0:12 This morning we would like to dwell upon few thoughts on the kingdom of God and other brothers will follow me along the same line. When we 0:35 speak of the kingdom of God, Jesus specifically told about the kingdom of God. And while he taught us to pray in the Lord's prayer, four times he mentioned 0:53 about the kingdom of God and of heaven. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done as it is done in heaven. And thine is the kingdom and the glory and the power. 1:10 And one more time he spoke of heaven. That is thy will be done as it is being done in heaven. Four times he spoke of the kingdom of God. when he spoke of the kingdom of God, he 1:29 also spoke of the kingdom of this earth. There are two kingdoms that we are um struggling with and not struggling with actually. We are living in one kingdom and we are being transitioned 1:45 or transformed or transfigured and being renewed to be able to enter into the kingdom that is going to come. We have presently in our world there are 2:04 number of kingdoms the kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the kingdom of Nepal and so on. There are kings and queens reigning and there's no point if there is no king then there's no kingdom and if there is 2:21 no kingdom then king is just a dummy. So in order to have a kingdom we need to have a king and we need to have people and we have two kingdoms we are talking about as Christians. One is the kingdom of this world 2:41 which is a visible kingdom. The ruler of which is as we know Satan which Jesus specifically mentioned. We will look up those references later. And there is another invisible kingdom which we have not seen about which we have 3:00 been hearing. But the king was visible 2,000 years ago. He was born as a man from a virgin and he lived amongst us 2,000 years ago. And history attests it. 3:18 And number of religions also attest it that Jesus Christ was born, he died, he rose again. And it is a historical fact. That's why history has been divided BC and AD. 3:37 And Jesus Christ stands right in the middle of history. history as some people have said it is his story. So we will look at few verses this morning 3:56 as to what this kingdom and the other kingdom means. First of all we look at the kingdom of God. We read in Matthew 2:2, when the wise men from the east came to 4:12 see Jesus, they came to Jerusalem thinking that the king must be born in Jerusalem because in Jerusalem was king ruling Herod. And they come to Jerusalem 4:30 and then they ask where is he who has been born king of the Jews? You see this is a very significant statement where you will read that a baby is born a king. Nowhere in the history of the world a child is born a 4:47 king. When a king has a son is called a prince. A prince is born. And when he comes of age he will be crowned. When the crowning day comes and he's crowned he is called king. Until then he's a prince. But here is a baby just born and 5:06 the wise men call him king. Where is he who has been born? King of the Jews. This is our king. This is Jesus Christ. No one in the history of the world was 5:24 ever born a king but Jesus. And when John the Baptist started preaching, he started preaching about the kingdom. In chapter 3 of Matthew verse two, he says, "Repent 5:43 for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." The same words, word to word, Jesus also said in chapter 4 verse 17. From that time Jesus began to preach saying repent for the kingdom of heaven 6:02 is at hand. You see this is the prerequisite or the condition to enter into this invisible kingdom that we are talking about that Jesus was talking about the prophets were talking about John the Baptist was talking about and the church is talking 6:21 about today. This is an invisible kingdom of which Jesus is the king. He's called the king of all the kings. Right from king number one in whichever BC it was till the last king that will 6:38 be there on earth. Jesus Christ is king over all of them. And the qualification to enter into that kingdom first of all is repent. John the Baptist came with that message. Jesus Christ started his ministry with that 6:57 message. He said, "Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand." And who are the people who enter into this kingdom? Who are qualified to enter into that kingdom? 7:12 Jesus said in John 3:E3, you know that Nicodemus came to Jesus at night and he was talking to Jesus and Jesus straight away comes to the point. Nicodemus was beating around the bush. He says, "Rabbi, we know that you have 7:31 come from God as a teacher for no one can do these things, these signs that you do unless God is with him." He's going round and round. But you know Jesus didn't say oh that's all right and you know he didn't he didn't try to 7:45 you know get into that flow of thought of Nicodemus's he abruptly cut it and he said straight to his heart he said truly truly I say to you Nicodemus unless a man is born again he cannot see 8:04 the kingdom of God. You see the straightforward straightforwardness of Jesus. He doesn't beat around the bush. He straight away comes to the point the rich man when he came and asked the Lord. He straight away pointed out to 8:20 him and he said the problem with you is your money. Go and sell all that you have. Give it to the poor and come and follow me. Otherwise today's prosperity gospel preachers would have said brother you are most welcome to join us because he's 8:36 a rich man you see then they we will handle your finance you come and join us Jesus was not interested in that man's wealth he owns the heavens and the earth he said go and sell and come and follow 8:53 me empty-handed come as a power to And he said again, he said in verse 7, "Do not marvel that I said unto you, you must be born again. That which is born of the flesh is 9:13 flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit." What does he mean by this? born again. It is nothing but repent of your past sins that you have committed and the way of life that you're living as a sinner 9:30 in sinful ways. Your thought patterns always revolving around I, me and mine. How can I get more? How can I get even with that guy? How can I, you know, acquire more? How can I dupe that man and make more money? and all is the the 9:50 root cause of all sin is selfishness and selfishness comes because of pride. Pride is the soil in which all evil things grow. And we further read Jesus after he spoke that verse repent for the kingdom of God 10:09 is at hand. He started his ministry and then as he opened his mouth almost the first word we see here as he started preaching we read in chapter 5 of Matthew verse 10:27 three blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of God. See many people have lot of confusion understanding this verse. Even I had problem for number of years 10:46 understanding this words. What is it to be poor in spirit? It's Jesus is not talking about the poor people of the world those who are financially poor. He's speaking about the people who are poor in spirit. What does it mean? I was reading some 11:05 time back somewhere then I found um I got little clarity over this. It says uh the blessedness means the inner happiness or peace belongs to those who 11:22 rate themselves spiritually bankrupt. You see that this is being poor in spirit. Those who rate themselves spiritually bankrupt, that means they know heart of heart that there is nothing good in me, spiritually bankrupt. 11:44 And in verse 8, it says, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." And there I found its explanation as it the um it is those people who utterly who are utterly straight 12:02 being pure in heart is being utterly straight transparently true before God and before men. You see this is one thing that many of us human beings try to you know we try to 12:21 live a double life one we are one thing at home we're another thing at church why is it like that do I have the boldness and the liberty and the and the what to say um 12:40 confidence before God to let the whole world know, Lord, what's going on in my mind 24/7? Have you come to that place? Lord, you can project it. my thoughts, what I think through the week, 13:00 what I meditate upon, when I'm alone, lying on my bed, when nobody's watching me, when I'm in the office, when I'm at church, when I'm on the road. Lord, you can display everything. I'm willing for you to do that. How many 13:19 of us say that? That is being pure in spirit, being utterly straight and transparently true before God and before men. And Jesus also said in um Matthew 5:1 19 13:39 the same thing where we saw what we saw Matthew 5 verse 19 he said whoever then unels one of these least of these commandments and so teaches others shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever keeps and teaches them shall 13:58 be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you shall not enter into the kingdom of God, into the kingdom of heaven. You see the small commandments and the 14:19 big commandments Jesus is, you know, equating them and he's equalizing them and he's saying if you disobey one of these small commandments 14:36 and teach others also that is not a big commandment. You know then Jesus said you will be called least in the kingdom of God. If you do that and teach others also to do it then you'll be called great in the kingdom of God. These are the people who will be 14:54 great in the kingdom of God. They will not just enter into the kingdom of God. They will they will be great in the kingdom of God. Not only that when Jesus comes back along with him the saints it says will rule the world and they will 15:12 judge even the angels. Such a privilege God has given to mortal man who is created from dust and ashes in whom God has breathed the breath of life and he has become a new creature 15:30 and he is not born from this world he's born from above like we read in John 1:12 these are not children of flesh and blood it says here. But as many as received him, to them he 15:50 gave the right to become children of God. Angels are not called children of God because they were not born of God. They were created by God. and even to those who believe in his 16:08 name who were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God. You see these people were not born of men nor of flesh and 16:23 blood nor by the will of man but by God himself. You see what a privilege God has given to us fallen creatures, fallen 16:40 human beings that we can be forgiven. our past can be completely blotted out and cleansed and that we can be given a new life and a new spirit, new heart and 16:57 a new mind that we can be called not just forgiven sinners but sons and daughters of the most high God. What a wonderful privilege. Even angels don't have this privilege. 17:16 Peter says, "Angels eagerly want to look into this kind of salvation that Jesus has brought for us. We are more priv privileged and blessed than the angels of God." You know that angels are just servants. It says in 17:34 Hebrews, God has made them ministering spirits. Ministering spirits of those who are going to inherit salvation. That means you and me. God has made them your servant and my servant. And angels are not something to brag 17:52 about. They are our servants. Even though they are mighty in power and they are holy before God, yet God it amazes me sometimes when some of the preachers in their preaching they say somebody told me that when I was preaching they saw some angel standing 18:11 next to me and the glory in that and they say no they saw another fellow says I saw two angels. I feel terribly insulted if somebody said that about me because God never said that he will send an angel. When Jesus went up to heaven, 18:30 he said, "I will be with you till the end of the ages. My presence shall go with you." In the old covenant went Moses to Moses, the Lord said, "I'll send an angel ahead of you." you. He said nothing doing Lord call the trip off. We 18:50 are not moving from here unless you come with us. And in the new covenant nowhere God has promised that he will send an angel to accompany us. He said my presence shall go with you. He said I am with you. 19:08 Fear not till the end. The Lord said I am with you. If the Lord is not with me, I couldn't care even 100 angels are standing here. They are not as important as my Lord. You need to understand that. And not 19:28 only that, he has given to you those of you who have repented and believed the Holy Spirit into your heart. The third person of the Trinity, the spirit of God himself is residing in you. When 19:47 God is dwelling in you, what more do you want? Do you need an angel? I hope your faith will be strengthened today as you think about that fact that all born again believers are you know 20:06 are sealed with the Holy Spirit as it says in I think Ephesians 1:13 you're sealed with the Holy Spirit. Seeing is one thing that you are God's property and filling of the Holy Spirit is another experience where as you open up 20:22 area by area, room by room of your house, the spirit occupies them. The spirit doesn't possess you like evil spirits possess you. The Holy Spirit fills you as you open up. This is the kingdom that Jesus is 20:41 speaking about. And uh these are the people who are qualified to enter into that kingdom. And there is another bunch of people for whom there is no entry. Those Jesus spoke about such people in 21:02 Matthew 7 21. Not everyone who says to me, "Lord, Lord," will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my father who is in heaven. You see, not everybody 21:19 who names the name of Jesus and calls upon the name of the Lord, you know, some people have a crazy idea that on my deathbed, I can just say because the Bible says whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. So on my 21:33 deathbed, I'll I'll call upon the name of the Lord and I'll be saved. Like somebody said, those who want to be saved at the 11th hour will die at 10:30. There may not be chance for everybody to do that and we need not wait. You know some 21:53 people on their deathbed they call this one and that one and then say sorry to them. Like some fellow said, I'm dying and I'm sorry for what I did what you did to me. I mean I forgive you but in case I get 22:11 healed I take back your forgiveness. No what rubbish it is. Do we have to wait until we are laid on the bed um to die that you had to wait till then to ask forgiveness. Jesus said let not the sun go down on your anger. That means 22:29 before the sun sets settle matter with each other. Then go to bed with a clear conscience. Then you will you'll have good night's restful sleep. Otherwise that fellow will be haunting you. I read many years ago in a small book called 22:44 none of these diseases by Dr. Si McMillan. He says in the he was a medical doctor. I think he wrote his book in the 60s or something ' 70s. He says in his book, he says, "The man whom you hate hounds you day and night." Is it not 23:03 true in your case? The man whom you hate with whom you want to get even. He controls your mind day and night. You have no rest. He sleeps quietly, peacefully. You have no rest. Why you want to let somebody control 23:22 you? Why can't you just forgive and settle matters and have peace with God and with men and have peace in your heart and go to sleep and get good nights restful sleep then you'll be refreshed next day morning and Jesus said here 23:39 many will say to me on that day Lord Lord did we not prophesy in your name and in your name cast out demons and in your name perform miracles. You see here these are people who use the name of Jesus and they did so many 23:53 things. They prophesied, they cast out demons and they performed miracles and healings. The Lord should have said, "Well done, my servant, come in." What does the Lord say? I never knew you. I don't know who you 24:13 are. And they will have the shock of their life when they hear the Lord saying that to them. He says, "Depart from you who practice lawlessness." The person who practices lawlessness 24:30 in his private life and acts holy outside on Sunday in the midst of the saints as being one of them. Such one is a hypocrite according to this verse. And the Lord says, "I am sorry I don't know you." 24:49 Many people may have admired you as a great healer, great preacher, great miracle worker, but the Lord doesn't recognize you. There are so many kinds of people. We 25:04 read about them in we read a few verses in 1 Corinthians 6:9 he says do you not know this is speaking about another kingdom 25:23 and the people belong to that kingdom. Jesus is sp speaking about such people and about that kingdom. Do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. 25:42 Neither fornicators, nor idolators, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, or the drunkards, or revilers, nor swindlers shall inherit 26:02 the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. You see that there is hope even for such people provided they are alive number one and they repent number two 26:21 and number three they accept the provision that God has made for them. Such were some of you. That means the Corinthians were some of these. Probably some of them were fornicators, adulterers, idolators, effeminate, homosexuals, thieves, covetous, 26:40 drunkards, revilers, swindlers. Some of them were there, but they have repented. And he says, "You now you were you washed. You are cleansed, sanctified, justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and 26:59 the spirit of God." See, God doesn't leave people hopelessly. He doesn't say to anybody, "You are a hopeless case." Nobody is a hopeless case to Jesus because the blood of Jesus can cleanse every sin committed under 27:16 the sun. There is no sin which the blood of Jesus Christ cannot forgive. I would like to close with a few more verses. You can quickly turn your Bibles with me to a few more verses in Galatians 5 27:34 21. Galatians 5:21. Another characteristic of the people who find no entry into the kingdom of God are these. 27:52 It says maybe we can read from verse 19. You know the deeds of the flesh are evident which are immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, heresies, 28:11 envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these of which I forewarned you just as I have done before. Those who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Do you want anything 28:29 clearer than this? Such people will not inherit the kingdom of God. Ephesians 5:5. We read in Ephesians 5:5. For this you know with certainty 28:49 means know for sure that no immoral or impure person or covetous man who is an idoltor has an inheritance in the kingdom of God 29:07 and of Christ. You see there are number of different types of people of whom the Bible speaks that such people will not inherit the kingdom of God. You go back to Revelations Revelation 21 29:26 verse 8. Revelation 21:8 it says, "But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and 29:43 sorcerers and idolators and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone." Verse 27 again. Nothing unclean and no one who practices abomination and 30:03 lying shall ever come to it, but only those whose names are written in the book of life. And verse 15 of the next chapter, verse 15 30:20 of chapter 22. Once again it says outside are the dogs. Here the Bible is not speaking about the dogs that we see on earth here. When the Bible speaks about dogs, he speaks about 30:38 people who indulge in homosexuality. Those people are called dogs in the Bible. In Deuteronomy 23, you can read it. Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and 30:55 the murderers and the idolators and everyone who loves and practices lying. See why lying comes so often here in the Bible. This is almost the last sin. That was the first sin in the garden of Eden. Satan deceived with a lie. And 31:15 this is the last sin that is mentioned in the book of revelation. Lying and all types of liars. It says means those who tell white lies, gray lies, small lies, noful 31:32 lies, all liars. It says they will find the place where Jesus is not there. Decide where you want to go. Which kingdom you want to belong to. Now there are two kingdoms you heard of this morning. One is the kingdom of God which 31:50 you have not seen but you have seen the king. He was here on earth. Another kingdom which you are in already. We are already there which is a visible kingdom. The ruler of whom we have not seen but we still believe that he is 32:03 there behind all these things. Decide where you want to go to. Decide which kingdom you want to belong to. And the world consists of I want to close with a 32:21 couple of verses more. 1 John 1 John 2:15. This speaks about what the world is. Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the father is not in him. You see, we are in the world, but we are 32:38 not of the world. We live like a ship in the ocean. It is there in the ocean. All around is water, but there's no water inside the ship. But if you let the water come inside the ship or the boat, then you know that's the end of it. 32:54 You're in the world, but don't love the things of the world. If anyone loves the world, that means if anyone lets the world come into his board, the love of the father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust 33:12 of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life is not from the father but from the world. You know what is the um characteristic of this present world, the evil world, the ruler of whom will come? Jesus said, 33:28 "But he will find nothing in me." Jesus had nothing in him. If the devil had to come and claim anything in him, he had nothing belonging to him. And then and this is the world, the lust of the eyes and of the flesh and the 33:43 pride of life. This consists of the world. And one more last verse, Ephesians 2 2 and 3. He says, "In which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the 33:59 spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind and were by nature children of wroth 34:19 even as the rest. You see, we were all like that. God never picked any saint from earth. Nobody was born a saint on earth. I hope you know that. I was telling somebody the other day, every saint has had a bad 34:36 past and every sinner has a glorious future. So you don't have to feel condemned because of the way you are living today and the way you have lived and the way you are today a sinner. The Bible says there is no one righteous, 34:55 know not one. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. I fall into that category. When it says all have sinned, I'm included in that and you and I are included in that. Let's have that humility to acknowledge that my name is 35:12 there in that word all and come to the Lord. He says such were some of you but now now you are washed. You can be washed. You can be cleansed. You can be justified. You can be filled with the spirit. You can be called a son 35:29 or daughter of God. You can inherit God's kingdom. There is hope for every lost sinner. One last word in um Colossians 1:10. For this reason, verse 9, I want to read 35:47 from. For this reason, since the day we heard of it, that is about the condition of the church at Colos. Paul says, "We have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual 36:05 wisdom and understanding so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord to please him in all respects." Walk in a manner worthy of the Lord to please him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work, and 36:25 increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all power according to his glorious might for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience, joyously giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance 36:42 of the saints in the light of that kingdom which is to come about which the Lord Jesus said, "Thy kingdom come." May he count us worthy of that and grant mercy to repent and grace to help in the 37:01 days ahead. Brothers and sisters, the the word that's coming to my heart really is that that verse that says the kingdom of God is not in words but in power. We need the power of God. God wants to give us that power. 37:23 We can look at the Acts of the Apostles, the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles. Verse three, Acts 1:3 says, "Jesus appeared to them over a 37:42 period of 40 days, showing himself alive by many convincing proofs. Jesus rose again from the dead, showed himself alive, spoke to them for 40 days concerning the kingdom of God, and then he spoke about the Holy Spirit. 38:04 And verse six, they were asking him, saying, Lord, is this the time you are restoring the kingdom to Israel? Can we see what's happening here, brothers and sisters? I see this so so clearly in my own life. 38:21 God has appeared to me as alive from the dead. He's spoken to me continually concerning the kingdom of God. And I have a question, my prayer, my request to him is Lord, what about our kingdom? What about 38:39 my kingdom? What about my stuff, my life, my family, my job, my health? And God's Jesus's answer to them was you need the power of the Holy Spirit. 38:58 He said verse 8, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And sisters, that is my need. That is my my desperate need. I need that power of the Holy Spirit and uh I believe that God will give it 39:20 to me. He's eager to give it to me. I want to I was I was thinking about uh the prophecy in Isaiah chapter 9. We know that the prophecies in Isaiah 39:36 were given 400 years before Jesus came. And it talks about the kingdom of God. It says the people who walk in darkness will see a great light. 39:54 What is this darkness? Darkness is I think that I need to be king of my own life. I need to take care of my own stuff. And that's darkness. But he says you will see a great light. You see the light of eternity, the light 40:09 of the kingdom of heaven, the light of the glory of God. Isaiah chapter 9 verse 2. And God says he will multiply this nation. He will build up this church. This these people. He will increase their gladness. 40:28 They will be glad in his presence. This is the kingdom of God. It's righteousness along with peace and joy. And verses 3 and 4 talks about victory over our enemies. Break the yoke of their burden, the staff on their shoulder, the rod of their oppressor. 40:44 And how will all this happen? Says a child will be born to us. A son will be given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. This kingdom of God, this government is going to rest on his shoulders. Jesus has been given to us for this reason. 41:03 that the government that the rule in every area of our life should rest on his shoulders. His name will be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, eternal father, prince of peace. There will be no end to the increase of his government or of 41:21 peace. Brothers and sisters, this was long before Jesus came. We know that every word spoken of in this book has has turned out to be true. And the the sure certain prophecy of God is that there will be no end to the increase of 41:35 Jesus's government and of peace. The question for you and me is just am I going to be a part of his kingdom or not? Am I going to be a part of that kingdom where there is increasing peace and righteousness where the government 41:48 rests on his shoulders or not? And that's exactly the question, brothers and sisters. When we hear these things, it's good for us to rouse ourselves, to repent, 42:08 and to remember that the word of the Lord to us is that the father desires to give you the kingdom. It's the father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. If you come to the father and ask for the holy spirit, he will give you that. He will answer your 42:24 prayer. We sing these songs. The song we just sang. Do you want to be a part of the kingdom? Yes, I want to be a part of the kingdom. I was thinking of another song. Oh, when the saints come marching in, oh Lord, I want to be in that number. When 42:39 they crown you Lord of all, oh Lord, I want to be in that number. Brothers and sisters, to have a cry in our hearts, not words, but power. to really have a cry in our hearts. Lord, I want to be in that number and to know that he wants to do that 42:52 more than I do. Praise God. Amen. In 1 Timothy 6 verse 13, we read about Jesus there. Jesus testified a good confession before Pontious Pilate. What was that good confession that Jesus 43:11 testified? We heard about that too. And that is from John chapter 18 verse 33. And this is the good confession. When 43:29 Pilate asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?" Jesus said in verse 36, "My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom was of this world, my servants would be fighting. But as it is, my kingdom is not of this realm, 43:49 we heard very powerfully about my kingdom and the Lord's kingdom. The Lord taught us to pray in um Matthew chapter 6. He said, "Our Father who art in heaven, your kingdom come, your will be done. 44:08 Not my kingdom, not my will, but Lord, your kingdom, your will. That is the kingdom the Lord Jesus Christ was speaking about. My kingdom is not of this world. Our Lord Jesus Christ did not come with a prosperity gospel of 44:24 health and wealth in my life. We heard that very clearly. But our Lord Jesus Christ is the king of kings and he has called us to reign in life with him. There is a place for him to reign. We can we read about that in in Romans 44:42 chapter 5. In Romans chapter 5:7, I want to read that verse to you. Verse 17, it says, "Much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift 45:01 of righteousness will reign in life through the one Jesus Christ." Yes, the Lord wants that we reign with him not not in a not in a life where we seek uh like seek our pleasure and money 45:20 but truly in a life where he reigns where through him we reign where through him we receive the abundance of grace where through him we receive the gift of righteousness our Lord has called us to reign side by side with him in that kingdom. 45:39 Yet we know that this is the good confession that Jesus Christ pray confessed before Pontius Pilate. Yes, there's also a good fight that we read about in 1 Timothy that we are called to fight. In 1 Timothy 6:12, it 45:56 says, "Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of eternal life to which you are called." That is our calling to confess a good confession and to fight a good fight of faith. Yet my brothers and sisters, we know how easily we who are 46:11 called to reign in life can fall from that. You know few uh weeks ago we read about uh about David. David in 2 Samuel 11. This is um 2 Samuel 11 when David had his great 46:29 fall. We read, we read there in 2 Samuel 11:1. It happened in the spring at the time when the kings go out to battle. God has called us to reign in life. Yet when uh ease and comfort uh and pleasure becomes the focus of our lives, then the 46:48 backsliding has already started. Yes, David stayed back in the time when the kings had to go out to battle. And we know that the end of that story, the Lord doesn't want us to to end up like that. Yet when the king of our lives is 47:05 not the Lord, when we are in the throne of our lives, this is what'll end up being. This is where we'll end up going. I was thinking of one parable in about the kingdom of God in Matthew 13. In Matthew 13 there is verse 45 the a 47:24 parable of a costly pearl. A costly pearl. A merchant seeking fine pearls upon finding one pearl of great value. He went and sold all that he had and bought it. I found in there a secret we have 47:41 heard from this church. when my focus when I see that yes the Lord found in me not just a worthless pebble lying around but a pearl of great value. He saw in this worthless stone he found a pearl of 47:58 great value and he went and gave his all. Our Lord Jesus Christ gave his all on the cross. He gave his very last breath on the cross for me to redeem each one of us to make us the to bring us to the destiny that he has for us to 48:17 be pearls of great values. But when my focus falls away from that then when I claim the throne of that he wants me to rightfully that he wants to take rightfully in my life and my eyes 48:34 fall away. I want to focus on the Lord has redeemed and paid such a great price. He has called me to to place him on the throne of my life. I want to do that. May the Lord give us the strength. Amen.
