The Constitution of the Kingdom

NHOP School of Prayer - "What You Need to Know About Praying for Government and Leaders." - Session 3 of 12 NHOP.ca

Transcript

hi and welcome to session three of our en hop School of prayer course on how to pray for government today we want to look at the constitution of the kingdom of God uh first quick recap some of the things we covered in the first two weeks as Christians were first and foremost citizens of the kingdom of God even as we live in Canada today um and that Kingdom that we are a part of and that we are ambassadors of that kingdom is not of this world but it is for this world its values its principles are to influence the world we live in today it's for the Earth uh that kingdom is both here now it's in the midst of you but it's not yet fully here and we live in this tension of we live and move and

have our being in the ways of this Kingdom recognizing it's not yet here fully and thirdly that kingdom is eternal it's unshakable there is no other Kingdom of man that can challenge or overthrow it it's a kingdom that cannot be shaken and uh all kingdoms kingdoms organizations groups on this Earth official organizations they have constitutions and the Constitution is according to Miriam Webster the basic principles and laws of a nation state or social group that determine the powers and duties of the the government and guarantee certain rights to the people in it okay and so you know Canada has a constitution the us we hear them talk about their constitution a lot um the kingdom of God

we could say has a constitution the Bible outlines a number of values and principles that create guidelines for us for people in positions of leadership um but then also for for those who are you know just the rest the rest of us um it outlines responsibilities and duties and blessings and ways that leaders bless people including Jesus himself as our King it outlines what he does for us as our King but then also it outlines um privileges rights blessings for the people living in that Kingdom and so we're going to take just a a high level uh look at some of these passages in scripture where we can see some of these principles in there and the idea for us

is to be somewhat familiar with this so we so that we know a what is our kingdom about and B what are those things that we're seeking to bring in to Canada as an influence what are the what are the ways uh we influence our nation today if we're relating to politics how do we bring those influences in there if we're praying for our government what are the things we're praying to see grow in our government so that's what we're going to look at today and uh first we're going to take a look at some passages in the Old Testament okay so starting in the in the Torah in Deuteronomy 17 well first of all uh backing up a little bit more Exodus 19 okay God has delivered Israel out of Egypt he's

brought them through the Red Sea you know total miraculous Deliverance out of Egypt and this people who went up into Egypt as a family about 70 people the family of Jacob when they went to escape the drought uh has now come out much larger than that and in the book of Exodus we see them transition from identifying as a family to identifying as a nation and so starting in the enounter that starts in Exodus 19 God God gives them the Ten Commandments but beyond that through you know sprinkled throughout the rest of Exodus and then especially more so in Leviticus numbers and Deuteronomy God gives them a set of rules guidelines and in that we see values and principles for how Israel

ought to govern itself and if you remember the point of this was that you know the intention was that Israel would walk in the ways of the Lord and as Moses noted near the end of Deuteronomy there would be incredible blessings for Israel for obeying the words of the of the Covenant but they would experience pretty heavy curses for not holding up their end of the Covenant if they broke the Covenant went against the ways of the Lord and the purpose the intention behind this all was that they would walk in obedience and that all the surrounding nations would see the blessing of walking in obedience to the Lord and they'd be drawn to the Lord through the example of the nation of

Israel and so that's that's what we see throughout throughout you know from Exodus 19 really to the end of the Torah especially you see laws and gu ID lines and rules that were intended to bring blessing and for the Nations to see the goodness of God in Israel's dealings with with the Lord um but specifically kind of for our conversation today in Deuteronomy 17 uh God gives some some rules and guidelines for future kings of Israel okay and uh it starts by you know Moses saying in the days when you are in the land when you're in the promised land uh there's going to come a time where you're going to look at the Nations around you and go we want a king like

everybody else and at first I would say note a little bit of a warning here the whole uh idea of Israel having a king and starting that part of their history is actually rooted in their desire to be like the Nations around them but that's falling short of the Covenant or of the uh you know what God spoke for them the vision Vision God cast for Israel back in Exodus 19 when he said you're to be a special possession for me out of all the nations you're a unique people a royal priesthood you're not supposed to be like all the other nations and yet in Deuteronomy 17 Moses said there's going to come a day when you're going to want to be like all the other nations and

have a king over you now I think it was always in God's heart to give them a king you know uh we see that you know obviously leading to Jesus and God's probably working through Israel's desire to be like everyone else but in there when we seek to be like the other nations or seek to do things like the world around us we're missing something of the of the design God has in mind for us you know Peter took that passage from Exodus 195 and6 and applied it to us as the church today so the Jewish the people of God and the g Church grafted in you are a chosen generation a royal priesthood right so every time we as the church try to do things you know politically like the

Nations around us do we're missing something of the the calling and purpose of God on our lives we're not supposed to be like the other nations we can speak into and have influence in those places but we're not to try to do things like the other nations okay just just that's just a a quick note there but some of these rules um from again Deuteronomy 17 uh verse1 15 had to be from the people of Israel they couldn't appoint a foreigner to rule over them now this isn't a thing of of racism as some might kind of uh kind of read into that I believe it has a lot more to do with God wanted them to have a leader who is familiar with the story of God and his people he wanted someone who was

going to the familiarity of that made them odds much better that he would lead them in such a way that they would continue to walk with God I think that's kind of what God's getting at there it had to be someone from the people of Israel someone who's part of the story of God and his people uh the second one they weren't to amass horses verse 16 um and what that's speaking of it's not just about you know God saying I don't want you to have a nice collection of horses the horses spoke of military strength military might and self-sufficiency in that way um it it was it was a way they idolized Empire and wanted to become like the strongest Empire horses were a major uh a major

advancement or a uh A major benefit in the battlefield they gave you an advantage over your enemy and so he was saying don't trust in horses don't trust in chariots trust in me and we see many examples in the Old Testament of God being Israel's Defense and fighting on their behalf I think of Joshua in the conquest of the promised land at Jericho um and and a number of other places so you have you have those examples you have the example of Gideon his army getting whittel down to a few hundred and God giving them Deliverance through that small army you have Jehoshaphat sending the worship team out in front of the army and they get out there on the battlefield and the arm is all gone H

because God fought on their behalf and so there's and there's more examples than that but God told them I will be your defense I be your Shield I'll be your exceedingly great reward Genesis 15 to Abraham um and yet there's always this temptation this fear-based temptation to amass horses and be self-sufficient in terms of military strength and defense and God was telling them don't amass horses keep your trust in me uh the third one they must not amass many wives verse 17 uh this is not a you know this isn't a sexist thing this is and uh this is speaking more specifically to the practice of the day of building International alliances by taking and giving children in marriage

and so uh you know a country would make an alliance with another uh by you know giving the king would give his daughter in marriage to the other king or the other King's son and that's how alliances were often often made and and and ratified and uh so the issue here it's and again it's not a racial thing it's not don't be allied with other people groups but the point is foreign women brought foreign Gods with them and the purpose was don't get cozy with the other cultures and their religions because they will lead you astray uh the fourth one verse 17 they weren't to Mass great wealth on their own um they were they were to keep a modest personal treasury uh as we'll see later they were

to be more concerned with the prosperity of the nation not the prosperity of themselves and finally the thing they were supposed to do there's four things that should the king should not do this or should not be this the fifth one they were they were to make a personal copy of the Torah levite approved it had to be accurate and uh they were to read it all the days of their life and it would serve to cultivate the fear of the Lord in the king it would help them remain obedient to the word and ways of God and it would keep them humble not only before God but before their fellow Israelites they weren't to be lifted up their heart was not to be lifted up above their brothers but they

were to see themselves as one of the people of God right so so we see those those five laws that God gave for their future kings in Deuteronomy 17 and here's the interesting thing about some of these laws Solomon was arguably the greatest King in Israel's history you know some would say David some might say Hezekiah or another but arguably Solomon was the greatest he ruled at at Israel's the Zenith of their power of their influence of their wealth their peace and it's interesting because Solomon scripture makes very clear Solomon was in direct violation of the three he must not laws he he amassed a huge Army and specifically many many many many horses I think it said we've got the passages

listed for you there I believe it said he had 12,000 horses something like 1,400 chariots uh 40,000 stalls throughout the kingdom he he and it said he specifically got these horses from Egypt so scripture is making very clear he amassed many horses and he went to Egypt to get them okay he broke that first one the second one we know he had so many wives uh scripture tells us he had 700 wives 300 concubines and we see from scripture many of those women were from other nations other people groups and again it's not about being it's not about racism it's not about being racially pure from other groups the point is those wives and their gods LED Solomon astray he

wandered in his heart away from the Lord um even after all the good that God had done in his life uh up to that point and thirdly riches I mean Solomon was you know Filthy Rich you could say and it's actually interesting in one point uh First Kings notes that he received as tribute 666 talents of gold from surrounding Nations every year um Talent was a huge sum of money uh this is we're talking billions of dollars here but it's interesting just gonna say that it's interesting that it says he got 666 Talons of gold every year in tribute not including other business he had going on but uh that that number seems to put a negative spin on the amount of money

that was coming into him and so things that we would look at as evidences of the favor of God in Solomon's life may actually be pointing to a negative thing in his life that he was actually disregarding the laws God had set for Kings you know Solomon had peace all around he he had favor with all the other nations they were in awe of him and in his wisdom why did he need to amass such an army right it's anyways we could we could go through more of those but um you know I I added in there in the notes Isaiah 11:3 speaking about Jesus his Delight shall be in the fear of the Lord he shall not judge by what his eyes see or decide disputes by what his ears hear the idea being sometimes

our eyes see something we go wow that looks like the blessing and favor of God but there may be something else going on in the heart that's not so good and I think that was kind of the case of Solomon again arguably the greatest King in Israel's history we need to watch that we're not measuring success by the same standards the world measures it by but we ought to measure our success by are we walking according to the values and principles and guidelines God has given us in the word because Solomon super successful but not as successful in God's eyes in that way and he wandered from the Lord for much of his life and that's that's a sad thing that's a sad

reality and the only reason God didn't break up the kingdom during Solomon's Reign was to keep his word to David and so that's that's a sobering thing for us to be aware of uh Psalm 72 keeping in line with Solomon here uh Psalm 72 is a Psalm that's a like a prayer for Solomon you know at the beginning of his of his Reign we don't know if it was written by Solomon or if it was David praying it for Solomon based on the last verse verse of the of the of the chapter but in that Psalm we see several themes that make for Godly leadership and government um there's a priority on Godly Justice and righteousness in the first two verses uh there's a prior there's prioritizing an economy that makes the

people Prosper not just the king not the government but that the people of the land can live prosperously that's a good thing uh third one that the king defends the cause of the poor and children are specifically mentioned in that you can see it in Verses 4 and verses 12 to 14 and also that the king creates a nation where righteousness and peace flourish and where violence is stamped out okay so we see these themes here you know Israel was supposed to be a nation where righteousness and Justice flourished where the people always prospered that the poor and especially the children of the poor were defended were cared for were supplied for um and that righteousness and peace could flourish

that the people of the land could live in peace it reminds me of 1 Timothy 2 right that we pray for all those in government so that we may lead peaceful lives right and so these are values that are mentioned in in Psalm 72 and also throughout that Psalm we see that governmental leadership that prioritizes these values will attract from both home and abroad so other nations would bring respect blessing gifts Prosperity growth growth of the nation the admiration and the prayers of many and it would demonstrate the goodness of God for all to see and so Psalm 72 again gives some good guidelines and parameters for what God is looking for in leadership and again things we want

to pray to see in our in our governments today uh and then the third passage I would point to is Ezekiel 34 uh the first 10 verses of Ezekiel 34 are prophecy it's God speaking against the leadership of the nation of Israel because these leaders were he calls them Shepherds in that passage were all about the perks of the job they were only concerned about building themselves up building their own wealth breaking all the rules blatantly Breaking All the Rules of Deuteronomy 17 and God called them out for it and really because the way they were doing it is by damaging or um or taking advantage of the sheep that they were supposed to be caring for and so and then in verses 11 to 24

God kind of says the the answer for this is I myself am going to come and Shepherd them and in John 10:11 Jesus called himself the Good Shepherd and in that passage he's kind of identifying those same toxic leadership traits and he's saying I'm here as the Fulfillment of Ezekiel 34 uh but Ezekiel 34 is a great picture of how not to lead and how to lead right how they were leading and in error that way and God saying this is what I'm looking for I'm going to come and Lead it myself uh so again real quick high level overview but those three passages are excellent examples in the Old Testament of what God is looking for in a government now keep in mind Old

Testament we're talking about the nation of Israel the only nation that has ever been designated by God to be a demonstration of the kingdom of God on Earth they were they were to be a light to the Nations around them in the sense that they would walk in the ways of God that he had delivered to them and the Nations around would see the blessings of obedience we see that you know generally in the world today those who walk in the in the in the ways of God we experience blessing and you know I think of the transformation video series from many years ago that that showed the effect that Revival had on the land where where Revival had occurred um but I think it's important to note there I

don't believe there are any nations in the world today that have been um you know governments today that have been set in place by God for the express purpose of being a clear demonstration to the Nations around of what the blessing of God looks like where there's obedience to him um we have governments of man set up and there's other places in scriptures we could go to to point to that Israel is the one that was set aside for that specific purpose uh so it's I think it's important for us in saying that it's important for us to recognize God didn't establish L Canada for the purpose of being a light to the nations in the way that he did with Israel I believe we can

see that happened but it's not like we've been established in the way that Israel was so we need to just remember that as we as we read some of those passages in the Old Testament but moving ahead now to the New Testament uh the prime example the prime passage to look at here is The Sermon on the Mount Matthew 5-7 and it's interesting because you know kind of borrowed the title from this uh some commentators have referred to The Sermon on the Mount as the constitution of the kingdom of God it's Jesus saying this is how the how the kingdom works and what's interesting about The Sermon on the Mount is it mirrors God's appearance before Israel on Mount Si that started

in Exodus 19 okay so we have in the Exodus they come through the Red Sea they travel to Mount Si you had the nation gathered at the base of the mountain Moses uh or God appears on the mountain his presence rests on the mountain um in a in an amazing display of of lightnings and thunderings and all those sorts of things and uh and Moses goes up to meet with God on the mountain and then we you know you have the 10 commandments delivered and so on well in Matthew 5 the start verse one it says the crowds gathered around Jesus so you have a mass of people Gathering it says Jesus goes up onto the mountain okay so God on the mountain and then his disciples came to him okay so you have a you know

Matthew's intentionally creating a very similar picture here a very similar scene and then Jesus you know back in Exodus God first spoke these Ten Commandments and then here we're going to see Jesus deliver these nine Beatitudes uh so we see a lot of similarities here but there's two differences I want to point out uh number one The Ten Commandments gave a list of behavior to avoid while in The Sermon on the Mount Jesus is giving a list of hard attitudes to pursue he's you know Ten Commandments Thou shalt not right 10 times Thou shalt not but then here in in Matthew 5 Jesus says blessed are you you know blessed are the poor in spirit blessed are the ones who mourn

and uh I've heard it said this is above my pay grade but uh in Greek grammar the the first word of the sentence is the EMP is the focal point of the sentence and each of these verses begin with the word blessed are you or happy are you or fortunate are you when this the emphasis is not what not to do the emphasis is this is the root to happiness this is how you are blessed when you're poor in spirit you're blessed when you mourn you're blessed when you hunger and thirst for righteousness you're blessed and so there's a Focus here it's not what to avoid it's what to pursue what to go after uh the second thing I would say is The Ten Commandments gave instructions for how to judge openly

manifested sin you see murder here's how we judge it right not necessarily Ten Commandments but the rest of the law as well when you see murder here's how you judge it when you see theft here's how you fix it here's you know and so on whereas in The Sermon on the Mount you know after the Beatitudes Jesus starts going through how to deal with sin how to judge sin within ourselves before it becomes openly manifest there's a different there's a different posture here and and in all of this you know one thing I forgot to mention Mount Si the law that was delivered on Mount Si was a law written on tablets of stone but in The Sermon on the Mount Jesus is giving the law that would be written on our

hearts of Flesh okay so Jeremiah 31 Ezekiel 11 Ezekiel 36 six the promise of a New Covenant when he would take our Heart of Stone give us a heart of Flesh and Jeremiah saying he would write his law on our hearts that's what Jesus is establishing here he's saying this is the this is this is the constitution of this New Covenant of this this uh yeah of this this New Covenant that's being established this is how that Kingdom works it's not laws written on tablets of stone these are the laws that are going to be written on your heart you're going to be able to deal with this stuff on the Heart level before it even openly manifests like we talked about in the Old Testament so

there's that the second thing I would say about The Sermon on the Mount Jesus was very clear about the nature of the sermon in that it was not a departure from the law of Moses okay some argue that Jesus and the New Testament represent a departure from the Old Testament that Jesus is different from the god of the Old Testament I think very clearly in Matthew 5 17 Jesus rejects that Thinking by saying do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets I haven't come to abolish them but to fulfill them and so we know in his life he lived a sinless life a perfect life um he died without having sinned before so in that way he fulfilled the law but I believe what

he's also saying is what he's laying out in The Sermon on the Mount is this is how to live in such a way to fulfill fill the law this is how we walk in such a way that yeah that that fulfills those requirements we couldn't do it on our own strength but by the transformation of the holy spirit in the Inner Man we can walk according to these values these principles these guidelines and so so that's uh I I wanted to put that in there it's important to note this is not a departure from the Old Testament this is Jesus saying here's how you actually walk in those in those things but uh so having said that let's consider just quickly some of the upside down values

of the Kingdom that are expressed in The Sermon on the Mount okay so number one the Beatitudes happy are the ones who Embrace poverty of spirit mourning meekness a hunger and thirst for righteousness Mercy Purity peacemaking and persecution if you think about each of these things they're all values that we do everything that our flesh does everything in our power to avoid we don't want to be poor in spirit we want to be self-sufficient we don't want to mourn we want to be comforted we want to be happy and Jesus saying blessed are you when you can't fill those things yourself God will fill those things is kind of the idea there it's kind of like Paul saying I rejoice in my weakness

because when I'm weak then I'm strong that's where his grace is sufficient for us so he starts with the Beatitudes second he he calls us Salt and Light he's telling us to be different you are to be different you are to stand out you are to bring change you're to influence for change wherever you are right and I've added it in there again that first Peter 2:9 you're a chosen race a royal priesthood a holy nation a people for his own possession The King The Old King James says you're a peculiar people you're not to look like everyone else salt salt bring flavor you know there's many uses of salt and many have unpacked that before but you notice a difference when salt is

present on your dish Right light brings influence in a dark place you notice a difference when light shows up Jesus saying you are not to look like everyone around you you are to be different you are to stand out doesn't mean you're to be weird it's it means you are to embrace a different value set and demonstrate the benefit of it in the world around you and again that includes so that includes your the workplace that includes at home that includes wherever you are it includes in the sphere of politics when we vote when we interact when we when we yeah engage with people in that sphere we're to be Salt and Light not like everyone else in there uh verses 21 to 30 Jesus talked

about don't entertain anger or lust root them out again not the the way our flesh would normally choose uh talks about keeping our word even when it's hard he talks about loving the ones who hate us and repaying their evil Deeds with good deeds that is not the way of the world the way of the world is I love you if you love me and if you hurt me I'm going to hurt you back right that's the way of the world Jesus saying no no no no no we do it different uh letter F there give your time energy and money to the Lord in prayer fasting and giving and when you do don't do it to be seen and approved by others right our time our money our energy are important to us and they're the things

that most people will hoard and not share right we want our time to ourselves we want our money to ourselves we want to we want to build up our strength Jesus teaches spend those you know give of them especially in the secret place uh letter G don't be anxious and striving about your needs uh judge yourself by the same standard you judge others that's a big one we you know the world loves to be harsh to others but take it easy on themselves right Jesus saying judge others by the same standard you want to be judged by I in in Matthew 7: 7 to1 this kind of goes with this don't be anxious and striving just ask that's surpris it's a simple one but surprisingly we don't like to

ask we like to do things ourselves we like to be selfs sufficient saying ask and keep asking there's humility in asking over and over and over again and that's kind of what he's after um treat others the way you would want to be treated regardless of how they treat you um I've heard it said that all major religions have a form of the golden rule you know do unto others as you would have them do unto you but all of them do it in the in the negative sense of saying don't do to others what you wouldn't want them to do to you it's saying don't do harm right but Jesus is the only one who said go out of your way to do well to others to treat others well the way you wish they would treat

you do you see the difference there all the others take a don't do harm it's kind of like a hands-off stay you know hands-off approach Jesus is saying get in there and do good that's that's the difference there and then lastly you know in the last 12 or3 verses of the of the sermon Jesus teaches that the inner life the fruit that we bear do we know him are we built on the Rock the inner life is more important than the outer life right our world does everything to be seen we seek to be seen we seek to put on a good face a good image Jesus saying your inner life is far more important I think of the you know the the passage where many will say to me on that day Lord Lord didn't I do all this

amazing spiritual stuff and he'll say to many get away from me I never knew you we don't want to put on a spiritual a good spiritual showing even if that includes phenomenal um phenomenally working and moving in the gifts of the Spirit we need the inner life to be as strong as if not stronger than our outer life super important another passage in the New Testament we can look at the Book of James James leans heavily on The Sermon on the Mount he many times he alludes to it and sometimes even directly quotes it but in one particular section James really succinctly shows the contrast between the values of this world and the values of the kingdom of heaven so in James 3

starting in verse 13 who is wise in understanding among you by his Good Conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom but if you have bitter jealousy selfish ambition in your hearts don't boast and be false to the truth so there's boasting there's falsehood this is not the wisdom that comes down from above but that's Earthly unspiritual demonic wisdom for where jealousy and selfish ambition exist there will be disorder and every vile practice but the wisdom from above is first pure then Peaceable gentle open to reason as we pointed out before some some versions translate that willing to yield it's full of Mercy good fruits it's impartial and it's sincere

and a harvest of righteousness is sown in Peace by those who make peace okay here's just quick Point here it's not enough to have good policies how we go about working to enact those policies is just as important as the policies if not more so okay Galatians 5 another passage we're familiar with this passage because of the fruit of the spirit but back up a few Verses first verse 19 The Works of the flesh are evident sexual immorality impurity sensuality idolatry sorcery enmity Strife jealousy fits of anger rivalries dissensions divisions Envy drunkenness orgies and things like these Paul says I warn you as I warned you before those who do such things will

not inherit the kingdom of God but the fruit of the spirit is love joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness self-control against such things there is no law and those who be belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires They Crucified those things in the first few verses okay and I in saying that in saying these these passages James 3 Galatians 5 uh as of when I'm recording this today the last couple weeks have seen some interesting things happening on Parliament Hill um I'm thinking of a couple protesters and hecklers who got in the face of one of our uh one of the leaders of our parties and the confrontation that happened around that

and then obviously we saw a confrontation blow up on the floor of the House of Commons uh in in the first week back back at it and I I encourage you think through those two passages James 3 Galatians 5 think through them what fruits do you see on display in our political world right now and it should be that should wake us up a little bit we don't want to be on board or putting our hopes in political structures and political parties who are acting out in those ways right it should be evidence that that is not where our hope ought to be that's not we're not looking to get on board with these groups we're looking to bring influence into those groups that's the difference there's many

Christians today who are putting their hope in political parties to change our fortunes and guess what if you look at how they're carrying themselves you're not seeing good fruit there even if they have policies you agree with we're not seeing a lot of good fruit in our political sphere right now and that's something we need to take note of so in conclusion here all these values from Deuteronomy 17 Psalm 72 uh Ezekiel 34 Matthew 5-7 James 3 Galatians 5 all these values are backwards from the values of the world the world prioritizes self- advancement selfish ambition selfish sufficiency ambition and the world believes and here's a big one for me the world believes that the

ends okay our goals justify the means being the behavior on the way to achieving those goals and I tell you that is not the way of the Kingdom the kingdom of God promotes preferring others over ourselves instead of that self- advancement the kingdom of God promotes weakness in favor of God's strengthen us like we've mentioned from second Corinthians when I am made weak then his strength is perfect in my weakness right that's different from self-sufficiency okay the M the kingdom of God promotes meekness the meek will inherit the earth that's the opposite of ambition selfish ambition and the kingdom of God promotes never sacrificing character and integrity okay that's the means that's the

behavior for the sake of a righteous cause Okay the ends okay the world says the ends justify the means the kingdom of God says no end justifies bad means okay and I'd point you to James 1 verse 19 and 20 for an example of that where James says let every person be quick to hear slow to speak slow to anger because the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God I tell you we could have the best policies in mind but if we pursue those out of anger if we're angry and how how we go about trying to enact those policies it will not build for the kingdom of God it will not produce good fruit okay there is no end that justifies bad character and bad fruit

the fruit of the spirit is to always be evident even if that hinders our pursuit of better policies if it if it seems to hinder our good policies and I'll Just sh share a story as we as we close this um a few years ago uh Chris and I and and and our wives got to up Marilyn and Melissa uh got to meet with an MLA from one of the Prairie Provinces and he shared a story of how um he he's a Believer and shared a story of how uh their party didn't take a strong enough stance on a it was some pro-life or pro-choice event and a number of Christians lashed out um on social media against this MLA and and against this party and you know this happens frequently okay and the thing he said

was what we what they don't realize is every time they do that they set the pro-life cause back years if not decades because the way our system is set up we can't just come into power and dictate what happens and and change everything you need to build relationships and you need to build trust and you need to build with groups that may not fully share your views but will work with you and then when they see good fruit over time they'll start to work with you inside with you on things and he says by lashing out in anger and frustration with nasty words nasty posts it sets the cause of good policies back by decades even though we don't see it in the moment it's important that we

never put the fruit of the spirit on on the Shelf because we want to race to see a policy enacted in this maybe this election cycle we need to see big picture we need to walk as Jesus walked in the fruit of the spirit and I love again Isaiah 42 um talked about how Jesus did not cry out or lift his voice in the streets he didn't break a bruised read or or quench a smoking flax he didn't come in with a heavy hand and fix everything in the moment right but he came to introduce the kingdom and to send his people out to bring the gospel of the Kingdom to the ends of the Earth to give people the opportunity to come in to the kingdom and at the end of that passage in Isaiah

42 it says you know he's not crying out aloud he's not he's not forcefully bringing the kingdom but it said he will not rest he will not give up until Justice is established in the earth and in the same way we can walk with perseverance and confidence in the ways of the kingdom in the fruit of the spirit the values of the kingdom of God and persevere knowing that Justice will be established we don't have to make everything happen in the next year or two or four we can continue to walk knowing that we're part of a kingdom that cannot be shaken that's here now and will come in fullness and will never be overthrown okay and lastly I'd say this be aware most of us are so shaped by the culture

of the day we don't even realize it we tend to measure success by the world's standards and sometimes we're completely ignorant of what God calls successful you know remember what God calls successful is well done good and faithful servant just being faithful to serve and OB obey what he's given us to do we don't have to make everything happen we don't have to force things in we just got to walk in obedience with a yes in our heart to him and when he calls us to do something that's bigger than we think we should we could do to say yes and watch him move don't measure success by the world standards it's not the biggest and best and flashiest and richest it's not measure success by

faithfulness to him and uh and I would say we're in need of the transformation of the holy spirit in the Inner Man to see and prioritize and live by the values and principles of the Kingdom to see what the kingdom values that's why we give you these passages meditate on them get it into your thinking this is what's good in the Kingdom this is how we want to live this is what we want to prioritize okay so that's all for today we've done three sessions looking at the Kingdom what the kingdoms like are relationship our allegiance to it and as we go forward in this we're going to start getting into some more practical things of how do we walk in relation to

government in Canada today so thanks for joining with us be blessed we'll see you next week bye for now [Music]