26-03-26 – ‘The Kingdom of the Risen Jesus’

In this message from the Midweek Church Service, Reverend Tim Gutmann begins a short lead-up to Easter by focusing on the resurrection of Jesus as the turning point of history. He explains that Christ came not only to die for sin, but to bring the kingdom of God, reveal the Father, and break the dominion of darkness.

Drawing from the Gospels, Revelation, Genesis, Exodus, and Acts, the sermon shows that Jesus perfectly reveals the character of God, and that through Him the kingdom has come—first within transformed hearts, and ultimately across the whole earth when He returns.

The message also highlights God’s purpose for His people as a kingdom and a royal priesthood, called to worship, intercede, and serve. With Christ now seated at the right hand of the Father, His work is complete, sin’s power is broken, and believers are invited to live in that freedom.

Concluding with the image of Jesus standing to receive Stephen, the sermon reminds viewers that faithfulness is never unseen. It ends with a clear call to repentance and to follow Jesus as Saviour, Lord, and coming King.

Listeners can watch the full Midweek Church Service live every Thursday at 7pm on Revelation TV.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:11

So uh we were I was going to finish the series on worship and worship being warfare, but actually I realized Haley and I were talking last week, and it's actually almost Easter, Passover, Paysack, Resurrection Sunday, the crucifixion. And so I would like us to do a mini little countdown to that and honor because the resurrection is the turning point in history. The resurrection is the message of the book of Acts. Jesus is alive. It shows everything Jesus said, all of those things, uh truths that he is the way, the truth, and the life, that he is the one who's conquered sin and death and Satan and hell. And it's all confirmed because he has life from the death, the first fruits. And so I want us to kind of like look at this tonight as an introduction. When Jesus came, what did he do? He brought a kingdom. His message was this: the kingdom of heaven is near, the kingdom of God is near. And it's uh uh such a powerful, powerful message to the Jewish people who are waiting for a Messiah to give them this earthly kind of superpower kingdom, you know, where they uh just the most powerful nation on earth. But Jesus came bringing a message the kingdom's gonna be within. But the good news is Yeshua's coming back, and the whole earth is gonna be his, but it starts within and it starts with changed hearts and lives, and all of that issue we have with sin that that kept us in dark and kept us in chains under the dominion of darkness. Jesus dealt a fatal blow to it. There's so much going on at the minute, so much going on in the world. I truly believe we're living in the when I say we're living in the last days, to be fair, like since the resurrection, we've been in that last days period, if you like. Remember, a day is like a thousand years, a thousand years is like a day. Um, but I really believe we're coming to that point in history when Yeshua's coming back really soon. In fact, did you know that Polymarket are offering bets that are 5.5% for Jesus to return in 2026? Which is incredible. I think uh if you want my tip, I would bet against that, and I'll tell you why. Because if you're wrong, Jesus comes back, it's win-win, yay, to live is Christ and die his gain, we get to be with Jesus. But if you're right, your quid's in, right? But anyway, we don't gamble. Revelation church family. I was just joking there. But isn't it amazing that the world is seeing everything that's going on and they're like, hang on, it feels like there isn't legs on this, it feels like something's coming to an end or something's coming to a head. And uh, in these days, it's important to remember, it's important to keep our eyes on Jesus, to keep our eyes on the author, the perfecter of our faith. And for so long in the church, for so long in the church, you know, we we we've uh preached different things, or the message has gone out where people have looked at the church and thought, these guys just want our money, or they just want to be pastors who fly private jets and all of this and all of that. I really feel like we're living in days when our message should be like Noah, you know, judgment is coming, guys. Wake up, or like um uh not Noah, Jonah as well, 40 days and then judgment. I'm not saying, you know, go out on the street tomorrow with a banner saying in 40 days it's the end or anything like that. I'm saying our message should have urgency because Yeshua's coming. But when he came the first time, 2,000 years ago, he came specifically. He came to bring his kingdom, to break the chains of the enemy, to risk back that scroll, the deeds of the earth. And he did it magnificently. He said this when he was praying in John 17, verses 6 to 8. He said, I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. They were, and you gave them yours, they were, you gave them to me. They kept your word, and they know that everything you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me. I love that. Listen to this. I, this is Yeshua speaking, Jesus. He says, I have manifested your name. Not, and we're not talking about the name, you know, the literal name Yahweh. We're talking, I have manifested your character, your holiness. I have manifested who you are. In fact, Jesus put it like this. He said in John 14, verse 9, he said to Philip, Listen, you see me, you've seen the Father. Because Philip says, We need if we haven't seen the Father, how can we see the Father? But Jesus said to him, I've been with you so long you don't know me, Philip. Whoever's seen me has seen the Father. So how can you all show us the Father? In other words, uh, another and another point, another part of the Gospels, Jesus says, I say what I hear Father saying, and I do what I see father doing. You look at Jesus, you see Yahweh. They are one, our God, awesome God, Yeshua, God the Son, and Yahweh, God the Father, Abba, God the Father, perfectly one. And so when Jesus came, uh uh, he manifested, he showed us the character of heaven. That's such great news, by the way. Just as a side, my mind's going over there again. Are you ready? Isn't it amazing that our God is the one who says, Let the little children come to me? Who didn't reject the woman at the well because she's a woman, or she didn't, or he didn't want to throw stones at the woman they dragged in, caught in adultery. Or he said to the tax collector, Come down here, we're having food together. That's our awesome God. He's so loving and kind and gracious. And he came, Yeshua came to colonize the earth with the kingdom of heaven, to colonize the earth, in other words, to restore what was lost, to restore what was broken, right there in the Garden of Eden. God created us, Yahweh, Abba, Father, God said, In our image, let's create man, male, and female. And it says this, let them have dominion. That's Genesis 1.26. I've not got the scripture for you here. It says, Let them have dominion. That Hebrew word dominion, radak. This is what it means, Radak. I should say Radak. Radak. It means this: let them have kingdom on the earth. We are to be citizens of the kingdom. Not that we are kings and we're to walk around saying I'm a king and I deserve this and that and this and that. God, give me, give me, give me. And that didn't like spoil whatever. We are citizens of a kingdom. Together, together, we're citizens of a kingdom. I love this in Revelation chapter 1, verses 5 to 8. I love Revelation tonight. We're reading a lot of Revelation. It says this, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, the ruler of the kings on earth, to him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood. Listen to this, and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and our Father. To him be glory and dominion forever and ever. He has made us to be a kingdom and priest. Isn't that incredible? A kingdom and priests. And uh he has caused us to be a royal priesthood. It says that in Peter, a royal priesthood, a kingdom of priests. And so we see there God's intention was that we would have dominion. In other words, we would live those kingdom of heaven values on earth. We would be like God's counsel on earth, if you like, his his family on earth that display his glory, his love, his awesome and kindness and his uh um power to to uh forgive and love and serve each other. And that's what priests mean, by the way. A priest has three offices, and remember in 1 Peter 2, verse 9, Peter reminds us the writer he says, You are a royal priesthood. You are a royal priesthood. A priest does three things. Number one, very importantly, we worship our God. That's such a priestly office. We worship our God, and number two, we intercede, we we stand in the gap, we intercede for our fellow man, we pray, and that's why we pray for our nation, we pray for our friends and family, we want them to know Jesus. This is a priestly office, and finally, we serve, we serve each other, we serve, and Jesus says, By this they'll know you're my disciples, by your love and your service and your action to one another. So we love and we serve and we uh intercede. Back in Deuteronomy chapter 32, verse 9. Yahweh says this. It says, The Lord, but the Lord's uh remember it's in capitals that meet that's Yahweh, but Yahweh's portion is his people. Yaakov, Jacob, is his allotted inheritance. Exodus 19, verse 6. God spells out what that means to be his portion. In Exodus 19, 6 says, You'll be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel. And so, does this sound familiar? Because that's what we read in Revelation, that we the church are grafted in to the family of God, included into the promises of God. They are yes and amen in Yeshua. So when Jesus came, he was expanding his rule on the earth from his inheritance, that sliver of land, Israel, and through that land would come the Messiah, and through the Messiah would come king, that ruler, that kingdom, and that royal priesthood expanded to the nations. God's kingdom expanded when Jesus came to earth. Psalm 83 says, The nations are your inheritance. Whereas it was described before, Israel is your inheritance, the nations are his inheritance. He is so awesome, he is so mighty. When Jesus came, yes, he came to die on the cross so that our sins would be forgiven. But he came to manifest God, to manifest the Father. When you see Jesus, you see the fullness of the day of the Godhead in bodily form. When you see Jesus, he is the fullness of God, and he manifested God to us and he brought his kingdom, expanded his kingdom so the earth now, all of us from every tribe and nation and language and race, we can call upon the name of our awesome heavenly father, and it's incredible because he is claimed, he has colonized the earth with his kingdom, he is the king, he is mighty. And I want to finish by encouraging you with this. He is a king, and a king sits on a throne, right? But he sees you, and it's so incredible. When he says, I manifested God, when you see me, you see God. I am God, God the Son, fullness of the Godhead in bodily form. It's such great news. I reminded us look, he's the God who had dinner with a tax collector that rejected the outcast, who didn't reject the women, the children. I mean, when I was a lad, there was a funny saying, children should be seen and not heard. Never mind 2,000 years ago, right? Oh, God is so loving and kind, so perfectly seen in Yeshua, but he's a king. Every time you see the risen Jesus in the New Testament, in the Hebrews, I think it says it in two or three times. It says he is seated at the right hand of God the Father. In fact, Jesus Himself said in the book of Mark, he said, Listen, when you see the Son of Man, you won't see the Son of Man until you've seen him seated at the right hand of the Father. Seated means finished, completed. It's what a king does. He sits on a throne. He is sat because the work is completed on the cross. He said, It is finished. Sin's power, Satan's dominion, his kingdom is broken. That darkness that held you is broken. You are free because our sins are forgiven. That very thing that separated us from our awesome God, he is dealt with on the cross. And there was only one time actually when Jesus wasn't sat. Shall I tell you when? Acts chapter 7. Stephen's about to be stoned. And he says, I see the Lord, I see Jesus, he stood at the right hand. Do you know why he stood? I love that. Every other time seated, but here he stood. Do you know why? It caught his eye. His faithful witness was about to give his life. And Jesus stood as a witness, ready to welcome Stephen. Your suffering never goes unnoticed. Your faithfulness to God never goes unnoticed. When martyrs are giving their life, it never goes unnoticed. Our King, he stands on the throne, ready to receive and to witness what's happening in our lives. God is so good. And we're going to build to the crucifixion, to the resurrection, the center point of history. But for now, I want to give you an opportunity. If you've never asked Jesus, never put your faith into Jesus. If you've never said, Yes, I believe, I don't just believe that Jesus died for me. Actually, I'm going to choose to live for and to follow Jesus. I believe he's my savior because he died on the cross. I believe death isn't the end because he rose from the dead and he told me he will give me eternal life. But also, I want him to be my Lord. I want to follow and obey him and turn from my life of sin. If you've never done that, just pray this prayer with me right now. Father, I thank you that you love me so much that you gave Jesus. And Jesus, I believe you died on the cross for me. I believe you rose from the dead. And I believe you're coming again. Forgive my sin when I've tried to live life my way. I choose to follow you. Help me obey with that precious gift of the Holy Spirit. Amen.