Advancing the Kingdom, Pt. 2 (01/22/2023)

The Call to Advance the Kingdom Through Character

But since then, I have really gotten mad at him so He is one of my good friends and I appreciate him and I I he's what I want to be when I grow up and Honestly, he's he does. Devo both mornings on tradeway and Pam will come out of her office in them in the back and she'll go you should have heard morning.

She just and all of a sudden we're we're you know, we're talking about David and what he said, so I Don't see that happening when anybody else with Pam not even me. She'll look at me and go. So ladies and gentlemen David Hubert, all right, so let's see if we can make miss Pam cry today.

So we're gonna try to do.

Just kidding. You should see how often miss Pam makes my wife cry. She's the sweetest I just love working with her. It's true all right, so Last week I didn't really get to finish the message. But we kind of expected that and so this week we're gonna try and pick up where we left off.

I'm gonna do a quick recap to kind of remind you exactly where we were and Then we're gonna get into What we are supposed to become in order to advance the kingdom. Remember that's what the Message is about is how to advance the kingdom.

We started off looking at Genesis and saw that When the Lord created man He told him to be something. He told him to be fruitful and then he told him to multiply Replenish the earth subdue it and have dominion over it.

If you go two verses back before he's talking about The instructions you see the plan That God had for man. He says let us make man in our own image. And he shall have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl the air and over every living thing that creepeth upon the planet and.

So what that shows us is that? One God carried out his plan right because he told man what to do, but to the way we have Our identity rooted in God, that's how where it starts, right? We're supposed to be in his image.

The very first thing God tells us about his image when he's creating man is that we will have dominion and That dominion isn't necessarily our dominion. But it's the king's dominion right because we also belong to the king.

So while he puts us in charge like the servant in the parable of the talents his master says You have been faithful over few I'll make you ruler over many he he puts his servant in charge and in a sense that servant has dominion.

But he's still the servant of the master. So that dominion still belongs to the master. And so we see God planning out man. And the first thing he says about man is that he's gonna have dominion then when he creates man He gives him the blueprint for how to have dominion and we see that when he says be fruitful and the word fruitful means to produce.

Right, and then he says multiply which means to increase. What do you increase your production? And then he says to replenish the earth, which means your production should add value to the world around you and then He says subdue it which means don't let anything get in your way of adding value to the earth around you.

Right trample down anything that tries to get in your way and then ultimately he says have Dominion, so we saw that and we likened it unto the idea of Advancing a kingdom as if we were soldiers in God's army.

And the first step is to become a soldier, right? And that's where God tells us be right. So we are going to be soldiers. That's like the joining of the army. That's our preparation our training, but someone who is productive will usually produce right and so that Production is the activation of the soldier.

He's got his marching orders. It's time for him to start marching into battle. Then we saw that we were supposed to increase that production and in a sense if we're if we're going with this analogy of an army taking dominion or advancing a kingdom the increase is us beginning to pick up our pace and beginning to charge into battle and Then we get to the part where it says to replenish the earth right which means to enrich it.

This is the point of impact in battle when lives are changed and people are affected so that point of impact is the clashing in battle and then To subdue is where we overcome the enemy. It's trying to slow us down.

That's when we we meet with opposition and the enemy is trying to stop us and we overcome ultimately, we then gain a piece of Land or dominion, right? Maybe it's physical land. Maybe it's spiritual land.

I think all of its spiritual to some degree right but dominion looks like many things dominion in and The marketplace looks like market share. Dominion in your finances looks like profit. Dominion in a relationship looks like winning the hearts and minds of others dominion in.

Your faith your walk of faith looks like overcoming sin. Say and you begin to gain ground, but what happens is once that army has defeated the other opposing army. They must then keep that land. So that the the kingdom can then advance their gates and advance their borders so once you have dominion, you've got to keep the dominion and.

So we went through all of that and then we began to look at The the first element of what we are supposed to become. Right. What does it look like? How does it flesh out to become a person of production?

And so the first thing that we looked at was we needed to become a congruent Christian. Because we have these two spirits Living within us. We have our spirit and we have God's Spirit and if our spirit is striving against God's Spirit We are unbalanced.

Right, we are we are unstable in all our ways a double-minded man is state unstable in all his ways and We we want to be a soldier who is well-balanced. I talked about my background in martial arts and how we we focus on balance almost more than anything all the reasons why you go through all of the Exercises and stuff is to increase your strength to be able to keep your balance in battle.

Because when you've toppled you've lost the battle and we we looked at the importance of being holy and being perfect and being loving those were some of the attributes of God that we looked at in his spirit and we we looked at it as if there were.

There was a scale right? We've got God's Spirit with these weighty characteristics of holiness and loving kindness and perfection meaning In a sense meaning without What was the word I used. Trying to remember what the word I used it was it was without Being impartial.

So in other words while God like Ben talked about last week in in church Sunday school. He said that God has The ability to see the hearts of man, right and so God can hate evil. But he can also hate the evildoer because he knows whose are his and whose are not he knows who are ultimately going to come to him and We don't have that ability because we're not omniscient like God is so we have the responsibility of showing love impartially to the world around us because for all we know we're talking to a Saul who looks like someone who's completely lost and can't be saved.

But the Lord may have him as a vessel of honor Planned for him. So so we don't get to hate in the way that God hates, right? We know that we're supposed to fear the Lord which Proverbs tells us the fear of the Lord is to hate evil.

So we're supposed to hate evil, but we've got to love the people. We've got to show them. We got to exhort them in love. And so we've got this scale of God's Spirit and our spirit and when we are not Mimicking the attributes of God the scales are imbalanced and I tried to end Last week on a verse that I thought was really cool for that and I was unable to find it.

The good news is I did find it. The bad news is I lost it again. No, but here it is it's actually Proverbs 16 verse 2. This is interesting. All the ways of man are clean in his own eyes, but the Lord Weigheth the spirits and that interesting.

So if you think of this this idea that there these two spirits within us and God's is this weighty spirit, right? He's weighing the spirits against his own spirit, right? Like does it does it meet my standard?

That's what he's weighing it against and so we talked about the importance of being a congruent Christian one who is in Complete accordance with God's Spirit someone who is matching or trying to bring their spirit in into a place of being like God's Spirit and So that's the first thing.

But I didn't actually get to finish my thoughts on congruency because remember We're looking at this template of gaining dominion through the lens of be do have right and so when you become something you'll do something and you'll have something and Life is a series of inputs and outputs and I was sharing this with my old alma mater this last week get to go and Talk at Laterno University to a whole bunch of college kids, which it's kind of a surreal experience.

Katie and I were in some of the same Classrooms that we'd been in when we met. And it was it was really a fun experience. But I asked the students and I'll ask you guys if I I just had a banana milkshake or a banana smoothie from one of our favorite places in Longview and I said if I take a banana and I put it in a blender.

What will I get? What would you guys think I'd get? Banana smoothie basically, right if I take two bananas and I put it in a blender, what will I get? I'll get more banana smoothie. How many bananas can I put in a blender before I get a strawberry smoothie?

It doesn't work, right? So regardless of how much input I put in I Have to change the input if I want a different output. I can't just do more of the same, right? And So one of the things that we have to realize is if we want to gain dominion.

We're gonna have to change our inputs to be more like God's inputs. That's where we'll begin to gain dominion because if we try to keep doing it our way. We're just gonna get the banana smoothie all day long, right?

We're not gonna get God's creamy strawberry smoothie. We want we want that strawberry smoothie. So we've got to change the inputs and Here is the reason because when we become congruent and we look more like God.

Right. We we have become someone more like God. We will actually produce something. Any guesses as to what we will produce in the world around us. We get clues in the book of Matthew we were talked about as being the salt of the earth the light right.

See what happens is when we look more like God. What do we look less like? We look less like the world. So when we become congruent Christians we produce contrast. Now anyone who's ever been in a battle of any kind.

Whether it be a real battle or one in a video game, or maybe you're just out playing paintball or something. If you if you are in a battle of any kind and there's no contrast between your team and the other team.

You shoot the wrong players. You don't want that and so when we become congruent Christians we create a Contrast that makes it easier to see right from wrong good from evil and we can begin to see where Dominion needs to be taken.

Because when Christians look like the rest of the world, it's hard to know where where do we really have Dominion. We actually don't is the answer if we look like the rest of the world. It's the rest of the world who has dominion over us and so becoming a congruent Christian produces Contrast which means we will have something because it's a be-do-have.

We will have clarity in the battles that we fight. So become a Congruent Christian become more holy more perfect more loving. Make your spirit more like God's Spirit and you will begin to contrast with the world and You will have clarity about the battles that God has called you to fight because you'll be able to see oh well there that doesn't Look like God that doesn't look like God.

Let's go over there and take Dominion in this area or in that area so we as a church have a responsibility to make sure that we are wearing the What do they call them Ben. The coat of arms, is that it the coat of arms?

We should be wearing our coat of arms when we're in battle, which means we should look like God's army. This isn't this isn't covert operations like what we see so many Countries adhere to now is like you try to look as much like the enemy as you can and then surprise them.

Even if they try to look like the enemy, you know, what happens they all know a way to see each other right. There is some defining characteristic that if the enemy picks up on it, they'll know. But guess what.

God hasn't called us to be covert Christians. He's called us to be overt. Because that's what brings the rest of the army into play. Like if we went into battle and we said, all right, we're gonna be covert Christians and no one's really gonna know.

We're Christians, but we're gonna know. Like I know because you know. We love each other and we love each other and they're not gonna know because we're gonna look just like the world. The the problem with that is that we have other people on our team that are out in the world and They don't know who we are.

Because we look like everyone else. So we can't play covert Christian warfare. We've got to be overt. So become congruent. Do produce clarity or produce contrast and you will have clarity in the battles.

Constancy in Prayer, Service, and Abiding in Christ

Okay, so We're going to move on. That's the first Component where I've got three components and I'm gonna be sharing with you guys. First one is congruency. The next one I want you to turn to Acts chapter 10.

For me, please. Would just turn in your Bibles to Acts chapter 10. We're gonna see another component. That's very important. See if I can get my Computer to cooperate here and I really really like Acts chapter 10.

For a couple of reasons but the main reason is because I've always loved the name Cornelius. Cornelius is. It's one of the nerdiest names I think but I love it and in fact, I tell stories to my kids that I make up sometimes about Calling the Hornswoggle twins because I thought Hornswoggle that sounds good and nerdy too.

So the hero of our stories is Cornelius Hornswoggle. It's a mouthful kids love the stories and and I just add to it's one long story that I add to every now and then. We've been a couple of years now.

We've been telling it. I think we only have like four episodes. But someday maybe we'll actually write these things. So that'd be kind of fun. Anyway, that's neither here nor there. That's a bunny trail that meant nothing other than it was fun to talk about.

The the man we're gonna talk about here is found in Acts chapter 10 it says in verse 1 there was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius a Centurion of the band called the Italian band that just sounds cool, too, doesn't it?

But here's what it says about Cornelius and I think this is important because I think the second thing that we need to be as Christians is constant. Gotta be the constant Christians. I almost put consistent but I like the word constant better.

Because consistent means you do things with with great frequency and maybe they do them the same every time but For Christians, it's not that easy to do this to be the same, right? It's very hard. It's a struggle and sometimes we fail.

So we're not very consistent like we should be but we should always be constant in that we get back up and try again so that's why I've chosen that word, but also it was interesting to me as as. That word came to my mind.

There's some scripture actually to back it up what you'll see here in a second. But this the thing we learn about Cornelius besides that he is a centurion in the band of an Italian the Italian band. It says he's a devout man and one that feared God with all his house which gave much alms to the people and Here's the coolest part and prayed to God all the way.

There's some constancy there right he's always praying it's always Serving the Lord and when he looked on him, he was afraid. Whoops, I missed. I skipped a verse. It says he saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day an angel of God coming into him and saying unto him Cornelius.

And when he looked on him, he was afraid and said what is it Lord? And he said unto him thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God. That's really cool to me. Can you imagine your prayers and your alms?

Ascending into heaven as a memorial to God. That's awesome. Now I wonder is there actually like a physical memorial in heaven that we're going to see when we get up there and it'll be like in memory of Cornelius's.

I doubt it but It does Serve as a remembrance for God not that he'd forgotten but almost like My servant keeps calling my name. I know he's down there. I'm gonna turn my attention to him for a little while.

It's a memorial for God. I think it's really really pretty interesting. If you would Turn to John 15 for we're gonna see how do we become constant? Like Cornelius was. I've got another verse I'd skipped over on accident in relation to contrast.

I want you to just think of Job for a moment. When Job who was a congruent Christian Was serving the Lord The Lord said to Satan have you considered my servant Job that there is none like him in the earth.

You see the contrast that's pretty cool. But back to constant. So, how do we become constant go to John 15 for you're going to see a Very familiar verse abide in me and I and you as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine.

No more. Can ye except you abide in me? What does it mean to abide? Means to live right and what else what did you say to remain right? So it's You abide in your household right which means you live there and you probably spend a lot of time there, right.

People who don't spend much time at their house might say they live on the road. You say so they it's not really their Place of abiding if they don't spend time there. That's really what is required to say.

I abide somewhere. My abiding place is where I remain. It's where I Continue it's where I spend time. We have here a man who prays Continually Cornelius. Oh, I just accidentally skipped my notes there.

Don't want that to happen because I'll lose my verses again. So in order to be constant You must abide you must abide in The Lord and we see Cornelius do this and what we'll see is that when he abides.

When he is constant There is something about him that the world around him starts to have Respect for him. So let's go ahead and read about Cornelius flip back on over to Acts chapter 10 again. Read a little bit about him and then we're gonna move on to a couple of other stories.

But he saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day an angel of God coming in to him and saying unto him Cornelius and when he looked on him He was afraid and said what is it Lord? And he said unto him thy prayers and that alms are come up before him for a memorial before God and Now send men to Joppa and call for one Simon whose surname is Peter now.

Is Simon a man of great authority? Simon Peter. Especially at this time we're 10 chapters in to Acts. Simon has preached a couple of sermons and thousands have come. From this thousands have come to know the Lord from this.

So Simon is already a little bit of a celebrity himself, right? And now this man who we are just introduced to for the first time Is being tasked with calling on a celebrity. That's a big deal. And now send men to Joppa and call for one Simon whose surname is Peter.

He lodges with one Simon a tanner. So Simon's staying with Simon. Whose house is by the seaside? He shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do. Okay, so you're gonna call on Simon Peter. He's hanging out at a beach house with the other Simon the tanner right and he's gonna tell you what to do.

And when the angel which spake unto Cornelius was departed he called two of his Household servants and a devout soldier of them that waited on him continually. So he's got people who continually wait on him.

And when he had declared all these things unto them He sent them to Joppa on the morrow as they went on their journey and drew nigh unto the city. Peter went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour.

And When he became very hungry, he would have eaten but while they made ready he fell into a trance. Now I want to pause here for a second because we're gonna come back to Simon Peter when we talk about the third Characteristic that we need to have and it's gonna it's gonna be right there so just dwell on the fact for a moment that a man has the authority and The reputation to be able to call on a man like Simon Peter.

See when you become constant in your walk with Christ it will produce an abiding in Christ. In other words, it will produce you spending more time with God and You will have something as a result. What do you think you'll have?

Well, if you you'll definitely have Blessings, what else? We actually can see what we would have if we'll go to Romans chapter 5 verse 3 through 5. This is another very familiar verse we're gonna find out what Constance produces.

But we glory in tribulations also knowing that tribulation worketh patience. Okay, y 'all recognize this verse. Okay, tribulation worketh patience when you go through hard times. Patience is supposed to be the result supposed to become patience and patience.

Experience now if you look up the word patience guess what that word patience means Constancy. And that interesting so when things get tough, you don't run you abide. Or stay constant in your walk. So if you are constantly in prayer like Cornelius constantly doing things for the Lord.

Even when times are tough It will produce experience. Guess what the word experience means. Tried character. Now if you have character do people become do they get to a point where they know you for your character.

Sure, right like if you do things Enough people will know you as those things. Some of them are good. Some of them are bad, right? I'm typically known as a nice guy. That's one of my good ones. Also known as forgetful.

That's one of my bad ones. So long as I don't forget I'm supposed to be a nice guy. I think I'll be okay. But when you do something long enough you become synonymous with that thing Simon the Tanner right.

So it literally becomes part of the name. In Fact most of our last names came as a result of some occupation that our ancestors were synonymous with. So if you do something long enough, you'll be known for it.

Cornelius did something long enough where he had a character or a reputation. Large enough to be able to call on someone like Simon Peter now, of course. It would still only work if the spirit leads Simon Peter to where he should go.

But being constant Should produce more time with Jesus. So you've got to become someone who desires to be constant. You will produce in your own walk with Jesus more time with him. Maybe that's reading his word and and Meditating on his word.

I can. Psalm chapter 1. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly nor standeth in the way of sinners or sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord and he meditate on it day and night.

Right, so maybe that's what Constancy looks like for you. Maybe it it's the Lord calls you to just Communicate with him and pray with him all the time. I think of Charlotte. She's constantly praying. Constantly praying way more than I I mean I'm convicted over it a lot of times when she tells me well I was praying for this this morning and I'm like, well, I should have been praying more, you know, so like.

Maybe it's in your prayer life. Maybe it's in your reading. Maybe it's in your serving of others, right? But constant we see with Cornelius. He has two in. Particular one is that he is praying always and Two is that he's giving alms to others.

Which is I find interesting because the two greatest commandments are to love the Lord your God. All your heart mind soul and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. Right, so he's doing both there and he's constant in both and he has this reputation That precedes him.

Okay, so Be constant abide in Christ. And have character. Build a reputation of being someone who creates contrast in the world around you. So that there's clarity in the battles that you fight and people start looking to you when they need to fight.

Compliance to the Spirit and the Word

That's the second thing. You should be constant the third thing. And I might actually get done on time today. This is looking good. I Am not a superstitious person, so I don't even think that really does anything but get a laugh.

So The third thing we should be compliant. We should be compliant but there's a certain meaning to this that I want us to focus on. I Want us to jump back over to Simon Peter. What is Simon Peter doing?

He falls into a trance in verse 10 and He saw heaven opened in a certain vessel descending unto him as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners and let down to the earth wherein were all manner of four-footed beasts of the earth and Wild beasts and creeping things and fowls of the air and there came a voice to him rise Peter kill and eat.

But Peter said not so Lord for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean. I imagine that's how he said it. I have never done that. I Wouldn't do that Lord. But then God's response is it says in the voice spake unto him again the second time what God hath cleansed.

That that call not thou come in. In other words, you're wrong Peter I cleansed it. It's okay. This was done thrice and the vessel was received up again into heaven now. Look what it says in the next verse verse 17.

Now while Peter doubted in himself that this vision which he had seen should mean Behold the men which were sent from Cornelius had made inquiry for Simon's house and stood before the gate and Called and asked whether Simon which was surnamed Peter was lodged there.

While Peter thought on the vision the Spirit said unto him behold three men seek thee. All right. So let's let's stop for a second and let's talk about what's going on. Peter is About to be called on by Cornelius.

Compliance to the Spirit and the Word

He's about to receive word and actually the Holy Spirit's gonna warn him first that Cornelius his men are looking for him. But he's just had this dream that goes against all the things he has believed in the past.

I'm not supposed to eat that stuff and the Lord says actually I've cleansed it. It's okay now so Peter Has to be compliant with the Spirit and go even though he's doubting at this point says in verse 17 now while Peter Doubted in himself what this vision which he had seen should mean.

While he's sitting there doubting it. The Lord goes I got people here for you. What I said is clean is clean. Now here comes some people to talk to you. So what must be going on in Peter's mind like he's struggling on the inside With his own internal beliefs like wait a minute.

This is new. This is different. I Had this preconceived notion about how God works and he just blew that out of the water and said what is clean. I've cleaned it. So it's clean. So that's what's going on in his mind.

Watch how it plays out in the battle for Dominion here I Rise therefore and get thee down and go with them doubting nothing. So the Lord is telling him don't doubt what you have seen. It's very important that you remain compliant Peter and what you're about to witness.

For I have sent them. Then Peter went down to the men which were sent unto him from Cornelius and said behold. I am he whom you seek. What is the cause wherefore ye are come. What is Peter right now? If you wanted to describe Peter?

How would you describe him right now? Maybe a little bit skeptical, right? But what what? He is being compliant he's doing what he's told what else right. So from Peter's viewpoint, what would you say Peter is right now?

He's. He's being obedient. Watch what he says behold, I am he. I Am he whom you seek? What is the cause whereof? Wherefore ye are come. Could it be that Peter's a little curious. It's definitely curious would it be something that when Let me ask you this has anything ever challenged your beliefs in God.

Have have you ever had to correct wrong beliefs about God? I know that's happened to me a lot and It happened to me Quite a bit when I met David Mitchell quite a bit. I mean there were a lot of Preconceived notions I had because I grew up in church and just heard things that I thought were true.

And they weren't also with brother Otis. I remember one time I Tried to ask him a question. I'd been thinking about this question for so long. To this day. I can't remember what the question is because what happened?

But the question started out like this brother Otis. Do you think God allows and he grabbed my arm and went no. And I wait but I haven't asked yet. God doesn't allow. He wills. You sure? Yes. Okay. How can I rephrase the question, you know, but I mean he challenged a just a common belief that there are things God allows.

What in the world he wills he wills that things should happen and things shouldn't happen. That was very challenging for me. But I had to change the way I thought and you know when I when I became compliant in towards my mentors in that sense.

And started looking in Scripture because I was like, I'm pretty sure he allows. Well, I was doubting like Peter. I was pretty sure I'm gonna go find in Scripture so I can go show brother Otis. He just forgot this one.

I Was curious same thing with with debt. I had had a Problem with debt. I used to be in a lot of debt and it was something that I just felt like God hates debt. David Mitchell challenged me on that. And he said well there is good debt and I'm like, no there's not it's all bad.

It's all bad. I'm gonna show him in Scripture turns out He's right. There's proper debt. I'm like good grief but being curious caused me to To get to know God better. All right, because all of a sudden I'm like, okay, I'm gonna be compliant to what God's Word says.

All right, I'll I'll stay open-minded if someone tells me something that I disagree with I might in my mind's, you know. Think you're totally wrong, but I'll smile and say yes, sir. And then I'll go back and prove you wrong later once the Word tells me but what am I trying to do?

I'm trying to be compliant with one source and that is God in his Word, right? Being compliant to the Lord. If we try to be compliant to the world We're gonna be tossed to and fro. Because none of the doctrines line up with the world so I try to be Compliant with the with the word so we see Peter here.

He's curious and Watch what happens. Then called he them in and lodged them. This is verse 23 and on the morrow Peter went away with them and sent and certain brethren from Joppa Accompanied him. And the morrow after they entered into Caesarea and Cornelius waited for them.

He called together his kinsmen and near friends and as Peter was coming in Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him. Cornelius made a mistake here Peter corrects him for it. He says.

But Peter took him up saying stand up. I myself also am a man. So he had quite the reputation didn't he? He's like, nope. I'm just a guy just guy. You're not worshiping me. And as he talked with him, he went in and found many that were come together and he said unto them.

The Fruit of Constancy: Experience, Character, and Reputation

You know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company or come unto one of another Nation, but God has showed me that I should not call any man common or unclean. Isn't that interesting?

Peter is being compliant to the word the word. Being compliant to the Spirit and that is providing an opportunity here for Peter. His curate his curiosity has led him to this situation where it says therefore came I unto you without gain saying as soon as I was sent for I asked therefore For what intent you have sent me.