WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:10.000 I'm on my series on the kingdom of God. This week is week 13, and I'm wanting to call this week Beachheads. Beach Heads. 00:00:10.000 --> 00:00:20.000 Take some highlights quickly around the kingdom of God. Let's just put some statements out to you that you need to own straight away when trying to understand the kingdom of God. 00:00:20.000 --> 00:00:30.000 Just as an aside, in our worship this morning, did you notice that Andrew and the team gave a little bit more space for a little bit of inverted commas, free worship. 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:40.000 You must understand that worship isn't just singing according to a script. Worship is sometimes just being in the presence of God. 00:00:40.000 --> 00:00:50.000 And if you don't know how to do it, get something on your phone, put music on, worship Bethel wherever you want, Maverick City. 00:00:50.000 --> 00:01:00.000 Put some worship on and let it play. And just be in the presence of God and see what that's like. You don't need to be entertained. 00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:10.000 You don't need to be led from step to step. Sometimes it's good to learn just to be, just to linger in the presence of God. Are you good with that? 00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:20.000 Because we're assuming that if the presence of God is there, the kingdom of God has come. And there are times that God wants to renew the way we think. 00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:30.000 Because in some of us is a natural timidity that God wants to break us out of. God has put you. You're going to see it just now in terms of Beach Heads. 00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:40.000 God has put you in place to make a difference in the lives of others. And sometimes God can equip you. He can talk to you, he can speak to you, give you ideas, things he wants you to do. 00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:50.000 But if there's a natural timidity inside you, instead of the roar of the lion of Judah, you're not going to do what he's called you to do. 00:01:50.000 --> 00:02:00.000 And sometimes God just wants you to be in the place where you're prepared to open those shackles and say, lord, I want to do and I want to be what you've called me to be. 00:02:00.000 --> 00:02:10.000 And maybe as you begin to understand something of the truth of the kingdom, these things will happen for you. So let's just go through a couple of quick points. 00:02:10.000 --> 00:02:20.000 These are all just introductory statements. You know how it works. I've got five pages. Let's see if we get past page one today. 00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:30.000 All right, introductory statement number one. The kingdom of God came into history in Jesus and Pentecost. Jesus preached the kingdom. 00:02:30.000 --> 00:02:40.000 Jesus talked about the kingdom, Jesus demonstrated the kingdom. And then at Pentecost, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who were present. 00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:50.000 This was the Event of that stone that fell. Remember when Nebuchadnezzar had a dream and called Daniel and said, I've had a dream. 00:02:50.000 --> 00:03:00.000 And that dream was of a stone that wasn't cut by human hands. And it was cut from a rock and began to pour down and it fell down a mountain onto an idol. 00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:10.000 And that idol represented the empires of this world. And that stone smacked it, broke it to the ground, and that stone started to grow until it filled the whole earth. 00:03:10.000 --> 00:03:20.000 And that is something of the kingdom of God. It's something you're a part of this morning. The kingdom came into history in Jesus and at Pentecost number two. 00:03:20.000 --> 00:03:30.000 But the kingdom continues to come through the Holy Spirit. The kingdom comes into your life. The kingdom of God invades your life. 00:03:30.000 --> 00:03:40.000 When you become a Christian, you're not some little twit who just goes, okay, repeat after me. I believe in my heart and confession of my mouth and Jesus, Lord, my life. 00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:50.000 There isn't just what happens. It may be what you think happens, but what happens is there is an invasion into your life by the Holy Spirit. 00:03:50.000 --> 00:04:00.000 He comes in and he takes residence inside you. That's why the Bible uses terminology like keep in step with the Spirit, don't grieve the spirit, listen to the Spirit. 00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:10.000 He hears from heaven and he wants to lead in and through your life according to what God's got for you. The kingdom of God literally wants to invade by the Holy Spirit. 00:04:10.000 --> 00:04:20.000 And when the kingdom enters your life, you become a son or a daughter of God. You become a child of the most high. You're in this world, you're not of it. 00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:30.000 You're here to bring change, which we'll look at now. Number three, it begins to change our lives. In an upside down value system, you find yourself changing and sometimes even changing against your will. 00:04:30.000 --> 00:04:40.000 How many of you became Christians? And things you used to do, you suddenly find you you're not doing, but not by a decision of your own. It's just happening. 00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:50.000 I walked in here this morning and saw a young guy, won't point him out. I just said to Bud, I hope you're behaving. You know what his comment to me was? 00:04:50.000 --> 00:05:00.000 Well, I haven't had alcohol in a year and I haven't had drugs in two years. Gave me his little CV of what he's doing. And I'm thinking, well done, Bud. 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:10.000 And I bet it wasn't so much conscious decisions as it was the leading of God. Because there's an upside down value system. Your money, you suddenly start giving and Being generous and doing stuff. 00:05:10.000 --> 00:05:20.000 You live for a kingdom to come. An upside down value system. If you're a wife, you learn to submit to your husband. Let me say that again. 00:05:20.000 --> 00:05:30.000 If you're a wife, you learn to submit to your husband. And when he wants to watch rugby on a Saturday afternoon and thinks it's your turn to wash the car, it is. 00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:40.000 And if you believe that, you'll believe anything. Alright? It also says, husbands, love your wives as Jesus loved the church and lay down in your life. 00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:50.000 It also says, woman, be quiet in church. So if you don't mind, if you don't mind getting that joke. There's an upside down value system, isn't it? 00:05:50.000 --> 00:06:00.000 The poor and the weak are honored at the expense of the high and mighty. And we find Jesus in the lowest, not in the highest. Alright? Number four. 00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:10.000 We discover we are caught in a battle between two ages where the kingdom of God has already come to yet. The kingdom of God has not come fully yet. 00:06:10.000 --> 00:06:20.000 Which is why when you pray for 10 people, three or four get healed, not 10. But we trust him for more and for more. 00:06:20.000 --> 00:06:30.000 We live in an age where Jesus is here, but so is the devil, but where the kingdom of God is increasing and it's the last waves or shock waves of the enemy, if you like. 00:06:30.000 --> 00:06:40.000 The gospel is spreading faster around the world today than it's ever done in its history. There are more Christians in the world today. There are more churches in the world today. 00:06:40.000 --> 00:06:50.000 There are than ever before. And World Government, Psalm 2. World governments can stand and shake in anger at the church. 00:06:50.000 --> 00:07:00.000 But the reality is the church is growing in power and in significance. The stone is rolling. The stone is growing. There's no stopping it. 00:07:00.000 --> 00:07:10.000 The kingdom of God cannot be stopped. Number five. The kingdom exercises widening ripple effects. The ministry of evangelism and healing. 00:07:10.000 --> 00:07:20.000 Signs, wonders, miracles. God doing things that people can't explain. I believe on Thursday we had testimonies, or last Thursday at prayer meeting, about people who've been healed. 00:07:20.000 --> 00:07:30.000 God is just doing stuff. And if you got touched this morning, or God has done stuff with you and you finding yourself being healed, won't you come and tell us? 00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:40.000 We need to share these testimonies of the fact that God does what only God can do. It's not done by human hands. And there's this invasion, there's this widening ripple effect of the kingdom. 00:07:40.000 --> 00:07:50.000 In the ministry of evangelism and healing. The kingdom creates a future world community called the church. One day, when this whole world comes to an end, all that's left is the church that Jesus is building, there will be nothing else. 00:07:50.000 --> 00:08:00.000 There will be nobody else. Others will be condemned to hell, but those who love Jesus will be going into heaven to where heaven comes to earth in a new community called the Church. 00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:10.000 The body of Christ. And this kingdom, by the charge of God, goes into all the nations. We don't say no. We don't take no for an answer. 00:08:10.000 --> 00:08:20.000 When people tell the church, you can't do this, we say, is it? How are you going to stop us? We are billions of people across this planet. 00:08:20.000 --> 00:08:30.000 And by now you should be asking, how big does this get? And I want to tell you, when you're a Christian, the kingdom of God is the big picture. 00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:40.000 It expands our vision to see God's total plan for restoration of creation and humanity. God wants us to care for the world we live in. We'll talk about that in weeks to come. 00:08:40.000 --> 00:08:50.000 He wants us to be stewards of the land we live in. He wants us to take. Every single broken person on planet Earth has the potential to be an incredible, incredible son or daughter of God. 00:08:50.000 --> 00:09:00.000 They may be the lowest that your eyes never see, addicted to whatever. To the people sitting full of pride in their glass towers across the board, God wants to bring people into a revelation of Jesus. 00:09:00.000 --> 00:09:10.000 The kingdom of God expands our vision. It holds together the whole of the redemptive story from creation through the fall, to the history of Israel, the coming of Jesus, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, world mission, to the second coming of Jesus, to the age to come. 00:09:10.000 --> 00:09:20.000 It's all wrapped up in the kingdom of God. That was my introduction this morning. Hopefully you're on the same page as me. Point number one, bring them all. 00:09:20.000 --> 00:09:30.000 What's the slogan we adopt in this church? What's the one phrase we want you to know in this church? Each one reach one. I had a guy come to me this morning and saying, but, you know, you said, each one reach one. Yeah. 00:09:30.000 --> 00:09:40.000 He said, I didn't. I brought two. Yeah. This morning, a guy in this building right now, he said, I didn't bring one, I brought two. 00:09:40.000 --> 00:09:50.000 So I said, great, bring him to say hello to me after the meeting. We had to bring our friends. We had to bring people the kingdom of God. Listen to this. Now. 00:09:50.000 --> 00:10:00.000 The kingdom of God in its most inclusive sense is simply the rule of God over everything. When you wake up in the morning, you go to sleep at night, you do stuff in the day, you get distracted. God never does. 00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:10.000 Every moment of every day, the Son is at the right hand of the Father, interceding and Praying for the church, that the church grow in its influence. 00:10:10.000 --> 00:10:20.000 The Holy Spirit is unstoppable in his energy and in his power and in his direction. He's getting from heaven. And I want to tell you that God is extreme. His rule. Take social media and flush it. 00:10:20.000 --> 00:10:30.000 The reality is the kingdom of God is extending across our planet. The gospel is growing. The rule of God is over everything. There's not a single person left out. 00:10:30.000 --> 00:10:40.000 There's no one God doesn't want to touch who remembers that old song. He's got the whole world in his hands. He's got the whole, you know the, you know, the. Of the rest. 00:10:40.000 --> 00:10:50.000 So the kingdom of God means the rule of God simply over everything. When a child is born. Ever had a mommy gives birth to a child? 00:10:50.000 --> 00:11:00.000 The most prophetic statement you can ever do to a child who's just born is give it a good smack. Have you ever noticed when a child is born, the pediatrician goes straight away? My opinion, they should have smacked the parents. 00:11:00.000 --> 00:11:10.000 But why do you give that. Have you noticed when you have a kid, little child is born, you don't spend the first two or three years of his life teaching it. Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, this is how you be good. 00:11:10.000 --> 00:11:20.000 And then Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday, and this is how you misbehave. They don't have to learn how to misbehave. As a matter of fact, from the time they're born, you're bringing them, right? 00:11:20.000 --> 00:11:30.000 You're trying to bring them back into the order God always had for them. Because we're born in sin and a sinful nature corrupts us. And the gospel wants to bring us back. 00:11:30.000 --> 00:11:40.000 The kingdom of God wants to bring us back. The rule of God wants to be established. That's point one. Point two, though under point one is that there's another sense of the kingdom in which you and I are invited to participate in it. 00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:50.000 You don't just hear and sing about the kingdom, you participate in the kingdom. It's your role as a Christian. The story of the Old and New Testament is the story of the kingdom of God being entrusted to people. 00:11:50.000 --> 00:12:00.000 What do you do with the gospel when it's given to you? Remember how God invited Moses to partner in kingdom leadership as he exercised the power of God? 00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:10.000 What do you have in your hand, Moses? It's a staff. Put it down. Turn it into a snake. Put it back. Moses, I'm going to show you things around the kingdom of God, even your claim. You can't speak. 00:12:10.000 --> 00:12:20.000 I'll get your brother to help you. You need to understand Moses, when I invite you into my space, God says, I'm inviting you into kingdom activity. 00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:30.000 How many people do you see in the Bible that God revealed himself to and then expected absolutely nothing from them? None. Because every time God engages somebody he expects and he pulls something out of your life for the sake of the kingdom, you're invited to participate. 00:12:30.000 --> 00:12:40.000 The call of the Hebrew people was Isaiah, chapter 496. You will do more than restore the people of Israel to me. I will make you a light to the Gentiles and you will bring my salvation to the ends of the earth. 00:12:40.000 --> 00:12:50.000 That's where the gospel goes. But they didn't succeed and so the task was handed to the church. Hence now we're going to start talking about beach heads. 00:12:50.000 --> 00:13:00.000 The church is the outpost of this inclusive kingdom. When you think about being in the kingdom of God for a moment, I want you to think about the generousness of the invitation. 00:13:00.000 --> 00:13:10.000 I've got two tickets versus I've got space for all of you. The kingdom is inclusive and the effectiveness of the inclusive kingdom is only as effective. 00:13:10.000 --> 00:13:20.000 The hearts of the people already in the kingdom and asking the question whether they understand that God wants everyone to come. Do you understand that this gospel is inclusive? 00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:30.000 In the parable of the wedding feast, remember, those who invited didn't come. And what did the master say? Luke 14. Then go out into the country lanes behind the hedges and urge anyone you find to come so that the house will be full. 00:13:30.000 --> 00:13:40.000 Friends, God wants a full house. Yesterday afternoon we were at a function and we get home and on the way home, I've got all three boys who are all here now sending me text messages about what time they're going to come home. 00:13:40.000 --> 00:13:50.000 One's there, one's there and one's there. No one is at home. And contrary to popular belief, we actually wanted them to come home. Where are they? Where's the boys? Next thing, boys, we want a full house. 00:13:50.000 --> 00:14:00.000 Of course, when it is full, they make a noise and you wish they go again, you know what I'm saying? But if you think as a parent, when you miss your children, some of you sometimes have to travel hours or whatever to go and fake to see your children again. 00:14:00.000 --> 00:14:10.000 God is missing his kids. God wants a full house. The openness and the open heartedness of our message will bring people in. 00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:20.000 If we are open and we are open hearted, you and I need to be a generous people, understanding we are on a mission. So point one is God says, if you have an understanding of the kingdom in your life, bring Them all in. 00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:30.000 Nobody is beyond the reach of the gospel. Nobody. That's number one. And point number two. How do we do this? We do this through kingdom outposts. Never thought about it. 00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:40.000 What are churches? Churches are a primary expression of the kingdom of God among us. You know, when Jesus gave the Great Commission and he told his disciples to go into all the world and preach, you notice he never once said, go and start churches. 00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:50.000 There's no reference in the entire New Testament to Jesus saying, go and start churches. He has told them to go out and establish beachheads for the kingdom of God. 00:14:50.000 --> 00:15:00.000 What is a beachhead? A beachhead is a piece of the beach. This is very classic. A beachhead is a piece of beach that an army captures so that they can establish a base of operations. 00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:10.000 Do you remember Normandy? D day Fortress Europe held under the control of Nazi Germany. And the British and the Americans got together and said, let's start with five different beaches from Omaha through to the end. 00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:20.000 We're going to start on five different beaches. We're going to go and we're going to create beach heads. And in a beach head, you take your people, your supplies, your army, you take everything onto a small piece of ground that you've taken as your own. 00:15:20.000 --> 00:15:30.000 And. And you now start to extend that small piece of ground through a base of operations. How did the disciples establish these advanced outposts? 00:15:30.000 --> 00:15:40.000 And we're going to spend months ahead looking into how do we start beach heads. Because I want to tell you this, under no circumstances am I in this building today to grow a big church. 00:15:40.000 --> 00:15:50.000 Are you hearing me? Jesus never said, go and start a big church. He said, go into the world and preach the gospel. This simply becomes a base of operations from which men and women filled with the spirit of God will go from here into the world with the gospel to start these outposts, these beachheads for the gospel. 00:15:50.000 --> 00:16:00.000 How do we do it? How do we establish these things? Well, that's what Jesus said in Matthew 28:18. I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. 00:16:00.000 --> 00:16:10.000 Jesus has been given all authority that he gives to us now. And he says, I have a task for you. And this is what happened in the book of Acts. 00:16:10.000 --> 00:16:20.000 What you and I call churches today were a spin off of those outposts because out of the blue, when people started speaking to other people about Jesus, they began to meet in homes. 00:16:20.000 --> 00:16:30.000 Remember, Paul's whole ministry right through Europe was to go into the ancient world and start, get somebody, a man or a woman of peace, get them saved. 00:16:30.000 --> 00:16:40.000 And once they got them Saved, they would bring in their family. If you remember the Philippian jailer who said, how do I get saved? He brought his family in and Paul saw him saved. Paul and Silas. 00:16:40.000 --> 00:16:50.000 And once they get saved, the gospel takes root. And then they want to bring their friends. And before you know it, a whole crowd arises. Churches start like mushrooms. 00:16:50.000 --> 00:17:00.000 They just pitch up in the most unlikely place because God speaks to men and women. God begins to do something in those lives. Can you imagine? Just for a moment, try not to. 00:17:00.000 --> 00:17:10.000 But try. And try not to. Imagine for a moment being the devil. Some of you think of your spouse, well that's easy enough. Your mother in law I can picture right now. 00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:20.000 Imagine being the devil for a moment. You're a finite being. You can only be in one place at a time. And the only way you can know what's going on in someone's heart is by observation. 00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:30.000 Only the spirit of God knows what's going on in a person's heart and a person's spirit. Now can you imagine? You have a third of the angelic forces are now yours, which means two thirds aren't. 00:17:30.000 --> 00:17:40.000 The spirit of God who can be in. Every single Christian at every point in time is given as the gift of the Father. And every Christian has the potential to be a mushroom, a church planter. 00:17:40.000 --> 00:17:50.000 Imagine the wind blows. John 3, verse 8, the wind blows. And men and women, guys and girls start to feel something of the Spirit speaking something into their lives. 00:17:50.000 --> 00:18:00.000 And they start to agree with God and say, I'm going to go and do what God told me to do 30 years ago. I had that personal experience. But God said, go and do something. Yes Lord. 00:18:00.000 --> 00:18:10.000 I don't even know what it means or how it looks, but I'll do it. Imagine the wind of the Spirit begins to blow across planet earth and sons and daughters start rising up everywhere. 00:18:10.000 --> 00:18:20.000 And you don't know what their plans are. You're the enemy. You don't know what their plans are because they're not telling you. And they're praying in the Spirit and they're talking to God and God's filling them with power. 00:18:20.000 --> 00:18:30.000 Then you say to your demon, watch that guy. But when you do another 10 or doing that now, watch him now that's what this world actually looks like. 00:18:30.000 --> 00:18:40.000 The wind of God blowing across this planet with guys and girls saying, I want to be part of a beachhead of the gospel, uncontrolled, led by the Spirit. 00:18:40.000 --> 00:18:50.000 New wine into new wineskins. Jesus being poured from the church into the world. These churches draw all kinds of people everyone's welcome. 00:18:50.000 --> 00:19:00.000 The good, the bad and the ugly together. Not only do these beach heads start, but they draw all kinds of people into it. And they then become peculiar people. 00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:10.000 Would you agree? Christians are peculiar, strange sometimes. And we gather together and we're different people and we're being shaped by the things of God. 00:19:10.000 --> 00:19:20.000 And then suddenly we begin to say, hey, where are we going next? I've got a friend in that neighborhood. I've got one there. I've got one there. 00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:30.000 I remember when we started our West Strand Church, all I did was get four friends and start in someone's house and say, bring friends with you. The same as we started our church. Just get people, get a handful of friends. 00:19:30.000 --> 00:19:40.000 They tell their friends, they tell their friends. Then that friend says, hey, have you got someone who can come to my house? And we go to their house and start preaching the gospel and we start baptizing them, telling them about Jesus. 00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:50.000 Then the next one comes and there's this unstoppable wave of God. Because we understand not only must everyone come in, not only is everyone welcome, but the church will only grow by the starting of beach heads. 00:19:50.000 --> 00:20:00.000 It's a very limited amount of people who will come to a church on a Sunday, and usually that's 99% by friends inviting them. But what God wants is for you and I to start beachheads where they are in schools, universities, workplaces, homes, nurseries. 00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:10.000 Get to where they are, and all you need is a very rudimentary knowledge of who Jesus is and what Jesus has meant for you. And when you do that, you start to preach this gospel. 00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:20.000 And that's how the early church started. And we just simply continue their work today. And this has two implications. 00:20:20.000 --> 00:20:30.000 If you want to start a beachhead and you and I want to start churches, you want to see more people reach for the gospel. South Africa becomes a much better place, and the people become a lot nicer when they're saved. 00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:40.000 Do you agree? So it doesn't help to immigrate. It doesn't help to go anywhere. Because you know what the problem is? There's people there. 00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:50.000 Different accent, different color skin, they play different sports, but they're people with the same issues. I'm not going to write a book, but if I did this particular book, I would call it the kind of people to expect in every church, from Brother Bother to Sister Bucketmouth. 00:20:50.000 --> 00:21:00.000 And I promise you, you can go to ask me, you can go to any church in the world. The same characters are there, isn't it? I meet with pastors now. 00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:10.000 In Nigeria last week, I'll meet with some in Zimbabwe in two weeks time, I'll meet with some there. And you go and sit with these guys and you start to talk to them. 00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:20.000 And when you say, right, what can I help you with? What's going on in your church? It's a carbon copy of churches all over the place. Because humanity is the same everywhere. We're just strange. 00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:30.000 And so there are implications that you need to have in your heart. And the first implication is that the easy and open accessibility of the kingdom means that all sorts of people, weak and needy, are going to come into the church. 00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:40.000 You don't get to choose who joins the church. You, you can choose your wife. Please do that. Well, you can choose to have kids, but you can't choose what comes out and you can't push them back with an adoption. 00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:50.000 You can choose. Look, I like this. You adopted, you've chosen. If it's a natural birth, good luck. Are you hearing me? 00:21:50.000 --> 00:22:00.000 But you can choose your friends, you can choose your neighbors, you can choose your work colleagues, but you know who you can't choose? You can't choose the people God touches to come and join the church. That's not up to you. 00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:10.000 And God brings all sorts of people into the church. And we demonstrate, by the spirit of God and by the blood of Jesus, we demonstrate that everybody is welcome. 00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:20.000 And I need to say this categorically, everyone is welcome to come as they are, but not everyone is welcome to stay as they are. 00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:30.000 So you can come in here no matter what's wrong or whatever's happened in your life. But if you're going to come in here and derive benefit from us without ever allowing the spirit of God to change you, your time's limited with us because you're not here to do harm. 00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:40.000 So point one is, everybody's welcome. It doesn't matter what on earth they believe, they're welcome even if they identify as a dog. You just tell them, don't lift your leg in the building. Are you with me? But they're welcome. 00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:50.000 So that's point number one. If you're a person who sits back and I don't like these kind of people, and I don't like those kind of people, I have a funny feeling that when you get to heaven, if you do, God in his sense of humor is going to have people so unlike you living next door in my home, in my house are many rooms, and you've only got one. 00:22:50.000 --> 00:23:00.000 Everyone else has rooms too. And I think it's going to be the sense of humor, of heaven, that if you die a believer in Jesus, but with a racist heart, you are going to live next to Chinese people. 00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:10.000 Watch, watch, watch, watch, watch. Because Jesus will not have a single person made in his image that you're allowed to look down on, or that I'm allowed to look down on. 00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:20.000 Every single person will. Not their ideas, but every single person will be welcome. Number one. Implication. 00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:30.000 Implication number two, though, is that it will sometimes produce a trying and distressing environment. Because you know as well as I do, hurt people hurt people, loved people love people, forgiven people forgive. 00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:40.000 But broken people break. You know that as well as I do. And sometimes as you're adding people into the life of the church, certain things are not easy. 00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:50.000 And you learn in the wisdom of God. That's why we have structure and we have the word of God and how you deal with people. Because not everyone's coming to give, some people are coming to get. 00:23:50.000 --> 00:24:00.000 And when God adds, we got to work through these things. Which leads to number three. Are you ready? There is a blessed assurance around the kingdom of God. 00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:10.000 A blessed assurance. We're going to close with this, obviously, but let me just go there. Psalm 126, if you want to turn there. Psalm 126. 00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:20.000 I'm reading from the New Living Translation. Almost done. 126. When the Lord brought back his exiles to Jerusalem, it was like a dream. 00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:30.000 We were filled with laughter and we sang with joy. And the other nations said, what amazing things the Lord has done for them. Yes, the Lord has done amazing things for us. What joy. 00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:40.000 Restore our fortunes, O Lord. As streams renew the desert. Those who plant in tears will harvest with shouts of joy. 00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:50.000 They weep as they go to plant their seed, but they sing as they return with the harvest. What is that psalm on about? And what do we learn about beach heads from it? 00:24:50.000 --> 00:25:00.000 Psalm 126 talks about Jerusalem. Other translations talk about Zion. Jerusalem is referred to Zion especially because of its historical and religious significance. 00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:10.000 Zion was originally a specific hill in the city of Jerusalem, Mount Zion that came to represent the city and then the nation itself. 00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:20.000 The historical significance of Jerusalem, or of Zion is that it was established by King David. So King David established a city on a hill. 00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:30.000 It's not even a big hill, by the way, but he established a city on a hill and he called it Zion. It became the capital of Israel, became the symbol and the identity of Israel's power and of Israel's identity. 00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:40.000 That's what it became. Its religious significance was it became associated with the Temple the center of Jewish life and worship. 00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:50.000 And what happened over time was the people of Jerusalem puffed themselves up, thinking they're the greatest kingdom that ever lived. We'll never be defeated. We have the temple. We have the Temple. 00:25:50.000 --> 00:26:00.000 And they would live by and swear by the temple. We have the Temple. And if you remember, their hearts had drifted from God and the prophets came one after the other after the other after the other to say, it's not good enough to be living in Zion. 00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:10.000 It's not good enough to live in Jerusalem. It's not good enough to worship at the Temple. God is looking at your heart, not your sacrifices. 00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:20.000 God is looking straight into your hearts this morning. And they didn't listen. They wouldn't listen. So what happened? The temple was burned. 00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:30.000 They were led away to Babylon as prisoners in shackles. And when they were led away to Babylon, they began to truly understand what the kingdom of God is and how it really works. 00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:40.000 And God began to say, the kingdom is not set up in a place, it's set up in a heart. And if your heart is going to be closed and you put your faith in something, I will get rid of the something so I can get back to your heart. 00:26:40.000 --> 00:26:50.000 Remember how many times I've said, if you will not listen to God, he'll get your attention through family, through finances, or through your health. He'll get you to look at him again. 00:26:50.000 --> 00:27:00.000 And here it was, their absolutely absurd commitment to the temple and the temple locust rather than towards God. And back in Babylon, they found the kingdom and they were allowed to come back and they learned their lesson. 00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:10.000 And the image of streams in the desert refers to how these dry creek beds in the desert are suddenly filled with water after a sudden flash flood or a thunderstorm, which symbolizes the kingdom. 00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:20.000 And Israel had to learn this one thing. When we were taken in captivity to Babylon, we didn't bring ourselves back. God did. 00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:30.000 He get sent to place many, many years earlier in the Exodus, you remember, God showed through incredible miracles through 10 plagues. God showed through the death of the firstborn sons of Egypt. 00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:40.000 God showed that you might have got yourselves into slavery, but you can't get yourself out. I will do it. And they came out of Egypt, through the Passover, into the wilderness, and from the wilderness into the promised land. 00:27:40.000 --> 00:27:50.000 Because of the activity of God, the kingdom came. Moses and the Israelites saw miracle upon miracle happening all around them. The kingdom was coming. 00:27:50.000 --> 00:28:00.000 But you don't cause the kingdom, you yield to the kingdom. And later on in Psalm 126, yet again Israel's not listening. They're in captivity a second time and they're brought back a second time. 00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:10.000 And when they brought back this time, their song is different. Their song is God wants laughter and joy back in his house. The heart of God for every person who doesn't know Jesus is to bring laughter and joy. 00:28:10.000 --> 00:28:20.000 And if you now look and say, okay, as a church, an outpost that wants to extend the kingdom of God, from Psalm 126, what are the characteristics that you and I need to become more familiar with? 00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:30.000 And thankfully, there's only four. You ready? Number one, Laughter and joy. Laughter and joy. Number two, God wants streams that renew dry places. 00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:40.000 Speaking to somebody yesterday, a young guy yesterday, living in the States now, and we were having a chat yesterday, and I said to him, isn't it amazing how when you put your faith in Jesus, two things happen? 00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:50.000 Number one, your life gets filled with purpose. And number two, everything makes sense. All the questions you would have make sense when you realize God was there first and you put your faith in him and you choose to follow Him. 00:28:50.000 --> 00:29:00.000 Choices you're going to make, jobs you're going to have, people you're going to marry, where you're going to live. Everything starts to make sense. 00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:10.000 When the kingdom invades you, you get purpose and everything makes sense. And that's what it's like when streams flow in a desert. Suddenly I'm refreshed. My life has purpose and meaning. 00:29:10.000 --> 00:29:20.000 Number three, God wants shouts of joy. I emphasize that again because the joy of the Lord is our strength. And joy is not like happiness. Are you okay? 00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:30.000 Happiness is, you got what you wanted for your birthday. That's happiness. Do you want some happiness? Joy is the deep, deep centered acknowledgment that the grace God fills my life. That's joy. 00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:40.000 I am held by Him. The kingdom has come into my life. I can be happy, I can be unhappy. But my joy is unchanging. 00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:50.000 And he wants joy in his house. In Philippians, rejoice. In other words, be full of joy. And again I say rejoice. 00:29:50.000 --> 00:30:00.000 And number four, God wants us to return each week with harvest. If all those other three things are true, then you and I need to be more bold in our proclamation of Jesus, because we know this works. 00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:10.000 Are you alright? So our groups of disciples, our beach heads, whether they're connect groups, whether they're church plants, they contain people at all stages of the journey. 00:30:10.000 --> 00:30:20.000 Young Christians, older Christians, mature Christians. One John puts it like this. Little children, young men and fathers. There's a progression of faith. 00:30:20.000 --> 00:30:30.000 So Our churches, we just need to understand we'll all be at a different place in our development. And that's good. And that's why we have opportunities for you, from prayer meetings to courses. 00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:40.000 We run 40 something courses in this church so that you're able to go and say, okay, I understand that I can grow. The opportunity to grow is in front of you. 00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:50.000 That's for me, what steady progress requires. All sorts of different people are welcome. Steady progress. Number two, in a sense, we're like a hospital. 00:30:50.000 --> 00:31:00.000 It's only one expression of a church, but we are like a hospital. Please come in and get well. Don't sit there for six months the same because you won't take the medicine. 00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:10.000 Please come in and get well. Let the physio and the doctors put all the pills and let them walk you around. And please just get well. 00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:20.000 Will you allow your attitude to be adjusted? Will you allow God to actually do something in you? How regretful. The older you get, you still look like you did before you were saved. 00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:30.000 Please come into the hospital, but please get well. We want you to leave again, not us. We want you to leave hospital stage number two. 00:31:30.000 --> 00:31:40.000 Number three. Although some are in intensive care, the goal is you start to get purpose in your eyes. They look at you, say, here's a guy or a girl knows exactly where they're going. They know where their lives are headed. 00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:50.000 Number four. Understand that the church is not a place of perfection. None of us are perfect. It's a place where we live with one another under the healing power of Jesus. 00:31:50.000 --> 00:32:00.000 We all have up and down days, we all have moments. Things don't work for us. And part of what makes us Christians, Jesus said, is that the world will know you're my disciples by your love for one another, not your tolerance. 00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:10.000 Because love is an outward expression. You choose to love, you choose to walk in love. If you truly walk in love, when someone has had a meeting with you, no matter what phase of mind you're in, when someone has had a meeting with you, if they're better off afterwards, you will walk in love. 00:32:10.000 --> 00:32:20.000 So simple leads to the last question and we landed right now at 36 minutes. Who does all this? All the stuff I talked about the whole morning, who's supposed to do all this, that the kingdom is extended? 00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:30.000 Do you understand that God has called you and I to carry a load? He's called us to be responsible. When you become a Christian, you lose the right to do what you want, when you want. 00:32:30.000 --> 00:32:40.000 You lift your heart to God and say, lord, what do you want from me. And my closing scripture is this. Ephesians 4:1. 00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:50.000 Therefore, I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling. For you have been called by God. Always be humble and gentle. 00:32:50.000 --> 00:33:00.000 Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other's faults because of your love. Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. 00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:10.000 For there is one body and one spirit, just as you've been called to one glorious hope for the future. Do you now have an understanding of what these beachheads are? 00:33:10.000 --> 00:33:20.000 Churches filled with people who are filled with Jesus, who are being changed into his likeness, committed to him. And suddenly the world looks at the horror they're in, and they look at you and I. 00:33:20.000 --> 00:33:30.000 A countercultural kingdom on this earth. And they say, I want to live there. I want to live where you live. And again, it's a Noah's ark. 00:33:30.000 --> 00:33:40.000 It's an environment of putting the people in place where they're safe. You and I, friends, have a job to do in this city and in this country. And it's not just to attend church on a Sunday. 00:33:40.000 --> 00:33:50.000 It's to become a beachhead from which this gospel is preached from every life and every family, from every home. Psalm 126. When the Lord rescued me, I was filled with joy. 00:33:50.000 --> 00:34:00.000 That's our goal. Stand with me, please. But perhaps this morning there could be guys or girls in this room. And you've realized today I am actually personally not yet part of the kingdom of God. 00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:10.000 You can believe in Jesus. The devil believes in Jesus. He's not going to heaven. Remember the devil was Lucifer. He used to worship Jesus. He knows who Jesus is. 00:34:10.000 --> 00:34:20.000 When Jesus cast demons out of people, they said, we know who you are, Son of the Most High. The devil knows Jesus. You can know Jesus. It doesn't mean you're going to heaven. 00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:30.000 The only way you go to heaven is when you recognize your sin and when you acknowledge Jesus as the only answer to what your life faces. 00:34:30.000 --> 00:34:40.000 And you say, I choose to surrender my life to Jesus like that thief on the cross. And the Bible says in that moment, if you believe in your heart and you confess with your mouth that Jesus is lord of your life, you will be saved. 00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:50.000 I know I've used this example often. My brother's got this game reserve and I go visit sometimes. And if you open the fridge in the game reserve in his house is usually a red box and in it is snake anti venom. 00:34:50.000 --> 00:35:00.000 If I get bitten by snakes, sometimes it's too long to get myself To a hospital. But the antivenoms, Imagine I got outside, you're bitten by a snake. 00:35:00.000 --> 00:35:10.000 I come in, I run in and I open the fridge and I say, oh thank God, there's the antivenom, close it again, put the rugby on, make some coffee. I'm right near the anti venom. 00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:20.000 I'm still gonna die if I don't get that anti venom in my system. If I don't get the forgiveness of Jesus in my system, I'm not getting saved. It really comes down to that. 00:35:20.000 --> 00:35:30.000 My last comment this morning is Jesus said, if you acknowledge me before man, I will acknowledge you before my Father in heaven. If you disown me before man, I will disown you before my Father in heaven. 00:35:30.000 --> 00:35:40.000 So I want to give you an opportunity this morning, all our eyes closed, please, if you've heard this preach this morning and you recognize that you want to give your life to Jesus, I want to pray with you. 00:35:40.000 --> 00:35:50.000 And what I'm going to ask you, just stick up your hand wherever you are, you want to give your life to Jesus, Jesus this morning, you want to surrender to him? Just stick your hand up so I can see it. 00:35:50.000 --> 00:36:00.000 And I'm saying seeing it by faith because of course I can't see anything. Thank you, thank you. Thank you. You can put your hands down. Anyone else? Thank you. 00:36:00.000 --> 00:36:10.000 Put your hands down. Thank you. Put your hands down. Thank you. Once I've said thank you, you can put your hand down again so I can pray for you. Is there anyone else this morning? Your instrument? Thank you. 00:36:10.000 --> 00:36:20.000 Put your hand down. Anyone else? Thank you so much for being a part of our meeting today. Can I just ask two things? 00:36:20.000 --> 00:36:30.000 The first is if today the message has in any way been useful to you, would you mind just maybe liking it or putting perhaps a statement down or a comment down that we can know how the ministry has helped you. 00:36:30.000 --> 00:36:40.000 Maybe a thumbs up, maybe you can subscribe to the channel, do whatever, just so we can know what impact this message may be having on you. 00:36:40.000 --> 00:36:50.000 And secondly, you may be someone who's saying, greg, I hear you and this hope that Jesus has for us can come into my heart and it can change me. But the reality is that I don't even know if I know Jesus. 00:36:50.000 --> 00:37:00.000 I want to say two things to you right away. The first is he's near you right now. Bible says if you believe in your heart that he is the Lord and if you confess him with your mouth, you will be saved. 00:37:00.000 --> 00:37:10.000 Which means you just need to where you are, turn to the Lord Jesus Christ, even now and just say, lord, here I am. I recognize who you are. I confess my sin to you. 00:37:10.000 --> 00:37:20.000 I acknowledge you as Jesus Christ, the Lord of all, the Son of the living God. And I want to follow you. I want to become a disciple of yours. I want to give my life to you, Lord. 00:37:20.000 --> 00:37:30.000 And you can pray that prayer right now between you and the Lord. Secondly, you can get hold of of us. We could either send you some material, we can put you in touch with a really good church near you. 00:37:30.000 --> 00:37:40.000 If you live in our area, you can come to us. You can follow us on YouTube. But it is good to get connected into the family of God, to get connected into a local church that your life changes being surrounded with the family of God. 00:37:40.000 --> 00:37:45.000 Please stay in touch. God bless you.