SERMON
NOTES

Growing God’s Kingdom with Kingdom Grown Hearts
1. God’s World, God’s Kingdom (September 6, 2026)
Psalm 47 (especially vs.2,7,8,9); Mark 1:15; Luke 17:20-21

Focus: The world God created is where he wants his idea of “kingship” to be experienced. Right through the Old Testament chronology that is a running theme...until finally that kingship breaks through into history through the coming of the servant-king Jesus, who announces the Kingdom.

2. God’s Kingdom Growing through Christ’s Followers (September 13, 2026)
Ezekiel 36:22-36; Mark 4:26-29

Focus: How does God grow his Kingdom in the world? The world sees the tangible (visible) nature of how God grows his Kingdom – at least in part. God revealed the inside workings of how he would do it almost 600 years before Jesus. And he would establish his Kingdom in people’s hearts through Jesus.

3. Kingdom-Shaped Forgiveness (September 20, 2026)
Genesis 50:15-20; Matthew 18:23-35

Focus: This subversive Kingdom has Jesus, the Servant-King, breaking into history with forgiveness as his “weapon” and “cure” for humanity. God’s kingdom’s subversive expression is forgiveness – forgiveness experienced by the receiver from God, and that forgiveness passed on.
4. Build Your Kingdom Here (September 27, 2026)

God wants his created world to know him as its one and only benevolent King, completely different to every other human kingdom (remember “holy” is to be “Divinely different”?). So how does he do it in this “fallen” world of sin, suffering, and sadness? He does it through Christ-followers, his Kingdom servants, using kingdom-shaped forgiveness as his subversive instrument of choice to bring healing and work salvation.

We are taught to pray “your Kingdom come” in the Lord’s Prayer, meaning “build your Kingdom here, now, with me included.”
But do we mean it, want it? Because God is absolutely serious about doing so! But he has chosen to do so in a way that results in what sounds like a “clap” – which takes two hands to make it happen!

God’s hand…and our hand.
God’s hand of resources
Our hand of investing ourselves (= wholehearted participation)

The building of the Tabernacle in the Old Testament, and Jesus’ Kingdom parables clearly show this.

• God provides his creative resources – “God’s hand”
• God’s creative resources are seen in the process as well as in the final product. We see it in the leaven working through the dough, rising it, to the final baked bread. We see it in the seed, without drawing attention to itself, growing roots, then shoots, and finally the fruit. We see it in the specific gifts/abilities nurtured in artisans that are Spirit-ually merged in order to build the Tabernacle.
• God’s choosing
• God’s gift of the Holy Spirit
• God’s endowing with abilities
• with knowledge: information gained through study or experience
• with wisdom: ability to use knowledge to make good choices
• with understanding: ability to make sense of something
• with “all kinds of skills:” making artistic designs, cutting and setting of stones, woodworking, artistic craftsmanship
• with the ability to teach others: mentoring/coaching

God’s provision of physical resources: the raw materials and the finances
FRUIT: God’s project (his Kingdom) keeps getting done

• We invest our lives wholeheartedly – “Our hand”
• The building of God’s Kingdom also necessitates the investment of its “subjects,” its Kingdom servants. Without the man, no seed would have been planted and a tree grown; without the woman, no dough would have been mixed and bread baked; without the artisans and people’s generous offerings, no tabernacle would have been built.
• Our availability
• Our obedience/willingness to do the work of building
• Our investment of our resources
• our humility: submission to each other
• our abilities: skills that cause actual production and mentoring
• our time: honoring God with a commodity that we can never get back
• our possessions: recognizing true ownership, which causes overflow (Malachi 3:10)
• FRUIT: We become channels; we are changed in the doing, an overflowing of resources (the need to restrain people from bringing more!)

RESULT: God’s Kingdom is built, affecting lives in a way that experiences his subversive and transformative Kingdom tool – forgiveness. His Justice and Righteousness (= being right with God) take root in our generation’s culture.
When both hands come together, there is a joyful sound, companionship/bonding, teamwork.
That’s when the prayer “Build Your Kingdom Here” is answered in us!