Building God’s Kingdom
6/30/07
Last week- talked about being …
Kingdom minded people and
having a Kingdom heart, for the
purpose of building God’s Kingdom.
We started out in Ezra 1 … continue w/that theme.
Ez 1:1-3, 5
Prophesied- Cyrus would reign as king 150 years before he lived and he would rebuild the temple.
Isa 44:28 "It is I who says of Cyrus, ’He is My shepherd! And he will perform all My desire.’
And he declares of Jerusalem, ’ She will be built,’ And of the temple, ’ Your foundation will be laid.’" NASU
Cyrus- not unique- God created man for a purpose.
Cyrus was one man, called into a relationship w/God, to further the eternal purposes of God in the earth.
He was called- out of generations of men/women that come/go through history, to build God’s Kingdom.
I believe God has called each of His people to be Kingdom Builders in their generation.
Ez 2.1
Slides of … Ez 2:2-58
God names families- responded to- stirring of God.
Ez 2:59-60
These men could not prove they were Jews or priests because their names were not recorded in the book.
Aside: To this day the Jews have tracked the lineage of the tribe of Aaron to know who the priests are.
Discovered- DNA signature- verifies a direct patrilineal descent to Aaron.
There are those today who call themselves Christians, whose names may not be in the book life.
Rev 20:12, 15
12 And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds.
15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. NASU
Jesus gives us some more insight into this …
Mtt 7:21-27
Often we are told that being a Christian is …
asking Jesus into our hearts,
having our sins forgiven,
reading the Bible, learning to pray,
attending a Bible believing church,
sharing our faith with others.
True Christianity consist of much more than this.
Mtt 3:2 " Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." NASU
What was Jesus was saying?
I am here therefore my Kingdom is here.
Christians are called to participate in God’s plan to re-establish His reign throughout the earth.
Mk 11:15-17
The issue here is not just prayer, but establishing God’s order in God’s house.
You are the house of God today …
1 Cor 6:19-20
19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?
20 For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body. NASU
Have we allowed God to establish His order in our house?
Do we understand what happens when we become a Christian? (from article by Don Williams)
1. We are delivered from Satan’s Kingdom
1 Jn 5:19 We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.
The whole world- under the rule of Satan- hates God.
Who is Satan? Satan- powerful angelic being who rebelled against God’s rule. (Eze 28:14-15)
Satan rebelled to establish his own kingdom.
Eph 6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. NASU
Those w/o Christ are under the power of the evil one and are part of his kingdom.
Eph 2:2 You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. NLT
God sent Jesus Christ to deliver us from Satan’s kingdom, from his rule in our lives.
2. We are delivered from God’s Wrath
God is a just God and a just ruler over His Kingdom.
He judges our moral failures- He calls them sin.
Today we do not believe in moral absolutes.
Everything is relative and I become my own god.
If there is a God He is a therapist who wants to build our self-esteem, not a God who judges our sin.
All mankind has sinned/fallen short of God’s standard
Because God is perfect and just we stand condemned.
Rom 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, NASU
Rom 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. NASU
We are need to be delivered from God’s wrath.
Through Christ death, a just God was satisfied, and our moral and legal debt was paid.
3. We are delivered into God’s Kingdom
Col 1:13 For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, NASU
Picture: Purchase a one way ticket from the US to China … the rules of the Kingdom change.
Now that we are in His Kingdom we must learn to live by the principles and rules of His Kingdom.
The old rules and philosophies no longer work.
Many Christians- not experiencing blessing of God- they have not adopted the ways of His Kingdom.
Have you ever noticed how the mind set of one culture is different from another.
We must embrace the culture of God’s Kingdom- that will involve a change of how we think and act.
Conclusion
If we profess to be Christians then we are declaring our citizenship in the Kingdom of God.
Not only are we called to be good citizens in God’s Kingdom- we are called to be Kingdom builders.
Ez 2:68-69
God stirred the heart of His people to go back to Jerusalem, not just to live, but to build- temple.
They risked everything to return.
They sacrificially gave- time, energy, resources- to build the house of God- should we not also today?
John 6:6-13
God presented to Philip a ministry challenge.
How was he going to feed the people of God?
God knew all the time what He was going to do, but Philip would have to wrestle with how to do it.
Philip/Andrew looked at the littleness of the provision and were paralyzed to act.
God was training the disciples how to …
live as Kingdom people and
how to minister in Kingdom power.
Jesus took the little and began to divide it, believing the Father wanted to feed the people.
God is asking us to take the "little" we have, step out in faith, and begin to build God’s Kingdom.
Application
Rom 1:11
Elders pray over people for an impartation of …
a Kingdom heart/mind,
to see our life in the context of eternity,
to be Kingdom builders.
