The Gospel of Luke: the Kingdom of God (With Audio)

By Ben Cole

Luke Audio

Luke Outline

I. Luke 11:33-36 – we begin our time with the call to and with time to pray that we would watch out for what we thought was light that it may not actually be darkness

• And we see a little tip of the cap toward one way we avoid slipping into darkness unwittingly. And that is given us in v33 – we can avoid slipping into darkness, into covering what is the true Light, through sharing clearly what God has done in us!
  • I Timothy 4:15 – that your progress might be evident to all
  • Luke, traveling companion of Paul at some level, also a doctor, is an investigative man and a benefit to us all. He seeks out the truth and light to shine the way! (Luke 1:1-4)
• Read simply, the meaning I believe is “no one, after lighting the fire of Christ, goes away and hides it! Keep the fire burning and shining to light the Way for yourself and for others!”

II. We are going to frame our time together today with a statement from Christ Himself. He gave the purpose of the book (and the purpose of His human existence, if you believe His words as a bottom line foundation) in one statement. Does anyone remember what was He saying when He said “…it was for this purpose I came into the world.”?

• Answer: I must preach Kingdom to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose.”
• Luke 4:43 – Preach the Kingdom! And He went about doing just that (Luke 8:1)
  • So what does Jesus mean? And how/why is that the purpose for which He was sent?!?!
    • His preaching was with words, to be sure. But also with a proclamation of the Gospel through His life as He was bringing the Kingdom to earth (c.f. I Peter 3:18,19 for preaching with power over death)
• Christ/Luke in the Spirit then proceeds to make the Kingdom a central theme throughout the book, launching the Church into greater understanding of His Kingdom (Luke 11:2). And if we have eyes to see it, we see the initiation of a new Kingdom (Luke 3:16), the King’s coronation (Luke 3:22) and the description of the King’s lineage (Luke 3:23-38). All to set the stage for the King!
  • In essence, a kingdom is anywhere the king has reign. The King has a Kingdom. The Kingdom needs a King. And it’s true anywhere He has full/complete/perfect surrender. His Kingdom come and will be done in our lives when we surrender all. Because He is worthy we surrender! And because He is good, we actually gain all when we surrender:)

III. But what does this Kingdom look like? What do we know of the Kingdom from Christ’s teaching?

• Some might say His is an upside down Kingdom. But I say it’s a right-side up Kingdom:)
• Some might say it is backwards. Rather, really there is nothing straighter.
• Frame it this way: it really is the Kingdom of a homeless man (Luke 9:58), the Kingdom of the ostracized (Luke 6:22), the Kingdom of babies and children (Luke 18:16). He was the King. Yet humbled as a man to become obedient. And the way He orients His Kingdom, the self-exalted will be humbled and the humble will be exalted by the King Himself:)
  • Luke 9:57-62
  • Luke 14:7-15
  • Luke 6:20-23
  • Luke 7:28-30
  • Luke 18:16-17
• Visions of the Kingdom in other parts of Scripture:
  • Matthew 13 – parables of Jesus on the Kingdom
  • Revelation 21-22 – beautiful vision of how the Kingdom looks and functions

IV. From the very beginning, we see kingdoms, and the Kingdom of God, as the lens through which people understood the world.

• King of kings, Lord of lords, God of gods – there are other deities of other peoples and nations, all of which need to bow to the true God. (dagon, balam, molech, baal, etc)
• Rahab – Joshua 2 – it was her/their understanding and knowledge that it was God behind the people of Israel’s success. And this elicited fear of the true God. “I know that the LORD has given you the land, and that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land have melted away before you.”
• In Israel’s own history, they were not content with God as their ruler. They wanted a king. Sadly, for them, it was an attempt to keep up with the nations around them (middle school popularity contests apparently have been going on for millennia…)
• Evangelism in the last few years has shifted; no longer in the right v wrong mindset as much as kingdoms v Kingdom. And people know there is spiritual reality we live in, whereas that wasn’t the predominant framework in western culture of the previous generations.
  • It used to be typical to use “orange jump suit” evangelism; people don’t care as much anymore what is right v wrong, but rather what is right and just is defined by which kingdom you belong to, who is king of your own world.
  • This is a defining reality shift and an incredibly helpful realization into how we share the truth of the Gospel with our neighbors! Pray that the Lord will allow you to share with the next person you are able about the Kingdom!

V. Luke 8:1 – He went about preaching the Kingdom (Luke 9:11 also says the same) – so what did He say about His own Kingdom?
A. He spoke in parables.

1. Then He said to His disciples (v10) “to you it’s been granted to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of God, but to the rest in parables…”
2. In His Kingdom, we must, in humility, search out what He has to say to His people.

B. He spoke of Himself and how He was the fulfillment of the whole of history and the whole of the law (Luke 24:25-35 – road to Emmaus). His Kingdom is about Him! Everything in history points to Him!

C. He spoke of positions in the Kingdom (two parables about the banquet of the King)

1. Luke 14:7-15 – sitting in a higher place gives way to demotion; better is to be humble
2. Luke 14:16-24 – right before this, someone in the crowd shouts out “blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God.” “But He said to him, ‘A man was giving a big dinner …”
3. In His Kingdom, we position our hearts in humility and allow Him to raise us up

D. He preached the Gospel of the Kingdom; the King left His throne to save unworthy peasants! And His Kingdom reigns forever! And all are invited to His banquet as beloved children if we submit to His Kingship!

1. Luke 16:16

VI. We’ve seen from a big overview the theme of the Kingdom, but let’s take a closer look at Luke 10, included in which is the commissioning of the 70. This perhaps most closely resembles us; we are followers of Jesus but not the intimate 12 who literally walked with Christ in the flesh. And what we see them commissioned to do, might be very closely associable with our commission. Luke writes his account of the Gospel to Theophilus (“lover of God”); very well can be written to us!
A. Luke 10 – (vv1-16)

1. While Christ rarely gives the x’s and o’s, the playbook, the full recipe of how to carry out His mission, here He does. There are a lot of specifics on how to carry out the mission at hand!
   • As you go out, pray the Lord would lead you in how to go out! That He would give tactics and a game plan! He is a good King and wants the best for His Kingdom!
   • 10:3 shows we go out as lambs in the midst of wolves, but 10:16 shows that we go out as lambs to be rejected or accepted based on the one true Lamb. We are united to Him, the Lamb slaughtered yet raised in power and it’s His image we bear. He is the beautiful King, humble as a Lamb, whom we serve and follow!
2. The 70 return (vv17-24) – have someone read these in the Church
   • Potentially these are very new believers who were brought into the Kingdom when the 12 were sent out (see word infants in Christ’s prayer of v21 referring likely to the 70) – how cool they are already out preaching the Kingdom!
     • And this is the call in how to enter the Kingdom – humbly as infants. The Kingdom of the humble and meek!
     • v17-19 – there is a lot here to dive into. And I am happy to do that anytime:) In fact, I had almost a half of a page of notes which I deleted last night (thank you Victoria) because it felt more like a text book defense of a position and did not really forward our worship the Lord has for us today. Rather, in brief, here’s a few thoughts.
       • Tread on serpents and scorpions – often a reference to evil, in a spiritual sense. And also in a physical sense we see this true of Paul on the island of Malta in Acts 28. The passage bespeaks complete victory for the follower over these enemies.
       • Interestingly, these same objects/rivals are found in the following chapter, Luke 11. Worth a read: Luke 11:11-13. And what is presented in the passage as the opposite of the scorpion and snake? The good gift of the Holy Spirit.
         • That’s a notable way to have victory in our spiritual life, too. Oh Lord, send us the good gift of the Holy Spirit that we may tread down the scorpion and snake!
       • BUT: a bigger question would be to take it all the way back to Genesis 3:15. Is this a fulfillment of the promise that He will strike the serpent and he will bruise our heal? Christ was bruised, yet not in a forever way. We, through uniting to Christ, strike down the serpent in forever victory, even if it includes bruising.
     • v21-22 – the Kingdom language is thick here! The Kingdom is handed over by the Father and then shared / revealed by the Son. And did anyone catch the language of the Trinity here? The Son, in the Spirit, rejoices in praise of the Father! Amen!!
     • v23-24 – blessed are the eyes which see! (recall, if you will, how we started praying into our time today, that we would have His eyes to see with His light!)
3. The Good Samaritan – volunteer to read Luke 10:30-37
   • The generic man, typical for Luke’s parables, takes a 17 mile journey, one city to the next. Easy peasy. Except this trip makes me think of Pacha. Remember the amicable peasant in the emperor’s new groove? He and the emperor-turned-donkey are going through the jungle and fall, attached to a log, into the river. If that’s not bad enough, all of the sudden, Pacha exclaims: “oh no.” Kuzko says: “don’t tell me, we’re about to go over a huge waterfall.” “Yup” “Sharp rocks at the bottom?” “Most likely.” “Bring it on.”
   • This passage way from Jerusalem to Jericho changed around 3,000ft of elevation, went through craggy twists in a mountain pass and was known for robbers hiding and pillaging.
   • The backdrop is simply to tell the story of the passersby. The passersby are the focus. And, reality is, so are we. Whatever the excuse, two religiously-positioned people pass by on the other side. Were they late for an important Bible study? Did they need to get to work so they could save money to donate to organizations that helped poor people? The two exemplars are, in Christ’s telling, of no accident as those who claimed a relationship with God. Both demonstrated they fell short in that they did not truly love the people God gave them to love.
     • Homeless in Chicago – squatter camp. I experienced this firsthand. I felt it.
       • One “comfort item” and no phones – sleeping bag, pillow, toothbrush, etc.
     • Driving through street corners in GR – how many times have you looked the other way and pretended not to read the sign which says “anything helps.”
   • On the other hand, this parable is about the One. It’s a parable to lead us to worship the One who did stop and bandage our wounds, the One who paid for our healing of His own account, the One who poured out oil and wine (Holy Spirit!!!), the One who carried us where we could not go on our own, the One who brought us to the inn for care, and the One who is coming back for us! The King stops on the side of the road for bruised people, even if of a different lineage! Let’s goooo! Amen! He is worthy!
4. In the closing thoughts from the chapter, Luke recounts a story of two sisters and two ways to approach Jesus. (pick someone to read Luke 10:38-42)
   • Perhaps it’s the same message as the previous parable. One sister was too busy going about the religiously/socially correct ways while the other simply sat at Jesus’ feet. Mary wouldn’t have made it to Bible study on time and certainly wouldn’t have made enough money to donate by simply sitting there. But she is praised. Why? (c.f. v42)
   • The point? Be the person to simply sit with the Lord! And don’t leave His presence until He’s ready.
     • Testimony of our last season in the basement: Exodus 33:11. “Don’t leave the tent too early”

VII. So this theology of the Kingdom is a beautiful theology to unpack; a bedrock foundational one, I believe. One that isn’t left to the books to write / think about, but one to the heart to live it out!

• “Now having been questioned by the Pharisees as to when the kingdom of God was coming, He answered them and said, “The Kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed; nor will they say, “Look, here it is!” or “There it is!” For behold, the Kingdom of God is in your midst.” Luke 17:20-21
  • Himself
  • The Spirit indwelling
  • The Church
• He goes on to talk about the second coming; it is an outworking of the Kingdom already having come. We don’t have to look forward to a day in the future as if it’s not already here. We live in the reality of the Kingdom! Surely, there is a greater fulfillment when all sin is eradicated and we see the throne room of God with the angels ministering and where we sing around the clock. But we have the Kingdom here!
• He entered Jerusalem as the King (Luke 19:28-48 – the triumphal entry) and has initiated its reign all over the globe wherever His servants surrender to Him and bring His Kingdom come and His will be done.
• Lord, teach us of and send us Your Kingdom come and Your will be done on earth as in heaven!

VIII. We close, but as with every time we look into the Word, we don’t just want intellectual stimulation. We want to be holy, we want obedience! Love (not a burden) → obedience → freedom! So what’s our commission from the commanding officer?!

• Firstly, that’s a question for yourself. Ask the Spirit to convict you and lead you in obedience to what you’ve read today. Take time now (and time on the way home! And tomorrow!) to resurface that prayer.
• We also know it is for evangelism; go preach the Kingdom!
  • Luke 8 – parable of the sower. What is the big message to the sower, to you and me? SOW EVERYWHERE!! You are not called to try and figure out which soil each heart is. Rather, you sow even if it lands on rocky soil or short soil, or …
• C. Have a Kingdom eternal mindset in everything, everywhere you go: the way you spend money (does each dollar you spend advance the Kingdom of God or another kingdom), the way you use your time (each minute in front of a screen or observing in the mirror or looking at the stock market), the way you talk to your neighbors/coworkers, and how you go through the morning at your work.
  • Seek ye first the Kingdom! (Matthew 6:33; Luke 12:31)
  • I would love to be described, as was Joseph of Arimathea, as a man “who was waiting for the Kingdom of God.” (Luke 23:51). May that be the posture of my seeking and my heart! How cool if the one way someone could describe Ben Cole is that he was a man of the Kingdom of God! I want to anticipate and begin to see all the ways the King is already acting and moving; because He is and it’s special to see!
• D. But there’s a better bottom line, even beyond all that. I am not advocating for not going out preaching the Kingdom or for spending loosely, but Christ Himself says that’s not the most important thing about the Kingdom mindset. Again, that’s not a call for complacency, or an excuse to keep it to yourself. In fact, this bottom line given by Jesus Himself comes in the context of the larger group of Jesus’ followers going out to cast out demons and preach the Kingdom, so that certainly is part of what we should do. BUT, after going out, the disciples return rejoicing with the power/authority given them from the Lord. And yet Jesus gives this bottom line: “nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven.”
  • Luke 10:17-28
  • If indeed you are never harmed and have great victory, rejoice your name is in glory.
  • If indeed you make disciples who make disciples and baptize a million people, rejoice your name is in heaven.
  • If indeed you obliterate all human trafficking in the world, rejoice your name is in the book of life.
  • If indeed you raise a house full of Jesus loving kids, rejoice your name is etched in His book of life.
  • If you see your prayers answered for your coworker and your niece, rejoice your name is in heaven!
  • If you write the best commentary on the Bible, rejoice rather that your name is recorded in heaven!
• E. Christ’s bottom line for His followers, the bedrock of the Kingdom mindset, is to rejoice in that simple truth: we are inheritors of the Kingdom. Our names are on the roll call of the King of glory to enter His banquet hall in a most-wonderful Kingdom. All praise to the most wonderful King!
• The Kingdom in the Gospel of Luke
  • Luke 3:23-38
  • Luke 4:5
  • Luke 4:42-43
  • Luke 6:20
  • Luke 7:25-28
  • Luke 8:1-15
  • Luke 9:1-6,10-11 (see Luke 10 for a sister passage and call; notice the differences and similarities)
  • Luke 9:27
  • Luke 9:57-62
  • Luke 10:1-20
  • Luke 11:2
  • Luke 11:17-20
  • Luke 12:13-34 (vv31-34 give the crux of message)
  • Luke 13:18-21
  • Luke 13:22-30
  • Luke 14:15-24
  • Luke 16:13-17
  • Luke 17:20-21
  • Luke 18:15-17
  • Luke 18:29-30
  • Luke 19:11-27
  • Luke 19:37-38
  • Luke 21:10
  • Luke 21:31-32
  • Luke 22:14-20
  • Luke 22:24-30
  • Luke 23:1-3
  • Luke 23:37-42
  • Luke 23:51

Luke Audio Transcription (Generated by MS Slack)

0:01: You were good buddy.
0:05: I also want to start with prayer.
0:08: I’m gonna read Luke 1133 to 36.
0:14: And that will frame the prayer.
0:16: No one after lighting a lamp puts it away in a cellar nor under a basket, but on the lamp stand so that those who enter may see the light, the eye is the lamp of your body.
0:27: When your eye is clear, your whole body also is full of light.
0:30: But when it is bad, your body also is full of darkness, then watch out that the light in you is not darkness.
0:40: If therefore your whole body is full of light with no dark part in it, it will be wholly illuminated as when the lamp illuminates you with the trays.
0:49: So again, back to the prayer chart for you guys pray that we would watch out for what we thought was light in us that maybe we thought we knew the right answers or we know what this is about or that’s about.
1:06: But Paul, we see him checking his gospel.
1:09: We see even today, Brian mentioned, we’re checking ourselves with each other.
1:14: Let’s check each other with the word.
1:16: And with each other that what we thought was, light wasn’t actually darkness.
1:22: How dangerous would that be if what we thought was, light was actually darkness and how far we’d be?
1:30: So, I’ll give you guys a minute to pray that the Lord would make sure his light pierces it.
1:42: You know, you heard that one of the ways that we see the ability to avoid slipping in the darkness when we thought it was actually light is verse 33 that you put the lamp on the lamp stand.
2:16: So similarly to first Timothy, Brian brought us to Timothy, first Timothy last time.
2:22: , you’re gonna share with everybody.
2:25: So your progress may be evident to all.
2:27: That’s first Timothy 415.
2:29: But here I think the call is the same, put your lamp on the lamp stand so that it can be evident to all.
2:35: And that’s a pretty good way to make sure that your lamp isn’t going out or you, what you think is actually light isn’t actually light is if your lamp is ready for all to see and the Spencer can be like, bro, you’re getting pretty dim over here.
2:50: Let’s just light that up.
2:51: And then, you know, you get the whites brothers talking to each other and they’re talking to their school friends and they’re like, yo, let’s light this up, you know.
3:01: So putting that lamp on the lamp stand is pretty important.
3:07: So, yeah, really?
3:08: No, one after lighting the fire of Christ is my own sort of interpretation of that verse.
3:12: No one after lighting the fire of Christ goes away and hides it.
3:15: Keep the fire burning and shining to light the way for yourself and for others.
3:21: So that’s in some ways just a heart check before we get into the book.
3:25: But to actually frame our time together, we’re going to use a statement from Christ himself.
3:31: Probably a pretty smart idea.
3:33: He gave the purpose of the book and the purpose of his human existence.
3:38: If you believe his words here, In one statement, does anybody remember how to finish this or interject?
3:45: When he said blank, blank, blank, it was for this purpose.
3:48: I came into the world.
3:52: He gave one statement.
3:53: And if you think the God man made a statement that says, this is why I came to earth decently important to understand, right?
4:04: So this verse itself got me going on this whole concept.
4:10: His answer was like, wait a second, I barely even think about this.
4:15: And this is the singular thing he says is his purpose for coming to the earth gasses from the peanut gallery.
4:22: Anybody he was a sword, say that again.
4:25: He came as a sword.
4:28: Yes, he is the word, the sword.
4:32: That’s good.
4:33: That wasn’t the right answer that I’ve got.
4:37: You came to, I came to bring a sword.
4:40: Yep.
4:41: He also said I came humbly as a lamb.
4:43: But that’s a great point.
4:48: And about Jacob preach the kingdom, I came to preach the kingdom.
4:55: That’s a great good answer.
4:56: I must preach the kingdom to the other cities.
5:00: Also for this purpose.
5:01: I was sent, people are saying, hey, come on, stick around, stick around.
5:04: We want, you don’t, don’t leave.
5:06: He was about to leave and he’s like, no, I actually have to leave.
5:09: I must preach the kingdom to the other cities.
5:11: Also for this purpose.
5:12: I was sent.
5:14: So for Christ to say the reason I’m here is to preach the kingdom, you think pretty important.
5:20: And we’re gonna see that isn’t just his purpose, but that’s the commission he gives to his disciples as well to the 12 when he sends them out to the 70 when he sends them out is go preach the kingdom.
5:33: So there is some matter of importance, not only for Christ but also for his followers.
5:42: So what does he mean?
5:44: Why does he do that?
5:45: His preaching was with words to be sure as ours should be.
5:50: But the proclamation of the kingdom was also a gospel call he lived into and in first Peter, he goes to the grave and preaches in the grave if you will and declares his power over it.
6:08: And that is also the proclamation of the kingdom.
6:10: Hey, I’m the king.
6:11: I’m the reigning king, I’m living over death.
6:13: So he preaches that the spirits now in prison and he declares his power over them that is also preaching of the gospel in some ways on earth.
6:20: They didn’t even hear his words, but they saw that preaching through his life.
6:24: So to us as well, our preaching is with words and our preaching is with our life that we are kingdom people.
6:30: So Christ Luke in the spirit then proceeds to make the Kingdom a central theme throughout the book.
6:37: And if we have the eyes to see it, we’re going to see in Luke 316, it’s the initiation of his new kingdom.
6:45: That baptism.
6:46: Hey, I’m gonna start this thing.
6:47: The initiation, the spirit comes down in the form of a dove.
6:53: The king is coronated.
6:55: It’s the coronation of the king and then the description of the king’s lineage, we see that also in Luke three.
7:00: So pick up.
7:06: So the king himself enters in chapter 19, I think as the triumphal entry, we know that but in a way, his first steps into the world also in the ministry at least are recognized by this, that he’s the king with its own form of chlorination and procedure.
7:26: So in, in short, in essence, a kingdom is anywhere the king has reign, a kingdom needs a king and a king needs a kingdom, right?
7:36: And it’s true anywhere that the that he has full, complete perfect surrender, his kingdom will become and his will will be done in our lives when we surrender it all.
7:46: And ultimately, why?
7:47: Because he’s worthy of our surrender, which is nice for us because he’s a good king and he wants the best for us.
7:55: So when we surrendered to him, we are the benefactors.
8:01: So that initiation for me was starting this concept of Kingdoms and kings.
8:07: And what does it look like?
8:11: Then what does the kingdom look like?
8:14: And what does Christ himself teach?
8:16: So some might say it’s kind of an upside down concept, an upside down kingdom.
8:21: I would rather contend it’s the most right side up.
8:25: Some would say it’s backwards.
8:26: I would say it’s as straight as it can be.
8:28: And we’re the ones that are backwards.
8:29: Really?
8:30: Right?
8:31: So framing it this way, it’s really the kingdom of a homeless man.
8:37: Nine, the kingdom of the ostracized Luke six and the Kingdom of Babies and Children.
8:44: Luke 18, that’s our king and that’s the kingdom that we’re in.
8:56: He was the king.
8:57: Yet he humbled himself to become obedient and the way he orients his kingdom, the self exalt will be humbled and the humble will be exalted by the king himself.
9:07: So what does this kingdom look like?
9:09: We see that in Luke, we’re gonna talk through it.
9:10: But also the other scriptures, Matthew 13 gives parables of the kingdom.
9:15: The kingdom.
9:15: Anybody know one of those like to say, the Kingdom of Heaven is like somebody tell me one king of having like a treasure in the field which a man sold everything he hadn’t bought.
9:26: It’s worth everything.
9:27: Yeah.
9:28: Love it.
9:31: Somebody else like a mustard seed man planted those small seed.
9:39: Massive.
9:39: And it gives birds a place to land.
9:43: Small, yet powerful.
9:44: Potent.
9:45: Yes.
9:46: The kingdom of heaven.
9:49: Another one, like, it’s like leaven which a woman hid in three pecks of flour and it leavens the whole thing.
9:56: We’re gonna go in there and we’ll get, yeah.
9:58: And again, it’s, it’s, it touches every part even just a little bit.
10:03: We’ll see the pizza dough and the kitchen right now.
10:06: We’re gonna go, it’s gonna, it’s gonna be like this.
10:08: Lord willing.
10:09: At least it’s doing its thing there.
10:13: And then any, any lucky benefactors can punch it down with me.
10:16: It’s fun for the kids.
10:19: Some volunteers for sure.
10:22: So anywhere else, where else do we see?
10:24: The Kingdom?
10:25: Revelation?
10:26: 21 to 22?
10:26: Beautiful.
10:28: I love it.
10:29: I love it so much.
10:29: I name my kid after it.
10:30: Actually, there’s a river that flows from the throne of God.
10:34: The the visions of the Kingdom are beautiful.
10:37: So from the very beginning of scripture, at the very beginning of time, we see that the Kingdom isn’t just something Jesus said, but everybody, it was their lens through which they saw the world, they called him, the king of kings, they called him Lord of Lord God of Gods, right?
10:52: But other nations had deities.
10:54: There was Dagon Moloch Balaam.
10:59: Bale ball.
11:00: However you say that.
11:04: and rehab, I love this one.
11:06: Rehab.
11:07: And Joshua chapter two spies go in and she knows they’re from the camp of Israel.
11:14: And what did she say about them?
11:16: It was her slash her people’s understanding and knowledge that it was God, the Lord Yahweh behind the people of Israel’s success.
11:25: They all knew that the kingdom was coming and there was a king and this elicited fear in their hearts of the one true God.
11:33: And she uses the word Yahweh, the L O R D all caps.
11:36: You’ve seen that in your Bible.
11:37: That just means like the, the formal real way to say God’s name in the Jewish way language anyway.
11:43: And she knows, she says, I know that the Lord Yahweh has given you the land and that the terror of you has fallen on us and all the inhabitants of the land have melted away before you.
11:55: So this is rehab preaching God’s truth, right?
11:59: She’s declaring the king is coming and there’s a kingdom and we know you guys are big and powerful in doing your thing.
12:08: She’s also spared from the judgment by having Scarlett cover also truth of the gospel there.
12:16: And then in Israel’s own history, they didn’t have a king and then they did have a king.
12:20: Why did they have a king?
12:21: Because they weren’t content to not have a king on earth.
12:25: They didn’t recognize that the king of kings they weren’t able to say.
12:28: Yup, he’s there because they wanted a king.
12:31: And sadly, for Samuel Wright, they get a king and he’s a dingbat and not that great.
12:38: So that’s all old Testament stuff.
12:40: Bring it to today and evangelism in our culture.
12:44: When I talk to people, I can see, they also see the world through a lens of kingdom when I was a, a kid growing up and going to the Trevor City mall or whatever, going into the peta’s little small town streets, sharing in my high school areas, whatever.
13:00: I, I look back and I call it the orange jumpsuit, theology or philosophy or whatever that was how I would share my evangelism was because there’s right and there’s wrong and have you committed any of these sins?
13:14: And if you have, what would you say if the the Holy God said before you, why should I let you into my Kingdom type thing?
13:20: Right?
13:21: And, and then you go to the list of have you 10 commandments?
13:24: Have you broke, broke, broke, broke, broke and they’re like, yeah, so you’re a sinner.
13:26: If you want committed one sin, you’ve committed a sin to all that means you’re guilty.
13:30: The book of James says you’re guilty of all of them.
13:32: You deserve to go.
13:33: It’s a punishment.
13:34: Orange jumpsuit, you go, you’re guilty, right?
13:38: But good news is there’s a savior and he took your punishment for you.
13:42: So you don’t have to wear the orange jumpsuit.
13:44: You get to wear a white robe.
13:45: Look at that.
13:46: Hey, man, let’s go.
13:47: That’s cool.
13:48: But it doesn’t land the same way it used to.
13:51: Now, people don’t really, they’re not as concerned with like right wrong.
13:55: Am I, what’s justice based on the legal code?
14:00: They’re concerned about kings and Kingdoms and who is the kingdom in charge and who is the king?
14:06: And then what is their reign?
14:08: and what are their rules?
14:09: And really, it’s, it’s not as much about right and wrong, but rather what is right and what is just as defined by the kingdom you belong to and who is king of your own world.
14:23: So this defining reality shift has happened and people in the Western culture haven’t typically been those to be aware of the spiritual realm.
14:32: We are now we see it, it’s so oppressive, so dark.
14:35: So there and people applaud it in its own way.
14:45: It’s pervaded all these, all these aspects and the devil doesn’t even have to hide anymore.
14:50: He’s like just straight for it because we’re able to accept and say that’s cool.
14:54: I like that.
14:55: I’m in around with that.
14:57: We pray.
15:00: Oh Allah is the only word I can count.
15:01: What’s my, what’s the word heaven forbid that we would ever do that.
15:05: But in our culture at large, that’s what we see.
15:08: They’re aware of the spiritual realm.
15:10: People are in so much more reality.
15:11: Aware of it.
15:12: And so evangelism itself does it, I mean, maybe I, I talked to somebody who was probably 50 the other day.
15:21: And I had a logical cogent conversation with him.
15:24: Ba ba, ba, ba ba.
15:26: But generally when I’m talking, especially youth, when I’m sharing the gospel with them, it’s in terms of kings and kingdoms, there’s a good king and he created the world and it’s a beautiful kingdom and he’s so worthy of everything.
15:38: But you look around you.
15:39: This isn’t it right?
15:40: Because we have all ran away and what’s the word mutiny?
15:45: We’ve not done what the king said because we want to be our own kings and queens and everybody wants to be the king and queen of their own world.
15:51: But what do kings do against other kings?
15:54: They fight?
15:54: So that’s what you see today, we see kings fighting other kings like our little kingdoms in my world and my, my domain and my kingdom might be my finances, my family, my man cave that mean by my kingdom and your kingdom.
16:06: But everybody’s got their kingdom and that those are the people, those are my tribe, right?
16:10: That’s who I’m with.
16:12: And so we are so far from the good king who was that good kingdom and he’s a good king.
16:17: He’s not just going to let evil, wicked people run amok in his kingdom.
16:21: That would not be a good king, right?
16:23: He’s got an order and so to get into his kingdom, you don’t just run and do whatever you want.
16:30: He’s got a set order.
16:32: Why?
16:33: Because he’s a good king and he wants the best for his people.
16:35: And so this king up here on high is so far above us.
16:39: Now, he’s actually perfect.
16:40: He’s holy.
16:41: He’s the one and only, he’s God.
16:42: He’s holy.
16:43: He’s way above us.
16:44: We can’t get back up to that kingdom.
16:46: There’s no way we can enter the gate anymore.
16:47: We can’t even get to the gate.
16:48: There’s no way that this gap between God and man could exist anymore that we could ever bridge.
16:52: The only way we could get there is if someone was both God and man and bridge that gap, good news.
17:01: There’s someone right?
17:02: So there, there’s your gospel.
17:03: I just preach the gospel that now I’m saying to the people and they’re getting it.
17:06: Why?
17:07: Because they get this King and Kingdom like dark world, oppressive spirit world that they understand that and to have the one sh king that’s light, that’s above it all.
17:17: And like the vision to go toward, that’s a beautiful reality people want, you know, and all those people are forcing their way into it.
17:26: I don’t remember exactly that quote.
17:27: But like the Kingdom of Luke or like John, I think it was about John and he, he was preaching but the gospel of John is now preaching that he, everybody’s forcing their way into it.
17:37: Like I feel like that’s what it is now.
17:39: Like people want that gospel to be preached.
17:42: So as you share with your neighbor, your coworker, your niece and nephew, prayerfully do it that way.
17:51: Pray if the Lord would have you do it that way and even just test the waters and ask them if they know or like share kind of something like I did there.
18:00: I remember you can ask Tyler or Brian for a little drawing because they’re super artistic.
18:05: But we could have, we did this little whiteboard classic Brian move.
18:12: It was in Tyler’s 16th Street House here and we drew out the, what I kind of told you there.
18:17: The King’s King of Darkness, boom, boom.
18:19: That was helpful for me.
18:20: It still sticks with me.
18:22: So show and tell later with Tyler, he’ll draw it for you.
18:27: And that’ll help your gospel proclamation, I think shifting that from me just to kind of see it as it’s transforming is important.
18:41: In some ways, it’s a good thing to realise the spiritual realm.
18:46: Some of you may have read, was it into the darkness or piercing is darkness or whatever that book was like the pastor who’s like seeing all the spiritual.
18:53: I read that in high school college that’s just totally foreign to the way I grew up.
18:58: But now that’s the way people are starting to see things So when Jesus says, preach the kingdom, we’re going to see a little bit of this too.
19:08: But he went about preaching the kingdom.
19:09: What did he say?
19:10: Luke 81.
19:12: He says he preached the Kingdom.
19:13: Luke 911, same thing says he preached the kingdom.
19:16: So what does he say about the kingdom?
19:19: Because if that’s what he said, I wanna kinda say what he said because then I’m not saying what I say and his words don’t return void.
19:26: Yours do and mine do.
19:28: If you’re a parent, you’re aware of that.
19:30: Sometimes if you’re a teacher, if and some of the, some of the times it’s pretty obvious that your words were torn, pretty void.
19:38: It don’t just know that again.
19:43: Yeah, that he spoke in parables.
19:52: What did he say?
19:53: What did he preach?
19:54: He spoke in parables.
19:54: Why?
19:56: Luke 810?
19:57: Anybody even close to that and want to read it.
20:00: Bonus points for the person who does.
20:03: I used to have like when I would speak or preach to kids, I’d have a bag of candy and I would just huck it as fast as I could at the person’s face if they got it right.
20:10: I don’t have, I don’t have Snickers here for you but pretend I’m throwing a Snickers bar at your face.
20:17: Luke 810, I think.
20:20: Bam.
20:21: There you go.
20:23: I don’t need it.
20:25: Sorry, it went back.
20:30: He said to you it has been given to Children.
20:33: Kingdom of God, but for others, they are imparables so that seeing they may not see and hearing they may not understand.
20:42: So he spoke in parables, which to us seems ridiculous.
20:47: Bad dumb, right?
20:50: Like you want people to know what you’re saying.
20:53: You don’t want them to not know that seems pretty crazy.
20:57: But in his kingdom, we must in humility, search out what he has to say to his people.
21:04: Bespoken parables.
21:07: I think that’s part of it.
21:09: And then those who were pressing in those that he chose to know more he revealed the explanation of.
21:16: But I also think parables in some ways are the ones that stick more when you do know them.
21:22: I don’t remember all of his words, but I can remember what the vine in the branches is like I can remember what mustard seeds are.
21:29: You guys remember that, right?
21:29: You remember the field, the treasure in the field.
21:31: You remember the mustard seed, whoever said that one?
21:34: You remember the flower, the bank, we didn’t get there, but we’ll get there.
21:40: Why?
21:40: Because they’re memorable.
21:41: I love it.
21:42: So apparently he knew what he was doing because I remember them really well.
21:46: And now that I’m thankful that I’m one of those that he’s let understand the parables.
21:51: I get the word I get to read it.
21:54: And we know in the Bible, not everybody got that.
21:57: Like people back in the day longed for that anyway, he spoke in parables, praise God that we can know them.
22:03: He spoke of himself and how he was the fulfillment of all of scripture and all of history.
22:08: You guys remember Luke where that was or the end of Luke.
22:13: He described to them and explained to them from Moses who he was.
22:21: Where was that?
22:24: Yes.
22:24: Who was?
22:25: It was the the road to road to Emmaus.
22:30: You guys know that right?
22:31: The Kingdom is about him and everything in history points to him because we’re talking about preaching the Kingdom.
22:37: What did he do?
22:38: He preached in parables, he preached of himself through all of scripture.
22:44: He spoke of positions in the Kingdom.
22:46: There’s two parables in Luke 14, they’re about the banquet.
22:49: My wife just, I think that’s what she said banquet.
22:52: There is he speaks of this banquet and in the banquet, somebody would sat themselves in a pretty honorable position.
23:05: Spencer goes in and sits in seat number one.
23:08: And then the king says like, oh, actually, that was seat for, was for Russell.
23:12: You need to go to seat number 10 and then in front of everybody, Spencer had to go back down to number 10.
23:18: Point in the parable is like sit in seat 10 and then in front of everybody, I can bring you up to seat number one.
23:25: Jesus is saying in the Kingdom, it’s not the first, last, last, first thing.
23:30: It’s not this like you get to be first.
23:32: It is first, last thing it’s like, let him define them.
23:35: The king decides not you.
23:37: There’s this humility.
23:38: So in the kingdom, there’s a posture of humility.
23:40: He goes on and says,, in some ways, a similar thing on another banquet.
23:47: In the same chapter, he talks about a different banquet and,, they are, there are people that were invited but they can’t come.
23:58: So he says, go everywhere and find anybody.
24:00: And then they did that and then, then they weren’t, it still wasn’t a full banquet hall.
24:04: And he says, go into the, the street corners, go into like the, the, the halls and the byways under the, the, the ducks and find them all and bring them in because I don’t want an empty spot and anybody who I invited first isn’t gonna even come.
24:17: They have no way of tasting my bankrupt.
24:20: So here’s an example of the Kingdom of God is a kingdom of the ostracized, the homeless under the park bench, kind of a kingdom.
24:31: Again, there’s a humility aspect there to say, wow, I, if we are those in the kingdom, he just described us as those who are living under the aqueducts and living behind the trees, behind the trash cans.
24:47: Like that’s like the, the behind the, behind the trash cans because the first time they went out and they went behind the trash cans and under the water, ducks and all that and then you know, like, he’s like, go back out there and like go like between the go in the trash cans, dude, just go in there, find them wherever they are because you didn’t find him the first time.
25:03: There’s more somewhere.
25:04: So we’re probably those who are not even behind the trash can.
25:08: We’re probably in the trash can.
25:09: Like, and he pulled us out and brings us to the B hall and you know what?
25:12: He gives us white robes to go in.
25:16: So we get to wear the white robes he gave us all right.
25:18: So he preached the gospel of the kingdom and the king, good news friends.
25:23: The king left his throne to save unworthy peasants and his kingdom reigns forever.
25:31: And all are invited to his banquet as beloved Children.
25:34: If we submit to his kingship, as for you and me, it’s for her and for him.
25:45: If we submit to his kingship, we get to be invited to the banquet we’ve seen from a big overview of the kingdom.
25:58: But let’s take a closer look at Luke 10, closer look at Luke 10.
26:03: Yikes.
26:05: The loop, the loop 10 included in which is the commissioning of the 70.
26:09: I like this chapter.
26:10: I like this aspect because it perhaps most closely resembles us.
26:15: We are followers of Jesus, but we’re not the intimate 12 that walked with him daily, but we’re still the followers that kind of fly in that shirt tails.
26:26: And we know him because of them in some ways.
26:29: So what we see the 70 commission to do might be the most closely ass sociable with what our commission is.
26:36: Luke writes his account two of the gospel of Luke to Theophilus in chapter one, verse 1 to 4 where it says Luke writing, I’m, I’m searching out all these matters and I’m writing it to Theophilus.
26:52: What is Theophilus?
26:53: Two words?
26:55: Theo Theo God.
26:57: Philo Philo love, brotherly love.
27:01: So to the lover of God, he’s writing the book to the lover of God could have been a real person.
27:06: I generally think Theophilus is to us.
27:09: Theophilus is you and me.
27:10: The lover of God.
27:11: Those who are searching God, those who want more of Him.
27:14: Theophilus is to me.
27:18: So this is in some ways, a really close parallel for that to be happening.
27:25: Luke 10.
27:26: Wow.
27:27: Oh Yeah.
27:27: Ok.
27:28: Cool.
27:30: Does anybody want to volunteer?
27:31: If not, I’m going to select somebody to read one through 16.
27:38: Well, thank you Gina.
27:40: After this, the Lord Aps in 70 send the monitor two by two into every town and place where he himself was about to go.
27:51: And he said to them, the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few.
27:58: Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.
28:05: Go your way.
28:07: Behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves carry no money bag, no knapsack, no sandals and greet no one on the road, whatever house you enter first six house and if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him.
28:26: But if not, it will return to you and remain in the same house, eating and drinking.
28:32: What they provide for the laborer deserves his room.
28:38: 16.
28:40: Do not go from house to house.
28:43: Whenever you enter a town in the view, eat what is set before you heal the sick in it and say to them, the kingdom of God has come near to you.
28:54: But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say even the dust of your tongue that clings to our feet, we wipe off against you nevertheless know this, that the Kingdom of God has come near.
29:10: I tell you that it will be more, more bearable on that day for Sada than for that town woe to you, tossing woe to you that Cyon for if the mighty works done in, you had been done in tire and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sat cloth and ashes.
29:29: But it will be more bearable in the judgment for tire and Sidon than for you and you Capernaum will you be exalted to heaven.
29:37: You shall be brought down.
29:40: The one who hears you hears me and the one who rejects you rejects me and the one who rejects me rejects him.
29:49: Who sent?
29:53: Thank you.
29:54: And she has a baby.
29:56: Hm, Brian, sing your praises in the gate.
30:00: Why don’t you?
30:04: While Christ rarely gives us X s and Os doesn’t always give us the playbook or the full recipe.
30:10: I think here he does.
30:11: He, he gives a heck of a lot of information and specifics to carry out the mission at hand.
30:18: As you guys go out pray that the Lord would lead you in how to go out that he would give you tactics and he’d give you a game plan.
30:25: Why?
30:26: Because he’s a good king and he wants the best for his kingdom.
30:30: Pray that he would do that.
30:34: There are aspects of wisdom to be gained from this passage too.
30:39: As you’re going out going two by two, sometimes full abandon, just run, go for it, seek that out.
30:49: Let the Lord lead you in that.
30:51: But yeah, ask him that he lead you in specifics because he does that.
30:55: Luke chapter 10 verse three shows that we go out as lambs in the midst of wolves.
31:02: But chapter 10 verse 16 shows that we go as lambs to be rejected or accepted based on the one true lamb.
31:12: We are united to him, the lamb who is slaughtered yet raised in power and it’s his image that we bear.
31:19: He is the beautiful king, humble as a lamb whom we serve and follow.
31:24: So yes, you’re going out as lambs.
31:28: But you’re under the one lamb who was slaughtered and if they slaughter you as lambs for his cause, what does Roman Six say?
31:40: I’m baptized into death.
31:42: Death like his.
31:43: I will also share in a resurrection like his.
31:46: So you’re going out as lambs.
31:48: But good news.
31:48: He’s the lamb of God that came to take away the sin of the world, the lamb and the lamb, the 70 return verse 17 to 24.
32:04: Let’s stick in the family.
32:06: Does anybody in the whole of the family want to read a couple of verses?
32:10: Oh, ok.
32:12: You lost guys.
32:14: That’s OK.
32:15: No worries, Brian.
32:16: The 72 returned with joy and said, Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.
32:25: He replied, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.
32:29: I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy.
32:34: Nothing will harm you.
32:36: However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you or rejoice that your names are written in heaven.
32:42: Where am I going to?
32:43: 24 at that time, Jesus full of joy through the Holy Spirit said, I praise you father, Lord of heaven and earth because you have hidden these things for the wise and learned and revealed them to little Children.
32:55: Yes, father for this was your good pleasure.
32:58: All things have been committed to me by my father.
33:01: No one knows who the son is except the father and no one knows who the father is except the son and those to whom the son chooses to reveal him.
33:10: Then he turned to his disciples and said, privately bless are the eyes and see what you see for.
33:15: I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see but did not see it and to hear what you hear but did not hear.
33:24: So the 70 returned, potentially, probably likely.
33:28: I think these are very new believers who were brought into the kingdom.
33:33: When 12 were sent out.
33:34: In chapter nine, Christ refers to them as infants.
33:39: In verse 21 you’ve hidden it from the wise and reveal it to infants.
33:45: So how cool is it to think that these were people brought into the kingdom one chapter ago and here they are out preaching again.
33:53: Their proclamation to the kingdom isn’t because they know everything.
33:57: In fact, they’re just excited to be in the kingdom, you know, and this is how we enter the kingdom.
34:04: Humble as infants.
34:06: The kingdom of the humble and and of the me 17 through 19 gets into some, some meaty things.
34:17: I guess the demons are subject to us.
34:20: I saw Satan fall like lightning.
34:22: I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy and nothing will injure you.
34:28: And I’m happy to get into all that last night.
34:33: I deleted about half a page of notes.
34:35: Thank you, Victoria that I had on this.
34:37: It just felt more like a, like a theology defense paper that I was giving to my doctoral thesis or something.
34:46: Really?
34:48: It’s great.
34:48: I’d love to get into it.
34:49: But for the purposes of today, our mission at hand, I don’t need to get into that.
34:54: Happy to talk about it later.
34:56: Rather in brief, here’s a few thoughts treading on serpents and scorpions often this is a reference to evil.
35:04: So it’s a spiritual thing in a spiritual sense.
35:06: Treading on scorpions, serpents.
35:09: But also we see it in the physical sense.
35:12: Max 28 Paul on the island of Malta, he gets bit by a scorpion and they are like, oh, you must be a, a wicked guy because you got bit by a serpent and he goes, serpent falls in the fire and they’re like, oh, you must be God, that serpent did nothing to you so fickle.
35:30: But the passage bespeaks complete victory over the enemies.
35:35: And interestingly, these same objects slash rivals are in the following chapter in Luke 11, Stacy 1111 to 13, right?
35:53: What father among you?
35:54: If his son asks for a fish, we’ll give him a snake.
35:57: He said, if you ask for it, you then who are evil?
36:02: Know how to give good gifts to our coverage.
36:06: Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask so that the same arch nemesis evil enemies are presented here, the snake and the scorpion.
36:18: But what is the anecdote?
36:19: What is the power over?
36:21: What is the, the good gift given that tramples on the scorpion and the snake, the Holy Spirit friends?
36:31: That is a notable way to have victory in your spiritual life.
36:35: Ask for the good gift of the Holy Spirit.
36:39: Oh Lord, please send us the gift of the spirit that we may tread down the scorpion and the snake, right?
36:48: A bigger question might be to go back all the way on again on this scorpion serpent thing to Genesis 315.
36:57: What’s there?
37:01: Yeah.
37:01: What do, what do we see in Genesis?
37:02: Three?
37:04: That’s, yes, yes.
37:09: Yes.
37:09: You guys are probably all thinking about it.
37:11: That’s where the fall happens.
37:14: Thought they’re gonna put hostility between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring.
37:19: You will strike your head and you will strike his, you’re not in Genesis, but he’s like this stick into his Bible.
37:28: It’s a prophet.
37:29: It’s like a, I, I just, I love it.
37:33: I was like, that’s awesome.
37:36: Hello?
37:37: Hi.
37:39: That’s it.
37:39: That’s all right.
37:40: So you’re gonna strike the, the serpent.
37:43: Sorry guys.
37:44: It’s about the dog.
37:47: Hey, go on.
37:54: I know.
37:55: Can you come, please?
37:56: Can you come?
38:02: So, is this here then the fulfillment Christ saying you guys aren’t gonna be defeat by the serpent.
38:08: The scorpions.
38:09: Is that a fulfillment of the promise that he would strike the serpent?
38:13: But the serpent would bruise our heel.
38:14: Christ was bruised yet not in a forever way.
38:19: We through uniting to Christ, strike the serpent down in a forever victory even if it includes bruising.
38:27: I think that’s kind of both and part here.
38:30: OK.
38:30: Verse 21 and 22.
38:34: The kingdom language is very thick here.
38:38: The kingdom, you know, the king is handed down to the sun.
38:43: The father shared it with his son and revealed it by the Sun.
38:47: Did, did anyone also catch the language of the Trinity there at that very time?
38:52: He Christ rejoiced greatly in the spirit and said, I praise you father.
38:58: Hold on, Ben.
38:59: We’re in Luke 10.
39:00: So you’re in Luke 11.
39:01: So there’s, you’re in Luke 10 back to 10.
39:04: Thank you 21 to 22.
39:06: OK.
39:07: Sorry, go on just so we’re all at that very time.
39:12: He rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit and said, I praise you father.
39:17: So the father, the king is handing down to the prince, his son, the kingdom.
39:23: It’s again that, that mindset of the kingdom, the son and the spirit rejoices in the praise of the father.
39:31: Amen.
39:31: We get to see that and all things were handed over to him.
39:35: Verse 22 like that king and kingdom aspect 2324 blessed the eyes which see, that’s what we prayed at the beginning that we would have the eyes to see that the light in us wouldn’t be darkness so blessed out of those eyes.
39:50: Ok.
39:50: We’re marching through chapter 10 here still 30 to 37.
39:58: Anybody from the West Side I wanna read.
40:03: Can you give it a go?
40:05: 2 37 30 to 37.
40:08: Jesus replied, a man, do you want me to get to 29 2 or?
40:12: Sure.
40:13: Ok.
40:14: But he desired to justify himself.
40:15: Said to Jesus and who was my neighbor?
40:17: Jesus replied, a man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and he fell among robbers, Therien and beat him and departed.
40:24: Leaving him half said now by chance, a priest was going down that road.
40:29: And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.
40:32: So likewise a Levite when he came to the place and saw him pass by on the other side.
40:38: But a Samaritan as he journeyed, came to where he was.
40:42: And when he saw him, he had compassion, he went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine.
40:51: Then he set him on his own and brought him to an inn and took care of him.
40:56: The next day, he took out two and gave them to the innkeeper saying, take care of them.
41:03: And I will, when I come back, which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?
41:13: He said, he said, the one who showed him mercy and said to him, you go and do it.
41:21: Yes, they’re good.
41:22: Samaritan.
41:23: Right.
41:24: The generic man typical for Luke’s Parables takes a 17 mile journey one city to the next easy peasy.
41:29: Right?
41:31: Except this trip makes me think of Pacha.
41:33: You guys remember the amicable peasant in the emperor’s new groove.
41:40: Of course, I am.
41:40: He and the emperor turned donkey.
41:43: He’s a donkey, right?
41:49: I know my movie.
41:50: Listen lady.
41:52: Yeah.
41:53: No.
41:54: Yeah.
41:54: He and the emperor’s turned donkey or Llama Cuzco are going through the jungle and they fall attached to a log into the river if that’s not bad enough.
42:05: All of a sudden, Pacha says, oh no, Kuo says, don’t tell me we’re about to go over a huge waterfall, sharp rocks at the bottom, most likely bring it on.
42:17: That is what this is like.
42:19: The passes away from Jerusalem to Jericho changed about 3000 ft of elevation.
42:23: Went through craggy twists in a mountain pass and was known for robbers hiding and pillaging.
42:30: This backdrop is simply a story to tell the story of the passers by.
42:34: They are the focus and the reality is.
42:36: So are we whatever the excuse to religiously positioned people pass by on the other side?
42:43: Why I’ve wondered that often we are, were they late for an important Bible study?
42:49: I can’t stop.
42:50: I gotta go to Bible study.
42:51: I can’t talk.
42:52: Do they need to get to work?
42:53: So they could save money to donate to organizations that help poor people.
42:56: I can’t stop and help the poor person.
42:58: I gotta get to work so I can donate money to help organizations that help poor people.
43:05: The two exemplars are in Christ’s telling of no accident of those who claimed a relationship with God, but they both demonstrated their love fell short because they did not truly love the people.
43:17: God gave them to love.
43:20: I was homeless in Chicago for a weekend.
43:23: Anyway, my school we did what was called squatter camp and in November or January, I forget, but it was always the coldest weekend of the year.
43:34: We would live in the plaza.
43:38: So we had the benefit of public security around us.
43:42: I was downtown Chicago by the way for those.
43:44: Yes.
43:46: but we were allowed one comfort item and your comfort item could be, there was no phones that wouldn’t count.
43:52: So that wasn’t even a thing.
43:53: It wasn’t an option but it could be your sleeping bag.
43:56: It could be a toothbrush.
43:59: It could be anything besides the clothes on your back was a co I think besides that was a comfort item and you got one of them.
44:07: I think we all probably opted, you got a pillow.
44:09: I don’t know what we all I think opted for a sleeping bag.
44:16: and then we would hold signs on the side of the road that said anything helps we go.
44:24: I don’t wanna say we there was probably not many I think I might have been the only one who got food from a trash can behind Giordano’s or something like that and looked still warm.
44:34: It was probably good.
44:35: I was like, that’s fine.
44:36: But the, the, the aspect of living homeless standing on a street corner, sitting on a street corner, I saw to experience that I felt this passage.
44:52: You hold a sign and people literally walk on the other side of the street.
44:59: That’s the question.
45:02: They won’t even give you eye contact.
45:06: I mean, when you drive into Grand Rapids and you pull up to a street corner,, the highway, you get off the,, the interstate and there’s somebody there.
45:17: I don’t know how many times you guys have look, literally avoided eye contact.
45:23: So you don’t have to look at them.
45:30: We might be a lot more like these religious passers by than we would like to admit, given the chance to love someone.
45:39: We walk on the other side of the street.
45:42: Somebody at school is looks down and grabby or they don’t, their attitude at work shows that their countenance has fallen, but we figure someone else is gonna help them.
45:57: It’s probably not bad.
45:58: It’s, it’s awkward if I talk to them.
46:00: Whatever the reasoning these religiously minded said, we probably come up with more and better excuses to do the same, to walk on the other side, I’ll leave it there.
46:13: I’ll let the spirit convict you as necessary.
46:16: It’s already done.
46:17: So for me, on the other hand, however, friends, this passage is not about the passers by.
46:23: It’s about the one, it’s a parable to lead us to worship of.
46:27: The one who did stop and bandage our wounds.
46:30: The one who paid for our healing of his own account, the one who poured out oil and wine all over us and continually runs over, praise God, holy spirit, the one who carried us where we could not go on our own.
46:43: The one who brought us to the end for care and the one who’s coming back for us, it’s a story of the king who stops on the side of the road for bruised people, even if they’re of a different lineage.
46:56: Let’s go.
46:57: Amen.
46:58: He is worthy.
46:59: That is the guy I’m talking about.
47:00: The one who did stop, right?
47:03: It’s a parable about him and we praise him.
47:09: And the closing thoughts from the chapter.
47:11: Luke recounts the story of two sisters and two ways to approach Jesus.
47:20: Do you wanna read for us?
47:21: 38 to 40 Luke, 38 te 1038 42 1038 to 42.
47:32: Now they went on their way into the bed.
47:37: The moment name, welcome him into her house.
47:41: And she had a sister called Mary.
47:44: He sat at the lord’s feet and listened to his teaching.
47:47: Martha was distracted with much certain feet.
47:49: She went up to him and said, Lord, do you not care that my sister’s sister left me to serve alone over again to help me to answer her Mark Martha.
48:01: You are anxious and troubled about many things.
48:04: But one thing is necessary.
48:07: He has chosen the good portion which will not be taken away from you.
48:15: So perhaps the same message from the previous parable one sister is too busy going about the religiously socially correct ways of living while the other simply sat at Jesus feet.
48:29: Mary would not have made it to Bible study on time and certainly wouldn’t have made enough money to donate by simply sitting there.
48:35: But she is praised.
48:38: One thing is necessary.
48:40: In fact, mine says only that’s a Tao side.
48:43: So it’s an added word, but it may have added emphasis in the Greek.
48:46: I didn’t look it up, but only one thing is necessary for Mary has chosen the good part which shall not be taken away from her.
48:54: So just sit with him guys.
48:56: He’s a good king and he wants you to sit, what kind of king is like that?
49:00: He just wants you to sit there.
49:01: He doesn’t want you to strive and to work and to accomplish and to move the kingdom along.
49:05: What does this king say?
49:07: He says, sit at my feet.
49:10: That’s the good portion.
49:11: That’s what’s necessary.
49:14: This last season, we had a scenario like that.
49:17: The Lord told me to step away from teaching at the school I was teaching at and long and short as I kept praying.
49:27: Lord, what’s next?
49:28: Lord, what’s next?
49:29: Holland has a bazillion jobs.
49:31: There’s factories all over.
49:32: I could have had a job like that.
49:34: I could have walked in.
49:35: I kept asking Lord, is that what you want me?
49:37: What do you want me to do?
49:37: What don’t we do?
49:38: And he kept telling me to stay in the basement.
49:40: Essentially.
49:41: I didn’t leave the basement for six months.
49:45: I mean, I came up for food and water once in a while.
49:47: But other than that, that’s where you were the whole time.
49:50: Now, I know now, you know, I had to put a bathroom down there so I could.
49:56: So if you guys need to permitted by the city, just so you know, I was in the basement and the Lord kept telling us not to leave it too soon.
50:07: Why Exodus chapter 33 gives us, give us, gave us an insight.
50:11: Moses Joshua go into the tent and then the glory of the Lord comes down.
50:16: It’s awesome.
50:17: Moses leaves the tent essentially to tell everybody this is what God says.
50:20: But the half verse there says Jo Joshua Moses, the servant, a young man, the son of none did not leave the tent.
50:30: And we felt like God was telling us, don’t leave the tent too early, sit at his feet and in the miraculous way of God, six months later our bank account looked the same as it did before that.
50:44: And I was like, I don’t know how this happens.
50:47: So I can tell you guys face to face that numbers in an account somewhere in a cloud can change like that with no reasoning.
50:56: I lived that because I sat at his feet and he told me not to leave a tent.
51:00: Now, if I could tell you that has nothing to do with it.
51:02: But if I told you, you could have six months and you’d have the same amount of money in your account and you didn’t, you don’t have to work a day.
51:06: I work probably like five days, but just for friends here and there would you, you’d probably like, yeah, I, I, I’ll totally take that.
51:13: I will totally take that.
51:16: And I’m not saying I’m not all saying that’s going to be transferable to you or that was, I’ll ever do that again.
51:21: It just for us, the Lord said, don’t leave the tent and I can share a testimony of that being true in our life.
51:27: We sat at his feet and that was the good portion and it would not be taken away from us and we’re benefiting still from that.
51:33: And so it’s been great.
51:34: So the theology of the kingdom is beautiful theology to unpack a bedrock foundation of one I believe, not one left to the halls of academia, but one to the heart to live it out.
51:45: I don’t think this is one just to add to your list of like, it doesn’t just you’re already your framework.
51:50: You’ve got, you just kind of add another little aspect.
51:53: It’s like, I think this is the, this if it’s not already there for me, it did should change your foundation and how you view things.
52:01: Luke 17, now having been questioned by the Pharisees as to when the Kingdom of God was coming, he answered and said, the Kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed.
52:09: Nor will they say look here it is or there it is for behold, the Kingdom of God is in your midst.
52:15: It’s something to live out friends.
52:18: We live in the Kingdom of God himself.
52:21: It’s his spirit indwelling us.
52:22: It’s the church in Luke 17.
52:26: He goes on to talk about the second coming and really, it’s an outwork of the kingdom that’s already come.
52:33: We don’t have to look forward to a future day as if it’s not already here.
52:37: We live in the reality of the kingdom.
52:39: Friends.
52:40: Surely there’s going to be a greater fulfillment when there’s no more sin.
52:44: It’s all eradicated.
52:45: We see the throne room of God with the angels ministering or we are singing around the clock certainly.
52:53: But we have the kingdom and we should by golly live in the reality of the kingdom because he already entered Jerusalem as its king triumphant 19.
53:06: And he initiated his reign over the entire globe, wherever his servants surrendered to him and bring his kingdom come and as well be done.
53:13: So the prayer Lord would you teach us of and send us your kingdom and you will be done on earth as it is in heaven?
53:23: Yes, Jose just said, amen.
53:27: I feel like most of us should be saying, Amen.
53:30: Yeah, it doesn’t have to be vocal, but at least your heart should pound like yes.
53:35: So we’re closing here.
53:36: But as with every time we look into the word, we don’t just want intellectual stimulation, we want to be holy, we want obedience.
53:44: He says that at the end of every prayer and then he goes into Hallelu.
53:48: Hallelu, hallelujah.
53:49: Praise the Lord for the miles of infants and babies.
53:54: The kingdom of the Children.
53:57: Yeah.
53:59: Nice.
54:02: So love, not a burden leads to obedience, and obedience leads to freedom.
54:09: So as we are talking about our commission, where do we go from here?
54:14: Lord?
54:15: We’re asking the spirit to give it to us.
54:17: What is your commanding officer?
54:19: Say to you, the king to obey the kingdom, to obey the king and his kingdom.
54:25: And so I think firstly, that is a question for yourself.
54:29: I ask the spirit to convict you to lead you in obedience in what we’ve read today.
54:34: And so I will give you 10 seconds, 20 seconds now to pray that to let something fall, that sifts down to land ask him for one thing to obey.
54:46: What is something to obey?
54:55: No, got it.
55:02: So the spirit can talk to you.
55:04: But I’m also gonna tell you some things that I think the passage says for you.
55:08: We know it’s about evangelism.
55:10: Go and preach the Kingdom.
55:12: Luke chapter eight.
55:13: It’s the parable of the sower.
55:14: What’s the big message of the sower?
55:17: OK.
55:17: He’s got the seed.
55:19: One of the whites boys.
55:20: Do you guys know that passage?
55:21: What does he do?
55:21: What happens?
55:23: The farmer re Yeah, sees.
55:26: What did you do with it?
55:29: Yeah.
55:40: One lands on fertile soil.
55:44: There’s a rocky soil.
55:45: There’s a thorny ground, there’s a shallow, there’s a bird ground, the birds on the path.
55:50: It’s Gideon, right?
55:51: So what’s the parable there?
55:55: It’s actually really a stupid farmer.
55:58: What farmer sows on the road?
56:01: What farmer goes to the rocky ground?
56:04: D what farmer goes into the thorny ground?
56:08: That’s just dumb farming.
56:10: And everybody’s laughing while Jesus is saying this like some farmer went out, he just hooked it on the road.
56:15: No, they’re all like, that’s stupid.
56:16: Nobody would do that.
56:17: But the point is so everywhere you don’t know what the soil is like and the soil, the soil, the seeds is we are told the seed is the seed is the word of God.
56:29: So everywhere you don’t know the soil of someone’s heart.
56:32: And I’ve had this last week, last couple of weeks I’ve been convicted of this past, I’ve read it and I’ve known it’s been over the last years too, but even the last few weeks I’ve sown seed that I did not think the soil was the way it was when I got there, whether it was better or worse.
56:49: , and I’ve led the greater conversations that I’ve had shutdowns because I was sowing everywhere and I didn’t know the soil of the person’s heart.
56:58: I still don’t, but like you can sort of sell after talking to them for a little bit, got a little bit of the soil.
57:03: And sometimes we go to rocky soil and we just take rocks out for the next guy to build and that’s good.
57:07: So everywhere, you know what I mean?
57:08: Friends.
57:09: So the point isn’t to be a good farmer and figure out everybody’s heart, that’s not your job.
57:13: You aren’t the discern of hearts.
57:15: Somebody else is, but your job is to sow.
57:18: And how do we sow everywhere we sow what we tell the seed and what’s a good thing.
57:21: Fill up your bag, friends, fill up your bag with the seeds.
57:25: So you’re gonna be able to sow the right seed in the right soils.
57:29: When you find out when you’re talking to somebody, you’re like, oh wait this.
57:32: So I’m gonna, I got this is a really good seed for that soil.
57:34: Let me drop that here.
57:36: So you don’t know the soil.
57:37: So the point is so everywhere.
57:40: So as the spirit let him convict you.
57:42: 12, evangelism.
57:44: Three, your mindset have a kingdom, eternal mindset and everything.
57:48: Everywhere you go, the way you spend your money does every dollar you spend advance the Kingdom of God or another kingdom.
57:57: I I look around most of you.
57:59: I know have more money than you need for your daily daily needs.
58:06: So that means you have excess.
58:09: What are you doing with that excess?
58:12: And are you defining needs rightly in the first place?
58:16: What are you doing with that?
58:21: Cause every dollar in his bank account is actually mine and every dollar in my bank account is actually hers because we’re all, it’s the money of the king and the king’s his money.
58:31: He’s the one who gave it to us anyway.
58:32: We’re really spending it for the kingdom.
58:33: And so if I get $10 and it takes me where I live and what the Lord has me in my life right now.
58:40: It takes me $5 to live by.
58:41: Golly, I should be spending $5.
58:43: I should not be spending four.
58:45: I should be spending five for my family and where I’m living, but I shouldn’t be spending eight.
58:50: I should be spending five and the other five belongs to God and his kingdom and his church.
58:53: And what should I be doing with that?
58:55: Because there’s some people who, where the Lord has them, they need to be five and they only have three and your two belong somewhere over there.
59:04: Oh, it’s just making me think of the manna from heaven and how they, that’s what they did.
59:11: And it’s like, that’s good.
59:16: But if not, it could go spoiled where it could be spoiled by, like, not excess.
59:21: Instead of going to those who picked up more who were there because some didn’t pick up enough for their family and then, but others had provision to pick up more.
59:32: Amen.
59:33: Right?
59:33: So every dollar, every stinking dollar don’t waste a single one.
59:39: Guys don’t waste a dollar.
59:42: That’s not your money to waste.
59:46: Do you need that?
59:47: Fill in the blank?
59:50: That quick thing with friends or that morning, get me through or that?
59:55: I mean, coffee is a pretty easy one.
59:56: Everybody talks about it.
59:57: Do you know Starbucks?
59:58: Coffee?
59:58: Right?
59:59: Like that’s neither here nor there.
1:00:03: But that’s something we do spend daily on that we may not need.
1:00:07: That’s a, that’s why it’s an easy one to pick on.
1:00:09: But every dollar friends, every single dollar, which actually tangentially and I’m going to take, it might mean spending more money on something that was made not by slaves.
1:00:23: If you saved a buck because you bought it on Amazon or whatever.
1:00:27: But it actually put someone in slavery on the other side of the world, you’re putting clothes on your kid’s back that are cheaper because someone who’s a kid on the other side of the world is blood is sitting on the counter right next to it.
1:00:42: Pretty graphic way to say spending every dollar for the kingdom sometimes means buying something made in a country where you know that there’s fair labor or paying your neighbor to do a job for you long testimonies and stories there to have a kingdom mindset.
1:01:07: I think there’s a scripture somewhere that says seek ye first the kingdom.
1:01:10: Anybody ever heard that one?
1:01:12: I’m holding back the song right now just for your benefit of Yes, I would love to be described as was Joseph of Arimathea.
1:01:23: He takes the body of Christ down before they’re describing him.
1:01:26: Do you remember how they described Joseph of Athea?
1:01:30: Luke 2351 for those who want to find it later?
1:01:33: But he was a man who was nope.
1:01:38: Thank you for trying though.
1:01:40: I really genuinely appreciate it.
1:01:44: A man was waiting for the Kingdom of God.
1:01:49: I want to be described as a man who’s waiting for the Kingdom of God.
1:01:51: However, that may be my posture.
1:01:54: I want that part to be my heart seeking the kingdom.
1:01:56: How cool if the one way someone could describe Ben Cole is that he was a man of the Kingdom of God.
1:02:03: I benefit more than Joseph of Arama that I don’t have to wait in the same way he did.
1:02:08: I get to live in that reality.
1:02:10: I also do wait for the final combination.
1:02:11: But I live in that reality, I want to anticipate and begin to see all the ways the king is already acting and moving because he is in its special to see.
1:02:23: I want to be a man of the kingdom.
1:02:25: But there is a better bottom line even than all of that.
1:02:32: And I’m not advocating for not going out and preaching the kingdom or for spending loosely.
1:02:36: But Christ himself says that that’s not the, not the most important thing about the kingdom mindset.
1:02:42: And again, that’s not a call for complacency or an excuse to keep it to yourself.
1:02:46: In fact, the bottom line that I’m going to read you that Christ gives comes in the context of the larger group of Jesus followers going out to cast demons to preach the kingdom.
1:02:56: So that certainly is part of what we do.
1:02:57: But after going out, the disciples return with rejoicing with the power and the authority given them from the Lord.
1:03:05: And yet Jesus gives this bottom line chapter 10 verse 20.
1:03:12: Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven.
1:03:22: Let’s go.
1:03:26: If indeed, you are never harmed to have great victory.
1:03:29: Rejoice that your name is in heaven.
1:03:31: If indeed you make disciples, you make disciples and baptize a million people.
1:03:37: Rejoice that your name is written in heaven.
1:03:41: If indeed you obliterate all human trafficking in the world rejoice that your name is written in the book of Life.
1:03:48: If indeed, you raise a house full of Jesus loving kids.
1:03:52: Rejoice that your name is etched in his Book of Life.
1:03:58: If you see your prayers answered for your coworker, for your niece, rejoice that your names in heaven.
1:04:02: If you write the best commentary on the Bible, rejoice rather that your name is recorded in heaven.
1:04:08: So Christ’s bottom line for his followers, the bedrock of the kingdom mindset is to rejoice.
1:04:13: In that simple truth, we are inheritors of the kingdom.
1:04:18: Our names are on the roll call of the king of glory to enter his banquet hall in a most wonderful kingdom.
1:04:24: And all praise is to that most wonderful king.
1:04:33: A bottom line, an hour and four minutes.
1:04:36: That was awesome buddy.
1:04:37: All praise the Lord.
1:04:41: I