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Bill Smith; Luke 6:9-13 Your Kingdom Come
Welcome to the podcast of Recast Church in Matawan, Michigan, where you can grow in faith, community and service.
Welcome to Recast, we pray that you're encouraged today and blessed by being here together like we experience every week, so feel free to continue to get your coffee, whatever you need to stay awake. I'm excited, I get to teach this morning, and the last time I spoke, actually the last two times, I've slowly been going through the Lord's Prayer, and so I want to continue that teaching today.
We're going to look at the phrase in the Lord's Prayer called, Your Kingdom Come, and what does that mean? How do we pray that? Is that a prayer request? Can we pray that into somebody's life? That's what we're going to look at, and I'm very excited to share with you what God has taught me on this prayer.
I would encourage you to fill out the Connect cards in the bulletin, and I just want to remind you that if you put a prayer request on the back of that card, every Tuesday morning we meet as elders, and we pray over those things.
Kyle, and Don, and Zach, and I, and Rob, we pray for you all, and that's really the most serious part of our elders meeting, and the best part, in my opinion, is being able to pray for you all, so we take that seriously when you ask us to pray.
So I'm going to start out with kind of a personal question, okay? We don't, you know, I don't know about you, but personal questions can be a little uncomfortable at times, right? But I am going to call on people to answer, you have to stand up, come up front, and I'm really going to embarrass you this morning.
No, I won't do that, I promise, okay? But really, it's a serious question, and the question is this, how is your prayer life? I'm not asking you, do you pray, because I know that you do. How is your prayer life?
If you're normal, an honest answer would be, I struggle. I've been in ministry for 26 years at Youth for Christ, I know it's the foundation of my ministry. The most important part of what I do is to pray for the young people that I work with.
But I struggle with it. We struggle with prayer for different reasons, but I think one of the number one reasons why we struggle with prayer is because the enemy opposes it with a vengeance. If the devil can keep us from praying, he's got us right where he wants us.
Because he knows that prayer is the most powerful weapon that we have as children of God. That prayer moves the heart of the Father in heaven, and the Father in heaven's hands can move mountains. And that God does amazing things through prayer.
And so I believe the enemy really attacks us in regard to prayer, get us discouraged. The first time I introduced the Lord's Prayer, this was a while ago, I brought in my whole library of books on prayer.
And ever since I came to Christ at the age of 20, I realized prayer is important, I want to learn how to pray. And so through the years I bought different books on prayer, and I stacked them up. I think it was about this high, and it started getting tipsy.
And I often get discouraged when I read books on prayer. That ever happen to anybody else? It's kind of like, wow, I'm not doing this. Wow, I'm not, I don't know if I could do this. Oh, I don't, and instead of encouraging me to pray, sometimes they discourage me.
But I have found one prayer that revolutionized the way I pray. One prayer that fits on one sheet of paper, that taught me more than my big stack of books. We call it the Lord's Prayer. Jesus' closest friends, who hung out with Jesus for three years, they camped out with Him, they walked with Him.
I mean, they were with Him. They saw Jesus pray. They saw Him go off in the evening for prayer. They saw Him get up early in the morning for prayer. They saw Jesus pray, and amazing things happened. And so they said these words in Luke chapter 11, verse 1, we have them.
Lord, teach us to pray. Lord, teach us to pray. And then Jesus gave what is the most famous of all prayers. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. How many of you know it? How many of you could stand up and recite it?
Quite a few, that's amazing. I'm amazed even with the young people that I work with in the juvenile home, who at some point have learned that prayer. There are seven requests in that prayer. And I call this the prayer that covers all.
Because when you pray, when you learn to pray these seven things into your own life, into the people that you're praying for, you are covering it. And so I call it the prayer that covers all. And just by way of introduction, I wrote this down.
The Lord's Prayer. Let's look at it first. So grab a Bible. If you don't have one, grab one out of the chair there. We're going to turn to page 691. So we're going to Matthew chapter 6. And we find this amazing yet simple prayer that is easy to memorize.
Many people know it by heart. We have it on plaques sometimes in our homes. So they ask Jesus, Lord, teach us to pray. And in chapter 6, verse 9, Jesus says, pray then like this. And he gives us this beautiful prayer.
Follow along with me. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. Pretty short, simple prayer, right? But this prayer is so deep. And I'm excited to dive into what did he mean when he told us to pray, your kingdom come.
This prayer is the prayer that covers all. All the concerns of our relationship with God and his with us. It covers all our personal needs and the needs of those we are praying for. It brings the beauty of God into our lives and the kingdom of God into the world.
It connects us to the will of God and to his supplies for our daily needs. It brings forgiveness and healing. This prayer also brings deliverance from evil and protection. This truly is the prayer that covers all.
So I'm excited to share with you what I've learned from this prayer. And again, this prayer has helped me more than anything else as far as how to pray. I'm just going to open it up just by praying for you using this prayer.
And then we'll go into our worship time. And then later we'll dive into what's it mean, your kingdom come. Father in heaven, just thank you that we can call you father. Thank you that we are your sons and daughters and that you are the perfect parent.
Thank you that your love for us is perfect. Thank you for how you take care of us day to day and just the privilege of knowing you and being your children. Thank you that you're our father in heaven, that you fill the heavens and the earth completely with your spirit.
You are the ever present one and we just honor your presence among us this morning. And father, we do pray your kingdom come here among us this morning. That we would get a new vision of who you are as king of kings and lord of lords.
A renewed vision of your plan father for this earth and your kingdom. That you would reign in our lives, that our hearts would be your throne father. And when your kingdom comes, it comes with power. And so father, we pray that whatever the enemy has brought against us this week, that you would just crush it.
That you would tear down any walls of discouragement father. Or vain beliefs or whatever father is keeping us from going deeper with you. That your kingdom would come in our lives, your righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
That your will would be done here among us this morning. And that you would help us to will your will and want to do your good pleasure. And father, it is your will that we should love you with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.
And so it's your will that we know your love in a personal way. And I pray that you would pour out your love in our hearts this morning. That we would be drawn to you and encouraged. And that you would give us this day our daily bread.
You know father, there are many needs in this room this morning. In our families, in our personal lives lord. Finances, things that we're going through struggling with. And you can meet our needs lord.
You can give us that strength, that wisdom from above. You can meet that financial need lord God. You are the son of righteousness who comes with healing in your wings. And we pray oh son of righteousness come this morning with healing in your wings.
That you would forgive us our debts and our trespasses as we come so short of your glory. Father we fail to honor you as you are worthy. We fail to love you with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.
We fail to do your will. Father forgive us our debts. Thank you for the atoning sacrifice. Takes away the sins of the world. And father as you have forgiven us help us to be forgiving people. Father even as I say that I know that someone just popped up in somebody's mind.
I pray you'd give them the grace to forgive that person. That you would help us to be forgiving people. That you would be our good shepherd and that you would lead us this week. That you would lead us into the paths of righteousness.
That you would keep us from the paths of the destroyer. Father that you would keep us from the enemy's traps, the enemy's poison. Keep us from temptation in this week to come. That you would destroy every weapon the enemy brings against us.
And that you would be our shield and defender. That you would deliver us and our loved ones from evil. That you would protect us oh God. And just thank you that you are a mighty fortress unto your people.
And we love you. Thank you that yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. We just pray you would meet with us in a special way. In Jesus name. Amen. The most famous prayer. More well known than any prayer on this earth.
So simple that a small child can remember it. Our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name. It's funny how most of us know it in the King James, right? Thy kingdom come, thy will be done. On earth as it is in heaven.
When Jesus introduced this prayer. It was revolutionary. Because he said in response to their question. Lord teach us to pray. He said pray in this manner. Our father who is in heaven. And when he said those words.
Their jaws dropped. They were like. What are you saying Jesus? We can call God father? In Jesus day and in his culture. Among the Jewish people. No one dared to call God father. Jesus did. And at one point they wanted to stone him for it.
They said blasphemy. It was just way too intimate. In fact in their culture. They would not even say the Old Testament name of God. And so now to this day. We're not sure how it was pronounced. You know you hear it Jehovah.
You hear it Yahweh. In our English Bibles. When you see Lord in capital letters. That's the word for Yahweh or Jehovah. Or however you pronounce it. In fact I was. I love this. I was at Bell Tire. Getting some brakes fixed on my car.
And this guy walked in. And he was obviously a rabbi. And I mean he looked the part. You know the beard. The clothing. The tassels. And he had a black book. And I watched him. He was out in the parking lot.
Reading and walking. And he came back in. And I went up and introduced myself to him. And I asked him. Are you a rabbi? And he said. Yes I am. And I got all excited. And he's like. Who's this crazy guy?
You know. And I said. Oh I love the scriptures. You know. And we started having this conversation. And I told him. I've been studying the names of God. And I wanted to make sure I had like pronunciations.
Correct? Like Elohim. Is God. El Shaddai. God Almighty. El Elyon. These different names of God that I was studying. And I said. How do you pronounce the name. You sometimes hear people say Jehovah. Yahweh.
He said. We don't say the name. It's too sacred. And I said. What do you. Do you use the word Adonai? Because that's what I had heard. That they substitute the name Lord for Yahweh. And he said. No we.
When we come to his name. We say the name. We say. And praise to the name. Or the name said. And so they use the Hebrew expression for the name. And so we don't even know how to. The best scholars figure is.
You know. Kind of Yahweh. Might have been. Old Testament. Pronunciation of the name. So they wouldn't even say the name of God. Let alone. Call God. Father. And. So people were amazed. Like. Wow. We can call God.
Father. This is what Jesus brought to us. This kind of close relationship. For all people. That we can come. Through. What Jesus did at the cross. We come into this most personal. Intimate relationship.
To be able to call God. Our father. What a privilege. Amen. I love to tell kids. When they come to Christ. In the juvenile home. Or lakeside. Or the ark. Some of the places I minister. Through youth for Christ.
I love to show them. That you are now a child of God. And that your. Heavenly father. Is king of kings. And lord of lords. And if you're the. Child of a king. What does that make you. And then. You know.
All of a sudden. A smile comes up. Well. I'm a princess. Or. I'm a prince. Yes you are. You're royalty. Because your father. Is king of kings. And lord of lords. In John. Six. Verse nine. Jesus said. We can call God.
Our father. Wow. Well. He had to clarify that. Just like we do. When we think of that name. Father. Because for many people. It's not a positive. Expression. Because. Sadly to say. Many of our. Earthly fathers.
Let us down. And weren't the best of. Dads. And there is no. Perfect earthly father. We all mess up. And so. That can be a very. Negative term. In people's minds. Well. In the same chapter. Jesus clarified.
And said. Your father. In heaven. Is perfect. So. When you think of. The perfect parent. How they would. Treat their child. How they would. Want to build. Into that child's. Life. Meet that child's. Needs.
That's. That's God. That's who he wants. To be to us. To have this. Most intimate. Relationship. And to be able. To call God. Abba. I love to call him. Abba. You know. Some people. Even say. Daddy. Or.
Because Abba. Is similar to that. That term. But. I just. I really like to call him. Abba. Try it. If you've never done it. Just say. Abba. I love you. You know. It's just like. Wow. It's close. Intimate.
In fact. He's so close. That. When it speaks of. In the heavens. Our father in heaven. It uses the. Same word. In the Greek. That's translated. Sky. Or the atmosphere. Around the earth. It also. Is the outer atmosphere.
And then the word. For the heavens. Of heavens. The third heaven. We think of God. As way up there. Right. In this. Called heaven. You know. He's on a throne. He's distant. He's. Looking down on us. But the scripture teaches.
That. He is ever present. That his spirit. Fills the heavens. And the earth. And. He is as close. As the air you are breathing. Right now. This very moment. He's the all knowing one. He. The scripture says.
He hears every word. That we speak. And. He knows every thought. That we think. Wow. Will you hear my prayers. He's already hearing it all. And when you call on his name. You have his attention. In a special way.
Just like when someone calls your name. You like. Turn around to see. Who's calling my name. Prayer. What a privilege. To come into the presence. Of God. We are so blessed. So. You learn. Our father. In heaven.
What a privilege that is. That he's ever present. Then the. The next day. The next response. Is. Hollywood. Be your name. And that's the first request. So. The last time I got to preach. And it's been a while.
I taught on what that meant. And this word. Hollywood. Be your name. Has the idea. Of being regarded as. Holy. And sacred. That God. Is in a. In a. Class of being. Of his own. That he is the. Perfect.
Spirit. Being. And because. Of who he is. We should have. The utmost. Reverence. And respect. For who he is. And so. When we pray. The prayer. Hollywood. Be your name. When I say. Father. Hollywood. Be your name.
In my life. Today. I'm saying. Father. I pray. That. I would. Honor you. With my life. Today. I pray. Father. That you would. Help me. To realize. Your beauty. And your glory. It's really. A prayer. Asking God.
To show you. His beauty. And his glory. His majesty. It's. It's. As we learn. Who he is. That we will begin. To hollow. His name. And regard him. As sacred. And that he would be sacred. In our hearts.
The Living Bible. Just comes. Straight out. And translates it. May your name. Be honored. Which. I think. Is a good. Good translation. Hollow. It. Be. Your name. Then we come to the second. Request. Which is.
Your. Kingdom. Come. So. You know. We'll play that game. You know. I'll say a word. You tell me. What comes. To your. Mind. Lunch. Okay. Ah. Mmm. Okay. You're making me hungry now. Okay. Kingdom. Kingdom.
Kingdom. Kingdom. What comes to your mind? Hmm. A castle. Maybe. Right? A throne. Certainly. In fact. You know. All through the Old Testament. God has pictured us. Sitting on a throne. High and. Isaiah the prophet said.
I saw the Lord. High and lifted up. Sitting on a throne. We think of a king. Right? And we think of a realm. A kingdom. And this. This word. Is. Basilea. In the Greek. For kingdom. And it comes from another Greek word that means royalty.
And the word means to rule. And to have a realm. So it's a king ruling over a realm of people. And so I want to kind of talk about well. How could this be a prairie quest? Your kingdom come. How can I pray that?
And what does it mean? We live in a very crazy world. Do you agree with that? I mean. There are some awful things going on. Aren't there? I mean. Listen to the news. I mean. You know. What's going on in Syria?
You know. People are dying. You know. People. You know. Going into movie theaters. And just randomly shooting people. What kind of a crazy world do we live in? It's crazy. And in a lot of ways it seems out of control, doesn't it?
You know. I see a dark side of life with the young people that I work with at Youth for Christ. Just horrific things that they're growing up in their own families. Here in our city. You know. You turn on the news.
If you're like me. You know. I like to listen to the news every day. But it's like. Okay. What happened last night? Or what? You know. Oh. Okay. That's all. Thank God. Thank God. You know. World War III hasn't started yet.
You know. I mean. It's. The potential of what we can do as human beings. It's really sickening. How we can be so overcome. And this world can be discouraging. And for me. You know. I get discouraged just by looking in.
Okay. Like. Lord. I should be so much further along with you. Oh. Lord. I'm. Forgive me. You know. I'm so lazy. I'm so lazy. Lord. Help my mind. You know. And I look in. And I get discouraged. Okay. But what we got to do.
Is we got to look up. Okay. Your kingdom come. We need to see who God is. That He is King. And He is Sovereign. And He is in control. And He has a plan which is much bigger than this earth. And we get to be part of that plan.
I'm so encouraged by the Psalms. You know. I love them. I read a Psalm every day. You know. Today it was Psalm 118. This morning before I came here. Turn to the Psalms. Open your Bibles. And I'd love to see you.
For you to see a few scriptures on God ruling as a King. So we're. We're going to go to Psalm 47 8. So if you open your Bible up halfway. You'll hit the Psalms. Here's where. There is hope. Here's where there's hope.
For this world. For anyone. Look at verse. We should read verse 7 too. So we'll read verse 47. Verse 7 and 8. For God is the King of all the earth. Sing praises with a Psalm. God reigns over the nation.
God sits on His holy throne. And I have to be reminded daily that God is in control. That God's plan will be fulfilled. And when I pray your kingdom come. It reminds me of who the true King is. He is the power that created the heavens and the earth.
He can handle what's going on on this earth. He's still moving in the midst of our heartache. In the midst of our family struggles. He is sovereign. He is all powerful. And He is still King. And He has a plan that will be fulfilled.
Check out Psalm 93. Psalm 93 verses 1 and 2. The Lord reigns. He is robed in majesty. The Lord is robed. He is put on strength as a belt. Yes, the world is established. It shall never be moved. Talks in Isaiah of Him holding the world in the hollow of His hand.
It talks in Isaiah about the nations being like a drop in the bucket. Okay, He can handle what's going on in this earth. And so I get my eyes off of the chaos and I get them on the King of Kings who is robed in majesty.
He is great and mighty. He is so beautiful. I've got to get my eyes focused on Him and not look so inward and let all of the outward difficult circumstances beat me down. I need to keep looking up. Your kingdom come to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Psalm 97, verse 1. The Lord reigns. Let the earth rejoice. Okay, I don't rejoice in what's going on in the world. I do what's going on in people's lives that He's brought into His kingdom. Because there's transformation and healing.
That's beautiful. But when you look at this world, I mean, sometimes it's trying to make ends meet. It's like, how am I going to do this, you know? And it gets discouraging. But He says, look at me. I am king.
I've got this. I'm sovereign. Rejoice in me. So, you know, He's the ultimate source of joy. He's the ultimate source of life. King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Psalm 99, verse 1. I love this. It's just like, ah.
The Lord reigns. Let the peoples tremble. He sits enthroned upon the cherubim. Let the earth quake. Psalm 146, 10. I'd say there's a theme here. Psalm 146, verse 10. The Lord will reign forever. Your God, O Zion, to all generations.
Praise the Lord. Nothing can dethrone Him. Nothing can thwart His plan. If you've read the book, you've seen the beauty of His kingdom. I mean, incredible things He has planned for His kingdom, and it will be fulfilled.
Now, when Jesus said you should pray your kingdom come, this was no new, this request was not a new request to the Jews who were waiting for the Messiah to come. In fact, they would pray, your kingdom come, Lord God.
And they were praying that the Messiah would come. The one who was gonna rule. The one who was gonna set up the kingdom of God. And there's these promises in the Old Testament of the Messiah that are very clear that He would be this mighty King and that He would conquer all evil.
So they were praying, Messiah come and set up your kingdom. Now I wanna show you what Jesus said when He came on the scene. So turn to Matthew chapter four, verse 17. I'm just gonna let the word speak this morning.
So I got some scripture for you to look at. I hope you'll look at it with me. Chapter four, Jesus, you know, is just starting His ministry on the earth. You know, He's like 30 years old and had been baptized by John and went through the test in the wilderness.
And now we come to, He's actually starting His ministry in verse 17. And it says this, Matthew chapter four, verse 17. From that time, Jesus began to preach saying, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Repent, He's saying, change your course, change your way of thinking because the kingdom of God is at hand. What does at hand mean? At hand, right here. At hand means it's right here. He's saying the kingdom of God is here.
Why? Because He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. The kingdom had come. Now His disciples, you know, and the people were expecting Messiah to conquer Rome and, you know, to make Israel the most powerful nation on the earth.
And, you know, they had confused some promises in the Old Testament, but Jesus is saying, hey, the kingdom is here. The kingdom has arrived. The kingdom of God currently is the King who reigns in the hearts of His followers.
It's the reign of God in us. The realm of God is where Jesus is enthroned in our hearts. In fact, Jesus said the kingdom of God, this is in Luke chapter 11, verse 22. Jesus said, the kingdom of God is within you.
So when I accepted Jesus Christ, the King in my heart, at the age of 20, His kingdom came within me. And when I pray your kingdom come, I'm saying, Lord, may my heart be your throne today. May you be number one in my life today.
The kingdom of God sets people free. And I love this scripture. Colossians, if you want to see it, it's on page 843 in our paperback Bibles. Colossians chapter one, verse 13. Speaking of Jesus, it says, He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Wow, He rescued me from the darkness. My life was overcome with a lot of awful things, drug addictions, alcohol. My life had become so empty, I would have suicidal thoughts. And then all of a sudden, my best friend, who I did drugs with and partied with, and he became a new person before my very eyes.
And he said, it's Jesus. Jesus has come into my life. And it was such a transformation. I knew it was a miracle of God. It was powerful. He was a new person. And I'm not the smartest guy, but I'm not that dumb either, because I recognized for what it was, it was a miracle of God.
The kingdom of God had come into John's life. And John gave up lordship to Jesus, and Jesus was taking him down a new path in transforming his life. And at the age of 20, I asked this king into my life, and he set me free.
He drives out the darkness. I gotta read this scripture to you. It's in Luke 11, Luke 11, verse 20. Jesus gonna describe how the kingdom of God had come among them in Luke 11, 20. And his enemies, they were kind of ridiculous because he was casting out demons out of people's lives.
And they're like, oh, you're doing that through the power of Satan. And Jesus is like, that doesn't even make sense. Why would Satan cast out Satan? His kingdom will fall. And so then we come to these amazing words in Luke 11, verse 20.
Jesus said this, but if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. If it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
In other words, when God's rule and his authority comes in, he transforms and sets free. So I love this, okay? You know, just the finger of God, right? Okay, so, you know, there's a demon sitting on this book here, I don't know if you can see it, okay?
Yeah, right, that's a demon. No, that's a bottle cap. Okay, there's my finger, all right? Whoa, that was difficult, wasn't it? I just flicked that out of there with my finger. Not hard to do, right? And Jesus says, this is the power of the kingdom of God.
In Corinthians 4, it says that the kingdom of God is power. You know, he is so amazing at what he can do. And when we come under his rule and his authority, he can bring transformation and freedom in our lives and in the lives of our loved ones.
It is not difficult for him. I think lots of times our prayers are too small. We need to pray bigger because our God is a great and mighty, awesome God. I met a young man in a juvenile home named Leon.
And Leon came from a real tough family situation. He was in and out of the juvenile home a couple of times. And we got to share the word of God with him and begin to teach him about Jesus. But he never came, gave his heart to King Jesus.
And he got out back in the streets, back in his gang, ended up in some kind of dispute, pulled out a handgun, pointed it and fired at somebody. And fortunately he missed. But he got arrested. He was facing charges of attempted murder, 17 years old.
You know, he felt like, you know, it was the end of the world, no hope for him. I would go up every week into the county jail and visit with him. And for pastorial visits, they'll put you in a little cement block room.
You don't have to talk through the glass with the phone. And so I'd go up and see Leon every week. And in the process of time, he gave his heart to Jesus, became a child of God. And I remember coming back up.
Now he has the relationship. And, you know, they brought Leon in and, you know, he was downcast and so depressed. And he had just heard that his mom was getting evicted. They were ready to put all of her stuff out on the street.
That week he'd got a letter from his girlfriend saying, I can't wait for you. You're gonna be locked up for too long. So see you later. His little brother was getting in trouble with the law. His whole life was falling apart.
And it was like this dark cloud filled this little room. I mean, it was so oppressive. It was so awful. You know, I'm just like, oh my, you know, what do you say to somebody like that, right? Oh, hang in there.
You'll be all right, you know. Or trust in God, he'll see you through. Those are good words, right? But sometimes that just doesn't cut it. It's like, well, those are nice words, but you know, how am I gonna make it through this?
I didn't know what to say to him, but I knew what to do. To come before the throne of grace. To come to the king. And I just said, Leon, let's pray. And I started praying for him. And I prayed over everything that he had mentioned to me.
Prayed for his mom, that somehow she would get help, that she would be able to find a safe place to live. Prayed for his girlfriend, prayed for his little brother, this whole situation. Asking God to come and help and intervene.
In Jesus' name, amen. And we both opened our eyes and something major had shifted in that room. He looked at me and he just goes, wow, wow. He goes, do you feel that? I did, it was miraculous. It was like the room was filled with light.
It was because we had come into the presence of the king and he had heard our prayer and he was helping Leon bear up to this everything that was going on in his life and it imparted life and faith in him to know that somehow God was gonna take care of him.
And the kingdom of God is powerful and it drives back darkness. And when that king Jesus steps in, when we pray, oh, your kingdom come in the situation, Father, we're saying, Father, come in here and work and reign and bring in your authority, God.
And God moves, the prayers of God's children move the heart of the Father like nothing else. Your kingdom come, Father, in my life. You reign and rule in me, Lord. May my heart be your throne. Lord, your kingdom come into this person's life.
Show them that you are king of kings and Lord of lords. Help them to know that you can handle this situation. Help them to know what an awesome king you are. Your kingdom come, Father. The kingdom of God cast out evil.
Man, have you read what the future kingdom of God is gonna be like? Have you read that? It's amazing. Last two chapters of the Bible, wow. My mom, she battled cancer for two years. She wasn't too much older than I am when she got cancer.
And she, unfortunately, she was reaping what she had sown. She had smoked tobacco her whole adult life, abused alcohol her whole adult life. And it had caught up with her health. And she got cancer and the cancer was winning.
And she knew her time on earth was short. And when you know that your time on earth is short, you start thinking about eternity, don't you? I mean, you think, wow, is there really a heaven? Is this real?
She started thinking those things and she became open to talking about Jesus. And she came back to her childhood faith because as a little girl, she had turned to Jesus, but she had no one to disciple her through her adult life.
But she turned back to King Jesus. And he didn't be like, oh, you ignored me your whole adult life. And I kept trying to tell you that there's a better way and you wouldn't listen, so forget you. No, he welcomed her with open arms.
And I had given her a Bible for Christmas. When I had first come to Christ, I was trying to be a witness to my family. And I'd go over and I'd see that Bible under all the good housekeeping magazines and whatever, it was always down there at the bottom and I could see the dust on it.
But all of a sudden I saw that Bible on the top and the dust was dusted off and there were bookmarkers throughout. And I remember opening it up and this is the passage that she had a ribbon marker on.
Turn with me to Revelation. I want you to see this. This is when we pray your kingdom come, this is what we're praying for to fully manifest itself. And it is so beautiful. Life on this earth gets weary, doesn't it?
Wow, I look forward to the future kingdom of God. For me, it's getting closer every day. I'm in my fifties now. I might have 20 good more years in this earthly body. I don't know, but I sure am looking forward to the kingdom of God.
Here's why, chapter 21. John got to see this. He had a revelation of heaven, of the future. Verse one, then I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away and the sea was no more.
And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. In other words, the new Jerusalem is gorgeous. You can read what the new Jerusalem looks like with the streets of gold.
And that's where that comes from. People talk about the streets of gold. Yeah, that's what the Bible says. Coming down from heaven, verse three, and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.
He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will be with them as their God. This became my mom's favorite scripture before cancer took her body. Then she went to heaven and got healed completely.
Okay, she's rejoicing now. Verse four, he will wipe away every tear from their eyes and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore for the former things have passed away.
Hallelujah, hallelujah. That's our future children of God. Isn't that awesome? Corinthians says it's beyond our human understanding. What God has laid up for those who love him. That thief was dying on the cross with Jesus, right?
One of them had been cursing Jesus. And the other thief says, why are you cursing him? He's done no wrong. We're getting what we deserve. And then he looks at Jesus dying on a cross and says, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom.
And Jesus said, I say to you, this day you will be with me in paradise, in paradise. Jesus used the word paradise. Wow, that word means pleasure ground. He didn't like, you know, you've been committing crimes, you know, you're getting, no, Jesus is like, I forgive you, you're coming with me to paradise.
That's the kingdom of God fully manifested. The kingdom of God is in our hearts now. And isn't that some good news? We got this good news of the gospel. For God so loved the world, he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
This gift of God that we, you know, have the opportunity to share with people. Your kingdom come. I'm praying every day when I pray this prayer, your kingdom come, I pray for the nations. Every day without fail.
And here's how I do it. It's very simple, it doesn't take all day. Only takes a few seconds. I'll say, father, your kingdom come. I pray that you would save lost souls in every nation, tribe, tongue and people.
I pray that your word would continue to spread throughout this globe, that the name of Jesus would be high and lifted up. And then I will often pray for nations and I just start in America and Canada, Mexico, Central America, I'll name continents.
I don't always do that. Sometimes I'll, you know, if I hear something in the news that triggers the prayer, I'll pray for that nation because God is moving among the nations in some remarkable ways, even among the Muslim people.
He is saving lost souls. And I get to be part of that when I pray, father, your kingdom come and spread throughout this earth. I also pray, Jesus said, you know, when he looked and he saw the multitudes, his heart went out to them.
He said, oh, they're like sheep without a shepherd. They're scattered and tormented. And then he said, pray to the Lord of the harvest that he would send forth labors into the harvest. So when I pray your kingdom come, I say, father, raise up witnesses for you.
Send labors into the harvest in Jesus name. When I pray your kingdom come, I am saying I recognize you as king. And I pray that my heart will be your throne today, that you will reign and rule in my life and that I submit myself to your rule and authority because so often Bill wants to be the Lord.
You know what I'm talking about? Okay, I want to call the shots. I just like go into a autopilot or something, which is like me running things. And daily I need to pray, God, your kingdom come. And then I remember he's king of kings and Lord of lords.
And I'll pray for the young people that I know don't know Jesus in my ministries. And I'll just say, Lord, your kingdom come into Alex's life. Help him to know that you're king, that you're Lord and that you gave your life on the cross for him.
Lord, rescue him, save him. Your kingdom come, save him from the darkness. Remember the kingdom of God, by the finger of God casts out demons. And I just pray against the work of the enemy in people's lives.
You know, cause sometimes you can just see the devil coming after people. You know what I mean? I mean, they're just like deceived. They're in darkness. And I just say, Jesus, it's written in first John, you came to destroy the works of the devil.
And I pray that you would just destroy the works of the devil in James' life, that you would tear down enemy walls of unbelief, that you would tear down enemy strongholds of sin that is keeping James from believing in you, that you would rescue him, father.
Help him to know you're king of kings. Our prayers are so often defensive or they're kind of shallow in that we like, Lord, please bless such and such. And then God is like, okay, I want to do that. How do you want me to bless them?
And he's looking for more. And we need to get more aggressive in our prayers for people, for lost people, for situations going on in our families and in our world. And not just be so defensive in our prayers, but take some ground from the enemy as children of God.
We have that authority over the enemy because we are children of the king. In Romans 14, 17, there's a description of the kingdom of God. Let me read this to you. It's a really good description of the kingdom of God.
Romans chapter 14, verse 17. It says this, for the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. The kingdom of God is not about how big my house is or how nice it is.
It's not about, you know, if I got this sweet set of wheels or I drive this hoopty. That's what the kids used to call junkers. You know, it's not about these material things. It's about righteousness, being right with God, knowing Him, okay?
Him getting things right in our lives, healing us up. The son of righteousness coming with healing in his wings, Malachi says. It's about peace, and that's such a beautiful biblical word, the Old Testament word, shalom.
It means more than just an end of conflict. It means to be made whole, to experience healing, to be well, to be at peace with God. And then who doesn't want to be happy, right? Don't, isn't that what we all long for?
Joy in where? The Holy Spirit. All right, okay. It's not my bank account, all right? It's not always in my human relationships, although we can experience great joy from one another, but ultimate joy is from above in the kingdom of God.
One day it'll be fully manifested when Jesus comes back. When I pray your kingdom come, I am praying, Jesus, come back, put an end to this heartache, put an end to this hate, to this injustice that we see in our world every day.
This crazy world, Lord, I know you have a better plan for it. He says, I'm waiting, I don't want any to perish. He's long suffering, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
But one day he is gonna say, enough, that's it. Here I come. And he's gonna change it all, he's gonna transform it. Second Peter says he's gonna create a new heaven and a new earth. Wow, I am looking forward to that.
Philippians 2 .20 says that we are citizens of heaven. When I pray your kingdom come, it says in 1 Thessalonians 2 .10 that we should walk worthy of God and of his kingdom as children of God. And I'm praying, Lord, help me to walk worthy as a citizen of your kingdom.
I pray that that would show in my life. And then this is the last scripture I wanna share with you. It's 2 Corinthians, I'd ask you to turn to it and see this for yourselves. 2 Corinthians 5, as citizens of his kingdom, as children of God, and we are, we're citizens of that kingdom.
This is what he calls us to. Verse 20 of chapter five, 2 Corinthians. Therefore, we are ambassadors of Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
Notice what he calls us to be, ambassadors. You know what an ambassador is, right? It's a representative of a nation. And he says, I call you children of God to be my ambassadors in this dark world, to go out and shine as a light in this dark world.
And wow, this world needs some Jesus ambassadors, doesn't it? Wow, our families need Jesus ambassadors. We need to let them shine in us and then through us. A dear friend of mine has been a supporter of Youth for Christ for many years.
Jim Vanderhorst started the Chicken Coop Restaurants years ago. I remember him telling me Colonel Sanders came up to see what he was doing in Kalamazoo with his chicken restaurants. And Colonel Sanders, when he found out that Jim wouldn't open his restaurants on Sundays, he said, you won't last in this business.
Jim lasted and prospered as a businessman with his restaurants. And I don't know if you've ever, there's still some around, they're no longer really in his hands. He passed them off to nieces and nephews and others, but on their napkins and plates, anybody ever seen the little slogan that he put on there?
Only one life will soon be passed. Only what's done for Christ will last. Wow, what am I gonna invest my life in? That which is lasting. Make investments in the kingdom of God. We have opportunities to advance the kingdom, even like just through monetary gifts.
I'm able to do what I do full time because people support Youth for Christ. And maybe that person can't go into the juvenile home every week and share Jesus, but I can. And they invest in that, they invest in God's kingdom work.
I was preparing for this week and I have a lot of different commentaries and I pulled this off myself. I thought, I'll see what John MacArthur has to say about the kingdom of God and this convicted me.
So I'm just gonna read it. I'm not trying to convict you or anything, but I thought it was pretty powerful. He says this, he says, "'Our greatest desire should be to see the Lord reigning "'as king in his kingdom, to have the honor and authority "'that has always been his, "'but that he has not yet come to claim.
"'The king is inseparable from his kingdom. "'To pray thy kingdom come is to pray for the program "'of the eternal deity to be fulfilled. "'For Christ to come and reign as king of kings "'and Lord of lords, his program and his plan "'should be the preoccupation of our lives "'and of our prayers.
"'But how self-centered our prayers usually are, "'focused on our needs, our plans, our aspirations, "'our understandings. "'We are often like tiny infants who know no world, "'but the world of their own feelings and wants.'".
Wow, hey, we can pray for something eternal. Every day when we pray this prayer, oh, Father, hallowed be your name. Show forth your beauty and glory. Your kingdom come, Father. We're praying for something that's lasting and eternal.
Try it, your kingdom come, Father. Just, you know, I submit to your rule and authority. Father, I wanna walk worthy as your ambassador on this earth, Father. Your kingdom come in this person's life. They don't know you.
Help them to know you. Rescue them and just your kingdom come. There's so many different ways that you can pray it. And this prayer kind of grows on you as you learn to pray through it. And I really encourage you, you know, pray through the seven prayer requests.
Try praying it over your own life. Try praying it over other people's lives. And it's just, it's helped me pray like nothing else I've ever tried. Like Nike says, the best way to learn how to pray is just do it, you know, just do it, okay?
I read books on prayer, they discourage me, you know. Sometimes I learn good things from them, but often they discourage me, like I'm not doing this enough, you know. And he's like, just pray, you know.
That's the best way to learn, just pray. Pray in your car, pray walking down the street. So with that, we are gonna move into our communion time. And I love that at Recast, we celebrate communion every week.
You know, in churches in my past, it would be a once a month thing, and it seemed like I would miss it often. You know, I'd be at the, you know, somewhere else ministering, and I wouldn't get to do communion.
And just to reflect that, wow, Jesus shed his blood. That's what this juice represents. He shed his blood for me, and that his sacrifice is sufficient to cover all my sins, Lord, forgive me for all my sins.
And he says, my child, I covered it all with my blood. This is a new beginning, a new day. And to think of his broken body, the bread, you know, represents his broken body, and how he took that whip for me, and how he took, you know, that torture and beating, and the nails in his hands and feet, and his body was broken.
And I think, Lord, help me to offer my body as a living sacrifice for you, and just to praise and rejoice that in Christ, there is no condemnation, amen, Romans 8 .1. There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, because of his blood and his broken body, hallelujah.
So I'm just gonna say a prayer of thanks, and I'm gonna put a little music on, I believe, and communion table in the back, up front. Feel free, when you're ready, to come up and partake. And with that, let's just pray together.
Holy Father, I just thank you so much for your beautiful, glorious kingdom. That your kingdom, Father, is in the hearts of your people, that you have saved out of this dark world, and it's through the precious blood that was shed.
It's not through anything that we do other than trusting in you, and that there is complete forgiveness this morning, Lord. We praise you for that, that the precious blood covers it all, Lord, and we claim that beautiful forgiveness.
And Lord, just thank you that you gave your all, that you became flesh and dwelt among us, and that your body was broken and bruised for our deliverance, for our healing, for our redemption, Lord God.
And we rejoice in your sacrifice for us, Lord. And may we take our earthly bodies, Father, and use them for your honor and glory in this week to come. And so, Lord, as we partake of the bread and the juice, we just thank you for your most awesome gifts.
And may we, Lord, may you just so work in our lives that we would shine as lights and ambassadors for you in this dark world. And we love you and thank you in Jesus' holy name, amen. Father, just may you continue to shine upon us with your love.
Pray that you would just pour out your love in our hearts through your Holy Spirit. Pray your kingdom come in our lives, Father, this week, your righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit, Lord.
May we see the bigger picture, Father. May we have a renewed vision of the gospel, the good news, your kingdom, Father, that we can make our lives count for something bigger than our jobs or just the day-to-day struggle, but that we can invest our lives in your kingdom work.
And shine for you. So bless each one here. Father, their families, draw them all close to your side. May this day be blessed as we continue to reflect on your beauty and glory, in Jesus' name, amen.