We want to see your Kingdom coming…
Mat
6:10 & 25-34
Adrian
Warnock
We want to see your kingdom coming….
n
Who
is really in charge?
n
What
about when it seems He isn’t?
n
What
are we going to do about it?
Who is really in
charge?
n
Me?
n
A
Kingdom is ‘a domain in which I can fully impose my will’
n
My
wants, desires and likes
n
Where
can I really fully impose my will?
n
‘Free
will’?
Do we really have ‘free
will’ ?
n
God
sometimes gives us over to sin (Ro 1:24ff)
n
God
sometimes says ‘It was I who kept you from sinning’ (Gen 20:6)
n
We
are either slaves to sin or slaves to righteousness (Ro 6:20ff)
n
We
inherit a sinful tendency and guilt (Ps 51)
n
We
are influenced by others – ‘Bad company ruins good morals’ (1 Co 15:33)
n
But
we remain responsible for our own sin (Ro 3:5-8)
Do we really have ‘free
will’?
n
The
Lord has made everything for its purpose even the wicked for the day of
trouble (Prov 16:4)
n
The
heart of a man plans his ways, but the LORD establishes his steps’ (Prov
16:9)
Creation and Fall
n
We
were given dominion by God, offered a lie by the devil, and gave up our
dominion to another…..
Is Satan really
in charge?
n
And the devil took him up and showed him all the
kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory,
for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. If you, then,
will worship me, it will all be yours.” (Lk 4:5-8)
n
The god of this world has blinded the minds of those
who do not believe to keep them from seeing the light of the glorious gospel
of Christ, who is the image of God. (2 Co 4:4)
n
BUT,
see Job 1
Is God really in charge
of Heaven?
"Why
do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set
themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and
against his anointed, saying, “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away
their cords from us.” He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them
in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his
fury, saying, “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.”" (Psalm 2:1-6, ESV)
Is God really in
charge of Earth?
n
To
Belteshazzar- ‘The Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom He
will.’ (Dan 4:25)
n
There is no authority except from God, and those that
exist have been instituted by God (Ro 13:1-2)
Is God really in charge
of the future?
n
The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of
our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.”(Re
11:15).
n
The God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall
never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall
break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end,
and it shall stand forever (Da 2:44).
Is
God really in charge of the future?
Behold, with the clouds of heaventhere came one like a son of man,and he came to the Ancient of Daysand was presented before him.
And
to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom,that all peoples, nations, and languagesshould serve
him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion,which shall
not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed. (Da 7:13-14).
Is
God really in charge of now?
n
Ludovic
Kennedy ‘Every week in their churches
Christians belt out in hymn after hymn that "God" is just and
merciful and wise, yet also, they claim, invisible, inaccessible and silent
as night. These attributes are contradictory, for if the latter are true, the
former cannot be. And just where in our daily lives do we find examples of
God's mercy, wisdom and justice?
.....Do the brothers and sisters really believe they are being listened to,
and have they ever paused to consider how silly to outsiders they sound and
look?’
Is God really in charge
of now?
n
My
response was ‘I have to say that if I believed that
God was that inactive then I would give up going to church and find something
else to do on a Sunday morning. Fortunately as Kennedy stated such a state of
affairs is contradictory, and in this much I agree with him. If God isn't
vibrant, alive, breaking in constantly in my life I want nothing to do with
him.’ (www.Adrian.Warnock.info)
Is God really in
charge of now?
God “upholds all things by the word of His power” (Heb. 1:3).
“In Him all things consist or hold
together” (Col. 1:17)
“For I know that the Lord is great,and that our Lord is above all gods. Whatever
the Lord pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth” (Ps 135:5-6)
Surely
this is a scandalous statement!
What about when it
seems He isn’t?
n
God’s
Kingdom is were his rule is recognised and revealed
n
This is not
apparently the case in sinful rebellious man…..
n
& appears not
to be the case when bad things happen ‘by chance’
What about when someone
sins against me?
n
God
is never the author of sin - "God cannot be tempted with evil and he
himself tempts no one" (James 1:13)
n
Unlike
Adam, the bible never blames God for sin!
n
God
stands behind good and evil in different ways
n
An
event can be originated outside of God and what he desires and he can decide
not to stop it.
n
An
evil event does not become good simply because God allowed it and intends to
turn it around for good eg to show his grace
What about when someone
sins against me?
n
He
restrains man at times and at others gives him over to sin
n
Life
was never meant to be fair, but God is always just- God saved Peter from prison but allowed James to be
killed.
n
Joseph
could see two things were true- ‘you meant evil against me’ and ‘God meant it
for good’ (Gen 50:20)
The cross- the ultimate
example of multiple causality
n
Judas
sinned
n
The
Jewish authorities arrested him
n
The
crowd’s cried ‘Crucify’ & Pilate abdicated
n
The
devil killed him (2 Cor 2:8)
n
Jesus
offered himself to die (Phil
2:8)
n
‘He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the
point of death, even death on a cross.’
n
BUT
God decided in advance that he should die
n
This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite
plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of
lawless men. (Ac 2:23-24)
What about when it seems like God isn’t
in charge?
n
What
about chance events and catastrophes- floods, earthquakes, redundancies,
sickness?
n
None
of these things surprise God or frustrate his purposes
n
God
is even in control of the weather- after all he made it! (Job 38)
n
If
we accept God is in charge of the big things, isn’t it time to believe he can
manage the small ones?
Who’s in control and why?
n And we know that for those who love God all things work
together for good (Rom. 8:28)
n God ‘created all things so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might be
made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places’
(Eph 3:9-10)
What are we going to do
about it?
n
Realise
you are not the victim of random chance or the misdeeds of others- God has been
guiding your life, so quit
feeling sorry for yourself!
n
Stop
worrying about things like food and drink!
n
Realise
that being on the winning side is motivation to do things not sit back and
wait. So grab hold of the significance God intended for your life. Accomplish
some glory for God with your life in church, home and work
n
When
you’re not in the mood to do something,
don't let that stop you! JUST DO IT!
|
Hear audio
file of this message
THE ALPHA COURSE
Ideal for visitors to the
church or those who just want to find out more about Christianity.
 Listen
to our audio
sermons or read our sermon notes.
Use other search engines or
visit our favorite links to other websites.
To
subscribe to Jubilee Sermons and receive an email when new sermons are posted
email jubileechurch-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Links
|
