Be Seen: Kingdom Membership
Notes
Transcript
We celebrate 250 years as an indpendent nation this year.
-July 4, 1776- Declaration of Independence.
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. "
The United States made clear from beginning why we were drifferent.
This new Kingdom was going to be different than the British.
A greater Kingdom. The Kingdom of God.
There are only 2 categories of people in this world. Those who are saved and belong to the Kingdom and those who are not saved and thus do not belong to the Kingdom.
The Great Commission will one day be fulfilled. Matthew 24:14, " ". But that does not mean that many will find the Kingdom.
14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
13 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.
14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
4 Aspects of Kingdom Membership
4 Aspects of Kingdom Membership
1. The Correct Entrance
1. The Correct Entrance
The road isn’t what it seems. What you see is not what you get.
Wide Entrance
Narrow Entrance
Jesus is the gate. Shepherd would sleep in ther openng as the gate.
9 I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.
10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
2. The Correct Key
2. The Correct Key
One with the key has the authority.
Key "easy or hard"
17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last,
18 and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.
19 Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this.
Easy Qualification
Live a slave to the sinful nature. It is coasting and letting the sinful desires control where you are going.
Why do we get surprised when lost people act lost? It is what comes natural.
18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.
34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.
Hard Qualification
15 What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!
16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?
17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed,
18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.
19 I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.
Who are you surrendered to? Jesus or your flesh?
3. The Correct Destination
3. The Correct Destination
Destructive Destination
Sin has its consequences.
Garden, Flood, Sodom, Nation of Israel.
ILL-- I-40 bridge over Arkansas River 2002
11 I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven,
12 while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
ILL- Yesterday coming back from Norman- talking to sister, thinking I was on 9 and really on road that dead ends at Lake Thunderbird
These are two separate ways that have completely opposite destinations.
There is only one way.
1 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.
2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.
4 And you know the way to where I am going.”
5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
4. The Correct Population
4. The Correct Population
Large Population
Sparse Population-
we are a minority.
We are illegal aliens of a foreign land.
All those who are saved.
1 John 5:1-5 They are known by their fruit. (15)
1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.
2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments.
3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.
4 For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.
5 Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
They have been changed (21)
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
New Creation
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires,
23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,
24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
CONCLUSION
What gate have you entered?
What is your eternal destination?
