Kingdom Impact Luke 13 Vs 18-21

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Welcome. Welcome to Faith Bible Church. Smiling at the children because they're smiling back.

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So that's good. And I think most of you are as well. So that's great. Happy New Year. Blessed New Year to you.

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So for announcements, I want to share first say thank you to Brendan for making the meal yesterday at the men's morning gathering.

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That was great. And for Dave Hahn for giving us the devotional. So thanks Dave. And we're also preparing for the business meeting at the end of this month.

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That's for the church constitution where we vote on new deacons and deaconesses and elders and things like that.

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And if there's any changes to the constitution and other things and just to kind of give a state of the state. So put that on your calendar.

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It's going to be following Sunday service. Other announcements.

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The next biblical counseling course will be Saturday the 13th at 9 30. Our new missionary of the month is

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Ellie Driesinga. I think you may know her better than many of our missionaries because she is from the area.

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Good friends of Emma as well. And because she was kind of it was served at this church and she's a missionary to Brazil.

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Very faithful woman. And that's what always stands out with most, if not all of our missionaries, is their faithfulness to the

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Lord, doing things that we could consider doing. Would we do that?

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You know, but it's encouraging to us to see those that are striving for the faith.

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And we can do that where we're at every day, where you're at, at your business, at your work, at your school, wherever it's at.

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We can continue to be light to this dark world. Ladies Bible study starts again on Saturday, the 20th at 10 o 'clock.

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Let's go before the Lord and prepare your hearts too this morning for communion afterwards. So all right, let's pray.

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Lord God, we thank you that you have brought us together this morning as we enter into this new year. Father, the newness of life.

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Father, you give us new life through Jesus Christ. Father, where we can put off the old man and put on the new.

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And Lord, we thank you that we can be reborn spiritually to be with you for all of eternity.

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Father. So we thank you for the gift of your son. God, may we go forward this year being salt and light in this world.

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Father, in our communities, in our homes, and wherever you take us, wherever you lead us. Father, may we serve you uprightly and may you be pleased with the offerings of our hands.

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Father, may our hearts be sensitive to your will so that we would do all according to your purposes.

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God, we thank you for this morning that we can gather as believers. Father, to worship you, to lift our voices in song, and meditating on the words, and having pastor

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Lord that you have blessed him with the message of today. Lord, may we be receptive. May the

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Holy Spirit just go with us, Father, and lumen our minds,

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Father, to meaning and to interpret your word, Father. So God bless this morning and all that is in it.

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We pray for those that aren't here today, that are home ill, that would love to be here, Father, but can't.

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Father, just be with them where they're at and satisfy their hearts, Lord, in fellowship with you,

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Father, as they pray to you, Lord. So thank you for them and bless them, and we just commit our time to your care now.

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May we honor you with all that we do, Father. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen.

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So let's stand together. We're going to begin our morning singing Crown Him With Many Crowns.

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This is a rich, rich hymn. If you, again, meditate, dwell on the words, think about what they're saying, because God wants to be not, he's not only king of this universe, but he's king of our hearts.

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He's a personal God. That's what's so special about the God of the Bible is he's a personal Lord. He's a personal

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God. He is the God. So let's sing Crown Him With Many Crowns. In this next song,

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Have You Any Room for Jesus, I wanted to read the last stanza. Room and time now give to Jesus.

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Soon will pass God's day of grace. Soon your heart left cold and silent and your

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Savior's pleading cease. We have to ask ourselves this morning, do we know the

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Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Savior? If you haven't accepted him as your

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Savior, please consider that this morning, because there will come a time when his grace will cease when you are gone.

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So let's sing Have You Any Room for Jesus. All right, today

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I'm going to be reading from Daniel 2, 43 and 44.

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As you saw the iron mixed with soft clay, so they will mix with one another in marriage, but they will not hold together just as iron does not mix with clay.

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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.

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

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Thank you, Lord, for your word. It is odd to wish you a happy new year on the 7th of January, but that's the last time we all gathered together was the last day of 2023.

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So happy new year to you all. Today I will be preaching from Luke chapter 13, verses 18 through 21.

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Luke chapter 13, verses 18 through 21. Then he said, what is the kingdom of God like, and to what shall

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I compare it? It is like a mustard seed which a man took and put it in his garden, and it grew and became a large tree, and the birds of the air nested in its branches.

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And again he said, to what shall I liken the kingdom of God? It is like leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened.

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This is the word of the Lord. Let us pray. Father, we're thankful that your kingdom is here, and it's been inaugurated by your son who died for our sin on the cross and rose from the dead.

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And Father, we pray that we would not lose our hope in your kingdom, and we would always worship the king who saved us from our sin.

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And we pray that we would longingly wait for the full culmination of the kingdom of your son.

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In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. In this text,

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Jesus uses two similar parables to show the reality of God's kingdom.

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Now we do need to remember parables are a genre of their own.

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Just as we interpret different genres of music or writing differently, we must have a few rules in interpreting parables in mind, right?

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What I mean by genre is a type of writing, right? A kind of writing. So for example, we would read a satirical page from the newspaper, whether it's

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Babylon B or The Onion, differently from history books.

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We have to have this in mind with the parable. Parables have a couple of purposes.

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The first thing it does is it hides the meaning for those who are those who are hard -hearted and do not want to trust

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Jesus. And the reason being different elements of the parable refer to something else in reality.

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Obviously this parable is not about gardening, right? The mustard seed represents the kingdom of God.

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The second purpose of the parable is that it serves as a memorable teaching tool for people who are interested and who do trust

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Jesus. It is instead of saying the kingdom of God operates like this and this,

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Jesus tells us a memorable mini story that captures the meaning using the elements that the audience may be familiar with, such as mustard seed or leaven.

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With that in mind, one important thing to read with parable is that we do not get to decide what each of the element in the parable is.

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That has been decided for us by the author. With any text, we go by the intention of the author.

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The meaning comes from what the author meant, not what I want it to mean. That means

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I don't get to hijack the parable and call the mustard seed faith.

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In this case, it's not faith. It's the kingdom of God. I don't get to hijack the parable and call the leaven teaching of the

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Pharisees. In this case, it's not the teaching of the Pharisees. It's decided by what the author meant.

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With this in mind, we have to look, we get to look at what these parables focus on.

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The focus of this parable is not the process of growth, but the final impact of the kingdom, despite its small beginning.

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It's not the growing process, but rather the final impact. It's the disproportional impact that the kingdom of God has, despite its humble and seemingly insignificant beginning.

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And I think this is important to us because oftentimes as the church, we may have false expectations of how the world or this nation ought to be.

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Yes, it is true that we've had in the past where America was more aligned with the

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Christian worldview and the policies, uh, align more with the biblical, uh, mindset.

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However, what this parable shows us is the growth process may not look like that at all times.

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What this parable shows us in the end, God wins, but we're not guaranteed after every election that we get a more

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Christian president. Right after every election, we get more Christian senators and governors.

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Oh, that's not the case. And that's not what the parable teaches us. But what we can be assured of is that in the end, his kingdom will be uncontested and unstoppable.

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But that's in the end. We live in the now. We longingly wait for that.

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And we trust God to come off to fulfill what he has promised because he has a perfect track record of keeping his promises.

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So the main point of this text is what is the impact of God's kingdom in the world?

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What is the impact of God's kingdom in the world? First, although its beginning may seem inconsequential, although it's beginning may seem inconsequential.

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God's kingdom will expand to provide security for all who belong to it.

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Although it's beginning may seem inconsequential, God's kingdom will expand to provide security for all who belong to it.

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He said, therefore, what is the kingdom of God like and to what shall I compare it? the word therefore

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Shows that this passage is the implication of what came before it has a connection

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It's not just a random parable out of nowhere that Luke decided to inject here because it felt right

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This parable has a purpose and it is the implication of what happened right before Which is that Jesus freed a woman who has been under Satan's oppression for 18 years a woman who couldn't stand up tall because she's been

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Oppressed by Satan under Satan's kingdom for the past 18 years So after releasing this woman from Satan's bondage

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Jesus explains the nature of his kingdom This is important because Ancient Jews had an underlying expectation of what

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God's kingdom ought to be Many Jews interpreted various Old Testament prophecies regarding God's kingdom

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Including one from Daniel 2 that was read by Brendan today as immediate When the kingdom comes it will be immediate.

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It will be unstoppable and no kingdoms will contest it Now The latter part is true.

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There will be no kingdom when the God's kingdom is fully here will compete against God's kingdom but the part regarding the immediacy is

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What the parable will argue against so when God decides Right what they viewed was that when

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God decides to set his Messiah to rule over his people His kingdom will be established quickly

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And his mighty rule will be Immediately comprehensive it will just be full there won't be any room

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For debate However, Jesus clarifies the reality of his kingdom through these two parables first We need to know what the kingdom of God is

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It is not a specific location Right. It's not the

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Vatican City It's not Washington DC the kingdom of God represents the rule of God It's it's when

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Jesus came to earth the world experienced a glimpse of his power and authority and It showed how the world looks when

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God is the ruler Right the blind can see the deaf can hear the demon oppressed are freed.

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The rule of God is experienced by those who need and long for it

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Now yet The full culmination of his kingdom will not be fulfilled until the second coming of Christ When his reign will be uncontested when those who oppose him will be judged and will have to submit to him and To show the reality of his kingdom

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Jesus starts with a Parable, the first parable is botanical.

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It's regard. It's related to plants verse 19 it is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden and it grew and Became a tree and the birds of the air made nests in its branches

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The botanical growth here is significant because the growth is gradual and natural

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It is not like a shopping mall that you get to see built up day by day. Oh Here today.

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We have the structures and then next day next week. We have windows. Yada. Yada. Yada a Green of mustard seed.

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Oh in this context. It represents the small beginning. It's one of the smallest seeds in that region in fact a mustard plant is

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Normally not a plant that's used to describe a kingdom and I think that's on purpose

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Jesus could have chosen any other plants that that normally you would think could grow to be powerful

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But I think he chose the mustard seed for that impact that shocking factor that when his kingdom does grow

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No one really saw that coming In fact In consider

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Ezekiel 17 22 through 24 the Lord plants a twig from a cedar tree which represents the

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Davidic Kingdom at least in that imagery a plant

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That plant the twig from a cedar tree has the potential to grow tall and powerful like a cedar tree but here a mustard seed is

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Completely unexpected to describe a kingdom that will overtake everything else

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Compared to a cedar tree a mustard seed is quite underwhelming It is seemingly insignificant it's inconsequential and in everyone's mind what can a mere mustard seed even do and Really?

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That's the purpose of the parable The parable has a shock factor the parable. It does not exist to describe

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Gardening It exists as a memorable tool to accentuate the impact of God's kingdom

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Now there are debates regarding what kind of plant this mustard seed must be right?

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The best guess is a plant called Synapis nigra and it belongs to the mustard family and it can grow up to 10 feet tall

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Which is quite large for a very small seed however, the focus is not the type of plant

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But the result of the seed the transformation that the seed will experience

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The seed after it's planted keeps growing and one day it becomes a tree a tree so large that it provides shelter for all the birds around it and This shows that although God's kingdom started out small

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But at its full culmination God's kingdom provides security for all who are around God's kingdom is a place of refuge for all who dwell in it and And again, this parable is shocking it's meant to be that way

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God's kingdom is more like a mustard seed rather than a giant sequoia it seems underwhelming and inconsequential and It will grow and gradually and slowly

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Yet at the fullness of time It will provide the utmost security to all who belong to it

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The emphasis of the parable is not the growth process One year, it's this tall another year.

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It's this tall. The parable doesn't give us a year -by -year update But rather the parables key is the disproportionate

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Outcome which arises from such a small starting point such a humble beginning has a huge outcome and Back then this was an important clarification because people thought the

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Messiah is here now Watch out Rome Your days are over now

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Right or Messiah is here. Now the world will all bow down to this

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Messiah but lest Jesus followers would be

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Caught off guard or disappointed Jesus makes clear the reality of the kingdom of God Actually, it starts out small

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But before you know it when it's the fullness of time The outcome will be

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Almost impossible to fathom You wouldn't believe it and this is also important for the church this morning

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Because we often operate as if God's kingdom is fully culminated now

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We get disappointed when various global thugs start global conflicts

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Right, where is where is God in this? What about God's kingdom? Or we're disheartened when our elected officials betray the will of the citizens.

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I Thought this was a Christian nation Right this this often happens

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And it leads to two to two results in among God's people either you're just disheartened and depressed and Apathetic towards what's going in the world?

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Why even try? Or It leads to just activism

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Social justice we have to finish this we have to we have to get rid of this problem in the world

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We have to get rid of racism. We have to get rid of poverty. We have to get rid of so -and -so and so But that that all in due time leads to the former because after a while you realize you can't get rid of Racism you can't get rid of poverty because ultimately anything that relates to sin is dealt with by Christ and You have to wait until the culmination of his kingdom however

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We need to look at what Jesus says about his kingdom, right? What is

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God's? kingdom seemingly inconsequential beginning Really the the mustard seed here is how

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Christ inaugurates his kingdom through his humiliating death Roman emperors and Roman generals

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Entered Rome with fanfare and ovations through an arc right they they would walk through it in fact that that tradition of Triumphant Entry into a city through an arc or has continued so that even

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France has multiple arcs, right? various famous figures have walked through or During that before during their funeral

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Went through that arc, right? However King Jesus inaugurates his kingdom

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Not on a chariot Not on his throne But when he is hanging from the cross as he suffers the judgment that we deserved

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That's the mustard seed beginning No one would have imagined this

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King to establish his kingdom No one would have imagined any

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King to establish his kingdom Upon his own death

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That's ridiculous After all normally only living victorious

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Kings established kingdoms Not a dying King And least of all not a crucified

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King But that's precisely the point Jesus kingdom is founded upon his death and resurrection

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Jesus kingdom Continued on not by the rich elites of Rome, but by the poor

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Jews First in Jerusalem and then reached the slaves of Rome And women

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Those whom you would think Would not be able to carry on the kingdom

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When Jesus hung from the cross, no one thought an unstoppable kingdom just as arrived.

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Well, not even his followers However only through his death

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Could this King rescue his subjects? from sin and Establish his kingdom in this world and This is this is why

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Christianity was mocked and ridiculed During the first century no one thought it would last

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You worship a crucified King you think his kingdom is eternal However, the proof is in the pudding

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Well Rome which kingdom actually lasted Well Rome whose words are still read and published today whose words are published in various languages and Whose language is actually extinct?

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And which of your Roman emperors is more famous than this crucified Messiah? and the answers to all these rhetorical questions is not

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Rome's despite So much bloodshed by persecution done by Rome in various points in history, not just under one

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Emperor and Despite persecution that goes on now

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The kingdom of God has not stopped In fact one one church

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Theologian said the blood of the martyrs are the seed of the church Because the more you kill them

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The witnesses the audience at the public execution Started believing because how can these people?

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when facing death so confidently Trust Christ What do they believe?

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What do they have that? We don't this parable does not promise us

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That America will get better No one can promises that However, this parable does promise us that when

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Jesus comes to rule physically Nothing will be able to stop him the happily ever after to this kingdom cannot be taken away

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Even if the world the whole world tries Second Although its beginning may be small

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God's kingdom will Disproportionately reach all spheres of the world Although its beginning may be small

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God's kingdom will disproportionately reach all spheres of the world After illustrating

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This gigantic conscious of an outcome from a seemingly small beginning Jesus describes his kingdom again with another parable and Again, he said to what shall

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I compare the kingdom of God? The second parable illustrates the kingdom of God in a culinary sense culinary sense

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It is like leaven That a woman took and hid in three measures of flour until it was all leavened

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Leaven is something that you put into Bread flour when you're making bread so that the dough would rise.

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It's it's it's It's a small amount of Microorganism right fungus really and what they do is eats eat eats up the sugar and the flour and the sugar you might put in and it produces gas carbon dioxide and It makes the bread bread to rise so that when you bake it, it's fluffy and they're actually it's aerated right there holes

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That's that's what causes it at the leaven causes the holes in the bread Now The thing about leaven is you don't need a lot of it you just need a tiny little bit and it will affect the whole lump and In this parable the woman puts leaven in three measures of flour

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Here the temptation is to take the number three and go somewhere with it. And I urge you we don't

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Because the parable nor Jesus tell us tells us The significance of the number three

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The measure the three measures of flour one measure of flour

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Is equal to the Hebrew measurement called Sia and then you might see it in the Old Testament Sia Each Sia was about four point seven five gallons.

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That's a lot Now what that means is three measures would have weighed about 50 pounds 50 pounds of flour

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And the exorbitant amount of flour is actually intentional as you might have noticed parables use shock factors

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Yes, is it true? And would it be would it work with just a bowl of flour? yes, but what Jesus uses an exorbitant amount of flour to show the exorbitant amount of impact his kingdom will have

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Just a little bit of leaven was sufficient to make 50 pounds of flour rise

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Just a small amount of leaven will do its job to penetrate through every part of that dough every part of that 50 pounds of dough

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In the end a giant lump of dough will be comprehensively impacted by just a little bit of leaven

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The emphasis again is not the growth process. We don't see Well, it grew 50 % more after one hour and then 75 % after the second.

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No, we don't see that But the comparison is from the start to finish the amount of leaven used in baking is so small compared to the 50 pounds of flour that the leaven needs to impact and And it seems almost unlikely that this dough would rise at all

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Yet It does It's rising the doughs rising is inevitable once you put the leaven in the giant bowl

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After the leaven is dropped in there there is just no going back The comprehensive impact of God's kingdom in this world is unavoidable after it has entered

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It is bound to be accomplished till to its intended goal

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Until every tongue confesses and every knee bows to the

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Lord Jesus Christ It doesn't matter most of my neighborhood is not

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Christian doesn't matter the leavens dropped in there The city of Sacramento seems to become more evil when wicked than two ten years ago twenty years ago doesn't matter

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The leaven has been dropped in there 2 ,000 years ago If you don't believe me consider this

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All of you have heard about Jesus Christ and believed Only because of the 11 faithful men from 2 ,000 years ago who were convinced

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By this one Middle Eastern Jewish man who claimed to be the Messiah Imagine that we live in a continent that was virtually unknown to anyone living in Jerusalem In fact, not just Jerusalem Europe Asia and Africa all did not know about North America Now we gather every

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Sunday to worship this Jewish man who claimed to be the Messiah Each one of us from different backgrounds

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Different walks of life different age group And this is just a glimpse.

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This is not the full culmination of the kingdom of God The dough is not even fully risen yet But that's the effect of the leaven that's been dropped the kingdom of God that has entered because Jesus Christ has entered the world and He has fulfilled what he has come to do in the first coming which is to die for our sin and Rise from the dead that was just the beginning and This parable shows how

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Jesus kingdom is bound to conquer everything his kingdom will rule over all the other kingdoms and When Jesus comes back to rule on earth

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His kingdom will reach every part of this world and it will be unstoppable

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No amount of force no amount of Weaponry No number of kings presidents prime ministers parliaments

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Congress None of their forces will be able to withstand this

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King Because his kingdom will comprehensively completely

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Consume the whole world This year we have another election

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No matter who wins This country most likely will not become more

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Christian It will not return to its Christian worldviews and values and really that's because we have one party that rejects the

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Bible as fast as possible and Another that subtly rejects the Bible slowly

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And really unless God gives us a revival. There's really no hope of America or even the world becoming more

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Christian Now, what hope do we have?

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Well, we know the final chapter We have the final page of how the world will end in the end

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Jesus wins When his kingdom is fully consummated when the king comes down to rule over this world

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There will be no nation no culture and no people group that will even pose a threat

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To him or his people That's the hope

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Christ's kingdom will be the only kingdom that lasts for all eternity and Really?

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That's really the goal of all The rulers and dictators that have come about they want their kingdom to last for millennia and They have not succeeded for Christians Life will be hard until then there is no guarantee.

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It will get easier For Christians, there will be persecution before that time

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But we have this hope because with the first coming of Christ Leaven has been dropped into the bowl and Its work is irreversible

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No one can pick it back up Just as you can't pick it back up after you drop

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Leaven and your bread bowl. How are you gonna do that? It's mixed in Jesus ultimate reign is inevitable his complete rule

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Will one day come and this is not to say don't vote or or don't

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Stand for what's true Do all of that that's called being faithful to what

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God has given you But this is to say don't place your hope in what you do

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Place your hope on what is about to happen Place your hope in the person of Jesus Christ Who has never failed to accomplish what he said?

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Place your hope in what the Bible says will happen in this world Despite the global attempt to overthrow

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King Jesus they will all fail and His rule

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Will be forever Let us pray

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Father we're thankful that the reality of this kingdom is That his kingdom will win

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There will be no Kingdoms, no kings no presidents. Nope. No parliamentary bodies that will be able to oppose

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Christ and win and that's because your kingdom has

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Entered this world with Christ and we long to see the full culmination of your kingdom

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And we pray that we would not lose hope even during this hard time

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Focusing our gaze on the true victor Who has won the war on the cross?

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Thank you for his sacrifice for our sins so that we may live Thank you that he's risen and he rules from above in Jesus name