The Kingdom of God

NHOP School of Prayer - "What You Need to Know About Praying for Government and Leaders." - Session 1 of 12 NHOP.ca

Transcript

hello and welcome to our en hop School of prayer course on how to pray for government uh this is a a topic we've been wanting to touch on for quite a while now uh National House of Prayer being a ministry that's been established in Ottawa for over 20 years uh established with a vision of it being an embassy for God in our nation's capital and so enop throughout its history has always interfaced with government has always carried an emphasis of praying for government things that are happening in the political sphere in our land and so it's something that if you've tracked with en hop over the years it's something you're you're likely familiar with but we've really wanted to to dive

in and take a closer look at how do we pray for government how should we as the church as the body of Christ and as intercessors as people of prayer how do we pray for our government relate to our government interact with our government what are some biblical guidelines and foundations for for how we do that so that's what we're going to spend the next 11 or 12 weeks exploring uh we're going to start today with looking specifically at the kingdom of God uh for the next three weeks or so looking at the kingdom of God and understanding our place in it understanding the nature of the kingdom of God a little bit and then from that Foundation how do we then relate to the kingdoms of this world

including Canada okay we want to look at we we feel like it's an opportune time to go through a course like this uh we know that our neighbors to the South are embroiled in a federal election campaign of their own right now going to the polls in a little over oh just under two months um and we in Canada will be having our own federal election at some point in the next 13 months and so with the the deepening polarization that's been taking root in our in both of our countries over the last number of years uh people on the extreme left and right getting more and more agitated with each other um yeah just politically feels like Stakes are rising it feels like arguments are

getting stronger there's more contention there's less civility between the two and it's a perfect opportunity for us to look at how do we as the body of Christ how do we carry ourselves through a climate like this this so we want to look at this uh and especially I just want to note just the the deepening tensions um in the US campaign you know we just saw a little over a month or two ago we saw an assassination attempt on one of the one of the candidates uh in Canada we haven't seen that kind of extreme but in the last campaign we did see I I remember seeing a one protester at a campaign stop throwing gravel at our prime minister which is crossing a line for for sure um and what kind of

angst and anger and fear or what other other negative emotions are going on in there that caused someone to do that and I also remember seeing an article recently about someone who who uh made death threats against our prime minister and our our finance minister I believe and so this is this uh the partisan rhetoric is getting more and more aggressive and a lot less Christlike in our in our society and so how do we as Believers how do we think how do we act how do we carry ourselves in the midst of these times um there's there's always this tension in Canada of how much should there be a separation of church and state and how much should should pastors teachers leaders in the body of

Christ how much how often should they weade into the political debate and take sides and endorse candidates and endorse parties and so on so this is the question we want to we want to dig into is how do we as the church interface with politics and uh I think the like I've said we're going to start with the kingdom of God and the reason being we are the Bible calls us you know Paul refers to us in Philippians as citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven we're citizens of the kingdom of God and ambassadors of his on this Earth and so we need to understand a few things about the kingdom that we profess to be a part of and uh and then in the next couple weeks we'll look at how that Kingdom or where that

Kingdom uh perhaps collides with kingdoms of this Earth and what the kingdom of God stands for so three things I want to unpack today a little bit about about the kingdom of God and the first one is the kingdom of God is Not of this world okay it does not originate from the Earth from man it's not of this world and uh for this I want you to turn to John 18 starting in verse 33 so this is you know the crucifixion story of Jesus and specifically when he's on trial uh before going to the cross and uh in this part of the of the narrative Jesus is brought by the high priest before Pilate a Roman governor in in Jerusalem and uh and first I want to preface this with if you ever thought of

the question why was Jesus crucified and why would Rome why would pilate as a as a governor a ruler under Roman Authority why would he go to the step of having Jesus crucified and if we think it's because Jesus preached a you know a gospel of personal repentance and of you know of of our hearts being made new and walking in love and these sorts of things that's not why he was why he was crucified uh Rome was a polytheistic culture it embraced many religions we can you know even looking through the New Testament we can see you know Ephesus was famous for its its Temple to Diana uh or Artemis uh there's you know we know there were many of the Greek gods who were worshiped throughout the

Roman Empire and then even around this time and and more so as the as Jesus time on Earth ended uh the Roman Empire embraced you know referred to as the Imperial cult where Emperors were regarded as gods and worshiped as such and so it was normal in in the Roman Empire for people to worship a number of different gods or a number of different deities to be to be okay it was a very tolerant uh pluralistic society in in a religious way so why was Jesus centered out why why was Jesus not okay in that in that pluralistic society and I think this pass message gives us a clue uh into why that is so in in verse 33 of John 18 you know Jesus had been brought before him he does pilate does

like a quick quick interrogation goes out to the leaders of of the Jews and uh and they kind of um you know they indicate we're looking for the death penalty and we can't do that so so now Pilot's going on okay what's going on here and he comes back into his his headquarters to interrogate Jesus and he asks him this question it says are you the king of the Jews okay and we might be familiar with that statement in kind of like a spiritual sense or you know we maybe we're just familiar with that title but this would have been a very pointed question in that day um King Herod had been given the title King of the Jews by a Roman Emperor so this is something if

Jesus is claiming to be the king of the Jews that a direct confrontation or a direct affront to someone who'd been granted that title by the Roman Empire or by the Roman Emperor and so this is a very you know very loaded question he's asking are you the king of the Jews and Jesus answered do you say this of your own accord or did others say it to you about me uh little bit of a you know conversation Happening Here Paul pilot answers am I a Jew like what do I care your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me what have you done he's trying to get to the bottom of this and Jesus answers this my kingdom is not of this world if my kingdom were of this world my servants

would have been fighting that I might not be delivered over to the Jews but my kingdom is not from the world if you remember in one of the Gospel accounts in the Garden of Gethsemane Peter pulls out a sword you know winds up cutting uh one of the priest servant's uh ear off and Jesus rebukes him and he says that's essentially says that's not how we do things he heals the servant by reattaching his ear and voluntarily goes into custody and Jesus is saying the same kind of thing here to pilate he's saying if my kingdom was like yours my people would have been fighting and I would have let them fight but my kingdom is not from this world my kingdom is different from yours and uh and actually

pilate's response oh so you are a king and Jesus says you say that I'm a king you know you say it you're you're saying it yourself and for this person for this purpose I was born and for this P purpose I've come into the world to Bear witness to the truth so Jesus doesn't deny the statement are you or the question are you a king he doesn't deny it but he differentiates between his kingdom and the kingdoms of this world and so it's it's very interesting there that he he does not deny it he does not back away from the from that statement though he never I don't recall him going around calling himself a king but when posed the question he did not back away from it he is a king over

a kingdom and his kingdom is not from this world so that's the first the first part there and uh in all this conversation you know pilate is kind of just wanting to find a way to get Jesus released this is not a big deal um you know they're making a big I think these these Jews are making a big big deal about nothing is I I think is kind of what's going on with pilot there um but then you know the the Jewish leaders they asked for pilate to release barabus instead of Jesus who interestingly barabus was a thief he's often referred to there but scripture also tells us he was an insurrectionist and he had actually committed murder in an Insurrection like they're actually

asking for the release of someone who had actually been a partic participant in an act of rebellion against Rome they're asking for him saying that Jesus was a greater threat to the Roman Empire as far as as far as uh a a rebel or a revolutionary and so pilate still not entirely convinced he's uh he's cross-examining Jesus and uh even in in 19 verse4 pilate goes out to them again he says look I'm bringing him out to you that you can know I find no guilt in him and uh but when the Jews accuse Jesus of claiming to be the Son of God okay uh that's when pilate starts to get nervous I think so in verse seven the Jews answer him we have a law and according to that law he ought to die because he

had made himself the Son of God when pilate heard this statement he was even more afraid so there's this he's really you know he's really find looking for a way to to release Jesus now he doesn't want anything to do with this guy if you remember in another account Pilot's Wife had said don't have anything to do with this with putting this man to death I've had a dream about him and I can't shake it right so pilot knows there's something going on with him he's been trying to get him released now he's kind of desperate to get him released I think it like what if this is true that this guy really is a son of whether it's capital G God or a smaller God based on

his pluralistic understanding um but he's trying to get Jesus released and he goes into his headquarters again verse n he says says to Jesus where are you from but Jesus gave him no answer so pilate said to him won't you speak to me don't you know that I have the authority to release you and the authority to crucify you and Jesus answered him you would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given to you from above therefore the one who delivered me over to you he has the greater sin and so in this conversation this in this cross-examination um pilate questioning Jesus there's two things about the kingdom of God that that Jesus has kind of stated and number one it's that the

kingdom of God is Not of this world it's not cut from the same cloth as the political kingdoms of this world the kingdom of God the Kingdom of Heaven is not from this world the second thing he's saying is that the Kingdom of Heaven what he's kind of implying there in verse 11 of of John 19 that the Kingdom of Heaven is superior over the kingdoms of this world you wouldn't have your Authority If Heaven hadn't granted it to you and your leaders to be the authority on the Earth right now so the Kingdom of Heaven is not from this world and it's Superior over the kingdoms of this world it's important to remember those two points um and that comes just from that that little conversation there

conversation between pilate and Jesus uh the writer of Hebrews as we move along the writer of Hebrews made the same point that the kingdom of God does not have its origins in this material world okay so if you go to Hebrews 12 we've got it in the notes Here Hebrews 12 verses 18 and 19 he says you have not come talking about the Believers when we gather together you have not come to what may be touched to a blazing fire and darkness and Gloom and a tempest and the sound of a trumpet and a voice and kind of carries on and he's describing the scene at Mount Si that we saw back in Exodus 19 he's describing when Israel was brought to Mount Si and God showed up in glory and Power on the mountain

and it terrified them all he's saying that's not what we've come to but verse 22 but you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the Living God the heavenly Jerusalem and to innumerable angels and festal Gathering and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven and to God the judge of all and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect and to Jesus the mediator of a New Covenant he's making the point you have not come to an Earthly a kingdom that has its origins in the material realm the Physical Realm but you have come to the Heavenly Jerusalem mentioning angels and festal Gathering the Assembly of the first born who are in en rolled in heaven um to God

the judge of all the spirits of the righteous made perfect he's he's emphasizing the spiritual nature the spiritual Origins the supernatural origins of the kingdom of God um and to Jesus the mediator of a New Covenant the one who embodies Heaven and Earth in one the one who's fully God and fully man and so the kingdom of God which we have been commuted into that's kind of taken from Colossians 13 it originates in in heaven it's spiritual not Earthly and Paul makes those points uh makes that point in 1 Corinthians one uh one and two the first two chapters there he kind of unpacks how we by our Earthly wisdom and logic cannot find or lay hold of God we cannot

search him out and find him by but on our own strength or ability he reveals himself to us and he cannot be found by human wisdom by human logic he's not of this world we originate from him but he's not subject to us in that sense and also James 3 you know so the origins of the kingdom of God but then also the functionality of the kingdom of God James 3 vers 15 to 17 he highlights some differences between um the wisdom of this world and the wisdom of God and how they're completely different and Polar Opposites and so the kingdom of God is spiritual not Earthly okay and but we're not going to leave it at that let's let's carry on the other thing I'll say

there is the heroes of the Old Testament you know that the writer of Hebrews listen Hebrews 11 they knew this to some degree they were holding out for this Kingdom they were living separate and different from the world they lived as sojourners in this world even Abraham and and Moses and and on and on through the list if you want some specific references Hebrews 11: 13-6 and 24- 27 even gets more specific with some of that language but the idea in that passage is the heroes of the faith the heroes of the Old Testament that we look to um they understood they were part of a city part of a kingdom that was to come in fullness they were solders they were Travelers they were aliens uh in their

in their time in this age on the earth and so that's kind of the thing about the kingdom of God it's it's it's not of this world um and you know one of the most famous passages we could say this as well one of the most often quoted passages about the kingdom of God from Romans 14:17 it kind of makes the same point you know it's the verse where Paul says the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness peace and joy and the Holy Spirit even in that little statement Paul's saying the kingdom of God is Not primarily about Earthly things like eating and drinking but of Eternal and spiritual things like righteousness peace and joy

and the Holy Spirit it's the kingdom of God is Not of this world it's not it's not composed of the same things the kingdoms of this world are composed of it doesn't have the same goals uh it doesn't have the same purposes and values and means of achieving its goals or its ends okay so it's it's different from the kingdoms of this world is the main thing I want to say there and to borrow a line from NT WR is to say you know the kingdom of God is Not of this world but it is for this world okay just because it's a a you know a spirit a kingdom that originates in kind of like as in the Supernatural and spiritual it doesn't remain there it's for this world the world the word makes clear that the

kingdom of God will be established on the Earth there's a number of passages you can look to that we've got listed in the notes there but the the word makes clear the kingdom of God is for this world it just doesn't originate here okay and so that's that's the first thing to to highlight about the kingdom of God the kingdom of God is Not of this world but it's for this world okay so that's the first one the second one here is that the kingdom of God is now and not yet not sure you're familiar with that phrase or that terminology you may have heard it um where it kind of comes from just the idea of it uh be inaugurated eschatology eschatology being the study of the last things and

inaugurated meaning it began or it's begun right and the idea is the kingdom of God was inaugurated or began at the life death and resurrection of Jesus so he inaugurated or launched the kingdom of heaven in his time on Earth remember he went about preaching repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand it's here it's near you it's here it is right but we also know it hasn't fully materialized yet we don't see today the kingdom of God fully ruling in power on the earth it's now and it's not yet it's both which is uh not always fun to our you know our our our thinking we want things things nice and orderly either it's here or it's not well no it's here and it's not yet um we already mentioned

the one Jesus going about preaching repent the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand there's also an exchange in Luke 17 um where the Pharisees are testing him trying to trip him up and they asked him when will the kingdom of God come and he 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 and he says this for behold the kingdom of God is in the midst of you you it's this thing of it's already here you're not going to see it's coming see it coming because it's already here is the idea and yet having said that so he kind of we kind of see it plainly from jesus' words and and Ministry the kingdom of God is

here and yet there's two other passages I can think of where you know the first one being in Acts chapter 1 okay there's a period of 40 days where Jesus was after his resurrection where he where he appeared to the disciples and it says he taught them about the kingdom of God taught them about the kingdom of heaven so he's interacting with them about it and at one point they asked him I think verse six when will the kingdom come so wait a minute you've already been with him hearing him preach the kingdom of of Heaven is at hand you've seen him you know you've said if if I drive out demons and I heal the sick and raise the dead you know the kingdom is among you right so

so they've seen that the Kingdom's here but then they're asking when will you restore the kingdom to Israel when will the kingdom come and Jesus answers it's not for you to know times or Seasons that the father has fixed by his own authority but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you'll be my Witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and the ends of the Earth and so the idea here is he doesn't say no no no no you got it all wrong he says it's not for you to know when but I want you to get busy with the work of the Kingdom now being my Witnesses in Jerusalem Judea and Samaria to the ends of the Earth and this is in

line with what Jesus had said in Matthew 24 the all of it discourse when he said this Gospel of the Kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to All Nations that's the kingdom of God going out now and then the end will come that's when the kingdom comes fully that's the not yet so we see both of those in intention there in the the life and Ministry of Jesus and his instructions to the disciples that the kingdom of God has already come but we acknowledge that it's not here fully yet it's now and not yet that's the second thing of the Kingdom the kingdom is here today now and the the trick the the challenge for us the the journey for for us is

learning to walk in the kingdom of God its resources its power it its ways primarily learning to walk in that even as it's not here fully yet but knowing it will come and even how we as the church walk in the Kingdom today how we walk in its character how we walk in its fruit and its gifts and its power how does that affect the timing of the coming the timing of the not yet this is what we're called to live in and walk out is this in this tension between the now and not yet um that's that's our journey as as Believers today so that's the second one the kingdom of God is now and not yet the third one here the kingdom of God will remain forever okay that's the third point

we're going to make today the kingdom of God will remain Forever This one is kind of self-explanatory in that there are many passages that speak to the the enduring or Everlasting nature of the kingdom of God so here's a few passages I want to read for you here in those in the days of those kings so this is from Daniel 2:44 Daniel 2 is a passage where Nebuchadnezzar has had a dream that that that had him in awe and a little bit disturbed and it's it's where he puts the word out I need a wise man who can tell me not only what the dream means but tell me what I actually dreamt he didn't tell them the dream said I need you to I need to know that this is a Divine word coming to me so I

need to know that you know the dream I had and you can tell me what it means and Daniel got both the dream and the interpretation and it was the dream of Nebuchadnezzar saw a great statue of a man head of gold the chest and arms of silver the you know the core of bronze the the the um the iron and the clay down towards the feet so Daniel's kind of unpacking the meaning of it and in the dream Nebuchadnezzar saw a stone cut out of a uh cut out not by hands just this rough Stone and it came and it it collided with the Statue and it ground the statue to dust and that stone that rock became a mountain that filled the whole earth and what Daniel said of it is in the days of those kings of those

Empires that he saw in that statue the god of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed nor shall the kingdom be left to another people it won't be it won't be conquered by another people it won't be taken over by another people it will remain it shall break in pieces all these other kingdoms and bring them to an end and it shall stand forever okay that's Daniel 2:44 later in Daniel 7 Daniel sees the same basic thing but he sees it play out as a series of beasts Nebuchadnezzar saw it as a as an awe inspiring beautiful statue of precious medals and Daniel sees these Empires as terrifying beasts it's interesting the the different perspectives they had

Nebuchadnezzar Who Loved he was the he was the ruler of he was the leader of the you know we we think of you know the leader of the Free World the you know the president of United States as it's been during their time as a superpower he was essentially the leader of the Free World he was the he was the king of the dominant Empire in the world and the idea of these successive Empires ruling with all authority on the earth it created a sense of awe in him he thought it was you know he saw in a way that was beautiful and appealing to him and yet Daniel who is a Meek follower of Yahweh he sees it as terrifying Beast there's in there you know we'll explore these

these ideas later on in the series but even the perspective of of what a ruling Empire what kingdoms of this world how people of the world perceive them and how the people of God ought to perceive them is two very very different things but Daniel saw these beasts and and he saw the Beast overcome and and conquered and in verse 14 of Daniel 7 to him the one who came and was presented to the Ancient of Days that one like a son of man to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples Nations and languages should serve him his Dominion is an everlasting Dominion which shall not pass away and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed Isaiah chapter n verses six and seven

you know uh famous Messiah prophecy For unto us a child is born to us a son is given and the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name will be called wonderful counselor Mighty God Everlasting father Prince of Peace and of the increase of his government and of Peace there will be no end of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end nothing will stop the growth and expanse of his of his kingdom of his Empire on the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it and uphold it with Justice and with righteousness from this time forth from when it begins and forever more the Zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this okay that's Isaiah 96 and

7 and the last passage I'll mention along these lines Revelation 11:1 15 the seventh angel blew his trumpet and there were loud voices in heaven saying the kingdom of this world some translations say it as the kingdoms of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ and he shall reign forever and ever it's this thing of the kingdoms of this world will become his at his return at the last trumpet the seventh trumpet the last trumpet listed in in Revelation when he returns the kingdoms of this world become his kingdoms and he will reign forever and ever okay and now so that those passages speak to that Everlasting nature of the kingdom of God he shall reign forever

and ever of the increase of his government and of Peace there will be no end his kingdom lasts forever and connected to that idea is the idea of this Kingdom strength it will remain forever because no other leader or Kingdom can threaten it and this you know we we read this in Daniel 2:44 the days of those those kings the god of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed it cannot it will not be destroyed it it has a strength and actually the strength of it is quite interesting and quite different and quite unique and we'll again we'll look at that in a few sessions but another passage Hebrews 12 you might have already been thinking of this one starting in verse 26 once more

God said I will shake not only the Earth but also the heavens the words once more indicate the removing of what can be shaken that is created things so he's saying once more he will shake everything that can be shaken everything created will be shaken so that what cannot be shaken May remain and then he says this therefore since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken let us be thankful and so worship God acceptably and he goes on but we are receiving we've been brought into this Kingdom that cannot be shaken though everything that everything created be shaken this Kingdom will not be shaken and the last thing I would say is Jesus pointed to this reality in his closing remarks

in The Sermon on the Mount Matthew 56 and 7 if you remember at the end he talked about those who hear and practice these words who do these things I've said he will be like a man who built his house on the rock talking about the winds and waves coming all this stuff and that that house will stand firm as compared to the one who doesn't do these things their house is built like a house built on the sand and it collapses immediately and it's interesting because some commentators uh and we're going to spend some time looking at this in a couple sessions some commentators have called The Sermon on the Mount the constitution of the Kingdom the Constitution being you know a set of

guidelines or or policies or principles by which an organization or a nation or a group operates by and when we read the sermon on the mount we see Jesus saying you know these are in the Beatitudes these are the heart postures the people of God have and here's how we deal with anger and he here's how we deal with lust and here's how we deal with prayer and fasting and giving and so on all throughout how we deal with judging one another and dealing with sin all throughout the Sermon on the Mount Jesus is outlining this is how things work in the in the kingdom of God and at the end he says if you build your life on these principles if you do these things your health will remain it will not be

shaken it will not be toppled in the face of a storm since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken right we are receiving it but in the now if we live in the principles and ways of the Kingdom we can have security we can be secure in the face of pressures and end storms and whatnot and so the kingdom of God it's forever ever and it's strong that's the main thing there and so in wrapping this all up today we've looked at three things about the kingdom of God the kingdom of God is Not of this world it's not from this world it doesn't it doesn't think it doesn't act it doesn't behave like the kingdoms of this world right Jesus saying if my kingdom was of

this world my servants would have been fighting tooth and nail to prevent my arrest but it's not the kingdom is not of this world but it is for this world the second thing we've talked about the kingdom of God is now it's here now and it's not yet it's still to come the kingdom is now and not yet and the third one the kingdom of God will endure forever it's a kingdom that cannot be shaken it's a kingdom that will not be there have been Challengers to it every successive Empire every Kingdom of man has sought to make itself to to be in control to have all power and even though maybe not stated openly even to set itself up against God there is no Kingdom that will overpower or overthrow

the kingdom of God it will remain forever the kingdom is not of this world the kingdom is now and not yet and the kingdom will remain forever those are our thoughts for today for this week next week we're going to look at the political nature of the Kingdom how the kingdom of God we talked about this a bit at the beginning how did Jesus how is it that Jesus was so you know was to be put to death by the Roman Empire when they allowed so many other religions the political nature of the kingdom of God and the question of our Allegiance we're going to look at next week so pray on this meditate on the kingdom of God the kingdom that we've been brought into the king it's not of this world

it's now and not yet it will remain forever all right Brad Fiddler thanks for joining us for this session we'll be back next week God bless [Music]