This image mighty and of exceeding brightness stood before you, and its appearance was frightening.
The head of the image was fine gold, its chest and arms silver, its middle and thighs of bronze,
its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay.
As you looked, a stone was cut out by no human hand,
and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay and broke them in pieces.
Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold all together were broken in pieces
and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors,
and the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them could be found.
But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.
This was the dream.
Now we will tell the king its interpretation.
You, O king, the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, and the might, and the glory,
and into whose hand he has given, wherever they dwell, the children of man, the beasts of the fields,
and the birds of the heavens, making you ruler over them all.
You are the head of gold.
Another kingdom inferior to you shall arise after you,
and yet a third kingdom, a bronze, which shall rule over the earth,
and there shall be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron,
because iron breaks to pieces and shatters all things.
And like iron that crushes, it shall break and crush all things.
And as you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter's clay and partly of iron,
it shall be a divided kingdom.
But some of the firmness of iron shall be in it,
just as you saw iron mixed with the soft clay.
And as the toes of the feet were partly iron and partly clay,
so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly brittle.
And as you saw the iron mixed with soft clay,
so they will mix with one another in marriage,
but they shall not hold together,
just as the iron does not mix with clay.
And in the days of those kings,
the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed,
nor shall the kingdom be left to another people.
It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms
and bring them to an end,
and it shall stand forever.
Just as you saw that a stone was cut from a mountain
by no human hands,
that it broke in pieces iron,
the bronze and the clay,
and the silver and the gold,
a great God has made known to the king
what shall be after this.
The dream is certain,
and its interpretation sure.
Let's pray.
Father, we thank you for your word,
which instructs us,
which enlightens us,
which tells us what is true.
So, Lord, even as we've read your word this morning,
we pray, O Holy Spirit,
that you will open our hearts to receive it.
Your word is clear,
but oftentimes we have difficulty
because our minds are clouded by so many things.
So, Lord, open our heart,
open our ears,
open our minds to receive truth from you.
Help me, as I explain this passage,
to explain it truly,
to explain it according to what you are saying,
and may I do so in a way that is clear
and helpful for all of us.
We pray this all in Jesus' name.
Amen.
When I was a freshman in college,
I was at Georgia Tech,
and the school would host a variety
of engineering contests,
and the biggest contest of the year,
every year, was the Great Race.
And it was a time when the engineers
would build these coasters
that they would design to go down the hill
at the center of the campus,
and whoever could design the fastest coaster
would win.
And so, you know,
I didn't have time for such frivolous activities
because I was engaged in other frivolous activities.
But I had friends who were doing this,
and they were building this coaster,
and they were using all their engineering,
things that they learned,
working out the design
so that it would be the most aerodynamic,
figuring out the right circumference of the wheels,
even the right width of the tires,
so that it could go the fastest.
Well, once they got it all completed,
another friend and I thought,
hey, it'd be fun to take it for a test drive.
So late one night, we got the coaster,
and we went to the center of the Tech campus,
and we started going down the hill,
and it was fast.
It was a very fast coaster.
The problem was that on the day of the race,
all the roads would be closed.
This was not the day of the race.
And we were headed towards this major intersection,
that was run through campus,
and it was dark.
It was late at night,
and there was no way that the cars
were going to be able to see us,
and we realized we're out of control.
Well, my friend is the driver.
I'm the brake man.
He's yelling at me,
slow us down, slow us down.
And I panicked.
I pulled back the brake lever so hard,
it broke off.
And we're not slowing down,
and my friend doesn't know what's going on.
He's going, slow down, slow down.
And I'm looking.
I go, what do I do?
And so he realizes something's wrong,
so he decides to turn sharply
to get it to slow down.
The coaster was straight.
It was not made to go fast turning.
And when he did that,
it just began to roll over and over.
And I'm on one side of the street,
bloodied and battered up,
and he's on the other side of the street,
all bloodied and battered up.
And between us are parts.
You know, wheel here, wheel there, seat there.
It is a total...
We're going to do everything that we can,
and we carry it back to the house,
arguing about what we've got to do
over this crash.
And we walk into the house
where these men had given up nights
and we're going to do everything.
They're not worried that I'm bloodied and battered.
They don't care.
All they see is all of their work
they have wasted.
I mean, they've given up sleep.
They've given up weekends.
They've given up all this,
and now it is all ruined in just a moment.
And there's a terrible feeling for them
and terrible...
It came to nothing.
And that's depressing, isn't it?
Isn't it depressing when you work really hard
on something and you...
But how do you know that's not the story of your life?
We see here in Daniel chapter 2
that King Nebuchadnezzar,
who was a glorious king in many ways,
had a success in this life
than any of us could ever hope
to possibly attain.
And he has this nightmare,
reoccurring dream that is so disturbing
he cannot sleep anymore.
And he begins to realize intuitively
something is wrong here.
Everything is coming to naught.
And so this dream that it's all that would be wiped out,
yet as depressing as that sounds,
the same dream that Nebuchadnezzar has
about everything being lost
also gives us...
What is our hope?
What is our comfort?
We read about it moments ago.
What is our hope?
What is our comfort?
How can we have hope in a world
that it seems like everything is being blown away?
Well, so to understand how we can have a life
of meaning and purpose
that will last forever,
we need to understand three things from this text.
The first thing that we need to understand
is, number one, that God is in control.
God is in control.
And we see this in this passage.
Now, Nebuchadnezzar, again,
one of the great, greatest empires of all time,
the Babylonian,
he had conquered Judah, Phoenicia,
and what is today Syria.
After conquering all these lands,
he was going to build a peaceful kingdom.
He was a very skilled and gifted ruler
and administrator.
And so he was able to bring peace to that region.
And then he wanted to make something beautiful.
So he began these massive things that were glorious.
One of the things that he built,
I've heard of,
it was one of the seven of the world,
the hanging gardens of Babylon.
So here's a man who's built these beautiful kingdoms,
laboring to establish this glory
so that his name would live forever.
He has this disturbing dream that he cannot sleep.
So he calls together his wise men,
the enchanters,
the stargazers,
the sauvres,
promises them that he will make them
imaginations.
Well, King, tell us the dream.
And he says, not so fast.
I want you to tell me both the dream
and the interpretation.
They said, no, tell us the dream
and then we can tell you what it means.
He goes, no,
I think you're playing games with me here.
If you really know,
if you really know what the gods are saying,
you can tell me both the dream
and its interpretation.
And they say, we can't do that.
No one can do that.
Only the gods know.
They don't dwell with flesh.
So Nebuchadnezzar realizes
they're all just a bunch of charlatans.
They act like they know what the gods are saying.
They act like they're able to read the stars
and talk to the dead,
but it's all an act.
They don't really know anything.
Only the gods know,
and they don't know what the gods know,
and so they've been exposed as frauds.
They claim to know the future,
but God is the only one
who knows where the future is headed.
Today, people will speak about
some behaviors being on the right side of history,
some behaviors on the wrong side of history,
and it assumes a particular version of the future.
And it also assumes
that they have the vantage point of the future
and can look back at us
and see how history is going to judge
this particular moment.
They understand.
In other words,
they're claiming to know where history is going.
And here's the question
that Nebuchadnezzar would ask them
that we ought to ask them is,
how do you know?
How do you know how the future
is going to judge the past?
How do you know if history is going anywhere?
Now, how do you know?
You're speaking with certainty
about what the future is going to say
about the present,
about the direction of history,
but how do you know?
As Nebuchadnezzar forces his counselors to admit,
God only knows what's going to happen.
He is the only one who can say
what will and will not happen.
Now, for the counselors,
this is a point of despair
because they're saying,
well, God only knows.
We don't know.
And so there's no hope.
How can we understand?
For God's people,
this is encouraging news.
This is good news for us.
While we don't know the future,
God knows the future.
He alone knows what stands
on the right side of history.
And God knows.
And so we see that
as God knows the future,
not because God is sitting here
looking down the corridors of time
and can see what is happening.
God knows the future
because God is the author of the future.
God determines the future.
He is in control of the future.
Now, there's one thing
that we have learned in this past year,
and hopefully there are many.
But one thing we've learned
is we are not in control.
You are not in control.
I mean, how many of us
had plans last year
totally blown out of the water
by the pandemic?
We are not in control.
And not only are we not in control,
we really don't know
what tomorrow holds.
We don't know.
We did not see the pandemic coming.
We don't know
when the next pandemic is going to come.
You don't know
if the stock market is going to go up
or if it's going to come crashing down.
You don't know
what the driver in the next lane
is going to do.
You are not in control of that, right?
And yet all of these things
will affect your life
in dramatic ways.
And you're in control
of none of that.
Now, while that's terrifying,
particularly for me,
I'm a person who likes to be in control.
I want to be in control
of these things.
And it's terrifying to think
I have absolutely no control.
If your person
who thinks you're in control
have children,
it will just blow
your whole image
of control the right way.
We're not in control.
Yet, just because
we are not in control,
what will happen is
we'll move to despair
and say then
everything is out of control.
Because I don't know the future,
that means no one knows the future.
That's not true.
Nebuchadnezzar's own counselors say,
they say the gods,
but we know there's just one.
God knows the future.
God is in control of the future.
And the God
who is in control of the future
is the same God
who rules over all things
and who deeply loves
and cares for his people.
God is in control.
And for those who trust in Jesus,
this gives us hope
because the God
who controls all things
loves us so much
that he gave his son
to die for us.
Here's why we have
such great courage.
The idea that God is in control
by itself
is not comforting.
But if I believe
that God is my father,
it changes everything.
I remember, you know,
years ago,
I was driving down the road
one evening.
We lived in Florida
at the time.
And in Florida,
we get rain.
Colorado, we get a sprinkle.
We get rain.
And it was one night,
it was coming down in buckets.
There's enough rain
to fill Prospect Lake
in a few minutes.
And it is just pouring down.
And it's dark.
And the wipers
are quite clearing.
And I've got a death grip
on the steering wheel.
And Tricia turns to me
and goes,
you okay?
And of course I lie.
You know.
Yeah.
In control.
You know.
I've got this.
But the white knuckles
of my hand
are a dead giveaway
that I am terrified
at this moment.
And I look into
the rear view mirror
to see our girls
in the back seat.
And I'm thinking,
maybe they're,
they've got to be scared.
They're all asleep.
They are out.
Why?
Because,
because dad
is behind the wheel.
And my children
had this
irrational confidence.
confidence.
That if I was
behind the wheel,
they would be okay.
You know,
your three-year-old
just does not worry
about paying the bills.
They're not worried
about what's going to
happen with the economy.
They're not worried
about home repairs.
They don't worry
about those things.
They have a father
who worries
about those things.
Now,
my children,
if they could have
that sort of confidence
in me,
when I am prone
to error,
when I make mistakes,
when I'm very,
very fallible,
how much more
should we,
as the people of God,
be able to rest
knowing that our
father's hands
are firmly
on the wheel?
He is in control.
You have nothing
to worry about.
Now,
he doesn't always
tell you what he's doing
or why he's doing
what he's doing.
You don't need to know.
He's got this.
He is in control.
And not only
is he in control,
but he is for you,
Christian.
You know he's for you.
We know he's for you
because as our father,
he is the one
who gave Christ for us.
That's why we celebrate
the cross.
The cross,
which was a symbol
of torture and death
in the first century,
is a symbol of love
for us.
And by giving his life
on the cross for us,
Jesus proves
that he's committed
to our good
even to the point
of death.
And we celebrate
the cross,
but we celebrate
an empty cross
because Jesus
has finished the work
for our salvation
and God,
the Father,
has raised him
from the dead,
proving that he has
the power to save us
even from the most
fearful of enemies,
death itself.
Because God
is all-powerful
and he uses his power
to care for his children.
Everything he does,
everything he does
ultimately is for
his glory
and our good
and he is in control
of all things
and we can trust him
in the midst of that.
Well, once the wise men
of Babylon admit
they really don't know
anything,
that they're not so wise
after all,
Nebuchadnezzar is so enraged
because he realizes
they've been playing games
with him all along,
he decides he's just
going to kill them all.
All the wise men
throughout the entire empire,
all the counselors
throughout the entire empire.
Well, Daniel hears about this
and Daniel and his friends
are part of this wise men class.
They're not like the others
but they're part of
that class of people.
So Daniel is slated
to be executed.
So he sends words
to the king
and he says,
come and may I speak with you.
Now Daniel at this point
does not know the dream,
he does not know
the interpretation.
So he asks for an appointment
with the king
and then he goes to his friends
and says,
pray that God will tell me
what to say
because your life
depends on it.
So Daniel goes into the king
and speaks to him
in the passage we just read
and here we see
the second key
to living a life
that is full of meaning
and purpose
and that is recognizing
that the kingdoms
of this world
will all pass away.
The kingdoms of this world
are all going to pass away.
Now in this dream,
Nebuchadnezzar sees
this enormous statue,
head of gold,
it's dazzling in appearance,
pure gold,
its chest and arms
are of silver,
its belly of bronze,
its legs of iron
and feet of iron
mixed with clay
and Daniel explains
that each of those sections
of the statue
represent a different world empire
and he starts off
with some great news.
He says to Nebuchadnezzar,
Nebuchadnezzar,
your empire is amazing.
You are the head of gold,
glorious beyond all glory.
But Nebuchadnezzar,
I've got some bad news.
Your empire is not
going to last forever.
Another empire will come
and it is one of silver.
Now the text does not
directly explain to us
what that empire will be
but it seems to indicate
the next empire to come
was the empire
of the Medes and the Persians
who conquered the Babylonians.
And it was a great empire
but it wasn't as glorious
as Nebuchadnezzar's.
And then the next empire
was one of bronze
and again the text
doesn't tell us
but we know that later on
another empire would come
and it was that of the Greeks.
Alexander the Great
would conquer the world
and then after that
would come another empire,
one of iron.
And this seemed to be a reference
to the Roman Empire,
one that is mighty
and one that is strong
but did not have quite the beauty
of the others.
Now in Nebuchadnezzar's vision,
a rock strikes this statue,
a rock that is not carved out
by human hands
and colorizes it
and the statue becomes like dust
and then the wind comes
and sweeps it away
so that there's nothing left.
There's nothing remains.
And the point of this
is that is what happens
to all the empires
of this world.
All of them.
Babylonian,
Medes and the Persians,
Greeks, Romans,
you can take that on,
British Empire,
American Empire,
whatever it may be.
All of the empires
of this world
are passing away
and nothing will be left.
And so the point of this
is that none of these things
will last,
the kingdoms of this world.
And so what's the point?
What kingdom are you living for?
All of our lives
we've been told
that fulfillment
is found in success,
achievement,
finding a way
to establish your identity,
find a way
to establish your worth.
You know,
the ancient Greeks
thought that they could
establish their glory
if they were heroic deeds
in battle
or athletic accomplishments
that they could establish
their name forever.
It was a way
to find salvation.
And many of us
are looking to the same thing.
And yet what we see here
in Daniel's vision
is that these things
that we're seeking
our glory
to find our meaning
and finding our purpose
ultimately become
dust in the wind,
become nothing more.
And so all of our lives
were told that,
that defined a sense
of identity
in these things,
but Nebuchadnezzar's vision
shows us
that it's all a lie.
If you are a football fan,
you may have heard
the name Urban Meyer.
Urban Meyer
is only one of three coaches
ever
to win national championships
with two different
college teams.
And Urban Meyer,
when he was coaching
at the University of Florida,
he had a quarterback,
and if you're from Colorado,
you may have heard
of a guy named Tim Tebow.
Tebow was his quarterback,
and they won
a national championship.
The night they won
the national championship,
they're celebrating.
Immediately that very evening
while everyone
is celebrating,
Urban Meyer
begins recruiting players
for the next year.
He says he just couldn't stop.
A friend came up to him
and said,
what are you doing?
Enjoy this.
What's wrong with you?
And Urban Meyer says
at that time,
he goes,
we just won,
but I was in a panic.
Because what happens?
He just won glory,
the top prize
that he could possibly win,
and he knew
it would not last
that he had to do it again
and again and again.
And it was driving him crazy.
He couldn't even enjoy
the moment.
We think if we had fame
and fortune or power
that we could be somebody.
But Nebuchadnezzar
had more fame,
more power,
more glory
than any of us
could ever achieve.
And yet,
realized that it all
was dust in the wind.
Philip Yancey
talks about a carving
in Waterford, Ireland.
And it's a carving
of the mayor,
but you would think
that a carving
of an old mayor
would be one
of a beautiful tribute.
But this carving
was at the time
of the Black Death.
And it shows
the body
of the former mayor's town
decomposing
while rats
and vermin
and insects
are eating it.
Beautiful carving, right?
The inscription says this,
Whoever you are
that passed by,
stand,
read,
weep.
I am what you will be
and I was
what you are.
Dust in the wind.
The kingdoms
of this world
are fleeting
and passing.
And if you put
your hope in them,
you're putting your hope
in something
that will not last.
That's the bad news.
But Nebuchadnezzar's vision,
though,
ultimately is not pessimistic,
or at least
it doesn't have to be.
It brings us
to the third key
to living a life
with meaning and purpose,
a life that lasts forever,
and that is this,
that we are to live
for the kingdom
that endures.
Live for the kingdom
that endures.
Now,
after the rock
comes and obliterates
this statue,
the rock,
as it were,
then begins
to grow
and expand,
and it ends up
filling the whole earth,
and Daniel tells us
that this rock
becomes a mountain
that fills the earth,
and it represents
the kingdom of God.
Now,
this image
of a mountain
representing
the kingdom of God
is not unique to Daniel.
We see it
in other prophecies.
We see it
in Isaiah chapter 2
and Micah chapter 4.
And the idea here
is that it is a mountain
that is a place of worship.
See,
in the ancient world,
they thought of
the sky
as being a place
where earth and heaven
would come into contact.
That's why they build
these high pyramids
and ziggurats
and different things
because they thought
if you could get
to the high spot,
you would be where
the heavens and earth
come in contact,
and so they build
their altars
and they build
even their temples
on high places.
And we see that
throughout the Old Testament.
And so,
the mountain
is a place of worship.
And what this image
is telling us
is that
the mountain
of the Lord
is going to fill the earth.
That the whole earth
is going to worship
the Lord.
That the kingdom of God
is going to fill
the entire world
and that the people
of the entire world
will one day
be coming
and worshiping
the Lord.
And Daniel tells us
not only that
this kingdom of God
is coming
and that it will
endure forever,
it will be the kingdom
that lasts.
He even tells us
when this kingdom
will come.
When's this kingdom
going to come?
When's God going
to bring about
the kingdom?
Well, he tells us
it's going to happen
during that fourth kingdom,
the kingdom of iron,
but with feet of clay
mixed with iron.
So when the Roman Empire
came along,
what it lacked
in beauty and grace
and more than made up
for strength and power,
power unlike the world
had ever seen,
it seems only appropriate
that iron would represent
this kingdom.
But at the height
of the Roman Empire,
at its pinnacle,
something happened
that was so dramatic
that it changed
the history
of the world forever.
And yet,
it went unnoticed
at the moment
because in a little village,
obscure village,
in the outskirts
of the empire,
just outside of Jerusalem,
in this little village
known as Bethlehem,
a baby was born.
Hardly anyone noticed,
no one paid attention.
That baby grew up
at age 33.
He was taken outside
the city gates
there in Jerusalem.
And outside the city gates,
he was executed.
Do you remember
the charges against him?
Do you remember
why he was put to death?
The plaque said
in three different languages,
the king of the Jews.
Jesus Christ had come
to bring the kingdom of heaven.
In fact,
Jesus made this clear.
He announced his kingdom
of heaven
by announcing,
as he proclaimed
the gospel around,
that he is the rock.
And he said this.
He says,
he says,
repent,
for the kingdom of heaven
is near.
The kingdom of heaven
is at hand.
What Jesus is saying
is I am the king
and I'm the one
who's come to bring
the kingdom.
So we now know
something that Nebuchadnezzar
could not know.
We know
what the rock is
or should we say
who the rock is.
Jesus is the rock.
And he's come
to bring the kingdom.
He's the rock
that's not cut
from the mountain
by any human hands,
that breaks into his history,
bringing judgment
on all that stands
in his path
and all who try
to hinder it.
The kingdom of God
is here.
When Jesus came
and announced
the kingdom of God,
then we see the mountain
growing, right?
That's the picture
we see in Nebuchadnezzar's vision.
It fills the whole earth.
And that's what we're
seeing today.
What started off
as a small band
of worshipers
in the Middle East
has grown into a mountain
that fills the entire earth.
Think about this.
Now, in Acts chapter 2,
we're told
there are 120 people
there gathering
in Jerusalem.
This isn't even
an important place
in the world
at the time.
120 people.
Yet today,
today,
there are Christians
on every continent
and just about
every country
around the world.
Estimates are
there's nearly
as many practicing
Christians in China
today as there are
in the United States.
It's amazing.
There are more people
in church today
in Kenya
than there are
in Canada.
There are more
Presbyterians
in church today
in Ghana
than there are
in Scotland,
which is astounding.
And not only that,
and I think of a century ago.
A century ago,
there were hardly
any Christians
in Korea.
And yet today,
South Korea
has over 16,000
cross-cultural missionaries.
They are sending out
missionaries
to 173 different countries.
Christian leaders
in China
are planning to send out
20,000 missionaries
by the year 2030.
Nebuchadnezzar's vision
is coming true
right before our eyes.
The kingdom of God
is growing
and is filling the earth.
Yet there are still
over 3 billion people
who live in places
where there are
no viable
Christian witnesses.
Places where people
die every day
without hearing
about the love of God.
In other places,
the gospel
is being preached,
but the gospel
that's being preached
is hardly recognizable
by scripture.
It is a gospel
of works,
of legalism.
Other places,
it's a prosperity gospel,
which simply leads people
into greater bondage
rather than the freedom
that Jesus Christ
came to give.
And as a result,
people are trading
one form of bondage
for another.
The kingdom of God
is growing,
but the work
is not yet finished.
And that's why
at Shine Mountain
you have been so engaged.
You have people
who are part of your church
in a country
that we can't mention.
We'll just call it
the kingdom.
And where they are
announcing the good news
of the gospel.
The Shemkees,
whom you support,
are in Africa
with African Bible University
training people
to preach the true gospel
rather than
an adulterated version
so that the gospel
can go forth.
But we need more.
You're part of
the Presbyterian Church
in America.
And one of the things
we're praying for
is a church
that 1% of our members
over the next 10 years
will commit to serving
in cross-cultural missions.
A mission to the world
where I serve,
we have actually
very specific needs,
places where we need people
right now.
Because over the next 10 years,
our goal is to plant
486 new churches.
churches.
We want to do this
in 192 new cities,
63 new countries.
How in the world
are we going to do this?
Well, we need
1,000 more missionaries.
And that's why I'm here
speaking to you today.
1,000 more missionaries.
We need 800 more interns
to go.
And then beyond that,
somebody's got to support
these missionaries
and these interns too, right?
I mean, it costs money
to take the gospel
to the nations.
So the vision of Daniel
chapter 2
is happening
right now
before our eyes.
And our calling
as the people of God
is to be part
of what he is doing.
See, as children,
we're not just
passive spectators
watching God work.
The way God works
and announcing
his kingdom
and bringing his kingdom
is through his church,
is through his people.
That's why Jesus
commissioned his church.
He said,
go into all the world
and preach the gospel,
baptizing them
and teaching them
to observe
all that I have commanded you.
It is how the vision
of Daniel 2 takes place.
The vision of Daniel 2
will come about
fully and completely.
But God's using
his people to do it.
And those who are part
of God's family
join in the family business.
And if you want to be
on the right side of history,
here's where history is going.
The kingdom of God
is filling the earth.
That's why we engage
in the work that God
is doing around the world.
And so that raises
an important question.
In fact,
we call it
the most important question.
Which kingdom
are you living for?
Are you living for a kingdom
that is going to fade?
Or are you living for a kingdom
that is eternal?
Are you looking to find
your glory
in that which is passing,
that will one day
be reduced to dust
and then swept away
by the breeze?
Or are you looking
for your glory
in the kingdom of heaven?
Josh McDowell
tells a story
of an old man
who came up to him
one time
after he gave a message.
And by his dress
and demeanor,
it was pretty obvious
that this older gentleman
was very successful.
And the older man said,
my whole life,
I've been climbing the ladder
trying to get to the top.
I've stepped on people
along the way
and made numerous sacrifices.
Now I'm an old man
and I realize
for all these years,
I've had my ladder
leaning against
the wrong building.
What are you living for?
What kingdom
are you living for?
The reason Jesus came
and lived
and died
was not so
he could create
a ladder
by which we could
climb to him.
And instead,
he's the one
who descended
Jacob's ladder
to come to us.
He is the one
who came
to make a way
for us
to be a part
of his kingdom,
to be a part
of what he's doing
here and throughout
the world.
And he invites us
to follow him
in faith,
to trust in him,
to trust that by his life,
his death,
his perfect obedience,
by sacrificial death,
vindicated through
the resurrection,
where he now is ascended
and reigning in heaven,
he's proven to us
that there's one kingdom
that will last.
And if we are united
to him,
we are part of that kingdom
and we will last forever.
Where's your hope?
My only hope
in life and death.
It's found in him.
Let's pray.
Our Father,
we do thank you
for the hope
that we have
through Jesus Christ
that he is the rock
and he has come
to bring his kingdom.
And Lord,
we thank you
that we live
in a time in history
in which we're seeing
the fulfillment
of this promise
in such remarkable,
beautiful,
glorious ways.
And so,
oh Lord,
we pray.
We pray,
oh Lord,
that we would set
our sights on earth
instead of seeking
to find our life
in things that are temporary
that we would seek
to find our hope
and our joy
in things that are eternal.
We thank you
that Jesus has done
everything necessary
for us to share
in that kingdom
and that it is ours
through faith
and faith alone.
So Lord,
today as your people,
we affirm that faith.
We believe
that Jesus is Lord.
We believe
that he is king
and we trust him
as our king,
as our Lord.
And we want
to follow you.
And so Lord,
we commit this day
to living for the one
eternal kingdom.
We commit to that
with everything that we do
and how we raise our children,
how we engage
in our families,
how we spend our money,
how we do our jobs.
Lord,
may we do it all
for your glory,
for your good,
for your praise.
And Lord,
we pray too
that you would give us
a heart for the world,
a heart to see
this kingdom
fill the entire globe.
See people
from every tribe
and tongue,
every ethnic group,
people in every place
come and worship
and praise you,
O Lord.
We pray this
in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Thank you.