Do we pray for His kingdom or our kingdom?

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In Matthew 6 Jesus is teaching the disciples about prayer and in the midst of the prayer Jesus says, “Your kingdom come your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

This language might sound a little odd to us because we live in a democracy, however, Scripture teaches us we have a God who is a righteous and benevolent king and he is establishing his kingdom here on earth. At first we might twitch a little because we have memories of horrible kings throughout world history, but this king is perfect, loving, just, and all powerful. It is a kingdom that will be established for eternity.

In Matthew 6 Jesus is teaching us to pray for His kingdom. Yet, if we are honest we mostly pray for our kingdom. If you turn on the television, radio, or walk in a bookstore you will see that most people are teaching about how God is here to help us get our kingdom started. We have reduced God to a little rabbit’s foot for good luck. We pray for God to help us get through college, God help me get married, God help me get a good job, God help us get a good house, God help our children be safe, God help us have a good retirement, God help us have good health. Those things aren’t bad, but God isn’t here to help us build our little kingdoms. Our kingdoms would be horrible. Our kingdoms would destroy creation, elevate the wealthy, overlook criminal activity, neglect the needy, abuse women, prey upon children, oh wait…
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Bar-B-Que In Texas

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This weekend my family and I made a trip to Lockhart, TX to try their BBQ. It was a lot of fun. There are three places in Lockhart that are known for their BBQ and we tried all three. We went into each place and tried 1/4 Brisket, link of sausage, and beans.

The three places are:

Kreuz’s Market

Black’s BBQ

Smitty’s Market

All three were awesome and had a ton of character. Kreuz’s Market looked like it had been remodeled recently. Huge parking lot and easy to spot when you are driving into Lockhart. I was a little concerned when I walked in and was greeted by the heat in a large open room, but it was where you would order your meat right out of the smoker. Fortunately they had an air conditioned room to sit down and enjoy your meal. They wrap your meat in paper, give you a knife (no fork, no sauce), some bread and you go inside the next room to order your sides. We just ordered some beans and actually they were the highlight of the meal. The brisket and sausage was good, but the beans had chunks of tomato and green bell pepper. It was awesome. Tons of spice and flavor. The brisket was a good, and the sausage was a little gritty for my taste, but overall it was a good start.
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Our lives as a picture of redemption

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Redemption means to pay the price, to take responsibility, and throughout Scripture we see stories of people whose lives were a picture of redemption that ultimately points to the redemption we have through faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Sometimes we can look through Scripture and see people doing things and wonder, “How did they end up in the Bible?” These guys are messed up. Multiple wives, multiple failures and we forget Scripture is a story of redemption of God taking messed up people and redeeming them for their good and His glory.

This is what He is doing with us today. We think God is looking for good religious people to do some good things. No, He is looking for willing people to step out as a picture of redemption in our family, our church, and our community and through faith in Jesus Christ we can respond.

There are three primary contexts where we can see this picture become a reality and it is our:
* Neighborhood
* Work
* Hobbies

Neighborhood
We can open up our home, invite people over for dinner, get involved in their life, ask about their marriage, their dreams, their goals; and maybe some are going to push back and say that it is just being nosey! I guess if you started off with, “My name is Michael, tell me about the struggles in your marriage so I can tell the rest of the neighborhood.” That would be weird. But these are people you live next to, children go to the same school, see them when you are walking your dog, and you are taking normal social steps to get involved in the life of the people that live around you to be a picture of redemption.
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What do we do when we are in the midst of pain?

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Our culture teaches us God doesn’t exist, we can create our own morality, we can do whatever we want as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone else, and that isn’t true because our culture doesn’t know what to do with pain.

When we leave God out of the equation then we are just left with the pain in this world and we don’t know what to do with the lies, slander, gossip, pride, hate, rape, murder, natural disasters, and we don’t know what to do with the pain. How do we deal with the pain?
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Joshua Isn’t the Hero of the Story?

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In Joshua 6 God calls Joshua to go into battle and the strategy is to simply walk around a fortified city for 7 times, blow some trumpets, and shout! I can’t imagine what Joshua must have felt when God unveiled the strategy. Can you imagine? God comes to you with a plan for a battle against the enemy and you are thinking, “God is on my side! This will be easy.” We can call fire down from the heavens, lightening bolts, floods, and then God tells you the strategy is to walk around the city, blow some trumpets and shout.

Then Joshua gets the pleasure of standing before the army of soldiers and sharing the strategy with them. This had to seem impossible!
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Abraham Isn’t the Hero of the Story?

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In Genesis 12 God speaks to Abraham and calls him to walk away from everything and follow Him. Abraham ends up becoming probably the 2nd most well known figure in world history outside of Jesus Christ. His life is referenced throughout Scripture 300 times. 11 of the 27 books in the New Testament mention his name. His name comes up in all 4 gospels. Jesus talks about him. 3 world religions attribute their roots to Abraham and hold him in high regard; Muslims as the descendant of Ishmael, Jew as the descendant of Isaac, and Christianity as the picture of faith. Abraham is used by God in amazing ways, but he isn’t the hero of the story.
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Why is Jesus described as “Son of God”?

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When we hear Jesus described as the Son of God it immediately creates confusion. So if God get’s killed in a drive by shooting Jesus will be the first one to take his place, like Jesus is some kind of God Jr. who is second in command? This leads people to see Jesus as less than god and possibly why so many see Jesus as a good teacher or good person.

This especially becomes confusing for a child when they hear Jesus described as the Son of God. Their immediate context is family and in their mind God could have many sons and Jesus is just one of them. Why is such a confusing title referenced throughout Scripture?

Today we are too quick to assume the word “son” expresses relationship instead of essence and therefore leads us to see God the Father as one who existed prior to Jesus. This is the exact opposite of its intention. The title is to capture the essence of Jesus as God.
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Parents Who Discipline

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Discipline is a sensitive subject in our culture today and everyone seems to have different views. Scripture is clear that discipline is a good thing. That doesn’t means parents discipline to bring pain and punishment, but Scripture describes it as an act of love. (Deuteronomy 8:5, Proverbs 3:12, Hebrews 12)

Foundation of Discipline: Call to Obedience

Many times we have a skewed understanding of obedience and when we read or hear the word “obey” we start to twitch a little because it reminds us of authority figures forcing us to do something we don’t want to do. In the end we can see obedience in one of three ways:

1. Obedience is for approval
2. Obedience is for rebellion
3. Obedience is for relationship

When we see obedience as approval we are constantly seeking the approval of others and God. People who see obedience as approval are usually people who try to do the “right thing”. They try to keep the peace in relationships, keep everyone happy, pay bills on time, and try not to rock the boat. They also tend to conclude when they are doing what they think people want them to do then people will be happy with them, and if they are not then people and God will be disappointed with them. It leads to a life of teetering back and forth.

When we see obedience as rebellion it is an opportunity for entertainment. People who see obedience as rebellion tend to be people who push the limits, fight authority, sometimes do the opposite, just to do the opposite no matter the consequences. This rebellion can be external where everyone can see the rebellion or it can be internal, below the surface, at the core of the heart resisting obedience. These people tend to fight God and people every step of the way and it leads to a lot of pain, isolation from God and others. It often times leads to hardened hearts because they are always going against the grain and fighting obedience.
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Raising Children

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Raising children is one of the greatest experiences and exhausting experiences all at the same time. It is something that can get discouraging at times, but Scripture gives us some direction on raising children and it teaches us to go after their heart. We tend to chase after obedience, moralism, comfort, distraction, performance, but Scripture teaches us to connect with their heart and Ephesians 6 gives us 3 simple principles to connect with their heart:

Pray For Your Children: Pray with your children and pray for your children. I love to hear my children pray. Sometimes their prayers are really simple and they just say, “Dear Jesus, thank you for today, thank you for taking care of me. Amen.” We want our children to learn to pray and they learn to pray by watching their parents. Prayer is caught not taught and they need to see mommy and daddy praying.

Praying over dinner, praying through conflict, praying through disobedience, praying in spiritual devotion, and there will be times when Tucker will walk in my study while I am praying and I will just pull him close to me and start praying out loud with my arm around him. Sometimes he sticks around, sometimes he just hugs me and leaves, but we want our children to see and hear us praying. We want them to see that we are not the ones that are keeping this family together and that we are desperately dependent upon Jesus.
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After 9 months

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After 9 months we have been able to see Jesus do some great things in and through North Village Church and we are so grateful, but we also feel like we are just scratching the surface. Below is a recap of what we have seen and experienced, as well as what we are asking our church to anticipate over the next 6 months:

Last 9 months:
* 80 people attending at least once a month
* Preached through 2 books of the Bible so far… James and Ephesians
* Preached topics such as marriage, relationships, and the spiritual journey of fasting
* Baptized 3 adults who placed their faith in Jesus for the first time!
* Hosted a Garden Fair for the community
* Hosted a Teachers’ Breakfast for Lucy Read Pre-K
* Hosted a Clothing Drive for the city of Austin
* Hosted a Food Drive for the Allandale community
* Hosted a Dog Fair for the community
* Hosted Soccer Camps in the community

Over the next 6 months we are looking for everyone to consider how they can grow in the following areas:
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Husband Love Your Wife

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In Ephesians 5 we see husbands are called to love their wives as Christ loved the church and this is a ridiculously high calling. Jesus loves the church (all those who place their faith in His death, burial, and resurrection throughout history) by chasing after us, initiating with us, listening to us, serving us, sacrificing for us and it wasn’t because we were pretty, smart, funny, or enjoyed His hobbies. It was just the opposite. All the while we wanted nothing to do with Him, ignored Him, hated Him, and yet Jesus chases after us, pulls us toward Him, dies for our sin and shame, and through faith we are clothed in His righteousness.

Scripture is teaching us as Christ loved the church so the husband is to love his wife.

Below are a few gauges to help us respond to this challenge:

Physically: I want my wife to know that she is protected and cared for in our marriage. I want to initiate physical touch, hugs, affection, holding hands to let her know that I am looking after her best interests.
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Be imitators of God

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Ephesians 5 teaches us to be imitators of God. Scripture teaches us we become a new creation when we place our faith in Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. We have new identities. The old things have passed away and new things have come. This isn’t just positive thinking or self-help beliefs, but faith in a cosmic event that took place in history.

As amazing as it is to be imitators of God Scripture teaches us there are some things that hinder us from imitating God. Scripture describes them as snares that hinder us from living out and experience what we have been given through the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Below are a few:

Faith in Christ: It has to start with Jesus. We aren’t born being able to imitate God. Scripture teaches us we are born wanting to be God. We don’t want to submit, follow, love, or worship anything but ourselves. In His grace and mercy he doesn’t leave us in this spiritual condition. God enters into human history, lives out God’s standard of perfection, and then willingly dies on the cross for our sin, shame, guilt, and offense against a Holy and Righteous God. Jesus not only takes our sin and shame, but we receive His righteousness and this is how we become a new creation and able to imitate God.
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Trip to Florida

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Just got back from a family vacation in Florida and we had a blast. We stayed on Satellite beach, got in Magic Kingdom for the kids, Kennedy Space Center for Tucker (really me), day trip to Miami (amazing beach), got to help some sea turtles lay over a 100 eggs (by help I mean sit in darkness and watch quietly for an hour), and had a lot of fun. As fun as it was in Florida we are excited to be back in Austin!

God as Father

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Think about what comes to mind when you think of God as Father. There are words like caring, personal, providing, comforter, and we can approach Him with anything and it doesn’t change our relationship. Maybe some of us have a negative connotation when we think of God as Father. We think of our earthly father and we remember when he let us down, didn’t come to an event, maybe too hard on us, or intimidating, and there are so many emotions that come with the description of God as Father.

For some of us this morning we have the opportunity to be a father and as a father of two children I know no matter how hard I try to not let my children down they are going to grow up telling their friends stories about how I missed a game or a recital and how I was never there for them. I know I am going to drop the ball, going to hurt them, going to let them down, but my hope is that I can point them to one who will never let them down.
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