Kingdom Righteousness

Hi, this is Pastor Daniel Bracken. You're listening to Kings Alaska Podcast. I hope the Word encourages you and you get a touch from God that brings transformation and equips you to experience life with people, power and purpose. Thank you for joining us. Enjoy the Word.

Take your Bibles, turn to the Book of Matthew, chapter five, and I'm going to preach to you. I'm in the series called. What's it called? The Mount. And we're in the third message of the series.

Let me just review for a moment. We preached the Beatitudes. How many of you were here for the Beatitudes? It was called Kingdom Character. What's it called?

Can't hear you. Try again. What's it called? Okay, so Kingdom Character. If you were to look at the character of the kingdom, it is the Beatitudes.

So Jesus is preaching to this crowd that's gathered. He sets down on a mountain, and it's a picture. It's even like Moses to me. Moses went up on the mountain. They would not come up to him because they were terrified.

But it's this picture of these commandments coming forth. And if you were to look at the Beatitudes, they give us the character qualities of somebody who's born again. They give us the character qualities who. Somebody who says they're a Christian. And they don't even give us the character qualities.

Not just that, they also show us, really, a measuring rod of what a mature believer is. Take your Bibles. Turn with me. Are you all there? Matthew, chapter five.

Matthew, chapter five.

And I want to read this to you. I've got the new living translation. I don't know if you're like me. I. I memorize Scripture, and then when I go to recount it, I have Niv. King James, New King James, nlt.

I've got so many versions in my head, and then I. And then I mash them up. You say, is that okay? It's working for me. I think memorizing God's word is powerful.

I've hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. I would say the only word that you've hidden in your heart is the one that you've memorized. That's bonus, not a part of the message. Let's read this. God blesses.

Right there. The Beatitudes, verse three. It's just a review of previous messages so I can catch you up if you're here for the very first time. We're glad you're here. God blesses those who are poor in spirit.

Or the NLT says poor, and realize their need for him, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs. Blessed are those who. What's to say in your Bible? Mourn, but they shall be comforted. God blesses those who are humble or the meek, for they will inherit the whole earth.

Verse 6. Come on, read with me. God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice. Some version says, righteousness, for they shall be satisfied or filled. Matthew 5:7.

God blesses or blessed? Let me stop. Bless everybody, say blessed. So which is it? God blesses or God or blessed or.

Some versions say happy. It's a Greek word that's not found in. In our language. So you're reading. You're reading the best that a translator can do, translation can do to define what blessed means.

Or the Greek word. It's God's favor, it's God's power, it's God's goodness, it's happiness. It's. It's. It's an unusual word, so that we can't really define it with God blesses, but that's what that's saying.

God blesses or blessed are those who are merciful. You know, I received mercy this week. Anybody receive mercy this week? And as I was preaching this in the first service, I stopped at this moment and realized as the Lord spoke to me, he said, you released mercy the previous week, and as a result, you received mercy from me this week. And I thought, oh, God, thank you.

The mercy I received from him was far more from my perception of things than the mercy I gave. But if you don't give mercy, you ain't going to get any, honey. They'll be shown mercy. How many of you want mercy? I want judgment.

No, you don't. You want mercy. Blessed are those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God. Verse 8. Come on, read with me.

God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God. Verse 9. God blesses those who work for peace, or the peacemakers, but they'll be called children of God. God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right. These are the Beatitudes.

There's eight.

Eight of them. Verse 11. God blesses those who mock and persecute you and lie about you. Come on, somebody say I was blessed this week.

And say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers. And verse 12, it goes on to say, be happy, rejoice. Other versions, be exceedingly glad, for in the same way that they persecuted the prophets who were before you, rejoice. So these are called the Beatitudes. It's.

It's kingdom character. What's it called? Kingdom, Kingdom character. That was the message. Message number one.

Message number two is kingdom influence. And it goes on to say in verse 13, you are the salt of the earth. And later it says, you're the light of the world. Verse 14, you are the light of the world. And we preached on that.

There's. If you live the Beatitude, if you live the way that God wants you to live, you will be salty. In the best biblical sense of the word. Salty in today's vernacular means like upset or angry. But in Kingdom language, based upon Matthew chapter five, to be salt is to be that which preserves.

To be salt is to be that which flavors. To be salt is that which even purifies.

So literally. Watch the bouncing ball. If you live the Beatitudes, you're releasing preservation. If you live the Beatitudes, you live these eight character qualities which exemplify Jesus exemplified all of them. If you live them, you'll release salt, you'll release preservation, you'll release life, you'll release the blessing of God.

You'll. You'll. You'll release flavor. Salt makes you thirsty, too. I've found as people live this way, it causes people to hunger and thirst for God.

They'll be like, what do you have? How come you're turning the other cheek? How come you're so meek? How come you're. How come you're so.

How come you're so humble? Come on, say that to your next door neighbor. How come you're so humble? Salt and light. Light.

Light dispels darkness. So Jesus is saying, the world is corrupt. The world is rotten. But I have given you my commandment and I've called you to be those who live this character out loud. And as you do, it will put some salt up on the world, and it'll put salt on people.

It'll bring light in the dark place. It's a beautiful, beautiful picture. And one of the things I've learned is that salt is. Is essential really to life. I was talking about being down south and being at that 40th celebration, had the privilege of opening it and preaching Friday night, and then we hustled back home.

And it's so good to be with you. This morning, as we're at the table talking about the things of God and some of the history of the church down there in Soldotna, I felt distinctly that I should have this man lay hands and pray for me. He's 84, and I thought, oh, all I can Think is, I'm going to finish my race. God, I want an impartation from this man. I want him to pray for me.

I want him to pray a blessing on me. So he started praying for me. And the power of God overwhelmed me. And I. I got down on my knees and I was in the living room of the Morris home. And he's praying for me.

Well, instantly my left hamstring started going into locked position. Just started free. So I put my leg up to stretch it, and I realized I had a salt problem. Maybe dehydrated salt will help the cramps of this world. Salt will help you.

You need. Come on, somebody say, stay salty. Stay salty and be lit. Say, tell your neighbor say, be lit. Yeah, some of you lost your fire.

Just a quick review. The impact that we bring. Let's read the main text. As we look now at kingdom righteousness. Stand up on your feet if you're able to.

If you need to be set, that's fine. We're going to read Matthew, chapter 5, verse 17. And we do have notes for you. 17 through 20. Are you ready?

On your marks, get set. New Living Translation let's go. Don't misunderstand why I've come, said Jesus. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose.

I tell you the truth. Until heaven and earth disappear, not even the smallest detail of God's law will disappear until his purpose has been achieved. One version says the jot. A jot or tittle, John is the smallest letter. That tittle is a mark.

It'll all come to pass. It'll all be achieved. Verse 19. So if you ignore the least commandment and teach others to do the same, you'll be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But anyone who obeys who what?

Obeys God's law and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. Verse 20. But I warn you, unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Let's pray. Father, thank you so much for your word.

Lamp into a feet of light upon her path. Move in great power. Come on, lift your voice and pray. In the moments that remain in the service, move in great power. This, this afternoon now.

And may we never be the same as a result. Thank you for kingdom character. We've heard it. We're endeavoring to model it and live it. Thank you for kingdom influence.

We're Going to stay salty. We're going to. We're going to be lit. And thirdly, Lord, thank you. Now, as we move into the most influential sermon there has ever been preached for kingdom righteousness, really understanding you fulfill the law and what that means in our lives and how we're to live it.

We give you praise and glory in Jesus name. Amen. Put your hands together for God. You may be seated.

This whole section of Matthew 5:17 through verse 47, which we didn't read all of it, it's a lot of verses is about Jesus, fulfillment of the law. It's about the fulfillment of the law. Don't think I've come to destroy the law, but I've come to fulfill it. Now you got to know, as he's preaching, as he's teaching to Jews mostly, there might have been some Gentiles there, but he's talking to his. He's talking to his disciples and he's talking to a large crowd gathered on the mount.

We have stood there in Israel where he preached and you could just imagine it. It's still like it was back then, just sort of hill that you see, they could just gather around him. And so he's preaching and he's. He's basically exerting his messianic authority, which is so powerful. And he's.

He's defining really what the law meant that the religious people didn't get. They didn't get it. And he's. He's bringing great clarity to it. And it begins with this powerful statement about what makes someone great or least in the kingdom.

Write that in your blanks if you have it. What makes someone great or least. What do you mean would make someone greater? Least. What is it?

What is. When I first read that, I was thinking, what does that even mean?

Let me explain to you that within the makeup of who you are made in God's image, there's a longing. Every single person has a longing to be great. Now, that's not great by the standards of the world. The standards of the world is more money, better looking, more favor, more love, more acquisition than you just have favor, more physical prowess, athleticism. There's a lot of things that, that we can say, you know, Michael Jordan was great, or you could pick some other athlete and say that they were a great athlete.

What is it to be great in the kingdom? Think about that.

Because we have a paradigm that needs to shift, and I intend to shift it for you today. Based on God's word. We need to shift the paradigm of what being Great in God's eyes is because being great in God's eyes is not match what the world says is great. The whole Sermon on the Mount is a paradoxical sermon. It just doesn't make sense based upon the world.

But it makes sense according to God's rule. It makes sense according to the kingdom of God. Kingdom character. The Beatitudes makes no sense according to the world. Kingdom influence doesn't make any sense.

How will you be salt and light when you live according to the way that Jesus did? Well, it's the kingdom of God is released. And now kingdom righteousness. What is kingdom righteousness? And before he goes into six things, he defines and gives an opportunity for us to be great.

How many of you would like to be great? Honestly, I want to be great in God's eyes. I certainly have experienced desiring to be great in the eyes of men. That is a torturous experience.

I don't know when you grew up. And I was born in 66. I went to school in the 70s and 80s and they were very diligent to teach us the nutrition of. Of the food pyramid.

Very diligent. Very diligent. How many of you know what the food pyramid is? They're very diligent to do that. And I remember having all class on it.

And little did we know back in the 70s and 80s that the food pyramid was funded by corn companies and sugar companies pushing the agenda to make carbohydrates. The main thing that you would eat, not knowing that it would bring disease. Well, actually, excuse me, we didn't know it'd bring disease. They knew full well that it did. And so they pushed a whole.

They pushed generations into the food pyramid. You know, you want to get the food thing right, Just take the food pyramid and flip it upside down. Protein's the main thing. You should be on and on and on. There's all kinds of reports and all kinds.

Some of you still eating your Frosty Pebbles or whatever, you wonder why your joints hurt, wonder why there's so much disease. Don't. Don't get into vaccination. I'm not in the name of the Lord. Unless you want me to.

Do you want me to? Lord, there's an assignment to destroy really Money. You follow the money and you look at all this stuff till what I. I said they used a food pyramid to say there's been an assignment to get you from the enemy, to get you wrapped up in what real greatness is. Because it has nothing to do with wealth. It has nothing to do with fame.

Nowhere in scripture are you exhorted to become famous. Nowhere. So what is becoming great in God's kingdom? Because it doesn't have anything to do with money. But it might include it.

It might have it. Yeah. But I mean, the apostles were great. And they went to the hour of prayer and then they said, silver and gold, have I none. That'll destroy some people's prosperity message.

But how many of you know, homeboy, 40 years, crippled at the gate, called beautiful, didn't need a $50 bill, he didn't need a hundred dollar bill. He needed a set of legs. So real prosperity is getting what you need when you need it. And we are called to be great in God's kingdom. And it's not the way.

It's not big ministry, it's not giant lists of people and partners. Has nothing to do with any of that. Has nothing to do with that. Because if you make your goal about that and your life about that, you'll be utterly tortured. And when you get to heaven, you can be seriously disappointed.

So let me just disappoint you now. Let me take the definition of what greatness is from God's view and give it to you so that you can make your whole life about being really great in God. God's definition of great. Anyone can be great in the. In his kingdom by living out the values of the kingdom revealed in the Beatitudes in His teaching.

Read it with me right out loud. Everyone can be every. Everyone. That means everyone. Everyone can be great in his kingdom by living out the values of the kingdom revealed in the Beatitudes and in his teaching.

Wow.

Amazing. Goes on to say in the text, whoever God invites. Everybody. Everyone here, Anyone under the sound of my voice, whoever God invites. It's anyone.

And he's inviting you right now to become great. See, you can't repent if you were honest deep down in your heart and you really understood. But being great in God is. Everyone would raise their hand because that is God's plan for you to become great in his kingdom. But it's not like greatness like we think of it.

It's. There has to be a paradigm shift. And it's not like he rewards you so that you can stand before everybody when they're in heaven and there you are and you get the reward and you're like, yes, thank you very much. Thank you. I. I got this from the Lord.

What'd you get? Let me see. How big you would you get? I'm great. You ain't great.

You least I'm greatest that that's the world. That's not the way it is. I don't feel fully understand it. But don't check off the fact that he wants to reward you. I had somebody say to me multiple times over the years, people say, oh, I don't like that reward thing.

Why is it in there? It's not about showing how great you are. It's showing his appreciation for turning the other cheek and going the extra mile. It's a way of him showing love to you. And I don't fully understand it, but it is a biblical thing.

And then the more I wait into it, the more I realize it, it. It motivates me to understand that we're living for another age. Whoever God invites, anyone, anyone to what next point, anyone who does and teaches. Now, you might not end up standing in front of a few thousand people preaching and teaching God's word. Then again, you might.

But the truth is, some of you are like, well, I, I'm not teaching anybody. Okay, what about your, what about your children? The way that you live or don't live, The Beatitudes, the way that you. How about your wife? How about your husband?

How about your next door neighbor? The way that you do and teach, doing God's commandments, doing the sermon on the mountain, living the Beatitudes and then teaching others to do the same. And it can be in groups of two. It could just be, are you teaching your family? You know, we've got an amazing children's ministry.

They're preaching the Word right now. They're having a move of God. They've got 250 kids on the other side of the sanctuary, on the other side of the building. 250 kids hearing the Word, praying, having hands laid on them, and getting touched by the spirit of God. It's amazing what's taking place on the other side of the building.

It's fantastic. There's a reward for those that are involved in children's ministry, those who are involved in any kind of ministry. But your number one ministry is your family. So you've got to have times with your kids where you go through the Beatitudes. Blessed are the meek.

What's meek, daddy? Well, meek is humility. Well, what does that mean? Go through it. Teach them.

Teach them that the power of God, the favor of God, the anointing of God, the blessing, the blessed comes upon those who walk in humility. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for. What does that mean? That means a longing for righteousness, a longing for justice. The blessing comes upon.

Comes upon you. Is it. Is that real? That is real. Blessed are the pure in heart.

What does that mean? Means keeping your heart free from being encumbered by the things of the world. I mean, it means so much. Teach your kids. Teach your kids what I'm teaching you.

Take it home. I give you notes. Take it, go back over it, think about it, memorize it, and see how you're doing. I didn't say this in the first part, but I'll say it now as we do and teach. It really shows the level of maturity that we have.

You want to know how mature a believer you are. You want to kind of gauge your walk with the Lord of whether you're growing. Go look to see how well you're doing. The Beatitudes, the Sermon on the Mount, really, which we're going to look at the whole thing. We're just really.

In the beginning.

It's the litmus test, it's the acid test, or whether you're growing in God or not. Don't. Just don't excuse these things. Apply them least.

The least. Jesus warned that if you minimize these things, the least of his commands and teach others to do so, it doesn't matter as long as just, you know, long. You just, you know, you just got. Pray the sinner's prayer, and it's all good. I mean, there's a whole gangrenous teaching on grace that you could just do whatever you want to once you receive Jesus.

That's not true. Come on, bump your neighbor and say, I don't believe that. Yeah, I hope not, because that's not true. You can't receive Jesus and just live like a dirt bag and claim that you're born again. First John talks about it.

You don't continue to sin, he said, but I sinned this week. So did I. Not intentionally. If you're intentionally trying to do sin, then you need to check yourself before you totally wreck yourself. You need to be born again.

And once you're born again, you'll have a hyperactive conscience and you won't want to do wrong. And yet at the same time, you stumble and live a lifestyle of repentance. But there is a conversion that takes place, and in your heart, you're not longing to do evil. You long to please him. But there's this war between the flesh and the spirit and a renewing of your mind.

How many of you understand? There's a war? All right.

So it is amazing to me that there's those who will be great, those who be least. And it points to the fact that our role. Listen closely. In the age to come is connected to our responsiveness in this age. My God, let that sink in.

Years ago, Dr. James Morocco turned to First Corinthians 15. Don't put the scripture up yet. Leave that responsiveness section up. Pastor, let's do that again. If you'd read it for us when we're ready.

First Corinthians 15, 41 and 42. Actually, 41 to 43 is probably where we go. Read it out loud. Say, my role. My role in.

Come on, you ready? Set, go. My role in the age to come is connected to my responsiveness in this age. Say it again because I'm sure. And then I'll break it down.

Ready? It's not a lie. It's good. I would never mislead you. Ready, set, go.

My role in this age is to. To come is connected to my. My what? My What? You see, Dr. Morocco years ago said, you know what we're doing?

We're preparing people for judgment. I don't like that word, Will. You might not like it, but it's gonna happen. I don't particularly like it either, but as I mature, I'm beginning to grow up. Anybody beginning to grow up, I'm welcoming.

I want his judgments in my life. I want him to expose things that. That are off. I want him to reveal it to me. Now.

I don't want to be shocked when I'm standing before him because you're going to stand before him at the judgment seat of the believer, which I've taught you. And there's a judgment seat of the unbeliever and the wicked dead. And there's a judgment seat of the nations. There's a great white throne of judgment, on and on and on. It's fine.

That literally my role. Your role? What do you mean by role? There is a job for you to do in the age to come, the millennial reign. There you will have a responsibility.

That responsibility is directly connected to. Bump your neighbor and say, listen. It's directly connected to your responsiveness, to how you live for God now. And we don't really hear that too often, and we don't like that because it's like you're putting some responsibility on me. I'm not putting anything on you.

The word absolutely is putting responsibility on you. Turn the food pyramid upside down. Think about this different. You're going to live forever. Where you live is dependent upon decisions you make.

How you live now will be whether you're Rewarded, whether you suffer loss or whether you're elevated and you. And you become great. First Corinthians 15. Turn there. Pastor, would you read it?

You can sit while you read it. First Corinthians 15:41. Go. The sun has one kind of glory, while the moon and stars each have another kind. Let me stop.

He's giving. He's giving an illustration. Paul to the church in Corinth is saying, hey, there's a. The sun is bright. I mean, the sun is bright, the moon is bright, but it's not as bright.

It's different. He calls them glory. All right, go ahead, Pastor. And even the stars differ from each other in their glory. Raise your hand if you understand what that means.

I mean, if you look out at the night sky, you see some stars are dimmer than others. The sun, you say, well, that. That thing's huge. It's a medium sized star. The sun is a star of.

All heat on the earth comes from the sun. One second of energy from the sun is more energy that's been produced in the entire recorded history of mankind. The sun, it's a star. It has great glory because we're closer to it. But there's other, larger stars.

It's a medium sized yellow dwarf. That's what the sun is called. It's a star. Next verse, Pastor. It is the same way with the resurrection of the dead.

Okay, so what does that mean? He's giving. He's giving an analogy. He's saying the same way. There's stars and moons and planets, and some are brighter, some are bigger, some are closer, some are further.

It's the same with the. What? It's on the scripture on the, on the, on the screen. It's the same with the resurrection of the dead. Go ahead.

Our earthly bodies are planted in the ground when we die, but they will be raised to live forever. Oh, go on. Verse 43. Our bodies are buried in brokenness, but they will be raised in glory. They are buried in weakness, but they will be raised in strength.

But listen to this. With the illustration he's giving. He's saying that some will be greater and brighter and have more glory. There are people. It doesn't mean that God loves them more.

God loves everybody the same. You, you. You analyze and dissect scripture based on scripture. God loves everybody the same, but there are people that will walk in a greater glory, a greater blessing, brightness, just as it is with the heavenly bodies in the earth. You say, well, I want to be one of the brighter ones.

Good. Make sure your Motivation's right.

Are you getting this? You see, when you get this really down in your spirit, it makes every single second that you're living worth and valuable. The way that you respond to God's word, the way that you don't respond to God's word, he wants to reward you, wants to elevate you. He wants to release his glory in and through you. Not just in the earth, but later on.

Man, I had a hard time with this one. I did, because I had this. I had a drive in me and an ambition in me. Without going into the whole story, that was poison and I did not realize it. And I had an opportunity to go to Washington, D.C. many, many years ago.

It was a unique event, and I was going to be rubbing shoulders with the high maka maka, which is a high Hawaiian word, the. The upper echelon of the leadership of the United States of America. I was going to represent the state of Alaska. I mean, it was this great favor and great opportunity. And so I'm like, oh, yeah, I'm going to Washington.

I. I had. I had prophetic words about me going to Washington D.C. and I'm thinking, oh, this is God. I had people coming up to me, said, oh, Pastor, you're going to lead Obama to the Lord. You're going to lead President Obama. You're going to meet him.

I had all these words. I'm like, wow, Lord. Thank you, Jesus. Going to Washington. Holy.

I'm going to Washington D.C. where are you going? I'm going to DC. I'm going to lead somebody. I'm going to. President's going to be led to the Lord.

I had this thing. Now I'm, I'm. I'm getting a little extra about it because really in my heart, it was like, for the glory of God. And I'd be lying if I said it wasn't true. That is true.

But it wasn't all for the glory. It was like 97.8% for the glory of God.

The rest of it was for me, maybe 90%. Okay, maybe it was 80% for the glory and 20%.

Can we go to dc?

Yeah. Self, self ambition, worldly ambition. And the Lord took me apart. On my birthday. Some of you remember it, July 1st, I went to our noontime prayer meeting, and the power of God hit me when I walked in the back of the church.

I ended up crawling underneath the pews. And for three hours, God showed me what a wicked, ambitious spirit I had. Showed me all the pain that I've been through because of driving Something that wasn't his will or forcing something to happen. Accidents that occurred because of my lack of patience. On and on and on and on and on.

And I was weeping, and the Lord was saying, you're not going to Washington. You're not going. I literally had to call these people and say, hi, yes, it's Pastor Bracken from Alaska. Oh, Pastor Bracken. What can we do for you?

I just want to call and say I'm. I'm not coming. Oh, is everything okay? I mean, it's like somebody should have died for you not to go. Like, insane little pastor from Alaska, getting to get elevated and be with people that are making decisions across the nation.

Oh, Pastor Bracken, are you okay? Yes. I. I'm just not going. Oh. Oh.

I said, yes. I'm so sorry. Okay. We'll be praying for you. I said, thank you.

I remember calling Dr. Morocco. I said, I'm not allowed to go, Pastor. He said, well, why not? I said, because the Lord told me I'm not allowed to go. He said, well, you better obey.

I said, okay, I'm obeying. Do you know that this church would not exist had I not and by the grace of God, I obeyed. Please don't think there's anything, you know, great paragon of virtue in me. We're all weak, and we all. Come on.

God, God. God's mercy. God's mercy. I somehow was able to obey. And my beautiful wife praying.

My kids didn't. I cried for 24 hours. I thought, how is it that I'm safe for like, 20 years and still there's this thing in me? Well, easy. The same way.

You're the same way. Look at me like that.

You can repent of becoming great in the wrong way. You can't repent of becoming great in the right way and having a longing for God to do something great for God. That's God. It's the worldly ambition that gets you jacked up.

So he gives six examples.

He gives six examples showing that true righteousness goes beyond our outward obedience to the condition of the heart. And he's talking to Jews. And he starts really with the. The sixth commandment, thou shalt not murder. And he lists these things.

There's six of them. And I'm not going to preach through them now. I'm just going to introduce them later. I'll go through them because they're so powerful. But maybe I'll touch this first one because I. I had kind of a crazy confirmation as I was praying and preparing.

I'm. I'm literally driving my car. Matthew 5:21-26 talks about anger and murder, because murder really starts with anger.

And so I was examining my own heart and driving my truck, and I'm like, lord, this anger thing's pretty intense. Had it crazy. Just kind of, Lord, how do you want me to. How do you want me to treat this text? What do you want me to do here?

And I'm just driving home from the gym, praying about it. Well, instantly, it's like somebody's leaning on their horn, and they just come around me. They come right up to the person in front. I mean, full road rage. It wasn't for me.

Thank you, Jesus.

These two start road raging right in front of me. And I thought, God, with a little bit of a confirmation, we have an anger problem. People have an anger problem. And. And what the.

As he's talking to these Jews, he's destroying the. Their view of the law. And he's completing it, he's fulfilling it. Because as a Jew, they say, well, you didn't kill anybody. So you didn't actually break the sixth commandment.

You didn't murder someone. King James says, thou shalt not kill, which some people have used as an excuse for eating vegetables. Only that's completely out of context.

He said, I'm a vegetarian because the six commandments says, thou shalt not kill. Don't eat anything with a face on it. Okay, Schmeagle, Let me know how that goes. Anyway, if you eat that way, you'll look like schmeagle. And if you don't know who schmeagle is, man, we're on food here.

Food pyramid. Anyway, lift your hands to Jesus. While I remember where we're at.

Goes right to the sixth Commandment. And in their mind, in the. In the mind of a Pharisee, the mind of a. Of a scholar, they're like, I did murder, and I've not broken the Ten Commandments. But he says, oh, no, homie.

Oh no, brother man, no, no, no. You. You're killing people with your attitudes. It starts. Anger starts in the heart.

And he breaks it down to the. Not the external action. He breaks it to the issue of the heart.

And he begins to talk about anger. And. And he does other things. I mean, he talks about anger.

He talks about adultery, lust. You lust after a woman. You've already committed adultery. If you're angry in your heart, you've already murdered. He.

He breaks it down and he's saying, this is the real meaning of what I want you to understand. Their murder starts in the heart by you being angry with your brother. And he said, well, I've got an anger problem. I'm Irish.

I've got an anger. I'm Italian, I'm German, I'm French. Every nationality could say that they have that problem. You know why? Because anger is in the human heart.

It has nothing to do with wherever your. Your. Whatever you came from or whatever your background is. You say, well, I'm. I'm native Alaskan.

I'm Alaska Native. It doesn't matter where you come from. Anger.

He's releasing anger like a little warlock to your family. What do you mean by that? You get so big and so angry, nobody will ever confront you on stuff. And then you control your house, make everybody walk on. On eggshells while you walk around steaming and angry.

And you're like, well, I don't. I'm not hitting anybody. But you have holes in the drywall covered by pieces of art, maybe. And really what you're saying when you punch a hole in the drywall there, Tarzan, is that you want to punch somebody's face, but you, for now, have hit drywall instead. It is domestic violence.

He said, well, I've never hit, but you are violent. And he's saying, if you don't deal with that, you're going to end up being a murderer. And so he defines it literally by the issue of your heart. Lust.

I mean, there's six of them. Lust is adultery. Talks about divorce. The third one talks about, oh, is let your yes be yes and your no be no. Talks about retaliation, talks about loving your enemies.

Kingdom, righteousness starts here. It's not just with outward appearance. Man looks at the outward appearance. God looks at the heart.

I had a challenge with some attitudes this week, and thank God it wasn't lust. It wasn't any of those things. I shared this on in the first service and didn't put it in a way that it could maybe be misunderstood. So I want to be really clear. Without telling you anything, I saw an issue in my heart.

It was an attitude. And by the grace of God, the Lord showed me the attitude. But I was so grieved.

I was so grieved and bothered because it's something that I thought I had dealt with. But there it is swirling around in my heart again.

And I realized that it had started a while back. It was quiet, and it just seemed to get a little louder and a little louder and a little louder.

And this morning when I came into the first service. Can I have worship Team, please? Same song y' all sang last time. Please.

Worship was happening. And I heard the Lord say to me, oh, son, I'm proud of you. I thought, what?

You know, God, he's so merciful. He's so kind and long suffering. And we. We think like Lord, and he says, oh, well done. Good and faithful servant.

I'm like, oh, well done. Excuse me. I had some things, you know, we were talking about that, you know, in the cortisone. I got some stuff in my heart. He's like, yeah, I know, I know, I know.

But you didn't do it.

You didn't yield to it. You exposed it. You repented. And I felt the Lord say, oh, son, I'm so proud of you. And I was undone by the love of God speaking to me.

That even though I was wrestling with an attitude that was. That was hidden from me at times, exposed by the Holy Spirit and my wife. Listen, I don't have sin in my life. Can I just tell you that? I don't.

I don't. I don't. I don't practice, and I don't have it. I have to repent for attitudes. Come on.

At a men's meeting, this man had married for 60 years, sitting there with the rest of the men. They're talking, and this man says, I need to repent. And everybody's like, oh, what's going on? He says, it's a sin of irritation. Like what?

And irritated with my wife.

Now, listen, the more you walk with Jesus, the more you walk with Jesus, he starts showing you things that are. You laugh at it now. You've married for 10 years, maybe 5 years, you laugh now. He was so convicted that he wasn't being Christlike to his wife. And he's weeping that I've been irritated, irritated.

Some of you all locked up in porn, and you're just excusing that. We're talking just about. I'm not looking at anybody specifically. Come on, lift your hands to Jesus.

Sin of irritation. So this thing's swirling around, and I. And I. And I. As I.

As was exposed, I began to weep in my time with the Lord.

And the enemy whispered to me. He said, oh, saved for 30 years. Still struggling with that. What kind of a Christian. I'm like, oh, shut up.

I'm like, oh, Lord, there it is again. And then things that you deal with sometimes try to creep back in.

And as God touched me and I prayed this morning, I felt God's pleasure over me because I'm allowed to. I allowed him to deal with Something in my heart. Oh, I didn't do it. I didn't. And again, it's not lust.

It's not murder. It wasn't anger. It's none of those things. It was an. It was an attitude, an old.

An old pattern that just tried to sneak back in. Can you be many any more specific than that? No. You apply it to. You apply it to your life.

Real Christianity is what I'm preaching to you right now. It's. It's living the Beatitudes. It's kingdom quality, pardon me, character. Qualities of kingdom character.

Pardon me, Kingdom character. It's. It's kingdom influence. It's kingdom righteousness. This is righteous at the heart level.

At the heart level. And if you don't deal with it there, you could very well end up in hell, because that's how it happens. Anger starts at the heart. Lust starts in the heart. Avarice, greed starts in the heart.

Lift your hands to Jesus. God's speaking to us. He really is God speaking to us. The first thing, write in the notes, take God's word seriously. Least it's not a little thing.

It's a big thing. The intensity of this message, please receive it. I pray with love from God, like a love letter to you. It's not. I'm not trying to bring condemnation on you.

I'm trying to set you free, to let you know there really is kingdom righteousness and it's available for you.

Greatness in his kingdom looks different, it hits different. It's the upside down kingdom. It's totally makes no sense. What do you mean? I die to self.

I pick up my cross daily and then I'm elevated. What do you mean? I'm humble to myself on the side of the Lord and he lifts me up. What do you mean? What do you.

It makes no sense. The kingdom of God makes no sense because his kingdom is not of this world. And how you respond matters eternally.

Gosh, Pastor, that's intense. I believe that God is raising up a company of people that can rightly divide the Word. I believe that God is praising him. But people that. That'll live like Jesus on the highways and byways, be so filled with the love of God, be so humble and broken and transparent and.

And thirsty for righteousness and justice. I believe that God is raising up a people that'll be pure in heart. They'll see God. I believe that God's raising up a generation that'll live the Beatitudes out loud, in their homes and with their wives and with their husbands. I believe that God's raising up a people, people that'll become great in his sight.

Not great in the world. Great in his sight. And when we do that, his kingdom will be released in the earth in a way that you cannot imagine. Blessed. The blessed of God.

The blessed of God comes upon us. Lift your hands to Jesus. Well, I hope you were encouraged by God's word. Thank you again for listening to Kings Alaska podcast. God bless you.

For more, more great content, go to kcalaska. Com and may God's face shine upon you and give you peace.