And if you were here last week, I used as an illustration at the beginning of the message a couple, I was making the point that we are interested in the things that the people were interested in are interested in. And we talked about how, you know, single guys can all of a sudden become interested in shopping, if the girl they're interested in is in shopping or something like that. When I talked about a couple where this woman demonstrated her love in her husband by being interested in the things that he was interested in, and even though she didn't like snakes, she would hold his snake for him. And I thought I would go back to that just to kind of give you Paul Harvey's the rest of the story, or at least an update on it, you know, that was early on in their marriage and somehow they got past the snake issue. And I saw the couple, I hadn't seen them for maybe a decade or so, and I saw them and the guy seemed like he had really changed. He had changed so much that I wanted to ask him what had happened in his life. He is an introvert, which is not at all a sin, but what I asked him is you see more outgoing, you're showing a genuine interest in people, you move toward them, what happened? And he said, I was convicted, my wife loves well, his wife is an extrovert, which is not a sin either, both introverts and extroverts can show their sin through their personality, but it's not the point. But for him, he says, I saw that my wife loved people and moved toward them, and that I was hiding behind my personality and not loving well. And God convicted me, and I wanted to change that in my life. And the outward expression of that was showing a genuine interest in others. And I want to recommend that to you, that this is something that is for all of us. We are told in the book of Philippians, in fact, that we're not to merely look out for our own personal interests, but also the interests of others. And there it's their interest, you know, what we'll do well for them. And I think we should, as we get to know people, we will know what they're interested in, and as that has to do with prayer and what Jesus is teaching us about prayer, we find in the Lord's Prayer, Jesus telling us exactly what God is interested in, what He is passionate about, what He cares about. And we're looking at that, again this morning, the proposition is very similar to last week's, it was ShareGod's passion or zeal for the hallowing of his name, and today it's ShareGod's passion or zeal for the coming of his kingdom. And I want to show you that that is what Jesus is teaching here. And I want to show you Jesus's practice of this priority, and then I want to talk about our own practice of this priority, as we talk about, thy kingdom come. Now this petition is not the first, it's the second petition, and Jesus is teaching us something about priority. If you remember, if you were here last week, I'm going to repeat this, so still pay attention and let it hit you as a double whammy, it's meant that way. The first three petitions, of the six petitions in the Lord's Prayer, all three have to do with God's interest, God's priorities, God's desires, God's passion. And Jesus is teaching us by the very nature of putting these three petitions first, that they are to take precedence, they are to be a priority. And interestingly enough, the word order of these first three petitions also indicate not only priority, but priority and urgency. The very way the words are placed, and the very way the words are used, we talked about the verbs that there are an erous instead of a present there, with third person instead of second person, all these technical details that are to indicate an urgency, they are to teach us that God cares about these things, and that we ourselves are not merely to pray some formulaic way of praying, but that we are to have a heart for the very things that God has a heart for, which by the way, let me just kind of say a little bit more on this, that if you take a look at the six petitions, you will find that these are the main themes that flow throughout the whole Bible. Jesus is not teaching us a prayer that we should just pray and get it done with and move on around, but He's taking the major themes of the Bible. Let me say it again, the major themes of the Bible and putting them in some sort of order for us to keep in mind. And when I first preached this, I don't know, 15 years ago, I was struck when I saw that, and I've seen the scriptures differently ever since, and I challenge you as you read through the Bible, as you study a book of the Bible, wherever you happen to be, look, what petition? What petition is this talking about? And you will see at least one, if not two or three of them coming together, if not four, five or six being mentioned in the passage of scripture that you're looking at. This is a civ, the catechism tells us, the whole word of God is of use to direct us in prayer, but this special rule, this special direction, it's to show us, okay, here's some of the priorities, here's some of the ways we're to pray. And again, we're to pray with urgency as we pray these prayers. So it may be the second, but it's kind of a, I have a very hard time in my own mind saying, this one's first, this one's second, and this one's third because they're so tied together, how are you going to hallow God's name if you are not seeking the advance of this kingdom and the doing of his will? How are you going to advance this kingdom if you are not hallowing his name and doing his will? How can you possibly do his will if you're not hallowing his name and seeking his kingdom? They go together that way. And so, again, urgency, priority, this is important stuff, this is where our hearts are going, everyone who has put their faith in Jesus Christ, who has the spirit of God dwelling in him, is going to want these things more and more. That's just what the spirit of God is doing in our life. Well, as we think about thy kingdom come in specific, as Jesus gives this, it's interesting, you know, it's in the context and Matthew's gospel of the Sermon on the Mount, and it's right in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount. And if you look at the rest of chapter six, that middle part of the Sermon on the Mount, after he talks about prayer and fasting, he seems to, again, we've more than the details of the kingdom, hallowing God's name, seeking his kingdom, doing his will together. But there's a kingdom focus, and I just want to show that to you, and if you have Bibles and want to follow along in chapter six, I'm going to just read a few verses, but 19 and 20 tell us, do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, kingdom of heaven, treasures in heaven, live for the glory of heaven. There's this kingdom where Jesus reigns and we're to live for it, even right now, in the way we deal with the stuff that God gives us, a place where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal, or where your treasure is, there will your heart be awesome, priority, urgency, passion, the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God. He goes on in his teaching and he tells us in verse 24, no one can serve two masters. Think Lord, think King, think ruler of your soul, the one who's reigning over you, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other, you cannot serve God and wealth. For this reason I say to you, do not be worried for your life as to what you will eat or what you will drink and on you see some of the give us this daily bread stuff, don't you? But he finishes with verse 33, but seek first priority, seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you. You see Jesus teaching us to pray, this is a priority. I want to show you also that not only is it a priority that Jesus is teaching us to pray but it's something Jesus himself lived for, Jesus lived with this as his priority. Two verses in your outline are to demonstrate this, the first verse starts at the beginning of this public ministry, Jesus, when he's baptized by John, and Luke tells us that as he is praying, the Holy Spirit descends on him, and he hears the voice, this is my beloved son and who my well please listen to him, he's praying at the beginning of this public ministry when he's baptized by John, and then the Spirit leads him to be tempted by the devil for 40 days, and from that time on that's where we get this chapter 4 and verse 17, from that time on Jesus began to preach and say repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Now at the end of his earthly ministry, the week before he is betrayed, arrested, tried, crucified, dead, buried, and then raised on the third day, the week before that he is teaching about the end of times beyond his life, and he says, and this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a witness to all the nations, and then the end shall come. We'll talk about the kingdom in a minute, but I want you to see that the idea of the kingdom and his preaching the kingdom, it's at the beginning and end of his life, and I've got a bunch of verses here I'm not going to read, but let me just say that as he thinks about his life, he talks about I was called to seek and to save the lost, the Father sent me to gather his children. His whole life and ministry was by word indeed preaching the gospel of the kingdom and living out the life of the king. Just two examples, Matthew 9 verses 35 and 38, it says Jesus was going through all the cities and villages teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness. There it is, word and deed, he's going about village after village, teaching, proclaiming, preaching the kingdom of God and healing and doing the work of ministry. It goes on seeing the people he felt compassion for them because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, the harvest is plentiful, the workers are few, therefore he seach the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest. There it is again, he's teaching us what to pray about, isn't he, pray for that coming of the kingdom. Luke tells us of a similar, although I think different time when Jesus is sending out the heavenly. He's sending them out to the very places where he's going to go and preach and it tells us the Lord appointed 70 others and sent them and perils ahead of him to every city in place where he himself was going and he was saying to them, the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few, therefore, besiege the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into the harvest. Okay, we get it, right? Jesus is big about the kingdom. It's a major theme of the Bible, I want to talk about that for just a minute. I've got to tell you as I worked on this, one of the biggest frustrations I had is there's books written on the kingdom, there's dissertations and there's competing ones because people see different emphasis and focuses and I feel like I've got a thimble and I'm at the side of the ocean. And even if we were to jump in and swim, the greatest amount of distance, we're barely offshore, but we'll do our best. Let me just give you kind of the broad sweep, first in just a sentence. The kingdom is where Jesus's rule and reign is active. The kingdom is where Jesus's rule and reign is active. It's already not yet, he's ruling in our hearts already, he's active there, he's working in us and the kingdom of God is in our midst because Christ is in our midst and he's ruling and reigning in our lives, but he's not ruling in our and reigning in our lives all the time or in the world all the time, it's not yet complete, it's not yet finished, all right, you get that? There's other, it's near and far and we talk about all the myriad ways the scriptures talk about it. Let me just give it to you from Genesis to Revelation. Remember when God created man, he had a conversation with himself. When he was creating, he spoke let there be and it was, it was good, there was morning and evening next day comes to man and God has a conversation with himself. Let us make man in our own image, there's the Trinity right there and him making us in his image, male and female in his image and let them rule over, fish of the sea, birds of the air, cuddle on the land, over the earth, image, rule. Once the creator of all things, heaven and earth, he made us to rule earth on his behalf in his name as his image bears. And so after he creates us, it tells us he spoke to us, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth, rule and subdue it, rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and there it is, there's the kingdom, we are to rule in the name of God over his kingdom, this little part of it, heavens and the earth are his and he rules over all and he's put his image bears there but that's where it starts. What happened? The fall, chapter three, the serpent, a rabble, a mute near, sorry I'm from the Navy and the kingdom suffered violence and all humanity fell into rebellion against the rain and the rule of God but the Lord said it shall not be this way and in verse 15 he gives the promise that Adam and Eve aren't going to die right now in fact the sea to the woman will crush the head of the serpent's head, it will crush the head of the serpent's sea, he'll be bruised in it but he will reign victorious. And so we have the promise of redemption and we have it pictured for us throughout the Old Testament right and Israel coming out of Egypt and God giving Israel a king, David and the line of the king with the promise the king is coming and when Jesus came the kingdom was here among us and lived and conquered sin and death and it's already and not yet we wait for that consummation don't we and we find in the book of the revelation there will be a time when the kingdoms of this world become the kingdom of our God and he will reign forever hallelujah, hallelujah, Amen and he will cast his enemies into a lake of fire and he'll wipe the tears away from the eyes of his children and we will reign under him yet again and Jesus the God man who is God who rules heaven and earth by him all things are made and apart from him nothing came into being comes as a man conquer sin and death while his heel is being crushed and he rules he reigns the son of God and the son of man the God man and we are seated with him in the heavenly places and so when we're praying we're praying we're praying for a couple things right we're praying for the all ready right now God rule in my heart and come Lord Jesus come Lord Jesus come so that every knee bows and every tongue confesses well let's let's look at this practice just a little bit more the the practice of the kingdom well the first thing is obvious pray right pray about the kingdom forgive me for being obvious that's what this is all about is learning to pray by kingdom come but there it is and just three things real quick they're kind of mostly review personally we're talking to our father the one we can call obba and the kind of the neat thing about it you talk to think about executives for a second are very important people however they show up in your life and you know people when they have a meeting with a very important person whether it's kings or governors or executives or whatever you know you you you wait outside and at the right time you're ushered in and there's protocol and all this sort of stuff but if you're a king if you're the kid of the king if you're the child of the king what do you do I want to see my dad and you just walk right past and you jump on his lap and daddy can I have an ice cream I like ice cream if you notice that and you have access it's intimate it's personal it's it's relational we come to our father by the way it's our father's kingdom and we are errors and we care about him and by caring about him it absolutely has repercussions for us who rule and reign in the inheritance that is on it's personal there's a priority there's an urgency and I'll tell you and we've talked a little bit about why let me just say it again there's an urgency because there's a war going on there is someone who is against our father who hates our father and hates us so we're not praying during peace time we're praying during war but we're also praying confidently because we know the end we know who will win we know who has won and honestly I'm trying to say this quickly or we'll go forever but we even know why it's taken so long the Lord is not slow about his promises as some count slowness he's patient toward not willing for any to perish but for all to come to eternal life I think he I think he means the all for whom Jesus was sent to redeem there's no doubt in my mind about that but let me ask you are you praying for someone who's not saved yet can you handle another day just in the event God may open their heart now we pray with confidence it's done he will do it it is finished we also are active we proclaim the gospel of the kingdom this is his command as you go preach saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand now we're at a kingdom of war and I want to think about it from two two perspectives one is the perspective of the citizen and the others the perspective of the soldier right we we're citizens and soldiers as it deals with citizenship Philippians 3 2021 for our citizenship is in heaven from which also we eagerly wait for a savior the Lord Jesus Christ who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of his glory I just couldn't let this first go the body of his glory the hallowing of his name the beauty of who he is there we are with us stop and just read it by the exertion of his power that he has even to subject all things to himself citizen citizens during war citizens during war you know world war two and in the war we're in now are radically different wars I'm merely a student of world war two and what happened but it was a game changer it was a life changer everyone was involved in the war effort not just those who died on the battlefield there was rationing there was maybe I was world war one I get I'm kind of confused but there was there was it was too too as well thank you there was there was rationing there was all sorts of concerted effort let me give one biblical example of what I think it looks like in our life if you have your bibles it's worth turning to ax chapter four I'll just read a little bit but the story goes like this after the resurrection the disciples are waiting for power from on high so that they can preach the gospel to all the world and it happens on the day of Pentecost they're filled with holy spirit and with boldness to proclaim the word of God and in chapter three we learn that Peter and John were going to the temple to pray and as they're going they meet a layman they don't have any alms to give him but he Peter says I'll give you what I have in the name of Jesus rise up and walk and the man is healed in the name of Jesus and this causes a little bit of commotion it causes enough commotion to where the temple authorities arrest Peter and John and they put him in jail overnight and then they have him give testimony the next day it's amazing Peter is just as bold as a lion very confident in what's going on he says if there's a question about what's happened to this man and whose name he's built been healed in there's no question to it Jesus the one you crucified and God raised from the dead that's the name that has brought health to this man and there's no other name under heaven by which men may be saved that's powerful preaching to the guys who crucified him and you know what they said they said you know I think this guy was with Jesus that's what the text not in those exact words but that's what it says and they say they put him out for a few minutes they say what are we going to do with this there's a miracle that took place this is in chapter four now there's a miracle that took place what are we going to do well I know and they call them back in and they say okay no more teaching in Jesus name and you hear me no more and Peter says whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to obey God you decide we can't help but proclaiming Christ citizens living as citizens in the world going to the temple to pray just minding in a sense their own business as Christians and their fathers business with the kingdom sure and the opportunity arose and with fearlessness with confidence he proclaims it and when the warning comes he goes back and reports and this is the part I wanted to read starting at verse 24 and when they he learned John go they report to the brothers when they heard this they lifted up their voices to God with one accord and said and here's the pre here's a prayer by kingdom come listen to it oh lord it is you who made the heavens in the earth to see and all that is in them who by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your father David your servant said why do the Gentiles rage and the people's device a few tile things the kings of the earth took their stand and the rulers were gathered together against the lord and against his Christ a quote by the way from the Psalms for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus whom you anointed both herod and Pontius Pilate along with the Gentiles and the people of Israel listen to this to do whatever your hand and your purpose predestined to occur and now lord take note of their threats and grant that your bond servants may speak your word with all confidence while you extend your hand to heal and signs and wonders take place through the name of your holy servant Jesus there's a prayer for the kingdom and there it is it's both it's both the priority in the practice lord you've heard you see the nations raging you you hear the kings and the rulers of the earth raging against you and your son but we're speaking your word lord and so strengthen us not keep us safe not make them change their hearts not help us but empower us to preach our word I love it and you know what happens after that it tells us that they do they proclaim God's word with great power and the spirit is upon them and no one claims anything is their own and they give and there's not a needy one among them give us this day our daily bread they're connected seek first the kingdom of God citizenship soldiers the apostle Paul speaking to his beloved son in the faith Timothy said to him you therefore my son be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus the things you have heard and for me in the presence of many witnesses entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others there it is the kingdom in its advance through the people of God suffer hardship with me as a good soldier of Christ Jesus no soldier is in active service intangles himself with the affairs of everyday life so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier soldier taught fight the good fight of faith no soldier lives for himself he lives for the one who enlisted it's like my dog's passion for fetch it's like the trainer for the marathon he sets himself to do the work that God has set before him only this time the metaphor is war by the way the three enemies right the world of flesh in the devil familiar with that I like to put him the devil the world of flesh so we get him I think in the way it hits us it ends with us okay the devil he's he's been deceiving from the beginning the whole world is under his care and so we we are what what did our assurance apart and start with and you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you formally lived according to the course of this world according to the prince of the power of the air of the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience among them we all too literally were children of wrath
so the devil has has had a profound impact on the whole world and therefore we're told do not be conformed to this world let be transformed by the renewing of your mind by the new king you serve who delivered you out of the domain of darkness and transferred you into the kingdom of his beloved son do not love the world or the things of this world I could go on the devil the world sadly the flesh we too have the desires of the flesh and of the mind and outside of Christ are enemies and hostile and we have a war raging within our symbols and therefore we're commanded to put to death our sinful nature and it's two hands it's it's it's put off it's put to death it's don't live there and seek him seek his kingdom live for him walk in his light let his word renew your mind let me give you just one example of how I think this looks what this looked like in Paul's life I love the book of Philippians you know he he's he got in he got into trouble when he first went to Philippi he cast a demon out spiritual warfare right they went to jail and the next day the jail that night the jailer went in his house over safe and the church was formed during that time and they supported Paul regularly and in the book of Philippians as he's writing he's it's kind of a thank you letter hey thanks for the support not only the money but sending I think it's a papaditis messenger and minister to my knee and in chapter one he starts after you know the introductory work and he's praying for them and he praises specific prayer and he says now that you may know about my circumstances now I want you to know that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel and he doesn't say I'm in jail but it's not cold I'm in jail and I'm tied to this guy but he's nice he doesn't say the food stinks he doesn't talk about anything of the circumstances he says I want you to know that the gospel is progressing and and even those who don't like me are preaching Christ to snub me and I rejoice that the gospel is being preached by those who have faith and confidence and love Jesus and those who just want to snub me and by the way you know I'm going to trial for my life before Pilate and I want to tell you verse 20 it's according to my earnest expectation and hope that I won't be put to shame in anything before God but that with all boldness Christ will even now as always be exalted in my body whether by life or by death for to me to live as Christ and to die as gain and his whole perspective of the circumstances is that of a soldier who's given himself for the glory of the king they got grant us this kind of passion you know I really want to ask that that we continue to pray that we're honest with God God my passion I get passionate when I'm wrong I care more about my name my kingdom my will than your name your kingdom your will forgive me I become petty I take up reproaches instead of the love of Christ compelling me to share the gospel and encourage the saints I take up reproaches and I get mad and I hold grudges God change me would you pray that would you ask God to give you his love the love he has for you to pour out on others we as a church or at a time of financial I hate to say crisis I think it's overstatement financial crisis is when you don't have anything but we're burning through savings at a exorbitant rate and it's very concerning to the leadership of the church and I think the rank and file members of the church as well and we can pray about that not only as it relates to our daily bread but you know why we move the offering when we moved our prayer structure because when we give we are to give to the Lord his times in our offerings and we give for the advance of this kingdom not only the missionaries that we support which we do the pastoral staff the building the things that we seek to use to do ministry out of now I'm sure beginning of next year I'll be I'm not sure but I imagine I'll be teaching on giving and stewardship and all that but I want you to I want you to think already if Jesus is king of your life he's king of everything and your passion should show in every area with the building of his kingdom the glory of his name and the doing of his will as those who have the spirit of Christ blowing in
Jesus in you will give you that passion and it's the pursuit of him that is at long lasting and growing and not just flashing the pen so pursue him don't just give pursue him and if you're not a child of God know that this is something this is more than just something great to live for this is ultimate there is a God and he does rule and his desire is for you and his patience I could give you a chance to turn to him and be reconciled Lord please do this holy work in our lives in our midst and in our lives we ask and choose this name I'm in