The Kingdom Of God

TWELVE 5 CHURCH

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Well, good morning. I Got a few good mornings out there. I appreciate that.

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All right It is cold. It's a cold one. I feel it in my bones Well, all right, we are getting ready to start this morning

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Just want to tell you all welcome and just want to thank you all members of 12 five church for faithfully coming here this morning

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This is simply an overflow of our hearts of being Obedient to what God has called us to do the writer of Hebrews says not to neglect the gathering together of the

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Saints and we do So to rally around each other in love and truth and to encourage one another in love and good works

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And so thank you so much 12 five family for bringing your gifts to the body and to serve one another

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For our guests and perhaps regular attenders. We just want to thank you all for being here as well You're loved and we enjoy spending this time with you

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And if you get a chance, please fill out one of our connect cards. We would love to reach out to you

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We'd love to pray for you and answer any of your questions and we look forward to getting to know you More and more and so that being said

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My heart this morning is to grow in the knowledge and love of our sovereign triune

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God. Amen All right before we start our service What we do every Sunday is we pray for a local church and we do this because we want to unify with other

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Gospel proclaiming churches that unify together on the gospel of grace We are not saved by all the works that we can accomplish and do before God Almighty And so there are so many churches that say that you must put your faith alone in Jesus Christ alone all to the glory of God alone and one of those churches is

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Bethany Baptist Church So if you would let's pray together this morning Heavenly Father, we just want to praise your holy name for for all of who you are and how you've blessed us

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Well, we just want to lift up Bethany Baptist Church the pastor there Let us know that they have a kids ministry on Wednesdays and there's about nine kids that come from unchurched families

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And so God this is such a wonderful opportunity for these families to hear the gospel

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God for their kids for whatever reasons may Be learning more about you Jesus and we pray that they would be saved

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God we pray that they would grow in their understanding of who you are Jesus and they would bring that to their homes and God I pray that the gospel would be contagious

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Lord I just want to pray for Bethany Baptist Church that the discipleship groups that they're planning on having

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Every Sunday night God. I pray that Jesus your name would be back be magnified and that there would be great unity amongst the body

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Lord the pastor also said that they are starting a home Bible study at the end of January and God I pray that their plans to do that would come through and that Everything would go smoothly in that and lastly

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Lord I just want to lift up the the primary preaching pastor God, I pray that he would be able to boldly proclaim your truth this morning and that the gospel would be made known

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Lord, we love you and pray these things in your name Jesus. Amen All right, if you would please stand and join me for our call to worship

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Our call to worship comes from Psalm chapter 8 from King David and so our call to worship is

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There we go. Can y 'all hear me a little bit better? I gotta remember that. Thank you Keith Our call to worship is a time of togetherness where we interact with God's Word together

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So let us proceed with Psalm chapter 8. Oh Lord our

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Lord You have set your glory

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Above the heavens Out of the mouth of babies and infants you have established strength because of your foes

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When I look at your heavens The moon and the stars

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What is man that you're mindful of him Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings

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You have given him dominion over the works of your hands All sheep and oxen and also the beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea and all

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God's people said All right. Let's pray one last time for just adoration to God that we would remove distractions and that we that we would give him

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Honor that is due his name. Let's pray Heavenly Father, thank you so much for your word this morning already reminding us that your steadfast love endures forever

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God that you own a Cattle on the thousand hills and all the hills and all of creation is yours.

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It proclaims your handiwork And so God, I pray that we would be reminded of who you are this morning that Jesus you are

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King in the Lord over all Yes, Jesus. We love you pray this in your name Oh Oh Oh Oh my boast is in Jesus Oh Let's pray together

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God, we thank you For this time of worship and we praise you father. Thank you for allowing us to be here

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For the people that you brought here to worship and honor your name pray God that you would prepare us for this time

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Lord As we study your word we gather together Corporately to worship your name

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God. We just thank you father Thank you for your goodness God. Thank you that You are our only boast

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Praise you God. Thank you And then let's sing this one together

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Christ our hope in life and death What is our hope in life and death

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Christ alone Christ alone What is our only confidence

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That our souls To you Hold our days

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Within His hands What comes apart At His birth

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And what will keep us To the end

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The love Of Christ In which we stand

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Oh Sing Hallelujah Our hope

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Screams Eternal Sing Hallelujah Now and ever

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We confess Christ our hope In life and death

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Truth can warm A troubled soul God is good

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God is good And this Is grace And goodness known

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In our grave Redeemer's throne Who holds

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Our faith When fears arise Who stands above The storm and drought

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Who sends the waves That greet the sky Unto the shore

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That we're out With one Oh sing Oh sing

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Hallelujah Our hope Screams Eternal Oh sing

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Hallelujah Now and ever

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We confess Christ our hope In life and death

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To the grave What shall we see Christ He lives

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Christ He lives And what reward

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Will heaven bring An everlasting Life And we will

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Arise to meet The Lord And sin and death

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Will be consumed And we will Peace in Him Restore When Christ is ours

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Forevermore Oh sing Oh sing

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Hallelujah Our hope

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Screams Eternal Oh sing Hallelujah Now and ever

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We confess Christ our hope In life and death

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Oh sing Hallelujah Our hope

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Screams Eternal Oh sing Hallelujah Now and ever

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We confess Christ our hope In life and death

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One generation shall commend Your works to another and shall declare Your mighty acts

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On your glorious splendor and your Majesty on your wondrous works I will meditate.

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They shall speak Of the might of your awesome deeds And I will declare your greatness They shall pour forth the fame

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Of your abundant goodness and shall Sing aloud of your righteousness The Lord is gracious and merciful

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Slow to anger and abounding And steadfast love. The Lord Is good to all and his mercy

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Is over all that he has made All your works shall give thanks to You oh Lord and all your saints shall

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Bless you. They shall speak of The glory of your kingdom and tell of your Power to make known the children

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Of man your mighty deeds And the glorious splendor of your kingdom Your kingdom is an everlasting

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Kingdom and your dominion Endures throughout all generations The Lord is faithful in All his words and kind In all his works

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The Lord upholds all who are falling And raises up all who are Bowed down.

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The eyes of all Look to you and you Give them their food in due season

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You open your hand. You satisfy The desire of every living thing The Lord is righteous in all

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His ways and kind in all his works The Lord is near to all who Call upon him. To all who

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Call on him in truth He fulfills the desire of Those that fear him.

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He also Hears their cry and saves them The Lord preserves all who Love him but all the wicked he will

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Destroy. My mouth will speak Of the praise of the Lord And let all flesh bless

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His holy name forever And ever. Amen Let me too

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Have faith That you would

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Own the rebel To You And if you

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Had not Loved me first I would Refuse You still

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But as I Know who I am

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At last In difference you Are the cause

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And to the One I am And Let me too

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Have faith

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That you would Own the rebel

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To you Loved me first But as I Know who

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I am At last

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Are the cause

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One I am And let me too Have faith Own the rebel

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To you And if you Loved me first I would

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Refuse But as I Know who

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I am All I have is Christ Jesus is my life

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All I have is

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Christ Jesus is my life

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All I have is Christ All I have is Christ All I have is

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Christ All I have is

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Christ All I have is Christ All I have is Christ All I have is Christ All I have is Christ All I have is Christ All I have is Christ All I have is Christ All I have is

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Christ ♪ All I have needed Thy hand hath provided ♪ ♪

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Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto

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God ♪ ♪

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Sun, moon, and air, too ♪ ♪ Springtime and harvest, too ♪ ♪

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Horses of love join with all nature in manifold witness ♪ ♪

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To Thy great faithfulness, O Savior, Lord ♪ ♪

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Great is Thy faithfulness, great is

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Thy faithfulness ♪ ♪ Morning mercies

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I see, all I have needed

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Thy hand hath provided ♪ ♪

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Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto

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God ♪ ♪ For sin and the peace that endureth ♪ ♪

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Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide ♪ ♪

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Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow ♪ ♪

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Blessings all mine with ten thousand years to live ♪

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You sing, great is Thy faithfulness. ♪ Great is Thy faithfulness, great is

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Thy faithfulness ♪ ♪ Morning by morning new mercies

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I see ♪ ♪ All I have needed

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Thy hand hath provided ♪ ♪

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Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto

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God ♪ Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, we praise

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You this morning. Great is Your faithfulness, Lord. What an awesome worship service,

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Lord. I'm just so grateful for Your faithfulness,

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Lord, and strength for today and great hope for tomorrow. I praise

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You for paying the price, paying the penalty for me and my sin, Lord.

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I'm so unworthy, but I'm so grateful. Lord, I pray that You just bless the remainder of this service this morning.

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Lord, I pray that You'd be with Brother Nathan, Pastor Nathan, Lord, as he stands and boldly proclaims

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Your word, Lord. Lord, I pray that You would just anoint him, anoint the word,

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Lord, and just clear out any distractions that we may have, Lord. Open our hearts and our minds and we may receive

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Your word. Lord, I pray that You'd bless this offering this morning. Bless the gift, Lord. We love

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You, we praise You, we ask all these things in Your sin, in Jesus' precious and holy name. Amen.

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Amen. For the life of Christ has riches that boil without water.

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Your presence, Your presence fill my life. You Appropriate song for the

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Saints to sing as we gather. Amen Great is thy faithfulness. Not great is our faithfulness.

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Our faithfulness is All short doesn't it but his faithfulness is true and clear and good

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We've got a bit of a ring here guys, we got to work through it bear with us, we're sorry We're still working through all the sound system here.

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But the day is gonna look quite different We are going to take a little detour from our exposition through the book of Ephesians in order to take a closer look at one of the the concepts that the

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Apostle Paul has alluded to in the in the second part of verse 5 in which we looked at last week

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The kingdom of Christ and God When he declares that truth that for you may be sure of this

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You may get be guaranteed saying that that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure who is covetous that is an idolater has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God and of course

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We looked a little more detail at that inheritance that that we have been

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Adopted that we have been brought in Paul has been speaking of earlier on that We've been made sons and heirs as he has pointed out

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However, this is the first mention of the kingdom here in Ephesians at least by name so we the elders as we met this week found it incumbent upon us to stop and address this topic of the kingdom

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And because I believe that much of Western Christianity today's is not quite sure what to make of this concept of the kingdom

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We often have vague ideas when we come across this in Scripture We we think of the kingdom as being maybe heaven

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Right as Jesus said pray your will be done on earth as it is in heaven the kingdom of heaven

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Some of us think it may be some future realm that will be created one day

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Maybe that's the kingdom of heaven. That's the kingdom of God Some of you in your eschatological positions may believe that it's it's the millennial reign

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When Jesus reigns here on earth and that's the kingdom of God But let's be honest many times those ideas are aren't very defined in our minds.

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We're not real sure Exactly what all this encompasses And so we hear this phrase the kingdom of God we generalize it and then kind of move on from it

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This is why we want to stop and take a closer. Look at how Scripture defines the kingdom

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And as I prepared for today, I realized And this is something that we had wanted to do anyways

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But I needed a minimum of 12 to 14 weeks to adequately and systematically lay out this immensely complex topic

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Because this encompasses so so many areas of theological study your view of Eschatology the view of the end times will affect how you see the kingdom of God your view of ecclesiology

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The study of the church is going to be Molded and it's going to affect how you see the kingdom of God your view of soteriology the study of salvation is going to be affected and how you see the kingdom of God and One day we would like to stop and and do that 12 to 14 week series, but don't worry

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We're not going to do it at this moment We're going to continue to press on in our study in Ephesians and then possibly do that later

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So for now, I'm left to give you a 10 ,000 foot fly overview of This this this wonderful concept of the kingdom of God So that we don't divert from our context in Ephesians too long in order to do that We must go back to the beginning

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We must go back to the very beginning at least our beginning, right? Right there at the beginning of this this beautiful book that we we hold to and look to and glean from The very first phrase in Genesis 1 and verse 1 in the beginning

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God created the heavens and the earth You see there was there was once a kingdom

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There was a kingdom a good kingdom There was a righteous kingdom

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One that was created and established by a good and righteous creator

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Remember when he created it all he said it is good Is he is good?

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And all the glory goes to that creator in that kingdom and it was the kingdom of man

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Of course, this is the kingdom of God God's kingdom but he

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He if you remember in chapter 1 of Genesis as a matter of fact you can look in your scriptures and follow along with me we're gonna be kind of walking through just a few different text but in verse 26 of chapter 1

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Right as he's created all these things. He's created the universe there was nothing in existence and everything that was created was created from nothing and Then there in verse 26 of Genesis 1

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God said let us make man in our image Hey, it's almost like he pauses for a moment.

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He says, okay now we're gonna really focus on something here Let us make man in our image after our likeness

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And what does he say about this man that he eventually creates out of dust? He says and let them have dominion and He goes on to list all of the creation he creates man to have dominion

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Because he is an image bearer of the creator He had created a kingdom then created this image bearer of himself in order to have dominion over this kingdom

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That that goodness and righteousness that it was in heaven was to be the same on earth

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Because the earth is a reflection of heaven, isn't it? At least at that moment it was

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Just as man was a reflection of God This is the kingdom of man and look at what he told man to do in verse 28 and God blessed them and God said to them who's he talking about Adam and Eve right both made in the image of God he says be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have

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Dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the every living thing that moves on the earth to multiply

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Does Adam need to multiply to fill the earth and in so to subdue it to have dominion over all of creation?

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Multiplying meant that Adam being the first image bearer Created right out of the dirt was called under the rule of the

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Almighty God to to represent that posterity that multiplying he

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Was to rule over them as prophet priest and King This was

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Adam's job in this kingdom of man his father of all the representative of all

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With the garden that he's been placed in being the very temple where God dwelt with his people

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You realize the garden was the first temple the garden was set there on on this creation and made a place where God came and dwelt with his his creation with his people and This kingdom was to expand throughout all of creation

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With the presence of God being with his people throughout the whole of their Dominion This was the kingdom of man and just like with any kingdom

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There's a covenant The Constitution of sorts, right? There must be rules.

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There must be regulations. There must be an understanding That binds this kingdom together and this covenant

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Is what we refer to as the law of Liberty this covenant in the kingdom of man was the law of Liberty One that was based on perfect righteousness

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It was a covenant of works a Covenant of works one given to a people who were upright

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This covenant of works was given to Adam and Eve in a moment and when they had no sin they were upright

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There was nothing hindering them from a relationship with God. And so this covenant of works

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Was good and God placed this covenant if you remember right dead center of the garden, didn't he?

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almost like a Constitution Planted right dead center of this of this temple and God says you may enjoy my presence

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You may enjoy perfect communion with me You may have dominion over this kingdom and enjoy the fruit of any tree and live but eat of this tree and Die, this is the covenant of works, isn't it?

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It's covenant had two sides Just like any covenant This has two sides.

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It could bring life Or it could bring death It could bring blessing or it could bring curse it could bring

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Just it could justify or it could condemn it could provide communion with God or it could provide

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Isolation from God this was the covenant and we all know what happened.

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Don't we we all know what happened by the time we get through Just the third chapter of this picture of this beautiful kingdom of man

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We don't even get out of the third chapter and and a seemingly insignificant small spark of sin

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Sets off an explosion that decimates this kingdom into rubble the serpent

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Who we know to be Satan Has made his way into the garden comes into the garden

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Comes into the the very temple where God has meeting meet meeting with his people he does so with lies and hatred in his heart and He planted that seed into the mind of Eve Did God really say?

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Here's the thing. Yeah, that's holding out on you You will not surely die you'll be like him and I know that in Satan's heart

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He was hoping to usurp the Creator He was hoping to bring this good creation

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This kingdom of man into the same fate as himself To crush it

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To cut right at the heart of God his creation It's almost as if you can you can see the hatred in his heart is how dare these inferior creatures

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Have dominion over this How dare they I am a superior being and they're the ones made in the image of the

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Creator and They are the ones that gain a kingdom to reign over and to rule over How dare they how dare

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God? You can only imagine his his ecstatic joy as as Eve takes the first bite of this fruit

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Handing the fruit over to her husband Adam who is obviously Neutral in this and just following the lead of his wife

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And watched as Adam blatantly Spat upon this covenant of work as Adam the prophet priest and king of this covenant of this kingdom

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Stomps on this great covenant and bringing this kingdom to its knees

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So that Satan may dance upon its ruins This kingdom didn't last very long.

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Did it the kingdom of man did not stand? more than three chapters

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You see Adam failed at his job of prophet priest and king. He failed to protect that sanctuary

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He failed to protect his wife whom he was tasked to care for and oversee He failed to protect his posterity from futility

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He failed and because of this what happened

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Because of this they were cast out of the very presence of God they had broken that covenant of works

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And instead of blessing they got cursing Instead of presence they got the casting out from the very presence of God and Satan Became their ruler this once beautiful luscious kingdom of man

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In a moment becomes the kingdom of darkness Sounds hopeless, doesn't it?

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This would have been a very seemingly hopeless moment And that grace and mercy that God had shown to his creation turned

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Into righteous wrath and judgment that was deserved for breaking his law

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For sin had brought death into the world. You see God's goodness sustained life

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You ever wonder if there would have been death early on in the garden before the breaking of this covenant

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No, because the goodness of God only sustains life the goodness of God sustained life, but now the wages of sin are what?

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death there's a cost to breaking that covenant and Everything was subjected to this the animals were subjected to this

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The trees were subjected to this the plants were subjected to this the weeds the ground itself the when which

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Adam was made out of is now Subjected to it because Adam was the prophet priest and king to care and have dominion over it and now as a representative

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He brought death into the world and they themselves as Paul said in Ephesians became darkness

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They weren't just in darkness they themselves became darkness however, if you keep reading as soon as that darkness set in a

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Single ray of light burst through the darkness small

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But it was a single ray of light that's penetrating through a gracious loving merciful

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Creator But the one who'd been sinned against But the one whose covenant was broken

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He rushed in to provide hope that's the

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God we serve right? We're just saying it great is thy faithfulness What faithfulness in our unfaithfulness and that hope

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Came as a promise That small ray of light came as a promise and what was that promise?

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It was a seed that promise was a seed

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Look look at chapter 3 there in Genesis in verse 15, you know the passage well

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God is laying out the consequences of breaking this covenant to Adam and Eve and the serpent and he says to Eve I will put in mid or to the serpent

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I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring

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I want you to notice it doesn't say Adams offspring. He says her offspring the significance there, right the seed

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He shall bruise your head And you shall bruise his heel and then

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God furthered that very imagery by clothing them and skins

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You ever wondered why God did so You remember the moment they take of the fruit they now feel shame

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They know of their of their shame and nakedness and they try and cover it with fig leaves All right, but in the grace of God he could have left them in that shame but what does he do

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He takes the life of an innocent animal Sheds its blood takes its skin and covers their shame

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You see that glimmer of hope That glimmer of hope he's he's basically telling them.

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Hey, guess what that seed of the woman will do He will clothe you So good, you see what

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God knew all along was something that Satan was not privy to Was that this wasn't plan

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B This was always God's plan a his eternal plan and This plan was to re -establish the kingdom they broke the

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Covenant They brought the kingdom into ruins and God had already had a plan to re -establish the

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Covenant But here's the thing like a good and gracious God better Stronger and everlasting

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Or there's not a tree of life in the center to condemn

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All right, that kingdom could not be re -established as long as the

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Covenant of works remained unfulfilled a Covenant has been broken. It cannot be

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Rebuilt until this Covenant of works becomes fulfilled

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So this hope requires that this covenant would be satisfied

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His hope in a seed that he has promised This would mean that a new covenant of grace would not do away with the

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Covenant of works rather. It would establish it This is important This may seem like nuance to you

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But this is important the Covenant of works must be fulfilled and the new covenant will establish that Just as we see

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God's promise of hope Intertwined in his declaration of judgment there in verses 14 through 19 of chapter 3, right?

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Notice when he's telling them about this great judgment that has come upon them because of their breaking this covenant

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He also gives them hope intertwined in all of it The actual outworking of this great hope came in the midst of great judgment

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We see this great hope unfolding before us in the midst of the judgment The wrath of God being poured out upon the iniquity of the unbelievers

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You see even though the walls of this old kingdom had come crumbling down the foundations of a new kingdom were being laid at this

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Very moment. This is what is known as the edemic covenant

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I'm gonna mention a few of these as we go. You might want to jot them down and do a little research This is what we'll talk about in that 12 to 14 week series

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Down the road, but let's introduce it to you. This is what is known as the edemic covenant

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The covenant of works that Adam broke must be fulfilled We see another glimmer of this hope

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And what we know is the Noahic Covenant the Noahic Covenant comes not long after all of this the result of of this fall of Adams posterity being brought into Futility and into darkness and under the reign of Satan had led to unprecedented wickedness in the world

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Debauchery at every turn And what did God choose to do he chose to wipe the slate clean of sorts didn't he he decided to start over at some level and Wipe out

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This this wickedness In order to do that though God Must maintain who he is and God is a god of his word you see

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God could not have wiped out the entire human race burnt the entire universe and said

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I'm starting afresh and anew with a new Adam and He couldn't because he could not lie and he could not go against what he has set out to do and what his word said

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So he is a he is a God that is true and faithful to his word so he could not

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He had promised that the seed of the woman would defeat this serpent He'd already promised us so God preserved

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Noah and his family didn't he he preserves him He had him build an ark you remember the story you all learned it and probably

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Sunday school as children Where Noah is told to build this boat to build this ark and When the floods came when the waters came and covered the earth killing every living creature

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Noah and his family were safe They were safe inside God's provision of an ark

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You see another glimmer of hope shining through the darkness here The wrath of God was poured out upon wicked men men that deserved the wrath of God because they hated

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God and turned from God at every turn because all man does and the world had become

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Overrun with wickedness and even though Noah and his family were also descendants of Adam God had made a way of protection

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He had given them faith we see this glimmer of hope pointing to the provision of God Providing a

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Messiah don't we just like the Noahic Covenant? just like Noah and his family brought into a boat and Shielded from the wrath of God poured out upon wicked men

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This is the gospel isn't it is this a picture of the gospel?

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When we are in him when we are in Christ as as the whole letter of Ephesians has been driving home

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Isn't it we are protected from the wrath of God? We are shielded from the wrath of God poured out upon the iniquity of the earth

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And after this God promised never to destroy the earth with water again, and he's held true to his promise

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He has never flooded the entire earth, and he never will it will burn the earth up one day, but he will never flood it

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You see the light gets even even brighter as as we go on through the narrative of Scripture As we come to the

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Abrahamic Covenant, right? So we come from the Adamic Covenant the

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Noahic Covenant and now the Abrahamic Covenant You see even though God had wiped out the wicked men and Noah's day

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Satan still had and and was still the ruler of this kingdom and that darkness remained

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It was great darkness the hope of that promise that Seemed to be fading the promise of that seed seemed to be fading the people of God were far far and few

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It was hard to tell them between the world It was hard to distinguish them And it was impossible to identify the very people of God those that he had granted faith to and set apart that were not a part of this kingdom of darkness and I'm sure in the midst of this once again

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Satan was hopeful of his victory wasn't he? He probably Just roamed around the earth

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Celebrating like God even wiped him out. He saved Noah and his family I hated that but he did it anyways and now their posterity are still falling into into my hands

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Their their bloodline is still falling into my hands, and I'm still wreaking havoc

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So as history is unfolding God chose to reestablish this covenant of works Mind you this

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Abrahamic Covenant is not a covenant of grace. This is a reestablishing of the covenant of works

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With a particular people of his choosing this is why we call it the

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Abrahamic Covenant look look at Genesis 12 The first three verses is all we'll look at here, but in Genesis 12 verse 1

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But now the Lord said to Abram now, this is obviously Abraham right Abram was his name says go from your country and your kindred And I want you to notice something

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God separated him from the other people of this kingdom Okay, he says go go from your country go from your kindred leave your family leave your friends

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Leave your neighbors leave all of those people who are still a part of the kingdom of darkness leave them separate from them and your father's house and To the land that I will show you a prop and promised him a land didn't he?

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promised him something he he Was separating his people from the kingdom of darkness

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Under a covenant of works, and I will make of you a great nation hmm

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There's a whole new nation being created here And I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be blessed

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I will bless those who bless you and him who dishonors you I will curse and in you

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All the families of the earth shall be blessed this light keeps getting brighter doesn't it?

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It's becoming clearer and clearer as we go through I get I can feel

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I can feel Satan getting nervous about this point Right like oh, man. He doesn't quite have a picture, but you know something's up Something's going on You notice it's a much bigger picture than just the nation of Israel He says that all the nations of the earth shall be blessed

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We'll see that later as we come into a covenant of grace, right? But this this

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Abrahamic Covenant Abrahamic Covenant was meant to separate a people out of the kingdom of darkness and have his law represented amongst a people

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Abraham knew this was something much bigger than just him We know that because the writer of Hebrews confirms all of that you can drop these passages down Hebrews 11 10

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For he talked about Abraham was looking forward to the city that was that that has foundations whose designer and builder is

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God He wasn't looking for an earthly city Abraham knew that God's gonna provide a physical land for us

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But this isn't the promise the promise is that I will make it to physical land because he's separating us from the rest of the world

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But this is a greater promise in verse 16 of chapter 11 of Hebrews It says but as it is they desire a better country.

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That is a Heavenly one. That's what Abraham knew therefore. God is not ashamed to be called their

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God for he has prepared for them a city This is so much bigger than just the people of Israel in a particular location geographically

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This is something This is something spiritual through this covenant

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Walking through this world as sojourners. They were set apart in the Abrahamic Covenant In the midst of these people we get the law defined

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Now in the Mosaic Covenant, so we come out of the

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Abrahamic Covenant He sets a people for himself and now this very people gets a Mosaic Covenant.

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He brings Moses into the picture, doesn't he? We get the the priest of this kingdom in the

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Aaronic Aaronic Covenant Aaron I'm not gonna define all of these.

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I'm just kind of walking through I want to get to this one and We get to the king of this covenant The Davidic Covenant you see

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God is making covenants with his people shedding light

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Upon this this new kingdom that is to come Little bits at a time and each one of these covenants.

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None of them are a covenant of grace They are a covenant of works Okay You see after 700 years or so This people of God have been overtaken

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Seen as insignificant But then comes the great king David right

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God provides a king And he first he provides Saul because that's what the people wanted

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He turns out to not be such a great king. Oh, but then David God's anointed That's who

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God chose and this was pointing to the seed of David This Davidic Covenant is pointing to the seed of David the victor the king of kings

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The one that would set upon the throne of David, right? the second Samuel chapter 7 and verses 12 through 13 says when your days are fulfilled and you lay down with your father

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Who's he talking to David talking to King David when you or when it's done when your life is over You'll be buried with your fathers.

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I Will raise up your offspring after you you shall come who shall come from your body

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And I will establish his kingdom He shall build a house for my name and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever

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This is a great promise It's not the gospel, but it points to the gospel, doesn't it?

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the seed of the woman and now David is coming from that line.

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And now Jesus comes from that line these people that he has set apart for himself Coming right out of that that Abrahamic Covenant But the context a little bit of this passage in 2nd

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Sam. You see David wanted to build David wanted to build a house for God in his kingdom David had set out right if you remember the story

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David wanted to build a great kingdom He's like, it's not right that I live in this palace and God's got this tent over here

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And we worship God in this tent like we did out in the wilderness I want to raise money and I want to raise people and we're gonna build

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God a real Temple like we're gonna build something great and God stops him. God doesn't let him build this this great temple

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You see God promised to build David a house By giving his son a kingdom.

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He's building David a house That would be the dwelling place for both God and his people

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David was short -sighted David thought oh, I'm the king Israel will stand forever and we will be this kingdom and and I'm gonna build

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God this great temple and God's saying That's short -sighted. Yeah, you're king right there of your little kingdom

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I'm just setting you apart in the midst of the kingdom of darkness to bring about the real kingdom

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And I'm gonna build you a house Where I can dwell with you. I'm gonna build you a new better garden

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That's what I'm going to do and David believed this to be true This is the

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Davidic Covenant by the time we make it to Isaiah You remember the

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Christmas passage in Isaiah 9? We see prophesied again that light starts to break through the darkness even greater

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When he says for unto us a child is born Unto us a son is given and the government shall be upon his shoulders and his name shall be called a wonderful counselor mighty

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God everlasting father prince of peace of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no in on the throne of David and Over his kingdom to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness

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From this time forth and forevermore the zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this this glorious promise

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See all of these covenants were part of that covenant of works Pointing to a covenant of grace the new covenant that was to come where God did it

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Not David not Abraham not Moses not Noah not

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Adam for sure God but remember

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That covenant of works has to be fulfilled before that This must be fulfilled

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So here's the thing at the perfect time right at the perfect moment

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When when the darkness was at its darkest? You Gotta remember to God hadn't spoken to his people in a few hundred years by the time we get to this point, right?

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It had been silent There's not much going on and the darkness seems to be coming in and and destroying the people of Israel the the the physical and Children of Abraham are overtaken by Rome everything seems the darkest

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And then on the last Old Testament prophet appears John the

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Baptist John the Baptist comes on the scene and declares out in the wilderness as we see in Matthew chapter 3 repent

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For the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Are you starting to see this grand narrative throughout

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Scripture now? God's been working this all out all the way through with all of these covenants of works that point to that one covenant of works back at the garden to be fulfilled and to be and to be pointing to this new covenant

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Jesus the very Son of God God in the flesh the light of the world stands in line with the weak and the broken walking down to the river to be baptized

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By this seemingly crazy man who eats locusts and has honey in his beard Declaring repent the kingdom of heaven is at hand come be baptized and the

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Son of God Comes down with the weak and the broken And he comes out of the water as as John baptizes

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Jesus the very Son of God the clouds open up out of the sky as It's almost as if there's imagery here of of God set shining his great light into the darkness

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It was overwhelming in the moment and all of the sudden the voice of God comes behold

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This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased You see back in Genesis 3 we had but a beam a small glimmer of light

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That light kept getting slightly bigger and slightly bigger and then the Son of God shows up and the very voice of God comes in This is my beloved

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Son with whom I am well pleased This light comes into the world and appears And Jesus then sets out to fulfill that covenant of works you realize that don't you

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The one that covenant of works that Adam could not fulfill the one that he failed to fulfill

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Jesus comes to do that. He does so first by immediately after his baptism.

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Where does he go? He goes straight to the wilderness He Goes into the wilderness you see

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I want to pinpoint this Adam the prophet priest and king of the kingdom of man

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He had a lush beautiful garden a full stomach and comforts unimaginable and his temptation was merely the fruit of a single tree and He still failed if anyone was given the ideal

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Circumstances in which to not fail He did it, but that's the thing about the true and better Adam in order to fulfill the covenant of works

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He goes into a desert wasteland that has been decimated by the fall starving thirsty Hot exhausted

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None of the things Adam had and here comes Satan once again doesn't he?

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Just like he roamed into the garden He comes into the to this wasteland where Jesus is is

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Struggling and suffering physically and not offering him a single tree and a piece of fruit from a tree

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But he offers him the whole of creation Remember he is the ruler of this age

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He is the one that it is the ruler of this kingdom of darkness, and he offers it to Jesus in his in his most pivotal moment of starvation and need and hunger and Pain, but unlike Adam who tasted of the forbidden fruit

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What does Jesus do he said there in Matthew chapter 4 in verse 10?

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He says be gone Satan for it is written You shall worship the

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Lord your God and him alone shall you serve? The very phrase that Adam should have declared ripping the fruit from the hands of his wife and casting the serpent out of the garden

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Jesus does And fulfills the covenant of works

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The true and better Adam and in verse 17 of Matthew 4 says from this time

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Jesus began to preach saying the same thing that John the Baptist was declaring right repent

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For the kingdom of heaven is at it. Here's where we get a little confused about this kingdom

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You see in English We have the word kingdom, and if you look up kingdom it primarily refers to a place doesn't it?

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It's a noun Kingdom is a noun. It's a place you want to know if there's a kingdom you look for a location

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There is a kingdom there, but in the Greek and in the Hebrew It's something different The word that's used here actually refers to an activity or an action now

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Is there a place? Along with that activity and action we believe so yes

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But I think there's so much more that's here when we just think of a location.

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That's why we categorize it wrong We think well maybe the kingdom of God is heaven Maybe the kingdom of God is some new

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Creation like new heavens and new earth when he creates it all of those are true mind you Maybe the the kingdom of God is the millennial reign in my eschatology

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Maybe that because we can only see kingdom as a noun, but this is an activity. There's something deeper here

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It's the reign of a king over a people Jesus the true and better Adam is the true prophet priest and king he is

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What Adam was supposed to be but? Infinitely greater and he solidified this in his life

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Fulfilling the covenant of works he fulfills it in his death the bearing the guilt of his people and he fulfills it in his resurrection a

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Declaration that a death has no hold of me and now

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Jesus reigns as king he reigns as king a king of a

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Spiritual kingdom there's not necessarily a place you see this is spiritual because Christ reign encompasses all

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And when I say all if there's anything more Than the created universe.

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He's king of it every single

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Both physical molecule and spiritual realm Jesus reigns that is his kingdom

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So when the kingdom of heaven is at hand Jesus is saying it's here. It's coming.

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It's right here in your presence That's why we call it the already and not yet, right?

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If Jesus reigns Jesus is Jesus waiting to the very last sheep of his to be called and brought into this kingdom through adoption through sonship so they can to be heirs in this kingdom and Then he will put the final enemy death under his feet

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But it doesn't mean that he doesn't reign supreme over all of it now He does we just don't get to see it and experience it because this is a spiritual reign and one day he will burn up this world and all of the iniquity as a result of the fall and Create a new heavens and a new earth, but even in that it is a spiritual realm in which he reigns overall created or not created

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Again, I don't know if there's a category for that. I'm not God. I Just want to make sure you understand that he reigns supreme and here's the whole point if you get anything from today

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Okay, and we covered a lot of ground. I told you the 10 ,000 foot flyover view I couldn't really deal with any of these things

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But here's what I want you to go away with Saint if you are in Christ today

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The kingdom of God is In you you no longer need a garden

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You no longer need a tent You no longer need a building The kingdom of God is in you

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God is dwelling with his people Because of the fulfillment of the covenant of works by our new representative

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The true and better Adam Jesus Christ. It's good news, isn't it?

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In light of that? Let's prepare our hearts to go to the table at the table we his children get to express the

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The n -word truth that we are part of this kingdom and we partake in the suffering of Christ we partake in the inheritance in Which we share in this glorious kingdom with Christ because he is in us and we are in him this wine and this bread represents the sacrifice of His body his body that fulfilled the covenant of works his blood that was spilled to pay the penalty

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For us who broke that covenant of works It's beautiful So let us pray that God would be honored if you were a guest and and I want you to know if you are

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In Christ today and you are in good standing with a biblical church. You are welcome to this table

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How we do this is we all come around their side tables pastor Jeremiah be at this side

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I will be over here if anyone needs to pray with us talk to us anything We're here, but get the elements go back to your seat through the center and you can pray together

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You can pray individually you can partake and then we will come back together to sing the doxology and continue on with our service

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But let's pray that God would be honored in this dear Heavenly Father Well, we thank you for this

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This glorious kingdom that is so much greater than the garden before the fall so So glorious that we have a true and better Adam and Jesus Christ Our new representative is perfect and he will not and did not fail and now if we are in him

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We share in his sacrifice because we have obtained his righteousness

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So be honored in our time of worship through this table Guard our hearts from unrepentant sin

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Lord help us to lay things that at your feet Lay them at the foot of the cross knowing that our

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Savior has paid for them Seek to live for the Lord Jesus Christ Mold us together as we partake in Christ's name.