[0:00] If you don't know me, guys, my name is Jeremy. I've been with Watermark for about, oh, it'll be five years this summer. Time flies. And the beauty of that, I think, is in Hong Kong, you do see people come and go, and there are transitions.
[0:14] Ex-pats come in, ex-pats leave. You know, people just, it is a transient place, but the beauty of that is I've just met so many people, heard so many stories about people seeking to impact the world and seeking to impact Hong Kong for God's glory.
[0:31] And that's just been amazing. So, you know, if you're new here today, if you haven't been around for too long, you know, there's so many people that still haven't met. We'd love, you know, staff and the community group leaders, we'd love to meet you guys and get to know you guys a little more.
[0:47] And, you know, as I was thinking about the sermon today and just preparing and thinking about preaching, man, it's just been such a blessing for me because it's not my authority in even coming up before you and kind of sharing God's word with you.
[1:04] The authority rests in God's word, the scripture that we just heard. And just kind of reading that this week, preparing for that, it's been so illuminating from my own heart. You know, some of these passages that I'm going to share with you this morning, they were just speaking to me throughout this entire week and encouraging me and refreshing me and revitalizing me.
[1:28] And it's been challenged about how I pray, how I think about the topic of prayer. And that's the series we're in right now. And back when I started praying more on my own, kind of as I kind of started to get a little more serious about my faith and think about what it actually means to follow Jesus Christ, I found that my prayers usually went in one of two directions.
[1:53] You know, there was a much more kind of formal, kind of laundry list of things that are written down, you know, names, people, things. And I would just kind of like go down that list, kind of almost check those things off, right?
[2:08] Like, yep, I got through that list. They've been prayed for. Those prayers have gone out to those people, right? And then the other kind was just a lot more kind of spontaneous and organic. You know, it was like just whatever came to mind, I would just, okay, this and that.
[2:23] And I think maybe some of you guys can identify with maybe one or two, one of those two kind of extremes. But really the issue wasn't so much that form of prayer that I was thinking about.
[2:35] I think it was more I realized as I was doing that, there wasn't this kind of overarching vision for how I prayed. There wasn't this thing that captured just how I was motivated to pray, you know, what I was praying towards as a trajectory.
[2:51] You know, it was all pretty reactive. It was dependent on, you know, what happened that day, what happened that, you know, that week, you know, the focus of my season, the time of my life. And I'm not saying that's wrong.
[3:03] You know, there is a place for that. But I noticed there wasn't this overarching vision. vision. And I also noticed my prayer didn't always connect with my actions. You know, I'd pray for these things.
[3:15] Yeah, of course, it's important to me. I was praying for these things. But then I was thinking about my day-to-day actions and my lifestyle. And there wasn't this connection. There was disconnect in so many of these areas of my prayer.
[3:29] So this is why I think this sermon series that we're going through is so important. Because we're looking at the Lord's Prayer, what we just heard read to us.
[3:40] We're looking at the Lord's Prayer, and we want to see how it actually shapes our attitude towards prayer. It's not just a method of praying. And we've been talking, and our goal for this series is really simple, actually.
[3:56] We just want to ask God, God, help us to pray. Show us how to pray more expansively. Things that we wouldn't pray normally.
[4:07] Things that are outside of our normal thought process and comfort zones. We want to say that prayer is an attitude.
[4:17] It's not just an activity. And we've developed this definition of prayer that might help us. It says it's a child calling out to their loving Heavenly Father in response to Him reaching down to them.
[4:37] And I love that image of the child. You know, I've talked about wearing a onesie before, and someone very kindly bought me a onesie after I talked about that the last sermon.
[4:48] Because if you imagine yourself literally in diapers before your Heavenly Father, you start to realize how God really sees you.
[5:00] Not in kind of like a stupid, immature way, but in a way that says, I need you like a baby needs his father, his mother. That relationship is there.
[5:13] A child calling out to their loving Heavenly Father who is reaching down to pick them up lovingly. The smile on his face. And that's the ethos, the heart we want to see for prayer.
[5:31] And because it's a loving Heavenly Father, because that's always the starting point, we can be genuine. We can be honest with Him.
[5:43] You know, when Alfie kicked off our series two weeks ago, it was really all about that relationship with our Father in Heaven who picks us up and creates that relationship that we didn't have before.
[5:57] And so today we're going to continue with the Lord's Prayer. We're going to go on to what it means when Jesus said, Lord, let your kingdom come.
[6:09] Your kingdom come. And the Lord's Prayer isn't just some kind of formula that you recite kind of mindlessly. I mean, you can recite it, of course, but there's nothing magical about the words in and of itself when you say those words.
[6:24] It's actually what Jesus was saying in that prayer is a model for us to kind of get a glimpse of what is important. What are the things that we should actually be praying about?
[6:38] So our goals, I think, for this sermon are really, really simple. First, we need to have a grasp of what the kingdom is. Really kind of get our hands around that, wrap our minds around that a little bit.
[6:56] And secondly, as we do that, as we get that understanding of the kingdom, we need to begin to see how that actually transforms the way I pray, how you pray, and why we pray.
[7:11] So it's really simple. So grasping the kingdom and seeing how that impacts the way we pray. So our first task is really just to define what the kingdom is.
[7:24] And if you're not a Christian here today, I mean, that might be kind of a weird concept to you. And if you haven't really thought about the Bible or theology before, like the word kingdom, it's just, I don't, for me, it was kind of archaic.
[7:36] Like, you know, you might think of, I don't know, the British monarchy or something. And Chris Thornton might start humming, you know, God save the queen or something, right?
[7:47] You know, just that pride of being a Brit. You want to try? Okay.
[7:59] You know, and actually it's not a bad analogy because a kingdom by its very definition needs a king. And in the kingdom of God, obviously, who's the king?
[8:13] The king is God. God is the king, as Eric was saying in the psalm today, expressing that through a psalm. He is the king of God's kingdom.
[8:25] But it's not this kind of juicy tabloid fodder you see in the British monarchy. As much as I like Kate Middleton and appreciate her sense of style, come on, don't, you know, don't pretend you guys don't look at, you know, what's her latest kind of most recent dress or how she's dressing the little baby prince, George.
[8:44] That's important. I appreciate that. But God's kingdom, it's not about, ultimately about that. This is our God, the king. He's our perfectly, perfect heavenly father.
[8:58] He's on that throne. He's our king. And so there's this idea of that king. But don't kind of confuse that with what we think about as kings and queens throughout history and today.
[9:09] This is our perfect heavenly father. Our daddy is on the throne. So God is the king, but what is his kingdom actually like?
[9:21] And I mean, there are so, so many different descriptions of the kingdom in the Bible. And what I want to do is actually just look at three kind of really classic passages that describe the kingdom of God to us.
[9:38] Two from Isaiah in the Old Testament and one from Revelation. And I think these passages should leave an impression on us. Because, well, if you've read them before, you know they're quite profound.
[9:52] But even if you've read these passages before, I encourage you guys, look at it with fresh eyes. Try and visualize what these passages are saying about the kingdom of God.
[10:04] Because back in the Old Testament, we already had some amazing pictures of the kingdom. And in these images, the kingdom of God is described as a mountain, the highest of all mountains.
[10:16] And it says in Isaiah 2, It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains.
[10:27] And it shall be lifted up above the hills, and all the nations shall flow to it. Many peoples shall come, and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks, and nations shall not lift up sword against nation, and neither shall they learn war anymore.
[10:50] And that's just, I was thinking about that image, can you go back for a sec there? That image of the sword being beaten into plowshares, and the spears being beaten into pruning hooks.
[11:03] And I'm not an agricultural major or anything, I have to kind of look up, what is a plowshare? And actually that's the blade, the sharp part of a plow that you use in farming.
[11:16] And a pruning hook is just a knife that you use to prune a vineyard. So there's this image of this transformation, these instruments of death and destruction being transformed into tools of cultivation, of bringing life and growth.
[11:37] And that next passage, Isaiah 11, or Isaiah 11, the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together, and a little child shall lead them.
[11:58] The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra. The weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain.
[12:13] For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. There's this complete transformation when you look at creation. The ecology is changed.
[12:25] It's a relationship between all living things is transformed to true peace and harmony. And it's not in the Old Testament.
[12:35] Let's look at Revelation, this third passage. Revelation, this third passage.
[13:08] It's one of my favorite passages, pointing to this new reality. No weeping, no hurting, no pain.
[13:21] So this kingdom of God that we read about, these images, it's a kingdom of just universal, all-encompassing peace and prosperity, complete restoration for everything that's broken and imperfect.
[13:41] When we talk about world peace, I usually just think about, oh, just no more fighting, no more killing each other, this place where people just stop hating on each other. But God's peace, the peace of the kingdom of God is so much more than that.
[13:57] It is so much more expansive. Think about wolves and sheep dwelling together, children playing alongside snakes.
[14:08] That imagery of complete transformation, it's profound. And I was thinking about that as I was preparing this week, and just like those images of that.
[14:20] Like I can only even begin to imagine what, how glorious, how perfect, how peaceful, how prosperous that new kingdom will be.
[14:33] Even just from these little sketches. So today, when you, if you put your faith in Jesus Christ, to have that relationship with your heavenly Father, if you put your faith in Him today for the first time, or putting it afresh, anew, it won't be easy, as we're gonna talk about in the sermon today.
[15:02] It won't be easy. But that's the kingdom that as you follow Jesus, as you seek Him out, as you respond to Him, that's the kingdom that He is gonna lead you into.
[15:17] That's our inheritance. But you know what? When I first became a Christian, you know, eternal life was what I kind of thought about.
[15:31] Yes, eternal life. Who wouldn't want that? But eternal life for what? It's eternal life for that kingdom. That amazing kingdom.
[15:44] But it's also a future kingdom. And at this point, I think the temptation for us, the easy thing to do is kind of separate the two.
[15:56] Kind of, there's this future kingdom, and then there's this now. And you know, for now, I'm just gonna pray, oh God, your kingdom come, but in every other aspect, I'm just, it's just business as usual.
[16:11] You know, whatever that business looks like. Playing video games, or just hanging out, or whatever. Whatever, you know, just working, going to school, whatever. That's, that's now, and I'm just praying, your kingdom come.
[16:24] But that's not the whole picture, and this is where it's important for us to really grasp the second aspect of the kingdom. Because biblically, when you look at the, just what the word kingdom means in Greek and Hebrew, it's not just this place, it's not just this realm that's the kingdom.
[16:43] The kingdom also refers to the king's rule, his reign, his authority, how he rules. So when we think about that, and when we look at the word, your kingdom come, we're also asking God, let your reign come to this world.
[17:05] Break into our world now. A growing experience of God's kingdom, his reign, right here, right now.
[17:15] People coming to know God. People becoming God's children. Experiences of that, peace, of that restoration, right here in our families and in our communities today.
[17:31] You know, last Sunday, Graham talked about being salt and light, remember? The lifestyle of the kingdom as we become lights for God and point people to Jesus.
[17:44] God's design isn't for us to just kind of sit on our butts and wait in a bunker for his kingdom to come.
[17:59] His design is for us in light of that security, that promise of the eternal kingdom. kingdom, we've been called to live out that reality right here, right now, in your lives today.
[18:15] Even though we're not fully in that kingdom yet. God's reign coming into our hearts, into your heart, spreading through his church in Hong Kong and globally, bringing about these glimpses of the kingdom coming into the world today.
[18:37] And you and I, every follower of Jesus Christ, we're called to be representatives of that kingdom. And I was thinking, what does it look like to live out that reality then?
[18:50] And I think a good analogy is this idea of cross-cultural living. I think a lot of you guys are expats here or even you've traveled or lived all over the world.
[19:03] And it brought back, you know, this kind of very clear memory for me. You know, before I moved to Hong Kong about five years ago, I was living in Canada. I was a lawyer in Canada.
[19:14] I had a kind of an interest in human rights. And so I kind of had that identity of a human rights lawyer. And I decided to move to Calcutta, India for a year.
[19:27] And obviously there's, you know, you can imagine the culture, the customs, the way of life. It's pretty different in some ways. It's what we kind of call culture shock, right?
[19:39] When you go to a place with completely new kind of cultures and norms and values. And I mean, some of those things were pretty kind of harmless, you know, like refraining from beef most of the time.
[19:53] I mean, that should be pretty harmless, right? And if any of you guys think that's not harmless, you need to really kind of, maybe mill in, you know, that's very serious, giving beef.
[20:03] And you need to think about that for Lent, brother. But I mean, really, if you think about superficially, I mean, giving up beef, that's a relatively easy thing to give up, right?
[20:16] That's an easy kind of custom to adopt, to adjust to. But there were also things in the culture that I passionately stood against. Things like the rampant prostitution and the sex trafficking industry that's just so pervasive there.
[20:36] Things that were so commonplace and ingrained in society there. But because of my identity, because of my values as a human rights lawyer, I just could not, it just prohibited me from engaging in that aspect of culture.
[20:55] You know, my identity shaped the way I lived there. Not only could I not condone it, but I actually had to take action against what was happening over there.
[21:07] Such an amazing country. I love so many things about it. But those injustices, they demanded a response because of my identity. And I don't know how often you think of your life today, but if you are a child of God this morning, if you are a citizen citizen of the kingdom of God, you are actually living cross-culturally every minute of your life.
[21:34] You're an expat in this world. You're a foreigner in many ways because the values of God's kingdom so often are contrary to the values of this world.
[21:47] And it's not just obvious examples like, you know, human trafficking or the war in Syria or, you know, ISIS or riots in Mong Kok or just people being mean to each other.
[22:03] I mean, those are more obvious examples, but all of those things, they actually just boil down to that inherent self-centeredness of the human being.
[22:14] It's all boiling down to that influence of a sinful world, a sinful kingdom, a sinful nature that has rejected God, the ultimate source of peace and prosperity.
[22:29] You know, the influences of the world and the values of the worldly kingdom, it's what continues to kind of hold me back and distract me. You know, it stops me from faithfully praying, your kingdom come.
[22:42] Why? Because I'm too busy praying. We're too busy praying, you know, my kingdom come. My prosperity come. My promotion come.
[22:56] My latest iPhone come. You know, my business come. My top-tier education come. You know, in light of Valentine's Day, right, you know, my, you know, praying for that significant other, boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, wife.
[23:16] Some of you, maybe an improved husband or wife, right? And I'm not saying we literally, I'm pretty sure we don't, I don't literally say, our Father in Heaven, my kingdom come.
[23:29] Right? I mean, that's too superficial. But if I really kind of check my motives, the way my attitude of prayer is, the way I actually, you know, conduct my life, in very many ways, I'm praying for those things to come.
[23:47] And I'm, and honestly, none of those things that I've just listed, they're not, none of them are necessarily bad things. Just to be clear, I don't want to say that those are bad things. None of those things are necessarily bad.
[23:57] But when Jesus teaches us to pray those words, your kingdom come. And remember, remember the image, those images of God's kingdom that we kind of digested and looked at.
[24:09] In light of that kingdom, what Jesus is telling us is that the value of that kingdom is so great, it's worth saying to God, God, I want your kingdom to come no matter what.
[24:24] Because I know that nothing in this world, none of those things, those other things, are worth praying for when I'm ultimately comparing that to your kingdom.
[24:36] That's why I pray your kingdom come. Think about what he says in Matthew 13. You know, the man who finds that treasure in the field, the kingdom of heaven is like the man who's found a treasure hidden in a field.
[24:54] And when he finds it, in his joy, he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. And he didn't wait until his 13th month bonus and kind of go to the landowner and had to haggle him to try and sell, get the field for his bonus amount.
[25:11] You know, he sold everything. In case you're not, you're thinking, well, that was just a parable. You know, Jesus was just kind of speaking in hyperbole.
[25:22] It wasn't everything. Well, I mean, tonight, go home and read chapter 19, you know, what he says to the rich young ruler. And I want to be clear, I'm not saying that God necessarily wants every single person right now to give up everything and kind of go wander the streets.
[25:42] But are you willing? Are you even willing if that's what God called you in light of his kingdom? And granted, some of you might need to do something very drastic with your wealth because the love of money, the Bible says, is one of the biggest ways the worldly kingdom manifests itself.
[26:02] But there are other things, and I don't think it's coincidence that right after the Lord's Prayer, Jesus gives us that really classic passage. Do not be anxious, he says, saying, what shall we eat or what shall we wear?
[26:20] Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all, but seek first the kingdom. And all these things will be added to you. I've just been thinking about that idea, you know, what am I seeking?
[26:35] And even just food, clothing, and shelter. You know, God's been convicting me. Ultimately, that's really all I need to live well for the kingdom.
[26:47] You know, in the parable of the sower, I don't want to be the seed that gets sown into the thorns. And that's the person who hears the word of God, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches, they choke, they choke the word.
[27:06] And the word proves unfruitful in that person. And I see that in me, I see that, that conflict between God's kingdom and the cares of the world, the cares of my flesh, the cares of my own heart.
[27:21] And speaking of the cares of the world, it is Valentine's Day today, as so many of you guys have reminded me of. And to me, that's just a huge reminder that the cares of the world, the world cares about Valentine's Day.
[27:40] The world values Valentine's Day and romance and romantic love. And since it's probably on a lot of our minds anyway, I think we should spend a few minutes looking at something absolutely radical that Jesus says about relationships in the kingdom.
[27:58] You know it's coming, Oscar. We're still in Matthew 19, chapter 19 now. Jesus says, there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven, for the sake of the kingdom of God.
[28:17] Now eunuchs, if you don't know, someone who can't procreate. So Jesus, what he's essentially saying is that the kingdom of God is so amazing.
[28:31] So amazing that people are willing to remain single in order to demonstrate their hope in that heavenly kingdom. I'm not going to go into detail about how it might be beneficial to remain single for the kingdom.
[28:46] If you want, you can please feel free to talk to me afterwards and we can have a good conversation about that. But what I will say is this, you know, as intense as what Jesus says in that little passage, as intense as that sounds to us, for us today, for the people back then, it was even more radical.
[29:06] because back then people valued marriage and making babies even more than today. Why? Because back then it was actually essential for God's people to survive.
[29:23] Literally, it was essential for them to survive because you were born into Judaism. You were born into the people of God. It was fundamentally ethnic and the Messiah was supposed to come through the bloodlines of Israel.
[29:40] So that sense of procreation, that sense of family, that sense of marriage, all of that was actually essential. So think about how radical that was when Jesus said that people would be willing to be eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of God even back then.
[29:56] But now, Jesus, the Messiah, has come and from then on we begin to realize that God's family is about so much more than romance and marriage and children.
[30:09] If you know, elsewhere, God, Jesus says, in the kingdom of God, there is no marriage in the way that we conceive of it today. It's ultimately a spiritual family, a spiritual reality that you are born again into.
[30:26] So today, whether you're single or married, you have a critical role in displaying the kingdom of God and your hope in the kingdom of God.
[30:38] And right now, all of you are either married or unmarried. Not married as in single, dating, it's complicated, whatever. And if you don't think you're in either category, we need to clarify something, so you need to talk to me afterwards.
[30:54] But the question I have for us on this holy, glorious, sacred Valentine's Day, just kidding, it's not actually, I don't think Valentine's Day is holy, it's holy because today's a Sabbath day and we're focusing on God.
[31:12] The question, the serious question we have, I think, on this day is, you know, what does it look like for you to pray, God, your kingdom come.
[31:24] Your kingdom come in my marriage. Your kingdom come in my relationship. Your kingdom come in my singlehood. What does it look like for you to pray that?
[31:35] Have you truly grasped the reality of the kingdom of God that no matter what your relationship status is, you can say, Lord, that status is for your kingdom.
[31:49] No matter what's going on in my status right now, it's ultimately first and foremost for the kingdom to come. Do you pray that God uses your relationship or uses your singlehood as a means in which God's kingdom can come?
[32:10] Above whatever your personal dreams may be, as legitimate and as good as those may be, ultimately, is it about your kingdom coming into my reality?
[32:21] And practically, I don't know what that might look like for you. It might be like praying for greater contentment. It might be how you use your freedom as a single to build your community group and to serve other families.
[32:36] Maybe it's about how you and your spouse can serve together. Maybe it's about how you can love and serve your spouse better. It might be about forgiveness.
[32:47] I don't know exactly what that kingdom coming into your life looks like, but we need to start by praying your kingdom come in my life, in my relationship, in my status, in my singlehood.
[33:03] And it's not just relationships. You know, we talked about money and wealth earlier. What does it look like for you to say, God, your kingdom come in my workplace, in my bank account, in my investment portfolio?
[33:17] So I want to take, just take a moment right now and let's just pause. Just think about the different things you've prayed about over the last few days or weeks or even months.
[33:32] Just think about that for a second. Not just verbal prayers, not just things you've said out loud, but those unspoken prayers, those deep yearnings and longings of your heart.
[33:44] What have your prayers been over the last few weeks? Months? It might take a while for you to recall some of those things, but please continue reflecting on that today.
[34:03] It's important because those prayers are a mirror. They're a mirror of what, of a lot of the things that are important to you, that you care about.
[34:16] They reflect back to you what you care about. So are they about God's kingdom coming? Are they motivated by a desire to see God's kingdom, his love, and restoration touch the world?
[34:34] If you're like a statistician, you're just thinking, well, you know, I mean, 99% of those have been kingdom, my kingdom orientation rate is 99%.
[34:47] Well, don't pat yourself on the back yet, you know. Even for that 1%, that one thing which you haven't given to God, what is that one thing you're still praying about that really isn't motivated by the kingdom?
[35:02] You know, I have to admit, I find all of this difficult because every day, every day I'm influenced by myself.
[35:17] My own flesh tells me, the world tells me, Jeremy, you need to be praying for your own kingdom. If you're not praying for it, no one else is going to be praying for your kingdom.
[35:30] It's by definition my own kingdom. If I don't seek my own kingdom, I'll miss out. You know, I'll be picking up books after people and I'll be kind of in the back and forgotten.
[35:50] But by God's grace, the Holy Spirit always nudges me back. Brings me back to see that magnificent picture of God's kingdom.
[36:03] I can just see it, that prosperity, that wholeness, that just all encompassing peace that we look forward to.
[36:17] And I see those glimpses in my own life and I see those glimpses in my family and in this church. church. And God reminds me of that kingdom of true prosperity and peace and I can continue to surrender the things I've been holding on to.
[36:38] I can continue to pray for his kingdom to come. And guys, I know, I know there are serious things. There are things that, there are genuine things that burden us.
[36:52] And I'm not making light of those things. There's hardships in this world, there's tribulation in this world. I know that. I've seen it. I've experienced it.
[37:05] And it's not important that I know. What's important is God, your heavenly father, knows those hardships. And that's why our Lord Jesus Christ could say right before the Lord's prayer, he says, your heavenly father already knows your needs before you even pray.
[37:26] He knows all that you actually need. So he's telling you, he's telling me, surrender those anxieties, surrender your kingdoms.
[37:38] You know, when you wake up every morning, if you wake up every morning to the reality of that kingdom, that image, that visual, that reality of the kingdom of God, if you wake up each morning to that, you just begin to get transported to this whole new reality, this whole new paradigm.
[38:01] You have this clear idea, this sense that your heavenly father has a kingdom, his perfect, glorious kingdom waiting for you, and he's bringing it to you.
[38:14] And that's how you start your morning. that's what you live in light of every single moment. That security, that promise that God will restore everything.
[38:26] And if that is our kingdom, if that is our starting point every single day, guys, it's inevitable. It's inevitable.
[38:37] We'll stop worrying about our own kingdoms. because you're so securely resting in that promise. You're so securely resting, and you get your head, you take your head outside of your own kingdom, outside of your own Friday night rituals.
[38:54] You take your head out of that, and you look around you, and you just become so gloriously consumed in the youth ministry, and reaching the poor, and the brokenness you see in your classrooms, and your lecture halls, and your libraries, and your workplaces.
[39:13] And that becomes such a beautiful experience of God's love, because it's just channeling through you, and you just stop worrying about your own kingdoms. You start to see what's truly important to the kingdom of God, the marginalized, the weak, the lonely, the people who don't know that they have a heavenly father, that's preparing that kingdom for them.
[39:41] They don't know that. They have this amazing news that's out there, but they don't know it. You begin to see those things. You begin to see the places in your life where God wants you to bring restoration to.
[39:57] And when you begin to see these different situations situations and circumstances, your instinctive response is to pray, how can your kingdom come in this situation, in this situation, in this situation?
[40:17] You just begin to think that way because you're not worried about your own kingdom. And not only do you pray, God, your kingdom come in this situation, you actually are part of answering that prayer.
[40:29] You act in response to what you care about. You think, what can I do about it? In the book of Revelation, at the end of the Bible, at the end of the age, it says that we'll hear this proclamation.
[40:51] It's from Revelation chapter 11. It says, the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of the Lord. I think we have it on the screen there.
[41:06] The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ. He shall reign forever and ever.
[41:20] That's the picture I want to leave you with. That's the picture that I want, I think God wants us to remember every day. that our calling is to look to that every day.
[41:33] Our calling, watermark, is to be a part of that. To be a part of the kingdom of the world becoming the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ.
[41:47] Let me pray for us. God, help us to be a heart of that Lord. Help us to see and experience and live out and rest in the truth of that reality.
[42:06] No weeping, no hurt, no pain, but ultimate prosperity, ultimate peace and truth and love, Lord, in the kingdom of God.
[42:18] God, I pray that whatever it is that you want us to surrender, to give to you, whatever is my kingdom today, Lord, shift that in our hearts to your kingdom.
[42:41] God, help me, help us live so radically because we know that we do not live for our kingdoms, for this kingdom, Lord. Whatever it is, Lord, you want us to surrender to your Lord, I pray that your spirit would prompt us right now, that we would see the beauty, the majesty of that eternal kingdom and we would live in light of that, God.
[43:09] God, I pray for our church, God, I pray that you would just mobilize us to see beyond these walls, to see beyond our concerns, God, and see this city, see the brokenness, God, and to desire your kingdom to break in to the brokenness, to heal, to restore.
[43:37] God, whatever it is, God, that is holding us back, Lord, I pray that right now we would see that you hold us in a new reality, you hold us in this reality that there is an eternal kingdom waiting for us, Lord.
[43:54] And we can say for eternity, Lord, we want to sing for you, we want to worship you. Amen. In the name of precious Lord, Savior, Jesus, I pray.
[44:12] Amen.