Good morning. It's such a blessing to be here this morning. And I've been thinking about it and I've decided my favorite thing in the world to do is to proclaim the name of Jesus Christ.

So I thank Jamie for giving me the opportunity, for asking me to share with you all this morning. But I also thank all of you because you're giving me the opportunity and my encouragement this morning is for us to recognize that we don't have to stand up front of a church to proclaim the name of Jesus Christ. Today we're going to talk about the mission of the church and it's about proclaiming the name of Jesus Christ wherever we go. And when we do that, what's going to happen? And so I trust, I trust you are excited as we consider the word of God, chapter 16 at this time.

Let me share. This morning I was doing last minute notes and basically I'll do last minute notes until it's time for me to actually stand up here. If some of you were looking over as we were singing, I'm like jotting some notes down. But so this morning I was at the dining room table very early and I was jotting notes down. And I looked at my hand and it was covered in ink.

And the pen that I was using just basically kind of blew up. And then I looked at the pen and it was an Ebenezer pen.

And my first thought was, this is not a good sign. But then I thought, okay, not a sign. Okay, it's not a sign. It's an illustration. And the illustration is to demonstrate that there is chaos in the world.

There's a lot of chaos in the world. But over the last few months, we've been talking about the coming of the kingdom. And the kingdom is order. And we live in a world where the kingdom of God is present, but there is still plenty of chaos. And every time we see chaos, the question is, how are we going to react?

Because when we see chaos, when we see all that ink all over our hands, we can just say, you know what? That's just how the world is. That's just how the world is. The world's a mess. Good thing that we have a church to come to and hang out here in the midst of all this order.

Good thing that all that chaos is out there and we don't have to worry about it.

Amen.

But the mission of the church is not to hang here and say, oh, that chaos is out there. The mission of the church is to bring the kingdom of God. A kingdom of order, to the chaos and to proclaim the victory of Jesus Christ. That's the mission that Jesus gives to his church. And I'm excited.

I'm excited to be a part of it. I'm excited to be with you here. So throughout the last couple months, we've been talking about the kingdom of God. And I just love this series because the kingdom of God, that's what it's all about. The number one thing that Jesus talked about in his ministry and is not even close is the kingdom.

Jesus refers to the kingdom of heaven somewhere around 40 times in the Gospel of Matthew, and there's only 28 chapters. It's Kingdom, kingdom, kingdom. So it must be really important.

So we've been talking about all of these parables where Jesus is explaining the kingdom. And it struck me that I should give you all like a pop quiz this morning, a pop quiz about the different parables in the kingdom. But I realize some of my students are here today and they know that I don't give quizzes. I in fact, give fun times. I give fun times because quizzes are horrible quizzes.

Tests, exam. How many letters are in each one of those words? Yeah, four. They're all four letter words.

So if you ever take a class with me. No. No quiz, no test, no exam. It's just fun time.

So. But the point is, I'm not going to give a fun time this morning, but I hope we have a fun time this morning.

In Matthew, Jesus tells us how to pray in Matthew chapter six, and this is actually one of the times he references the kingdom and he prays the words, thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

And this is a prayer that Jesus is praying that God may dwell with his people. Thy kingdom come. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. If we are, to paraphrase, Jesus is saying, heavenly Father, may you dwell with your people.

So what are we getting at here? Thy kingdom come. From these words, we can infer that the kingdom of God is something that does come. The kingdom comes to us, and this is hugely important if we're going to understand the church. The kingdom comes to us.

The fact that Jesus is praying that the kingdom would come suggests that the kingdom was either absent or at least not fully present.

So the world is filled with chaos. And Jesus prays that the kingdom of God would come to earth and that the will of God would be done on earth as it is in heaven. And this is hugely important because the church cannot exist if the kingdom of God is not present. The church cannot exist if the kingdom of God is not present. And so the kingdom must come that the church may be established.

And then being established, Jesus says, okay, now I'm going to give you a mission. I'm going to give you work.

And it's going to be good. It's going to be really, really, really good.

The biblical narrative is for the kingdom of heaven to come to earth.

That's the biblical narrative.

My first point this morning, if you're following along in your notes, is God's desire is to dwell with his people. God's desire is to dwell with his people. If you want to know what the Bible is about, and I trust everyone in this room wants to know what the Bible is about, we can basically distill it all down that the entire Bible is about that.

The entire Bible, the entire story from Genesis to Revelation is about God's desire to dwell with his people. But there's a problem. There's an obstacle. And of course we know that the obstacle is sin. But even before sin, there's an issue because God, in the beginning, God created heaven and earth.

In other words, God created two realms. And heaven is where God dwells and earth is where we dwell. God's desire is to dwell with his people. So how are we going to get there? Well, either this earth goes to heaven or heaven comes to earth.

And the answer to the question is heaven comes to earth. The biblical narrative, what we must know, we are going to live out the mission of the church. What we, the church must know is that the narrative of scripture is not about we get to go to heaven.

The narrative of scripture is about is that heaven has come to earth. Now, when we die, if we die before the Lord returns, do we go to heaven? Praise the Lord. Yes, because our time here and our work here for me and for you is done. But that's not the end.

The whole point of Scripture is not that we, the people of the Lord end up in heaven. Because if that were the point, what would happen to earth?

Earth would be without hope if the whole point was all of us just get to leave it.

And this earth, this is not the enemy's world. This is my Father's world. And my Father's not given up on it. And his Son is not giving up on it. And his Spirit is not giving up on it.

And we, the body of Jesus Christ, we, the people of God, were not given up on it.

God's desire is to dwell with his people. And the kingdom of God has come to earth, so that may be done. When did the kingdom of God come to earth? When did the kingdom of God come to earth? Well, a little hint here.

The kingdom of God came to earth when all the inhabitants of heaven showed up in the skies over some hills, over a small town in Israel called Bethlehem. When Jesus was born. Why did all the angels show up? The angels showed up when Jesus was born as a sign that heaven had come to earth. The kingdom of heaven, the rule of heaven, had come to earth when Jesus Christ was born.

How? I said I wasn't going to give a pop quiz. Sort of sounds like I'm giving a pop quiz, but I'll give answers quickly. So the kingdom of heaven comes to earth when Jesus Christ is born. Because in that moment there is obedience on earth, obedience to God the Father.

God is sovereign over a broken world. But if every single person on earth is in a state of rebellion against God, his kingdom, his rule, is not present. In order for the kingdom, in order for the rule of heaven to be present on earth, there needs to be at least one person who is in obedience. And that one person is Jesus Christ. So when Jesus Christ is born, the kingdom of God breaks into the kingdom of this world.

And it's about to get really good.

Because if the kingdom of heaven does not come into the kingdom of earth, if the kingdom of heaven does not come into the kingdom of this world, then I am without hope and I will never dwell with my Creator. God's desire is to dwell with his people. But he cannot dwell with his people if his people are in a state of rebellion. God will not dwell with people who do not want to dwell with him.

That is our God.

God will not dwell with people who do not want to dwell with him. And in our sin, we're telling God we don't want to dwell with you. But in the salvation and the life that I have received through Jesus Christ, I will proclaim to my Father that it is my desire, my single desire to reside forever with my God.

And the grace and the love of God will see it done.

It is the desire of God to dwell with his people. Jesus Christ, in bringing heaven to earth makes that possible. If I could, I would ask you to stand as we look in Matthew, chapter 16 and read the words of the Lord.

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, who do people say the Son of Man is? And they replied, some say John the Baptist Others say Elijah, and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets. But what about you? He asked, who do you say I am? And Simon Peter answered, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.

And Jesus replied, blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter. And on this rock I will build my church. And the gates of hell will not overcome it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.

And whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven. And whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. May the Lord add His blessing to the reading of his holy word. Amen. Thank you.

You may be seated.

The kingdom of heaven has come to earth.

Jesus Christ gives this power to his people. God's desire is to dwell with his people. That reminds me of a story I read once about a treasure in a field. And when you find that treasure, you sell everything that you have, that you might buy that field, that you might possess that treasure. And that treasure is the kingdom of heaven.

But ultimately, that treasure is dwelling with God. That's the treasure. The treasure is in heaven. The treasure is dwelling with God. What are we willing to do in pursuit of dwelling with God?

What did Jesus do that we might do? So, if you're following along my second point, the Son of Man brings a kingdom of unification through his obedience. What is the kingdom of God? The kingdom of God is the rule of God. Right?

So when Jesus came obedience to the Heavenly Father, suddenly there was obedience on earth. And if there is obedience on earth, the kingdom is on earth. But Jesus didn't just obey His Heavenly Father. That first morning, Jesus spent His entire life, every moment of his life, every breath he took, every step he took, every word he spoke. Jesus did all of those things in obedience to.

To His Heavenly Father. Not My will, but yout will be done. And so with everything Jesus did, He brought the kingdom with Him. Wherever Jesus went, the kingdom went with Him. The kingdom came to earth in one man.

But that one man started to teach. That one man started to cast out demons. That's one. One man started to raise the dead. And what did the kingdom do?

It started to do this. It sounds a lot like a story I read about a really small seed. A really small seed that becomes a huge tree. And in this tree, the birds come and they nest in it. And there's life in that tree.

But it started just so small. It started with one man. That one man is the Son of man. Who is the Son of Man? The Son of Man is that character that we meet in Daniel in the prophecy.

Daniel looks and he says, behold, I saw one as the Son of Man on the clouds of heaven.

So the Son of Man is this one who comes from heaven to earth, and he brings heaven and the kingdom of heaven with him.

One person in obedience, and the kingdom is made present. One person in obedience to the will of God. And the kingdom of God breaks into the world.

What if there were millions?

What if there were millions in obedience?

What would become of the kingdom of heaven on earth if millions on earth obeyed tiny little mustard seed? One person, if millions obey the kingdom of God is going to, just like wildfire, cover the earth.

That's the church of Jesus Christ. If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, you have the Spirit of God within you.

And wherever you go, you take him and you take obedience. And we might say, oh, you know obedience? Yeah, I just disobeyed God yesterday.

If you have the Spirit of God within you, you are holy.

Because if you weren't, the Spirit couldn't dwell there. The Spirit of God brings the obedience of Jesus Christ to you, to us. We, the Church of Jesus Christ. We are in obedience to our heavenly Father. Are there times when we individually fall short?

Of course there are. But let us celebrate the truth that the Spirit of God has transformed us and we are in obedience. And wherever we go, what goes with us?

The kingdom. The Son of Man brings a kingdom of unification. What do I mean by unification? The desire of God is to do what? Dwell with his people.

What's the obstacle? Heaven and earth. The kingdom of heaven is a kingdom of unification. Bringing heaven to earth so that it's not two separate spheres, but ultimately it'll just be heaven, earth.

And God will dwell with his people, and we will dwell with Him. The kingdom of God. What do we know? What is it? It's a manifestation of God's rule.

How does it come? Through obedience, through. Why does it come so that God might dwell with his people? And who brought it? The Savior of this world, Jesus Christ.

And who is called to expand it. We are in this text that we read, Jesus is establishing his church and he's giving the church its mission. Now we may say, well, wait a second. I thought Matthew 28 was the mission. The Great Commission.

Go into all the world and make disciples. To understand Matthew 28, you have to reflect on this text. And to understand this text, you have to look at Matthew 28. That's how the Bible works. It's all one story.

And in this text, Jesus is establishing the church and he's giving the mission to the church in 28. He is telling the church how to do it. He's giving us the action plan. But in this text, he's establishing the church. And it's a remarkable thing where he does it.

If you look back in the text, it says when they came into the district of Caesarea Philippi. And this is one of these great moments in the Bible where if we're not paying attention, we're going to miss something. And how often do we miss something? A lot of times when we're reading the Bible and we come to a proper name, we might just kind of go, charlie Brown teacher, right? Wa, wa, wa, wa wa.

But it's important. This is the word of God. Caesarea Philippi. What was Caesarea Philippi? Caesarea Philippi was one of the darkest areas in Israel.

Caesarea Philippi was one of the most pagan places in Israel. Just think of what the name is. Caesarea Philippi was extremely gentile, but not just gentile. It was as pagan as pagan goes. The history of Caesarea Philippi before was even named that in the Old Testament, it was home to the worship of the Baals.

During the Roman times, it became home to the God Pan, who was a fertility God. And if I told you all what went on in the worship of Pan, this sermon would lose PG status. Suffice it to say, it was horrific. Horrific and horrible. And that's what was going on in Caesarea Philippi.

When Jesus chooses that town to establish his church, why in the world would Jesus establish his church in Caesarea Philippi? Jerusalem? Let's go to the holy city and establish the church there. Why does Jesus establish his church in the darkest place of Israel?

Because he's telling his church that's where we're going to work, so we could hang out in the light. Jesus didn't establish his church so we could hang out here in church and look through those windows and say, look at that world out there. It's so bad.

Good thing we're not part of that world out there. That's so bad.

Jesus Christ established his church so that we will leave this place, go through those doors, go into the darkness, and proclaim the victory of Jesus Christ. And know this, the darkness will flee before us. Not because of me, not because of you, but because the one who dwells within us, because the one who dwells within us is greater than the one who dwells in the world.

Why does Jesus establish his church in Philippi. He's telling the church that's where we're going to work. But there's another reason. I think that Jesus does it because Jesus, when he makes this claim, he is right there by all of these pagan temples. And Jesus says, who do you say that I am?

Peter says, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus says, you are right. And when Jesus says, you are right, Jesus is claiming that he is the Messiah. He is the Son of the living God, and all of those gods whose temples are around him are not.

Jesus goes into Caesarea Philippi to make clear he is the Messiah. And in doing that, he makes the claim that he is superior to all the false gods. He is superior to the Baals, he is superior to the Pans, he is superior to all the false religions and all the lies of this world.

And he is going to establish his church that we might proclaim that truth.

It is in Caesarea Philippi that Jesus says, who do people say the Son of Man is? And the disciples say, well, some say John the Baptist. Some say Old Testament prophets. Keep in mind Jesus is the Son of man.

Why does Jesus ask, who do they say the Son of Man is? And they, by the way, are the Jews here, because they're the ones who would know who the Son of Man is. But the only problem is they didn't know who the Son of Man is. They got it wrong. And because they got it wrong, the kingdom of God is taken from them.

Because this is the thing, if you would like the kingdom of God to come upon you, then there actually is a little bit of a test. And the test is, you need to know the proper answer to this question. Who do you say I am?

The tragedy is Old Testament Israel know the answer to that question.

And so the kingdom of God was taken from them. That sort of sounds like a story I heard once about Wheats and Tares. Because Jesus asked the question, who do people say the Son of Man is? He says that as a question of judgment on those who reject Jesus Christ. But then he asked the question, who do you say I am?

As a question of salvation? Because there is salvation in the answer, are you here today? Are you here today? And if Jesus were to ask you, who do you say that I am? What would you say if you would say, if you do say you are the Christ, the Son of the living God, know this.

You have gone from death into life, and you have been set free. There is power in that statement. There is power in that truth. And. And it is power of life over death.

And it is power to build the church. When Jesus says, I'll build my church upon this rock, that rock is not Peter. That rock is the words that Peter speaks. And those words are not Peter's words. Jesus says, blessed are you.

You're blessed because that answer wasn't revealed to you by flesh and blood. It was revealed to you by your heavenly Father. Father, the Spirit of God came upon Simon and revealed to him that truth. And if you are here today and your answer to the question of who is Jesus is, He is the Christ, the Son of the living God. In all humility, know this.

There's no way in the world you alone would ever have come to that conclusion. And I know there's no way in the world I would ever come to that conclusion. It is only through the Spirit of God that we may know that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. And so if you know it, know that you are blessed. Because the Spirit of the Almighty God has come upon you, has chosen you, and has set you apart.

So know that you are blessed.

This is good. It's getting better.

The church, my next point. The church is built on the revelatory statement that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.

Who do you say that I am? God establishes his church. Why does God establish his church? What's the one point of all of scripture? God's desire.

To do what? To dwell with his people. Why does God establish His church? So that he will have a people to dwell with.

Being a Christian doesn't mean you're a nice person, a good person, a happy person. Being a Christian means you are a child of God and the Almighty creator of this universe dwells with you.

And we'll say to the world, what do you got?

We've got the Spirit of God. What do you got?

Jesus establishes his church to be the people of God. Next point. Jesus establishes the church with a mission. And that mission is to expand the kingdom.

How do we do it? How do we expand the kingdom? We do it the same way Jesus did it. We do it through obedience.

We do it through obedience.

And this expansion is not just a geographical expansion, although that's part of it. This expansion is an expansion of depth.

When you accept Jesus Christ as your savior, the Spirit of God comes and dwells within you, and the kingdom of God is given to you. But on that first day, I'm like, I'm not sure I really get it. And on that hundredth day, I'm Like, I'm not really sure I get it. And on that 57th year, I'm like, I'm not really sure I get it. But as we live in obedience, the kingdom of God grows and expands not just into the world, but in our lives, in our hearts, and in our minds.

And I get it more, a lot more now than I did years ago.

Jesus established the church to expand his kingdom. What's the whole narrative of scripture? Heaven, earth. God's desire to dwell with his people. Problem?

Two separate spheres. What do we got to do? Bring heaven to earth. Bring the kingdom of heaven to earth. Jesus did it, and then he gave it to us.

And he said, now go. And wherever you go, the kingdom goes with you. And you live in obedience and the darkness flees.

Sounds like quite a challenge. And indeed it is. But Jesus is going to hook us up.

And he's going to hook us up because he's going to give us the keys.

Upon this rock, I'll build my church. The gates of hell will not prevail against it. And I will give to you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. We got the keys. What are keys?

Well, this is a key to my car. And if I were to give you this key, I would be giving you access to my car. You could take my car, you could start it, and you could drive it off. You could use my car. Jesus gives us the keys to the kingdom of heaven that we might have access to his kingdom and that we might use that access.

Well, what are we going to do? Well, we're going to take this key, we're going to start up the kingdom of heaven, and we're going to get in it, and we're going to drive it. And where are we going to drive it? Jesus tells us we're going to drive it to the very gates of hell. And guess what?

We're not going to stop there. We're going to push down the accelerator and we're going to push through, and we're going to knock down the gates of hell.

I'm not saying this because I think we're going to do it. I'm saying this because Jesus Christ said we will do it.

We are the people of Jesus Christ, and we are clothed with the immense power of the spirit of the Almighty God.

I told you it was going to get good.

And the gates of hell will not prevail against us.

What are gates?

Gates are something we build to keep things in and to keep people out. Some of you may have gates in your yard or gates in your House.

When we read these words in English, sometimes we have the sense that Jesus is saying, the gates of hell are going to attack you, but they're not going to win. But gates aren't offensive weapons. They're a defensive mechanism. What Jesus is saying to his church is that we're going to attack hell. And we, through the power of the spirit of God, and we, through Jesus Christ's victory, we will be more than conquerors.

In the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the gates of hell were cast off its hinges. Jesus Christ has laid hell wide open and he's told his church, go on in. Why? So that we may plunder the kingdom of hell. What are behind the gates of hell?

The most important thing that are behind the gates of hell are the souls of the lost. Because we know that if you are in sin, when we are in sin, we are enslaved to hell and we have no hope of getting out of it. There's nothing that I can do to get out of hell.

So Jesus Christ sends his people into the darkness to proclaim his name that there may be freedom.

Oh, that world, that world. So bad, so bad. Good thing we aren't. Good thing we can just stay here and the gates of hell will not prevail against us. It was so wonderful that sharing of the mission trip.

One thing I was thinking is like, I don't even know why I need to preach, because preaching was already going on this morning. Amen. Okay. But what really struck me as the perfect illustration of this sermon is that team went down to an area to build a church, and a church was built on a spot that used to be a house of prostitution.

I don't want to imagine the number of lives of young women that were absolutely ruined in that place.

But I will tell you this, my heart breaks, but the victory of Jesus Christ is this. Where there was once a house of prostitution and countless broken lives, there is now a church.

That's all we need to know about the kingdom of heaven.

Where there was darkness, there is now light.

Jesus establishes the church to expand his kingdom.

In my classes, I talk about something that I call the Titanic syndrome. And the Titanic syndrome is something I think that as Christians, we sometimes fall into and it's false theology.

So if we think about the Titanic, the Titanic is sinking, right? And as the Titanic was sinking, the whole thing was, hey, everybody, get off the Titanic. And I think sometimes as Christians, we think our job is to save people from a sinking ship. The ship being the world. Oh, the world's sinking.

Our job is just to save as many people off the ship. And that sounds like a pretty powerful mission, but our mission is more than that. Because if we were just saving all the people off the ship, the ship has no hope. And this is my Father's world. Jesus Christ did not enter into this world just to save people off a sinking ship.

Jesus Christ came to save the ship.

And we, the church of Jesus Christ, we have been empowered to be agents of that salvation.

Jesus Christ, in his resurrection, is victorious over death. He is victorious over all things associated with death. Loss, lack, hunger, brokenness, prostitution, prejudice, hate. All of those things are, have been and are defeated. And I know sometimes we look out our windows and we turn on our screens and we say, I still see all of those things.

And our first inclination might be to say, oh, the world is so bad. But let me encourage you to do this. The next time you see hatred in the world, the next time you see prejudice in the world, the next time you see young girls being broken over the sin of this world, proclaim that our God is good. Because every time we see that darkness, we can just think, oh, the world is so bad. That's just the way it is.

Or every time we see that darkness, we can say to ourselves, God has just given me an opportunity to proclaim his victory.

We all in our lives are surrounded, certainly at times, with darkness.

Every time we see it, do we believe that we have been given the power to proclaim that that darkness has been defeated?

All the false gods, all the false religion, all the lies, all the sinful practices, they've all been defeated. And it is our wonderful opportunity to proclaim that to the world.

Last point. The church's mission is to be agents of unification.

Upon this rock, I will build my church. The gates of hell will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven.

And whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven. And whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. The church's mission is to be agents of unification. Jesus brought heaven to earth. Jesus brought his kingdom to earth.

Jesus gives the kingdom to us. Jesus has spread the kingdom. And when we spread the kingdom of heaven, we are unifying earth and heaven, and we are creating spaces on this earth where God may dwell with his people.

I shudder when I think that God has given to me that task because I am so, so unworthy.

But the spirit of God has made me holy. And I have no greater joy than to commit to the mission of Jesus Christ.

There's a bit of a twist Here, at the end of this text. Have you ever read a book and you thought it was going to go this way and right at the end it goes that way and you're like, I didn't see that one coming. In this text there's a twist. And every time I read it, every time I read it, even this morning, I read it again just to be sure. Because I'm like, surely that's not what Jesus said.

What does Jesus say? I'm going to look at the text right now just to be sure again.

Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven. You see, what I was expecting at the end was for Jesus to say, whatever is bound in heaven, you will bind on earth. But that's not what he says. He says, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven. What is this loosing and binding thing?

This loosing and binding thing is a Jewish tradition where the rabbis would decide what is allowed and what is not allowed. If something was not allowed, it was bound. If something was allowed, it was loosed.

What is the whole, what is the whole biblical narrative? The whole biblical narrative is heaven coming onto earth so that heaven and earth might be in perfect unity. So that there will not be a single inch in all of creation where God cannot dwell with his people.

Heaven, earth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven. In other words, Jesus is telling us we are the ones.

We are the ones who are going to make it so.

Our mission as the church of Jesus Christ is to spread heaven across all of earth, that there would not be an inch of darkness, there would not be an inch of disobedience.

And one day it will be so.

One day it will be so. And I know it will be so because Scripture tells us that Jesus did not build his church so that we might escape this world. Jesus did not build his church so that we might escape this world. Jesus Christ did not build his church that we might escape this darkness. Jesus Christ built his church that we might go into the darkness with his victory and watch the darkness flee.

It's getting good.

Revelation 11:15 Behold, the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of the Lord.

Revelation 11:15 Behold, the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of the Lord.

I'm about to just give like my own amen at that point. Because we know how it ends. So we need not fear, we need not worry, we need not be uncertain because we know how it ends. And God will dwell with his people. God is the treasure.

God is the treasure. I have one desire of My heart and his name is Jesus.

Jesus taught us to pray. He said, thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And when Jesus prayed that he wasn't praying for two different things, he was praying for one thing. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done. Because when the will of God is done, the kingdom of God comes.

And when we, the people of Jesus Christ, go into the darkness and proclaim the victory of Jesus Christ, we are doing his will and the kingdom of God is coming.

But this I also know, and it overcomes me every time I think of this Jesus Christ I know for an absolute fact is the answer to my prayer.

Because in my death, in my enslavement to sin, in my darkness, I cried out for a Savior and Jesus Christ came to me.

But when Jesus Christ praised the words, thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as. As it is in heaven, this is the thing that gets me. We are the answer to his prayer.

In our brokenness, in our sinfulness, in our disobedience, we have been made holy by the indwelling of the Spirit of God. And we now are the answer to Jesus prayer. Because Jesus prayed that the kingdom would come. Jesus. Jesus prayed that the will of God would be done on earth as it is in heaven.

And we are the ones who are blessed to do it.

We have been made the answer to Jesus prayer.

The kingdom of God has come so that earth and heaven might be united, so God can dwell with his people. And we, his people have a job to do. And that job is to go into the darkness and bind the darkness.

And we do that through the love and the work and the victory of Jesus Christ.

So when you go to work this week, when you go to school this week, when you go home today, know that there is no darkness. There is no darkness that can stand against you because you are a child of the living God. Amen.

In a moment, we're going to stand and we're going to sing.

But before we do, I would ask that we all reflect upon the question Jesus asks. Who do you say that I am?

Because at the end of the day, that's what matters. At the end of the day, that's all that matters. Who. Who do you say Jesus is? And if you are here today and you don't know for an absolute fact that your answer he is the Christ, the Son of the living God.

My prayer is that you will not leave this place without knowing that with full certainty.

But for those of us who know it, we know the mission that has been given to us, and it excites us, because we've been given the keys to the kingdom of heaven. And we're going to drive that kingdom through the gates of hell, and we're going to proclaim the name of Jesus Christ. And the spirit of God is going to set the captives free.

But sometimes we carry fear.

Sometimes we like. Well, maybe we should just whisper the name. Sometimes we look at those gates, and those gates look pretty strong. Sometimes we look at that darkness, and that darkness looks pretty strong. And I know that we have darkness in our lives.

This altar is open. The spirit of God is moving. Come to this altar. Hand that fear over to Jesus Christ.

Set you free.

The pastors are down here this morning. If the spirit moves, please, please stand.