Good morning, everyone. Well, you heard Pastor
Pablo correctly that this is a series on spiritual
lessons in our walk with God. But Pastor Pablo,
I have a problem. I have a problem with your
creative artwork, your creative backgrounds.
It's so idyllic. It's so like I'm walking through
this enchanted forest. Nothing could possibly...
Happen wrong. It's just, what a wonderful walk
with God. I'm here to say today, hogwash. What
about the childhood traumas that we experience
in life? Boom! In that idyllic walk. What about
teen years? Pimples. Right? pimples and pressure
and also passion that's starting to grow up.
Does it match that scene of serenity? And then
all of a sudden we get into the young adult,
at least the first part of young adult, where
we have to make the decision whether going to
university or are we going to just start our
career? By the way, money is starting to add
up if you know there's more dollar signs that
are coming as we go along. Or in phase two of
young adult, maybe now we're going to get married.
Maybe we're going to stay single. Maybe we've
already launched our career now, but more and
more money. And then we get to middle age. And
maybe we are married already. And maybe we're
divorced. And maybe we're still single. And maybe
now we have... A couple of kids. And of course
the dollar sign keeps going up. Can you click
that for me? Thank you. Ah, now we get old. We
get older. And we might still be married. We
might be divorced. We might be single. We now
have adult children. We might even have grandchildren
now. And you know what? This is where the medical
comes in. You know, it's at this age where we
start to think, where did that come from? I don't
remember seeing that. Well, actually, it was
over there the other day. Now we're here. And,
you know, all of a sudden, our world, this nice,
serene world gets disrupted. It gets disrupted
by our aging, by the passages of life, by the
growing of our children, or still waiting for
that person who is going to be the one that we
will marry. And then we reach even a much older
age. Are we still married? Has our spouse passed
away? Are we still single after all those years?
Maybe. We have children and grandchildren, possibly
even great -grandchildren. Where are they? Why
are they not coming and giving us money? After
all this time that we have put out all that money,
and where are they? Yeah, this is more realistic,
Pastor Pablo. Okay? Your nice little green scene
of running through the enchanted forest does
not match. my experience of the passages of time.
He did say to share our experiences. So here
we are, kind of like throwing these bombs onto
that idyllic scene. I guess we're going to have
a problem with this today. Let's close in prayer.
Too soon? Sorry. Really, it's an honor to be
able to come and share with you what I really
believe was a download from the Lord and reflects
all the bombs that you saw along that idyllic
pathway and that I want to share with you about
kingdom wars and rival kingdoms. I believe that
Jesus is my king. I believe that Jesus has come
to set up his kingdom. And I believe that the
enemy doesn't just sit back and go, while that
happens. Instead, I believe that Satan and his
temporary kingdom is manifesting itself to fight
against. God's kingdom. And I want to show you
today a couple ways in which that happens and
how that also was in my life, in personal life.
This is not Christmas, but I need to read this
to you, or you need to read it with me. You will
conceive and give birth to a son, and you are
to call him Jesus. This is Gabriel talking to
Mary. And he will be great and will be called
the son of the most high. The Lord God will give
him the throne of his father David. And he will
reign over Jacob's descendants forever. And his
kingdom will never end. Think about how profound
the words that we just read in there. Jesus means
what? Savior, salvation, great, son of the most
high, throne, who sits on thrones, kings do.
David, reign, kingdom will never end. This is
from Gabriel to Mary saying this is what is going
to happen. This is what is happening. There are
kingdom wars. Because there are rival kingdoms.
Satan is not just turning over and saying, yeah,
whatever. But he attempts to rival. Now, I know
there's that great song, you have no rival. Okay,
I know that. It's true. No rival can beat Jesus.
But that doesn't stop the enemy from rivaling.
against the kingdom of God. And so if you will
look carefully, I have seen in my life, and I
imagine that in your life, you have seen these
too, these rival kingdoms, these attempts to
rival against Jesus. The first one I would like
to bring to you. is the kingdom of Herod. What
a nice looking guy. The kingdom of Herod. I'm
talking about, yes, the historical Herod, but
also the spiritual Herod. Let's revisit this
passage. In Matthew 2, verses 1 to 3, and then
verse 16, we hear, After Jesus was born in Bethlehem
in Judea during the time of King Herod, magi
from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, where
is the one who has been born king of the Jews?
King of the Jews. Like this thing just vibrated
a minute ago. It's like, huh? What? King of the
Jews. We saw his star when it rose and have come
to worship him. When King Herod heard this, he
was what? Disturbed. That's not very disturbed.
He was what? Disturbed. And all Jerusalem with
him. And when Herod realized that he had been
outwitted by the Magi, he was furious. Oh, that's
such a kind furious. He was furious. Look at
that face. And he gave orders to kill all the
boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two
years old and under in accordance with the time
that he had learned from the Magi. So what happened
here? Herod heard about this boy, this birth
that was going to happen. He was going to be
king of the Jews. And he cannot allow that. I
am king of the Jewish people, says Herod. So,
we have to cut them down. We have to prevent
that. We have to stop that. And the kingdom of
Herod does not want... Jesus, if he's still out
there in Bethlehem, does not want Jesus to grow
up. So let's just kill everybody, every boy who's
two years old and under. And that way we're okay.
But the spirit of the kingdom of Herod continues
as a manifestation of how the enemy so wants
us to stop. Our lives. Stunt our growth. Arrest
our development. Because he doesn't want us to
grow up. Did you know that? Did you know that
there is an opposition. That there is a rival
kingdom. A spiritual kingdom of Herod. Which
of course is spawned from our enemy Satan. Who
does not want us to grow up. How is that possible?
Look at the tone and the words in this Hebrews
passage, which is exposing what happens when
Herod's spiritual kingdom of not wanting us to
grow up gets inside of us. This is from Hebrews
5 .11 to chapter 6 .1a. We have much to say about
this, but it's hard to make it clear because
you no longer try to understand. In fact, though
by this time you really ought to be teachers,
you need someone to teach you the elementary
truths of God's word all over again. You need
milk, not solid food. Anyone who lives on milk,
being still an infant, is not acquainted with
the teaching about righteousness. But solid food
is for the mature, who by constant use have trained
themselves to distinguish from good and evil
along that idyllic path. Oh, that's a bad dude.
That's Jesus. That's good. That's bad. That's
good. Discerning and distinguishing. Between
good from evil. Therefore. Therefore. Let us
move beyond. The elementary teaching about Christ.
And go on to. What? Maturity. No. You shall not
grow up. You shall stay immature. You shall still
be. a child and childish, says Herod's kingdom.
But friends, we are really blessed. If you believe
that Jesus is your king and he's come for you
to be your king and he has set up a kingdom for
us to be in together, if you believe that he
has provided for us the weapons, that we fight
with, to not be weapons of this world. On the
contrary, they have divine power to demolish
strongholds, and that's what that is. That is
a stronghold. A stronghold, in this case, does
not just mean like the castle of Herod. It means
deeply entrenched, deceptive patterns of thinking
that oppose God's truth. deeply entrenched, deceptive
patterns of thinking that oppose God's truth.
Truth about God, truth about you, truth about
me, truth about this world, truth about who Jesus
is, truth about what the kingdom is, truth about
the Bible, everything. It is something that is
in opposition to that. And they have divine power,
these weapons do, to demolish strongholds. We
demolish arguments and every pretension that
sets itself up against the knowledge of God and
take captive every thought to make it obedient
to Christ. No! You shall not grow up! Desperately
yelling out at us, arguing with us, trying to
keep us down. And while Herod and the spirit
of Herod is saying, no, you shall not grow up,
ECB, what can we say? Yes, we shall grow up.
Could you say that again? Yes, we shall grow
up. What you've just done is you have begun to
dismantle. A stronghold. Because if you believe
that Jesus is your king and that he's come to
set up a kingdom and we are in this kingdom together,
then the rival kingdom of Herod and the strongholds
that he brings with that must be torn down. And
it starts with the proclamation. We will grow.
We will not stay as children. Zero to two. So
that you can kill us and stunt our growth. So
that you can continue to arrest our development.
No. You say no to us, but we say no to you. And
we say yes to God. We're going to grow. 1 Corinthians
13 .11. Would you read this with me? I love this.
When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned
as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish
things. Childish things. Not childlike. Childish
things. It's time to grow up. It's time to want
more. It's time to mature. Despite all the landmines
along the way. Those actually can help us grow.
There are kingdom wars because there are rival
kingdoms. A personal story about growing up.
I didn't grow up until I was 60 years old. Thank
you for that laugh. I appreciate that. Let me
say it again. I didn't grow up until I was 60
years old. And the reason I can say that is because
so much of my life I believe me, trust me, I
performed as an adult. I took on very adult responsibilities
and did them very well, by the way. I could tell
you all kinds about ministries and things that
have gone on that I did. But it wasn't until
I was about 60 that I realized that all these
little kids from my... explosions that you saw
on the idyllic walk through life. All these little
children, all these little fractured moments
and fractured soul. And when all of this experience
of life, you know, really kind of messed with
me inside. So there's an adult and then there's
chaos of all these. Little children running around
inside my soul. But God is good. And God is a
healer. And God knows how to restore and to bring
together all those fragmented pieces of our past.
All those childhood traumas. Because I'm telling
you, that idyllic path, again, Pastor Pablo,
I'm so sorry. That idyllic path that we have
painted for us is fraught. With crises and trouble.
And there's just going to be crazy stuff that's
going to happen. But when Jesus is your king
and you align yourself with the kingdom, God
brings that and integrates us and makes us whole
in his kingdom. So that's why we can say what
we can say to Herod and say, no, I'm growing
up. And I'm growing up whole. Not fragmented.
But I'm going to be whole. Because that's how
God made me. Then there's another rival kingdom.
The kingdom of temporary things. The kingdom
of temporary things. I'm going to ask you as
we read this next. I'm going to read it for you.
As we read this next scripture. I want you to.
Put your finger up, not like this. That's rude.
Put up your finger and kind of count every time
that you see the word worry or hear the word
worry, okay? Just kind of every time you hear
it, one, two, and do that, okay? This is the
kingdom of temporary things. Do they look worried
to you? Yeah. Some of you look pretty worried
too. I hope this, I hope this, Message is going
to help you. The kingdom of temporary things.
Another rival kingdom besides Herod. Of course,
coming from the evil one. Matthew 6, 25 to 32.
Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your
life and what you will eat or drink or about
your body, what you will wear. Isn't life more
important than food and a body more important
than clothes? Look at the birds of the air. They
do not sow or reap or store any away in barns,
and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are
you not much more valuable than they? Who of
you, by worrying, can add a single hour to your
life? And why do you worry about clothes? See
how the lilies of the field grow? They do not
labor or spin, yet I tell you that not even Solomon
in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.
If that's how God clothes the grass of the field,
which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into
the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O
you of little faith? So, do not worry. saying,
what shall we eat or what shall we drink or what
shall we wear? For the pagans, the pagans run
after all these things and your heavenly father
knows that you need them. So the new rival kingdom
is the kingdom of temporary things and what this
rival kingdom that Satan has set up to oppose
the kingdom of Jesus. wants us to worry about
all these things. Just like the pagans. And the
pagans worry about all these things, it said.
Wants us to worry about all these things. Before
I even show you the scripture, despite the fact
that I grew up a little late and matured and
moving toward maturity a little late in life,
That worry kingdom, that kingdom of temporary
things is really a nasty thing. Don't be fooled
by Herod's. That's really obvious. But this kingdom
of temporary things and wanting us to worry is
really, really pesky. And the number of things
in that verse, four, I counted four. Did you
count four worries? Worry, worry, worry, worry.
And for me, My personal testimony to you all
is that Annie and I are missionaries. And when
we started working as missionaries, we didn't
have to raise a single dollar. Not a single dollar.
Our mission organization paid for everything.
And we just went through life here in Bangkok
doing this and doing that and never had to think.
Never had to worry. Never had to do anything
to raise funds. Only thing we were obligated
to do was just when we go back for our U .S.
assignment, speak in churches, tell them the
good things that God's doing in your ministry.
Well, then things changed. The mission organization
started not having enough money for everybody.
People in churches started to leave churches.
People in churches started to be less interested
in some type of global mission and became more
interested in local or maybe not interested at
all. And pretty soon they said, okay, everybody,
you're going to have to raise your own funds.
But those of you who have been out there for
a while, we're going to kind of grandfather you
in. Don't worry. Don't worry. you can raise X
percent first. Whatever percent it was, I don't
remember. But it was enough to say, oh, we have
to raise money. And if you don't raise that money,
then we'll have to call you back to the United
States and we'll have to give you some training
on how to raise money and then maybe you can
go back if you raise that money. And that was
the new reality. And you talk about triggering
that rival kingdom of worry. Every single year
there is this trigger and this temptation to
spiral down into worry. Do we have enough support?
Do we have the money we need to be here according
to our mission's perspective? I am confessing
to you. I am confessing to you that I have worried
a lot about this. I want to stay here. I want
to keep working. I want to keep serving the Lord.
I want to keep doing this. But I have to look
at these numbers that say, oh, I'm still short
after all that, after that little campaign we
just did and everything. And the rival kingdom
of worry, rubbing his hands and saying, exactly.
Worry more. These little things worry more. Well,
I just share that as my personal struggle as
a missionary. And any of you who ever had to
raise funds for yourself or for an organization,
you probably can understand what I'm talking
about. Let's look at some scripture. But seek
first his kingdom. And his righteousness. And
all these things will be given to you as well.
No. Not. You must seek these things first. That's
what the kingdom of temporary things says. Seek
these things first. Don't seek first the kingdom
of God. Are you crazy? Look to the Lord. Look
to the Lord in his strength. Seek his face. Always,
says 1 Chronicles 16, 11. No, look at this face.
I'm worried. Keep that face. Keep that worried
face. Walk around worried. People will know you're
worried about something. Maybe they'll give you
money. No, look to the Lord and His strength
and seek His face always. Jeremiah 29, 3. You
will seek me and find me when you seek me. with
all of your heart. No! You must divide your heart.
You've got stuff you've got to do. You've got
to raise money. Seek me with all your heart.
Seek me with all your heart. Not the temporary
things. Not the missionary goal to raise X amount
of money in time for the... Seek me. And what
do we say again? How do we deal with this? Well,
we demolish arguments. We demolish arguments
and every pretension that sets itself against
the knowledge of God, and we take captive every
thought and make it obedient to Christ. We did
that with Herod, who doesn't want us to grow
up, and now we're going to do that with worry.
Amen? That worry, worry, worry, worry, worry,
worry. We demolish those arguments and say that
we have to be worried. This is a worrisome thing
and keep worrying four times. We demolish arguments
and every pretense sets itself up against the
knowledge of God and we take captive every thought
to make it obedient to Christ. Well, the kingdom
of temporary things is saying, No, we will seek
the kingdom of temporary things. ECB, what do
you say? No, we will seek first the kingdom of
God. Say it again. No, we will seek first the
kingdom of God. One more time. No, we will seek
first the kingdom of God. Amen. By that time,
we're not even thinking about all of these things,
are we? We're just seeking the kingdom of God.
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness.
And all these things will be added to you as
well. Praise God. There are rival, there are
kingdom wars because there are rival kingdoms.
Let's take a look at one last one. The kingdom
of Kronos. The kingdom of Kronos time. Yes. Kronos,
the kind of time that is measurable, sequential
passage of time, clocks, calendars, hours, days,
years. I wonder what that sneaky little kingdom
is up to, that rival kingdom. James 4 .13 gives
us a little bit of a hint of what that might
look like if we were to give ourselves over.
To that kingdom. Instead of proclaiming Jesus
as king. And we are aligned with his kingdom.
In James 4 .13. Today or tomorrow. We will go
to this or that city. And we're going to spend
a year there. And we're going to carry on business.
And we're going to make money. I got it in my
calendar. I got it in my planner. Luke 12, 18
and 19. This is what we'll do. This is what I'll
do. I'll tear down my barns and build bigger
ones. And there I'll store all my grain and my
goods. And I'll say to myself, you have plenty
of good things laid up for you many years. Take
life easy. Eat, drink and be merry. That's in
my calendar. Going out to eat tomorrow. Because
I got everything I need. It's all set. Psalm
9010. Moses kind of drops a little bit of reality
on the measurable time and passages in his psalm
here. The length of our days is 70 years or 80.
Those of you who are over 80, congratulations.
You have proved Moses wrong. Okay. The length
of our days is 70 years or 80 if we have the
strength. Yet their span is but trouble and sorrow
for they quickly pass and we fly away. So Moses
gives the sobering account of this Kronos in
our lives. The rival kingdom of Kronos, time
wants us to be. Wants us to be bound to measuring
sequential passages of time, clocks, calendars,
hours, days. And does not want us to get involved
with something else that's called Kairos. Kairos
is God's time. Kairos is something that... might
use the time of Kronos, but is God's timing and
time appointment. Therefore, from Ephesians 5,
15 to 16, therefore be careful how you walk,
not as unwise people, but as wise, making the
most, making the most of your time, that word
time is kairos. Making the most of the opportunity
that God gives you. Making the most of this episode
that God is giving you. Making the most of this
period, this time that is not bound to the clock.
Make the most of your time because the days,
Kronos, are evil. Make the most of the kairos
because the kronos, the days, the calendar, those
can bring about evil things. Everybody has to
plan. Everybody has to put stuff in a calendar.
I get that. But God wants to meet us in a kairos
moment, in an opportunity. And we need to make
the most of those moments. The rival kingdom
says, no, you've got to stick to the time. You
keep your own time in rebuttal to Psalm 31, 14
to 15. But I trust you, O Lord. I say you are
my God and my times, every way that I can think
of the word time, my times are in your hands.
Deliver me from my enemies and those who pursue
me. No, you must keep your own time. Keep your
own time. Keep track of your own time. Do your
own thing. Write it down in your own calendar.
That's what you do. That's the rival kingdom
of Kronos. And once again, how do we deal with
this? We demolish arguments and every pretension
that sets itself up against the knowledge of
God and we take captive every thought. To make
it obedience to Christ. No. You are bound to
Kronos. The rival kingdom says. You are bound
to Kronos. Don't fool yourself. You can talk
about Kairos all you want. But Kronos is how
we live in reality. Okay. Can you just picture
this? If you have children who go to school.
Honey. Time to wake up. You have to go to school.
I'm on Kairos time today daddy. I'm not going
to go to school until God gives me that opportune
time to say it's the right time to go to school.
No. You're going to get your Kronos out of bed
and you're going to go to school. Okay, obviously
God, if we put all our times in God's hands,
we're saying both the Kronos and the Kairos,
that belongs to God. And God said, there are
some things I need you to do. In Kronos. I need
you to get up. I need you to go to school. I
need you to go to all your classes. I need you
to do your homework. Turn your stuff in on time.
And guess what I'm going to do. I'm going to
do a boom. I'm going to do a Kairos in the middle
of your Kronos. That's going to just be amazing.
And you're going to on your way to work. Or in
the middle of your work day. Because you had
to be there at 9 o 'clock. And check out at 5.
You're going to get the Kairos. And it's going
to happen. You wait for it. You look for that.
While you're doing your Kronos. But don't let
that Kronos bind you. We demolish arguments and
every pretension that sets itself up against
the knowledge of God. And we take captive every
thought and make it obedient to Christ. Okay,
ECB. Kronos is saying, no, I will tell you what
time it is. And that's what time it is. So what
do we say, ECB? No. We trust God for his timing.
Say it again. No. We trust God for his timing.
Amen. Mark 115. The time has come. The time has
come, he said. The kingdom of God is near. It's
come. It's here and near. Here and near. Repent.
and believe the good news. Yeah, sure. I have
exploded with many explosions, the idyllic walk
through the forest, growing spiritually. I've
done that. But know this. Know this. There are
kingdom wars. There are rival kingdoms, but...
You are to call him Jesus. He will be and will
be called the son of the most high. The Lord
God will give him the throne of his father David
and he will reign over Jacob's descendants forever.
His kingdom will never. His kingdom will never.
His kingdom will never. Praise God. That's the
kingdom I want to be a part of. I know they're
going to keep launching bombs at me from these
rival kingdoms. But I want to say Jesus is my
king. And I want to walk in his kingdom. Because
that's the only way I'm going to get to the other
side of that little path that Pastor Pablo has
drawn for us. If God is calling you to support
our ministries, you will find giving options
on our website. And remember to join us next
week. God bless you.