LutheranLectionary.org

Series A – Third Sunday After the Epiphany – Sunday, January 22, 2017 | Pr. Chris Rosebrough

Welcome to the Teaching Ministry of Kongsvinger Lutheran Church. Kongsvinger is a beacon for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of Northwestern Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone, and now, here’s a message from Pastor Chris Rosebrough:

Time Stamp	Transcript
0:30	the holy Gospel According to Saint Matthew Chapter 4 verses 12-25
0:36	now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested he withdrew into Galilee leaving Nazareth he went and lived in
0:44	Capernaum by the sea in the territory of zebulun and naphtally
0:49	so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled the land of zebulun and land of naphtali the way of
0:56	the sea beyond the Jordan Galilee of the Gentiles the people dwelling in darkness
1:01	have seen a great light and for those dwelling in the region in the shadow of death on them a light has dawned
1:09	from that time Jesus began to preach saying repent for the Kingdom of Heaven
1:15	is at hand and while walking by the Sea of Galilee he saw two brothers Simon who was called
1:20	Peter Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea for they were fishermen and he said to them follow me I’ll make you
1:27	Fishers of Men immediately they left their Nets and followed him and going on from there he saw two other brothers
1:33	James the son of Zebedee and John his brother in the boat with Zebedee their father mending their Nets and he called
1:39	them immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him and he went throughout all Galilee
1:46	teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every
1:53	Affliction among the people so his Fame spread throughout all Assyria and they
1:58	brought him all the sick and those Afflicted with various diseases and pains those oppressed by demons
2:04	epileptics and paralytics and he healed them and great crowds followed him From
2:10	Galilee and the decapolis and from Jerusalem and Judea and from Beyond the
2:15	Jordan in the name of Jesus all right this is going to be a slightly
2:20	different type of sermon today as you can tell from our gospel text there is a heavy emphasis on making
2:28	disciples being Fishers of Men but in order to do that you must understand the
2:33	message properly and there’s something that Jesus said that is very difficult for us to understand as 21st century
2:41	Americans living in a Democratic Republic and these words are them
2:48	from that time Jesus began to preach repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at
2:54	hand Kingdom of Heaven now you sit there and you go okay Kingdom right right
2:59	right right we have a president I don’t know if you’ve noticed you know there was a lot of news about our new
3:05	president this week and the issue is that in our Democratic Republic we’ve
3:10	kind of lost side of this whole concept of monarchy of being under a king and
3:17	not only that because so much preaching and teaching today doesn’t know how to
3:23	connect the Old Testament with the new the story of the Kingdom gets lost it’s
3:29	a major theme it’s a major doctrinal and Theological theme in scripture and it’s highly abused today if you’ve ever heard
3:37	any liberal preaching on this and that seems to be quite a thing up here then
3:44	you may have heard stories like this the gospel of the kingdom is well fulfilled
3:50	and you’re doing Kingdom work when you engage in social justice
3:56	and so you may think that you know people who preach this way they they basically say it’s important for us to
4:02	go and do Kingdom work by digging fresh water wells in Africa
4:07	and there’s nothing wrong with digging freshwater wells in Africa or we need to
4:13	somehow fight for social justice or spend our time working to eliminate
4:19	poverty now believe me when I tell you serving your neighbors who are poor and
4:27	needy and making sure that their hung their their fed and clothed is an important good work but that technically
4:35	is not the work of the Kingdom think of it this way many people in Liberal circles consider
4:42	Gandhi you know his life to actually be kind of some Stellar example of what it means to
4:49	be doing Kingdom work but Gandhi did not confess Christ he denied Christ
4:55	and although Gandhi made a difference in the world Gandhi didn’t make any disciples
5:02	and so when you wrongly understand the gospel of the Kingdom you end up making
5:07	a difference but you don’t end up making disciples and the Great Commission in
5:12	the Great Commission Jesus did not say all authority and Heaven on Earth has been given to me
5:18	go therefore and make a difference that’s not what he said
5:23	but if you are busy of the work of the Kingdom you cannot help but make a difference
5:31	you see the difference you see anybody can make a difference I’m not if you know your history after Adolf Hitler
5:39	ascended to the chancellorship of the German Republic
5:44	he made time magazines Man of the Year he made a difference
5:49	he got the trains to run on time he turned the economy around he took
5:55	Germany from a nation that had huge inflationary problems
6:01	stabilized their economy and put them on a solid track
6:07	heading straight to World War II and so understand the Bible is thick
6:14	with Kingdom talk when we pray the Lord’s prayer today
6:19	your kingdom come your will be done you see there’s Kingdom talking that the question is
6:25	what does Scripture mean what does Jesus say and why is it that Jesus now as John
6:31	the Baptist has been arrested is picking up the same same message as John the Baptist repent
6:38	for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand
6:43	so the question is how would a first century Jew living in Judea
6:52	at this time have understood these words that’s the question so we’re going to do
6:58	a little topical sermon if you would drilling hard into this concept of
7:04	kingdom fleshing it out because I’m convinced that once you see it you can’t
7:09	unsee it and there is no difference by the way and this is the other thing there’s a
7:15	lot of confusion where people will say there’s a difference between the gospel of Salvation And The Gospel of the
7:20	kingdom and so they try to split the two you can’t they go hand in hand because they’re the exact same thing so with
7:29	that we’re going to do literally a 50 000 foot overview of the Old Testament
7:35	flying through it about Mach 5. I’ll point out some things along the way if
7:41	you would turn back with me to the scene of the crime in Genesis chapter 3 verses 1 through 5.
7:48	I’ll tell you the context here if you remember in Genesis 2 God creates
7:54	man and woman both of the male and female in the image of God and it’s very
8:00	clear in Genesis 2 that God after creating the universe and everything that you can see taste touch smell
8:07	everything in this time space continuum in six days literal Days by the way it
8:13	was evening and there was morning the first day that he set up man he created
8:18	man in His image in order to be the governor and caretaker of the creation
8:25	itself does that make sense so God himself wasn’t going to govern the Earth
8:32	directly he was going to govern the Earth through the creation that he made
8:37	and the Pinnacle of that creation is man himself made in the image of God and so we were stewards under God
8:46	taking care of the creation for God and Made In His Image we would do it exactly
8:53	the way God would do it does that make sense so already in the in the Book of Genesis
8:59	there’s the beginnings of government and a concept of Kingdom with God as king
9:04	but then at the scene of the crime when the devil temps are first parents it says this the
9:11	serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field of the Lord God had made he said to the woman did God really
9:19	say you shall not eat of any tree in the garden no that’s not what God Said and
9:25	important to note this sometimes questions can be very dangerous
9:32	there are questions designed to get information and there are questions designed to trip up
9:38	now I will say this my wife has mastered the art of giving me commands in the
9:44	form of a question you are going to mow the lawn today right
9:50	very dangerous question so the serpent says
9:56	did God really say that you shall not eat of any tree in
10:02	the garden the woman said to the serpent well we made it the fruit of the trees in the garden but God did say you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that’s
10:08	in the midst of the garden neither shall you touch it lest you die no actually he didn’t say that last bit but the serpent
10:15	said the woman and you have to say it like this I always like to you will not surely die
10:21	you got to do it seductively right for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be open and you’ll be like God
10:29	knowing Good and Evil and there’s the catch
10:35	you see there’s a big difference between being like God and being Godly
10:45	Adam and Eve were already created in the image of God they perfectly reflected God’s character
10:52	his grace his love his thinking his wisdom they were already Godly
11:00	but see the serpent is all about being God like and to be god-like is to make
11:06	yourself God and so we recall then Satan’s primary sin as revealed in
11:13	Isaiah 14 verses 12 through 15. oh how you are fallen from Heaven o Day star
11:18	son of the Dawn you are cut low to the ground you who laid low the Nations you
11:24	said in your heart I will Ascend to Heaven above the stars of God I will set
11:31	my Throne on high I will sit on the Mount of assembly in the far reaches of
11:36	the north I will Ascend above the heights of the clouds I will make myself
11:42	like the most high and there’s the catch and notice the
11:49	kingdom talk who’s God in Satan’s mind
11:56	he is he wants to ascend and be like the
12:01	most high and that same language shows up in the garden and Adam and Eve go for
12:09	it I want to be like God and in so doing
12:14	you make yourself God and you set up your own Throne within your own heart to
12:22	administer your government and make things go your way
12:29	see it so ultimately the story of the Bible
12:34	from beginning to end is the story of who the true king is you see God’s Reign
12:42	is reflected in monarchy so we continue
12:47	Exodus 15 17-18
12:52	recall again the words of the song of Moses we recently reviewed this in
12:59	Sunday school the tail end of the song ends in this way you will bring them in and plant them on
13:09	your own Mountain the place O Lord which you have made for your Abode the sanctuary O Lord which
13:16	you have established Yahweh will reign forever
13:23	and ever Kingdom talk and this is a picture of the end times when Christ returns to
13:30	establish his kingdom here on Earth and that’s exactly what’s going on here
13:36	and we can hear it over and again and handles Messiah and he shall reign for ever and ever
13:47	and then the uh the antiphonal part of the choir comes and answers back right
13:52	it’s just beautiful but we we hear these words and unfortunately well we live in
13:59	a Democratic Republic if you remember our history Americans and Kings didn’t get along
14:07	and see that’s kind of the thing have any of you watched the Netflix show the crown
14:15	worth watching I know it’s a chick flick please forgive
14:22	my wife made me watch it but it’s fascinatingly wonderful in this
14:28	sense is that the British Monarchy is completely anachronistic to 21st or even
14:36	20th century culture here we’ve got this ancient monarchy and the there’s this
14:42	wonderful part in the fifth episode where they display and show us the
14:48	coronation service of Queen Elizabeth II and it’s this thousand-year-old liturgy
14:56	and they show the anointing of the monarch this Pinnacle moment and keep this in
15:02	mind in Scripture there are only three offices that receive a holy anointing of oil
15:09	they are the prophets they are the priests and they are the Kings
15:15	and Christ as the meshiach which means anointed one he is all three he is
15:21	Prophet priest and King so keep this in mind this is important stuff but now let’s take a look at first Samuel
15:27	chapter 8 starting at verse one a pinnacle moment in the history of Israel now if you remember the story the
15:34	children of Israel after their Wilderness wanderings the entire generation dies in the wilderness and
15:40	finally Joshua brings them into the promised land they cross the Jordan they sack Jericho tear down Ai and just take
15:49	control of the land and their inheritance and after they get there who’s the king of Israel
15:58	God is there is no visible Monarch in Israel if
16:05	you were so journeying through Israel at the time and you say whose kingdom is this
16:10	oh this is God’s kingdom who’s the king well God is
16:16	it’s a weird way of doing things but keep this in mind is God visible
16:21	no okay and so Israel as The Story Goes
16:27	kind of starts beginning to take notice of the fact that they’re not like other countries other countries they have
16:33	Kings and if you know your good seventh grade you know world history class we
16:39	had to learn about the Fertile Crescent and Mesopotamia the land between the
16:45	rivers what do you know about the ancient Kings they were all God Kings visible deities on Earth
16:51	but in Israel there was no visible deity God was the king and so as they would look around and go
16:58	we never have any coronation Services we don’t have any guy that we can like you
17:03	know mock in the Press so they start to begin to feel you know
17:09	this this tension and well note what happens in first Samuel chapter 8.
17:15	when Samuel became old he made his sons judges over Israel the name of his
17:21	firstborn was Joel the name of the second was abhija I don’t know why anyone no one names their children
17:26	abhija anyway they were judges and sheba yet his sons did not walk in his ways
17:32	but they turned aside after gain they took bribes and they perverted Justice
17:37	just like any old rotten politician so then all the Elders of Israel gathered together and they came to Samuel at Rama
17:43	and they said to him behold you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways
17:49	now what point for us a king to judge us like all the nations but the thing just
17:54	pleased Samuel when they said give us a king to judge us Samuel prayed to Yahweh
18:00	in Yahweh said to Samuel obey the voice of the people and all that they say to you for they have not rejected you but
18:05	they have rejected me from being King over them
18:12	so in the history of Israel we see now there was a time when God was King
18:19	and then it switches now we have human Kings and all of this is a result of the fact
18:25	that they had rejected God as king and you can’t understand what Jesus is
18:31	saying without getting this and mulling it over in your mind and the major implications of it
18:38	so they have rejected me from being King over them according to all the Deeds that they have done from the day that I
18:43	brought them out of Egypt even to this day forsaking me and serving other gods
18:49	so they are also doing to you now then obey their voice only you shall solemnly
18:54	warn them and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them so Samuel told all the words of the Lord
19:01	to the people who were asking for a king from him and he said these will be the
19:06	ways of the king who will reign over you he will take your sons appoint them to his chariots to be his Horsemen to run
19:12	before his chariots and he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties and some to plow
19:18	his ground and to reap his Harvest and to make his Implements of War and the equipment of his chariots and he will
19:24	take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and Bakers and you’ll notice that Samuel is saying all of these things as
19:30	if this is not a good thing this guy is going to act like he’s a little deity on Earth and he’s going to control
19:35	everybody and everything and rather than sitting there going oh that sounds awful there’s and they’re going oh wouldn’t
19:42	that be great he will take the best of your fields and
19:47	Vineyards and all of orches and give them to his servants he will take a tenth of your grain in your Vineyards
19:53	give it to his officers and his servants he will take your male servants your female servants the best of your young
19:59	men your donkeys put them to his work he will take the tenth of your flocks and
20:04	you shall be his slaves and in that day you will cry out because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves but
20:11	Yahweh will not answer you in that day but the people refuse to obey the voice
20:16	of Samuel and they said no there shall be a king over us
20:22	hmm so that we may also be like all the
20:27	nations and that our King May judge us and go out before us and fight our
20:32	battles we want to be just like the world
20:40	and if you read your Bible you know that the world is diametrically opposed
20:47	to the things and ways of God but they want to be just like the world
20:54	so the heat we will be like all the other nations that our King May judge us go before us fight our battles and when
21:01	Samuel had heard all the words of the people he repeated them in the years of Yahweh and the Lord said to him obey
21:06	their voice make them a king and then Samuel said to the men of Israel go everyone to a city and we know
21:14	how the story goes the first king of Israel is Saul and that didn’t go very well at all
21:21	Saul was not a man who had faith he was wicked and evil and disobeyed the word
21:26	of the Lord did not heed it did not respect it did not obey it and as a result of it God rejected him and then
21:33	something really strange happened God sent the prophet Samuel to anoint
21:39	another king while the King was currently living okay the word awkward comes to mind so
21:48	there’s King David a man after God’s Own Heart and King David is the anointed but
21:54	not yet reigning hmm that sounds Messianic king of Israel and his kingship is held up in scripture
22:04	as a model and a picture of the coming kingship of the Messiah himself
22:12	and we see that God in second Samuel chapter 7 verses 11 through 16 gives a
22:19	very solemn promise to King David and here’s what it says moreover the Lord
22:26	declares to you that Yahweh will make you a house when your days are fulfilled
22:32	and you lie down with your fathers I will raise up your Offspring singular
22:37	after you who shall come from your body and I will establish his kingdom
22:45	hmm and so notice here God is King they reject God as king and
22:51	now they get visible Kings like everybody else it didn’t go so well with the first one so God raises up a second one who is a
22:59	prototype and from his very body will come the Messiah and the Messiah himself will be a king
23:07	which is a promise then that in the Messiah
23:12	the return of God being King is coming back
23:17	but in this sense the thing changes all together no longer is God King in an
23:23	invisible way God himself unites himself with the humanity that he created
23:30	born of the Virgin Mary suffers under Pontius Pilate takes on our flesh and he
23:35	will reign forever as our visible King both God and man and this was always the
23:43	plan by the way always the plan so the promise continues
23:48	I will raise up your Offspring after you who shall come from your body I will establish his kingdom he shall build a
23:56	house for not my name and I will establish the Throne of his kingdom forever and he shall reign for ever and
24:07	ever that’s what he’s saying I will establish his kingdom
24:13	forever I will be to him a father he shall be to me a son hmm a Son of God
24:20	now watch this next part he’s sitting there going who’s he describing so when
24:25	he this King commits iniquity I will discipline him with the rod of men and with the stripes of the sons of men but
24:32	my steadfast love will not depart from him you think well when did Jesus commit any sin
24:37	oh you see you seem to forget something here you see God laid on him the iniquity of us all Jesus became the
24:45	singular sinner of humanity and he was beaten with rods and he was scourged and whipped and had
24:53	stripes so this is even prophesying Jesus’s death for us on the cross and his
25:00	suffering for our sins and notice that God sees our sins on Jesus as if Jesus
25:07	is the one who committed them wonderful stuff
25:13	so I will discipline him with the rod of men and the stripes of the sons of men but my steadfast into love will not
25:18	depart from him as I took it from Saul whom I put away from before you and your
25:23	house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me your throne shall
25:29	be established forever
25:34	great words so if you’re living in Israel from that time forward when you hear of
25:40	this prophecy you have this hope this expectation that God’s kingdom is going
25:48	to come and God is going to be the one to Reign Over Us Again but how does it go with the sons of
25:55	David if David is the high water mark of the Kingdom with each suggestive
26:01	generation it just goes down and down and down finally through the floor over
26:06	and again you see with the sons of David the direct descendants who are the monarchs and he did what was evil in the
26:13	sight of the Lord and he did not follow in the ways of his father David but he worshiped the balls and it just goes
26:19	down and down and some guys along the way they repent so it takes a little turn up but it just keeps going down and
26:25	down and ultimately God says enough I’m sick of your idolatry I’m sick of
26:31	your wickedness I’m invoking all of the cursed Clauses of the Mosaic Covenant you’re going into Exile so God raises up
26:38	Nebuchadnezzar takes them into Exile they’re gone for 70 years Jerusalem is sacked the Temple’s burnt down it’s just
26:45	a mess and there’s no Kingdom none at all and then when the remnants
26:51	return is the kingdom fired back up again no because no sooner do they rebuild the
26:58	Temple that the prophesied one who would come to subjugate them Alexander the
27:04	Great read the book of Daniel Alexander the Great comes into town and he takes
27:09	over the whole world he dies a young death and while his kingdom is split into four
27:16	pieces and so Israel comes under the governorship of the ptolemaic empire
27:21	read your Maccabee in history if you want to know about that read the Apocrypha it’s helpful here to give you a little bit of the inner testamental
27:27	history of what goes on the Jews and the Greeks just don’t really get along
27:33	you think of Antiochus epiphanies who literally literally defiles the temple
27:39	of God sacrifices a pig on the altar goes into the holy of holies himself I mean it’s
27:45	just a mess which is a picture of the Antichrist so from the time internet inter-testamental period is their
27:51	Kingdom no and no sooner does the ptolemaic Empire start to wobble and fall apart
27:58	that up come the Romans and then they literally take Israel and
28:03	just push them down under their boots and so what’s the hope when Jesus is
28:09	Alive the hope is that God is going to restore the kingdom and get rid of all
28:16	of these Sinners tear down their temples and just destroy all of his enemies
28:23	ah so they’re looking at the Old Testament prophecies regarding the second coming
28:29	of Christ in judgment and they totally Miss like Isaiah 53.
28:37	that he was pierced for our transgressions bruised for our iniquities and so their hope and their expectation
28:43	at this point and they’re just languishing and at this point and we know this from outside of Biblical
28:50	history at the time that Jesus arrived there was all kinds of groups trying to figure out how to usher in the kingdom
28:56	of God and bring it about the zealots had this great way terrorism you know they they engaged in terrorism against
29:02	the Romans to help bring the kingdom about but they always got crucified it was a mess so you get it this Kingdom thing going
29:10	on and let me read a little bit from Paul’s sermon in Antioch presidia in
29:15	Acts 13 and you can kind of see the Kingdom theme in this and then we can wrap it all up and put it in a bow and
29:20	you should be able to see it acts 13 16-23 reads Paul preaching in the in the
29:26	synagogue at Antioch the city it says men of Israel you who fear God listen
29:32	the God of this People Israel chose our fathers made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt and with
29:38	uplifted arms he led them out and for about 40 years he put up with them in the wilderness boy that’s the
29:44	understatement of the entire history of man and after destroying Seven Nations in the land of Canaan he gave them their
29:50	land as an inheritance all of this took about 450 years and after that he gave them judges until Samuel the prophet and
29:57	then they asked for a king and God gave them Saul the son of Kish a man of the tribe of Benjamin for 40 years and when
30:04	he had removed him he raised up David to be their king of whom he testified and said I have found
30:12	in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart who will do all of my will of this
30:19	man’s Offspring God has brought to Israel a savior Jesus as he promised
30:25	and so you see it King and savior together
30:31	which is why Jesus then as he picks up the preaching call of John the Baptist
30:37	says this repent the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand and
30:43	here’s how they would have heard it the reign of God is back it’s that hand it’s here
30:48	God’s Gonna Reign Over Us Again you see where the kingdom is
30:55	is where God is King not just God though Christ where Christ is King and see the call of
31:03	the kingdom is to repent to put away your wickedness put away your idolatry
31:09	knock off that lying about your neighbor and gossiping against them put away your sexual immorality your drunkenness your
31:17	orgies and all of your evil Deeds that you have done under the Dominion of Darkness repent
31:23	the kingdom of God is at hand and in Jesus he is King and he is Savior and
31:30	he’s not come the way well Israel at this time was hoping for to come and
31:35	flex his mighty muscles and take his sword out and just attack to Pieces the
31:41	evildoers that’s not what he’s come to do and I would like to kind of think of it this
31:47	way think of it this way we just saw the inauguration of Donald
31:52	John Trump and we just heard his inauguration
31:58	speech and notice the strong warning he sent to all of the enemies of the United
32:05	States all of the enemies you’re on notice you terrorists oh we’re gonna come get you
32:11	you’re gonna be wiped off the face of the Earth Donald Trump is President and this is what Earthly Kings do
32:18	but I would remind you that Jesus’s coronation and his first act as king is the diametric opposite of
32:28	any King president parliamentary leader on the planet think back to Jesus’s coronation it’s
32:36	recorded for us in the gospel of Matthew Gospel of Matthew chapter 27 verses 27
32:43	through 31. listen to the details of Jesus’s coronation as king
32:51	the soldiers of the governor Pontius Pilate took Jesus into the
32:56	governor’s headquarters they gathered the whole Battalion before him and they stripped him put a Scarlet robe
33:04	on him twisting together a crown of thorns they put it on his head put a reed in
33:10	his right hand and kneeling before him they mocked him saying Hell King of the Jews
33:15	and they spit on him took the Reed and struck him on the head and when they had mocked him they
33:21	stripped him with a robe and put his clothes on him and led him away to crucify him
33:27	that’s Jesus’s coronation service absolutely
33:34	and when they crucify him what does Pontius Pilate put above the head of Jesus in three languages the name of
33:41	that thing by the way hanging above Jesus’s head on the cross is called the titulus
33:47	the king of the Jews he’s crowned King robed and Scarlet
33:54	purple given a read as a scepter
33:59	he’s knelt before and proclaimed to be king and what they meant as mocking is
34:05	his true coronation absolutely true coronation keep in mind
34:11	they were the official Representatives of Rome and so Jesus is Crown King in the midst
34:18	of his suffering and is dying for our sins and it’s important to note this then what is Jesus’s first act as king
34:27	does he say oh give me the sword we’re going after our enemies
34:33	no his first act as King was not to assemble his cabinet
34:39	start a war send a strong warning to his adversaries and his enemies instead Jesus’s first
34:45	act as king was to bleed and to die for his enemies so that they
34:52	can be reconciled to God Romans 5 6-10 says it this way for while
35:00	we were still weak and we’re all included in this list at the right time Christ died for the
35:06	ungodly hear those words Jesus did not die for good people if you’re one of them you don’t need
35:12	this King you don’t need a savior he only died for the ungodly and so this text teaches us to say yep I
35:20	qualify one will scarcely die for a righteous person though perhaps for a good person one would dare to die but God he shows
35:27	his love for us and that while we were still sinners Christ died for us since
35:33	therefore we have now been Justified declared righteous by his blood how much more shall we be saved by him from the
35:39	wrath of God for if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his son
35:45	and notice what it says there Christ reconciles us while we were
35:52	enemies I could go on but I think you’re starting to see the point through
35:58	Jesus’s death the record of death that stood against us that kept us from God
36:04	he canceled it and forgave our sins in all of human history in all the
36:11	history of every King president political leader in all of human history you will never read of one more selfless
36:18	and loving then King Jesus
36:23	he laid down his life so that his enemies could be forgiven
36:29	reconciled to God and live and not face his judgment
36:35	our King is nothing like the king our King is nothing like the kings of the Earth
36:41	or even the president of the United States in other words King Jesus truly is the Prince of Peace
36:48	so with that in mind Jesus’s calls repent the Kingdom of
36:54	Heaven is at hand God’s Rule and Reign has begun remember the Great Commission
37:00	you cannot understand it apart from a right understanding of the Kingdom that he is King and here’s what he says all
37:07	authority in heaven on Earth has been given to me you see Jesus has proclaimed himself in
37:13	the Great Commission as king as you’re going therefore make disciples baptizing them in the
37:21	name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit and teaching all that I have commanded and I’m with you always even to the end
37:27	of the age you see the Great Commission is a kingdom mission
37:33	and you cannot do the work of the Kingdom apart from making disciples and
37:38	that is done through the preaching of repentance and the Forgiveness of sins and then discipling people in all that
37:44	Jesus has commanded what has he commanded open take a look at the Bible from beginning to end from Genesis to
37:51	Maps that’s all the things we’ve got to learn we’ve got to be discipled in so you don’t do Kingdom work apart from
37:58	proclaiming Christ as king and to Proclaim Christ as king is to Proclaim him also as Savior the one who sits on
38:05	the throne presently keep in mind Jesus isn’t up in heaven right now tilling his thumbs going Dad when do I get to be
38:12	king I’m bored I’ve been here for like 2 000 years man he’s currently ruling and reigning
38:22	currently there isn’t a government on this planet that hasn’t have Jesus’s stamp of
38:29	approval on it either for the good of the people that they’re over or for the Judgment of the people that they’re over
38:36	Christ is King of Kings so repent the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand in fact
38:43	brothers and sisters if we pulled out a globe I couldn’t spin the globe and say look the Kingdom’s right here next to
38:50	Barbados and our great baptismal font no
38:55	I’m looking at the Kingdom right now it’s in our midst you who are baptized
39:02	forgiven penitent penitent Sinners forgiven and absolved and pardoned
39:07	notice the king language pardoned by the king of kings you are the kingdom and what is Christ
39:14	up to he’s building the kingdom The Book of Revelation shows that great
39:20	multitude from every tribe Nation language that worships God Before the
39:25	Throne that currently he’s building his kingdom and when he returns he brings
39:32	all of his citizens back with him New Jerusalem new heaven new Earth and he
39:37	will reign forever and ever and we will never have to hear the bickering between Republicans and Democrats ever again
39:45	come Lord Jesus quickly in the name of Jesus Amen

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