The Kingdom Fight – Clean
Heaven and Earth (Eden) – Mankind was to partner with God to spread His Kingdom to all the earth.
Mankind rebelled and rejected God’s kingdom.
Mankind brings hell on earth by rejecting God’s kingdom and building their own.
Jesus came to restore humanity and announce that His Kingdom has come!
Humanity’s struggle is the internal battle to do what is best for me and to redefine good and evil for my own comfort, convenience, and benefit at the expense of those around me.
How does this statement apply to the individual and the family?
How does this statement apply to the Church?
How has the church redefined good and evil for its own comfort, convenience, and benefit at the expense of those around it?
Rationalizing – an attempt to explain or justify one’s behavior with logical, plausible reasons, even if these are not true or appropriate.
Your hair is too long and you must change your clothes.
Tattoos are a sin, you know. You cannot attend here.
You are living together and you are still not married?
You haven’t tithed enough.
You are still struggling with_____. Come back when you can contribute.
The Church has a rough history…
The Church is not the judge – God is.
Matthew 13:24-30
Then Jesus taught them another parable:
“Heaven’s kingdom can be compared to a farmer who planted good seed in his field. But when everyone was asleep, an enemy came and planted weeds among the wheat and ran away. When the wheat sprouted and bore grain, the weeds also appeared. So the farmer’s hired hands came to him and said, ‘Sir, wasn’t that good seed that you sowed in the field? Where did all these weeds come from?’
He answered, ‘This has to be the work of an enemy!’
They replied, ‘Do you want us to go and gather up all the weeds?’
‘No,’ he said. ‘If you pull out the weeds you might uproot the wheat at the same time. Let them both grow together until the harvest. At that time, I’ll tell my harvesters to gather the weeds first and tie them all in bundles to be burned. Then they will harvest the wheat and put it into my barn.”
God sows good seed
The enemy sowed bad seed among the good
God forbid the keepers of the field to pull up the weeds
God doesn’t trust our judgement to pull up the right plant
The Church is not a place of drama and division!
The Church is not a place for gossip and slander!
The Church is not a place of judgement!
The Church is a place of mercy and forgiveness.
The Church is a place of love and grace.
The Church is a place of fellowship!
The Church is a place for equipping believers!
The Church is a place of worship!
What should the church look like?
Heaven, Earth and Eden *1
Heaven and Earth separated by sin *2
Hell invades Earth through mankind’s decisions. *3
The earth becomes polluted with sin and death. *4
Genesis 6:5 NKJV
Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
What is the solution?
The Cross
Something had to be done about sin.
Romans 5:8 TPT
But Christ proved God’s passionate love for us by dying in our place while we were still lost and ungodly!
2 Corinthians 5:21 TPT
For God made the only one who did not know sin to become sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God through our union with him.
Jesus makes us clean. *5
Hebrews 10:21-22 TPT
And since we now have a magnificent High Priest to welcome us into God’s house, we come closer to God and approach him with an open heart, fully convinced that nothing will keep us at a distance from him. For our hearts have been sprinkled with blood to remove impurity, and we have been freed from an accusing conscience. Now we are clean, unstained, and presentable to God inside and out!
Ezekiel 36:25-27 NKJV
Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.
The Collection of “clean spaces” is called the Church! *6
The Church is not a building; it’s people.
You are Holy Ground
The Church (collection of clean spaces) pushes back hell!
God wants to get the HELL out of the earth.
Matthew 16:16 NLT
Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.
Heaven will fully invade Earth at the second coming of Christ! *7
Revelation 21:1-5b
Then in a vision I saw a new heaven and a new earth. The first heaven and earth had passed away, and the sea no longer existed. I saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, descending out of the heavenly realm from the presence of God, like a pleasing bride that had been prepared for her husband, adorned for her wedding. And I heard a thunderous voice from the throne, saying:
“Look! God’s tabernacle is with human beings.
And from now on he will tabernacle with them as their God.
Now God himself will have his home with them—
‘God-with-them’ will be their God!
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes
and eliminate death entirely.
No one will mourn or weep any longer.
The pain of wounds will no longer exist,
for the old order has ceased.”
And God-Enthroned spoke to me and said, “Consider this! I am making everything to be new and fresh.
We have been made a clean space for others to encounter God and His Kingdom!
What are you doing with what you have been made?
Psalm 24:3-6 TPT
Who, then, is allowed to ascend the mountain of Yahweh?
And who has the privilege of entering into God’s Holy Place?
Those who are clean—whose works and ways are pure,
whose hearts are true and sealed by the truth,
those who never deceive, whose words are sure.
They will receive Yahweh’s blessing
and righteousness given by the Savior-God.
They will stand before God,
for they seek the pleasure of God’s face, the God of Jacob.
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