Living for the Kingdom of God

Slide 1

Now there were four men with leprosy sitting at the entrance of the city gates. “Why should we sit here waiting to die?” they asked each other. “We will starve if we stay here, but with the famine in the city, we will starve if we go back there. So we might as well go out and surrender to the Aramean army. If they let us live, so much the better. But if they kill us, we would have died anyway.”

2 Kings 7:3-4

Slide 2

So they panicked and ran into the night, abandoning their tents, horses, donkeys, and everything else, as they fled for their lives.

2 Kings 7:7

Slide 3

Why should we sit here waiting to die?

Slide 4

We know what we’re saved from, but wrestle with what we’re saved for.

Slide 5

We’re not just a people of the Cross; we’re a people of the Kingdom.

Slide 6

Kingdom of God = wherever God is King.

Slide 7

The Kingdom of God is founded on the idea that evil, sin, injustice, and oppression: the present state of the world, is not as God wants it to be.

Slide 8

“They celebrated something that had already happened, and yet still had to happen.” -N.T. Wright

Slide 9

Anyone who wants to be great among you must become your servant. Mark 10:43

Slide 10

The Kingdom is cross-like love, lived out.

Slide 11

Cross-like, Kingdom love always means ascribing worth to others at a cost to ourselves.

Slide 12

Our struggle is not against flesh and blood (Ephesians 6), if they have skin and a pulse, they’re not our enemy.

Slide 13

In the Kingdom of God, greatness looks like a towel, not a throne.

Slide 14

“You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you odd.” – Flannery O’Connor

Slide 15

Heaven isn’t just our future—it’s our assignment.

October is my favorite month at Cherry Hills and I, I realize I say that every month, but October really is one of my favorite months and it is because of missions month. And so we get a chance as a congregation to hear about all the things that God is doing in our community and around the world. And we want you to know that, that you’re a part of that, that 10% of our budget as a church, 10% of everything that we bring in is going directly towards outreach and directly towards missions. And there’s things that are happening locally and there are things that are happening all over the world. And our man and building is one of the very exciting things that we are doing. We did a campaign last October, so if you weren’t here last October, I’d encourage you to look into it.

It’s an amazing ministry that we’ve got inside of our church that’s a combination of a food pantry and then a resource center and then a, a phone line that helps with human sex trafficking. So a lot of things that are all tied into something. And in 2026 we will build that building and we will open it. And so if you don’t know about that, I’d encourage you to check it out. There’s, there’s information in our lobby. There’s also information online. Now to wrap up missions month, we have a special guest speaker that is going to be with us who will bring a message that I think just so beautifully ties in the call that God has placed on our life. Ann Wilson and her husband Kyle and their two kids, they live in Indiana, she’s on staff at Traitor’s Point and they’re good friends with Myron and Josie. And really for the last couple years, Myron has been saying she’s an amazing communicator. We should bring her out. And so it’s a privilege to have her with us today. She is a NextGen pastor, so she oversees their kids’ ministry and their youth ministry. She’s a phenomenal communicator. She has a heart for this next generation, but not to become future leaders, but instead for them to be leaders right now where God has them. And so will you please give me a warm Cherry Hills. Welcome to Anne Wilson.

Thank you. Hello. It’s so good to be with you. I wanna give a quick disclaimer. I’ve already been asked. I am not Ann Wilson, the country Christian artist or from the big hairband of the eighties heart. So depending on the generation, you might have been excited for a different reason. So it’s just me. I’m just from Indiana. My name’s Ann, my maiden name wasn’t this common, but here we are. So I am so thrilled to be here. I love Myron and Josie so much and I am still recovering from you guys taking them, but I know that they belong to the Kingdom of God and they are so loved and thriving here. But I’m familiar with forgiving Denver because you guys also took Peyton Manning. So it’s fine. I think he left very willingly, but that’s fine. I wanna show you a picture of my family.

And we live in Indianapolis, Indiana. That’s where I was born and raised. I asked if we could take a family photo ’cause I’ve given up on family fall pictures. The moms know, you know, it’s just like weeping and gnashing of teeth and that’s what my daughter did. So now you know why, but my son Keegan, he is taller than me. He’s a seventh grader and my daughter Eliza she’s in third grade and then my husband Kyle, they’re wearing Cincinnati Bengals and Reds gear. As you can see, my husband’s from Cincinnati and he’s told me that he’s pretty committed to that. I love Indianapolis sports. But he’s committed to Cincinnati ’cause he wants to prepare our kids for a life of suffering. So and they are <laugh>. But I’m so happy to be with you. I wanna start today in a place that might seem a little bit odd at first and you might wonder if I got confused, but I didn’t.

In two King seven. And the reason why is because I think that they ask a very important question in this passage that we still need to ask. And when we get here, I don’t have time to give all the context, but what you need to know is that when we get to Second King, seven the people that we’re gonna interact with, it’s not going well. And they are a, they’re in a city that’s under siege and a famine. The food has run out, they’re surrounded by enemy armies and everyone is wondering if God has forgotten them and just outside the city gate sit for men who are on the margins of society, who were the kinds of people who would not have had any power or prestige. And they do something really, really, really brave. But it starts with a question. And so I wanna start in two kings verse seven or chapter seven, verse three. Now there were four men with leprosy sitting at the entrance of the city gates. Why should we sit here waiting to die? And I imagine them like back against the wall, dust everywhere looking at each other like what are we gonna do now?

So they ask, why should we sit here waiting to die? We will starve if we stay here, but with the famine in the city, we will starve if we go back there. So we might as well go out and surrender to the Araman army if they live. So if they let us live so much the better. But if they kill us we would have died anyway. So they set out toward enemy camp like where they know they’re likely gonna die ’cause they’re like, we’re not just gonna sit and wait. And they’re completely unaware that God had gone ahead of them. And when they get there, they don’t find what they were looking for. Because see, the enemy army had heard chariots and horses which made them panic and flee. And so when they get there in verse seven, we read. So they panicked and ran into the night abandoning their tens, horses, donkeys and everything else as they fled for their lives. And so then when the men with leprosy arrived, they get there and they start eating and it’s like God went ahead of us. And here you have four men with a skin disease, obviously in a war, a famine, no one coming in or out of the city. And these four men, the least of these, the lowest or the low ask a question.

And maybe you’ve never sat at the entrance of a city gate and a famine and in a war. But I would guess that you have been in a hard season and maybe in that hard season you’ve asked, is this really all there is? Like what do we do now? Or in other words, why should we sit here waiting to die? And some of you are looking for Kurt right now of like who let this lady in here she is dark. But I promise you it ends well because their question made them move in a way that I still think we need to move. The power of this question changes everything and we need questions that wake us up. ’cause The only hope I believe of the world is that followers of Jesus will respond to this question, why should we sit here and wait to die?

And I don’t know about you, but I have found that so many believe that Christianity is just this like ticket to heaven. And we get that and then we just sit here and cash in on that when it’s all over. And the question like, what am I supposed to be doing here though matters. Like we know what we’re saved from but not what we’re saved for. And what I hope you walk away knowing today is that if you follow Jesus and when you choose to follow Jesus, we are not just people of the cross, we are also people of the kingdom.

Jesus did not save us to sit still. He saved us to bring heaven to earth. I’ve heard an author talk about it like poking holes in heaven and bringing it down as our savior came down to be with us. That’s what he’s asking for us to do with people. Christianity is not just a ticket to heaven, it is a way to live heaven on earth. And the story of the Bible is really just this clash of kingdoms of God constantly trying to invade our kingdoms of selfishness, pride, greed, fear, and of us constantly pushing him out. And so for us to really understand what the kingdom of God means for us here and now, I think we wanna define some terms. And what you need to know about me is that I’m a simple person. I really like simple definitions. And so when I say kingdom of God, I truly mean, and I heard it described this way in college and it stuck with me since like the dome where God is king, like the kingdom of God is wherever and with whoever God is king of, where the way of Jesus is lived and modeled and like sacrificed when that is the way there is the kingdom of God.

And it happens when God’s rule not ours starts shaping what we value, how we practice business, how we walk the halls of school, how we talk about people, how we talk to people. Like those are all kingdom things. But before we can really know what it means for us, I think we need to know what it would’ve meant for the original people that walking around with Jesus. See the Jewish people believed that the kingdom would come, but that it would be in like a sudden takeover. If any of you have seen Avengers in that scene where all of the Avengers are like walking over the hill and Captain America says on your left, I dunno if any no, no marvel people in here, that’s fine. It’s like that where it’s like that’s what they were looking for. They were looking for something dramatic and drastic and sudden.

And then Jesus shows a kingdom that begins in ordinary lives and spreads through ordinary people that are very unlikely. Like when you forgive someone who doesn’t deserve it, that’s the kingdom. When you choose peace instead of payback, that’s the kingdom, the kingdom breaking through. But the kingdom of God is founded on this idea that evil sin and justice and oppression, the present state of the world is not as God wants it to be. And that’s a really long way to say it’s still bad out here <laugh>. And I don’t think I have to convince you that we live in a time that the Bible calls the present evil age like that there is still things that are hard, that pain and suffering still exist. And this was the world that the Jewish people were living in and they thought when Jesus came, that would be all over.

I did not, I don’t have to be convinced that I live amongst that. I was reminded of that very clearly on Friday night when I was in line for my rental car here at Denver International Airport. Very much the present evil age you guys. And that’s not special for Denver, like in Indianapolis, I’m sure it’s like that too. It’s just like a little bit more Midwest with a smile. But the passive aggressive is still the same mean <laugh>. And I’m standing there and I mean people are just yelling at this dude. I mean there’s like 60 of us looking for a car and he’s back there just furiously working. I mean I’m standing there and there’s part of me that’s like, I’m really tired, I wanna go to bed. And then I’m like, how can I learn a rental car system the fastest I can to help this guy?

It was dark, you know? And I’m like, yep, we still live amongst evil. But the Jewish people are like, okay, so when is that gonna just end with the kingdom coming? I wanna show you a picture because I work best in things that are simple. And I told you I I am a youth pastor. What you should know about me is I love young people so much and I sometimes speak in emojis. And so I wanna show you a picture of what the Jewish people would have thought the kingdom of God was going to look like. They would’ve thought like, okay, here’s this line down here and then that vertical line is where the king will come and then we will just be in happiness forever. My new Testament professor used to very sophisticatedly say it’s like Mr. Yuck and Mr Happy.

And while I thought that was condescending at the time, I still remember it. So he would say it’s like they were living in the land of yuck and then they thought the king would come and they would just be an eternal happiness forever. No more sadness, no darkness. But when Jesus shows up on the scene, he talks about the kingdom of God in very different ways. He talks about it as present or already here. He sometimes associated the kingdom of God with his death. He talks about it like it was something that was going to happen in the future. And again, simple, simple minded. And so sometimes when I read scripture I’m like, was Jesus confused? Like when was the kingdom? Was he confused about time? No, he was not confused. So I wanna show you a picture then of what the kingdom of God according to Jesus really is of yes that vertical line is when kingdom comes and Jesus ushered in that kingdom of God and brought that kingdom of God when he came to earth and through the cross.

But then that present evil age, that like place, we still live continued and we live in that space, in that square in the middle. You and I live in the now and not yet where there will be a day which is that second vertical line of Jesus’s second coming where all we will know is the way of Jesus when he comes back. But until then we live in that now not yet revelation describes that as every knee will bow and every tongue will confess. But until then we live in the now and the not yet where death and injustice and human failure, they might not be the way the story ends, but they’re still with us. And it will be that God’s kingdom is the only reality. But right now we live to bring heaven to earth because Jesus became king in a way that no one expected.

He was given a crown and a robe and he was exalted. But instead of on a throne, it was on a cross. And instead of a crown of royalty, it was a crown of thorns. And as he ushered in the kingdom and darkness still exists, it’s like it’s here and it’s not yet in full like we live between the resurrection and the return. And to wright a scholar said it like this. He talked about how those who were walking around with Jesus, it’s not like after he died and rose from the dead, they were confused. Like they very much knew they lived still in darkness. They were being persecuted, they were dying for Jesus. Sickness was still there and Jesus had risen and his kingdom had begun. But he and he writes, says they were celebrating something that had already happened and yet still had to happen.

They lived in this tension between what Jesus had already done and what he would do believing that he came and his rule was real and the world around them might not look like it fully yet I think of visually the kingdom of God like breaking through frozen ground like flowers do in the spring. I know that you guys have winters just like I do in the Midwest. It is sadder. We are more sad I promise. And it’s not like mountainous, it’s just slush and gray and sad. But in that moment in March where you see grass and you’re like, we will be okay, we will survive this. The same professor that taught me about the kingdom of God, his name’s Dr. Weatherly also would tell us in college never make any life decisions in February ’cause none of you are gonna be okay.

Like if you choose to stay here, it’s gonna get sad. And then in March you’re gonna be like, it’s all right. And it’s like that of flowers breaking through frozen ground. So what does it look like when Jesus reigns as king? Like what does this actually look like for you and for me? ’cause Like all that’s great right? But like what does that actually mean for my everyday life and for Monday, tomorrow when I wake up? And Jesus answers that question for us a lot actually. And the gospels through the way that he lives, through the way that he speaks through his death. And there’s perhaps no clearer time to me that in Mark chapter 10 when Jesus is with his friends and two of his friends get a little bit confused about his kingdom way. And so they’re arguing about who’s more important and who’s gonna sit on the right and the left. And they’re the kind of dudes who just like knew who the most powerful person in the room was. Some of us are a little bit like that maybe. And so they’re like, Hey can I’m, I’m next to you Jesus, so I’m important now. And he corrects them in such a beautiful way. In verse 43 he says, among you it will be different because whoever wants to be a leader among you must be a servant.

And then later he says of his self, for the son of man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life. Like when Jesus says the greatest among you will be your servant. He’s describing that kind of second king seven foreshadowing where a kingdom, when outsiders become the messengers, where the overlooked are the ones who carry the good news, where God’s power shows up through very unlikely people who just say yes. And in Jesus’s kingdom it is not about climbing higher, it is about getting lower. It is about living in such a way that people get a glimpse of Jesus through the way that you live and move around the world, in your family, in your home for the people that work for you or that you work for or that you walk the halls with. All of those decisions are kingdom decisions. And really it just looks like this. The kingdom is cross like love lived out.

And when I say that I can almost feel sometimes people being like love. Like gimme something like more theologically complex. You know, gimme something weightier. And I don’t know about you but I don’t know of anything more difficult than love, especially when someone is difficult. Amen <laugh>. And we’re all difficult to be clear but we’re hard to love too, you know. But I think love is like Christianity 1 0 1 and Christianity PhD. It is the hardest thing. But kingdom love is ultimately a agreeing with God that that person over there and that person over there and even the person over there that you cannot stand has unpassable worth because God’s image is on them.

See, our central task as kingdom people is to agree with God about who he is. That he looks like Jesus, who we are, which is what Jesus did for us and who other people are. And that is that Jesus died for them and there is no exception. And as we live this through and how we talk to people and about people and what we think of people, I say that over and over again because everything hangs on how we love people, on how we love God. And through that love other people. And I can imagine that some of you in this room have a little bit more difficult time with that than others.

But cross like kingdom love always looks like ascribing worth to others at a cost to ourselves. Like it costs something to love someone. It won’t spare us from pain. And all the time when I’m walking with young people and they choose to follow Jesus and I think there’s this sometimes this myth of like choosing to follow Jesus will just like the Jewish people thought, make everything happy again. And that’s not what Jesus promised us. And sometimes because we follow Jesus, not only will it not spare us from pain as we follow him, but he’ll call us deeper into it to love your neighbor and your coworker and your spouse and your roommate and your family member or a son or a daughter or your father, your mother, a grandparent will always come at some point with pain because we follow the model of Christ and people are gonna people <laugh> and we cannot be ruled by the kingdom of God if we are ruled by the kingdoms of pride and greed and fear.

And that kingdom lens always looks like Jesus. And in this now and not wor yet world, you and I have one job and that’s to bring the kingdom to every space. Jesus lived this in John 13 as he is getting ready to what he knows is going to be his final days. And I don’t know about you, but if I were in that moment where I knew I was going to die and I knew how I was going to die and it was gonna be like that, what I would not do is invite someone over for dinner who had betrayed me or was going to betray me and deny me like I wouldn’t like I am that selfish, you know? And that’s what we see Jesus do. And not only does he invite them over for a meal, but then hours before his death when he had the power to do anything, I mean anything, he was God. He gets up from the table and he wraps a towel around his waist and he kneels to wash the feet of those who would betray and deny him the hands that formed the universe wash the dirt off their feet.

And Jesus knew the truth that you and I so often forget that Paul talks about in Ephesians six, which is our struggle is not against flesh and blood. If they have skin and a pulse, they are not our enemy. And some of you like me, maybe have walked around in certain seasons or maybe right now thinking a person is your enemy and I get that. But Jesus knew it was the kingdom of darkness. This present evil age, that is what we are coming up against and we can think what we want about people. But from a kingdom perspective, people are not the problem. They are the ones we are called to bleed for. And through Jesus’s lens we can transform the world, not by conquering it, but by loving it. And so in the kingdom of God, greatness looks like a towel, not a throne.

And that means that the kingdom can show up in your home, in your office, in your classroom, in your conversations and how you treat people that frustrate you or when you’re waiting and how you post on social media. Wherever God’s way is lived out, there’s the kingdom serving your spouse when they do not deserve it. Choosing peace in a world that rewards outrage. Forgiving someone when you would rather hold a grudge. My gram used to say, I love my grudges and I nurse them like pets <laugh>. And when I tell you that she had a list of anyone who had ever done one of her kids wrong, she could bring that story up in a second. And I do follow Jesus. And yet Graham still lives in my bones, right? And so I can feel that in me sometimes too. That the kingdom way is the opposite of sometimes what I wanna do. Choosing to be generous instead of horde, greed, all of those things are kingdom choices, choices of eternity. And so the question is not am I going to die? Because the statistics around that are pretty clear. Exactly like one out of one, you know? And none of us are getting out of here, not here, but here as an earth alive didn’t want to scare the security team. Like we’re all in a hundred years. These will all be different faces and different names.

The question is how are we going to live right now in this now and not yet world? And I know for some of you maybe you’re thinking like, won’t people take advantage of me if I live this way? Is this way of life realistic? Like am I gonna make as much money as I possibly could? Won’t this be risky? Will I still be able to predict perfect outcomes? Do you know what that person did to me? And what I am not saying is especially in an issue of abuse, I’m not saying that that relationship always gets completely reconciled at this side of eternity. But forgiveness is a one, one person decision, not reconciliation. That requires two.

The kingdom way will cause some sacrifice. Yes, yes. And yes. One of my favorite poets, Flannery O’Connor says it this way, you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you odd. And I love this little phrase because I have known some odd people in my time of following Jesus. One of them I was a seventh grader when I met her and her name was Adrian. And I was invited to church from a friend of a friend of a friend’s family. And it’s a long story, but I walked in and I was ironically wearing leopard print pants. ’cause It was the first time in my lifetime that those were in style. And I’m wearing them again for those of you who can’t tell. But and I, you guys was one of the most annoying teenagers you had ever met.

I promise you. I had a chip on my shoulder, I was sassy, I was disrespectful, <laugh>. And the truth is, is that life had been really, really hard over the last couple of years before I walked into church. And I was walking around with a lot of disappointment. And so I’m like, okay, I’ll go to this. And I didn’t really know why. And I just kept encountering these people that were nice to me, even though I was so mean to them. It was almost like I was in a game with myself of like, how mean can I be for someone to be mean back? And they wouldn’t, it was just really frustrating <laugh>. But I just kept going and kept going. And Adrian eventually realized when I wouldn’t show up, that it was because I didn’t have a ride. And so she started taking me and my parents loved me and they did the best that they could, but they didn’t follow Jesus either.

And so it’s not like that was a priority for them. And so she started taking me and picking me up on Wednesday nights before youth and eventually she was one of the ones who got to baptize me. And then when I made a decision to give my life to ministry, she helped me walk through that. And when I tell you about her, I want you to know she wasn’t like on a church staff. She had a very normal job. She was just a small group leader who was committed to love kids who were difficult with her free time. Praise God. And so when I committed to my life to ministry, she taught me about bible college. She probably learned about it the night before, you know? And that ended up okay. So God worked it out. But like she was odd. She used her free time to give back to young people, even annoying ones.

I know some odd people in our church now, when I was in my twenties, I, you know, I’m a first generation follower of Jesus. And so I became a wife and a mom pretty young and realized really quickly I had no idea what I was doing. And when my son was a toddler, I really realized like I don’t know how to raise kids that love the Lord. I’m like, is this when we turn on veggie tails, like what happens? Is that just like woo and no, that’s no shade to veggie tails. I just didn’t know anything <laugh>. And so I reached out to a woman in our church who was years ahead of me and her name was Sherry actually, it’s Myron’s mom. And I just asked her like, can I have an hour of your time? Like, I don’t know, every month or every week.

I didn’t have a good mentoring plan. I was just like, I wanna ask you how to follow Jesus and love your husband and love your kids and bring them up in the Lord. And when I tell you I was expecting, I think I brought a notepad to my first lunch I’m ready to learn, you know, and I was expecting a list of books and resources and I’m like, how do you raise kids to love the lord? And she said, I just prayed for them every night. Those are kingdom choices. Not just in how she raised her boys, but also then how she gave her time so freely to me.

I know an odd person in our church still. His name is Trey. And when I first met Trey, he was a small group leader and now he’s a kid’s pastor at our church. But he came with us to middle school camp for the first time. And right away there was a kid in his group that I just knew like, this is gonna be a tough to love situation, <laugh>. And he showed up and his mom was late dropping him off and she was a single parent and he showed up in a bag with his clothes that you would use in a grocery store and he had like maybe one or two outfits for the whole week. And so we get there and it was just hard. And that first night, and I’m thinking on the bus right down, like I just really hope kids are kind to him.

‘Cause At a week of camp, like you don’t, I mean some kids follow Jesus, some don’t yet. And so you just never know what you’re gonna get. And we’re there on the basketball court night one and a kid is making fun of him for what he’s wearing. And he did like, he had holes in his clothes and making fun of him for not having the latest like PlayStation five. And so I’ll say his name’s Larry to protect him, but Larry’s a fighter. And so he did what any of us would’ve done probably if we were Larry. And we grew up the way he grew up and we came to camp with what he came to camp with and we had all those insecurities. He was like, I am gonna show this kid what’s up? I’m gonna beat him up. And so he goes for this kid and Larry’s this tall and that kid is like this tall.

So it was like, what is happening? But we see it on the basketball court, Trey sees it and he’s saying all kinds of things that I could never repeat from this stage. I’m like, how do you, you’re 11, you know? But and so Trey and I bring him over and we just sit down with him and he’s in total fight or flight. So it’s taken a while to like calm down and we walk through like, okay, eventually when and if this happens again, what can we do differently next time? You know? And you guys, when I tell you I was feeling so good about my pastoring parenting skills in this moment, I’m like, Larry is gonna get this. Like, he’s gonna choose peace. I know it. I’m giving him different options. So it’s his choice and he has like that dignity of choice, you know, like I’m feeling great about it.

And I’m like, okay Larry, so if someone is mean to you again, can we make a different decision? And he looks at me and he says, we’ll see. And I was like, okay, appreciate the honesty. And Trey’s like, I got this. And Trey knew. What I didn’t yet get was that the way to love Larry actually was just to play with him and be with him. And so the next day he took him canoeing, they played basketball, they went down the slide, they were out in the lake. I mean they are just playing, playing, playing, playing, playing any free time they get. ’cause Yes, he’s going to the sessions and he is hearing about Jesus, but his heart is so hard because every adult has failed him that he does not care about any of that right now. And finally on the last night, there’s a call and response for students to respond to the gospel.

And I see him come down Larry. And because I really care about students making sure they know what decision they’re making, I’m asking him a few questions and he’s like, I don’t know what’s happening to me. I just know this is the best week of my life and I want this. And so I’m like, all right, like let’s walk through that this year. And so we had conversations when we got home about following Jesus and what that looked like. But when he got off the bus when we got home, he came up to Trey and I and he said Trey and me. And he said, this was the best week of my life and can I come back next week? And we’re like, no. But we’ll be here at church one night only, you know? But and what I want you to know about him is that he’s a high school student now and he’s there every time he can be.

And he just says Church is his favorite place to be. But it’s not because our buildings are amazing or our programming is amazing, although we put a lot of effort into that, it’s because Trey embodied the kingdom of heaven in how he met him that week. And his small group leaders now embody the kingdom of heaven when they see him and when he’s late and when he’s not there they ask where he is. And so I tell you that to say I wonder in what way God is asking you to be a little odd. Because the truth is if you have chosen to believe in and follow Jesus, I hate to break it to you, but the truth is you already are like if you believe in and follow Jesus, we believe in a virgin birth, we believe in a bodily resurrection. And those things are not normal.

You know, some of you just got that like it’s not, it’s already a little odd. And surely if we believe that, we also can believe that the God can bring who raised Jesus from the dead can bring heaven to earth right now, following God has always looked a little bit odd. It is always required a faith that feels foolish at times. So want you just imagine like imagine how Noah would’ve looked building an arc in a desert. Like I don’t know what this is for. Haven’t got a clue. Imagine how foolish Moses would have looked. He’s got an Egyptian army behind him, the Red Sea in front of him, and he is like, I have a stick. The Israelites. How weird did they look marching around the walls of Jericho, the most thick walls in ancient history. How insane did David look? Nine foot, giant, tiny little slingshot.

How irresponsible did Esther look going to the king when she wasn’t even summoned? She could have been executed. How foolish did Mary look when she said, I promise it was an angel, Paul and Silas singing in the prison cell, a little boy with five loaves and two fish, Jesus hanging on the cross. That’s him. Like, that’s the kingdom of God. Yes, that is the kingdom of God. And if Jesus could do this for us, surely we can risk looking a little bit odd for him. And because those people were foolish, Noah and his family were saved from the flood. Moses saw the Red Sea part. The walls of Jericho fell down. David defeated Goliath. Esther stopped a genocide. Paul and Silas were freed from prison. The little boys lunch fed everyone on the mountain. And those all began with very small, small moments. And then Jesus got off the cross, defeated hell and death.

And the same spirit that raised him from the dead lives inside of you and me through the Holy Spirit when we follow him and we can live and bring heaven to earth in every place that we go. I heard an author described it as like poking holes in heaven and bringing it down. And what I want you to know is that it will look upside down and inside out from every selfish instinct that you have. It will test your natural desires. You may not prosper in the way that you expected you would. You might not climb the ladder how you wanted to. You might not make as much money as you thought you deserved to, but you will have followed Jesus. And Jesus did not come to make us safe, to just arrive safely at death. He came to make us dangerous to the kingdom of darkness. And the only hope of the world is that the people of God will keep moving forward, will keep answering that question. Are we really going to just sit here until we die? No. We are going to bring light to dark places in every relationship, in every person that we see. And so here’s your invitation. Don’t just sit at the city gate.

Don’t wait for things to get easier, cleaner, or safer to step into what God is ahead of you doing. Those four men and two kings, they did not have all the answers. They just decided not to sit and despair. They decided to just get up and run. And when they moved, they discovered God was already ahead of them. See, the kingdom of God is not waiting for better time, better circumstances, better people just waiting for those who are willing. Every act of service, of forgiveness, every choice of love, when it costs you something that is the kingdom breaking through. And maybe for you it’s just a phone call you’ve been avoiding. Maybe it’s someone in your family that’s estranged that just needs to hear that you love them. Maybe it’s someone you need to forgive that you’ve been holding ’cause you think it’s helping you and it’s just actually lighting yourself on fire. Maybe it’s a business practice you need to rethink so that it’s for the good of people. ’cause The question is not will I die someday? We all will. The question is, am I going to live? Don’t sit at the gate,

Step into the story. God is already writing because when his people move, heaven touches earth. We have a phrase on our youth team before every week when we do youth and we welcome students into our building and it turns into a big mess. And every week we have meetings with our facilities, people <laugh>, and they love us, and we have a great relationship. It’s great. But I just say bring ’em heaven. Like they’re walking around every day looking for hope. We are bringing them heaven. And I’m so thankful that I had people like Adrian and my youth Pastor Todd and my friend Sherry, that took a chance on me.

When I’m messy and I’m still messy to bring me heaven when the ways of my flesh wanted to rule. A couple months ago, I got to my husband and I got to baptize our kids. And what I want you to know, sorry, is that that day I got to sit with my kids, my husband and my mom and my dad on my right and my left and my stepdad. And I don’t have time to tell the whole story and I won’t ’cause it’s theirs to share. But 17-year-old me could never have seen that coming. Never. But the kingdom of heaven broke through my own mess and resentment. And I chose, I wanna live a life of forgiveness and joy. And so because of that, my parents said yes to that invitation and I got to sit with all of them. And that does not make any worldly sense. I’m telling you it does not. We could have been on our own episode of like Dateline, you know, like it just didn’t.

But in the kingdom it does, just from a few steps, and it took a long time, but a few steps of the kingdom. The kingdom, the kingdom. And so as you go this week, what I want you to hear is that heaven is not just our future, it is our assignment. I pray that your words sound like grace, that your presence feels like peace, that your life looks a little bit more like heaven, that you would walk out of here with a towel in your hands ready to serve, not trying to get on a throne, but ready to live a kingdom way. So let me pray that over you. Jesus, I thank you so much for the ways of your cross, the ways that you modeled for us, what it looks like to live the kingdom. God, I pray for Cherry Hills that Highlands Ranch and everywhere around here would know, I don’t know how to describe it. I just know this feels different, that they would know who you are because the ways of heaven are carried out. And the people who call this place home, God, I pray that you would make us kingdom people in every relationship, in every space and place that we get the privilege to be in Jesus name. Amen.