Let’s start with what makes any kingdom: a king and some land. In Matthew 13, this was the Roman Empire. Did people expect Jesus to literally overturn the Roman Empire? No, but he’ll guide us to help create God’s Kingdom on earth.

With the parable of the weeds in the wheat (Matt. 13:24-30) Jesus said “Let both grow together”. Matt: 13:40-42: “The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” The evil ones will surely get their due.

Until that happens, though, won’t there be problems? Will be it difficult to live with the evil ones? Yes, but we have faith! We can start small, with faith like a tiny mustard seed, and it will grow into a mighty tree. Faith is like yeast in dough (Matt. 13:33). Once it’s worked into the dough, you can’t see it, you can’t point to where it is, but you know it’s everywhere through that dough, growing -- and it’s creating our kingdom.

Here’s what we know about The Kingdom of Heaven:

1. Lives WITH the world, but is not OF the world.

2. Starts small, but grows in immeasurable glory!

3. Is growing everywhere and nowhere specific.

4. Is worth infinitely more than what it costs.

5. Will be separated and saved.

Praise be! The Kingdom of God - the Kingdom of Heaven - is growing everywhere, right here and right now!

Good is what God is, and good is what God makes. But what makes a person good? Well, God gave us the Ten Commandments to start - His instructions to His people about goodness - but being a good person is more than just NOT doing bad things.

We mustn’t be like the hypocrites (Matt. 6:17) who pray on the street corners to be seen by others. These are people who wear the mask of faith, but faith isn’t a role you play in public. Our faith should compel us to action, to do good.

Josh said that “GOODNESS is not about the absence of rule violations, but about the GOOD that you produce.” God made us to be good! Matt. 5:13-14, “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness...it is no longer good for anything. You are the light of the world. ... let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”

Matt. 7:16-19 tells us that good trees bear good fruit, thus by their fruit you will recognize them. Have our lives produced good fruit? Do we just “talk a good game”, or do our actions show goodness? Do we use our talents in serving God? Are we doing what God called us to do?

Good news is more than what you say - it’s what you do! What good can you do this week? Feed someone who is hungry, comfort someone in pain, pull some weeds, help with the laundry, drive someone to a doctor appointment, pick up their groceries… Let’s ask, “How can I help?” and we’ll find ways to be good AND do good.

Many prophets foretold the coming of the Messiah, The One. But the people, being only human, how could they help but wonder, how will we know? When he comes, how can we be sure that he is the One? As Josh pointed out, we can work backwards from Jesus' birth, back through the genealogy listed in Matthew 1. That’s the foundation, the proof we need, going all the way back to Genesis 17:4-7 when God told Abraham, “...you will be the father of many nations...and kings will come from you.”

In Matthew 5, Jesus says that he has not come to abolish the Law, (Matt. 5:17-18) “...I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.” Jesus is the Messiah, indeed.

But is Jesus “The One” for us? The only One? This question confronts us daily whether we acknowledge it or not. We give our answer through our actions. Who or what is our personal #1? We can’t serve two masters. Are we following the wrong king? When we face a fork in the road, will we choose the path that leads towards Jesus?

Matthew 7:13-14 tells us, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” Father, our lives can sometimes confuse and overwhelm us; help guide our way to that small gate and the narrow path that leads to your blessed son!

Does God Take Sides? And if He did, would He pick me to be on His side? In the first chapter of Malachi, the people of Israel dare to ask God, HOW have you loved us? He answers that He turned the enemy’s country into a wasteland. Even back in Genesis 22:18 we read that God chose the Israelites to receive His blessings. He delivered them from famine. Moses brought them from exile. The bible is full of examples of how God bestowed blessings upon His people, but they showed contempt for God’s name.

Malachi 1:7, “By offering defiled food on my altar”, by offering lame or blind animals for sacrifice that they wouldn’t dare give to their governor, they showed contempt. Malachi 1:14, “Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock… but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord.” And the priests failed as well: Malachi 2:8, “But you have turned from the way and by your teaching have caused many to stumble; you have violated the covenant with Levi…. So I have caused you to be despised and humiliated.”

As always, in spite of everything man does, God’s love comes through. He tells them to “Return to me and I will return to you”. Malachi 3:10: “Test me in this… and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.”

Perhaps we forget sometimes that God sees us - always. He sees what we do and He sees what’s really in our hearts. Do we give him a bare minimum, holding back - or do we give Him our all, our best? Do we dare to pour our whole selves out into living His word, knowing that God will always give us back what we need?

God loves us so much, He has a flood of blessings ready to pour down over us. Once He sees that we’re all in, living His word 100%, those floodgates of Heaven will open. Isn’t that a flood you’re ready to see?

If you’ve ever broken something, then glued it back together, the result probably wasn’t perfect. You could tell it wasn’t new. As we learned last week, the people thought they were on the right path by rebuilding a temple and rebuilding the wall. But they weren’t following God’s word and they weren’t glorifying Him.

In Daniel 9:24-27, the angel Gabriel speaks to Daniel, saying in seventy ‘sevens’ God will finish transgression, put an end to sin, atone for wickedness, bring everlasting righteousness, seal up vision and prophecy and anoint the Most Holy Place. We also read this in Leviticus 26:18, “If after all this you will not listen to me, I will punish you for your sins seven times over.”

These things - the temple and the wall and the Torah - would never create the future that God had in store for His people. Simply putting things back together wasn’t going to fix the broken covenant. As Josh said, “Mankind repairs and rebuilds, but only God renews.” Revelation 21:4-5 says, “...He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” The key to God’s “renewal” project was the Messiah.

We can (and should) do the best we can with our lives. We can ‘rebuild’ ourselves by taking care of ourselves and serving others, but being RENEWED - that’s God’s blessing to us.

Reading the books of Ezra and Nehemiah is a study of a failed relationship and a failed reconciliation. Ezra was knowledgeable in the Law of Moses’ and he wanted to see the people following these laws. Instead he learns they have been offering burnt sacrifices and mingling with the “detestable” others; they are no longer holy. Ezra is appalled and cries out to God in his shame about all these sins. Finally, his agonized prayers touched the people and they wept and confessed their sins.

Nehemiah then returns to Jerusalem to rebuild the wall, Ezra reads the Law, the people agree to it, and it seems they are on the right path. But soon enough, the people return to their old ways. They neglect the temple, they work on the Sabbath, and the Torah is ignored.

In spite of their initial best intentions, their new priorities faded and old behaviors popped up again. They wanted to follow a formula: Temple + Torah + Walls = being one with the Lord. But, as Josh said, “Recipes Never Replace Relationships”.

God doesn’t want us just following some blueprint or map to get to Him. Our path comes from within - from OUR desire to be His, from OUR willingness to do anything for Him. If there is a formula, it’s in our own hearts. How much do you want to know God and be with Him forever? How strong is the pull in your heart toward God?

As we ponder our readings of Ezekiel, let’s consider what message God wanted Ezekiel to share with the people. We read elaborate details about the temple; are these building details so important? We read that the temple was restored and that there was life in this building. Do we take that literally or is the temple a metaphor?

Josh told us that Heaven and earth can overlap. We don’t need to be in Heaven to find joy in God’s grace. He is with us here on earth. Ezekiel’s vision in chapter 43 was that the glory of the Lord filled the temple. In Ezek. 43:7, the Lord said, “...this is the place of my throne and the place for the soles of my feet. This is where I will live.” Heaven need not be confined to Heaven (on earth as it is in Heaven). The message is also in Rev 21:3, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and He will dwell with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God.”

So what did God want Ezekiel to share? That the Lord was there, and here; He is with us, always. It’s a vision of total restoration. When we seek the Lord in our earthly temples, if we seek Him with all our hearts and all our souls, we will find joy in the simple presence of His glory. And after all, that is what He wants. We are His. He wants to be ours.

But when we do get to Heaven, as much as we want to see our loved ones who preceded us there, let’s remember by whose grace we are there: Heaven is not heaven unless the Lord is there!

As we continue our study of the Book of Ezekiel, we learn about how challenging it was for Ezekiel to be God’s watchman for the people of Israel. The main challenge, then as now, is to take heed when warnings are given. How many times have you been warned about something and thought, “No, what are the odds? That won’t happen to me.” God’s hand is always extended to us, but how often do we think we can do it ourselves?

The people loved Ezekiel and they listened, but they did not act. Ezekiel 33:32, “Indeed, to them you are nothing more than one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice and plays an instrument well, for they hear your words but do not put them into practice.” Chapter 34 continues with God saying, “Woe to you shepherds who only take care of yourselves… you do not take care of the flock”. They did not strengthen the weak or heal the sick or bind up the injured or search for the lost. In short, they were not being the kind of people God so wanted them to be.

But did God threaten or punish them? No. Instead he promised to rescue the sheep (His people) Himself. He would search for them, rescue them, pasture and tend them. He would shepherd the flock with justice.

Ezekiel 36:25-26 says, “... I will cleanse you from all your impurities….I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you.”

Ezekiel 37:14: “I will put my Spirit in you and you will live.”

How joyful, how full of hope, are these messages from our loving God? As Josh said, “When all hope seems lost, God promises to fix the unfixable!” Amen!

Ezekiel knew the fate of the people of God’s people after they were exiled to Babylon. He knew that, like the people of Israel, their hearts were divided, their faith was no longer pure.

Josh asked us to remember a time when we wanted something badly - but once we got it, the shine faded, and it became mundane. If we’re not careful, our faith can become mundane and we won’t care for it the way we should. Some of the reasons that idolatry was popular was because it was easy, convenient, and guaranteed. It was indulgent and pleasing to the senses. So without even realizing it, our strong faith may become a chore, and we start taking shortcuts.

Maybe we pray less often or less thoughtfully. Maybe we read the Bible less, tell a few white lies, be more judgmental towards people, get a little lazy, spend less time with God. Step by step we can lose our faith. It’s the small bad decisions that add up, one after another, until a disaster happens. Addictions, a failed marriage, bankruptcy - these disasters don’t happen in a day; they’re the result of many bad decisions over time. As Josh said, “Left unchecked, every “no big deal”, adds up to broke(n).”

Yes, God will always forgive us if we lose our way, but that’s a “cheap grace”. Instead, let’s work on keeping our faith strong so that step by step we’ll always be heading towards our loving God, not away.

Hope is a word that means more than we think. Without it, life would be unbearable. Ask a POW, cancer victim, or family member of someone buried in the ruins of a collapsed building. Hope sustains us in our darkest hours but it needs to be based on something solid....or in someone solid. There is no greater source of hope than our God. In Jeremiah 31, our God extends hope of restoration to the nation of Israel 2500 years ago and this hope resonates even deeper in our lives today. Its message is heard by those who know they are buried deeply in the ruins of their own sin.