:49:35] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:49:35] celebrate with our youth department as well all right next up you kids first thing I just want to mention we went through a transition in leadership there we went from our wonderful miss Lindsay transitioned over to miss Caitlin and
[00:49:50] they've just done a fantastic job over there Caitlin's done amazing and we celebrated Lindsay as she stepped into her next season we have 60 kids over there on average every Sunday we had 60 kids attend summer camp this year which
[00:50:05] was great three salvations i think we actually had another one last week let's go ahead and give an applause for that um we had four new uh volunteers that we onboarded um and three community events and i just want to give a shout out not just to miss lindsay and miss caitlyn but
[00:50:22] really everybody who volunteers over there i know tim and autumn and we have people who are over there every single sunday and we just want to thank you for all that you give your time over
[00:50:33] there. It's important work, working with those kids, and it's super rewarding. So thank you to

[00:50:37] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:50:37] all of you. And we are always accepting new volunteers and new kids as well. And speaking of kids, by the way, we celebrated the babies that we dedicated. We also married a handful of couples this year, so more babies will be coming. And we also married some back in 2024 that haven't
[00:50:57] yet had babies. So I'm making some phone calls this week and to see what's going on with that.
[00:51:02] So now if you're one of the newer newlyweds, I'm not going to name any names.
[00:51:06] You've been married about a year.
[00:51:08] So Jaden and Valerie, you guys have about a year.
[00:51:11] Boomer and Mariah, wherever you guys are, you have about a year.
[00:51:14] Okay.
[00:51:15] And others as well.
[00:51:16] And we've got a wedding coming up, Heather.
[00:51:18] So anyway.
[00:51:20] But no, you guys know how awesome our worship team is, our media team.
[00:51:24] So we worship together, as you know, every Sunday morning.
[00:51:28] But you add up what we did over 2025 with the worship nights, our Sunday mornings, over 60 hours of corporate worship that we did as a congregation last year.
[00:51:38] That's really, really cool. Had the three worship nights. Our worship team also was a part of the community tent revival, which is something that we do every year with over a dozen other local churches, an awesome thing that we're a part of. And I tell you, I say this to brag on our team,
[00:51:55] the people love our worship team. They really do. And so I'm so proud of all of them, excited that we get to do that, and so our community really benefits from that as well. Also onboarded six
[00:52:06] new volunteers to be part of the worship media team, so a lot to celebrate there also. Yes, and let's

[00:52:12] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:52:12] just give a round of applause for everybody who serves on those teams. Yes, worship and media, we love you guys. Thank you for all you do. First impressions, this week counted as a total of eight
[00:52:25] departments, including greeters, ushers, safety, parking, like a cleanup turnover crew in between services. We have coffee makers. We have added two teams this year. One is bakers and decorators.
[00:52:39] And I told the first service we're going to be adding candlestick makers very soon. But has everybody been loving the treats on Sunday mornings? We have people that volunteer to bake.
[00:52:49] Yeah, it's awesome. So if you're interested in getting involved there, you can see Tanya or BF.
[00:52:55] But we've said over 12,000 good mornings this year, which is beautiful.
[00:53:00] We added, like I said, two more teams, two new security team members.
[00:53:05] And as a community, guys, this is amazing.
[00:53:08] We have consumed 351 gallons of coffee.
[00:53:12] Let's give ourselves a hand for that.
[00:53:14] Yes.

[00:53:17] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:53:17] And that was really, honestly, knocked the wind out of my sails.
[00:53:20] I thought you guys were all staying awake because I'm interesting.
[00:53:23] But no, you guys are just full of caffeine.
[00:53:27] Okay, and finally, and I say finally not because this is all we have to share.
[00:53:32] We could share so much more.
[00:53:33] But our justice project, which is our community outreach, you guys are all familiar with them, awesome things that went on, not on a Sunday morning, but throughout the week, benefiting people in our community, families that may or may not ever come in here on a Sunday,
[00:53:50] but that we're able to serve and minister to throughout the week.
[00:53:53] So we served, through the Justice Project last year, approximately 1,315 families.
[00:54:00] Yes, that is such an awesome thing.
[00:54:03] We gave away almost 40,000 pounds of food.
[00:54:08] In our Feed the Kids program that we do every summer, we fed on average 490 kids a week.
[00:54:16] Those are all kids in our local community that rely upon the school lunches.
[00:54:22] when summertime comes, they don't always have lunch. That's what that was all about. So that's a great celebration. 156 people were served through our homeless outreach. And sadly, that is a reality in our, I mean, all over the country, but certainly our area as well.
[00:54:39] And so we were able to serve 156 people, help keep them warm, keep them fed. Some of them were able to help get off of the streets, get into jobs. And so awesome ways that the Lord has shown
[00:54:51] up in that area as well. Two mission trips to Mexico, to Juarez there with Algo Moss. And then one thing that Nikki is so good at, you guys all know Nikki, she's so good at networking. We have
[00:55:03] 29 other agencies in the area that we partner with. Other agencies doing the same thing that we're doing or similar things that we're able to combine our efforts with. And so all this is just
[00:55:15] a glimpse, but let's just celebrate again what God is in. Let's just praise the Lord, clap again.
[00:55:20] So much to be thankful for And also please give my wife another big hand As she exits the stage And also just thank you to all of you That were a part of that One thing I love about Unified
[00:55:36] Is we're not a church where one person Does everything So many of you jump in I'm not sure what the percentage is now Because we have grown Which we're very thankful to have all of you
[00:55:49] That are with us and call this your church home But at one point in time we had more than 50% of our attendees were serving in some way, and that is not usual.
[00:56:00] That's not normal, and so that also is a celebration.
[00:56:03] Now, we have been on a growth trajectory, which we're thankful for.
[00:56:06] That number probably has changed some, but we are so thankful for all of you that come and give of your time, your talents, your energy, your ideas, all those things.
[00:56:17] So thank you all very much.
[00:56:19] And one thing that we'll be celebrating this time next year will be our new kids' wing will have been going for most of the year, hopefully.
[00:56:27] And so, quick update on that.
[00:56:29] I believe tomorrow I will finally have the clearance that they've lifted the floodplain restrictions.
[00:56:35] I meet with the town tomorrow.
[00:56:37] And so, I believe we're going to finally get the thumbs up that we can begin construction.
[00:56:42] So, you guys stay tuned.
[00:56:43] Also, I hope to have an announcement ready next week about where our kids will be in the temporary interim season.
[00:56:51] And so, you guys stay tuned. More information to come.
[00:56:54] And that being said, we're going to go ahead and jump into the message here.
[00:56:57] If you've been with us for a while, you know that we've been in a series called Winning the War.
[00:57:02] And we pressed pause on that series for a little while, and we did a little mini-series on the Word of God, about valuing, investing, really cultivating a lifestyle of studying God's written word.
[00:57:16] And we did that for a handful of weeks over the holidays.
[00:57:19] Well, I want to keep the pause button pressed a little bit longer on winning the war.
[00:57:24] We'll get back to winning the war probably in February.
[00:57:27] But I want to start another little mini-series.
[00:57:29] We have a new graphic to unveil.
[00:57:30] You guys will get to see this called Building the Kingdom.
[00:57:34] And so we're going to spend, I think, about four weeks or so talking about building and living in the kingdom.
[00:57:41] About what does that mean?
[00:57:42] What does it mean to do that?
[00:57:44] And so we're going to spend some time talking about this together.
[00:57:47] And we will get back to winning the war.
[00:57:50] But you know, you look around the world right now.
[00:57:52] The world, so many things are changing.
[00:57:55] They're shifting.
[00:57:56] The world is shaking in so many ways.
[00:57:58] But we are in a kingdom that cannot be shaken.
[00:58:02] We are in a kingdom that does not shake when the world does.
[00:58:05] And I want to talk about how do we live in that kingdom?
[00:58:08] What is the message of that kingdom?
[00:58:11] And so we're going to talk together for today and a few more weeks after this, Lord willing, about building the kingdom.
[00:58:19] And I want to start this by taking a look together at what the Bible tells us was the message of Jesus.
[00:58:26] What message did He bring us?
[00:58:28] When Jesus came as a man and He lived and had His earthly ministry, what was the message that He proclaimed?
[00:58:37] And also, what is the message He's left us to proclaim now that He's back with the Father?
[00:58:42] So I'm going to go through and look at what all four gospel accounts tell us about the message that Jesus proclaimed when He began His earthly ministry and then all the way up to the time He went back to heaven.
[00:58:56] So we're going to start together in Matthew chapter 4.
[00:58:59] I'm going to read verse 17.
[00:59:01] So in Matthew's account of the life of Jesus, the ministry of Jesus, these are the first words that Matthew records Jesus saying at the beginning of His ministry.
[00:59:12] Not the first words He said, but when He stepped into what the Father sent Him to do, this is what Jesus said.
[00:59:20] It says in Matthew 4, verse 17, From that time, Jesus began to preach and to say, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
[00:59:32] So here we can see the message of the kingdom is what Jesus began to proclaim.
[00:59:37] He said, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
[00:59:40] We're going to come back and unpack all this as we go.
[00:59:42] Well, let's skip ahead now to Mark and see how Mark records the beginning of Jesus' earthly ministry.
[00:59:49] So Mark chapter 1, I'm going to read verse 15.
[00:59:53] So this is what Jesus said in Mark's account.
[00:59:57] It says, in saying, the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand.
[01:00:03] Repent and believe in the gospel.
[01:00:06] So here we can see he used those same two words there.
[01:00:09] Both Matthew and Mark record those same two words.
[01:00:12] One is the word repent and also the word kingdom.
[01:00:16] Now Matthew said kingdom of heaven.
[01:00:18] Mark said kingdom of God.
[01:00:19] I'm going to use those two interchangeably in this series, by the way.
[01:00:23] We know heaven is coming, but the kingdom is here already.
[01:00:27] We're going to use them both interchangeably, but Mark says kingdom of God, Matthew said kingdom of heaven.
[01:00:34] Let's see what Luke says.
[01:00:35] So you can see very similar record of how Jesus began His earthly ministry, what He began to say.
[01:00:44] The kingdom is at hand.
[01:00:46] Well, here in Luke, Luke chapter 4, verse 43.
[01:00:52] Now Luke had already recorded a few things that Jesus had done and said once His ministry had begun.
[01:00:58] Well here He says in verse 43, But He said to them, I must preach the kingdom of God.
[01:01:04] There it is again, the message of the kingdom of God.
[01:01:07] I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose.
[01:01:15] That is the reason the Father sent Jesus was to proclaim the message, the gospel of the kingdom.
[01:01:22] Okay, let's go to John's account.
[01:01:24] And we're going to come back and study this all more as we go.
[01:01:28] We'll see what John says.
[01:01:29] So in John chapter 3, which may be one of the most well-known chapters probably at least in our part of the world, we all know John 3.16 that says, For God so loved the world, gave His only begotten Son,
[01:01:42] that whoever believes in Him would not perish but have eternal life.
[01:01:47] Back up to verse 3 of John 3, and this is what it says.
[01:01:50] Jesus is talking to Nicodemus, and He says, Jesus answered and said to him, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
[01:02:04] So there's that word kingdom again.
[01:02:07] All four of the gospel accounts give us that word kingdom from the mouth of Jesus as Jesus began His earthly ministry.
[01:02:16] Okay, let's go to the book of Acts here real quick, Acts chapter 1.
[01:02:19] We're going to see what it says about Jesus just up to the time that He ascended back to the Father.
[01:02:25] So Acts chapter 1, I'm going to start in verse 1 and read down a few verses here.
[01:02:30] So Luke wrote the Gospel of Luke. He also wrote the book of Acts.
[01:02:34] And you can see here, he's picking up in Acts chapter 1, right where he left off at the end of the Gospel of Luke.
[01:02:41] So it says here, The first account I composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when He was taken up to heaven, after He had, by the Holy Spirit, given orders to the apostles whom He had chosen.
[01:02:59] Then let's read verse 3 together here.
[01:03:01] To these He also presented Himself alive after His suffering, so resurrected after the cross.
[01:03:08] Here's Jesus.
[01:03:09] It says, He presented Himself to those disciples alive by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of 40 days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God.
[01:03:25] So there, that message that Jesus began with, He proclaimed that same message right up to the very end of His earthly ministry.
[01:03:33] Up to the time that He passed us the baton and He ascended back to the Father, the message of the kingdom was what Jesus proclaimed.
[01:03:42] And we're going to see here how He left us that message as well.
[01:03:46] So He began by saying, repent for the kingdom is at hand, the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven.
[01:03:51] And then in those 40 days between His resurrection and His ascension back to the Father, He was still teaching the very same message.
[01:04:01] Repent, believe the gospel, be born again because the kingdom is at hand.
[01:04:06] Let's go back now to Matthew's account.
[01:04:10] Go to Matthew chapter 10.
[01:04:11] And these verses are obviously all on the screen behind me.
[01:04:15] Let me read to us some things that Jesus said here in Matthew chapter 10.
[01:04:18] So what's going on here?
[01:04:20] We're going to read verse 7, but let me read verse 1 to us first.
[01:04:23] Jesus had called together His first 12 disciples, and He has given them a commissioning.
[01:04:30] It says here, Jesus summoned His twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to cast them out and to heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.
[01:04:43] And now skipping down to verse 7, and it says, Jesus talking, And as you go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.
[01:04:53] So here that very same message that He proclaimed, that He preached, He's now told us to do the same thing.
[01:05:00] Here He told His first disciples as He sent them out for the first time, He said, that's going to be your message as well.
[01:05:07] The kingdom is at hand.
[01:05:09] The kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God is at hand.
[01:05:13] Let me read one more verse here.
[01:05:14] Then we're going to back up and begin to develop and unpack and discuss these things together.
[01:05:21] Also in Matthew chapter 24, we're getting a glimpse here in this chapter of how things are going to look at the end of this age.
[01:05:29] As this age, as we currently understand it and experience it, when this comes to an end, we know that one day God's going to bring in a new heavens and a new earth.
[01:05:38] What it says here in Matthew chapter 24, verse 14, Jesus indicates, tells us, reveals what the sign of His coming is going to be.
[01:05:50] What His, the sign of the end is going to be.
[01:05:54] It says, this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.
[01:06:05] So this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and that will be the sign.
[01:06:15] Now, he gives other signs as well that we can see happening all around us, But the final sign, the primary sign that the end is near, is that the gospel of the kingdom we preached in all the world.
[01:06:29] So that is the message that Jesus preached.
[01:06:32] That is the message that He's left us now to preach as well.
[01:06:36] And we can see that that'll be the final thing that points to, okay, the end is here.
[01:06:42] Is that very same message still being proclaimed?
[01:06:46] The message of the kingdom.
[01:06:48] And so, to discuss this message a little bit this morning, and almost now this afternoon, to discuss this, I want to look at how does the message of the kingdom, the message that Jesus preached, the one that He's now called us to preach as well,
[01:07:03] how does the message of the kingdom differ from so many of the messages that are preached today?
[01:07:10] And I'm saying this not to point the finger at any other preacher, including myself.
[01:07:14] I don't always get it right. I don't want to pretend like I do.
[01:07:17] but there's a lot of messages we can hear out there.
[01:07:21] How do they differ, though, sometimes from the message of the kingdom?
[01:07:25] Now, the gospel of the kingdom is this.
[01:07:27] The gospel of the kingdom is there's a king.
[01:07:30] There's somebody in charge, and it's not us.
[01:07:34] Jesus is that king.
[01:07:36] That is the primary fundamental message and gospel of the kingdom.
[01:07:42] Now, with that, it means certain things.
[01:07:45] There's somebody in charge.
[01:07:46] There's a king.
[01:07:48] which we know there is, it's Jesus, that means for you and I to be in that kingdom, we've got to be in surrender to Him.
[01:07:56] We've got to live our lives in surrender to the King.
[01:07:59] Now that word surrender is one of the words that's missing so often in many of the messages that we hear today.
[01:08:07] That word surrender is not really a popular word.
[01:08:10] It's not one that we want to talk about.
[01:08:12] It doesn't fit real well in so much of what is talked about today.
[01:08:17] Close to that is the word deny.
[01:08:20] And Jesus used that word.
[01:08:21] We don't hear that word a lot anymore in our contemporary culture.
[01:08:25] But the gospel has never changed.
[01:08:28] The word of God has never changed.
[01:08:30] We've discussed that in the last handful of weeks together, how the Bible says the flower will fade, the grass will wither, but the word of God stands forever.
[01:08:37] The flower, the grass, it speaks of those fads and things that come and go, trends and things that maybe are popular now.
[01:08:44] Well, those things all pass away, but the truth of the God's Word, the truth of the gospel, the truth of the gospel of the kingdom stands forever.
[01:08:53] And so that word deny, which is not a fun word, I don't like it either, it means we've got to say no to something that we want to say yes to.
[01:09:02] You and I cannot live in the kingdom, live in our lives, and surrender to the king if we're not denying ourselves.
[01:09:10] Jesus said, if anybody wants to come after me, be my disciple, they must take up their cross, which we know speaks of death to ourselves, deny themselves, and follow me.
[01:09:21] That means there are things this world offers you and me that we might want to have, but in order to be in the kingdom, under the lordship and kingship of the king, we have to deny those things.
[01:09:33] Now, we're standing here right now at the beginning of a brand new year, and I feel this because I'm having to deny myself of things I said yes to in December.
[01:09:42] All those Christmas goodies, I'm denying myself of those things right now.
[01:09:47] That's how it works.
[01:09:49] But we're called to, if we're going to become more than just saved people, more than just Christians who have received God's free gift of salvation, but actually go on to living in the kingdom, truly living in the kingdom, that means surrender.
[01:10:04] That means dying to ourselves, denying ourselves, taking up our cross and following Him.
[01:10:11] And we've defined this way before.
[01:10:13] You guys may have heard me say, you know, people wonder, what is my cross?
[01:10:17] For Jesus, it was obviously the way that He died.
[01:10:20] And those that heard Him share that 2,000 years ago, they weren't picturing a beautiful piece of jewelry like we have crosses today.
[01:10:28] They knew He means dying.
[01:10:30] See, the cross is this.
[01:10:32] It's the place where our will and God's will cross.
[01:10:35] and in that moment where our will and His will cross is where you and I have to surrender, is where you and I have to deny ourselves.
[01:10:46] That's what it means to enter into not just salvation, but living in the kingdom.
[01:10:53] See, the message of salvation is come to the Savior.
[01:10:57] The message of the kingdom is come to the King.
[01:11:00] Salvation, I'm thankful for that.
[01:11:02] Thankfully, you and I, if we're God's people, we've received that free gift of salvation but not everybody who receives that goes on to truly live their lives for the Lord.
[01:11:12] Not everybody who receives that free gift of salvation truly goes on to being a disciple.
[01:11:18] So when Jesus said go into all the world and make disciples, He never said go into all the world and just make converts.
[01:11:24] Just make those that receive that free gift but those who will go on to follow Him.
[01:11:30] Those that will go on to live in the kingdom.
[01:11:32] And so much of what we're saying right now is missing in some of the messages that we hear these days.
[01:11:39] But I believe that God wants us to shift our focus back to what needs to be the priority.
[01:11:46] Back to what really matters.
[01:11:47] What is the truth of the gospel?
[01:11:50] And so you and I cannot continue to be the person we were before Jesus and be in the kingdom at the same time.
[01:11:57] Because the saving grace that saved us also will transform us as we follow Him.
[01:12:03] You and I cannot remain the people that we were before Him and be in His kingdom.
[01:12:09] Because life in the kingdom, as we've said, is a life of surrender.
[01:12:14] And Jesus used another word.
[01:12:15] He used the word kingdom in all those verses that we read together.
[01:12:18] He also used the word repent.
[01:12:21] And let's talk for a minute about what it means to repent.
[01:12:24] Now, most of us think about the word repent, we think about saying that we're sorry.
[01:12:28] And that is part of it, but it's only part of it.
[01:12:32] See, if we're truly going to be repenting and living a lifestyle of repentance, that means acknowledging, yes, we're going the wrong direction, but also it means turning around and going back the other direction.
[01:12:46] It doesn't do us any good to be walking this way and say, yeah, this is not the right way, but then keep going.
[01:12:52] True repentance is acknowledging, yes, I'm going the wrong way, but then turning around and going back the right way.
[01:12:59] So repentance, even in the Bible, you look at the original text, what the word means is a change of direction.
[01:13:06] And also a change in the way that we think.
[01:13:08] And so our initial repentance is when we come to Jesus and we receive from Him that free gift of salvation.
[01:13:15] We receive from Him that free gift of eternal life.
[01:13:18] That is the initial repentance.
[01:13:21] But then, once we've done that, we've become one of God's people, one of God's children.
[01:13:27] for us then, repentance is a little bit different.
[01:13:30] We don't get saved again every single day.
[01:13:33] Instead, we receive a change in the way that we think that leads to a change in the way that we behave.
[01:13:38] So for God's people, true repentance is a change in the way that we think that leads to a change in our behavior, a change in our direction, turning around and going the other way.
[01:13:51] So many of the messages we hear today are, it's okay to keep going the way that you're going.
[01:13:56] and it's going to be fine.
[01:13:57] That might not be true.
[01:13:59] If the way that we're going is not leading us to Him, that is the wrong way.
[01:14:04] Repentance means turning around and going back the other direction.
[01:14:08] That's what true repentance is.
[01:14:10] That's why Jesus said, Repent, because without doing this, you can't be in the kingdom.
[01:14:14] Repent, because the kingdom is almost here.
[01:14:16] The kingdom is at hand.
[01:14:18] And so we can see that this initial repentance happens at salvation.
[01:14:21] And from there, once we have experienced and made that choice to repent and to receive Jesus as our Savior, then repentance looks like making Him our King, making Him our Lord, entering into life in the kingdom,
[01:14:38] a change in the way that we think that leads to a change in our behavior.
[01:14:42] It's when our minds are renewed and we take the mind of Christ.
[01:14:47] That's what repentance now is for us as God's people.
[01:14:50] And so often the messages we hear today leave out repentance.
[01:14:56] They leave out a change of direction.
[01:14:58] They leave out the transformation.
[01:15:01] But the very Jesus that saved you and me wants to transform you and me as well.
[01:15:06] The very faith we've got in Him can save us, but also it can change us.
[01:15:12] And so the messages that we hear so often today are oftentimes these religious, legalistic messages that are more about behavior modification than they are transformation. More about just doing the right thing as opposed to being the people God's called us to be.
[01:15:29] And the difference is this. Religion, that legalistic religion always says, okay, you go change what you do and then who you are will change as a result.
[01:15:40] But that's the wisdom of the world. That sounds good, but Jesus comes at it a whole different way. He says, I'm going to change who you are through a relationship with me, and then what you do will change as a result. See,
[01:15:54] religion gets it backwards. Jesus gets it right. It's all about who we are, and then what we do changes as a result. Transformation takes place because of our relationship with Him. So right now we hear messages of behavior modification. We also hear things like this, be good and be kind. Be a
[01:16:15] kind human. Now, we should be. We should be good people, kind people. But the goodness and kindness that we can do in our own strength never produces the righteousness of God. Those things are good
[01:16:28] things to do, but righteousness comes from our relationship with the righteous king who took the blame for what we did, so now we get the credit for what he did. That's what it means to be made
[01:16:39] righteous. Not just doing the right stuff. Now, if we're doing something wrong, we realize that we should stop. If there's something good that we can do, we should do it. But those things are an
[01:16:49] overflow of our relationship with Him, not something that earns us a relationship with Him.
[01:16:55] We do good things because we are now righteous people, not so that we can become righteous people. That's where, again, the religion and the relationship differ. Well, also, there's other messages too. There's some that are legalistic. There are some that say, go and do. There are
[01:17:12] some that say, you know what, you're okay just the way you are. That also is not the message of the kingdom. Jesus didn't come to the cross because you and I were fine without Him. He came to the
[01:17:24] cross because we've got to have Him. So you and I were born into sin, and there was nothing we could ever do about that in our own strength to fix that. We had to have a Savior, and only Jesus
[01:17:35] can be that Savior. So the message of the kingdom is not that Jesus came to make us better people, but that Jesus came to make us new people.
[01:17:47] Again, transformation.
[01:17:49] Us not being who we were apart from Him.
[01:17:52] That surrender, that laying our lives down, that denying of ourselves.
[01:17:56] Us receiving Him, becoming the convert, becoming the Christian, but then going on to being the disciple.
[01:18:02] Being the person that lives their lives in the kingdom, under the lordship, in surrender to the King.
[01:18:10] And so there's another aspect of the messages we hear today I want to talk about.
[01:18:15] And this, I believe, is part of what I believe God wants to do, hopefully through this series of messages, is begin to shift our focus back to what needs to be the priority.
[01:18:25] So we can see how there are some messages that are contrary to the gospel.
[01:18:29] We want to obviously shift back to what really matters, the truth of God's Word.
[01:18:34] But here's another aspect of what's being preached oftentimes these days.
[01:18:39] And again, I'm not pointing the finger to anybody else, including, because I could point it at myself, I haven't always gotten it right either.
[01:18:45] But I believe God in His mercy, God is shifting our focus back to where He wants it to be.
[01:18:51] Now, Jesus came to build the kingdom.
[01:18:54] We're going to discuss that more today and in the weeks to come.
[01:18:57] But one thing that has often become our goal today is not building the kingdom, but building the church.
[01:19:05] And I want to discuss the difference here for just a few minutes.
[01:19:08] We're running out of time.
[01:19:09] I want to discuss for a few minutes here today the difference between building the kingdom and building the church.
[01:19:15] Now, the church is wonderful.
[01:19:17] And here I am right now pastoring a church.
[01:19:19] I want us to have a church, obviously.
[01:19:21] I'm not trying to preach myself out of a job.
[01:19:23] But I believe that our goal has got to be more so than building our church, is building the kingdom.
[01:19:30] And let me explain what I mean by this.
[01:19:32] Now, oftentimes today, so much of what is preached, so much of the goal that many pastors have even, is attracting people.
[01:19:42] Now, I want us to have a church people want to be at.
[01:19:44] I'm glad you guys are here.
[01:19:45] We celebrated a little while ago that we are averaging a little more than 300 people on a Sunday, which is an awesome praise report, if that's who God wants us to have.
[01:19:55] My goal is not to attract more people.
[01:19:58] It's to serve well the people that God sends to us.
[01:20:02] That's where the kingdom comes into play.
[01:20:04] Now, I don't want to turn anybody away.
[01:20:06] I'm not trying to say that, but I believe if our goal is just to grow in numbers, our priority is off.
[01:20:13] Instead, it's to grow the people that God has given us.
[01:20:17] I'm going to explain this some more as we go.
[01:20:19] But because so much of the emphasis in the church these days, I don't mean just necessarily unified, but churches and the body of Christ, so much of the emphasis, especially maybe in Western civilization, and I can't speak so much to other parts of the world
[01:20:36] I don't have experience but I look around and I see what our messages are here often times and we have programs and outreaches designed to bring people into our buildings now again, nothing wrong with being here
[01:20:50] we need to be in church whether it's here or somewhere else we need to be I'm glad you guys are and nothing necessarily wrong with the programs and outreaches but if our goal for them is to just recruit people
[01:21:04] I think our priority is off.
[01:21:06] Our goal for the programs, the outreaches, needs to be to serve the people that God has sent us.
[01:21:13] So Jesus never said, go into all the world and preach the church.
[01:21:17] Or go into all the world and recruit people to your church.
[01:21:21] Instead, He said, go into all the world and make disciples.
[01:21:25] His message was, repent because the kingdom is at hand.
[01:21:30] Now, I'm going to discuss a little bit more about the difference between the kingdom and the church.
[01:21:34] But before I do, let me just kind of reiterate something I've said many times up here.
[01:21:38] You guys have heard me say this before, many of you.
[01:21:41] It is very important that we are going to church.
[01:21:45] Again, it doesn't have to be here. I'm not saying you've got to be here.
[01:21:47] But it is very important that we as God's people are plugged into His body.
[01:21:53] And people have asked the question for generations.
[01:21:55] You guys may have heard this question asked.
[01:21:57] Well, do I have to go to church in order to go to heaven?
[01:22:00] And the answer is no.
[01:22:02] You can still go to heaven because going to church is not one of the requirements.
[01:22:06] The requirements are we receive Jesus.
[01:22:09] We receive His free gift of salvation, His free gift of eternal life.
[01:22:13] That's what secures our eternity.
[01:22:16] So no, we don't have to go to church to go to heaven.
[01:22:20] However, we will never become the people God has called us to be if we're not plugged into His body.
[01:22:27] We can live our entire lives and be a Christian.
[01:22:30] That never changed, but never grow into being the people God has called us to be if we are not rightly plugged into His body.
[01:22:39] So yes, God has called us to be in regular fellowship with His people.
[01:22:45] And I think that being in church is a part of being in the kingdom.
[01:22:48] We're going to discuss that some more as well.
[01:22:50] So it's very important that we are plugged into His body and we're never going to become the people God's called us to be if we are not.
[01:22:57] I don't believe that God calls anybody to do this by themselves.
[01:23:02] He never calls anybody to withdraw from His body.
[01:23:06] Now, we've all at times maybe felt the urge to do that, felt the temptation to do that.
[01:23:11] Maybe we even have it different seasons of our life.
[01:23:15] I don't think, though, that God ever calls His people to extended seasons away from His body.
[01:23:23] Now, I've come through seasons, probably all of us have.
[01:23:25] We've gone through hard church seasons.
[01:23:28] And the idea of going to church just doesn't sound at all appealing to us.
[01:23:31] Maybe there are seasons to rest and seasons to get healed up.
[01:23:35] But we've got to come back.
[01:23:37] We've got to come back.
[01:23:38] God never calls us to extended periods of time away.
[01:23:43] And I'm not saying, again, you've got to be here.
[01:23:45] I'm glad that you are.
[01:23:46] But you need to be where God wants you to be.
[01:23:48] You need to be where God has called you to be.
[01:23:51] And so, with that all being said, again, not at all minimizing the importance of being in church, the importance of being plugged into His body.
[01:23:59] That is super important, and it's one of the things I believe opens the door to so many things in our lives when we aren't plugged in the way we're supposed to be.
[01:24:07] So we're saying, yes, it's important that we not withdraw, we not have these extended periods of time away.
[01:24:15] So we need to be plugged in.
[01:24:18] Now that being said, if it is our goal to just build the church, we probably are not building the kingdom.
[01:24:27] I'm going to begin to talk about the differences here again for a little bit.
[01:24:29] We're going to pick up next week, Lord willing, where we leave off today.
[01:24:34] We'll go as far as we can today and pick up there next week.
[01:24:36] But if our goal is to build the church in terms of attracting people, drawing people, having programs that we think will cause us to grow in numbers, If that's our primary goal, we probably are not building the kingdom.
[01:24:52] Now, flip side is, if we are focusing on building the kingdom, the church is going to grow.
[01:24:58] Now, it may or may not grow in numbers, and that may or may not matter.
[01:25:03] What matters is, are we growing into the people that God has called us to be?
[01:25:07] Are we serving the people that God has brought here?
[01:25:10] Are we as individuals, are we as families, are we as a congregation growing into the people that God has called us to be.
[01:25:20] That's what it means to be a successful church.
[01:25:23] Now, the world looks at it and says, oh, that church is a mega church, has thousands of people, must be way more successful than the storefront church that has 35 people.
[01:25:32] Not necessarily.
[01:25:33] You see, the kingdom isn't measured that way.
[01:25:36] There's a different measure in God's eyes in the way the world does it.
[01:25:41] There's also a lot of reasons why maybe this church is 35 and that one's 10,000.
[01:25:46] This one over here is not necessarily more successful.
[01:25:49] Having more people to point to is not a sign of success in the kingdom.
[01:25:53] Having people that are growing up into the fullness of who God has called them to be is a sign of success.
[01:26:00] So I believe part of what God wants to do is shift our mindset in terms of what it really means to be successful.
[01:26:08] Again, not growing in numbers necessarily.
[01:26:09] I want to be the church God wants us to be.
[01:26:13] If that's 300 people, if it's 500, if it's 50.
[01:26:17] If God is glorified, then we're going to be satisfied.
[01:26:20] Our goal is to please Him.
[01:26:22] Our goal is to serve Him and to serve the people that God has given us.
[01:26:26] And I'm glad that all of you are here.
[01:26:28] I'm not saying leave. Please do not.
[01:26:31] Unless God leads you somewhere else, you go where He leads you to be.
[01:26:34] But, you know, we're on a growth trajectory, and I'm very thankful for that.
[01:26:38] But again, a sign of success even so is not that the building is full, but that the people are full.
[01:26:45] That we're serving the people, building the people, and ministering to the people that God has given us.
[01:26:50] That we're all becoming, as I mentioned, the individuals, the families, and the congregation He's called us to be.
[01:26:57] And so for a lot of us who have spent our lives in the church, which I have, grown up in the church, I joke around about being here for the ladies' meetings, and they photoshopped me in the ladies' Christmas party.
[01:27:08] Now, when I was a kid, I was in ladies' meetings.
[01:27:11] I was at the church every time it was opened.
[01:27:14] I was sneaking out of ladies' meetings and trying to find the Passover bread to eat because I was hungry.
[01:27:19] So that was my childhood right there.
[01:27:21] Many of you have been there as well.
[01:27:24] But for those of us that grew up in the church, we oftentimes have had the mentality that we think about the kingdom, we think, well, God's going to birth the kingdom through the church.
[01:27:35] But I believe really God wants to birth the church through the kingdom.
[01:27:40] Our goal again is that message that Jesus shared.
[01:27:44] The kingdom is at hand.
[01:27:46] And we can see that's what He preached all through His life.
[01:27:49] And it's the message we saw that He left for you and me to preach as well.
[01:27:52] And so if we're going to be building the kingdom, the church is going to grow.
[01:27:56] It's going to grow in the ways that matters.
[01:27:59] It may be numbers, may not be.
[01:28:01] But it's going to be in holiness.
[01:28:03] It's going to be in maturity.
[01:28:04] It's going to be in our people becoming disciples.
[01:28:08] All of us being who God's called us to be.
[01:28:12] And so again, success is not measured by numbers.
[01:28:15] It's measured by, okay, are we being the people God's called us to be?
[01:28:18] Are we growing into the people that God has called us to be?
[01:28:23] Let me begin to tie a few loose ends up.
[01:28:25] And we're going to pray together here in just a few minutes.
[01:28:28] But let me begin just answering this question.
[01:28:30] We're going to say begin because we're going to continue this in the weeks to come.
[01:28:34] I'm not going to get there fully today.
[01:28:36] But how does the kingdom differ from the church?
[01:28:39] Now, I'm kind of contrasting and comparing these two.
[01:28:43] And again, not devaluing the church.
[01:28:46] But how are they different?
[01:28:48] Now, first of all, we've got to define what the church is and what the church is not.
[01:28:51] Now, primarily the church is not this building.
[01:28:55] The church is not any building.
[01:28:57] The church is the people.
[01:28:59] The church is the people that are in our buildings.
[01:29:02] That is what the church is.
[01:29:04] And so also, one individual congregation is not the church.
[01:29:09] So we're a unified city church. That's our name.
[01:29:11] We are one congregation that's a part of the collective church in this area.
[01:29:16] When God looks down, God doesn't see all the divisions and labels that we as people create.
[01:29:21] He sees His people. He sees His church.
[01:29:25] And so you and I, we are one of the congregations in the church in this area.
[01:29:30] And so no one individual congregation is the church, but the collective body of Christ is the church.
[01:29:38] And the church, again, is not this building.
[01:29:41] Now, right now, during this age we're alive in, we have buildings, we have building projects, we have things that we have to deal with as a part of our reality in this temporary world.
[01:29:51] But church, the way we do it now with Sunday morning services, that's going to be temporary, but the kingdom's going to be eternal.
[01:29:59] And so we can see there's some differences here.
[01:30:02] And so, simply attending church services is not the end goal.
[01:30:08] The end goal is living in the kingdom.
[01:30:11] And we have church services to better prepare us and equip us for life in the kingdom.
[01:30:17] That's why we're here together today.
[01:30:19] That's why we have meetings on Sunday mornings and why the kids are meeting next door right now and the youth will be here Wednesday night is because all of our services, our programs, our things that we do,
[01:30:30] Those are all designed to equip us for life in the kingdom.
[01:30:35] This is not the end goal.
[01:30:37] The end goal is living in the kingdom.
[01:30:40] And so simply attending church, simply getting people to come here is not the end goal.
[01:30:45] That's part of what I believe needs to shift in our perspective.
[01:30:49] And so our goal for building the church should be to build the people because the people truly are the church.
[01:30:56] And as I've mentioned already, The reason we come in here together on Sunday mornings and other times as well, we worship together, we study the Bible together, we fellowship with each other, we learn and do life together,
[01:31:07] is because that's all preparation for life in the kingdom.
[01:31:12] That's all preparation for living our lives under the lordship in surrender to the king.
[01:31:19] And so church, again, as I said, as we currently experience it, is temporary.
[01:31:24] Let me say something that you guys are going to be very happy about.
[01:31:28] Heaven will not be a never-ending church service.
[01:31:32] Aren't you glad and happy about that?
[01:31:35] Heaven will not be a never-ending church service.
[01:31:38] Heaven will be a never-ending relationship with our King.
[01:31:43] Heaven is heaven because Jesus is there.
[01:31:46] Heaven will be heaven for us because the King is there.
[01:31:50] And so heaven is not going to be a never-ending experience of what we currently know.
[01:31:55] It's going to be a never-ending relationship with who we currently know and knowing Him with everything out of the way.
[01:32:03] So heaven, eternity will be a never-ending relationship with our King.
[01:32:08] So the kingdom is eternal.
[01:32:12] I'm going to close with these statements here.
[01:32:14] Then we're going to pray together and we'll pick up here again next week.
[01:32:18] Lord willing.
[01:32:19] I say Lord willing and the creek don't rise.
[01:32:21] As you guys know, that creek rises more these days than it used to.
[01:32:25] But, Lord willing, we'll be back here next week picking up where we left off.
[01:32:29] But the church as we currently know it is temporary.
[01:32:34] We as the church are eternal.
[01:32:36] The services, the programs, those kind of things may be great.
[01:32:40] Those are temporary.
[01:32:42] The kingdom, however, is eternal.
[01:32:45] And so our church services are Sunday mornings.
[01:32:49] The kingdom is Monday morning also.
[01:32:52] See, the kingdom picks up once you now walk out those doors.
[01:32:56] This is a part of the kingdom right now.
[01:32:58] And it should be preparing us and equipping us to live in that kingdom.
[01:33:04] So this is what the kingdom looks like.
[01:33:06] The kingdom is Monday morning.
[01:33:08] The kingdom is our break room at work tomorrow.
[01:33:13] The kingdom is the conversations we have with people outside this building.
[01:33:17] That's the kingdom.
[01:33:20] The kingdom is sitting with our family at Thanksgiving.
[01:33:23] Maybe even the ones we'd rather not be sitting with.
[01:33:26] Don't everybody raise your hand.
[01:33:27] Okay, the kingdom is choosing to unify with people when it could be easier to divide from them.
[01:33:34] That's the kingdom.
[01:33:36] The kingdom is our marriages.
[01:33:39] There's the kingdom.
[01:33:40] The kingdom is our relationship with our children.
[01:33:45] Let me read one more scripture to us, and then we're going to pray.
[01:33:48] Romans 14, 17 says, The kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.
[01:33:56] And you and I experience those things.
[01:33:59] We live in those things.
[01:34:00] Those things become our reality when we live in the kingdom under His kingship.
[01:34:07] That is the message of Jesus.
[01:34:09] That is the gospel of the kingdom.
[01:34:12] Right now, our temporary church services are part of that.
[01:34:18] They're preparing us for the kingdom, to live in that kingdom.
[01:34:24] So let's pray together for a few minutes here.
[01:34:26] We're going to dismiss in just a couple of minutes here.
[01:34:28] Let's pray and let's shift our eyes to our King.
[01:34:33] Let's put our eyes on our King because that's life in the kingdom is our relationship with Him.
[01:34:41] Let's just put our eyes on Him, open our hearts to Him.
[01:34:46] So Jesus, I just want to thank You that You are the King.
[01:34:53] And we just proclaim and declare right now, as individuals, as families, and as a congregation, You are our King.
[01:35:04] And so, Jesus, right now, we do surrender to Your Lordship.
[01:35:10] We deny ourselves.
[01:35:13] But, Jesus, right now, we just, in a very practical way, we come to Your cross right now.
[01:35:19] And we lay our lives down at the foot of Your cross, so that we can walk in the life, the lives that you have prepared for us.
[01:35:30] Colossians tells us our life is hidden with Christ and God.
[01:35:35] That's the life that we want to experience.
[01:35:38] Not anything we could ever know apart from you.
[01:35:41] Not to be the people we were or could be apart from you, but to be who you've called us to be.
[01:35:49] So Jesus, you are our King, and we just surrender to you.
[01:35:56] Holy Spirit, right now, I thank you.
[01:35:58] You're inside us.
[01:35:59] As God's people, we have You inside of us.
[01:36:06] And so I just pray right now, Holy Spirit, we make room for You to do all that You want to do.
[01:36:12] We give You full access to every part of who we are so that You can do the things that Jesus said You had come to do.
[01:36:21] That You would guide us and lead us into all the truth.
[01:36:24] That You would show us things to come.
[01:36:27] You would bring to our remembrance what Jesus has said to us what the Word of God says to us and about us and to teach us all things.
[01:36:41] I pray also, Holy Spirit, that Your conviction would be in our lives.
[01:36:47] Not a religious, legalistic condemnation, but Your conviction which says, this is the way, walk in it.
[01:36:57] And Holy Spirit, You know all of us.
[01:37:00] You know any area where we need to surrender.
[01:37:03] You know any area we need to deny ourselves and take up our crosses.
[01:37:12] Would You show us that?
[01:37:14] Would You lead us in doing that?
[01:37:17] We pray that Your precious grace, Jesus, that's always sufficient for us, that grace that saved us at our salvation, I pray that grace would change us now as well.
[01:37:29] That grace would enable us to live our lives in Your kingdom.
[01:37:36] And I want to pray one more thing.
[01:37:38] is knowing this room is full of people.
[01:37:41] There are many watching us online.
[01:37:45] If you've heard me talk about salvation and you've realized, you know, I've never received that free gift you're talking about.
[01:37:53] You can receive it today.
[01:37:56] I'm going to lead us in a prayer to receive that.
[01:37:59] And if you need that Savior that Jesus is, if you have realized, man, I'm still in the sin I was born in.
[01:38:09] I've never been freed from that.
[01:38:11] I've never received that free gift of salvation.
[01:38:17] You can receive it right now.
[01:38:19] The Bible tells us that whosoever, anybody, whoever chooses to call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.
[01:38:28] So right where you are, just call upon Him.
[01:38:32] And the way you do that is you say, Jesus, I need a Savior.
[01:38:38] I acknowledge and I realize that apart from You, I'm lost.
[01:38:41] I'm a sinner and there's nothing I can do to fix that and so I need a Savior and Jesus you alone are that Savior you alone can be that Savior that I need so I receive you right now
[01:39:00] I believe you were God's Son I believe you came for that reason and so I say yes to you I ask you to come into my life I surrender my life to you I ask you to wash away my sins
[01:39:16] forgive my sins and make me new again make me new a new creation and put me in proper relationship with your Father and I thank you for this and the Bible says if you prayed that
[01:39:35] that's exactly what happened if anybody is in Jesus they are a new creation old things have passed away all things have become new the kingdom is now where we are let's live our lives there
[01:39:50] alright we're going to have the prayer team come up. There'll be either side of the stage here if you guys need prayer for anything specific.
[01:39:59] Please come and see them.
[01:40:00] They'd love to pray for you for anything.
[01:40:02] If you need prayer for physical healing or prayer for an emotional healing, prayer for anything.
[01:40:08] They'd love to pray with you, pray for you.
[01:40:10] Please come and see them. Otherwise, we'll see you next week. You guys have a great week.