Sermon - January 18, 2015 - The Story Week 26 - The Hour of Darkness

I personally have no desire to golf, but there are some who are probably braving the weather this weekend with our slight warm up. Some golfers spend a lot of money visiting golf instructors to try to improve their swing. Claude Harmon was considered a great golf instructor and he would often give this advice to his four sons who also became golf instructors. “Boys, whenever someone comes to you to learn to play golf, you will see in their swing ten different problems. Your job as their teacher is to find the one that causes the other nine.”

If we were to look at the world and our lives, I would suspect we all have some issues or problems. Can you think of at least 10?

Do you have problems with your attitude, temper, nerves, pride, bitterness, kids, in-laws, marriage, God, friends, health, income, job, what about fear of war or terrorism, ice storms, tornados, poverty, child abuse, and even health care. I am sure each of us can relate with some of these and I am sure there are others.

Claude Harmon said one problem with the swing causes the others, how about in our lives and the world. Does one problem cause the others? The Bible gives us a resounding, Yes! Jesus dealt with the particular problem, the fountainhead of all others, on the cross. When the problem was addressed, Jesus declared, “It is finished.”

What was finished? What happened on the cross that makes the cross such a big deal?

Open your Bibles to Matthew 27:39-42

“³⁹ Those who passed by were yelling insults at Him, shaking their heads ⁴⁰ and saying, “The One who would demolish the sanctuary and rebuild it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross!” ⁴¹ In the same way the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked Him and said, ⁴² “He saved others, but He cannot save Himself! He is the King of Israel! Let Him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in Him.”

Remember the phrase ‘He cannot save Himself!’ All these people were mocking and making fun of Jesus while He was dying on that cross and in doing so said something that is 100% true.

Jesus could not save Himself …and us! He could save Himself by abandoning us and coming down from the cross like the chief priests and scribes wanted Him to do. OR He could stay on that cross and die to save us. No matter what, Jesus could not save both Himself and us. Our salvation is completely dependent on Jesus giving of Himself.

Here we see the Upper Story, God’s Story, intersect with the Lower Story, our story. Jesus could easily save Himself, He has the power to free Himself float down from that cross and prove to everyone that He is God. He had the power to wipeout everyone who was standing there mocking Him. He even has the power to tell us our sins are forgiven. So, why did He need to die on that cross?

The Upper Story drove the need for it. The only way to restore life to a dead world full of sinful people was through the death of God’s Son. Jesus could not save Himself and us.

Why? The need for Jesus to die on that cross points to how Holy God is and how sinful we are. I think one thing many people lack is the understanding of how Holy God is because they do not realize how sinful we are.

The fact that God is Holy is foundational in scripture. From the very beginning in the Book of Genesis to the end of times in the Book of Revelation, God’s Holiness is proclaimed. God being Holy means that He is set apart, He is unique, He is pure, God is totally and utterly different. His thoughts are not our thoughts, and His ways are not our ways.

The Bible tells us that God cannot tolerate sin.

Habakkuk 1:13

“Your eyes are too pure to look on evil, and You cannot tolerate wrongdoing. So why do You tolerate those who are treacherous? Why are You silent while one who is wicked swallows up one who is more righteous than himself?”

God is too pure to even look at evil! He cannot be around us in our normal state, something needed to be done.

Revelations 3:16

“¹⁶ So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I am going to vomit you out of My mouth.”

Jesus cannot tolerate us as sinful beings. When God said He was angry with the nation of Israel when they rebelled against Him, the word for angry means to nauseate, to make sick. Their sinful actions, their rebellion, and our sinful rebellion makes God sick. Sometimes I wish our sinful actions would result in making us sick. Might help us to keep from sinning as much and to learn from our mistakes a little more. I know I can be a slow learner, but if something makes me sick I stay away from it. Thankfully God did not stay away from us, instead He provided another solution.

When you watch the news or documentaries about the calamities in the world they talk about poverty, hunger, drugs, war, etc… Have you ever watched 20/20 or Dateline and they talk about what is causing these issues? Do they point out that all these problems are the result of a sin problem? No, they point out how the economy, lack of education, absentee parents, governments, or just about anything else is the cause of all of our problems. According to God, the heart of the problem is and has always been a heart problem.

People refuse to acknowledge God and obey Him as our Creator. Our planet is filled with godless people who live for today and don’t think about eternity. Too many people have forgotten about God. Sin is rejecting that God is King. Sin is thinking we sit on the throne, not our Lord. There is only one King, and that is Jesus Christ our Messiah.

According to scripture if we could fix that one problem, then the other nine would be corrected. If we could somehow fix our sin problem, the rest of the problems would be fixed. The problem is we are sinful creatures, we are stubborn, trapped in our ways, and we cannot fix the sin problem on our own. We haven’t given God everything that He deserves, we haven’t submitted our complete will to His. How does our Holy God respond?

Does He pretend our sin is a simple slip in judgment? Can He condone our sin as simple stubbornness? Does He say ‘boys will be boys’ or ‘girls will be girls’? Does turn a blind eye? No as a Holy God he cannot condone sin or let it slide. A Holy God must hate sin. A Holy God cannot compromise His holiness by indulging our sinful behavior. God must hate sin and He must punish sin. So, where does that leave us? God could wipe us all out, but chances are if that was the approach He was going to take Adam and Eve would have never left the Garden of Eden or Noah and his family would not have been spared during the flood.

If God was only Holy, He might have taken the extreme measure of ridding the world of human kind, but as we have seen over the last 26 chapters in The Story there is something else driving God. God created and is doing everything He can to bring us back to Him because He Loves us! God Loves His children, whether we deserve it or not. God Loves You!

Psalms 85:10

“Faithful love and truth will join together; righteousness and peace will embrace.”

He is at once a righteous God and a Savior. He is full of grace and truth. God is the just one, who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

God’s stern holiness operates from God’s infinite love. God does everything He does out of His fiery holiness AND His tender love. These two opposing emotions actually work together. If God were only Holy, He would probably have used His great smite button and wiped us out. If God were only love, we would be allowed to do whatever we want without any discipline or correction. Now what happens to children with no discipline, they become impossible. Without God being holy and disciplining and correcting us we would probably destroy ourselves.

A Holy God cannot disregard the rebellion and a loving God cannot disregard His children. God’s holiness and His love combine to do something that no one ever imagined in their wildest dreams. God become a man!

God became a man and lead a sinless life. God became a man and died a sinner’s death in our place. That is the story of the cross.

Matthew 27:45-54

“⁴⁵ From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over the whole land. ⁴⁶ About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Elí, Elí, lemá sabachtháni?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

⁴⁷ When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “He’s calling for Elijah!”

⁴⁸ Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge, filled it with sour wine, fixed it on a reed, and offered Him a drink. ⁴⁹ But the rest said, “Let’s see if Elijah comes to save Him!”

⁵⁰ Jesus shouted again with a loud voice and gave up His spirit. ⁵¹ Suddenly, the curtain of the sanctuary was split in two from top to bottom; the earth quaked and the rocks were split. ⁵² The tombs were also opened and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised. ⁵³ And they came out of the tombs after His resurrection, entered the holy city, and appeared to many.

⁵⁴ When the centurion and those with him, who were guarding Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they were terrified and said, “This man really was God’s Son!”

 Might seem like the end of the world is at hand with the sky darkening, the earth quaking, and the rocks splitting. Yet, it’s the words of Jesus that grabs us when He cried out. “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

Jesus was forsaken so that we might be forgiven. Jesus was forsaken so that we would be received by a Holy God. That is the beauty of the cross!

God placed all of our sins on His Son. When that happened, God could no longer be with His Son. Jesus was left all alone, completely disconnected from God, on that cross with all of our sins. Jesus accepted our punishment on the cross so God could pour His soul saving love on us.

Pastor and Theologian John Stott said:

“God Himself, gave Himself, to save us from Himself.”

2 Corinthians 5:21

“²¹ He made the One who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

God is the great God who at once, loves His children and punishes their sin. He did so by putting that sin on the sinless one so that God’s love and God’s justice could meet and we could be saved.

Do you see why the cross is such a big deal? It is through what happened on the cross that the sinless righteousness of Jesus Christ can now be ours.

This is the ultimate sacrifice that God did just for you. Think about what this says about how much God loves you! Since Adam and Eve first sinned God has been building up to this point. He paid for your sin with the precious blood of Jesus.

God loves you so much that He went through all of this to spend eternity with you. The question we need to answer as believers is, how are we repaying Him? I am not suggesting we can earn this gift. I am reminding each of us this morning that Jesus is King. He is King over every aspect of our lives. What I want you to think about is are you letting the King Reign over your life or are you trying to minimize how much of your life He is involved in?

 

 

Thanks for reading and may the Lord bless you abundantly!

 

Robert

Sermon - January 11, 2015 - The Story Week 25 - Jesus, the Son of God

Who is Jesus? This is the most important question you will ever answer in your life! Answering who is Jesus; is more important than who you are going to marry, what career you will work in, or how you will serve others. It is the ultimate question, Who is Jesus?

Why is it so important? It has to do with your identity, with who you are. It has to do with the direction of your life, the rock you hold onto, feeds your goals, and your dreams. The answer to the question also determines the purpose of your life. What on earth are you supposed to do with your life? It also answers the question about eternity, where do you go when you die?

There are a lot of things tied up into one very important question and your answer to it. Who is Jesus?

Back in the 70’s Josh McDowell wrote a book titled ‘More Than a Carpenter’. I read it around 1990 and it changed my faith. The whole book was focused on answering Who Jesus Is? The question the book asked, was Jesus Lord, Liar, or Lunatic? Josh and his son Sean have released an updated version in 2014, and I would highly recommend it.

As we look to answer this question, we are going to start by looking at a time when Jesus proposed this same question to His disciples.

Mark 8:29

“But you,” He asked them again, “Who do you say that I am?” Peter answered Him, “You are the Messiah!”

 Jesus had gathered His disciples together and asked them “Who do the people say that I am?” They are in an area called Ponnino, the home of the Greek god Pan. The city was once an area of Ba’al worship and as a Roman city was also a place where Caesar was worshipped as a god. Syrian gods were worshipped in surrounding villages. This area was full of all the different ancient religions and it was here that Jesus asked His followers, “Who do the people say that I am?”

They said people thought He was John the Baptist alive from the dead, or that He was Elijah. Others thought Jesus was a prophet like those we see in the Old Testament. Jesus than asked his disciples directly. “Who do you say that I am?” Peter answered first saying that He believed that Jesus was the Messiah.

Throughout history people have been trying to answer this question. Who is Jesus? At Jesus’ bidding Peter walked on water. Peter was there when Jesus feed over 5,000 people. He witnessed Jesus create a whip and chase the money changers out of the temple.

Who is this guy? Every person has to ask and answer this question. There are many ‘popular’ answers to who Jesus is out there and this morning we are going to consider a few of them as we answer; Who is Jesus?

Some people say that Jesus is a decent person. He was a good person who created ‘the golden rule’ showing he was a friend of the poor, an advocate for those down on their luck, and a loving friend to everyone. I don’t know anyone who says that Jesus was a bad guy, but some people just limit Him to being a good guy. He loved everyone.

Problem with this first answer to our question this morning is that it contradicts what Jesus said. He claimed to be far more than a ‘good guy’, far more that a decent person. Jesus claimed to be God Himself. In fact, He referred to Himself as the Son of Man 80 times in the four gospels.

Matthew 8:20

“²⁰ Jesus told him, “Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head.”

People of Jesus’ day would have found this claim as an affront and not something that any decent person would say. They were familiar with the Book of Daniel and would have known that the title ‘Son of Man’ would be for the coming Lord.

Daniel 7:13-14

“¹³ I continued watching in the night visions, and I saw One like a son of man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was escorted before Him. ¹⁴ He was given authority to rule, and glory, and a kingdom; so that those of every people, nation, and language should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away,
and His kingdom is one that will not be destroyed.”

Sounds like Daniel was talking about Jesus, and he was talking about a divine being. One with authority, a kingdom, and an everlasting dominion that will not pass away. While I would hope a divine being who is described in a vision Daniel had would be a decent fellow or a nice guy, I don’t see how Jesus could be limited to being a nice guy since these verses are talking about Him.

This nice guy Jesus was also using another phrase that distinguished Him as more than a decent person.

John 6:35

“³⁵ “I am the bread of life,” Jesus told them. “No one who comes to Me will ever be hungry, and no one who believes in Me will ever be thirsty again.”

John 8:12

“¹² Then Jesus spoke to them again: “I am the light of the world. Anyone who follows Me will never walk in the darkness but will have the light of life.”

“I Am” is how God identified Himself to Moses as he stood before the burning bush. Another title that would not have been taken lightly by the people who heard Jesus.

Jesus claimed to forgive sins, to be greater than Jonah, than Abraham, than Solomon, and even greater than John the Baptist, He claimed to be greater than the Temple and the Sabbath. Jesus claimed to be way more than a ‘nice guy’ so that cannot be the answer to the question about who Jesus is.

Another possible answer to the ultimate question we are trying to answer this morning is that Jesus was a demented fool. People who say this think Jesus must be crazy since he claimed to be God. They would equate Him to megalomaniacs like Alexander the Great or Adolph Hitler for all His craziness.

The struggle with this answer to the question about who Jesus is does not add up. How could Jesus be a demented fool and have inspired people as He did? Think of your readings over the last several weeks, people did not  just respect Jesus they loved Him. They left their homes, businesses, and families to follow Him.

Max Lucado wrote:

“Men and women alike tethered their hope to His life. Impulsive people like Peter…visionaries like Philip…passionate men like John…careful men like Thomas…methodical men like Matthew the tax collector.”

These people were better; they were changed for the good because of their encounter with Jesus. If you look back through history demented fools did not have a positive impact on their followers. Hitler created murderers, Stalin created power addicts, and Manson created wackos. Jesus had a positive impact on people.

Jesus did not make people into lunatics or murderers, He made them better. With common fishermen writing some of the most revered books in human history. Not to mention that the small group of nobodies that spent the most time with Him continued spreading His teachings after His death.

What about Jesus’ teaching? If you remember last week we talked about how He taught with authority and clarity. He won the admiration of men and women from all walks of life. From Pharisees to tax collectors to fishermen, Jesus’ teaching inspired them. His mind was obviously not one of a demented fool.

Another possible answer to our question this morning would be that Jesus was simply a fraud. He set out to deceive people, a trickster, a huckster, a pied-piper who led blind followers over the cliff to their destruction. This answer would require one to believe that Jesus tricked people into believing that He was the Messiah.

Could Jesus have been no more than a deceiving fraud? If He was a fraud, how would you explain all the miracles that He performed? He was known for doing amazing things that the people had not seen before. He feed thousands with only a couple of handfuls of food, He healed lepers, calmed storms, walked on water, healed the blind, healed the lame, and replaced a severed ear. There are something like 36 different miracles that He performed recorded in the gospels. How could a fraud do all these things?

Everyone knew of Jesus’ ability to do miracles, He did them all the time and out in the open. But He never performed miracles to merely draw a crowd or to make a name for Himself. Scripture points out several times that Jesus wanted people to keep it quiet.

Matthew 9:30

“³⁰ And their eyes were opened. Then Jesus warned them sternly, “Be sure that no one finds out!”

In Mark when He healed a leper and when He raised Jairus daughter from the dead, He told him not to say anything to anyone. There are several more instances of when Jesus told them to not tell anyone, this is not something you would expect from someone trying to make a name for Himself.

Jesus never grandstanded His miraculous powers as a trickster would have done, He did not seek money or fame by performing miracles. He simply did them for two reasons; to help people and to prove his identity.

Around 120 AD a historian named Quadratus wrote to Emperor Hadrian:

“The works of our Savior were lasting for they were genuine. Those who were healed and those who were raised from the dead were seen not merely while our Savior was on earth, but also after His death they were alive quite awhile so that some of them lived even to our day.”

A historical reference that supports that Jesus performed miracles, not something a fraud could pull off.

Now if Jesus was a fraud, I would have expected the church in Jerusalem to have died off. What typically happens after a popular leader leaves a church, it shrinks and dies. The exact opposite happened with the death of Jesus. Instead of the church shrinking we see it grow like crazy. A fraud would not have performed these miracles or had such a lasting impact on those that were His followers.

So if Jesus is not just a nice guy, a demented fool, or a fraud we are limited to one answer to the question about who Jesus is. Who is Jesus? He is our Divine Friend. He is exactly as He said He was, the Son of God. When you review all that Jesus taught and all the things that He did this is the only answer that makes sense.

Jesus did miraculous things with a wonderful heart, showing that He was a tender, compassionate person who befriended and truly helped people. He showed by the miracles that He performed that He did have power and authority.

Was Jesus just a decent person or nice guy? No, would a nice guy claim to be God and not be?

How about a demented fool? No, the lasting impact He had on the people around Him shows that His teaching and love was genuine.

A deceiving fraud? No, how could a fraud perform these miracles and change lives.

Jesus is the One and Only God.

Peter said it best when asked by Jesus who He was.

Mark 8:29

“But you,” He asked them again, “Who do you say that I am?” Peter answered Him, “You are the Messiah!”

The Messiah, the one who died on the cross to pay for our sins out of His love for us.

Who is Jesus? This is the most important question you will answer in your life; Who is Jesus?  Is Jesus your Messiah? Will you accept Him or will you reject Him?



If Jesus is not your Messiah and you understand that you are a sinner and that no matter what you cannot make it to heaven on your own. Jesus is offering you an amazing gift, all you have to do is ask and believe that He forgive you for your sins. A simple prayer asking Him to forgive you and asking Him to be the Lord over your life starts you on an amazing journey.

Pray this,

"Lord Jesus, I understand that I am a sinner and there is nothing I can do to change that. I believe that you are the Son of God and it is through your death on the cross that my sins can be forgiven. Jesus please forgive me of my sins and help me to learn to be like you. In your Holy name I pray, Amen."

If you have prayed this prayer for the first time I want to welcome you to the family of God. Please get in touch with me, go to the link below, or visit your local church so that you can learn more about what it means and the next steps.

How to Become a Christian

God Bless,

Robert

Sermon - January 4, 2015 - The Story Week 24 - No Ordinary Man

Their entire world consisted of just one island. They measured wealth in seashells. They never heard an engine, struck a match, experienced a cold day, or been told about gravity. They believed the entire world was only what they saw and experienced…until 1930 when two white men arrived on the island of New Guinea. Michael Leahy and Michael Dwyer, two Australians prospecting for gold, began to explore the island.

The natives were not initially hospitable as these two men introduced them to a world beyond their own little island world. The islanders had never seen skin so white or bodies so clothed. Seeing soap bubbles for the first time as the prospectors bathed in the river, the natives thought the bubbles were a skin disease. The natives thought the lanterns the men had were containers with pieces of the moon in them. When Michael Dwyer took out his dentures, the natives ran screaming into the jungle.

Could we also be accused of a similar response? Do we also suffer from “tiny islanditis”? Do we think the whole of reality is what we see and experience? How do we respond when a foreigner visits and points out that we live in just a tiny dot of reality? That’s what Jesus did.

Jesus is an invader, a foreigner, an alien, an outsider. He spoke in language we are not used to and lived by principles never known to us and which we find difficult to embrace. Jesus spoke of a “kingdom.” In The Story we discover Jesus declaring, “The time has come. The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news.”

Throughout the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke we find that Jesus was recorded as talking about the Kingdom of Heaven or the Kingdom of God over 60 times. The kingdom takes center stage for Jesus and His teaching. Sadly the same cannot be said about what we teach here or at other churches. We don’t talk about kingdoms today. We don’t like to think about an absolute rule, a monarchy; instead we tend to like the democracy we have here in the USA. We’re all about having a vote, putting people into office, and voting people out of office.

The thought of giving someone a lifelong assignment with complete and absolute rule over every detail of our lives is completely foreign and not something we want to do. The struggle we face is, it may not be what we want but it is Biblical.

In the previous 23 weeks of The Story we have seen over and over that the Bible talks about the Kingdom of God and the King we are to follow.

In Genesis the King created the universe and everything in it. In Daniel we find Nebuchadnezzar, the pagan king of Babylon, who said:

Daniel 4:34

³⁴ But at the end of those days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, looked up to heaven, and my sanity returned to me. Then I praised the Most High and honored and glorified Him who lives forever: For His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom is from generation to generation.”

The Old Testament prophets saw a time when God would establish a new rule on earth and often spoke about the coming of a king, a Messiah, the Anointed One.

Zechariah 9:9

“Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout in triumph, Daughter Jerusalem! Look, your King is coming to you; He is righteous and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

This coming King was realized in the coming of a Nazarene carpenter who entered the world and said, ‘the time has come, the Kingdom of God is near, repent and believe the good news.’

So what on earth is God up to? He is up to a kingdom.

Mark 4:3-9

“³ “Listen! Consider the sower who went out to sow. ⁴ As he sowed, this occurred: Some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵ Other seed fell on rocky ground where it didn’t have much soil, and it sprang up right away, since it didn’t have deep soil. ⁶ When the sun came up, it was scorched, and since it didn’t have a root, it withered. ⁷ Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it didn’t produce a crop. ⁸ Still others fell on good ground and produced a crop that increased 30, 60, and 100 times what was sown.” ⁹ Then He said, “Anyone who has ears to hear should listen!”

Jesus is talking about the Kingdom of God. This Kingdom does not come about with armies carrying swords and riding on chariots. It comes to being in the form of a farmer and the seeds that are spread. Sometimes the seed falls on soft soil and the heart receives the kingdom’s teaching and their life begins to bear fruit. They bear fruit in happiness, and in joy, some 30, some 60, and some 100 fold. Other people have hard hearts, and their soil is crusty and rocky. They don’t like the idea of another king in their lives and they cannot see that there is more to life than the island we see. That seed does not take root.

Jesus gives us 4 scenarios and 3 of those 4 do not accept the kingdom. Some may take that is that 3 out of 4 people will reject the Lord, and that may be very true. That is why we need to continue to share and plant seeds over and over. If people reject the gospel 3 out of 4 times when they first hear it we need to make sure they have many more chances to hear it and to accept it. God wants everyone to be saved and we want all of our loved ones to come to Jesus realizing they need The King in their lives and that they want to be part of the Kingdom of God.

Luke 17:20-21

 “²⁰ Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God will come, He answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming with something observable; ²¹ no one will say, ‘Look here!’ or ‘There!’ For you see, the kingdom of God is among you.”

The Kingdom is not some far away kingdom on a mountain top or isolated on an island. The Kingdom of God is all around you, it is within your reach. Every single person has access to the Kingdom of God.

An eight year old boy and his ten year old brother have been misbehaving and their mother asked the preacher to talk to them. The preacher told the mother he would talk to them about God being everywhere, so that they would understand that they need to always behave in the presence of God. He called in the 10 year old and started by asking him, ‘Do you know where God is?’ The boy was scared and sat there silently looking at the preacher. The preacher raised his voice a tad and asked the boy again, ‘Do you know where God is?’ The boy just sat there looking scared and the preacher raised his voice and asked a third time, ‘Do you know where God is?’ At this the boy jumped up ran out of the office and grabbed his 8 year old brother. As they ran away he told his brother, we are in BIG trouble. We need to get out of here, God is missing and they think we did it!

God is not missing; He and His Kingdom are within our reach!

Too many people pass through life unaware that there is even a King and a Kingdom. They limit themselves to their little island and never understand that there is so much more available to them.

Matthew 13:44-46 – Jesus Says

“⁴⁴ “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure, buried in a field, that a man found and reburied. Then in his joy he goes and sells everything he has and buys that field.

⁴⁵ “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls. ⁴⁶ When he found one priceless pearl, he went and sold everything he had, and bought it.”

The Kingdom of God is like finding a treasure or pearl that are beyond value. It is the greatest discovery you can ever make. It’s like waking up from a world which is only black and white and discovering color for the first time.

Mark 4:26-29

“²⁶ “The kingdom of God is like this,” He said. “A man scatters seed on the ground; ²⁷ he sleeps and rises—night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows—he doesn’t know how. ²⁸ The soil produces a crop by itself—first the blade, then the head, and then the ripe grain on the head. ²⁹ But as soon as the crop is ready, he sends for the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

The Kingdom of God operates in ways we do not understand or control. The farmer planted the seeds but he did not understand the chemistry of the soil or the biology of the seeds. He knew that it takes good seed, good soil, water, and time. The farmer understood that if he does his part and is patient enough he is going to have a good harvest.

This is a promise of the Kingdom of God. When you are part of God’s Kingdom and you do good things, trust in God, have patience, then good things are going to happen. The fruit of happiness and joy, the release from an addiction, and so much more. You may not understand how or why but things turn out for the better when you are member of the Kingdom of God. Jesus said it is like discovering a treasure, and it is available to everyone.

Jesus also tells us that we do not need to worry, that His Kingdom is worry and anxiety free.

Matthew 6:25-27

²⁵ “This is why I tell you: Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the sky: They don’t sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than they? ²⁷ Can any of you add a single cubit to his height by worrying?”

Jesus tells us we don’t need to worry. For some that is probably easy for others it is rather difficult. Some people worry about how much they are worrying and then they worry about how much their worrying has an impact on them physically and spiritually. Jesus does not want us to worry, and He gave us the perfect plan on what to do instead.

Matthew 6:33-34

“³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you. ³⁴ Therefore don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

Jesus is basically saying just relax, it is ok! Imagine that Jesus wants us to relax and not stress. It is true I do not know what each of you is going through, but there is someone who does. The Kingdom of God is a place where things work out okay. The Kingdom of God is a place where you do not need to be anxious. Jesus knows what you are going through.

But who is this Jesus to tell us about the Kingdom of God and to make these promises of joy and anxiety free lives? He is the Son of God and His miracles demonstrate His Royal Authority and Power.

One day Jesus was teaching and that evening He told his disciples to cross over to the other side of the sea. They all climbed into the boats and made their way. Jesus fell asleep in the boat and a fierce storm come. The waves were breaking on the boats, starting to tip them and splashing water in them.

Mark 4:38-41

“³⁸ But He was in the stern, sleeping on the cushion. So they woke Him up and said to Him, “Teacher! Don’t You care that we’re going to die?” ³⁹ He got up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Silence! Be still!” The wind ceased, and there was a great calm. ⁴⁰ Then He said to them, “Why are you fearful? Do you still have no faith?” ⁴¹ And they were terrified and asked one another, “Who then is this? Even the wind and the sea obey Him!”

Who is Jesus? He is the King of All, The Creator, Our Savior. Jesus showed His Authority by calming the wind and seas.

In the next chapter Mark 5, we see Jesus meeting up with a demon possessed man. This man lived in the tombs, had broken chains, smashed shackles, and was often found crying out among the tombs and cutting himself with stones.

Mark 5:6-8

“⁶ When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and knelt down before Him. ⁷ And he cried out with a loud voice, “What do You have to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg You before God, don’t torment me!” ⁸ For He had told him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!”

The demons, legion, did not resist or even try to talk Jesus out of it they just ask to be reassigned to the pigs. Jesus casts them out of the man and into the pigs, and a moment later the pigs are squealing and the man is smiling.

Jesus once again shows that He is worthy to be King. He taught about the Kingdom of God, made promises about what happens when we are a part of it, and has shown that He has the power and authority to back up His words. Jesus is King.

Do you have a king? We all do in one form or another. Some people read People magazine to keep up with their king. We all need a king. We all want a king. Jesus has all authority in heaven and earth. In God’s Kingdom there is room for only one king – we cannot be our own king or queen, we can’t look at other things or people to be our king, we need to look squarely to Jesus as The One and Only King!

The world will try to get you to forsake your King, but Jesus is the only True King!

 

 

Seek the One and Only King! God Bless!

 

Robert