Luke 17:20-37

Discussion Questions

• Why is it important to pray “My kingdom go?” What part of your kingdom needs to be examined and let go of?
• The opposite of love is indifference, which Pastor Tommy calls “a dangerous posture.” How did the people in the days of Noah and the days of Lot show their indifference toward God? Why did Jesus warn us to “remember Lot’s wife?” (v. 26-32)
• Do you believe that some churches over-focus on the exact timing of the second coming of Jesus Christ? How can this be distracting for individuals or churches?
• “Pay attention to what you pay attention to”. Does this statement cause you to pause in any way? Why?

Transcript

May the love of the Father, the grace of our Lord Jesus, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you. This morning, we do study through books of the Bible here at TVC. If you’d like someone to bring you a paper copy, just lift up your hand. We have some folks who are going to pass them along. It’d be good to have the text in front of us, as it is every week. As we open our Bibles here, expecting to hear a word from the Lord through His Spirit from His Word, I want to welcome all those who are worshiping with us online. From Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico, we had a bunch of folks from there last week watching and worshiping with us, also Bangkok, Thailand; Chicago, Illinois; Reedsville, North Carolina. May the Spirit be with you, move among you, wherever you might be today.

We are continuing our study of the life and ministry of our Lord Jesus through the gospel according to Luke. Just a few minutes ago, we prayed together. The prayer our Lord taught us. I’d love for us to consider the very beginning of this prayer for just a moment. I’m actually going to read it again for us. I’m going to read it a little bit slower. I’ll put it up on the screen. “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Those three words in the middle, “Thy kingdom come,” just on its own, is a revolutionary prayer. It’s a prayer asking for transformation, in at least three directions; personally, corporately as a church and globally, as we just sang about. Personally, Lord, cultivate in my heart Your kingdom values. Help me to love what You love. Corporately as a church, Lord, may Your kingdom be unmistakable among us in how we love one another and how we love our neighbors. And globally, Lord, may Your kingdom come – so appropriate on a week like this. Dismantle the disorder and chaos found in the kingdoms of this world.

May your kingdom come. See, at root, every system of belief affirms that something is wrong with the world. War and disease and death, infidelity and justice, and the list could go on. Yet Jesus stepped into this sin-stained world, and He taught His disciples, and He taught us to pray, Your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. And He actually bundled it with, “…hallowed be Your name,” may Your name be revered. See, in the Bible, the Old Testament knew the name of someone bundled all of who they were, their character. So, when we say “hallowed,” we revere Your name, we’re saying we revere all of who You are; Your love, Your power, Your goodness, Your grace, Your mercy and justice. And from that, may “Your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.” And embedded in those three words, “Thy kingdom come,” is an acknowledgement that the kingdoms of this world and the private kingdom of my own heart and yours are often in rebellion to the kingdom of God and His King Jesus. And ultimately, it’s what we most long for. To every corner of His creation, in rebellion, to His loving rule and reign, including my own heart, this prayer is revolutionary.

And it’s also humbling, Alan Redpath said it this way, “Before we can pray, ‘Lord, Thy kingdom come,’ we must be willing to pray, ‘My kingdom go.’” In giving us these words as a pattern for our own prayer life, Jesus, I think, is actually giving us a vision for all of life, the whole life of a disciple, every square inch, body, mind and soul, responding to the love of the Father, giving Him glory, trusting in His providential care. Our times are in His hands as we just sang, resting in His salvation and joyfully living in faithfulness and holiness to His Word and in His kingdom. Thy kingdom come in and through me today. That is the prayer of a wholehearted disciple of Jesus. And I’m so delighted that we pray it every single week. Our text this morning picks up in the ministry of Jesus as He is nearing His arrival to Jerusalem, where He will lay down His life for the sins of the world.

As He gets nearer and nearer to the cross, I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, if you’ve been studying with us the last few weeks, there’s been a subtle change in tone in the teaching of Jesus – an urgency, a burden, a sharpness. At one point in the next few chapters, as He gets nearer to Jerusalem, He actually weeps as He nears the gate of Jerusalem. There’s an urgency, a tone shift. Although the crowds have grown, there is still rampant spiritual blindness, indifference even, to the kingdom He had on offer and to Him, the King. And the tone of His message is telling, as He nears Jerusalem, the kingdom of God has come in part now and one day the kingdom of God will come in fullness. Are you prepared? Are you ready? Can you genuinely pray, “Thy kingdom come, my kingdom go?” Can we pray that prayer? Turn with me if you would, to Luke, Chapter 17, verse 20. Let’s learn together from our Lord Jesus.

Let me pray for us before we begin, if you’d allow me: Heavenly Father, we bow before Your presence this morning and with our Bibles open, we ask that You’d open Your Word to us and open us to Your Word. May Your Spirit convict and comfort and point us to Your Son, Jesus, and may Your glory be our supreme aim as we wait for Your Son’s kingdom. In Jesus’ name, we all said, amen.

So, Luke, Chapter 17, verse 20: If you remember last week, Jesus had just healed ten lepers, ten men who were ravaged with the disease of leprosy. And here the scene shifts, verse 20: “Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he [Jesus] answered them, ‘The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, “Look, here it is.” Or, “There!” for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.’” Some of your Bible translations will say “the kingdom of God is within you,” and I think this is actually a better translation. Either one works, but what He’s saying here is that the kingdom of God has come and is standing right in front of you. The kingdom of God can’t be observed, as He says here. And what He means there is like, by careful observation, as if we are observing a human kingdom coming, the ways that a human kingdom would conquer another kingdom. That’s not the way that the kingdom of God will come with careful empirical observation.

They had been observing Jesus. He had just healed ten lepers. And so, Jesus is, I think, speaking tenderly to this genuine question from the Pharisees. Oftentimes, their questions are cynical. I think they had this question here because they’ve been waiting for 400 years. The people of God have been waiting for 400 years in prophetic silence for the kingdom of God to come. So, for the Pharisees and the disciples and all the religious establishment, the kingdom of God coming after 400 years of prophetic silence was in the background of all their conversations. I think this is a genuine conversation, this is a genuine question, rather, and Jesus is standing in front of them and saying the kingdom of God has come and it’s right in front of you. Do you see it? The scene shifts again here to the disciples: “He said to his disciples, [those who were following him, verse 22] ‘The days are coming when you [disciples] will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. And they will say to you, “Look there!” or “Look here!” Do not go out or follow them. For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day.’”

So, to put it another way, Jesus was responding to the Pharisees by saying, “The present kingdom of God that has come in Me and My teaching and My powers is right in front of you.” And then Jesus turns to His disciples and He’s talking about the future kingdom to come. And He says, “There will be a day that you will long to see the fullness of the kingdom to come, and you won’t see it quite yet.” He’s describing “the already not yet.” But He does say, verse 24, “As the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be on that day.” Essentially what He’s saying is, “When I come back again on that day, it will be unmistakable.” Just like when you see lightning and it lights up the entire sky, every eye will see Him and know that He is returned. So, wait for that day. Verse 25, “But first, he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.” Again, He’s pointing forward to Jerusalem. He is Himself, the Son of Man, His most often used self-reference. “Must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.”

Now Jesus is going to give some examples here of what it will be like before the day when He returns in His future kingdom, verse 26. “Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage until the day when Noah entered the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all.” Verse 28, “Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot,” so He’s using a second example here, both in Genesis. “They were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all – so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed. [31] On that day, let the one who is on the housetop with his goods in the house, not come down to take them away. And likewise, let the one who is in the field not turn back.” And you might highlight that “not turn back” there’s a connection later. The connection is here, verse 32: “Remember Lot’s wife.” Do you remember the story of Lot and his wife? God had miraculously rescued Lot and his entire family, including his wife, from Sodom. And they’re told explicitly, “Do not turn around, do not turn back,” and she does.

So, Jesus is reiterating this, “Don’t turn back,” which reveals a heart that was never genuinely turned in faith towards God. Verse 33: “Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it. I tell you, in that night, there will be two in one bed, one will be taken and the other left. There will be two women grinding at the mill, [grinding grain together] one will be taken and the other left.” And some of your translations will add, “Two men will be in the field, one will be taken, one will be left.” Verse 37: “And they said to him, ‘Where, Lord?’” So the Pharisees asked when. The disciples are asking, “Where is the kingdom of God going to come?” And He, Jesus, said to them, “Where the corpse is, [or where the body is] there the vultures will gather.” Well, that clears it right up.  There’s a lot of interpretations of that last bit of text there, but I think what He’s saying with the flow of the text is, it’s an idiom that would have been common those days.

Just like when the lightning lights up the entire sky, it will be unmistakable when the Son of Man comes. Just like when you’re traveling and you see vultures circling above, you know there’s a body on the ground. It’s indicating everyone knows what’s going on. That’s what Jesus is saying there. Well, this is the reading of God’s Word from the Book of Luke. Let’s all to say together, “Thanks be to God.” That was a little tepid. So, our Lord has set His trajectory towards Jerusalem. He’s nearing the cross. His teaching has an urgency to it. Did you see that? He’s talking about lightning and fire and floods and sulfur raining down. The Pharisees were asking when, the disciples were asking where, so we might expect Jesus to make it all perfectly plain, but then He starts talking about vultures and corpses. What do we learn from a teaching like this, friends? Much. As students of the Bible, one of the first principles we use when we come to a passage that’s difficult to understand is to read it in light of the whole counsel of God’s Word, the whole counsel of Scripture.

In other words, the Bible is its own best interpreter. We gain insight from what is clear to shed light on what is unclear. Scholars would call this the analogy of Scripture. So, for example, when we study a text like this, a teaching from Jesus, this seems to be largely a warning about judgment, and I think our text is about that this morning, we must also, I think, hold in our minds at the same time, what Jesus said was the purpose of His earthly ministry. And we read that here in Luke, Chapter 19. We haven’t gotten there to study it yet, but I’m going to put it up on the screen. The purpose of Jesus’ ministry: “For the Son of man came to seek and to save the lost.” To seek and to save. Our sin alienates us from God; our rebellion makes us enemies of Him and His kingdom; our sin condition puts us on a trajectory, not towards life, but towards death and judgment. But He’s come to seek after rebels, to save rebels like me and like you. And so, Jesus, out of his great love for sinners like us, He tells us the truth. He told them the truth. He defines reality. History has an endpoint. One day there will be a dividing line between those who have acknowledged their need for a Savior and turned to Jesus, and those who have lived willfully blind to the truth of Jesus or indifferent to Him, as if He doesn’t matter. It was true in the days of Noah, an example from Jesus here, and in the days of Lot. It was true in the days of Jesus and it’s true today. Now, whenever we talk about the judgment of God, as believers, we should always do so with tears and with trembling, humility.

Jesus is sober and serious in His message. He is coming again to set things right. Hallelujah! To bring righteous justice, to separate the wheat from the chaff. Are you ready for that day? And I think that’s the implicit question that Jesus is asking here in this section. To everyone who is listening that day and to everyone in this room and online: Are you ready for that day? Are you prepared for that day? And as a pastor, it’s my delight to say that you can be. Even today, the invitation is open to anyone. He has made a way through His cross. We sang about it earlier. It was finished. That’s why He came. To seek and to save. So always have that in the back of your mind as we read a text like this. This teaching from Jesus is serious, what I’ll call serious mercy and serious kindness to any who would have ears to hear and eyes to see. Jesus is who He is, Lord and Savior and King. So, this morning I want us to consider together, if you would with me, three responses to the kingdom of God that I think we see in this text. And what we can learn from them as we are sent back out on mission in this world. Responses to the kingdom of God, number one, we see blindness to the kingdom. Two, we see indifference to the kingdom. And three, we see longing for the kingdom.

Well, number one, blindness to the kingdom. Would you look with me at verse 20? “Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered, ‘The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be carefully observed. Nor will they say, “Look, here it is!” or “There!” For behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.’” It’s right in front of you! And there’s great irony here. The Pharisees were asking when the kingdom would come, seemingly oblivious to the fact that the king was standing right in front of them. Don’t miss that irony. And again, I think this is a genuine question. But the Pharisees had been observing Jesus from the beginning of His ministry. Do you remember, it was kind of a humorous moment in the text, early on in the ministry of Jesus, the religious leaders sent a group, almost like spies, to go check out what Jesus was doing at the beginning of His ministry. What is this rabbi teaching about? What are these miracles that we keep hearing about? They had been observing Him and had been willfully blind.

He had healed ten men with a plague of leprosy, an astonishing miracle. Earlier, He had raised the son of the widow of Nain to life. He had silenced the stormy sea of Galilee with only His word. He’d been casting out demons. Jesus was doing what only God could do. And they had refused to see it for so long, their hearts had become hardened, unable to grasp the kingdom of God that had come in Jesus. Now I want to unpack that for just a minute. There are two senses in which the Bible speaks of the kingdom of God, at least two senses. The Bible tells us that God is sovereign over all, and I love the way Psalm 103:19 puts it, “The Lord has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all.” Not a square inch of the universe is outside of His reign. That’s good news. No square inch of the spiritual world or the material world is outside of His reach. So, there is what I’ll call a universality to God’s kingdom, we might call that providence. He reigns over all. But from the beginning of creation, God reigns in another sense, the kingdom of God in another sense, in and through His people, those with hearts who have turned to Him in faith.

So one and the same time, He sovereignly rules over all things, that’s true. We sang about it earlier, all the power, all the glory, all of time is in His hands. But He also rules with particularity, through His people with renewed hearts, those who can genuinely say, “Thy kingdom come, my kingdom go.” J.I. Packer gets at this sense of the kingdom. He says it this way, “So God’s kingdom is not a place, but rather a relationship. It exists wherever people enthrone Jesus as Lord of their lives.” And then Fleming Rutledge, I love the way she puts it, “If the kingdom of heaven is at hand, then all of our other kingdoms are called radically into question, including my own private kingdom and yours.” I love Fleming, she’s spicy sometimes. She tells it like it is. So, when Jesus responds to the Pharisees and says the kingdom is coming in ways that can’t be carefully observed empirically, He’s inviting them, I think, to think about their question, to think about their assumptions.

And often the questions of Jesus are doing just that, asking us to think, to use the minds He’s given us. He’s getting at their root problem. A heart so turned away that they had no capacity to see the truth. They assumed the kingdom of God would come with maybe political or military might, and Jesus is reframing their assumptions, inviting them to consider the private kingdom of their own heart. And the people of God, like I said, have been waiting for 400 years. They were eager for the kingdom of God to come, but they had a stumbling block. They thought it would come in a particular way. In the gospel of John, Jesus tries to get at their hearts another way. Remember, these were religious elites. They were educated in a sense. They were Bible nerds. And Jesus says this in John 5: “You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life, and it is they that bear witness about me. Yet you refuse to come to me, that you may have life.”

Even there, there’s the grace of our Lord Jesus. Our Lord loved these religious leaders. We don’t often talk about that. Our Lord loved these religious leaders, and He longed for them to turn to Him for life. He longs for you to turn to Him for life. And we know that He loved the Pharisees because He sought after the Pharisee of the Pharisees. Saul, who later became Paul, who called himself the chief of sinners, was not even outside the reach of God’s grace. Pay attention to what you’re paying attention to. That’s an old adage that I love. Pay attention to what you’re paying attention to. So, Jesus is there and saying, “Pharisees, you’re looking everywhere, but right in front of you for the answer to your deepest longing, your deepest questions.” Perhaps the words of Jesus quicken your heart this morning. You’ve looked everywhere else, here and there, to find the answers to your deepest longings, to satisfy your deepest longings, only to discover more and more empty wells. Is He standing in front of you today? Are you turning to Him with ears to hear, eyes to see?

Number two, I think we see an indifference to the kingdom. To the Pharisees, Jesus was speaking about the present kingdom of God that had come and was unfolding before their eyes in His teaching, His miracles, His authority, His power. And then as Jesus turns to the disciples, He points forward to a future kingdom. So, we had the present kingdom and now we have the future kingdom that will come in its fullness, making all things right. Love and justice, working all things together for His purpose and the good of those who love Him. In speaking about the future kingdom, Jesus gives the disciples two examples from history to help illustrate what the spiritual condition of the world will be like before He returns. He’s not simply giving a history lesson but a merciful warning to be ready, to be prepared for the day of His coming and by extension, to tell others the good news of Jesus, who invites all who would turn to Him to enter His kingdom.

He begins with Noah, look with me at verse 26, if you would, we’ll read it again, “Just as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given a marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.” If you remember the story from Genesis, God had told Noah the judgment was coming because of the wickedness of the world. Violence and corruption were rampant in His creation and God would have none of that. And Noah was an imperfect but faithful man, who was called to build a boat in the middle of the desert. Noah didn’t even know what a boat was. But by faith, he obeys the word of the Lord, and the ark took many years to build. And Peter actually tells us in 2 Peter that Noah was a preacher of righteousness. And I find that so curious. Perhaps as he and his family took years and years to build this ark, this very strange and foreign object in this dry sand. Perhaps as they were building this, he was preaching, calling the people to repent in that time. We don’t know. But what Jesus offers here in this summary is a description of what was going on in the world before the judgment came. The description was of the spiritual condition of the world. And it’s really interesting there, look at verse 27. What he describes is the normal stuff of life. This isn’t sinful stuff, eating and drinking and getting married. None of these things are sinful on their own. But the people were living with an indifference and apathy towards their own wickedness and the judgment that was to come. The spirit of the age, it wasn’t just a God forgetfulness. It was as if God didn’t matter – who He was and His ways. So again, I say, friends, pay attention to what you’re paying attention to.

The second example He gives is of Lot, at verse 28. The nephew of Abraham, and much the same way, the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were marked with indifference and apathy, even mockery of God and His ways. There was sexual perversion of all kinds; we’re all familiar with that. And Ezekiel also tells us that the root of their sin was pride and haughtiness, turning up their noses to God, disregard for the poor. They flaunted their wickedness before God. And Jesus tells us that they kept on living their lives, business as usual, eating and drinking and doing business, planting their crops, intermingled with their pride of heart and arrogance and injustice, living as if the holy God didn’t matter. Indifference to Him. Hmm. And it brings to mind what C.S. Lewis says in his wonderful collection of essays. “One must keep on pointing out that Christianity is a statement which, if false, is of no importance and if true is of infinite importance. The one thing it cannot be is moderately important.”

Indifference, I think, is a dangerous posture. It’s like a poison taken only a little bit at a time until you realize its destructive power only when it’s too late. Noah and Lot, we know this story, they were actually saved. Not because they were sinless, they were not sinless, go read their story, but by the lavish grace of God given by faith. And that grace is available to all who would believe today, this morning. Because as Jesus tells us, look at verse 25, our Lord at this point would suffer, He has suffered, was rejected, He took on our sin, our shame, our wickedness, our indifference, on Himself so that we might find life in His name. Can I get an amen? He came to seek and to save. Have you turned to Him? I have to ask that question. Are you ready for that day? Jesus gives us these examples, Noah and Lot, not simply to warn us, although they should sober us up, move us to examine our hearts. But I think they wake us up to the reality that His kingdom has come now and will one day come in its fullness. History has an end; He’s telling us the truth. A dividing line will come unexpectedly. Two people working at the mill together, one taken, the other left.

Jesus tells us the truth so we might turn to Him and so that we might tell others of the mercy of God available to all who would come to Him. So that we might love God and serve our neighbors well, demonstrating the inexhaustible love of God and His Spirit’s power to transform a heart. Cultivating, listen up, cultivating a hunger for God and His kingdom and others. Not simply a fear of judgment. We as believers, going out into the world tomorrow for work, the way that we live our life, the way that we talk, the way that we share the Gospel, should cultivate a hunger for God, for His Word and His kingdom. For those who are in Christ, our calling isn’t simply to sit around and point out the wickedness of the world. We could do that all day, but it’s to get to work and be on mission in the Word and show that in word and in deed, sharing the Gospel of grace to all that the Lord has put into our path. And that would look like raising our children in the fear and admonition of the Lord. That would look like having spiritual conversations with neighbors and friends and coworkers.

That’s one of the reasons I loved that story of Joan. We saw earlier the portraits of grace, a testimony of a family who loves the Lord and His own mission to tell others about Him. It’s the great commission: “Go into all the world, making disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all the Lord has taught us.” When we pray, “Thy kingdom come,” we’re actually praying in two different directions for even more of His kingdom in our heart and in our world now, and we’re praying that His kingdom would come in its fullness, that shalom would come. We’re praying and one at the same time. Do you long for that day? Do you long for more of His kingdom today? Are you ready? You can be. Finally, I think we see here a longing for the kingdom I’ve hinted at it already.

Lewis Allen says, “Heaven is the home of all our lasting happiness.” The future of the kingdom of heaven, we will know that happiness in full, but for believers we know it now in part, and we long for more of it. It’s the opposite of indifference. A genuine disciple, a genuine believer, longs for more of His kingdom. Look with me at verse 22: “And he said to the disciples, ‘The days are coming when you will desire [or long] to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you won’t see it.” He’s describing the “already not yet” nature of the kingdom then and today. Genuine disciples long for His kingdom. They desire His kingdom, and we can pray imperfectly perhaps, but with humility and faith and hope, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as in heaven.” Thy kingdom come, my kingdom go. We must lose our life to find it. That’s the upside-down nature of the kingdom of God. Are you longing for more and more of his kingdom? Or perhaps ask yourself this question, do you find yourself more and more longing for the things of the world? And that could be power and pleasure, possessions, all this could go on. None of those things are sinful on their own, but when they become the ultimate thing in the core of your heart, they’re flimsy substitutes. They collapse under the weight of life, and they certainly cannot save us. Remember Lot’s wife, verse 32.

Second shortest passage in the Bible: “Remember Lot’s wife.” Do you remember her story? She was rescued from the judgment that was about to fall in the city of Sodom, and she was told explicitly not to turn back. You can read that in Genesis 19, if you want to, later. Yet she does turn back. She turns around, she looks at the wicked city, perhaps longing for possessions, the power that she had, the pleasure that she had left behind, and it reveals a heart that had not turned in faith to God. As one pastor said, the outside of her was running away from the city, but the inside of her was staying put. She was actually a part of the most godly family on Earth, the family of Abraham. Yet a connection to faithful family, friends, and church will not save you on that day. Only the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus received by faith, and it’s available today. Charles Spurgeon says, “Hold everything earthly with a loose hand, but grasp eternal things with a death-like grip.” Do we long for that day? Are you ready for that day?

Listen, believers throughout history have disagreed about the particulars, about the sequence, the timing, and the method of His return. If you’re hoping that I get into that today, it’s not happening. There is a time and a place to consider those things from the Scripture, I don’t mean to diminish it. But one thing all Bible-believing Christians agree on is that He will return, amen? And it will look like something. And here are just a few ways that it’ll look. It will be unmistakable, “…for as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky.” Listen, you won’t be able to say, “Oh, I was out of town. I missed it.” It’s going to be unmistakable. It’s going to come suddenly. “The Son of Man is coming at an hour you don’t expect.” Personally, the Lord Himself will come down from Heaven, first Thessalonians says. Audibly, “…with the voice of an archangel and with the sound of the trumpet of God.” It’s going to come visibly, “…every eye will see Him.” And it’s going to come gloriously, it’s going to come gloriously. We will see “…the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.”

And let me tell you something, that is good news for those who are in Christ – no more tears, no more war, death will be no more. Today and on that day, I’m with John Newton, who said, “There is one political maxim which comforts me; The Lord reigns.” Where is your heart this morning? Are you ready? Are you a stay-at-home mom, or a retiree, a student, a musician, an accountant? This is for all of us. Like the Pharisee, has the Lord been standing in front of you and you’ve simply turned your eyes away, blind to who He is? Or do you find yourself indifferent or perhaps tangled up in longings for the things of this world? Hear the voice of Jesus: “The kingdom of God is in the midst of you.” In other words, the kingdom of God is right in front of you. It’s Jesus. “We are called to an everlasting preoccupation with God,” Tozer said, “an everlasting preoccupation with God.” All of life orbiting around Him, that’s the vision of what the Lord’s prayer has for the people of God. “Thy kingdom come.” The good news of Jesus is that there is a living God who has inexhaustible love, inexhaustible justice, inexhaustible goodness, and we see that most visibly at the cross of Christ. He’s laid down His life for you and for me, so that we might be able to enter the kingdom and long for more of it. This day could be a turning point in your life. Would you turn to Him? Are you ready? Are you prepared? You can be. He came to seek and to save the lost. That’s why He came. Might you even today lift up the empty hands of faith and turn to Him, saying, “Lord, Thy kingdom come, my kingdom go.”

Let’s pray together. Just a moment of silence to consider the great mercy of God on offer to all of us this morning and to give Him thanks. And even though we already prayed the prayer, I invite us to pray it again together. “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who have trespassed against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever.” Amen.

Songs, Readings & Prayer

Songs

“A Mighty Fortress“ by Martin Luther, arr. Tommy Bailey; orch. Nathan Mickle
“It Was Finished Upon That Cross“ by Jonny Robinson, Nigel Hendroff, and Rich Thompson
“Ancient Of Days“ by Jesse Reeves, Jonny Robinson, Michael Farren, and Rich Thompson
“Christus Victor (Amen)“ by Keith Getty, Kristyn Getty. Matt Boswell, Matt Papa, Bryan Fowler
“Doxology” by Thomas Ken and Louis Bourgeois
All songs are used by Permission. CCLI License #2003690

Call To Worship: Make a Joyful Noise

LEADER: Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into His presence with singing!
PEOPLE: I will praise the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.

LEADER: Believers in Christ, bless the Lord; Let all that is within you bless His holy name!
PEOPLE: My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior!

ALL: Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, For his steadfast love endures forever! Amen!

Classic Prayer: A.W. Tozer

Now Father, Wilt Thou grant, we pray, that we may forget the things that are behind and press forward toward the things that are ahead? And that we may see all that is as being only the size of a hazelnut, and see that God is vast, so vast- that we encompass the world and are utterly empty without Thee! Fill us, O God, Fill us with Thyself, for without Thee, we will ever be wanting. Fill us with Thyself, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

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