SPEAKER_00: Hey, could you stand with me this morning?
SPEAKER_00: Everybody stand up.
SPEAKER_00: I need some energy in the room, man.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, find three people you do not know or you've not seen today.
SPEAKER_00: Shake their hands, let them know it's good to be in the house of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: You're glad they're here.
SPEAKER_00: I need three people.
SPEAKER_00: Hey Ruthie, good see you guys.
SPEAKER_00: Come on, let's see you guys.
SPEAKER_00: I was talking.
SPEAKER_00: Let's see you guys.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, y'all don't need a sermon.
SPEAKER_00: The church is alive, amen.
SPEAKER_00: Hey Thomas, how are we doing back there?
SPEAKER_00: Are we okay?
SPEAKER_00: As far as the slides go, because it is not sliding for me.
SPEAKER_00: Are you good?
SPEAKER_00: Alright, there we go.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, you may be seated.
SPEAKER_00: Shake hands with the person next to you.
SPEAKER_00: Say, we're alive.
SPEAKER_00: We better be alive.
SPEAKER_00: We got too much to do on this earth to not be alive.
SPEAKER_00: So, hey, I want to say welcome in everybody.
SPEAKER_00: If you're a guest here, we want you to make yourself at home.
SPEAKER_00: No, we'll never be a perfect church, but we really are following a perfect Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And we're excited about what God's doing here.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, our youth event last Sunday, we had 47 young people.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: That's exciting.
SPEAKER_00: That's a lot to be excited about.
SPEAKER_00: You can clap.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: It's just the beginning of what God's doing.
SPEAKER_00: You look good today.
SPEAKER_00: I'm glad you're here with us.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, I know some of you that are new, you're probably wondering who's Darla?
SPEAKER_00: She seems to do everything around here.
SPEAKER_00: She does.
SPEAKER_00: And she's good at it.
SPEAKER_00: But here's what I'm gonna ask out of you this week.
SPEAKER_00: You ready?
SPEAKER_00: Do not text and do not call her.
SPEAKER_00: She's on vacation, she needs it, do not do it.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: And so if you need anything, you can call my wife.
SPEAKER_00: No, I'm just playing.
SPEAKER_00: You can call me.
SPEAKER_00: You can text me.
SPEAKER_00: Uh if you need to learn how to do the app, holler at me.
SPEAKER_00: Whatever you need, I'm here for you this week.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, we want to give Darla the rest that she deserves this week, uh, as she does do so much for our community here at Grace Bible Church.
SPEAKER_00: But with that being said, there's a lot happening, there's a lot going on.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm thankful for you.
SPEAKER_00: I'm thankful for what God's doing.
SPEAKER_00: I'm thankful for those that text, that called, uh, that sent gifts reminding me that I'm getting old.
SPEAKER_00: Um, I turned 34 this week.
SPEAKER_00: My son Maddox turned 11 this week.
SPEAKER_00: My daughter Navy, who stole my birthday from me, turned nine this week.
SPEAKER_00: And so we're all just getting older over here.
SPEAKER_00: But I just want to say a big thank you for all that you did for us this week.
SPEAKER_00: And you know, if you didn't, I'll make you feel bad about it later.
SPEAKER_00: But I just want to say thank you.
SPEAKER_00: So, no, I'm just kidding.
SPEAKER_00: Um, but God's good, amen.
SPEAKER_00: So today we're gonna jump back into our heaven series.
SPEAKER_00: Last week was a standalone message type and a better word.
SPEAKER_00: This week I hope that it's a better word.
SPEAKER_00: Heaven is a topic that we always talk about, but a lot of people don't know much about.
SPEAKER_00: We spend most of our lives praying to a God that we believe wholeheartedly in, but we don't really know much about the destination that we're preparing ourselves for.
SPEAKER_00: And so a lot of us have this skewed idea of what heaven really is from pictures of the Renaissance and everything else that were created for different time frames.
SPEAKER_00: But I want to tell you that heaven is so much bigger than our minds can even begin to comprehend.
SPEAKER_00: And it's important that we understand it.
SPEAKER_00: But before we really get into that today, I want to break down a passage of scripture that you've probably prayed more times in your life than you realize.
SPEAKER_00: It's the Lord's Prayer.
SPEAKER_00: And I think when we talk about it, sometimes we don't really break it down because what's happening in this moment is the disciples are coming, and I don't know about you, but the average American, uh, according to Barnes Studies, says that we pray an average of four minutes a week, and that includes uh prayer for our food.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: When you sit at the Watson table for dinner, my son Zechariah has a prayer that he believes he has to pray every time we sit down, to the point that it's become obnoxious.
SPEAKER_00: I'll say that.
SPEAKER_00: Maddox, can you say the prayer for me?
SPEAKER_00: That's the prayer.
SPEAKER_00: He's like, Dad, quit using me.
SPEAKER_00: I didn't tell him I was gonna do that.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, God, for giving us.
SPEAKER_00: And then my son, he does this other thing, though, now, to where he knows daddy's going to pray after him because I'm teaching my kids that we don't pray out of ritual, we don't pray out of tradition, we pray because we have intimate relationship with God, and we want that to be sincere.
SPEAKER_00: And so after Zechariah finishes his, then daddy prays.
SPEAKER_00: Not that his prayer isn't good enough.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, sometimes his prayer might be heard better than mine.
SPEAKER_00: But I don't want my kids to think it's ritual.
SPEAKER_00: And I don't want it to just be every time we sit down, thank you, God, for this food, bless it, sanctify it, nourishment to our bodies in Jesus' name, amen.
SPEAKER_00: Because that's what we tend to do, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: We tend to just do it really fast because it's just become a ritual, a tradition.
SPEAKER_00: And so my son now, because I pray after, he sits down and he goes, Thank you, God, for giving us food, thank you, God, for giving us food, thank you, God, for giving us food, right where we are.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: And he'll do that.
SPEAKER_00: And today I want to walk you through the Lord's Prayer as we get into the scriptures, because sometimes I think our idea of prayer has become more ritualistic and traditional than it actually has been in relationship with the Father.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna go into this and then we're gonna we're gonna get through this and get into heaven.
SPEAKER_00: But I want to help you here because Jesus said it this way in Matthew 6.
SPEAKER_00: He said, and when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans.
SPEAKER_00: Quit babbling.
SPEAKER_00: If it's not sincere and it's not unto God, and it's all about you and it's not about him, quit babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.
SPEAKER_00: Do not be like them, for your father knows what you need before you ask him.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said, This then is how you should pray.
SPEAKER_00: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Give us today our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we have forgiven, have also forgiven our debtors.
SPEAKER_00: 13, and lead us not into temptation, but to deliver us from the evil one.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you remember praying that prayer?
SPEAKER_00: You you remember that prayer, right?
SPEAKER_00: I want to break it down for you because we're gonna get into that within our heaven series here.
SPEAKER_00: But we have to understand something.
SPEAKER_00: You need to understand that Jesus is giving them an outline for how to pray.
SPEAKER_00: And in this language, because of disciples, how do we pray?
SPEAKER_00: Do you think that when God Jesus went to the Garden of Gethsemane, okay, and he was praying and he took some of his disciples with him, do you think that in the time of him being there, Jesus continually prayed?
SPEAKER_00: Back it up.
SPEAKER_00: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
SPEAKER_00: Your kingdom come, you will be done, as earth is in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Do you think he continually just prayed that over and over and over and over again?
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: This is an outline given by Jesus unto his disciples to give the order.
SPEAKER_00: I told you from the beginning, Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.
SPEAKER_00: No one comes to the Father except through Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: So what he's giving them is a way to revelation to experience the truth, which will then give them life.
SPEAKER_00: And what I'm gonna give you today is helping you in understanding what Jesus gave them because why it actually matters when we talk about the millennial reign here in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: When we talk about our Father in heaven, we're not addressing some distant and personal force.
SPEAKER_00: God is our Father.
SPEAKER_00: That's how much he loves you.
SPEAKER_00: You are one part of 8 billion current dispensation of the image of God in our world today.
SPEAKER_00: That's you and I.
SPEAKER_00: And he reminds us that this is not just my God that I'm praying to, it's our God that we're praying to.
SPEAKER_00: That He's all of our God, He's King of King, He's Lord over all, He's God over all.
SPEAKER_00: And we have to understand that there's reverence in that.
SPEAKER_00: So the first thing that Jesus outlines for us is for us to understand that we're praying to our Father in heaven, our Father.
SPEAKER_00: And then He says these words hallowed be your name.
SPEAKER_00: I don't think any of us have ever used the word hallowed in a sentence before.
SPEAKER_00: Besides this.
SPEAKER_00: So obviously we know the language is before us.
SPEAKER_00: But it's not the language that's concerning.
SPEAKER_00: See, to be hallowed, to hallow the name of Jesus, to hallow the name, to when we pray, this is worship and reverence first.
SPEAKER_00: See, when I come to God and I teach my kids this, I'm not saying, hey, hey, Jesus, I need this.
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, you're great.
SPEAKER_00: I think you're great, but I really need this.
SPEAKER_00: I don't do that.
SPEAKER_00: Like, what have we taught our generations?
SPEAKER_00: Like, like he, hallowed be thy name.
SPEAKER_00: You are worthy and you were great, and you were God and you were king.
SPEAKER_00: I am not deserving to even have this connection with you, but you gave it to me.
SPEAKER_00: And because of that, I worship and I praise you.
SPEAKER_00: Hallowed be thy name means to worship the King of Kings.
SPEAKER_00: When you pray, you need to recognize that He's our God and He's worthy of worship first before you ever pray anything else.
SPEAKER_00: You gotta have some reverence for the King of Kings, ladies and gentlemen.
SPEAKER_00: We gotta have some reverence.
SPEAKER_00: We need to understand that this is worship and reverence first, and that God's name represents who he is.
SPEAKER_00: We're declaring that his character, his reputation, and his authority should be treated as sacred and set apart, not casual, not common.
SPEAKER_00: So when you come to my dinner table, my son has no knowledge of it, but he's wanting to pray to the Lord, and I respect that.
SPEAKER_00: But as a father who does have reverence for the King of Kings, we're not going to go through rituals and we're not going to go through traditions because I know the God that I'm dealing with.
SPEAKER_00: And I reverence him.
SPEAKER_00: And you better reverence him.
SPEAKER_00: He's the one that gave you life, he's the one that can take your life.
SPEAKER_00: It's who he is.
SPEAKER_00: And then we see after worship, we see that when we're worshiping him, that when we hallowed be your name, when we worship him, that he's going to give us revelation because it's about his kingdom first and not heaven first.
SPEAKER_00: Keep this in mind.
SPEAKER_00: Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: This is a really big key text for us today, because we're asking God to rule and reign and to break into our world and our circumstances and our situations.
SPEAKER_00: In heaven, everything perfectly aligns with God's will.
SPEAKER_00: But on earth, it often doesn't because sin surrounds us.
SPEAKER_00: This is both a big picture prayer, okay, for Jesus' return.
SPEAKER_00: It's a big picture prayer, but it's also a daily one that God would do what he desires to do in our lives and that we would not get in the way of that.
SPEAKER_00: I want him to be my king because I call him my father.
SPEAKER_00: If he's my father, he knows better than I.
SPEAKER_00: And because I worship him in spirit and truth, I want him to have his complete will from his kingdom into my life, not just in my life, but on earth too.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to be a part of it.
SPEAKER_00: So once we have those three parts right, we can jump into the next, which is to give us today our daily bread.
SPEAKER_00: This is a humble request for provision.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know about you, but I don't have enough strength to get to my problems tomorrow because I'm trying to use the strength I have today to face what I'm facing today.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: You ever felt that way?
SPEAKER_00: And what happens is when you come back to this prayer and you're in relationship with God, you understand that he's your father, you understand who you worship, and you understand that it's his will.
SPEAKER_00: And if he's sovereign over those three things, you know today he's gonna take care of you.
SPEAKER_00: He's gonna take care of you.
SPEAKER_00: So many of us are stressing out about tomorrow because we've not spent the first three chapters with the Lord today.
SPEAKER_00: We have to have a reflection and see the importance of what Jesus is really trying to lay out for his disciples.
SPEAKER_00: And here's the next, here's the next.
SPEAKER_00: We talk about the daily bread.
SPEAKER_00: We acknowledge that he's the source of everything, we acknowledge that he's the source of food, health, financials, community, everything.
SPEAKER_00: God is the source of it.
SPEAKER_00: But then he says something like this forgive us our debts as we have also forgiven our debtors.
SPEAKER_00: Now, this this precedes something.
SPEAKER_00: We're saying, God, we know we're sinful, we know we mess up, we know we make mistakes.
SPEAKER_00: But in doing that, you come to him knowing in your heart that you also should have forgiven those that have trespassed you.
SPEAKER_00: This is a really big deal.
SPEAKER_00: Don't prayer the don't do not pray this prayer if you're not willing to do verse 12.
SPEAKER_00: Do not.
SPEAKER_00: Because why would you expect God to forgive you when you can't forgive those that He created to?
SPEAKER_00: It's not me, it's the word.
SPEAKER_00: Forgive us our debts as we have also forgiven our debtors.
SPEAKER_00: Have you forgiven people that have hurt you, cursed you, lied against you, tried to run you, tried to destroy you?
SPEAKER_00: Have you forgiven them?
SPEAKER_00: If you have not, we need to do that, church.
SPEAKER_00: Because your life and your family and your generations that come after you are depending on you to do it.
SPEAKER_00: I know how hard it is, I know how much of a struggle it is.
SPEAKER_00: I know, trust me, I know.
SPEAKER_00: But I have to do it because he is my king and he is my lord, he's not just my savior, he is the one that sits on the throne, and I will bow before him, and he will know everything that I've done and everything that I have not done.
SPEAKER_00: Take it serious.
SPEAKER_00: We're asking for mercy and cleansing from God in these moments.
SPEAKER_00: We're asking for that.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus ties our forgiveness from how from God to how we forgive others.
SPEAKER_00: Unforgiveness blocks the flow, the way, the truth, the life.
SPEAKER_00: Everything is a spiritual flow in essence.
SPEAKER_00: And when you don't forgive others, you block the flow of what he's trying to do.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: We don't get from verse 12 to verse 13 without forgiving others.
SPEAKER_00: Please, please pray that God would have mercy upon your soul and would also help you learn to forgive others.
SPEAKER_00: I know forgiveness is a process and it's hard and it's challenging, but we must do it.
SPEAKER_00: 13.
SPEAKER_00: And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
SPEAKER_00: We're asking God to protect us from situations where we're likely to sin.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: That's what we're doing here.
SPEAKER_00: All right?
SPEAKER_00: Guys, I've told you my past, I've told you my struggles.
SPEAKER_00: All right.
SPEAKER_00: I will not go near a casino.
SPEAKER_00: I don't like them.
SPEAKER_00: I can't do it.
SPEAKER_00: I had an evangelist ask me to go eat at a buffet with them one time.
SPEAKER_00: I said I can't.
SPEAKER_00: It's not a good place for me because it's a temptation for me.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: Don't ever ask me to do that.
SPEAKER_00: It ain't happening.
SPEAKER_00: I'm raw with you in that because we all have temptations.
SPEAKER_00: We all have struggles.
SPEAKER_00: We all have places that if this is in front of us, maybe for you it's alcohol, maybe for others it's drugs, maybe it's pornography.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know what it is.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know what it is, but you know there is a temptation that the enemy uses against you to make you fall.
SPEAKER_00: And it's in this moment that we are asking God to protect us, to not lead us into temptation, but deliver us, God, from the evil one.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says that we have a high priest who is not unable to sympathize with us because he was tempted and tried to.
SPEAKER_00: He understands Jesus Christ of Nazareth was tempted.
SPEAKER_00: If he was tempted, my friends, you are going to be tempted.
SPEAKER_00: And we pray this prayer for specific reasons because we know, we know that we cannot do this on our own.
SPEAKER_00: We cannot do this on our own.
SPEAKER_00: We need the spirit and the power of God leading us and helping us.
SPEAKER_00: God deliver us from the evil one.
SPEAKER_00: It's important.
SPEAKER_00: And lastly, sorry.
SPEAKER_00: Lastly, it says, for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: This ending reminds us of why we can pray with confidence.
SPEAKER_00: Everything belongs to God.
SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry I got cut off there.
SPEAKER_00: But everything belongs to God.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to know that your life belongs to God.
SPEAKER_00: And if you give full surrender to Him, He's going to do a great work in your life and through your life.
SPEAKER_00: And you know what?
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to be ashamed.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to be ashamed of your past.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to be ashamed of your sins.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to be ashamed of your struggles.
SPEAKER_00: I told you last week there's no sin that's uncommon to God.
SPEAKER_00: There's none.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to be ashamed of that.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you might look up here, I know Brooke hates when I do it, but some of you might look up here and be like, wait, Pastor was addicted to casino.
SPEAKER_00: Like, I struggled with it in college.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, I did.
SPEAKER_00: And you know what?
SPEAKER_00: I'm not ashamed about that, because he did a great work through me and that.
SPEAKER_00: I've helped a lot of people through it.
SPEAKER_00: Your sin and your past struggles should not be a downfall in your life.
SPEAKER_00: They should become a testimony for the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: So you can look others and say, I've been there too, but it's in my weakness that he's made strong.
SPEAKER_00: I have no, I have no shame in my game.
SPEAKER_00: You want to know why?
SPEAKER_00: Because I must decrease so he can increase.
SPEAKER_00: This is the gospel of Jesus Christ we're preaching.
SPEAKER_00: This isn't to look pretty, this isn't to look great, this is this is the dirty, this is your righteousness, is a filthy rags, guys.
SPEAKER_00: This is the dirty message of the gospel and how he cleans us and we cannot clean ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: Don't forget that.
SPEAKER_00: So in this today, we're jumping into this heaven series.
SPEAKER_00: Now that you have a better understanding of Matthew 6 and prayer, there's a portion in the scripture that says your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: What does that really mean?
SPEAKER_00: I want to talk to you for a second about the millennial reign, and then we're gonna get into the portion.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna hurry up.
SPEAKER_00: People get so confused and caught in the weeds about things.
SPEAKER_00: Post-tribulation, pre-tribulation, mid-tribulation.
SPEAKER_00: People laugh at me when I sit down with them at Mexican oftentimes and I ask them, I say, are you pre-chip or post-chip?
SPEAKER_00: Some of you will get that, some of you won't.
SPEAKER_00: But I want to know do we pray before the chips or do we pray after when we get our food?
SPEAKER_00: Because so many people get caught up.
SPEAKER_00: You can listen to podcasts, you can listen to stories of people arguing, no, we're gonna be raptured out before tribulation, or no, no, no, we're gonna have to suffer the whole thing, or uh we're gonna be in mid-it's gonna be mid-tribulation.
SPEAKER_00: You know what I tell those guys?
SPEAKER_00: You know what?
SPEAKER_00: Whether you're right or wrong, I'm gonna keep living for the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: So we'll figure it out when we get there.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna be trivial about it and do not come ask me that question because I can give you a hundred theories and you're gonna sit there and be like, which one do you believe?
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, it don't matter what I believe, it's only gonna matter what happens.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: But one thing I do know that happened is that his kingdom is going to come on earth.
SPEAKER_00: And this is true.
SPEAKER_00: And what's gonna happen here is that all the people who have died, and once again, I can't go deep into this today.
SPEAKER_00: I don't have the time.
SPEAKER_00: I could spend here two hours talking to you about this and eschatology.
SPEAKER_00: But what's gonna happen is that all the people that have died and went to heaven, and all the people that have died and went to hell, Hades is what it's called.
SPEAKER_00: It's a it's a confinement for those that did not know Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: But all the people that died and went to heaven, what's gonna happen is that Christ is going to come back, the new Jerusalem is going to come down, and on this earth we are gonna reign for a thousand years with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And some of you have never heard this before, and you're gonna be like, you know, blasphemy.
SPEAKER_00: I promise you it's not, it's the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: Come talk to me.
SPEAKER_00: He's gonna come down, and for a thousand years we're gonna be here.
SPEAKER_00: And all his new creation that that died and went to heaven, they're gonna be here in bodily form.
SPEAKER_00: And then all the people who made it through tribulation are gonna be here too.
SPEAKER_00: You're going to have humans, and you're gonna have immortals.
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna have people that have a transformed body, you're gonna have people that have not had a transformed body.
SPEAKER_00: And people say there's no way this happens.
SPEAKER_00: Well, there is.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know about you, but do you guys remember there was this guy named Jesus who lived for 33 years, died on a cross, rose from the dead, and then hung around with people for about 40 days afterwards?
SPEAKER_00: You wanna know why he did that?
SPEAKER_00: Number one, to be seen so to be testified by five hundred plus, but another reason was to set up what was originally going to be.
SPEAKER_00: For the same way you see me now to sin is the same way you're gonna see me coming.
SPEAKER_00: And he stayed on here as a resurrected body, but yet he ate with his friends, he visited with his friends, he told people about his second coming.
SPEAKER_00: He spent time with them to preset what's going to actually come in the New Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: And so in this 1,000-year reign, the scriptures we're about to read, it's going to be a curse to die in the thousand years.
SPEAKER_00: And some people ask, is this the final heaven?
SPEAKER_00: No, it's not.
SPEAKER_00: We'll get to that, but not today.
SPEAKER_00: This is a set-in-motion time into which it will be joyful.
SPEAKER_00: The people who had went to heaven before, they will be helping Jesus Christ of Nazareth and all of those there to operate this new earth in the thousand-year millennial reign.
SPEAKER_00: Along with those that still remain, they will be here too and over.
SPEAKER_00: But there's something that changes.
SPEAKER_00: Satan has been locked up now.
SPEAKER_00: Sin is hardly running at this time.
SPEAKER_00: That's why you're going to hear in a moment that curse is the one that dies at a young age.
SPEAKER_00: This is a moment of a thousand-year millennial reign that you and I cannot wait for to be excited about.
SPEAKER_00: This is the moment that Jesus comes back and he looks at us that are still here and remaining and says, What have we done?
SPEAKER_00: Prepare the way of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: You remember John the Baptist, he said, Come, repent of your sins.
SPEAKER_00: The kingdom of God is near.
SPEAKER_00: Which means an only length of the way.
SPEAKER_00: Peter was trying to prepare everyone for the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: And all those that after Jesus Christ died and he saw them, they thought that the end was going to be like in two months.
SPEAKER_00: It's going to be near.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you guys are looking at me like I'm crazy.
SPEAKER_00: We're getting there.
SPEAKER_00: All right?
SPEAKER_00: Here's what the scriptures tell us in Isaiah.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe a little refreshing for you.
SPEAKER_00: They will build houses.
SPEAKER_00: This is talking about the millennial reign.
SPEAKER_00: The thousand years we're together.
SPEAKER_00: They will build houses and dwell in them.
SPEAKER_00: They will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you remember this.
SPEAKER_00: No longer will they build houses and others live in them, or plant and others eat.
SPEAKER_00: For as the days of a tree, so will be the days of my people.
SPEAKER_00: My chosen one, my chosen ones will long enjoy the work of their hands.
SPEAKER_00: They will not labor in vain, nor will they bear children doomed to misfortune.
SPEAKER_00: For they will be a people blessed by the Lord, and they and their descendants with them.
SPEAKER_00: This is going to be a beautiful time for a thousand year reigns.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I don't know about you if you have kids.
SPEAKER_00: I have four.
SPEAKER_00: And they say this word a lot to me.
SPEAKER_00: Bored.
SPEAKER_00: Dad, I'm bored.
SPEAKER_00: And you know what boredom leads to?
SPEAKER_00: Dad, I'm hungry.
SPEAKER_00: Dad, I'm bored.
SPEAKER_00: Dad, I'm hungry.
SPEAKER_00: Dad, there's nothing to do.
SPEAKER_00: Dad, what do I do?
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: You know, the crazy thing to me about my kids is that they have so much.
SPEAKER_00: You know?
SPEAKER_00: They have so much.
SPEAKER_00: They say, Dad, dad, dad, I want this, I want this.
SPEAKER_00: And then you get it for them.
SPEAKER_00: And then two minutes later, they're like, Dad, I want this.
SPEAKER_00: They can't even enjoy what they have.
SPEAKER_00: You know, from a child perspective to our perspective, I think we're kind of the same because no matter what we do, we can't get any satisfaction.
SPEAKER_00: You know?
SPEAKER_00: We plan, oh, this vacation is going to be amazing.
SPEAKER_00: I can't wait to go on vacation.
SPEAKER_00: And then on our way to vacation, we're excited about it.
SPEAKER_00: And then the day we leave vacation, we start talking about the next vacation.
SPEAKER_00: The next vacation.
SPEAKER_00: My wife's already talking about Florida again.
SPEAKER_00: Two years away.
SPEAKER_00: Because we're looking to the next one.
SPEAKER_00: No satisfaction.
SPEAKER_00: Can you agree with me in some of this?
SPEAKER_00: That we just can't get any satisfaction.
SPEAKER_00: It's always the next thing.
SPEAKER_00: The past was good.
SPEAKER_00: That memory was good, but it's the next one.
SPEAKER_00: The toy doesn't do it.
SPEAKER_00: The vacation doesn't do it.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know what's going to do it.
SPEAKER_00: You know what's not going to do it?
SPEAKER_00: It ain't going to be until he comes back.
SPEAKER_00: I hate to break your heart.
SPEAKER_00: It's not until you have a true personal relationship and you understand.
SPEAKER_00: Because this is what the Lord's telling us in Isaiah.
SPEAKER_00: This is what the prophet has spoken.
SPEAKER_00: He said that these will be the days.
SPEAKER_00: These will be the days that no longer will we build houses, another live, and I'm going to plant, and others eat.
SPEAKER_00: And as the days in the tree, so will be the days of my people.
SPEAKER_00: My chosen will long enjoy the work of their hands.
SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry, but there's some things I just don't enjoy doing.
SPEAKER_00: But every day you're going to enjoy this.
SPEAKER_00: So let's get to it into Isaiah or Ecclesiastes.
SPEAKER_00: This is Proverbs, this is Proverbs.
SPEAKER_00: This is Solomon who wrote Proverbs.
SPEAKER_00: This is Solomon speaking in Ecclesiastes.
SPEAKER_00: He said, I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live.
SPEAKER_00: That's good, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: That each of them may eat and drink and find satisfaction in all their tools.
SPEAKER_00: This is the gift of God.
SPEAKER_00: You know what God's original plan for you and I was?
SPEAKER_00: To be happy all the time.
SPEAKER_00: To be fulfilled all the time.
SPEAKER_00: You want to know why?
SPEAKER_00: Because he was supposed to be the ultimate fulfillment for us, and it was in the garden that we thought that something else would make us happier.
SPEAKER_00: Isn't that crazy?
SPEAKER_00: That's still how we are?
SPEAKER_00: That he's here, right here with us in this moment, but we won't fully release it because we still think there's other things that are not of God that are going to make us happier.
SPEAKER_00: Isn't that crazy?
SPEAKER_00: But this is his plan, and that's when he's coming to restore it, to find satisfaction.
SPEAKER_00: One day, if you know Jesus, you're going to have the ultimate satisfaction.
SPEAKER_00: You're never going to wake up again with a hurting back, with legs that hurt.
SPEAKER_00: You're never going to wake up again complaining because of all you got to do.
SPEAKER_00: You're never going to have to hear an alarm clock go off when you don't want to hear it.
SPEAKER_00: This is the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: And this is why I don't understand why we don't get more excited.
SPEAKER_00: Zechariah says it this way this is what the Lord Almighty says.
SPEAKER_00: Once again, men and women of ripe old age will sit in the streets of Jerusalem, and each of them with Cain in hand, because of their age.
SPEAKER_00: This is not 80 years old.
SPEAKER_00: This is 800 years old.
SPEAKER_00: Isn't this amazing?
SPEAKER_00: This is not growing to 60 and telling your children goodbye.
SPEAKER_00: This is living with them forever.
SPEAKER_00: And one day entering into the white throne judgment for eternity.
SPEAKER_00: This is it.
SPEAKER_00: The city streets will be filled with boys and girls playing there.
SPEAKER_00: Playing there.
SPEAKER_00: The question is not whether it's true.
SPEAKER_00: The question is, do you believe it?
SPEAKER_00: Because if you did, then maybe your whole concept of God would go shift back to the Lord's Prayer, and you would begin to take your relationship with Him a little more serious because we don't have time to play around, because this is as real as it gets.
SPEAKER_00: For you and I will take our last breath one day.
SPEAKER_00: And our dependency on Christ will mean everything.
SPEAKER_00: And whether we believed his word or we took it as it, our generations are depending on.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna stop right here and say this.
SPEAKER_00: You wanna know why I believe worship is so important?
SPEAKER_00: Sunday mornings is not discipleship.
SPEAKER_00: Sunday mornings is important.
SPEAKER_00: But you wanna know why it's important mom and dad to show up every Sunday?
SPEAKER_00: Because your kids see you show up every Sunday.
SPEAKER_00: You wanna know why it's so important that we do clap sometimes?
SPEAKER_00: Because it teaches our kids to clap sometimes.
SPEAKER_00: You wanna know why I believe it's so important that we worship the King in spirit and truth?
SPEAKER_00: Because it teaches our children how to worship him in spirit and truth.
SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry, but there are some things that are dependent upon you and I that we lead our families in and teach them so that they can form their own personal relationship with God because they deem it important, because you deemed it important.
SPEAKER_00: At some point, you have to buy the truth and sell it not.
SPEAKER_00: And I've got to tell you that the dependency on whether it's your girls and boys playing in the street one day may be on how serious you're taking your faith right now between you and the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna tell you, you can't live like me.
SPEAKER_00: You can't do what the Watsons do.
SPEAKER_00: You don't want to do what the Watsons do.
SPEAKER_00: But there's just things that you cannot do like us, because it's the Watsons' home.
SPEAKER_00: But for our home, we will serve the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: I can't tell you how to run your house.
SPEAKER_00: I can't tell you how to read your Bible.
SPEAKER_00: I can't tell you what you should do or shouldn't do because ultimately you're gonna do what you want to, anyways.
SPEAKER_00: But here's what I can tell you is that the moment that you begin to take your faith serious, it will transcend beyond you into your home because what fills a room will fill a house, and what you pray in your bedroom will be prayed in your living room, and what happens in your home will fill a community, and what happens in your community will fill a state.
SPEAKER_00: That is how the gospel movement started, and that's how it's gonna finish.
SPEAKER_00: And you have to believe that.
SPEAKER_00: You have to believe it.
SPEAKER_00: We can't take it mediocre with our faith.
SPEAKER_00: We have to believe it.
SPEAKER_00: Matthew 8 and 11 says, I say to you that many will come from the east and the west and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_00: This is a promise in this millennial reign.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna sit there with them all.
SPEAKER_00: Jacob, Abraham, Isaac, you name it.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna see them, Moses.
SPEAKER_00: You can even think your grandpa, your grandma.
SPEAKER_00: I was sitting there thinking last night, my great-grandmother raised me.
SPEAKER_00: My kids are gonna get to meet my great-grandmother, their great-great-grandmother.
SPEAKER_00: They've never even met her, they've never even known her.
SPEAKER_00: Now, my great-grandmother's theology was whack.
SPEAKER_00: But she loved the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: I'm thankful for a God that's bigger than bad theology, amen.
SPEAKER_00: I'm thankful because if we go back, we can see a lot of mess-ups in history and a lot of things we wouldn't be proud of as a nation.
SPEAKER_00: But you know what?
SPEAKER_00: The blood of Jesus has a better word, doesn't he?
SPEAKER_00: And that's how good he is.
SPEAKER_00: If your mom and daddy, if your grandma, if they knew Jesus, don't get into the weeds, stuck on everything, a pre-trib and post-trib, get stuck in the weeds or knowing Jesus is as good as he said he is.
SPEAKER_00: That's what I want to believe, and that's what I've got to believe.
SPEAKER_00: So this is what's gonna happen, and we don't want to miss it because we're gonna be there.
SPEAKER_00: The word of God tells us.
SPEAKER_00: In Hebrews 12, 22 through 23, it says, But you have come to the Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels and joyful assembly.
SPEAKER_00: Remember this.
SPEAKER_00: To the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: You have come to God, the judge of all, the spirit of righteousness made perfect.
SPEAKER_00: That's what he's going to do in you and I.
SPEAKER_00: People say, I'll never be good enough to get there.
SPEAKER_00: No, you won't, not without the blood of the Lamb.
SPEAKER_00: But with the blood of the Lamb, you, my friend, will spend eternity in the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to think about this.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to think about a holiday you've experienced with your loved ones.
SPEAKER_00: The laughter, the joy.
SPEAKER_00: You sit at the table, you tell people you've not seen in a year, people you might not have seen in two years.
SPEAKER_00: You're at the table with them, and you get to enjoy that, and everything's perfect, and for a moment, the bills don't matter, life doesn't matter, all the things that surround us, and the chaos, and the doubt, and doom and gloom, and all those things don't matter, and it's perfected, it seems, but then you leave the house and you go on to life, and everything rushes back in.
SPEAKER_00: Can I tell you one day you never have to leave the house?
SPEAKER_00: And one day it's not all going to come rushing back at you because God has defeated it, and that is the perfect nation and era that we're talking about when it comes to the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: If I had a last main point, it would be this the new earth will be expansive and dynamic, filled with worship and wonder.
SPEAKER_00: I want to challenge you as a church this morning to begin to enjoy worshiping the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: I want to challenge you in that.
SPEAKER_00: This is not something you have to do with your spouse or with your kids.
SPEAKER_00: If you want to do that, God bless you.
SPEAKER_00: But our relationship with the Lord is personal.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, Maddox, I love you with everything that I have, but I can't save you, buddy.
SPEAKER_00: I can't do it.
SPEAKER_00: Your salvation comes from Jesus Christ alone, and one day you make that personal decision, and that's between you and the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: I'm always gonna love you, but that's between you and the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And one day you're gonna get married, I hope, and you're gonna have kids.
SPEAKER_00: And one day you're going to have to decide will he become your everything?
SPEAKER_00: And will you raise your kids in accordance to that?
SPEAKER_00: That's a personal decision.
SPEAKER_00: I can't make it for you.
SPEAKER_00: I just hope that my example has been enough.
SPEAKER_00: I pray that my prayers to the Lord have been enough, but it's a personal relationship.
SPEAKER_00: And in our personal relationship, I'm going to challenge you between you and the Lord, and when we talk through the Lord's Prayer, to get in a place where God's not on your time, but you're on his.
SPEAKER_00: And you turn the phone off and you turn the clocks around and you worship the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Just worship him.
SPEAKER_00: Is he not worthy of it?
SPEAKER_00: Is he not worthy of just having sacred time taken away for him?
SPEAKER_00: Just worship the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: You do you're not gonna worship like me.
SPEAKER_00: You're not gonna look like me.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you're down by your bed and you're quietly.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you're just-I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: It's not about that.
SPEAKER_00: It's about the inward expression of your faith, giving it to God, everything you have, because you believe he is as good as he says he is.
SPEAKER_00: Because to the church of the firstborn whose names are written in heaven, you have come to God, the judge of all and the spirit of righteousness made perfect.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to me.
SPEAKER_00: If you make it to the kingdom of heaven, it will not be your first time interacting with the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: I need to make myself clear on that.
SPEAKER_00: There will be no strangers in heaven to the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: It will not be by accident.
SPEAKER_00: It will not be as by accident.
SPEAKER_00: For even the thief on the cross had an interaction with God before he was in paradise.
SPEAKER_00: And if you're too busy for the kingdom of God, my fear is that maybe you're going to be too busy for heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Don't let these moments slip away.
SPEAKER_00: Church.
SPEAKER_00: We have the opportunity.
SPEAKER_00: For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
SPEAKER_00: Oh man, it's gonna be beautiful.
SPEAKER_00: And I want you there! I want you there.
SPEAKER_00: I want you there.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna end with this first time done.
SPEAKER_00: Worship team, if you want to come forward.
SPEAKER_00: Psalm 145 3 through 7 says it this way.
SPEAKER_00: Great is the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Somebody say that with me.
SPEAKER_00: Great is the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: He's great! He's great! He's great and most worthy of praise.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you are like, I thought this was a heaven series.
SPEAKER_00: It is a heaven series.
SPEAKER_00: You know what heaven is?
SPEAKER_00: It's him! It's him! It's him! What I'm trying to get you to understand is that you're not going to fall in love with a destination.
SPEAKER_00: You're going to have to fall in love with him.
SPEAKER_00: Because he's heaven.
SPEAKER_00: See, see, you're it's not clicking.
SPEAKER_00: Let me let me go back for a minute with my wife and her Florida thing, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Don't hate me.
SPEAKER_00: She loves Florida.
SPEAKER_00: She loves the beach.
SPEAKER_00: I hate the beach.
SPEAKER_00: I think it's a ripoff.
SPEAKER_00: I pay them to get sand stuck to me?
SPEAKER_00: That's horrible.
SPEAKER_00: Don't like it.
SPEAKER_00: The ocean?
SPEAKER_00: People don't even like to get in it.
SPEAKER_00: And then it's double red flags every time you go.
SPEAKER_00: Like there should be some type of rebate.
SPEAKER_00: Just say it.
SPEAKER_00: The beach! Why?
SPEAKER_00: See, here's the thing.
SPEAKER_00: You think a destination is going to change your mind.
SPEAKER_00: You think a destination.
SPEAKER_00: You think new scenery is going to make life better.
SPEAKER_00: You think it is.
SPEAKER_00: That's why you do it.
SPEAKER_00: That's why we pay stupid amounts of money to go to a vacation.
SPEAKER_00: Don't hate, stop.
SPEAKER_00: It's true.
SPEAKER_00: It's why we do it.
SPEAKER_00: It's dumb.
SPEAKER_00: I think it's a dumb idea.
SPEAKER_00: You wanna know why?
SPEAKER_00: Because you're not fulfilled where you're at.
SPEAKER_00: If we're really honest with ourselves, we're really honest with ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: He's not become our everything.
SPEAKER_00: Because if he was our everything, I'm not against vacation, guys.
SPEAKER_00: Don't think I'm not we're gonna go on something still.
SPEAKER_00: Calm down.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna go on something still.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not against him.
SPEAKER_00: I just don't know why we think that's what's gonna fulfill us.
SPEAKER_00: Like, is he not enough?
SPEAKER_00: I think we've been praying wrong.
SPEAKER_00: I think we're doing something wrong.
SPEAKER_00: I think I think we're missing the boat.
SPEAKER_00: It's not a destination.
SPEAKER_00: It's him.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_00: I want to see my loved ones too.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to be with them too.
SPEAKER_00: But it's not about the destination, it's about him.
SPEAKER_00: Because I could care less to get in an argument about whether heaven is on the new earth or not.
SPEAKER_00: I know what the Bible says, so whatever.
SPEAKER_00: But it's not about location, it's not about being thousands of miles away because you think you have to have a new creation.
SPEAKER_00: That's how arrogant you are.
SPEAKER_00: Gosh! Like, come on! It's not about there, it's about him here.
SPEAKER_00: And if I'm not fulfilled by him here, why do I think I'm gonna be fulfilled there?
SPEAKER_00: How silly is that?
SPEAKER_00: So I sing Psalms.
SPEAKER_00: Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise.
SPEAKER_00: Because I can do that right here.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna do it there too, but I do that right here.
SPEAKER_00: I do it with everything that I can.
SPEAKER_00: And I fell in it, and it's sloppy and it's messy, but he's worthy of it.
SPEAKER_00: Because I've realized, son, it's not McDonald's going to make me happy.
SPEAKER_00: And Tate, it's not the new toys that are gonna fulfill me.
SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_00: It's not the vacations, it's not, it's gonna be every day waking up and getting before him and saying, God, you give and you take away.
SPEAKER_00: But God, I'm here another day because you chose.
SPEAKER_00: You chose 34 years for me to live this year.
SPEAKER_00: And if you choose not to do that another year, okay.
SPEAKER_00: But here's what I know: heaven doesn't start tomorrow, it starts right now.
SPEAKER_00: And if I'm not fulfilled by you here, I'm never gonna be fulfilled by you there.
SPEAKER_00: So great is the Lord and most worthy of praise.
SPEAKER_00: His greatness no one can fathom.
SPEAKER_00: I'm so excited about seeing old ladies in the street at 800 years old.
SPEAKER_00: I'm so excited to see kids playing in the streets.
SPEAKER_00: But you know what?
SPEAKER_00: No one's ever going to believe what you say if you're not living it right now.
SPEAKER_00: And at some point, we have to live it.
SPEAKER_00: The way we teach it, the way we preach it, the way we talk about it.
SPEAKER_00: It's not just some idea, it's something I'm actually living right now to be fulfilled by.
SPEAKER_00: Would you stand with me?
SPEAKER_00: One generation commends your works to another.
SPEAKER_00: That's what we do, isn't it, church?
SPEAKER_00: We tell people how great God is, how mighty He is, what He's done for us.
SPEAKER_00: They tell us your mighty acts.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 5, they speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty, and I will meditate on your wonderful works.
SPEAKER_00: That's what I'm gonna do.
SPEAKER_00: They tell of the power of your awesome works, and I will proclaim your deeds.
SPEAKER_00: One of the most powerful things I remember growing up as a kid was my great-grandmother, who we had nothing, but she would just sit there for an hour, I kid you not, saying, God, thank you for all you've done.
SPEAKER_00: God, thank you for the things you bless us with.
SPEAKER_00: God, thank you for the miracles that I've asked for and that you've come through.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for the prayers that you've not gotten to that I've not seen yet.
SPEAKER_00: But, but Lord, and she would just go on and on and on talking with her, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And hardly ever do I really remember her asking for anything, but was just an all-wonder of his great deeds and awesome works.
SPEAKER_00: And here's verse 7.
SPEAKER_00: They celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: I wanna I'm gonna close with this.
SPEAKER_00: Here's where I'm at.
SPEAKER_00: I know some of you don't like the new Christian hymnals, songs, whatever.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, and I know some of you don't like the old hymnals.
SPEAKER_00: Let me tell you something.
SPEAKER_00: It ain't about you.
SPEAKER_00: You know what?
SPEAKER_00: I can sing any song you throw up on that screen because heaven is gonna write it down that I sing of the goodness and the joyfulness of his righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: That's what we get to do, church.
SPEAKER_00: That's what we get to do.
SPEAKER_00: I hope today when we talk about heaven, you're not just in awe of what's over there, you're in awe of him in your life right here.
SPEAKER_00: Right here.
SPEAKER_00: Would you pray with me?
SPEAKER_00: Father, we love you.
SPEAKER_00: We do, Lord, I honor you and I thank you.
SPEAKER_00: I am not perfect in any of this.
SPEAKER_00: I mess it up, I get it backwards, but you are good, you're holy, you're sovereign, and Lord God, you're powerful.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, who am I that you would be mindful of us?
SPEAKER_00: Lord, but you are.
SPEAKER_00: So God, I thank you.
SPEAKER_00: I thank you.
SPEAKER_00: God, have your way in Astoria, have your way at Grace Bible Church, have your way in our homes, have your way, have it, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I'm excited about the days that come.
SPEAKER_00: I'm excited about the miracles that are spoken of.
SPEAKER_00: I'm excited about lives that will be extended.
SPEAKER_00: I'm excited about the millennial reign.
SPEAKER_00: I'm excited about the white throne judgment.
SPEAKER_00: God, I'm excited about it, but I'm excited right now because you're here and heaven is where you are.
SPEAKER_00: So, God, I pray that we would get that.
SPEAKER_00: I would pray that we would understand that in this life there is truly no satisfaction, but blessed are those that are content, for godly contentment is great gain.
SPEAKER_00: God, let me be content in you.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I thank you for all you do.
SPEAKER_00: I thank you for all you've done.
SPEAKER_00: God, I pray for every heart that's in this room today.
SPEAKER_00: I pray that if anyone doesn't know you, that they would they would make that decision to follow you today in their hearts.
SPEAKER_00: I pray that they would have a conversation with you, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: I pray that we would learn to be better prayer doers, God, and Lord, spend more time with you.
SPEAKER_00: God, I thank you for your goodness.
SPEAKER_00: We worship you.
SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.