#2 | Kingdom of God: What Does It Really Mean for Us?

It's watering time, everybody.

Yes, it is time for Apollos Watered, a podcast meant to help saturate your faith with the things of God.

I am your host, Travis Michael Fleming, and it is a delight to be with you today.

Thank you for tuning in.

Today's question is centered around the kingdom of God.

Let's just lay it out.

First of all, what is the kingdom of God?

Now, if we were to go back over history and look over church history, we would see that there are many different conceptions of what the kingdom of God is.

In fact, if we were to just step out of the walls of our home and talk to different generations of those of people in the United States, we're going to get a different idea of what the kingdom of God is.

On one side of the equation are those some have called the skinny jeans kingdom adherents, those who believe that we do any social project or some act of goodness, that it's the kingdom of God, and yet there's no understanding of the church or why we should be involved in church, or the importance of doctrine and the preaching of Christ and the necessity of making disciples.

And if we were to go to the other side of this spectrum, it's what one author has called the pleated pants conception of kingdom.

And what he meant was that there are those who just see it in terms of doctrine, and they don't understand the greater emphasis of what kingdom means in the world today.

And so we see these two sides juxtaposed against one another, where you have the younger people seeing it as acts of righteousness or good deeds done in the world, but yet devoid of church or discipleship.

And on the opposite side, you see those who see it within the context of church and discipleship and yet are not active at all within the world today.

And so we just look at that as a cursory glance and we stop and go, what then is the kingdom of God?

What is it?

Why does it matter?

So when we're talking about this concept of kingdom, we don't need to look at modern society.

I mean, we do look at church history to see where they had really faulty understandings of it.

But most of us are never going to do that.

So what we need to do is go to the resource that we have in front of us already, and that's the Bible.

And what does Jesus say about the kingdom of God and what's its importance?

And if we were to start off, we would actually go to the Book of Mark.

And Mark is the shortest of the Gospels.

Many scholars believe that it's the very first of all the gospels.

It's the most brief.

It starts off with Jesus baptism by John the Baptist.

And it starts off with his ministry and its beginning.

And in Mark, chapter one, verse 14 through 15, we read this.

Now, after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee proclaiming the Gospel of God.

And I want to pause there just for a second because what was the gospel if Jesus hadn't died and risen from the dead yet?

But let's go back and saying, the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand.

Repent and believe in the gospel.

Now, if we look at it from our 21st century stadium seat and we're looking into the auditorium of the Word of God, we can say, well, hey, of course it's referring back to this part.

It's referring back to Jesus.

Even though they didn't know this yet, it was talking about the crucifixion that was to come.

No, I don't think that plays well.

I think we have to stop and go, what did it mean to Jesus?

ORIGINAL AUDIENCE because originally, I don't think the average Jewish listener would finally have said, oh, thank you.

Someone here to tell me how to get saved.

Oh, so great.

I've been waiting so long to know how I can be saved from my sins.

That's not all what they were thinking.

I think they were thinking more of, wait a minute, we got a liberator, someone who's in the image of the Davidic king.

I mean, it's the king, the king is coming, and Messiah and temple and Jerusalem and let's do this thing.

And I mean, kick the Romans out, let's get these occupiers out of Jerusalem.

And justice, I mean, think about all the cries of justice that we have going on in our world today.

It's the same kind of concept.

People were primed and ready to hear about the gospel and this kingdom that was coming.

And so they looked at it as coming right away.

Now for many of us, we're like, well, of course they had a really screwed up understanding of it.

We know that Jesus kingdom is spiritual.

Jesus talked about that.

I mean, any of us who have been in Sunday school for any period of time or if you've ever heard a sermon, you understand that the kingdom of God, the way that Jesus envisioned it was very different than they envisioned it in the first century.

They wanted it to come right away and they had a really huge misconception of what it was going to be like.

But when we bring it into our era and we see it just as a spiritual understanding and not understanding that it's going to affect or be seen or manifested in different ways.

We, we equally can make some pretty screwed up misconceptions ourselves.

And we have to understand that it's a pretty difficult subject for us to even talk about.

I mean, how often do you talk about the kingdom of God with your friends or even talk about it at church?

Now you might come from a church where you talk about it quite a bit and if that's the case, you have a rock in church.

But for most of us, I think the kingdom of God is kind of like the appendix.

We know it's in there, we think it might have a purpose.

We've heard maybe that it does, but really we can live without it.

And I think for most of us, the reason that we have such a hard time is that we're pretty filled up with everything else.

I mean, we got a lot of problems, we got a lot of issues.

And so if the kingdom of God can't be used right away, then we don't want to talk about it.

And truth be told, it doesn't make a lot of sense to us anyway.

I mean, think about it.

If I were to tell you that Jesus is a king and Jesus is coming and you'd be like, say what?

King Burger King, King James, Prince Charles, that guy over in Great Britain.

I think that's where most of us are at.

We don't think about king and all that it entails.

But you know, the Bible does talk about king quite a bit.

As a matter of fact, the whole Old Testament is really pregnant with this concept of king.

And we don't get it.

It just kind of, we get glossy eyed when it comes to talking about the king and it doesn't really make a lot of sense to us.

So we skip over it.

But before we really get to this understanding of what the kingdom of God is, we need to talk about the reason why we're even talking about a king.

Right?

How can we talk about a kingdom unless you got a ruler, a king?

Now the Bible uses a bunch of terms that we don't use today.

Dominion, throne, scepter, crown, rule, rein and footstool.

And these are images that are borrowed or used in talking about a king and kingdom.

And the Bible talks a great deal about this stuff.

Matter of fact, it's throughout many of the pages of the Old Testament and uses terms like scepter and throne.

In fact, you got Genesis chapter 49 where you have Jacob at the end of his life.

He's blessing his sons and he's going down the line.

And he gets to his fourth son, who's named Judah, and he tells him that there's going to be a scepter that won't depart from him or the ruler staff from between his feet until tribute comes.

It's the idea of he's looking down the line, he's looking in the future, going, matter of fact, Judah, there's going to be a ruler that comes from you.

There's going to be a guy who rules and reigns that comes through you.

And in numbers, chapter 24, we get this pagan prophet.

One of my favorite stories in all of scripture, a guy named Ben Balaam who is being commissioned to curse the people of Israel as they are wandering around in the wilderness and making their way over to the promised land.

And some of the foreign nations don't like that, so they pay this guy named Balaam to curse him.

And in fact, God shows up, and instead of having him curse them, he actually has him bless them.

And in one of the really cool verses is in number, chapter 24, verse 17.

And Balaam says, I see him, but not now.

I behold him, but not near.

A star shall come out of Jacob, and his scepter shall rise out of Israel.

It shall crush the forehead of Moab and break down all the sons of Chef.

Did you get all that?

Oh, those are a lot of terms that we're familiar with.

But he says, I see him, but not now.

In other words, there's a ruler that's coming, but he's not here right now, and he's coming.

I behold him, but not near, not right away.

It's going to be down the line that he's coming and he's a star, which is the idea of ruler come out of Jacob again, because Judah is the son of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel, a ruler.

That's what he's talking about there.

And it's going to crush the forehead of Moab and break down all the sons of Chef.

It's going to rule over everybody.

He's going to have power and authority.

And another passage we get a small glimmer of, this is Micah, chapter five, verse two, where we hear, O Bethlehem, Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth from me, one who is to be a ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from.

Of old, from ancient days.

So he's saying that.

He's saying that from Bethlehem is going to Be a ruler.

And if you've ever been in church on Christmas, you know that Jesus was born in anyone.

Bethlehem.

Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding.

Yes, Bethlehem.

We have a winner.

Jesus was born in Bethlehem.

And so we see that this prophecy is saying that Jesus, a ruler, Jesus we know to be Jesus, is going to be the one born in Bethlehem who would rule and reign.

And again, how does that apply to my life today?

Well, we have to understand that God had laid out centuries ago that there would be one who would come into the world to make it right.

Because the world was under oppression in sin and it's all over the place.

The problem is, is that most people don't think sin is sin and they don't understand sin and they don't understand the way the world is.

And they think that they can make it right and better and great and we can get rid of all of our problems.

And yet, no matter how much we have increased in knowledge and in technology, we seem to be more miserable than we've ever been before.

Yes, we've taken care of some things, some pretty important things.

We've got some great things with healthcare and help and transportation and technology.

But with all of advances that we've had, we have found that we can't remove the stigma of sin as it comes into our worlds.

And we need an understanding of a savior who's going to help liberate or set us free or help us, because we know that the world is not all right.

And this ruler is going to be awesome.

He's going to come from, we understand now.

He's going to come from Judah and Jacob before that, so Jacob and Judah.

And he's going to be a descendant of David.

We know that he was going to be born in Bethlehem.

And if we were to go to the book of Daniel, which is like the Old Testament version of the Book of Revelation, we read in Daniel 2:44.

And in the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people.

It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever.

So he's going to rule an everlasting kingdom.

And again, Daniel, chapter 7, verse 14.

And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples nations and languages should serve him.

His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away and his kingdom shall not be destroyed.

So it's gonna be a really huge, amazing kingdom, which means that every nation on earth Right now, every government is all, they're all going to bow at Jesus feet.

I mean, think about that.

Every people group, every tribe, every tongue, every language, every background, every subgroup that you can think of, every fringe group that you can think of, every terrorist, every, I mean every single person in all of humanity is going to be bowing down before him.

And these are just a small slice of the scriptures that deal with God's coming king and his kingdom.

But often I think we miss it because we're kind of caught up in our everyday lives and we're rather selfish.

And we're also some of the most biblically illiterate people in the world right now.

I mean, we have so many of the greatest resources, we can look up anything we want to.

But I find that the problem isn't access.

I mean, there are countries that don't have access, but it's application.

We don't know what to do with what we have.

So we skip over all this stuff.

Now why does that matter?

Well, we're missing the full flavor of the story.

That's the problem.

You know, I don't know if you remember the first time that you ever saw the movie Star wars or how old you are, but if you were of a certain vintage, basically if you're my age or above, you remember seeing Star wars starting with Episode four, Star A New Hope.

Now, we didn't call it a new hope back then.

It was just Star Wars.

And then you had Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, and then you went through the prequels and then the sequels after that.

And so depending on where, what age you are will largely depend on where you came into the Star wars story.

Now I remember though, after watching Star wars and seeing that scrolling marquee in the very first few frames of the movie, when it tells you the background of everything that's gone on.

But what really struck me is when I saw Episode four, A New Hope, that was the title.

I remember thinking to myself the first time that I can really recall revisiting it, going, wait a minute, what about episodes one through three?

Why does it say episode four?

This should be the first one.

Of course, it was only later that we discovered that this was the 4, 5 and 6, and that there were 1, 2 and 3.

That was a story that had taken place way before that, and there would be a story that takes place after that.

But when we look at the New Testament, it's very similar.

See, we're coming into episode four and we're like, wow, what a cool story with four and.

And five and six.

And we're seeing that kind of played out.

But there's a reality that we really miss a greater part of the story that's found through episodes one through three, which is Genesis all the way through Malachi.

Now, why does all that matter?

I mean, because we really do miss the story.

Now you might say, well, I don't need to know that whole story.

I only need to know episodes four and the rest of it.

And that might be true, but you really get the full flavor of it and understand the importance of it when you grasp what happened beforehand and you find out that there's a lot more.

And remember, this is where it really is different and the illustration falls short.

This isn't entertainment.

This is about our lives and who God is and who we are and why the world is the way that it is and why Jesus needed to come.

That's what we have to keep our eye on, that Jesus is really the arc of the story and we're brought into it.

But there's so much more that brings it out.

I just absolutely love it.

Matter of fact, there's one, one scholar guy by the name of R.C.

sproul.

He mentioned this.

He says, at the end of Jesus's Jesus, just as he was about to depart from this earth, his disciples had the opportunity to ask him one last question.

They asked, lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom again?

That's what we're talking about, the kingdom.

Are you going to bring it back now?

Is that what you're doing?

Is that what it's about?

And Jesus is like, so frustrated.

He's just like, are you kidding me?

How many times have I been telling you guys that that's not it.

That's not it.

I'm not going to restore that right now.

That's not the point.

Now, he didn't answer that way, of course, because he's Jesus and he's a lot better than we are.

And he says really gently, it's not for you to know the times and seasons which the Father has put in his own authority.

But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.

And you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.

And see, what did he mean by that?

Well, it's that his kingdom was not of this world.

Matter of fact, Pilate, when Jesus was brought before him and they said, he's a king and he wanted to know where his kingdom was.

And the response, response was, my Kingdom was not of this world.

Now was he indicating that it was just the spiritual kingdom that was taking place in our hearts or was he speaking of something else entirely?

As I said before, the whole Old Testament called attention not to a kingdom that would simply appear in people's hearts, but it was more than that, but to a kingdom that would break through into this world.

And we get this actually In Luke chapter 11, verse 20, Jesus says this.

If I cast out demons with the finger of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.

If this is real, if this is legit, meaning that if this is really happening, then the kingdom of God is coming and it's coming in the person of Jesus and it's going to break through my people as the Spirit of God is reigning in the hearts and minds of people.

I mean, we get another idea of this when Jesus sent out 70 disciples on this preaching mission and he instructed them to tell these non repentant cities that the kingdom of God has come near you.

Then if that's the case, how could the kingdom be upon the people or near them?

The kingdom of God was near to them because the King of the kingdom was there because he's walking around and where his people are, that's where the kingdom is, that's where his rule is seen.

So when Jesus came, he inaugurated God's kingdom.

I mean, I don't know if we really get that he inaugurated it, but we have something similar to that in the United States.

So right now we're in an election season and I'm not talking about one candidate or another, but my point is, is that in November there's an election that determines the next President or the next President of the United States, whether it's the incumbent or whether or not you have a new guy assuming the office.

But let's say a new person assumes the office.

And what happens is between this period of November and January, that President is called the President elect, meaning that they are the President, but they haven't assumed the full office of the President.

Now there are changes that will start to be made to get ready for that new president.

Right?

And it's the same that's true with Jesus kingdom.

I mean, of course it's not a one to one comparison, but the idea is there is that Jesus is the Savior elect, the King elect, if you will.

Now he's not elected by anybody.

God is elected him and chosen him.

But the rule and reign has been determined, but the fullness of that reign has not been manifested yet.

Pretty Cool, huh?

And so we have this idea, this conception of kingdom, and it really does affect us because that means that kingdom is going to be breaking through until the fullness when Jesus comes again and consummates the kingdom.

And that's why we need to get really a good description of it, because there's really not any place in scripture where we can find a definition of kingdom.

Like, you can turn to like, two opinions, chapter four, and read right here that the kingdom is this and you have a definition.

You don't get that.

Instead you get puzzle pieces.

And as we go through scripture, we take, oh, there's a puzzle piece.

Oh, Daniel, okay, Daniel 7, that seems like a puzzle piece.

And you start picking the different puzzle pieces, and when you start pulling them out and you find that they fit together and it creates this amazing picture of who God is.

And we see here, then it's already present when we.

When we start putting the pieces together, that's the first thing that we discover.

These are the ideas that it's going on.

It's already going on.

Just as I said before, it's like the president's election, except he's the king elect.

Now, not only is it already going on, but this king, when he comes, has got absolute power.

And I don't know about you, but when I am looking forward to the day when he has complete, obvious absolute power manifested.

Because I'm looking around the world right now going, who's in charge of this thing?

It feels like we left the inmates in charge of the insane asylum.

You know, I look around the world, I look what I see going on on social media, and it's just little videos or clips and people making opinions and everyone saying this or that.

Or you go on to the comments section of some news sites and oh, my lands, I look at our world and I go, oh, what is going on?

Or I look at other countries and other governments and I read their news and I hear their stories and I'm looking around the room going, someone needs to be in charge.

Why can't these injustices be fixed?

Why can't there be no more sex trafficking?

Why does there have to be abuses in marriage?

Why does there have to be so much economic disparity?

Why do these people have to be oppressed the way that they are?

Or treated because of the color of their skin or their ethnicity or their language or their background.

I want God to come and fix it and make all things right.

I want him to show that he is loving and he is right, and he is joyous and wrathful and loving and forgiving and merciful and all of the different perfections that God exudes from his person.

I want to see that.

And it takes, it makes me so excited that he.

To know that he has absolute power.

It's unchecked.

It's not like the American system where you've got checks and balances and, and there's a.

An equal distribution between the powers.

No, he's got absolute, complete, final authority.

And it's a perfect power, though.

See, our founding fathers in the United States recognize the fallen nature of man and the propensity of man to screw things up.

That's why the checks and balances are there, because power goes to our head.

Not so with God.

He will always be equitable and fair and treat people without regard to anything except the criteria that he has within himself.

So he has absolute power.

He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords.

And here's some just awesome passages to help fire you up with that.

That's in Daniel, chapter 7, verse 27.

And the kingdom, and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High.

His kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.

Get ready for this one.

Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man.

And then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

What a show.

I mean, unlike any show I've ever seen in the sky.

And I've seen some pretty remarkable fireworks.

I mean, if you've ever been in the United States and you've seen fireworks go off on the Fourth of July or in D.C.

or New York or Boston or Chicago or your hometown or maybe your little.

Your little county area where they do fireworks or your friends, but you've seen it, or even gone to Disney World, and it's just pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop.

And your eyes are just going back and forth and you're seeing just the glory of it.

I mean, how much more glorious is it going to be when Jesus comes back?

It's going to be so much more amazing than any earthly fireworks you could Take all the earthly fireworks and put them all together in the same location, and it's going to look like just black and white television next to 4K.

I mean, it's going to be a wild ride.

And not only does he have this absolute power, but it's.

I mean, he's checking over the whole government.

Now, I don't know how this government's going to play out.

I'm not that skilled of a theologian or Bible scholar.

I just know that in Isaiah, chapter 9, verse 6 through 7, and it says he's going to rule over the government.

And this is this awesome passage that Handel's Messiah comes from in the Hallelujah chorus where he says, for unto us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder.

And his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of his government and of peace, there will be no end on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and uphold it with justice and with righteousness.

From this time forth and forevermore, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

He's going to have all the power.

I've got the power.

He's got it all.

Okay, he's got all the power.

But he's not a king unless he rules over a people.

And our king is ruling over a transformed people.

Now, this is where it gets a little bit tricky, because he's not coming in the fullness of his power yet.

And we know that at the end of time, he's going to consummate that kingdom.

But his rule is seen now in a transformed people.

Now, as I said before, a king's not a king unless he's ruling over a people.

You can't just walk home one day, open your house, and no one's there and say, I'm the king.

What are you the king of?

Nothing.

Okay, you might be the king of the house, but you've got no subjects.

And so to be a real king, you need to rule over a people.

And in scripturally, it's a transformed people.

I mean, yes, he's going to rule over everyone at the end of time, where wrongs are going to be righted.

But now he's ruling over a transformed people that are seen in the church.

You know, one theologian put it this way, and I love it.

He put it really quick.

He said, it's the king's power over the king's people in the king's place.

The king's Power over the king's people in the king's place.

Brief but effective.

It's effective now when we're also talking about him ruling over a people.

He's got to have a place to rule.

And it is a really a renewed place.

And again, this is where we get into the already.

Not yet.

We know that there's a new heaven and a new earth, but what does that really mean?

Because kingdom, the word actually refers to two different parts.

It's got two sides to the coin.

One is rule and the other side is realm.

Now, again, not terms that we use very often today.

Some just want to make it say that we're talking about realm or location.

But whenever the term actually is used, it refers to both.

So the question is, how can he have the government upon his shoulders if there's not a realm for him to govern?

And the promised Land, which is the most controversial piece of real estate in the entire world, it's actually a foreshadowing of the cosmic place where God will exhibit his reign at the end of time.

Now, I know that's a pretty controversial thing.

And if you've been in church for any period of time, that is going to really mess people up.

But Isaiah presents a picture of God, the king.

God is the judge, but he's also under the tender king to his people because of this Davidic servant, messenger who brings restoration, the new Exodus, the new creation, the new Zion.

This is Patrick Shriner talking, and he's saying it this way.

While God's reign is everywhere and the earth is his footstool, According to Isaiah 66:1, which is, by the way, what ancient rulers had.

I got to see a footstool up close.

I was in Egypt about 14 years ago, and I got to go to the American University, or, excuse me, the American Museum in Cairo.

And I got to see King Tut's footstool.

And on it, it had all of these different figures of tribes painted on it, and it was showing that he ruled and reigned over them.

So again, another picture here of one ruling and reigning.

And we see the kingdom of God, or excuse me, we see the epicenter of his reign will be Zion, Jerusalem, from which he's going to bless all the nations.

And the kingdom of God is through power and a person.

And it's for a place, boom.

He's going to create a new heaven and a new earth in Jerusalem to be a joy.

Isaiah 65, 6, 17, 18.

And in the new Jerusalem, Jerusalem, there will be no more crying.

65, 19.

There is no Crying in the kingdom.

No crying in the kingdom.

No death.

Isaiah 65, 20.

No governmental systems of oppression.

Hallelujah.

Isaiah 65, 21, 22 and no.

Can you believe this?

Here's the word conflict.

What?

Yeah, no conflict.

Isaiah 65, 25.

All because of this Davidic servant, messenger, which is ding, ding, ding, ding.

Right answer is Jesus.

Yes, I will accept Jesus, the Son of God.

I will also accept Christ, Messiah and Issa, Yeshua, Emmanuel, God with us.

I'll accept all of the above.

That's who it is.

He's going to be ruling over renewed people in a renewed place.

And we get another idea of this in Ezekiel and because Ezekiel, again, fascinating book, a little bit like Revelation, got some pretty crazy pictures in there.

But it ends with a picture of a temple, which is a picture actually of all Crete creation.

And he promises that this.

That a temple will be rebuilt which will be larger and much better than the one King Solomon ever constructed.

And remember, the temple is not standing right now.

The Dome of the Rock is there in the Al Asqua Mosque.

And this guy promises that a temple will be rebuilt which will be larger, better than Solomon's.

And the throne chariot enters the temple, which signifies the king's presence, returning to his people and establishing them in their place.

And then this river flows out from the temple and transforms the Dead Sea into a garden city named the Lord is there.

Now, I've been to the Dead Sea.

It's dead.

Nothing there.

I mean, you got a lot of people that are taking their aches and pains and soaking in the salt water, and it stings to float in that thing, but there aren't any waves, no sea life, no movement at all.

It is dead.

And so the idea then that this thing is going to be transformed into a garden city, that's a little bit crazy in saying the Lord is there.

So says Patrick Schreiner.

And it's there that are going to be governed by the divine presence.

Okay, God's there, right?

God is there.

God will be there.

He's the center of everything.

God is the gospel.

And so then, if we know that God is there and it's going to be a renewed place and it's a transformed people, what does that mean for us?

Well, then it means if we're really this transformed people, that we believe in Jesus and that he's really our Lord and Savior and our king, a sign that we are Living according to the King's rule and reign means that we need to be following his law.

And that means for us, living by the godly principles within the word of God, the King does rule by a law.

And that means for us, following Jesus through the power of the Spirit as we apply the Word.

Now that's loaded.

That is loaded, but that's what it is.

And I don't want to get into all of the different, different types of laws and ceremonies and genres, but when we're looking at the New Testament, we see that we're to be following Jesus, our king through the power of the Spirit as we apply the word, the Bible, which are the ideals that God desires that we live by.

It's really a performance script.

That's what the Bible is.

It shows us how to act out that we are followers of the King on the stage of the world where Jesus is actually the star of the show, we're always pointing to him and the divine drama of redemption is being displayed to the world for them to see.

But also God invites us by faith to become participants on the stage of the world to display his glory to everybody else.

And our script for that show is the Bible.

It's performative.

Some people just think it's to tell us all about the bad things in our life and how bad we are.

And while it does condemn us and show us that we are evil, it shows us where we can find a cure for our evil and our sin and suffering and sadness and death and how to put away the works of the devil, the evil one.

I mean, the Bible talks about all these things.

So it's not this heavy document that's there to just slap people down as if we are in this cosmic game of whack a mole and the Bible is just hitting us in the head, knocking us down.

Sinner, sinner, sinner, sinner.

No, that's not what it's about.

It's to show us life and how to find joy and how to turn from those things which kill our joy and to become part of God's story in a greater way where we can have this dynamic, awesome, life changing, wonderful, wonderful, transformative relationship with God.

And it's awesome.

I mean, that's what this, the difference that this subject makes.

That's what we're talking about when we're talking about the Kingdom of God.

We're talking about a subject where God's allowed us to give an entry ramp into his story.

I mean, what does the Kingdom of God mean for our everyday lives?

Let Me break it down.

It means that if you.

If he's the king, then he demands our allegiance, nothing else.

No other idols of this world, no other relationship, not a spouse, not a child, not a government.

Our ultimate allegiance is not to a political party or to one single individual on this earth.

The only allegiance that we really ultimately have is Jesus.

That's it.

He's the king.

And we are citizens of that kingdom.

And that should transform how we look at everything.

Because we're not fighting for a kingdom in a military or a political sense, but in a spiritual one that will manifest itself in transformative ways in the lives of other people.

That's where it's really seen and how it's played out.

So our allegiance is not to anybody else except to Jesus.

And that determines everything else in our life.

And all the other allegiances that we're to have, to our spouses, to our families, to our workplaces, to our careers, to our political parties.

They all fall into place once we get that allegiance to Jesus, Right?

So we go from being a part of a fallen kingdom that's really ruled by the evil one into a heavenly one that is ruled by Jesus.

And that should not only change in our allegiances, but our attitudes.

How do we view the world?

How do we interact with people in the world?

How do we go about our lives?

Are we always down?

Are we always depressed?

Are we always condemning ourselves?

Or do we realize that we have been beneficiaries of Christ's saving grace and that our standing with God is not based on our righteousness or our good deeds, but it's based on what Jesus has already done.

And that's freeing to know that he loves us.

And there's so many people that think that they are unworthy of God's love.

Let me tell you this.

Worthy has two different senses.

Worthy has this sense of deserving and value.

They have two different kind of sides to that coin.

And I find that people confuse those.

You are not deserving of salvation.

That's true.

And that's where I find most Christians park.

However, the other side of the coin is often missed.

You are, though, worthy.

And what I mean by that is you have value.

You are valuable in the sight of God.

You are precious.

You are made in his image.

He knows all of the hairs on your head.

He knows everything about your life.

He knows your struggles.

He knows your pains.

He knows your sufferings.

He knows the conflicts that you've been through.

He knows the hardships you've experienced.

He knows your trials, your troubles and Your tribulations, He knows all of them and he loves you and he knew all the evil that you would ever do, and he still decided to give his life for you on the cross.

That's God.

And when we realize that, that should change our attitude and we should cultivate, and it's become cliche, but cultivate an attitude of gratitude and it should reshape how we view the world.

What do we do in our days, the actions that we have, how we treat other people and our aspirations, what we pursue, what are we striving for?

What are we going after?

I think we've been hoodwinked by the world.

I think we've been drawn in, duped, deceived, and we've really believed that the world is the only option that there is.

And all of the things that the world offers to us, we want.

We want to be famous.

We want to be known.

And it's really amplified that, but at the same time, it's alienated us because it always is promising it, but never delivering it.

And so we have to really change our aspirations, what we strive after.

I can't tell you how many different Christian families I see want their children to be famous.

I've come to the point in time in my life now where I wouldn't wish fame on my worst enemy.

And people would say, well, you're crazy.

Really.

Have you looked at some of the lives of these people, how they're attacked all the time, how everything that they do is being monitored and checked?

I mean, I'm not saying that we don't have things to strive for and we don't want to leave a good legacy or a name in our lives.

But if we're going after fame, it's the wrong thing.

It's the wrong thing because that's not going to last.

Only Christ's kingdom is going to last and only those things that were done for him.

That's what's really going to endure.

Because the invisible world will become visible and this world is going to really fade into it, and we're going to see what is passing away.

We read in the Bible that the world is passing away along with its desires.

Only what is done for Christ is really going to last, and that's what's going to be seen at the end of time.

So we need to put away this notion of trying to be famous all the time.

And I'm talking do Christian Christians.

I'm so tired of people trying to go after celebrity pastors.

Please stop it.

Please stop, stop.

Christian famous can we please stop that, because that's not what God wants.

I mean, what did Jesus say?

The first shall be last, the last shall be first.

Humble ourselves.

And I find so many Christians trying to baptize fame in a Christian idea of it, and in doing so have forsaken what God has truly said about himself and how we're to live as citizens of that kingdom.

And then we exalt these celebrity people or put them up because of their talent or their gifts, because we're really idol worshipers.

We create idols even out of our pastors and teachers and leaders, and in doing so they fall and causes a great harm to the name of Jesus Christ.

Now, I'm not sure exactly what I have as a solution to that, except to say that we all need to humble ourselves and rethink this notion of what it means to be a follower of Christ in the midst of this world world, and get back to what the word of God says.

Because when we do that, we're going to find joy and we won't be so troubled by all of the different things that we see going on in the world because we know that those are always going to exist until Jesus comes and the fullness of his kingdom is seen.

And so that's what the Kingdom of God does.

This, this understanding of the Kingdom of God really reshapes how we think, how we look, how we interact with people in the world.

And so the Kingdom of God has an amazing point to it and we need to understand it.

And in doing so, we find out that the God story is so much greater.

And not only is it a story to be marveled at, but it's one that is able to be participated in.

Isn't that interesting?

You know, Star wars, we come in episode four and we're just watching this whole thing play out.

But in God's story, we're invited into it not just to watch it, but to be a participant in it.

I want to leave today with a couple of questions.

First of all, are you a participant in God's kingdom?

The only way that you can enter into God's kingdom is through Jesus Christ the King.

He gave his life for you on the cross.

He bore your sins in his body on the tree.

He came to defeat the evil one, to take away your sins and enable you to have forgiveness and life with God.

He died, your death, was buried, rose again, appeared to many followers over a 40 day period.

And then he ascended into heaven where he sits at the right hand of God and awaits for the consummation or awaits the day of the consummation of his kingdom.

And you only can enter into the kingdom of God by repentance and faith and belief in him.

That's it.

But for.

For those who have already done it, I hope that this is an encouragement to you that you might rethink where your allegiances are, that we might all rethink where our allegiances are, myself included.

And that we might reorder our lives to truly display that we are first citizens of a heavenly kingdom, a kingdom that cannot be shaken.

So with that in mind, we need to remove anything from our lives that are not pleasing to our king.

We have to turn away from them.

And we turn away from them not because he's just going to whack us over the head.

No, we do so because we love him.

We want to do what's right in his sight.

We want to experience the smile of God, the joy of God, knowing that we were doing what we were made to do and embracing our creator and our savior and our king.

That's what this is all about, the kingdom.

Well, we're going to continue studying the kingdom of God next week.

I want to invite you to give us a listen or throw us a like out on Facebook.

Send us a message.

Let us know what you like, what you didn't like.

Help us to make this better for you so that you might be able to grow in your relationship with Jesus.

And we would be tremendously honored.

I would be tremendously honored if you would share this with other people so that they too might grow in the relationship with Jesus.

That's it for today's episode, everybody.

This is Travis Fleming signing out from Apollos watered.

Stay watered, everybody.

Wow.

You thought you were in paradise?

Cause I'm a cool, cool breeze?

You thought you were blinded by the bright lights?

But it was just me.