Thy Kingdom Come

Happy Sunday, thanks for joining me today. I encourage you to still remember those in prayer that were impacted by Hurricane Ian, and I thank my friends in Florida and in the Carolinas who, um, have joined us today. I've been praying for you.

It was 1977. I had just graduated from high school, and I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. After graduation I worked for a year in the mail room for a big law firm in Atlanta. When it was time for me to go to college, I thought that I would major in pre-law and then go to law school. That was my plan.

While at Mississippi State, God called me to the ministry. That was his plan. A decision had to be made: thy kingdom come or my kingdom come. We all wrestle with that, don't we?

While I was in seminary, I met a man that wanted me to open a business with him. He was very wealthy, and he wanted me to partner with him in a woodworking store. It was tempting. I love woodworking. I was torn.

Yet I had to tell them no, because God had a plan for my life, to be a pastor. I did not want to jump ship and commit mutiny, to be disobedient. I needed to stay the course.

Today we continue in our study of the Lord's Prayer, and we are at those three words: thy kingdom come. What does that mean? I began telling you about my life because when we pray thy kingdom come, we also must be willing to pray my kingdom go away.

The phrase kingdom of God occurs 68 times in 10 different New Testament books. The praise Kingdom of Heaven occurs 32 times, and only in the gospel of Matthew. They really mean the same thing. Jesus used them interchangeably in Matthew 19.

This is what Jesus said to the disciples after his conversation with a rich young ruler. I'll read verses 23 and 24 from Matthew 19: "Then Jesus said to the disciples, truly I tell you, it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God."

What Jesus means here is that, like the Rich Young Ruler, if your stuff is first, if your life is first, you are most interested in your own kingdom. Today we use the word kingdom to talk about a place, real estate. In Jesus's day the word kingdom meant the rule or reign of a king rather than the place where he ruled. So the kingdom of God is what he rules, his ruling, his reign.

Living this world, all of us should become keenly aware that there is another kingdom, and it opposes God's kingdom. In Ephesians 2 we as believers are told this: "Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. You used to live in sin just like the rest of the world, obey the devil, the commander of the powers of the unseen world. He is the spirited work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God."

First John 5:19 puts it this way: "We know that we are God's children and that the whole world lies under the power of the evil one." There are two kingdoms. Look at the evening news. Watch the crazy things that are happening in our country and in our world.

If they don't make sense to you, and they shouldn't, it's because this world is marching to different quarters. You can feel it, you can see it. All of us have the potential to be holy and righteous or to be unholy and unrighteous.

Try this for a minute. Close your eyes and pray. Focus on God. Pause this for 60 seconds and do just that. It doesn't matter where you are. If you're driving, you probably should, but if you're by yourself, just stop it.

The kingdom of God that close, you must focus. I heard it put this way once: as believers we live behind enemy lines in occupied territory. Some theologians call this a tension between the already and the not yet.

If you're a believer, your sins are already forgiven. Your eternal destination is already determined. You're a citizen of Heaven. However, God has yet to come back to earth to rescue the saints and judge the world. We live in the not yet, the not yet world, right now.

When we pray thy kingdom come, we're not asking for the already part. We are looking forward to the not yet part. We're looking for Christ to return. And his book Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis said, "Christianity is the story of how the rightful King has landed in disguise and is calling us all to take part in a great campaign of sabotage." I like that.

When the world curses you, bless. When the world takes, you give. When the world worries, you pray. When the world hates, you love. When the world complains, you praise.

Colossians 3 begins this way: "If you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on the earth."

Thanks for joining me today. Let's pray together. Father, it's obvious in this world there are two kingdoms, and we have a choice every day who to follow. Let it be our great desire to follow you, for your kingdom to come and our lives every day, and then for us to eagerly to anticipate your return. Come, Lord Jesus, this world needs you. In Jesus' name, amen.

God bless. Thanks for joining me today.