The Gospel of The Kingdom

The Old Testament Promise of the Messiah’s Kingdom

The throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it and uphold it with justice and with righteousness. From this time forth and forevermore the zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. Isaiah chapter 9 verses 6 through 7 listen closely tells you something significant.

A Jewish person who believes in monotheism. There's only one God who quotes in his morning and evening prayers the Shema Shema Yisrael Yahweh Eloheinu Yahweh Echad. I say it all the time. So you guys know it here.

O Israel the Lord our God. The Lord is one a monotheistic Jew who only believes in one God is telling you 700 years before Jesus comes. He's telling you the one who's given to us this son this child is actually El Gebor the mighty God.

Not just Messiah not just a prophet. Not just a good teacher. Not just a man. He is a human he is like us. But it's God who's coming to bring his kingdom. That was the story. They understood it. And it's such a peculiar thing to be thinking of a Jew who believes in one God telling Jews listen a son a child given to us.

And it's God. It's the eternal God. They know there's only one God who's eternal. Psalm 90 verse 2 says from eternity into eternity you are God. There's only one eternal God. And yet this one who's the eternal one is coming as a child and as a son.

That's a big part of the story. But notice Isaiah 9 Micah 5 2 tells us where the Messiah is coming from Bethlehem which is crazy. This is really one of those things that make just makes the Bible awesome.

Here's Joseph and Mary in Nazareth. Right. Joseph and Mary in Nazareth. The prophecy is the Messiah is from Bethlehem the city of David. That's Micah 5 2. Amazing. So Bethlehem Messiah is coming from there.

Okay. And here's Joseph and Mary virgin birth. She is now pregnant with Jesus and they're in Nazareth. And then God wields the pagan leader to calling out a census so that Joseph and Mary have to go to Bethlehem.

That's where Jesus comes out. It's crazy. It's crazy. The whole stories is happening. Right. It's just an amazing experience just to look through this and see what God's doing in history. He's even having a pagan perennial census.

It's just a crazy thing. Here's Joseph and Mary now going to Bethlehem. Jesus comes out. Fulfillment of prophecy. But also Micah 5 2 tells you that it's the one that is from eternity that's coming to Bethlehem.

So who's coming as Messiah. Guys just say it God's coming as Messiah the when of the Messiah. Listen closely. Daniel chapter 2 long before Jesus comes says there are going to be four kingdoms. Four kingdoms.

And then during the time of the fourth kingdom. And Daniel 2 it says that the God of heaven himself is going to establish a kingdom that will never be destroyed. So listen we've got a timeline to work with guys a timeline for kingdoms.

And Daniel started writing in Babylon. So you just count down from Babylon. And you have the Medo-Persian the Greek. And you've got Rome. When did Jesus enter during the time of Rome. And what was the first thing out of his lips when he leaves the wilderness he says repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

They understood the story. Amazing. Daniel 2 says something you need to grab hold of guys. Very important. Daniel 2 says fourth kingdom. God's himself is gonna set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed never be destroyed.

Never. But God says something important. Listen close. He says it'll be a stone that becomes a great mountain that fills the entire earth. A stone that becomes a mountain. Think about it. This itty-bitty stone that is actually gonna become like Camelback Mountain but fill the whole entire earth.

Think about the size there. Watch. What do you see so far. Isaiah 9 of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end. That's a gradual increase of his government. And as a result of his government increasing peace also increases.

You see that. And then Daniel says stone that becomes a mountain. That's gradual. The whole idea of the kingdom of God being dropped in history to obliterate it is not biblical brothers and sisters it is a gradual increase of government and of peace.

It is a stone that becomes a mountain. And brothers and sisters let me offer this to you as an encouragement. Because I confess when I look at the world around me today many times I say God how how in the world.

I was just in Philadelphia preaching this message in one of the most deplorable ugly places I've ever seen. And here I am preaching about the victory of Jesus in history and surrounding me is just nothing but death all around me.

And I confess to the fact that when you look at your circumstances you can see all but loss in front of you. But the truth of the matter is we don't walk by sight. But by what faith. It's the Word of God that shows us what God is doing in history.

And I gotta tell you right now many times in the Bible God promised things to his people that looked all but impossible. It's not gonna happen. It can't happen. Virgin births don't happen. God doesn't become a man.

Right. All the times God promises people victory. Victory. Here you go. I'm gonna deliver you out of land of Egypt. Go. And they go. And there's a big sea in front of them. Great dad Moses. He brought us out here to kill us enemies of God climbing up behind them.

They're stuck on this beach like ants. So many of them just we're dead. And Moses basically says shut up. Watch what God's gonna do. And God parts the Red Sea. They escaped. He destroys the enemies. God has always done the impossible because he wants to get the glory for it.

And the amazing thing to think through here is that when you look at the scriptures it is a gradual increase. That's God's pattern the church has in history 2 ,000 years of history. We've had moments of great triumph and we've had moments of great despair.

There's been moments of the church dying and rising again. Dying and rising again. Dying and rising again. That has been God's pattern in history. It has been a gradual increase. Just know that God does very big things with very small stones.

The Suffering, Death, and Resurrection of the Messiah

Daniel 2 Daniel chapter 9. Amazingly I won't do it all right. Now tells you the when of the Messiah. He's coming before the second temples destroyed. He's gonna die before it happens. And that happened.

Amazingly. Now look closely what's gonna happen. Psalm 22 tells you the suffering of the Messiah. What's it say that they would pierce his hands and his feet. His heart would be like wax melted within him.

Psalm 22 says they would be like dogs wagging their heads at him. They're gonna mock the Messiah. It teaches us they're going to cast lots for his clothing. That's a thousand years before Jesus. That's just got to trip you out.

I did not just read to you a New Testament book that's from Psalm 22. So you have the what's gonna take place. Isaiah 53 he's gonna be pierced through for our transgressions crushed for our iniquities.

That listen it said that he would be counted among the rebels and then he would justify the many as he would bear their iniquities. Isaiah 53 tells you that the Messiah was going to die and that he would see his offspring that he would prolong his days after he dies.

You've got death and resurrection in Isaiah 53. It's amazing. But something else listen Isaiah 2 tells us that in the last days God himself was gonna have a kingdom that be this great mountain where all the nation's listen was streamed up to it.

So you can imagine now this vision of mountain and all the nation's surrounding the mountain. Now all these nations they're coming up to it. And I'll never forget when Luke first said it to me. I'd missed it so many times.

He was doing a study in Isaiah when we first started Apology at Church. Amazingly I just it just changed my whole perspective. Isaiah 2 says the nations are gonna stream up to the mountain of God. And the crazy thing about water guys if you didn't know this is it doesn't go up.

Water flows. What down it goes. It gets pulled down. So what is going on where you have in this vision of the kingdom of God. Because the Messiah you have a vision of nations going up a mountain up. How do they get up unless they're drawn.

God's gonna draw the nations. They understood that. But Psalm 110 one learn to love that verse because the Apostles did the most quoted verse in a New Testament from the Old Testament needs to be something we listen to.

If you've got all these Apostles and they're referring to Psalm 110 one a lot they're drawing from it they're pointing to it. Psalm 110 one is the most quoted of the Old Testament in the New Testament.

Did you know that now if it was important to them it needs to be important to us. And Psalm 110 one says this the Lord said unto my Lord sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool. And the New Testament listen they're just saying it.

That's Jesus. He's the one that's sitting at the right hand of the Father. He's the one who's making God's enemies his footstool. And listen. They refer to that as a current thing. Not. We're waiting for it to happen.

They refer to it as that's what's up now now. Psalm 110 one now quickly because you've already heard a lot of this. I won't do what I did in Philadelphia. But go to Matthew quickly and get Isaiah 9 ready.

Matthew’s Genealogy, the Virgin Birth, and the Nations Coming to the King

The gospel according to Matthew. Remember I told you the symphony of history to tell the whole story. It's not just about private individual salvation but it is about nations coming to God the Messiah being glorified.

God bringing this salvation to the ends of the earth. Matthew opens up and he's already telling you part of the symphony. When he opens up he gives you the genealogy of Jesus which we all tend to ignore.

It's critically important that it's there. Because listen if Matthew is going to convince us that Jesus is in fact a Messiah and King what does he have to do. He has to show us that Jesus has the royal right to the throne that he can actually be that Davidic King who actually brings salvation to the ends of the earth.

And what. Lo and behold Matthew opens up. You see the genealogies. You go all right. That's Jesus story. He's got a right to the throne. And then Matthew continues the story. He starts quoting. Watch from Isaiah significant moment.

Don't lose it. Not only to tell you the genealogy but then he says what. Oh and Isaiah 7 virgin birth. So watch this. You need to know. We need to know his brothers and sisters. That Matthew is thinking in Isaiah.

He's thinking in it. It's in his mind Isaiah. He knows the book. He's not just proof texting. He knows the story. Isaiah 2 is there nations coming up. Isaiah 9 is there. God's coming increase of his government in peace.

Isaiah 7 virgin birth. He knows the story. And he points to Jesus. Is that fulfillment. Then you get amazingly in Matthew chapter 2 you can move through with your eyes here. And who are the first people that show up to Jesus.

Who are the ones that show up that are coming to him as King. Who is it pagans. Gentiles. It's amazing. Listen. It's crazy. This has got to blow us away. The story in the Old Testament was Messiah was going to bring the nations.

Right. Not just Jews but Gentiles. Salvation to the ends of the earth. And now Matthew opens up. He's like okay he's in David a king. He gets that virgin birth. Isaiah 7. And then you have now God telling us a story that the first people to show up were pagans.

They're the ones looking for the king to worship him. God is wielding the stars. So that pagans are coming to see the king. Finally here that's the story. There's the symphony. Now you move further into two.

And now you have Jesus being described as that. Really the perfect Israelite is starting to happen out of Egypt. I called my son. Now God is now taking a passage about Israel. He's applying it to Jesus.

Now here we go. John the Baptist a beast a godly troublemaker. A godly troublemaker. He comes in as promised. The last book of our Old Testaments. Our Old Testaments tells us that Elijah was going to come first.

And what that there was going to be repentance and judgment and purification. And here's John the Baptist. That Jesus says was that Elijah who called him to repentance. And what are the first things out of his mouth.

Brothers and sisters you've got to see it with your own eyes. Matthew chapter 3. Here we go. It says in those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea. Watch repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Guys what was not being said by them. Obviously. Hey y 'all want every day to be a Friday. What was not being said to them who would like their best laugh. Now anybody here John the Baptist comes in. I'm doing this on purpose.

That message is ridiculous. And the modern evangelical ism not the Church of God. But the idea of modern evangelical ism is an amazing thing. We don't tell the message that they told. John did not come in with the story that we often start with.

He comes in and what's on his lips is this. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. That's the story. For them kingdom meant salvation. But it was a broader story than just my personal salvation. This is why John is saying at first.

He doesn't come in saying who would like to invite this Messiah into their hearts. He comes in saying turn from your sin. The kingdom of God is at hand. Kingdom of heaven and kingdom of God are synonymous phrases.

Watch dangerous thing. When we see kingdom of heaven and we think that it means heaven one day we are so so wrong. Matthew is being very cautious. He's a Jew. He's being very cautious to Jewish sensitivities and saying kingdom of heaven replacing the name of God with heaven which is a common thing for them to do.

And so what he's really saying is this repent for the rule of God is at hands. Kingdom means rule. We tend to go where's the armies. Where's where's that. Where's the army in the buildings. Where's the legislature for the kingdom of Jesus.

Where's that. Is that gonna be set up one day. Like where's the physical throne of Jesus. We think of kingdom in these terms. But kingdom just meant rule. The rule of God is at hand. So John comes in repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

And then he starts declaring judgment on those leaders saying the axe is already laid at the root. Repent which by the way is what the last book of our Old Testament says is gonna happen judgment with the Elijah.

And then Jesus. Now chapter 4 we've done it together. The wilderness. Jesus goes in to feed Satan in the wilderness. But here we go. I told you to have Isaiah 9 ready. And here's why Satan's temptation was not let me say it again was not just something thrown out there to Jesus.

I couldn't get Jesus with the bread. I couldn't get Jesus with the testing God. So how about this. Satan's final testing is to give Jesus exactly what he came for. So watch the story Old Testament the mountain of God.

The nation's streaming up. And now Satan goes because he knows his Bible better than most of us. He says all right Jesus. And he brings him to a great and high mountain. And he shows him all the kingdoms of the world in their glory.

He says Jesus I'll give me worship me. So he tells Jesus I'll give you all the nations. I'll give you all the kingdoms of the world. All you have to do is worship me. I'll give you what you came for. It's ultimately what Satan is doing.

Great mountain takes Jesus up to and he shows him all the kingdoms. He says I'll give them to you. And Jesus defeats him and says you should worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve. And Satan is now defeated in the wilderness.

Grab it. Isaiah 2 says mountain nations. Satan takes him up shows him to him says there they are. I'll give him to you worship me. And Jesus defeats Satan using the Word of God by the way very important.

And now watch here we go. Matthew 4. Now when he heard that John had been arrested he withdrew into Galilee and leaving Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali so that what was spoken by the Prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled.

The land of Zebulun in the land of Naphtali the way of the sea beyond the Jordan Galilee of the Gentiles. The people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light. And for those dwelling in the region and a shadow of death on them a light has dawned.

Admit something. I will grant it right now and confess to it. I read that for so many years and I was like I ain't got a clue what it means. Sounds nice very poetic but I don't even know what it means.

You know what's amazing is you've got the first words out of John's lips and Matthew repent for the kingdom of heaven is in hands. And you've got Jesus now defeating Satan after being offered the nations and the kingdoms.

And guess what. Now you move here and guess what. Matthew 4. Matthew now quotes Isaiah 9. This passage here is the beginning of Isaiah 9. What was Isaiah 9. 6 El Gabor the Messiah of the increase of his government and of peace there'll be no end that all these people are gonna come and serve him.

That's the story. And look what Jesus says. Here we go. Verse 17. From that time Jesus began to preach saying repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And further 23 look what he says here. And he went through all Galilee teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming here we go out of the lips of Jesus the good news of the kingdom.

When if it's up here look it's right there. So gospel of the kingdom. You might have come in and maybe even assumed. Well that's just a title of the message right. You got to have cool titles for messages.

Right. So maybe that's just the title of the message. Right. That's just a unique title. The reason that the message is called that is because that's what Jesus was proclaiming. It's a whole story. It's not just a piece of a story.

It's a whole story. It's the good news of the kingdom the good news of God's kingdom his rule in history which meant salvation forgiveness. Listen closely. And you get everything I'm saying right now guys listen.

If we don't have the good news of the kingdom if we don't have an understanding of what that means then we don't even really understand how the personal salvation fits into the story. It's not personal salvation.

And also one day a kingdom it's the kingdom of the Messiah which actually has within it the salvation that we're all looking for. Now listen closely. Here's what we're gonna finally bring this together.

The Great Commission and the Ascended King’s Authority

Matthew 28. Matthew ends now with all authority in heaven and earth been given to me. Therefore go make disciples of all the nations. What was the story. Guys all the nations were coming to God. What was the story.

He'd be given a kingdom that would never be destroyed. What was the story. Salvation forgiveness to the ends of the earth. The glory of God. The Bible says was gonna cover the earth like the waters cover the sea.

That means everything's getting wet. Brothers and sisters everything. Matthew 28 which direction did Jesus go. I need y 'all to say it's very important where'd he go. He went up Daniel 7 in his vision.

What is Daniel C in the vision. One like the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven. And it says that he came where up to the ancient of days and he was given a kingdom dominion and glory that all people's tribes name everyone's coming to this Messiah.

And I love the story. It's a whole story. It's a symphony. Here's Jesus now defeating death walking among his people. He's bringing salvation and then he ascends where he is seated. And given that kingdom.

We are not waiting for the kingdom of God to get into history. Brothers and sisters his kingdom is here. It is now. He is ruling and he is reigning now. And where history is going is this way every enemy under his feet first.

Corinthians 15 tells us this is the pattern of history. Jesus reigns putting his enemies under his feet. And after every enemy is under his feet the last one is death. And that's when Jesus takes the kingdom and he gives it to the father.

He's not coming to bring it. And why is it so important. Brothers and sisters if we believe that Jesus is not reigning now if we believe that Jesus actually brings his kingdom later then it absolutely guts the story.

And it makes us as a church entirely and utterly impotent. We need to believe like the church is believed for 2 ,000 years that Jesus is reigning now and all people nations tribes languages are to come to him and to be ruled over by him in salvation.

We need to believe like the church has for 2 ,000 years that the goal is to bring the gospel to the ends of the earth and bring every nation in subjection to Jesus. We need to believe what the early church believed in what we believe for 2 ,000 years and particularly the Reformers and the Puritans the Scottish Covenanters the Huguenots all those guys we need to believe what they believed.

And that's this. There's no God but God and no king but Christ. And that Jesus has authority over everything. That Jesus in fact has authority over our civil government. The Jesus has authority over the abortion mill.

The Jesus has authority over my life. And guess what. Mr. atheist yours too. You see when Jesus says all authority in heaven and earth been given to me. I have to ask us a question as Christians do we even believe that many of us are very happy to let Jesus be king over Neverland but not here.

If you look at the Reformers that was really amazing. I was at the conference this week and I got to hear a message after message after message on the great cloud of witnesses that are more current than the ones that are referred to in Hebrews.

The great cloud of witnesses like George Whitfield like Jonathan Edwards. The great cloud of witnesses of brothers and sisters in Christ before us who lived godly risky lives as risky troublemakers for their generation.

I'm gonna borrow this from my friend Douglas Wilson. He said something I want you to hear. He says that it's our pattern. And what people typically do as humans is this. We honor our dead troublemakers and our living conformists.

Right. We love it. Don't we. We look at like the monuments. We're like oh man Knox and Wheatley and Luther and all these guys like amazing heroes. Right. Troublemakers absolutely turning everything upside down.

Luther troublemaker Whitfield troublemaker. We say Whitfield and preach out and they'd be like 30 ,000 people. Benjamin Franklin not a Christian but love the Christian worldview was buddies with Whitfield.

He talked about how he'd always go to see Whitfield preach. And Whitfield was out and he preached to 30 ,000 people at once with no amplification. He could hear his voice for a mile. That's the truth.

You know that about Whitfield. The first Great Awakening turned the whole world upside down with the gospel. Whole cities turned to Christ. No joke. Whole cities come and shut the bars the next day the brothels and everything else.

But they turned to Christ. That really happened. It wasn't even long ago. We go all Whitfield. Amazing. He'd go out and he preached the gospel in a field. And thousands tens of thousands of Whitfield make all its praise God.

Awesome. He was a great teacher. Do you know why he was there. He got ran out of the church. Whitfield was in the fields because the church said you're dangerous. You're too harsh. You're too rough-edged.

We don't want you in the church's preaching what you're preaching. Get out. And so Whitfield goes fine. He goes out in the field starts preaching. And then everyone comes. All these guys godly troublemakers.

We think about our history. We like troublemaker child. We love our troublemakers. John the Baptist is awesome. We're like man. He's crazy locust honey crazy wearing fuck crazy clothes. Amazing looks like a Halloween costume.

We're like yeah it was weird but awesome. I love John the Baptist. The only reason we love John the Baptist is because he's safe back there. I wonder oftentimes in the modern context if we would do the same to our heroes that the people in their day did to them.

We erect monuments to these men and to these women who gave their lives for the cause of the gospel. We're like man if we could just have Whitfield. If we could just have Edwards back again. Do you know what Edwards sermon was.

We all know it right. Sinners in the hands of an angry God. That was Edwards second great awakening. Sinners in the hands of an angry God. You know. Have you read that sermon. Have you read it. Go read sinners in the hands of an angry God.

It'll kick your teeth in. He said God arrow. God's arrow is drawn back and it is waiting to be drenched with your blood. And he called harsh to repentance and faith in Christ. Be joined to Christ. It taught you must be born again.

And they preached it faithfully. And guess what. He got a lot of trouble for it. It stirred a lot of people up. And guess what. We love our troublemakers. We love our godly troublemakers. And we love our living conformists.

God if God I would to God that he would raise up even in this congregation a congregation full of godly troublemakers godly troublemakers that lay their lives down for the sake of others that tell the whole story.

Listen. We look at our heritage in America and think about something the Puritans dominant force over in America the early church I'd say in America believe something significant. Listen. They believe the story that I'm telling you.

They believe that Jesus was not just about bringing personal salvation but he was the king. And we're bringing that kingdom to the ends of the earth. We need to bring this whole nation under Christ's feet.

The Puritans I'll use the word they were post-millennial. Don't worry about that right now except to say this. They believe what I'm telling you that Christ was king and he had all the crown rights everyone needed to come to him.

That's what they believed. And it did something. Didn't it. Didn't it mean something early on. Didn't it transform cultures. Didn't it mean something for them. Amen. And yes it did. Listen when we believe that Jesus doesn't have all authority and then he's not truly reigning.

Now it affects all the world around us. Listen. Our culture around us goes to hell in a handbasket. Ready acknowledge the sovereignty of God. But the means of their going to hell in a handbasket is us.

It's us. It's us not fighting. It's us not loving them enough to lay our lives down for them. It's us not dying daily. It's us not sacrificing loving them and actually caring that they're plunging into darkness.

And when you have the good news of the kingdom you understand that this story is bigger than me. The story is the rule of Christ in history. And this gospel must go into every single area every dark place every corner all the ugly places.

Jesus his message of his kingship and rule and salvation needs to go there. Think again about our godly troublemakers. Quickly. One last one Athanasius. I love Athanasius. Do you know Athanasius is kind of read about Athanasius.

Athanasius for Christians were like men. The Athanasian Creed. Right. We have creeds. And you know this church history of trees like the Nicene Creed. That's good. The Athanasian Creed. Like that's awesome.

Do you know kind of trouble went into those creeds. Do you know you got heretics rising up and the whole church is in struggle. Because heretics are coming in and distorting the message of who Jesus is.

The church has to rally around the scriptures and together fight these heretics and go. Okay. Now let's make a creed and let's refute that position. Good. Arianism done. And then all of a sudden Athanasius.

Because the Athanasian Creed. Athanasius listen. If you look him up Athanasius had a saying that went with them. That's kind of neat. It was Athanasius contra mundum. Like what is that Athanasius against the world.

He was called Athanasius against the world. Athanasius contra mundum. Because at the time the Emperor and all the priests were against him. What was he defending the Trinity. Kind of an important doctrine.

Like it's about God and who he really is. And at a time there was corruption that crept in and caused Athanasius basically to stand alone. And he's the only one fighting. And so Athanasius contra mundum.

And we go. Athanasius the bomb. Amazing. He's a troublemaker. He's a troublemaker. We have to ask the question does Jesus have all authority. Do we understand. It's a good news of a kingdom. Do we even understand what that means of how it is good news of a kingdom.

It's good news that God has kept his promises. That he's exalted the Savior. That Christ is seated and he's bringing the nations. We need to preach. That Jesus has all authority in every area of life.

That he's the true king. He's the true king again. Listen. This came out of the Reformation. The time of the Reformation. Listen closely. This is what they said. There's no God but God. There's no king but Christ.

There's no king but Christ. There's no king but Christ. They spoke to the to the authorities of the day and they said you must submit to Christ. You got turned to him. He has all authority not you. What was the early church chastised for.

Listen closely. Acts chapter 17 verse 7. It says this. It says this. They say there's another King Jesus. Not. Amazing the early church being brought up on charges. Brought up on charges. And what are the charges.

They're saying there's another King Jesus. Because they understand. It's a good news of a kingdom. Guys I have to ask a quick question. Would we ever get accused of that today in our culture. As Christians in our culture do we herald the message of the kingdom of Christ and his salvation in such a way that we express even to the authorities around us that we say will be good citizens will be obedient.

We're not going to foment revolution. But Jesus is King over you. He's in charge and he's actually over you. Would we ever be accused today as American Christians in our culture would be. We'd be accused of saying that Jesus has authority over you over you.

And his word counts. Because the early church did. John the Baptist spoke to the reigning leader of his day in his moment. And he told Herod who was part of the civil state system. He said it's not lawful for you to have your brother's wives.

He actually brought the law of God to the civil magistrate. How you like them. Apples don't talk to the civil government in that way. So yeah it's not lawful for you to have that right. It's against God's law.

Jesus condemned the Pharisees. Paul and Acts condemns the false prophets and the religious leaders. The highest level of philosophical debate. Paul and Athens. Imagine Mars Hill. He's standing there. He's speaking now to pagans and the highest level of philosophical debate.

And he says to them God overlooked these things in the past. But now God commands men everywhere to repent. He has raised Jesus up and appointed him and he has a day where he's gonna judge. God commands you to repent.

Do we preach the gospel like that today. And we ask the question why are we so impotent as a church today. Here's why are we even preaching the gospel. Are we preaching the good news of the kingdom in the way that they did.

Christ is the ruler. He has all authority. He commands you to repent. That's how they preach it. And we say we can't do that today. That would cause all kinds of trouble. I don't believe that God has ever really done anything in significance in history.

With a living conformist it's always been the note the word before it. Godly. There is a difference between being a prophet and a prick. Right. Don't confuse the two. They are very different. Amen. A prophet does it for the glory of God not for themselves not for their own image not for who they are to be promoted.

A prophet does it willing to die and be erased from history for the glory of God. The other side does it for themselves. They do it so that they look good. They do it to win arguments. They do it because they want to spotlight.

There's a difference. A godly troublemaker is content to be forgotten. Are you. Three things. And we're done quickly. One. You may want to cut your cake in a different way. But there are three things that I need to be handled in our own lives before this ever makes any sense to us or before we ever do anything of significance.

Three things. What's the problem. We've gutted the story of its major parts. But here we go. Number one. How come we're so impotent today again. This is a major problem. We're not telling the story the way they did but personally I believe that the reason many of us don't impact the world around us in the way that we are called to is very simple.

We have not even died yet. Luke 14 Jesus preaching before masses of people. He's preaching before all these people. He's got a major church situation going on Jesus. You could have been the first megachurch pastor.

All the people in front of you you got your own megachurch Jesus. The disciples were like flip it out. Think about it. How awesome. Apology of church. Praise God. Look what we're doing now. Look what God's doing here in this church.

But watch this. If you came in here on a Sunday right next Sunday you come in and all of a sudden you notice every single seat is full and there's a line going out the door and down the street people kind of you be like yeah we're growing as a church.

Praise God glory. Right. You'd be like flipping out and you'd be like I hope Jeff doesn't do something today. Right. What do we do. Think about it honestly when you have this many people in the context you'd be like let's do what we can to keep them.

And I said I've said it before I'll say it again today in our culture. What do we do. We say we get all these people in front of us. Let's not do anything to step on their toes. Let's give them chocolate milk and cookies and cotton candy so that they stay or come back next week.

That's what we do. And if you think I'm joking I'm not joking. That is done in churches today. We're opening a church. First thing we do let's focus on the coffee bar on the inside. Make sure we have Starbucks.