Thy Kingdom Come - Part A

Remember what Jesus said? He said, My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would rise up and fight, but my kingdom is not of this world. However, one day his kingdom will be of this world. When he comes and sets it up, Revelation chapter 11, the angel declares, The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever. Today on Connect with Skip Heitig, Pastor Skip shares a message about the coming kingdom of our Lord Jesus.

But before we begin, here's a fascinating biography you're sure to want to add to your library. Does God exist? And if he does, is it possible to know him?

How you answer those questions shapes how you see the world and navigate life. And Skip Heitig knows how important it is to have an accurate view of God's character. I've noticed that almost every problem that a person has in their life stems from an inadequate view of God. In Skip Heitig's book, Biography of God, learn to recognize and remove the limits you may have placed on your idea of who God is.

The truth is, I am a fellow traveler on the same road that you are on. And we have access to the same information, the same documents, but I hope to offer a fresh perspective on God himself. Biography of God is our way to thank you for supporting Connect with Skip Heitig as we reach a lost world with the gospel. Request your copy with a gift of $50 or more when you give securely online at connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888.

That's connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888. Okay great, now let's turn to Matthew 6 as Skip begins today's lesson. We're going to be looking at a very famous prayer.

You know it well. It's called the Our Father. It's a prayer you grew up praying. Some of you know it by heart.

Probably most of you know it by heart. This prayer, Matthew chapter 6, the Our Father, is put in more cards, posted on more plaques than any other prayer in the world. In fact, I would even say unbelievers know this prayer, and many of them could record it from memory.

They know it by heart. Let me give you a few thumbnail facts about this prayer before we look at one particular verse. Number one, there are only 66 words in the prayer, so it's a very short prayer, but you discover it goes to the heart of life. It is praying for the important stuff, the stuff that matters. Number two, it's not a prayer to be recited as much as it's a prayer to be modeled. Think of it as a skeleton by which all of our prayers are formed. You'll notice in verse 9, Jesus said, in this manner, therefore pray. In other words, though you can recite it, many do, and they find great value in that, pray like this. Let this be your model that you base communication with God on. Number three, you don't find the word me in this prayer.

There's no I, there's no me, there's no my. You find pronouns like you, yours is the kingdom, yours is the power, and you find the word our. It's a community prayer. Think of it as it's a kingdom prayer, a kingdom city prayer.

It's not about you as much as about us. Number four, this prayer is misnamed. And we call this the Lord's Prayer. Even though Jesus never called it that, and it's addressed to his disciples, and Jesus told them to pray like this, so this would be more aptly called the disciples prayer rather than the Lord's Prayer. There's not a record that he personally prayed this, but that he taught his disciples to pray like this. A fifth interesting fact to me is this prayer was recited in movie theaters in England up until 2015. If you went to an English theater, a cinema, the Anglican church ran a video ad that simply recited the Lord's Prayer. Until 2015, 2015, it was banned as being offensive, just praying the Lord's Prayer.

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. That's offensive, so no more. And then finally, the last little fact I want to bring out about this prayer is this prayer was regularly recited in the classrooms of this country, the United States of America, until 1962. In 1962, some of you will recall a gal by the name of Madeline Murray O'Hare brought a lawsuit, and the prayer was banned, stating that it violated the First Amendment.

Let's look at it and see just how offensive it is. In this manner, therefore pray, 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, forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors, and do not lead us into temptation but deliver us from the evil one, for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.

Amen. Today we're going to look at one verse, one tiny little snippet of this prayer, and that is in verse 10, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And I want to answer the question, what does it mean to be a kingdom city?

What do we mean by that phrase, that title? Now, you'll notice in verse 10 there are actually two petitions. The first is a prayer for the kingdom, and in particular for the kingdom to come. The second is a prayer for the king himself to exercise his rule, his authority, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Now, what I'd like to do in looking at this single verse is to develop these thoughts by noticing three elements of God's kingdom. In this series, you have heard the little tagline that we speak about. We say, this place, these people, my privilege. And you're going to hear that a lot. This place, these people, my privilege.

Let's say that together. This place, these people, my privilege. What we mean by that is this, God has called us to this place. And living in this place, God has called us to love these people. And God has called us to see it as a privilege, an honor, to serve Him by serving these people. And why?

For one simple reason. He's the king, it's His kingdom, and it is our commission. Thank all five of you for liking that. Now, what I want to do is look at three basic elements of this, the character of this kingdom, the coming of this kingdom, and the commission of this kingdom. First of all, the character of this kingdom, and I'm zeroing in particular on one word and that is the word itself, the word kingdom.

Verse 10, your kingdom come. What kind of a kingdom are we talking about? We talk about the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven. What kind of kingdom are we talking about? Because venture to say most of us, when you hear the word kingdom, your mind is filled with memories of your youth from movies you've seen, from cartoons you're a part of. When you hear kingdom, you think of knights and swords and banners and castles and moats and pomp and ceremony, maybe even a princess and a frog, depending on your memory of your childhood.

But you probably think of a kingdom as taking vast swaths of property by a powerful monarch who would wage war to subjugate the people and bring them under his rule. In fact, if you were to look it up in Webster's dictionary, it defines it as a politically organized community or major territorial unit having a monarchial form of government headed by a king or a queen. That's the definition. In other words, it's a territory and a people over which a king reigns with total authority.

That's the dictionary definition. What's the biblical definition? In the Bible, when you look at the kingdom, in particular God's kingdom, it speaks of it in two ways, outwardly, inwardly. In one sense, it's outward and physical.

In another sense, it's inward and spiritual. So you know that the Jews expected a kingdom, a literal physical kingdom. The disciples were among them. When Jesus showed up, by listening to what He was saying, they were thinking, I want this king, as He calls himself, to establish a kingdom, a literal rule dominated by God ruling through His Messiah. And the reason they thought this is because they were raised to believe this, all the Old Testament prophecies that predict a literal kingdom that would one day come on the earth, something we already looked at in a previous series, but also because, did you know that Jesus, one of His favorite subjects was the kingdom? He spoke on it so much. In fact, if you were to add them all up, 53 different times in the four Gospels, Jesus mentions a kingdom.

So I just want you to look at some of this. Go back to chapter 5, chapter 5 of Matthew. This is the beginning of this sermon that the Lord's prayer is found in, the Sermon on the Mount. And let's look at just a few verses. Verse 3 of chapter 5, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Verse 10, blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Verse 19, whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven.

But whoever does and teaches them, he will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you, unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Then we get into chapter 6, the Lord's prayer, your kingdom come, yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory. And then finally, in chapter 6, verse 33 or 31, He says, seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. So just in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus keeps mentioning a kingdom, a kingdom, a kingdom. To add to that, He gives stories in Matthew chapter 13. What do we call the stories of Jesus?

Anybody know? Parables. And those parables in Matthew 13 are called kingdom parables.

Why? Because Jesus said, I want to show you, His words, the mysteries of the kingdom. And so He said, the kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed seed in a field. And again, the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed. Again, He said, the kingdom of heaven is like leaven which a woman hid in a batch of dough. He also said, the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field. He also said, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls. And finally, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet. So throughout Jesus' teaching ministry, it's all about the kingdom, the kingdom, the kingdom. Then in Matthew 24, when the disciples want to know when this is coming, Jesus tells them about the eschatological kingdom that is coming at the end of days that He will set up literally physically on the earth.

So they're waiting for that to happen. Then Jesus went to the cross, died on that cross, rose from the dead three days later, and when He rose from the dead, guess what He started talking to His disciples about? The kingdom.

Acts chapter 1. He was seen by them for 40 days, and He was speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. This is why the disciples said to Jesus during that period of time, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? You keep talking about the kingdom.

Would you set that up, please? They wanted that physical, literal kingdom to be established. And it will be one day, but not yet. Remember, Jesus had stood before Pilate. Pilate had heard that He claimed to be a king. People said He was a king. He said, are you a king?

Remember what Jesus said? He said, my kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would rise up and fight, but my kingdom is not of this world. However, one day His kingdom will be of this world. When He comes and sets it up, Revelation chapter 11, the angel declares, the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign forever. So the disciples expected a kingdom, but it didn't happen yet. So, to sum it up, the kingdom is both internal and external. It has a personal, individual aspect. It has a global, worldwide aspect. It is an invisible, spiritual kingdom, as well as one day a visible, actual, literal kingdom.

But right now, it's just the first part. Right now, the kingdom is internal, personal, individual, spiritual, invisible. Or to put it another way, wherever God rules over the human heart, there the kingdom of God is established.

If God is ruling over your heart, then the king and the kingdom is established with you, personally, individually. That's why Jesus could say, the kingdom of God is at hand, or the kingdom of God is near. He also said, the kingdom of God is within you. Boy, everybody messes that verse up. Like, well, everybody has the kingdom of God, because the kingdom of God is within you.

Here's a better translation. The kingdom of God is in your midst. You know why He could say that?

Because He was there. The king has shown up, y'all. I'm the king. And because the king is here, the kingdom of God is in your midst.

So, that's the character of this kingdom. Let's look at a second aspect, and that is the coming of this kingdom, because that's the prayer. Your kingdom come. That's what we are to pray, your kingdom come. To pray your kingdom come is to essentially pray for God's enthronement, His authority, His rule, personally, societally, and eventually.

Let me give you those three fleshed out a little bit. When we pray thy kingdom come, I mean that in my life personally. When I say your kingdom come, I first and foremost mean rule over me, Lord. Be in charge of my life.

Have your way in my life. But second, because there are others that live around me, I'm praying for that in the lives of other people collectively, corporately. And through evangelism, my telling them about Jesus, and through my good works that validate my evangelism, the kingdom of God will spread. But when I pray thy kingdom come, I also mean in the future eventually. When I pray thy kingdom come, essentially I'm saying, come quickly, Lord Jesus, and take over this earth. And establish your future millennial kingdom on the earth, which He will do one day. So one day, someday, His kingdom literally will come.

When it does, it will not be passive, it will not be silent, it will not be in the shadows, it will not be individual as it is now. One day, God will impose His kingdom rule on the world from the real kingdom city, the city of Jerusalem, for a thousand years. Now many people, and I would venture to say most of us in this room included, have made Jesus Christ the King of their lives. You've asked Him to come in, you've surrendered your authority to Him, you want His rule in your life, but there has never been a universal reign of the kingdom of God on the earth yet. We are still waiting for that.

I want to drill down on this. When that kingdom comes, we won't do it, He will do it. It's something that He Himself will do alone. The kingdom comes when the King comes. Without a King, you have no kingdom. And so we can talk about the kingdom of God internally and spiritually and individually, but the real show starts when Jesus the King shows up. Without the King, there's really no kingdom. Now why do I press this? Because I don't want you to get the idea by the title that we've used, Kingdom City, that we are somehow bringing in God's kingdom. We are not.

He'll do that alone. Do you remember in our previous series on the end is near question mark, it was a pretty lengthy series, so back in February I gave a message. I can't expect you to remember that far back, but I bet you're going to remember the content at least. So there was a message in February in that series where I told you the difference between premillennialism, amillennialism, and postmillennialism. Raise your hand if you remember that we did that sermon, at least.

Okay, so good. So I mentioned that premillennialism, that's what I am, I'm a premillennialist, I believe the world's going to get worse and worse and worse until Jesus comes back. Then there's the amillennialist, doesn't believe in a millennium at all, it's all spiritualized, it's all allegorical, whatever, it's just whatever, push it away. But then there is the postmillennialist, and the postmillennialist believes this, listen, we are going to bring in the kingdom and we're going to deliver that kingdom to Jesus, and that he won't come back until after we do that.

You say, how do we do that? Well, we're going to evangelize the world and Christianize the world, and things are going to get better and better and better, and more people are going to get saved, and the whole world's going to be Christianized, we're going to bring in the kingdom and we're going to deliver that to Jesus Christ. All I can say about that theology is that is wildly optimistic.

In fact, out of touch optimistic, because I've never seen where the world gets better and better and better. Usually that theology flourishes in the West, in America, during times of peace, when there's no war, when things are going good, the economy is going good, we think, hey, I think we're pulling this off. But the idea is the church will bring in the kingdom.

Now, this shows up in different shades. It is sometimes called Reconstruction theology, sometimes called Kingdom theology, sometimes it's known as Liberation theology, it shows up in the signs and wonders movement, it shows up in the spiritual warfare movement, you know, where we bind the demons, we take authority, we take them captive, and we bring in the kingdom. That is not what we mean by Kingdom City. God does not need our help to bring His kingdom. He's going to do it all by Himself, quite apart from His church, because He is sovereign. He is the King of kings, He is the Lord of lords, and in His own and in His own time, He will bring in His own kingdom. As Psalm 115 declares, our God is in heaven. He does whatever He pleases. One of my favorite verses.

God's in heaven, He does whatever He wants. That's Skip Hyten with a message from the series Kingdom City, revealing what the kingdom of Jesus will be like when He returns. Find the full message as well as books, booklets, and full teaching series at connectwithskip.com. Right now, we want to let you know about a unique opportunity you have to pursue biblical studies in a way that works with your schedule. Imagine turning your desire to make a difference for the kingdom of God into a purposeful and fulfilling career in ministry. Calvary Church of Albuquerque is pleased to announce a partnership with Southeastern University, a fully accredited Christian university. The Southeastern University partnership with Calvary launches with the fall 2024 semester, offering online degrees from Southeastern University in general education, as well as several ministerial leadership degrees. Visit calvarynm.church slash schools to learn more about available degree programs, tuition, and financial aid details, and to start your application. All classes begin soon, so check out the SEU at Calvary webpage to learn more about this incredible new partnership with Southeastern University and begin your Christ-centered, flexible degree program today. The website again is calvarynm.church slash schools.

That's calvarynm.church slash schools. God has revealed Himself and His will through Scripture so that we can know Him and connect with Him in a meaningful way. That's why we share these messages, to help you connect to God through His Word and grow in your relationship with Jesus. And when you support this ministry through your generosity, you keep these teachings you love available to you and to so many others around the world, helping others grow and connect with God. Just call 800-922-1888 to give a gift today. That's 800-922-1888, or visit connectwithskip.com slash donate. That's connectwithskip.com slash donate.

Thank you. Tomorrow, Skip concludes his teaching by Kingdom Come and shows you what the fruit of the true gospel is. Make a connection, make a connection at the foot of the crossing. Cast all burdens on His Word. Make a connection, connection. Connect with Skip Hyton is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.