Seeing, Entering and the Price

Seeing, Entering, and the price of the Kingdom

Last year Aiden and I had a chance to go to a NFL game. We have never before had experienced a Professional football game. Tickets were cheap and we managed to secure tickets for $8 a piece. As the day continued to draw near, the weather continued to get worse and worse. Sunday morning road around, We woke up and looked at the weather. It was going to be a warm 38-40 degrees with rain expected on the forecast for the next two days.

We drove to charlotte and as we entered into the city we see situated under a big black panther was the Bank of America Stadium. Through the rain, we heard the sound echoing from the stadium of the pregame warm ups, We have seen the destination of our trip.

If you have ever been to a major sporting event the closer to the stadium that you are the more expensive the parking is. For us to enter the stadium, we have to park somewhere. We searched and searched, $50 here, $45 there. Finally, in the horizon about 1 mile from the stadium we found the golden ticket in the pouring rain $25.

So after turning around and paying the price of parking $50 we started walking the 1/4 of a mile to the stadium.

To enter the stadium, is a different story, especially when you dont know where gate c is and its wet cold rain. As we walked around water seeping through out rain clothes. We managed to find our entrance and begun climbing to the top of the stadium. We were where you felt the rain first.

Half time road around and we were soaked cold and miserable. This was the price of seeing the Carolina Panthers.

Seeing and entering the kingdom of God comes at a price.

MP: Jesus paid the price of the our entrance to the kingdom, but for us to see and enter the kingdom we must be born again.

Seeing the Kingdom

Ezekiel 37:1–13 “The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones. And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry. And he said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” Then he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord.” So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had …”

Entering the Kingdom

contrast with flesh and spirit

Ezekiel 36:25–27“I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.”

Pnuma- wind and spirit

Spiritual birth is needed to enter the kingdom

Spiritual Birth is in control of the Spirit

Just as man cannot control the wind by his will, neither does man control the Spirit.

Invisible but observable.

Isaiah 44:3–5 “For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants. They shall spring up among the grass like willows by flowing streams. This one will say, ‘I am the Lord’s,’ another will call on the name of Jacob, and another will write on his hand, ‘The Lord’s,’ and name himself by the name of Israel.””

Jeremiah 31:33–34 “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.””

The Price of the Kingdom

Daniel 7:13 ““I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him.”

Numbers 21:8–9 “And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.”

Disobeidence and sin. Israel not listening to the WOG. Nicodemus doing the same as Israel.

Lifted up, glorifying theme, Isaiah 52:13–53:12 “Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted. As many were astonished at you— his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind— so shall he sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths because of him, for that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard they understand. Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgres…”

Not the persons faith that is the source of salvation but the God that the salvation is placed in is the source

Ezekiel 11:19–20 “And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God.”

Christ and the Serpent