Well, if you could keep your Bible open at Matthew
chapter 6 verse 10, that would be great. We're
going to be looking at your kingdom come. And
just a quick thing about those booklets, which
I forgot to mention before, I said they were
twofold and then I only described the first bit.
The second bit was that the booklets are there
for new people too. So it helps anyone new coming
to our church quickly understand who we are,
what we're on about. So we hope that lots of
new people can get their hands on that and see
what we're on about. We'll even put one on the
website at some point that you can go through
and have a look at if people want to look at
it there too. Okay, let's get into Matthew 6
.10. Let's pray, let's ask God for his help and
let's listen to his word. Gracious Heavenly Father,
we ask that you would help us to be people who
seek your kingdom, who seek your kingdom first,
who pray for your kingdom to come. Please Father,
help us to see what it means to pray this prayer
and we ask that you would help us to do that
diligently and consistently until the Lord Jesus
returns. We ask this in his name. Amen. Well,
I want to take you to a beach in Khao Lok, Thailand,
almost 20 years ago. Children sitting on the
sand, making sandcastles. Swimmers are enjoying
the cool relief of the water. And sunbathers
are lying on their towels, working on their tans.
As everyone enjoys the beach and the sunshine,
many tourists start to congregate at the shoreline.
The waters at the shoreline have receded. It's
a fascinating sight. Tourists start taking photos.
Wow, look at the waters. They're receding. The
tourists had no idea this was the 2004 Boxing
Day tsunami. The devastating waves in that region
were over 10 metres high. In other places, just
phenomenally high, triple the size, even 50 metres
high. But it's estimated that in that region,
4 ,500 people died from that tsunami. Now, on
a happier note, let me take you to a smaller
beach in Thailand called Macau Beach. Everyone
there was also doing the same things. They were
enjoying the beach and the sunshine. And again,
the water sucked away from the shore. But at
this beach, there was a 10 -year -old British
girl named Tilly Smith. Two weeks earlier, she
had been at school in a geography class. Guess
what they learned about? Tsunamis. pays to listen
in class, doesn't it? Tilly told her parents
what was going on, and they warned beachgoers,
they warned hotel staff of what was happening.
And in that short window between the waters receding
and the waters flooding back in, everyone there
got to high ground. Almost 100 people were saved
because of Tilly Smith telling them a tsunami
was coming. Now today I want to show you there's
another tsunami coming. One that's going to obliterate
Cairns. Actually it's going to cover the whole
world. And it's not a tsunami of water, it's
a tsunami of God's judgment, God's righteous
and holy judgment on the world. And the signs
are clear if you know what to look for. And there
is a way to escape it. if you believe it's coming.
There is a high ground that anyone can flee to.
Now, there might be some here who are sceptical
of that. I want you to ask today, is there a
good reason to think that a tsunami is coming?
But if you're a Christian, you'd believe as I
do that there is a tsunami coming. How do we
stay on high ground? How do we get others up
there? That's the question we're asking. And
that's what we're going to explore in that three
-word petition of Your Kingdom Come. And because
it's Vision Sunday, I want to show you how these
truths in these three words are what drive our
mission and vision as a church. But first, the
big thing I'm hoping you'll take away from our
passage today. Pray for God's kingdom to come
so that many people get rescued. There's one
thing you remember today. Pray for God's kingdom
to come so that many people get rescued. That's
why we pray, because when we pray, many people
in God's kindness get rescued. And there's two
things that we should be praying for that we're
going to see that make up your kingdom come.
Firstly, Pray for Christ to come to his people.
Pray for Christ to come to his people. And secondly,
pray for people to come to Christ. Pray for people
to come to Christ. So let's look at the first
one. When we pray, your kingdom come, we're praying
for God's rescue. We're praying for Christ to
come to his people. Essentially, we're praying
for the end of the world. Do you ever think you
were doing that when you pray, your kingdom come?
You're praying for the end of the world. You're
praying for Jesus' return. We're asking God to
come and end evil, sin, pain, persecution. This
is a prayer that Christ would come rescue his
people and take them home. To their eternal home.
They're home in glory where there'll be no more
crying, no more wars, no more mourning, no more
pain. Now, why do Christians have this hope?
Why do Christians pray this? Because God's King
and his kingdom came already. When Jesus came
the first time, God's kingdom arrived. Now, it
didn't come in its fullness, but it did come
in Jesus. A little while back, I flew from Cairns
to Brisbane for Diocese of the Southern Cross
mini conference that we had. And I want to ask
you a question. When I was doing that, did the
plane arrive on the runway? When it lands on
the runway, is that when the plane has arrived?
Or does the plane arrive when everyone gets off
at the terminal. Which one is it? Well, it's
actually both, isn't it? It arrives when it hits
the runway. And it arrives in a fuller way when
we get off at the terminal, isn't it? Both are
arriving. And it's the same with God's kingdom.
When Jesus came the first time, it arrived. God's
kingdom was here in Jesus. But he's going to
come back a second time and it's going to arrive
again in fullness. His kingdom will have completely
come. See, when Jesus arrived the first time,
his teaching, his miracles, his perfect life,
and especially his death on the cross and his
resurrection, they show that God's kingdom is
real and it's glorious. These show that it has
come and that we need to be ready when it does
come in its fullness. Jesus' first coming warns
us that there is a tsunami coming when God will
judge the world and there is a way of escape
where you can go and enter God's eternal kingdom
forever. We can either escape to eternal paradise
or be obliterated for eternity in the tsunami.
But all the warning signs are there. I mean,
what is the cross? The cross is both a window
into what God's judgment looks like, isn't it?
Do you want to see what hell looks like? Look
at what Jesus experienced on the cross. But it's
also the high ground. It's the place we go to
be safe. If you trust in the cross, if you trust
in what Jesus has done, you are on the high ground.
You are safe from God's judgment. More safe than
you could ever imagine. And what's Jesus' resurrection?
It's the big air horn, isn't it? It's the big
warning to everyone. Please repent. Turn to God.
Trust in Jesus' death. because judgment is coming.
Jesus has defeated death. He's risen as Lord
of all. One day he will judge the world. The
warning signs are there. But you might be thinking,
well hang on Brendan, God's gonna do this anyway.
This judgment day is coming. Whether I pray your
kingdom come or not, Well, that seems kind of
redundant, doesn't it? Why pray it? God's going
to do it anyway. Well firstly, isn't it nice
to pray a prayer that you know is going to happen?
But secondly, it's not redundant at all. When
we pray, your kingdom come, it's helping us to
keep seeking God's kingdom first. It keeps us
homesick for heaven. It keeps us longing for
that final rescue. Otherwise, our hearts get
too attached to the things of this world. We
forget where our true home is, don't we? Imagine
a refugee in a refugee camp. The camp isn't safe.
It's safer than where they were. But it's still
dangerous. Some nights, they hear the artillery
many, many, many miles away. And whilst you're
there, you make the best of it, you make the
most out of your tent, you enjoy the little comforts
you have. But you don't treat it as home, do
you? You know it's only temporary. It's a stepping
stone to somewhere better. You know, when you're
there in the refugee camp, you're living to get
out of there, aren't you? To get to your new
home. If you're there in the refugee camp, you
hold all that you have loosely. You know, if
they say to you, hey, your flight to Australia
is ready, pack your Vegemite and go, you don't
then grab onto your tent and think, oh, can I
really leave my tent? This is so awesome. I mean,
this is my favourite tent that I've ever had.
You get out. You leave because you go, yes, this
is where I need to be. And that's the approach
we need to have with the things of this world.
See, here's what can happen slowly to us. Our
hearts can easily drift, can't they? It could
look like this. You work hard at an office. You
climb the ladder. You get that promotion. Or
maybe you grow a small business, something like
that. Work is going well. And it's good. It brings
a comfier life, a bigger home, a better car,
more holidays to Thailand. And the added work
is more demanding, though. There is a trade -off.
The added work is more demanding. And so you're
busy and you're tired all the time. But the comfy
lifestyle, it's seductive. It's really good.
And soon... your heart is swirling with worries
and distractions. Oh, eternity is truth. I'm
busy just trying to get through the now. There's
so much I've got to do for work, and we're planning
that next holiday, and I feel like I never see
the kids and wifey, and it's just so much. I'm
too busy for that now, maybe later when I'm older.
And when that happens... Faith that lives in
your heart slowly erodes, doesn't it? The world
starts to feel like your real home, and that
tsunami that Jesus warns us against seems less
and less real. Now that's just one example, but
heart drift can happen in a variety of ways,
can't it? Here's how Jesus puts it. He says,
Just as it was in the days of Noah, so it will
be in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating
and drinking and marrying and being given in
marriage until the day when Noah entered the
ark and the flood came and destroyed them all.
There was a tsunami of God's judgment that came
on the earth. And people were just going on about
their lives as if nothing was coming, despite
the warning signs. Or Jesus says, likewise, just
as it was in the days of Lot, they were eating
and drinking, buying and selling, planting and
building. But on the day when Lot went out from
Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and
destroyed them all. So will it be on the day
when the Son of Man is revealed. So people engrossed
in this world. In good things, in marriage, in
kids, in work, in building businesses, in all
sorts of good things. But they're so engrossed
in it that they have no eye for eternity, even
though God's judgment is coming. So how do we
guard against heart drift? We pray. We pray into
Your kingdom come. Something like this, maybe.
Father, your kingdom come. Please, Father, keep
me homesick for heaven. Help me, help my family
to be ready for Jesus' return for when that tsunami
of judgment comes. Open the eyes of my heart
to see how glorious it will be in your kingdom.
Help my church, help Northern Hope to see how
serious it is to be outside your kingdom so that
we persevere in our faith. Father, thank you
that Jesus rescued us and made us citizens of
your eternal kingdom. That's the sort of thing
you can pray, isn't it? And prayers like that
need to be constantly on our lips. Is that something
you pray for? Are you guarding your heart? Are
you homesick for God's kingdom? But if we're
on about God's kingdom, we don't just pray for
ourselves, we must pray for the lost too. And
that's our second point today. We pray for Christ
to come to his people. We pray that Jesus will
return and rescue us, but also we pray for people
to come to Christ. When you pray your kingdom
come, you're praying for God's rescue effort
to come. You're asking God to expand and advance
his kingdom in the hearts and minds of people
around us. You're praying for more people to
become Christians. You're pleading with God to
save more souls. Because God's kingdom is expanding
until Jesus returns, this is something we need
to pray for. Here's what it says in Mark 4. And
Jesus said, with what can we compare the kingdom
of God, or what parable shall we use for it?
It is like a grain of mustard seed, which when
sown on the ground is the smallest of all the
seeds. It's itty bitty tiny. And that's what
Jesus' kingdom was like. It started with Jesus,
with a crucified carpenter being completely humiliated
by the Roman Empire. His band of broken disciples.
Well, something happened, didn't it? The smallest
of seeds on the earth, yet when it's sown, it
grows up. and becomes larger than all the garden
plants and puts out large branches so that the
birds of the air can make nests in its shape.
It becomes this huge thing that brings people
from everywhere. That's what Jesus is getting
at. And we need to be people who pray that more
people come into God's kingdom. But why is it
so important to pray this? Well, firstly, it's
the second petition in the Lord's Prayer. Jesus,
by the nature of ordering it that way, is saying,
this is a high priority. Because this is one
of the ways that God answers the first petition
in the Lord's Prayer. Hallowed be your name.
What's one of the greatest ways that God's name
can be hallowed and glorified? It's by saving
people, isn't it? Now, if you're ever at the
beach, have you ever been at the beach, probably
not in Cairns, but maybe at a beach somewhere
else when you're on holidays and you've been
in a rip? Have you ever had that happen? And
imagine you're stuck in a rip and you're caught
there and you put your hand up, you know, and
you're needing help. And the lifeguard swims
out or jet skis out, you know, however they do
it these days, and they come out and they rescue
you. What would your attitude be to that lifeguard
for the rest of your life? What an awesome lifeguard!
You know, that'd be a story you'd want to tell
all the time, wasn't it? The one that you'd tell
to your grandkids, oh, there's this time I nearly
drowned in the rip and this lifeguard, his name
was Fred, he came and he helped me, and you'd
just honour their name, wouldn't you? Well, that's
what happens when people enter God's kingdom.
When they experience his rescue and salvation,
they bring glory to God. As that second petition
gets filled, it fulfills the first petition as
well. But not only that, it's also important
for the good of others. There's no greater good
that you can do for someone else. than to help
them trust in Jesus for salvation. Eternal paradise
is on offer. People can escape the tsunami of
God's judgment. The cross is the only way that
people can be saved. I mean, there's no way that
Jesus would have gone through that pain and that
agony of the cross if there was some other way
that people could be saved. So to do good to
others, the highest good we can possibly do,
we must pray that they trust in Jesus and his
death. And we must tell them about Jesus and
his death. Try and be an answer to those prayers,
isn't it? And amazingly, God honours those prayers
and saves people through them when we pray. Think
of a seed in a pot. Any green thumbs here, this
is your moment to shine. If it doesn't get any
water, you wouldn't expect it to grow, would
you? It doesn't matter if there's good soil,
sunlight, if you have the fanciest pot you can
possibly get from Bunnings. It won't grow, will
it? And it's the same with evangelism. We won't
see many conversions if we don't pray. Praying
for the lost is like water on that seed. It's
a crucial element that that seed needs for souls
to be saved. That's the way God has arranged
it. Now God can save people any way he wants,
but that's the normal pattern of things, is that
we need to be prayerful if we're going to see
people saved. But praying for the lost doesn't
just glorify God and it isn't just the highest
benefit we can give to others. It also benefits
us. Praying for souls to be saved fires us up
for mission. It makes us more Christ -like. I
mean, what was Jesus on about? He was on about
seeing people saved. And so when we're praying
for that, it changes us. It makes us more loving.
It reminds us what's at stake. It reminds us
that we're dealing with eternal realities. When
we pray for the advance of God's kingdom, we're
aligning our hearts with God's heart. What an
amazing thing to do. It reminds me a little bit
of Schindler's List. If you ever saw Schindler's
List, there's a very powerful scene right at
the end. Schindler was running a factory for
the Nazis and he saw all these Jewish people
getting horribly murdered and killed and he shows
them compassion. He says, I need more workers,
I need more workers and they come and they work
at his factory and it means many of these Jewish
people are saved. But right at the end of the
movie, The Russians are advancing. He knows he
needs to get out of there. It's going to be bad
for him. And so he leaves. But as he's leaving,
he looks at the factory workers in his factory,
and he looks around at his stuff. And he's broken
hearted. He has this little pin on his lapel,
and he goes, I didn't need this pin. If I'd sold
this pin. That could have been one more person.
I didn't need a car. If I'd sold that car, you
know, that could have been 20 more people I could
have saved. He gets this intense moment of clarity
where he sees what people were worth, where he
sees what he could have done more. And when we
pray, your kingdom come, we get that sort of
clarity, don't we? We see how valuable souls
truly are. It aligns our hearts with God's hearts.
I mean, that's the key to sharing Jesus in any
church. Do you know it's really hard to get churches
mobilised for God's mission? How do you get a
church mobilised for God's mission? Get people
consistently praying. And especially praying
for the lost. That's better than a good workshop
on evangelism or a fancy little tract. To get
people praying changes hearts. And that's why
in your show bags today, you might say you've
got a bookmark. Now, our bookmark has our mission
and our vision on it so that every time you're
reading your favourite novel or whatever you
read, you can have a look at our mission and
vision. You can pray for it. But there's also
on the other side five slots for lost people
that you can pray for. Now, it's okay. If you're
not much of a reader and more of a YouTuber,
that's okay. You can use five fingers, okay?
That's all right. These are the fingers you click
with anyway. But we need to be praying for people,
don't we? Have you got five people who don't
know Jesus that you can be praying for? Start
praying consistently and constantly for them.
That's what the book marks there for, so that
every time you... Oh, hang on. Before I get into
my favourite... I'm going to start praying for
those five people. And pray for some of them
in your growth group. When you're doing your
growth group time, hey, we've got time for prayer
points. Yeah, you know, I've got one of my five
people. I'd like to pray for Jim, and you pray
for Jim. Wouldn't it be great if that was one
of the defining marks of Northern Hope? Is that
we pray, and we pray especially for the lost.
I love how Charles Spurgeon puts it. He says
this, if sinners be damned, at least let them
leap to hell over our dead bodies. And if they
perish, let them perish with our arms wrapped
about their knees, imploring them to stay. If
hell must be filled, let it be filled in the
teeth of our exertions. And let not one go unwarned
and unprayed for. Let's be a church that does
that, hey? All right, let's recap. There is a
tsunami coming. How do I get myself and others
ready for the tsunami? Is there even a tsunami
coming? Maybe you're a skeptic. Well, for those
of us who do believe one is coming, the answer
is to pray. pray your kingdom come. The big point
of today, pray for God's kingdom to come so that
many people get rescued. And two things we need
to be praying about when we pray your kingdom
come. Pray for Christ to come to his people.
Praying for the end of the world that Christ
would come and rescue us. But also pray for people
to come to Christ. Now, what's all this mean
for us? Well, if you are that sceptic here, please
know we're praying for you. And you might be
thinking, I'm not lost and I don't need prayer
and there's no tsunami coming. That's okay. You
can think that. I don't agree with you. I think
you're in a very dangerous place. But we respect
that that's what you believe. But please know...
We love you. That's why we're praying for you.
That's why we talk to you. That's why part of
why we run church each week is so that you can
hear about what Jesus is offering to you. But
I'd want to ask you, are you sure? This is not
something you want to be wrong about. At one
point in your life, at least once, you need to
sit down and work out, are the claims of Jesus
true? Unbiasedly. Sit down and work it out. Read
one of the Gospels. Read Mark's Gospel. Check
out what Jesus has to say. Have a look. If you
want, come and do coffee with me. Happy to talk
you through it. And finally, I'd say to you,
pray. Say to God, God, if you're even there,
please make yourself known to me and see if God
truly is there and whether a tsunami of judgment
is coming. Give Jesus a fair go. That's what
I'm asking you to do. But if you're a Christian,
like me, you believe a tsunami is coming. You
believe that we need to be ready for it and stay
ready for it. You believe we need to encourage
each other to stay ready for it. You believe
we need to warn as many people around us as possible
to be ready for it. And not just so they escape
judgment, but so that they can enter the eternal
bliss of paradise that goes on forever and ever.
And the key to that is to pray your kingdom come.
And again, this fits nicely with Vision Sunday,
because what's the mission and vision of our
church? Well, it matches your kingdom come. Why
do we exist? We exist to see souls from Cairns
and beyond saved on the last day. Why does a
cricket club exist? They exist to play cricket.
Why does the police force exist? They exist to
fight crime. Why does our church exist? We exist
to see souls from Cairns and beyond saved on
the last day. That's our purpose. Our mission
is SOS. Save our souls. We want to see people
saved on that last day. That means evangelism
because we want to see new people saved. It means
discipleship because we want to see those who
are saved keep going. And it means care because
we want to see those saved keep going. Our church
is like a rescue ship. We're trying to pull people
in out of the lost waters of sin. We're trying
to see people come to know the Lord Jesus and
we don't want to see any of those on our ship
jump back into the waters of sin. We want to
make sure they stay with us until Jesus comes
back. But secondly, we have a direction we're
going. What do we do in the shorter term? We
pray our church would double in size to 200 people
because we're growing in love. Our vision is
we see where we want to go and we're praying
and working toward it. And our vision puts us
on the same page because there's going to be
tough decisions ahead. Do we buy a building or
do we stay in a hall? Do we put on two services
or do we try and find a bigger venue? Do we point
so and so as a growth? group leader or do we
appoint them as an evangelist? Do we cut a ministry?
Do we start a new one? There's going to be so
many tough decisions and the point of this is
hopefully it helps us see what we're trying to
do and unites us in what we're trying to do.
And hey, as a leader, not everyone is going to
like me or the decisions I make. Do you know
what Steve Jobs once said? If you want to please
everyone, sell ice cream. Definitely don't go
into ministry. He didn't say the ministry bit.
But every decision we make, this vision is meant
to be our northern star, to help us work our
way to what God wants us to do, to help us be
wise in what we're trying to do. And I hope it
will inspire you to partner with us in what we're
trying to do. Now, how can you partner with us?
Well, that's what I want to leave you with today.
There's five things for investing in our vision.
Firstly, pray for our vision. Pray for Northern
Hope and pray for those five people that are
on your bookmark. Secondly, come along regularly.
You know, it's really hard to ... Help you keep
going and and to work together for the cause
of Christ if you're not here So keep coming to
church keep coming to growth group. Make sure
you're coming along regularly Don't just pencil
it in on your diary pen it in church on Sunday
growth group whenever Thirdly invite others to
church If you believe that what Jesus is saying
is true that there is a tsunami coming. How can
you not invite people? to hear about Him. And
we are working really hard to make our church
a place where you could bring a non -Christian
friend confidently, knowing that they're going
to hear the Gospel each week, knowing that it
should be a positive experience, that's our aim
each week for them. I know that it takes a lot
of relational capital to invite a non -Christian
friend to church. And it's... Awkward if you
do that and it's just a horrible experience.
I think many years ago I had a next door neighbour
who I invited to Good Friday. He worked slaughtering
chickens during the week as his job. He, for
fun, went and hunted things with his bow. He
was as bogan and blokey as you can possibly get.
And we invited him to church and our pastor at
the time, who was an excellent preacher, did
probably one of the worst sermons I ever heard
him do. And then we sang this song that said,
Jesus, lover of my soul. And I looked at my bogan
blokey friend and I thought, this is awkward.
But you know what? In God's kindness, he came
back even after that awkward thing. But that's
what we're trying to do. We're trying to have
a service that is welcoming, that's not going
to be awkward, that's going to glorify Jesus
each week so that you can invite your friends.
Fourthly, serve with your gifts. Use your different
gifts to help us reach people and finally give
so that we can do more. Maybe one day, if people
keep giving, we can employ someone else who can
do more ministry than we currently do. Maybe
we can plant a church. There's all sorts of things
we can do if we generously get behind this vision.
I want to finish with this. I was looking up
ABS data the other day. you know, the Australian
Bureau of Statistics, just for funsies. That's
what I do in my spare time. There's 62 ,000 people
in the northern suburbs of Cairns. They're all
facing the tsunami of God's judgment. And the
only high ground is the Lord Jesus. And that's
just around us. What gospel impact, what... Footprint
can we leave if we work together for the cause
of Christ? Let's pray and work toward leaving
the biggest footprint we possibly can. Let's
see how many souls God will save around us and
beyond. Let's pray. Father we thank you so much
for the salvation that is in the Lord Jesus That
in him we can have eternal life in your kingdom
and Father we know that there is a day when you
are going to put right all the wrongs of this
world when you are going to sort everything out
and it is in many ways an awesome day, but a
dreadful and fearsome day and Father we ask that
many people in cans would be ready for that day
by trusting in Jesus. And not just cans, but
beyond all over the world. And please help us,
Father, as a church to be a rescue ship, scooping
people out of the deadly waters of sin so that
people would know, trust, love and follow the
Lord Jesus. Help us, we pray. Amen.