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Our Preaching theme for 2022 is “Begin Again”
This year we are going to be revisiting and refocusing on some foundational things - beginning with our church values.
When we began to formulate a vision for the church, we began with values.
What is really important to us?
What are our priorities?
Our vision must reflect our values, so we begin with values.
You may be listening to this teaching sometime in the future and I hope that while our themes and perhaps even our vision statement have changed, our values are pretty much the same.
We began with worship, the Word and the sanctifying work of the Spirit.
Today we will talk about the Kingdom of God.
This doctrine describes the rule of God over his creation as king, including how the rule is exerted and structured and what its ultimate purpose is.
If you read the Gospels you will see that Jesus talked a lot about the Kingdom - it was, in fact, the primary subject of His preaching.
When we think of kingdom, it calls to mind medieval images of castles and knights, of kings and peasants where life revolved around the lives and pursuits of a few nobles and everyone else was seemingly unimportant.
The truth is that no one had is easy in those days.
Just as the lives of peasants was to serve the nobility, it was the job of the nobility to protect and provide for their subjects, or they would have no subjects.
To be a noble also meant living with a target on your back.
That’s why the people say, “God save the queen.”
In Jesus’ day the kingdom was Rome which claimed rulership over the civilized earth.
But Jesus’ preaching of the Kingdom was not against Rome, it was against sin and evil which corrupt our humanity.
Jesus recognized that it was not just the rulers that were corrupt, but that there is a corrupting force behind the rulers and that corruption extends to each of us.
God is the Creator and He created the world as good.
Man rebelled along with the corrupted spiritual beings and decided that He would be the master of his own destiny.
In doing so, the corrupt sinful nature made us subject to forces of evil which have been let loose in the world.
The way to escape evil is to repent, recognize our own sin and corruption and turn our allegiance back to God our Creator.
Jesus showed us the way by offering his own life as a sacrifice for our sin.
In doing so, He also took back the right of mankind to rule and to have authority on earth as an extension of God’s rule and authority.
So what does that mean for us today?
It means that we recognize that no matter what things look like in the world today, God is still on the throne!
We bring ourselves under His authority and the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
And as we come under the authority of Christ, we respond by bringing everything that is under our influence under his Lordship as well.
What that means practically is that we are not building our own little kingdoms - we are building one big Kingdom in which each of us have a part.
We value a Kingdom mindset and perspective in that we are not just about building our church but also furthering the cause of Christ in our region and around the world.
God’s heart and our desire is for every nation and every people group to know the love of Christ and the truth of His salvation.
We also love and support Israel as central to God’s plan and purpose.
(Psalm 24:1-6, Isa.
2:1-5, Matt 5:17-20, Col 1:9-18, 2 Tim.
4:1-5)
What does this look like?
Perhaps you remember as I do, the slogan “Think Globally, but act locally.”
It has popularly been used by environmental sustainability community to depict how a global crisis may be solved by each one working in their community.
It has also been adopted by members of the world missions community to show how world missions and the local church are part of the same strategy.
The Kingdom of God is the eternal rule of God becoming visible and practical in our time and space.
The Kingdom of God is here!
God rules despite what you may think.
God rules despite the chaos around us.
God rules and His rule is infiltrating every level of society.
God rules and the rebellion humanity and of the devil is already crumbling.
God rules and is about to crush satan under your feet!
Think globally
The Kingdom is everywhere.
The Psalmist begins by declaring that the earth is the Lords.
Why?
Because He founded it.
God created the earth and as the Creator is entitled to rule over it.
Have you ever created something that you were really proud of?
Something that you really put your heart and soul into?
Have you ever had such a thing break or fall apart?
What if someone tries to take it from you?
How would you respond?
What is that thing that you made had a will of its own?
What if it decided not to listen to you or belong to you?
Now you can imagine the heart of God when mankind fell.
God has not abandoned the earth.
He has not abandoned mankind.
He made a way for us to come back to him through Jesus.
But the Psalmist is writing before Jesus and is declaring God’s intention.
The earth still belongs to God!
When I sailed with the Danish Mission ship “Elida.”
We had a practice that every port we would come to, we would declare, “Jesus is Lord” over this place.
It is simply acknowledging what is true despite what it looks like.
Jesus is Lord over Spring City Fellowship
Jesus is Lord over Spring City.
Jesus is Lord over Chester, Montgomery and Berks counties.
Jesus is Lord over Pennsylvania.
Jesus is Lord over the United States of America.
Jesus is Lord over the Earth.
The Kingdom is everyone who confesses Jesus as Lord.
Who can approach God?
The Psalmist asks.
Whoever has clean hands and a pure heart.
How do you get that?
You renounce your allegiances to things that are not God.
You recognize that the world is in rebellion against God and you and I have been caught up in it.
We come clean before God when we confess our sin and receive his forgiveness.
Jesus gave His life for your so that you could be free to come to God.
That means that we are now doubly indebted to God who not only made us but who redeemed us through Jesus.
Sooner or later the whole world is going to realize this.
I think it is better that we realize it sooner rather than later.
According to this scripture it is not just the rebellious humanity that is going to confess Jesus as Lord, but the evil behind the rebellion as well.
This scripture is not saying that everyone will be saved.
It is saying that everyone will eventually admit to the truth about God and face the fact of their own rebellion.
Those who are fighting on the wrong side are going to know it, but it may be too late.
The Kingdom is always expanding.
10 Encouraging Trends of Global Christianity in 2020 (first five)
Insights| Faith & Culture | Jun 10, 2020
By Aaron Earls
With so much happening in the U.S. in 2020, particularly within the church, American Christians can often forget theirs is a global faith.
There are significant and noteworthy trends of Christianity happening around the world right now, according to the latest Status of Global Christianity report from Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary.
1.
Both Africa and Latin America have more Christians than Europe.
In 1900, twice as many Christians lived in Europe than in the rest of the world.
Today, the Christian population in Europe has a flat growth rate, while Africa and Asia continue to experience dramatic growth.
Currently, almost 640 million Christians live in Africa and 604 million in Asia, while 544 million call Europe home.
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