Kingdom | Kingdom of God Pt. 2 | Ps Jay Jay Meyer

Welcome to the Neuma Church podcast, wherever you are in the world we're so glad you've joined us. Our prayer is that this message will reveal more of who our Heavenly Father is as we all grow deeper in intimacy with Jesus. Enjoy the message. We're excited, ready for today. That's exciting. Anybody here who was not here last week? Oh, we were all here last week. That's good to know. All right, so we're going to continue on our whole Kingdom theme. I'm going to be giving this going to be a test that you write afterwards. I'll be handing out a test. No, I'm going to kill you. I'm going to kill you. Everybody's like, what? Kids are going to score. What again? You serious? Get this at church? But before I do that, I want to invite Ernie up. Ernie, can you come up quickly? Ernie, I asked her to pray for his dad. He's dad has been in our hospital. And last week we toured on, thanks, James. And last week we toured on Kingdom Come, Your Will Be Done. Yeah, we talked about the authority and the power that we have as believers to bring heaven to earth. Kingdom Come, yeah, remember this? Anybody remember this? But what do we mean to say? Kingdom Come, Your Will Be Done. Thank you. So what Ernie did, Ernie heard this, was inspired by it. And he shared a little bit of a testimony as he closed last week, but he does happen even greater testimony because tell us quickly, what did you do when you left here? So I just went to the hospital and visited my father last Sunday. And I went to pray for him. And you went and prayed for him? Yes. What did you pray? Well, not directly to him, but in the car I was praying, Your Kingdom Come, Your Will Be Done. Right. And when you got there, what had happened? So his blood oxygen levels was below 80 when he went into the hospital. So healthy level is about 92 and above. How old is he? Let's start there. He's about to turn 80. He's about to turn 80. Yeah, okay. Wow. Yeah. Okay. And so go into the blood levels. So his blood oxygen level was registering 100 when I got to the hospital. When he got to the hospital, how did we miss that? So it was around about where was it before you prayed? It was about 80. About 80? Yeah. It was about 80. When he got to the hospital, it was 100. Kingdom Come, well, come on, let's get excited about this. This is God moving. All right. And then what did the nurse say to you? So the nurse was probably in his 20s. And he said that it's incredible that it's registering 100 because even him being young and fit, he wouldn't even register 100 on that. Yeah. What an amazing taste to me. So where's that now? That's back home. Out of the hospital back home. How's he doing? He's doing good. He's doing great. He's doing great. Awesome. And in time for my mom to who's going on a safari to Kenya for three weeks. So God made sure he was well before she went away. So she could enjoy her holiday. She could enjoy. It's a good God. Hey, it's a good God. Can we just pray for Ernie? Yeah. Father, thanks for sharing Ernie. Thank you for being vulnerable. Lord, we just thank you for what you have done in Ernie's dad's life and in Ernie's life. And even you increased Ernie's faith. We thank you, Father God, that this healing has taken place. And we seal this now by the power of Holy Spirit and the blood of Jesus. We seal this and we say thank you that this is consistent. Doesn't matter if he's 80 years old, that he will have lungs that are even more healthier than a 20 year old Lord God. We thank you, Father God, that no weapon formed against him will prosper. And we thank you that Ernie remains a walking testimony of your goodness and that where he shares, where he shares the faith, where he shares the story Lord God, that you will use him to advance your kingdom and to add to your kingdom. We pray this in Jesus' mighty name. Amen. Amen. Thank you. Thank you so much. Come on, let's give him a round of applause. That's awesome. That's awesome. Well, if you got your Bibles, get your Bibles out. I would hope you all have your Bibles because that is your weapon. Kingdom of God, round two, we've had four weeks of Kingdom of God, but this is the second part that I'm teaching. I taught last week, which you were all here and you all heard. And this week, I want to continue. And I want to have a look at Romans, but before we look at Romans 14, I just want to bring to our attention that as the theme of Kingdom come, the theme of Kingdom of God actually was part of Jesus' preachy ministry was the beginning of his preachy ministry. In Mark 115, it's said, "The time has come. The kingdom of God is near repent and believe the good news." Jesus himself started his ministry with the words, "The kingdom of God is near." So even for Jesus, the kingdom of God was really important. Jesus also taught these parables. And as he taught his parables, the central theme was the kingdom of heaven. He said, "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that was planted in the garden." He said, "The kingdom of heaven is like a farmer who goes out to scatter," he said. He said, "The kingdom of heaven is like a large catch of fish." He said, "The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field." Even his healing ministry was a display of the powerful kingdom of God over demons and over sickness and even over death. And we read that in Matthew 4, 23, where it says, "Jesus went throughout Galilee teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease," not some, "every disease and sickness among the people." So Jesus' ministry was a display of kingdom power. The kingdom of God is important in our spiritual walk. We have to understand this. We have to grasp this as believers. It has to be, the kingdom of God has to be part of our spiritual lifestyle. In the first week, Pastor Ben Fitt's Gerald taught us about reaching out, sharing the gospel, and reaching out to the last, which is very much a kingdom principle. Second week, we are prophet Roma. She taught us about valuing tables over platforms, being an ecclesia of God, which is also a very important kingdom principle. Last week, we unpacked the word kingdom. What does kingdom mean? Kings domain, two words, king and domain. It's the king's domain. It's the domain that he rules after. And we looked at the kingdom of God, understanding God's world is for heaven to be invade earth. And every believer has been given that authority and power to do just that. Exactly what we've heard. We had another testimony in the first service. We mark, he works in a hospital, he'd been overseas, he hadn't stepped the whole of Sunday night, and Monday is normally a doozy of a day for him as he goes into the hospital. He says he gets about 60 to 80 calls. He says a lot of star phone in sick, which makes life much more difficult, and he's got to organize all of that. And this is one gentleman who is really, really difficult to get along with, never says yes. And he woke up that morning and he goes, "Well, Jojo preached this. He says, 'I'm going to call it. So he called the kingdom come.' And he said, 'You will be done. He declared peace over the hospital. He said that he had one sick person, but that was easy to sort out. He said he didn't, he hardly had any phone calls that day. And this person who was grumpy, known as the grumpy person, who he asked to do something, said, 'Yes, sure, I'll go and do it.' Saying kingdom come, you will be done shifts the atmosphere. It brings heaven to both. So this week I want to conclude our series on kingdom, and I want us to unpack Romans 14 verses 17 to 18, highlighting three main principles that Paul puts forward for believers to walk in as part of the kingdom of God and kingdom living. Because when this is done, and this is what's really important, it is pleasing to God and it's approved by others. Who knows, we as believers, whatever we do, needs to be pleasing to God, the Almighty One. Anybody? Yeah, you're in agreement. So that's good. So let's pray. Yeah, let's ask God to help us Holy Spirit. We thank you that you are here. We thank you for your word. We pray that as we open the word, Holy Spirit that you will testify to us, you're condenomous, that you will bring light to the word and that the word will transform us in Jesus' mighty name. We pray. Amen. Amen. So just keep your finger in Romans 14 as we give a little bit of context. The context is this. Paul is dealing with disagreements in the Roman Church regarding disputable matters. Who knows that to this day there are very many disagreements within the Church. You just got to look around. You just got to have your ears open, come out from under the rock and look face the reality within the Church, capital not in this Church, not not not within New Meese. That never happens in New Meese. It's the other people. There's different denominations, correct. There's different theology, correct. Different sacraments. People viewed the sacraments differently. The role of Mary in the Church. Even that is the very contagious. Church governance is always contagious. Salvation, justification. So there's these disagreements within the Church. Capital E, capital C. But in this instance, Paul is talking about food and the observation of special days. Really? Seriously? Yes, he is. And he says, he refers to some people who abstained from certain foods as weak in the faith. And he also refers in chapter 14. He also refers to others who eat everything strong in the faith. Now that's me. I eat everything. So I'm there. I'm in the strong in the faith. The only thing I don't eat is poison. All right? So I'm strong in the faith. But Paul comes in verse in chapter 14 and he calls for mutual respect and consideration, encouraging believers to pursue peace and build each other up rather than causing others to stumble over disputable matters. He goes on and we're going to read this now from verse 17. And he says this, the kingdom of God. Now what did we learn last week? The kingdom of God is a spiritual realm over which God reigns as king. All right? He says, the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, which is your practical stuff, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit, which says to me, this is spiritual. All right? Because anyone who serves Christ in this way, anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by man. Now that word approved by man, I'm not talking about that we have to approve man. We have to appease man. That's not what it's saying. It's saying it earns man's respect. There's other Bibles of translations that say it earns man's respect. So let me read that again. The kingdom of God is not a matter of eating or drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and earning man's respect. Anyone who serves Christ in this way, which way? In righteousness and in peace and in joy in the Holy Spirit. They are pleasing to God and earns man's respect. So we have to ask ourselves the question, what is the kingdom life like? Is it a matter of legalism, a bunch of do's and don'ts about eating and drinking and the Sabbath regulations? Well, according to the scripture, the answer is no. You see, Paul says the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking. He's dealing with this topic of legalism. Everybody say legalism. Throughout the whole of 14, he's talking to these people about legalism. So what is legalism? Let's unpack that. Legalism is excessive rule following. Legalism is the whole concept of salvation by works. Legalism can be judgmental attitude resulting in lack of grace, compassion, and understanding towards those who fail to meet your standards. Legalism can be focused in on minor issues whilst neglecting the more significant principles of love, justice, and mercy. And so I can go on. What are the consequences of legalism? This is important. Legalism creates a heavy burden for individuals. Legalism stifles spiritual growth. Legalism brings division amongst religious communities as people argue over beliefs, rules, and standards which causes conflicts and lack of unity or division. This is what Paul's addressing. But these things happen in today's church right now. It's not only what happened back then. It still happens today. You see, legalism is something that we need. Just watch. Why? Because even Jesus deals with legalism. In Matthew 23, 23, he's talking to the scribes and the Pharisees and he says, "Whoa!" To you scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. I love spitting that word out, you hypocrites. You give a tenth of your spices, mint, dill, and cumin, but you've neglected the weighty matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter without neglecting the former. Then he says, "You blind guides, you strain out the gnat and swallow a camel." Weird language. But anyway, what is Jesus doing? He's addressing legalism. So Paul addresses legalism. Jesus addresses legalism. Paul addresses legalism, which is in the church. You see, because he is saying the kingdom of God is not necessarily about your legalistic view of what you eat or drink. It actually involves a more weightier thing. It involves kingdom purposes. It's not about the natural people. Here what I'm saying, and we're going to show you this. It's not about the natural. It's how you live your, how you live supernaturally that actually impacts your natural. Holy Spirit is supernaturally. We all own the same page. So it's how we live supernaturally that impacts the natural. In other words, the supernatural needs to affect your natural. The supernatural needs to affect you. And what is that? That is bringing heaven to earth. That is bringing kingdom come. So Paul says, "The kingdom of God is about righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit." A strong description of life in the kingdom. But I want you to take note here. The first word he uses is righteousness. The second word he uses is peace. The third word he uses is joy. The sequence is not coincidental. We need to understand that when the Bible puts things down like a, it's not coincidental that, you know, he just wrote it that way. There is a reason why it is written that way. And we will get to that a little bit later. We'll get an understanding. But what I want to do is I want to unpack the Scripture, really dissect it so that we get a better understanding inside on what it means to be kingdom living, to be kingdom minded. So the first word we're going to unpack is righteousness. The kingdom of God is righteousness. Now the concept of righteousness in the Bible is multifaceted and can be understood in two primary perspectives. The first being imputed righteousness. I had to look up that word because I didn't understand what imputed mean. It actually means assigned, assigned righteousness or positional righteousness. That's also another great way to explain it. You see, this refers to the righteousness that is credited to believers by faith in Christ. So when you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you are credited righteousness. Let's read this. This is in Romans 3, 21 to 22. But now apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been made knowing to which the law and the prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. Any believers in this room? Okay, we will be doing all the call afterwards. Just letting you know. Two Corinthians 5, 21. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Can you even fathom that we become the righteousness of God? That's something I'm going to be stewing on for the next couple of days. The righteousness that blows my mind. The second of the righteousness is the practical righteousness. So we've got the imputed righteousness. The second one is the practical righteousness. And this is ethical or behavioral righteous. And this is what we talked about last week, but the right alignment and positioning with the kingdom of God through our behavior, through our ethics, referring to the righteous behavior and moral conduct. This is what is expected and should be in response to our new identity of sons and daughters, because we are all sons and daughters. We're not orphans anymore. We are now sons and daughters. So this is because of that righteousness, we should be living differently. Our behavior should be different. We should be in the right alignment with the positioning of the kingdom of God. Now, how do we live this way? Good question. One John 3, 7 says, "Your children do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is righteous, just as he is righteous." Let me repeat that. "The one who does what does right, the one who does what is righteous just as he is righteous." We are called sons and daughters to do what is right, ethically and behavioral. Yes? So the Bible comes and presents righteousness both as a gift from God through faith in Jesus Christ, which is your imputed righteousness, and the way of life that reflects moral standards, the practical righteousness. Believers are called to live out the imputed righteousness through practical acts of obedience and holiness. It's this that leads to this. This kingdom wise cannot happen without this. So, there's got to be practical righteousness in every day Christianity. There has to be practical righteousness in every day of your calling as a believer. Be that in the workplace. Be that in home life. Be that on the roads and the highways. Even when they swerve in front of you and they don't merge properly, they might not be able to hear you, but they can see you in the rear view mirror. We've got to be righteous out on the roads and the highways as well. We've got to be righteous in the supermarkets. Every day in every place as believers, we need to live that righteous life. And for the record, I have said this again, I want to say this again. The imputed righteousness is the basis of the second righteousness. The imputed righteousness is the basis of the ethical or behavioral righteousness. This is built on our imputed righteousness. The second word is it, are we all all right? Good? Are you keeping him with me? Second word is in our scriptures, peace. The kingdom of God is peace. Romans 14, 17, as you know, Paul says peace is a fundamental and essential characteristic of God's kingdom. Here again with peace, we see several dimensions. The first being harmony and unity amongst believers. So peace refers to the harmonious relationships among believers, accepting and respecting each other's differences in non-essential matters. You see, Ephesus 4, 3 says, making every effort to keep the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace. That's what we are called to do. Maintain, keep the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace. There has to be this harmonious relationship amongst believers. Another dimension of this peace is reconciliation with God. Peace also signifies the state of reconciliation and the right relationship with God that we are in. You see, a vertical peace is the foundational on the horizontal piece. When you have peace this way, you'll have peace this way. If there's no peace this way, there's no sorry, if there's no peace this way, then we've got to check the peace this way. We've got to understand this. Romans 5, 1 says, therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. The third thing, the third dimension of peace is inner peace and contentment. You see, when we have peace here, we have peace here, we're going to have peace here as well on a personal level. The inner peace and contentment. This inner peace, the Bible says, "God's our hearts and our minds, enabling believers to rise above the disputes and live in harmony." Philippians 4, 7. "And the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your heart and your minds in Christ Jesus." What does this say? "The peace of God which transcends all understanding." You cannot understand this peace, but it'll guard your heart and it'll guard your mind. You see, Paul's directing believers in the Scripture to prioritize the inequalities that define the kingdom of peace. Because peace, here's the word, peace is essential for building up the Christian community. We have too much infighting within the church, capital, the key, capital C. You've just got to look at the Olympics, the Olympic opening. My gosh, I didn't watch it, but Facebook and all the socials are just so full and all negative. A lot of Christians just say negative stuff about it. It was so demonic, it was so satanic, it was so this, so that. But then what is sad is that the believers, other believers jump on there and they criticize the other believer. And who's looking at this? The world is looking at this. The world is giggling at the church that is doing this, no inner peace. There's no this relationship. There's no we are prioritized in the community of God above everything else. You see, by expressing peace, believers reflect the true nature of God's kingdom to each other and to the world around them. So, we have righteousness, which is right living with God, towards pain. We have peace with God and towards others. And the third principle that Paul brings is joy. The kingdom of God is joy. Now, we've got to understand that joy is based on the rock solid foundation of righteousness and peace. You see, righteousness and peace, which we've just dealt with, results in joy. When you live in this way and this way and this way and this way, it results in joy. It results in joy that is indescribable. But joy as well also has several dimensions. You have the spiritual joy from the Holy Spirit that is not based on external circumstances. But there is a deep abiding sense of happiness and contentment that comes from the Holy Spirit. Galatians 522 talks about the fruits of the Spirit and joy is one of them. It indicates a divine source and nature of joy. It's divine. So, when we have divine, it's not an external thing. It's an internal thing. The second is joy in salvation and relationship with God. Joy arises from the believer's relationship with God and salvation they've received through Jesus Christ. I don't think we really realize what Jesus did for us. I think we are pretty flippant with what he did. We don't really realize the pain that he went through. Yes, we see it at Easter, but does it really sink in? Yes, we celebrate it at least, but does it really sink in? Yes, we focus on it many times just at Easter, but does it really sink in? Do we really realize what God did for us? Do we really realize how his body was smashed to threads? Do we really realize that as he hung on the cross that he couldn't breathe? I mean, unless you've nearly drowned and you know how it feels, which by the way I did when I was a child nearly drowned, and you don't know how it feels to not be able to get breath. I mean, this is what he went through. This is just some of the stuff. So, when we realize this, and then there should be rise up within us, a joy regarding our salvation. Oh my gosh, Lord, I am so glad. Thank you, Jesus. It's got to be a joy on the inside, because joy arises from the believers' relationship with God, the relationship that we have. This joy is a response to the grace and to the mercy and to the love of God. And Psalms 51, 12 says, "Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit to sustain it, to sustain me, a willing spirit to sustain it." Moving on, joy despite circumstance. This is a big you see, the joy is steadfast and persists regardless of external circumstances. Joy does not leave your body when you are faced with a trial. Joy does not leave your body when you have a challenge. Joy does not leave your body when you're facing a sickness. Joy remains because joy is internal. Joy is a fruit of Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit doesn't check out and leave. Oh, you're hearing me today? It's making sense. You're very quiet, making me nervous. Believers can experience joy even in trials and suffering. Why? Because the kingdom of God, joy is rooted in relationship with them and Christ. James 1 verses 2 to 3 says, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, not just one kind, many kinds, we as believers should be realized in that there are going to be trials of many kinds." And James says, "Consider it poor joy." We're like, "Don't want to hear this one." Yes? Anybody? Or is it just me? No, we don't want to hear about the joy, about the trials. We just want the joy because it says, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. The fourth one, there is joy in communal aspect of joy. There's a communal aspect of joy. Joy's shared amongst believers contributes to the unity, growth and edification of the Christian community which results in more joy. So when we come up and we hear only the testimony here, who here felt a sense of joy? Tested me of Jesus, spirit of prophecy. Who here felt joy when I shared about Mark's testimony, about him declaring? Well, this is exactly what we're saying. Joy's shared amongst believers contribute to the unity, growth and edification of the Christian community which results in more joy. Philippians 2-2 says, "Then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love being in one spirit and of one mind." That means that there's a unity about it. You see, as believers, as we live in righteousness and peace, our collective joy is enhanced. And you know what? Our collective joy is not any enhanced when we gather here. Our collective joy is enhanced when we gather in life groups. Our collective joy is enhanced at the youth group. Our collective joy is enhanced when we meet up with one another at a coffee shop. Doesn't matter where we are. When we share the testimony of Jesus, when we share about the goodness of God, there's a collective and a joy that is released and an enhancement. There's more joy. We leave those meetings feeling uplifted and filled with more joy. First one, and this is going to be a bit of a button pusher, but that's okay. That's what I'm here for, to push the buttons. Joy is an indicator of the kingdom of God. So Paul highlights in the kingdom of God, Paul highlights that the kingdom of God is characterized by joy in the Holy Spirit. I want to propose to you this. Your greatest indicator of Christian health is joy. What I'm saying is if you want to know how you're doing as a believer, check your joy levels. You know the sign, don't let this rob you of your joy. Check your joy levels. Check your joy levels. The greatest indicator of Christian health is joy. It is your greatest indicator of where you stand with Jesus because true kingdom joy cannot exist with double mindedness. True kingdom joy cannot exist with lukewarmness. True kingdom joy cannot exist with legalism and unbelief. True kingdom joy cannot exist with sin. You see, true kingdom joy signifies the presence and influence of God's kingdom within my life. Does he want to give us true kingdom joy? Yes, he does. If you ever wondered, now you know the answer, he won. Have we got true kingdom joy? Yes, because we have Holy Spirit. It's a fruit of the Spirit. Love joy, peace, joy. Second one, not coincidental. That is the second. Love joy, peace. Yes, he wants us to not only have it, but he wants us to experience. He wants us to encounter. And as we encounter that joy and we release that joy so it influences those around us. Yes, true kingdom joy signifies the presence and influence of God within a believer's life. Romans 1513, "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." Joy is not made of you, just be pushed down. Joy is meant to overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit church. We have to realize joy in the Holy Spirit is the hallmark of God's kingdom. Why? Because it reflects the transformative power of the gospel in a believer's life. This is needed today. This is needed today in the church. We need to be laughing a lot more, not superficially, not just let's fake it until we make it. There's that doesn't exist in the kingdom. We are meant to be laughing a lot more. Why? Because Christ died for me and I am now a son and no longer an orphan. Come on. There's joy in that. So we're talking about righteousness, peace and joy and then the words are in the Holy Spirit. So we cannot, we've got to realize that this is not a natural righteousness. This is not just a physical, it's not just a physical peace. It's not just a physical joy. It is this supernatural side to it because it is righteousness in the Holy Spirit. It is peace in the Holy Spirit. It is joy in the Holy Spirit. So truly, living in the kingdom of God means we live in a different realm of experience, a kingdom realm. And this is important. Why? I'm glad you asked because I did write the answer down. I knew you were going to ask this question. The answer is this, you and I as believers of God advance the kingdom of God by living according to the principles of God's kingdom. Write this as peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Serving Christ and not man word which is pleasing to God. The key is serving Christ in this way because it is pleasing to God. It's about pleasing God. Colossians 3, 23 says, "Work willingly at whatever you do as though you were working for the Lord rather than people." Whatever we do, we should be according, we're working for the Lord. This is for the Lord. It's not for people. So I finish, or I'm sorry to finish, I'd like to bring this scripture up, Romans 14, 17 to 18, but I want to read it to you out of the Passion translation. It's going to be on the screen. It reads as follows, "For the kingdom of God is not a matter of rules and about food and drink, but is in the realm." The kingdom of God is in the realm of the Holy Spirit. Supernatural. Fold with righteousness, peace and joy. Serving the anointed one. Wow. Serving the anointed one. By walking in these kingdom realities, please is God and earns the respect of others. Serving the anointed one. How by walking in these kingdom realities, please is God Almighty. Gosh. Can we as a church get back to pleasing God, please? Can we please get back to pleasing God and stop pleasing man? Can we get back to making decisions that please the Almighty one? Kingdom of God is not a matter of rules about food and drink, but is in the realm of the Holy Spirit. So the kingdom of God is in the realm of the Holy Spirit, and the kingdom of God is filled with righteousness, peace and joy. There's a little bit of a Bible study. Serving the anointed one by walking in these kingdom realities. What are they? Righteousness, peace and joy. Please is God and earns the respect of others. Let me ask you a question. Do you have righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit? Do you have the Holy Spirit? Do you know Jesus? Maybe you hear and you don't know Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Are you trusting Him? Have you trusted Him? Do you know Him? Good questions. You see, your your your conscious could be testified, no, right now, you know, and if it is, if it's saying to you, no, that's not who I am, then I want to say today, repent. Repent. Last week I said repentance means going this way, turning around, going the opposite direction. Repent. It's time to repent. Turn from your ways. Turn to Jesus. Believe in it. We're in a season, the church is in a season where we have to realize there's an urgency on our lives. There's an urgency for us to walk in kingdom, to bring kingdom to earth. There's an urgency for the manifestation of His power and His presence, to be seen and experienced and the society around us, not in the four walls of the building on a Sunday. And each one of us have play a role. We have the mandate, like I said last week, we have the mandate upon our lives to bring heaven to earth. And if you're not there yet and you feel you don't have that mandate, then repent. Today's the time to repent. Turn from your ways. You see, because it's the greatest thing that could ever happen to you. The greatest thing you could ever have. And I'm not saying that everything will turn out rosy and, you know, the orchestra will come out. Oh, well done, guys. That was a good time in. The orchestra will come out and the lights will dim and the candles will flicker and the violin. I'm not saying it's going to be rosy. Unfortunately, the churches preach that. Passes a preset from the pulpit. Everything will work out well. No, no, no, no. No, that it's going to get a little bit topsy-turvy, but you're not in the boat alone. You have Jesus with you in the boat. And that's what matters. Have you got Jesus in the boat today? If you say no, I'll give you an opportunity later to make that right. But today, I also want to speak to the believers. You know, because you know that JJ doesn't come and just tickle your ears. Those days of tickling the ears and letting the church hear what they want to hear is over. That's not a mandate that I'm called to. I'm called to preach the gospel of the truth, and the truth is what will set you free. So if you're a believer today, I want to ask you, does your life line up with these kingdom principles? With these kingdom of God principles, the righteousness, the peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit? Is your current lifestyle pleasing to God and earning the respect of man? It should be. Because it's biblical. It should be. It's what we've just read. Is it pleasing to God? If it's no, I call you to repent. It's not a big thing. Oh, what he's talking about repentance? Yes, I am. The church doesn't talk about repentance anymore from the pulpit. It's sad. But that's what we've got to do. We have to do that. We walk in this way, repent. We've got to turn around and go, "Okay, I'm giving everything to God." Everything. Lock, stock, and barrel. Do you have a passion? Church, I'm talking to you. Believers. Do you have a passion for the lost and the hopeless and the Christless? For those who don't know him? Are you talking to people about knowing Christ, about how Christ has changed your life? If not, you should be. Righteousness, peace, and joy. Your contagious joy should be changing the atmospheres in your workplace, in your schools, in your universities, in Kmart, in wherever you are, bit W, in Aldi, wherever you are. The joy that you carry, the righteousness and the peace that you're walking, and the joy that you carry should shift those atmospheres. People should be saying, "I don't know what you've got, but I love what you've got. I don't want what you've got." Whoa, opportunity right there. Let me tell you about what God has done in my life. Church, hear me. I'm not preaching at you. I'm preaching to myself. I'm preaching to myself. This is challenging me. I have registered and signed up to go to Awaken in Australia to go to the streets, which will stretch me to my core. If you know me, it's not my comfort zone, but I need to be shook. Is that a word? Shaken. That's a better word. Shaken out of my comfort zone. You need to be shaken out of your comfort zone as well. We all do every single one of us. The greatest thing for all believers is live a kingdom lifestyle in righteousness and peace, and your heart will be filled with a joy. You know what? That cannot be described. Why does serving Christ this way earn the respect of man? It was number one that advances the kingdom of God. Number two, it promotes harmony and unity. Focusing on righteousness, peace and joy fosters a sense of unity and harmony, which is appealing to everyone around it. Number three, it reflects genuine faith. Alive, where the righteousness and the peace and the joy is so evident demonstrates the transformative power of the gospel, which is powerful testimony to both believers and non-believers. That testimony that that earned it shared, that testimony that Mark shared, well, we were like, wow, that's pretty awesome. But you know what? That testimony has to go out of the four walls of this place. Even you can share that testimony. Mark's not in the building right now, and I shared Mark's testimony. You were touched by me sharing Mark's testimony. You can take these testimony and use them. If you feel you haven't got a testimony, use somebody else's testimony, because it's not just it's the testimony of Jesus, and what Jesus has done. It encourages mutual respect. Serving Christ this way encourages mutual respect and acceptance. You see, because when believers, believers prior to these qualities, they're more likely to respect each other's differences in non-essential matters, which is not only pleasing to the church community, but pleasing to the community overall. And lastly, it aligns with ethical and moral standards. Do you know that righteousness, peace, and joy are actually universal values, regardless of religious and belief? They are universal. Every single belief has got something good in there. We might not agree with what they believe. I think sometimes other beliefs do, should I say this, I'm going to go there, they do better than what they might we do as the church, sadly, sadly. You see, when Christians live out these values, it resonates positively with the broader society. It earns the favor and the respect and approval. Church, call you higher. I love you. Challenge you. Challenge you. Challenge you. Challenge you. Challenge you. Challenge you. Because as I think it was only that prayed it this morning, this place should be packed to the rafters. Why should it be packed to the rafters? So, JJ and Pullina can pat our own backs and say, "Well done. You know what, we're fully in the place up." No, no, no, no. This place should be packed to the rafters because you're sharing the testimony, because you're sharing the gospel, because you are talking to people about who Jesus is, because you are taking the righteousness, peace, and joy with the Holy Spirit. You're taking into the community and people are wanting to say, "I want to go where you're going and you're going, I'm going to church and say that I want to go with." That's why this place should be packed. Our communities are crying out for answers. You have the answer. You have the answer. Righteousness, peace, joy in the Holy Spirit. It's yours. So today I want to say, there's anybody here who has not yet given their life to Jesus, who has not yet made that decision and made Jesus Lord and Savior of their life. Today is, I'm calling you higher and I'm saying, come on. Today is the day that you should. You can, not should, you can. No, you should as well, but you can. You've got an option. Say, that's me today. I'm going to ask you if that's you to just raise your hand where you are. I'm not going to call you forward. I'm just going to want to pray for you. Anybody on the side, anybody in the middle, because then I want to give my life to Jesus today. Anybody on that side over there? No, good. Then I want to talk to the church. So I'm talking to the church. I'm talking to believers right now. Everybody in here is believers. I'm talking to believers. I'm saying to you as believers, are you living a kingdom lifestyle of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit? I asked this question earlier. The answer was no. Today is the day that we're going to, we're going to fix that. How are we going to fix that? Well, first of all, we're going to repent. Secondly, we're going to ask God. We'll ask Holy Spirit to come and help us. So that's you. And you want to make us stand today. I'm standing. I'm already standing. If you want to make us stand today and say, hey, JoJo, I want to walk more in the righteousness and the peace and the joy of the Holy Spirit. I want you to stand into your feet. So I can pray for you and pray with you. [Music] Hold your hands out if you can just in front of you. Sign or surrender. So many people standing. You don't have to look around. Just keep your eyes shut. This is between you and God. And I want to thank you for standing. Thank you that you hear the urgency of my heart. [Music] Thank you even more. If you hear the cry of Holy Spirit, the prompting of Holy Spirit. Here we are Lord. We surrender it all to you. [Music] Father corporately we come and we repent of not living this lifestyle. Not living a kingdom lifestyle. In its fullest. Yes, we've done it. We've done it. A little bit that we've known. But Lord, today we say we draw a line in the sand and we make a call and we cross over and we say Lord, we want to live it at fullness Lord. We want to live it at fullness Lord. So we repent this morning. Forgive us Lord. Thank you for your forgiveness. Thank you that you see the hearts of the minds of every person in this place. And Father I pray right now that as Holy Spirit journeys with us in this week that lies ahead that Holy Spirit will give us opportunities. Bring about divine encounters and divine meetings and divine opportunities where we can put this to the practice. Father I thank you that we live right with you and with one another. We live in peace with you and with one another. And Lord because of that there is the result of a joy unspeakable. And I pray that in this week that even amongst our church family that there will be a joy unspeakable that is released upon us Lord. I pray that it's not only in this house but it is without within humour. It's within every church. Every one of your gatherings Lord God that there is a joy an unspeakable joy that is released Lord God. Father God I thank you. The urgency is here. We hear in the cry of Holy Spirit and we give you the glory and the honour and the praise. Shift our hearts. Thank you for joining us. We hope that you enjoyed today's podcast. And we realise that not everyone has had the opportunity to respond to the good news of the gospel. And for this reason in all of our services and platforms we want to extend to you the opportunity to follow Jesus. The Bible teaches us that we have been created for a relationship with God. However sin which is essentially disobedience independence and disbelief or are simply missing the mark entered the world and separated us from God. Romans chapter 6 verse 23 says that the wages of sin is death and a debt was owed and the Bible tells us that he Jesus demonstrated his love for us that while we were still sinners he died for us. Jesus paid the penalty for our sin. John 3 16 says for God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. God so loved the world that he gave us Jesus that whoever believes in him will be saved. All that is required of anyone is that they believe in Jesus the Son of God who came lived died and rose again so that we could be forgiven made right and given the right to become children of God and to have life forever more with him. Today you can begin a relationship with Jesus to believe in him is to simply to respond with faith in our hearts and confess with our mouths that he is Lord and we do that through a simple prayer. Follow along with me. Dear Jesus I believe that you are the Son of God. I thank you that you love me and came to forgive me of my sin. I repent from my old way of life and I turn to follow you. I receive the free gift of eternal life and I ask that you fill me with the Holy Spirit so that I can live a life of following after you. I thank you that I am born again as a child of God and that I am a new creation in Christ Jesus. Amen. If you prayed this prayer for the first time we would love to connect with you and connect you to your next step and the local church in your area. You can contact us on our website at Neuma.Church. Thanks for listening.