The Good News of the Kingdom [Part 2]

Pastor author and Bible teacher Alan Wright you have in the kingdom of God's secret people in darkness do not have the whole mission of the body of Christ is to tell people that you can come out and you can become qualified for inheritance in the same the kingdom of light of the kingdom of God own beloved son.

We have a group for his glorious announcement to tell the world that's Pastor Alan another message of good news that will help you see your life for no hold. I'm Daniel Britton excited for you to hear the teaching today. In the series called Daniel is presented with an older church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program. I will make sure you know how to get our special resource right now you can be yours for your donation this month to Alan Reich ministries as you listen to today's message go deeper as we send you today's special offer. Contact us at pastoralan.org or call 877-544-4860 that's 877-544-4860.

More on that later in the program but now let's get started with today's teaching here is Alan Wright Luke 16 the law and the prophets were proclaimed until John.

Since that time.

The good news of the kingdom of God is being preached. It just can't say it any plainer than that. That is what is being proclaimed everything leading up to the inauguration that Jesus Christ brought Betsy as he began announcing the kingdom of God is at hand. Everything been announced before that the law, the problems were being proclaimed until John. But since then is the kingdom of God. Everything that the people of God had always been anticipating all of it was coming to pass in the person of Jesus. Luke nine when Jesus had called the 12 together. He gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God go out and ministries saying in the name of Jesus and let people be healed.

Let people be delivered from evil, and then preach to them.

That's good news. The kingdom of God is here.

That's what they were announcing, and then acts 28.

Here's a great text tells again to all years.

Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcome all who came to see him boldly and without hindrance. He preached the kingdom of God even when Jesus was warning the Pharisees base and woe to them. In Matthew 23 woe to you Pharisees, you shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces, you yourselves do not enter know when you let those enter who are trying to he brought little children, and he said this is your example unless you become like a little child you not enter the kingdom of heaven. He said L3 said if you see by the finger of God.

Demons are being cast out.

You will know that the kingdom of God is at hand.

Over and over and over.

You see what we're saying is that the message of the good news of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is not simply a message that says how you can be saved and is definitely not a message that just tells you how you can have up better life.

It is a message that is announcing the reality of an invisible Empire that is growing and advancing and is real and unshakable and cannot be stopped, and will take over everything until the day that is consummated, and God makes a new heaven and a new earth and we reigned with Christ forever more announcing she would we make our gospel too small.

We make it too small. Listen, I want to. I believe we should talk about how you can have a better quiet time and how you can become no more forgiving andbe a better parent.

I mean all that's really important.

But can you understand why when I get up here with the word of God and we got a world in darkness. I gotta do something more than just tell everybody that you can have a little bit better life if you just accept Jesus O'Connell. I love the way Juan Ortiz put this years ago watered the zeros of the mouth and he said you know he said the way we talk about Jesus. When we talk about you know have you accepted Jesus and and we talk about Jesus is knocking at the door of your heart. Would somebody please let a man like Lord Jesus tannin out in the cold just hoping somebody have some mercy on him and let him into his heart that somebody come in the all yelled something bigger than that we get an announcement of the kingdom.

It is not just a message about about you you you have a little mercy on Jesus and him accepting you as a message about Jesus dying for you to have mercy on you so he could accept you as an invitation for you to come into the kingdom of the glorious light of the Lord Jesus Christ is bank is everything. What kingdom means literally as kings domain that's short for King and domain you put those to work together you get kingdom domain is hard for us to understand because who thankfully we hadn't had to live under tyranny or live where one person gets to make all the decisions. But when I first discovered what kingdom actually meant it was just right after everything on the Internet was far become popular and people work you could go out and it was a neat cool thing you could go out and get a domain name so I just ran out to get Alan Wright.org.

You got to get it right today you could get you a domain for a few bucks you going go new and domain is a pretty cool thing that domain and that domain you are sovereign. If you want to you can just don't let if I know about your domain and don't put anything on is still yours, or you can open it up and you can have millions or even billions of people come into your domain. But while there. There they gotta do what you allow him to do and you can get some I passcode in different level of authority within your your domain, but it's it's it's your domain, the idea of the kingdom is is basically the kingdom is defined by the fact that there's a king it's not really about the physical location even though earthly kingdoms have boundaries. It's really more about sovereignty.

So what what Jesus is saying when he's announcing the kingdom of God is he is announcing the king and all of his glory, the kingdom of God is the invisible realm over which God is absolutely and completely sovereign. What this means is that when you come into the kingdom of God that you come in on God's terms.

There is no merging of the kingdom of God and the kingdoms of this world. The kingdom of God is God's kingdom. And when you're moving and living in that kingdom then it's all by it's all by his leadership and he has authorized you in that kingdom, Christians is authorized you for more than you realize you a lot where ambassadors this and and and we're we have an unbelievable authorization from him in the way in which we announce the reality of that kingdom and so the rock crushes the idolatrous image and makes it clear that the plan is for the kingdoms of this world and the false ideologies of this world to ultimately be smashed into complete smithereens snow versus K were but it sounded good into smashing the smithereens.

That's what this is the image of what is saying is that this rock doesn't come in just kinda merge into the statue and become part of it.

You got to completely separate kingdoms.

They are just as separate as light is from darkness, and just as more powerful as light is then darkness so much more powerful is the kingdom of God than the kingdoms of this world.

Every time that light shines. It dispels darkness, but there is no such thing as shining a beam of darkness into a bright room and make it darker. Alan Wright will have more teaching moment. Today's important series. It's shocking how quickly American values have changed. Suddenly, most people don't go to church or have a biblical worldview. Everything has changed so much that maybe you feel like a foreigner in your own culture. I was a Christian supposed to live in a post-Christian world we fight against it. We decide our light in the midst of it.

We pull away from it. These are the same questions that faced a young exile named Daniel in Babylon 600 years before Christ. Though he was an alien God showed the young man favor when you make your gift to Alan Wright ministry today will send you Pastor Alan's eight messages on Daniel of favorite foreigner in an attractive CD album on a USB thumb drive for through digital download is our way of saying thanks for your partnership. You may feel like a stranger in this world, but as God should favor to gain his foreign land. God's grace is upon you today. Your gift today would only help you walk in the grace of God during these troubling times. It will also help someone else. This ministry is only possible and prayerful support listeners like you when you give today will send you today's special offer call 877-544-4860 877-544-4860 or come visit Pastor Alan.org today's teaching now continues here once again is Alan Wright CS Lewis articulates this so well in the great divorce. We are not living in a world where all roads are radii of a circle and were all if followed long enough will therefore draw gradually nearer, and finally meet at the center, we pause there.

That statement from CS Lewis stands in abject contrast to the spirit of this age, the ideology of this age is it is like a big wheel under different spokes and were all just coming in by the now that ideology is either right or wrong to listen what CS Lewis says about it says it is not like that rather we're living in a world where every road. After a few miles forks into two in each of those in the two again in each fork. You must make a decision.

I do not think he writes that all who choose wrong roads, parish, but their rescue consists in being put back on the right road of wrong some math problems talk about the wrong some can be put right. But only by going back to you. Find the error in working it afresh.

From that point never by simply going on. Evil can be undone, but it cannot develop into good time does not heal it.

The spell must be unwound, bit by bit.

If we insist on keeping a hell we shall not see heaven if we except heaven, we shall not be able to retain even the smallest and most intimate souvenirs of hell. In other words, we are citizens of the kingdom of God and we live in the world and various nations.

This remarkable thing that in about 100 years after Jesus's death and resurrection. We found this really first example of what we call Christian apologetics explanation a defense of what Christians believe it was from a disciple just it just it was just in an epistle from mass, a taste which is means disciple to someone named Dionysus and the famous letter Dionysus includes these words just marvel with me at this description. This is about 130 80 for Christians cannot be distinguished from the rest of the human race by country or language or customs. They do not live in cities of their own. They do not use a particular peculiar form of speech.

They do not follow an eccentric manner of life that although they live in Greek and barbarian cities alike is each man's lot has been cast and follow the customs of country and clothing and food and other matters of daily living. At the same time they give proof of the remarkable and admittedly extraordinary Constitution of their own Commonwealth.

They live in their own countries, but only as aliens. They have a share and everything is citizens and endure everything as foreigners. Every foreign land as their fatherland, and yet for them. Every fatherland is a foreign land. They marry like everyone else in the beget children, but they do not cast out their offspring. They share their board with each other but not their marriage bed is true that they are in the flesh, but they do not live according to the flesh, they busy themselves on earth, but their citizenship is in heaven. They obey the established laws but in their own lives.

They go far beyond what the law requires. They love all men by all men are persecuted are unknown and still condemn the put to death. And yet they are brought to life.

Therefore, and yet they make many rich they may be destitute that they enjoy complete abundance there dishonored and yet in their very dishonor their glorified when they do good there punished as evildoers undergoing punishment. Yet they rejoice because they are brought to life. It will save you enormous angst if you will accept. You are already a citizen of the kingdom of God. But the faithfulness of that kingdom is not yet consummated, and so you still live in the world.

This goes far to explain why Jesus could say in this world you will have trouble. But take heart.

I have overcome the world.

The image is of this Little Rock that destroys the great statue symbolizing the empires, the world symbolizing the wickedness of the world and the false ideologies the world and yet that Little Rock starts growing and growing and growing to Liz's mountain and it takes over everything. It is for us great and wonderful good news because it means that the kingdom of which we are citizen will never be defeated so you do not be despaired. Do not be despaired grieve prey work hard, speak out, do as the Lord leads you to do good in this world, but do not despair. We are citizens of an unshakable kingdom.

It is to say that we have been granted much much authority in this kingdom. And we need to appreciate it and know it. There are authorities that the calls were also citizens of the world. We don't have fully there are some authorities you do not have.

Let's be honest about it.

You do not have the capability of rebuking all trouble or suffering, so as to escape the persecutions that come for the citizens of the kingdom of this world. There are many days I wish that that we could buy week we can't you can't you can't you can't just rebuke Sam not to have any trouble ever come my life. This contrary to what Jesus said and were not given that authority horribly. Even Paul, who was being persecuted by a demon all the time everywhere he went. Some strong demon that was persecuting him. He called the foreign and asked God to take away the thorn I got said, not you. You even though you may be the greatest man I got on the earth causing you do not get a free ticket out of the challenges of living in the spiritual battle in this world.

Flows were on this earth, and until Jesus comes back to the spiritual battle going on and there's going to be obese and suffering in a basin trouble. Don't be some persecution and and we have an amazing authority that we walk in, but but just Sam well become a Christian.

Everything will be great.

That's just not true. We don't have that authority and and there is there is also I need to say I needed to say this, that there is there is an authority that sometimes people try to exercise. We don't really have been that not to say much about it but just to say this that that while we have authority over evil. It is not our call to be trying to do warfare in the heavenly realms, rather than the earthly rounds the Scriptures about this like second Peter chapter 2 we don't we don't have anything to be afraid of the powers of evil.

Not one single thing because we have been granted authority over evil, but God has angels in the heavenly's that are doing the heavenly battle.

We are here on the earth, citizens of heaven, but on this earth that are battleground and one other thing to mention that before I tell you it's all right with you some of things that we do have authority over but one other thing that we don't have authority over that is, we don't have dominion over another human will. We don't we don't. So as much as is possible live with pieces albeit with all people, you're not going to control somebody else's will, no matter how badly they're doing now. There are laws of the land that. Thank God we got good laws of the land that sometimes somebody needs to be restrained, put in behind bars whatever and we use the laws the land but it is it is not within your capacity to to constrain the will of somebody else, and this maybe hurts more than anything else in life because of its your own son or your own daughter or your own friend or your own spouse and they been caught up in the kingdom of darkness, it is it is a true it is that it is the greatest trouble to the soul is in it and and when we wish we could just somehow just just claim up but you just wish the time to get a say look just just let me shake you.

Just let me just show you. Can't you just see this, let me just in and instead what we invited to do people of God is and know who we are as the people of God and intercede and ask God and and and believe God and trust God and love people and blessed people. You got authority to bless people you got authority to announce a blessing over people's lives and you got authority to rule your own thoughts and emotions in your flesh, by the spirit of God who lives within you communing with your own spirit, the spirit will in the flesh is weak, we can take every captive every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ and you do have the authority to bind the rebuke and repel darkness.

Jesus gave this authority to the Siebel they gave it to us not to you what you got most of all, beloved, you've got authority in the kingdom of God to enjoy intimate holy joyful fellowship in the presence of God is always with you. I tell you nobody can ever take this away from you. Nobody can ever take this away from it. They can put you in prison and they can't take away the fellowship that you could have we got nobody could take away your capacity bill rejoice in the Lord will hold forever more. Rejoice in him, rejoicing him always because you have in the kingdom of God is secret that the people in darkness do not have in the whole mission of the body of Christ is to tell people that you can come out of the kingdom of darkness you can become qualified for an inheritance in the saints of the kingdom of light of the kingdom of God own beloved son.

We have a good glorious announcement to tell the world. So let's live at peace with people. Let's love people with blessed people and let's remember where citizens of another kingdom and nobody is going to ever remove your citizenship from you. It is yours forever more. And that is the gospel. A man running in today's meeting.

The good news of the kingdom of God. It's shocking how quickly American values of changed suddenly most people go to church or have a biblical worldview.

Everything has changed so much that maybe you feel like a foreigner in your own culture. I was a Christian supposed to live in a post-Christian world we fight against it.

We designer light in the midst of it.

We pull away from it. These are the same questions that faced a young exile named Daniel in Babylon 600 years before Christ. Though he was a daily God showed the young man favor when you make your gift to Alan Wright ministry today will send you Pastor Alan's eight messages on Daniel of favorite foreigner in an attractive CD album on a USB thumb drive or through digital download is our way of saying thanks for your partnership.

You may feel like a stranger in this world is God should favor to gain his farmland God's grace is upon you today. Your gift today would only help you walk in the grace of God during these troubling times will also help someone else.

This ministry is only possible through prayerful support listeners like you when you give today will send you today's special offer call 877-544-4860 877-544-4860 or come visit Pastor Alan.org. We've heard a lot about labels versus names with word we learned that it's our standing in Christ that gives us the status of being greatly blessed and highly favored our identity as the sons and daughters in our talking about kingdom a different kingdom not of this world is so so so important Daniel that we realize no matter what is going on in the kingdom of this world, and of which we are a a a an earthly citizen that are true citizenship is of another kingdom and in that kingdom.

We in Christ are the head, not the tail, and in that kingdom we are destined to one day rule with Christ in a new heaven and a new earth.

And so we live in this sort of paradox in which the worldly kingdom may not recognizes that all but in the heavenly kingdom. We are already positioned with Christ and I think that when we can live with that sense will live with tremendous victory, even in the midst of great difficulties get a daily email devotional that matches today's teaching delivered right to your email inbox free. Find out more about these and other resources@pastorallen.org that's Pastor Alan.org. Today's good news message is a listener supported production of Alan Wright ministry