Mustards and Monarchs - Freedom in the Kingdom of God [Sermon]

Timonium, Maryland, USA

July 2024

Matthew 13:31-34 ESV

31 He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. 32 It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”

34 All these things Jesus said to the crowds in parables; indeed, he said nothing to them without a parable.

1. The Grand Story

1 Samuel 8:7 ESV

And the Lord said to Samuel, … they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them.

2. Description With Pictures

Matthew 4:17 ESV

From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

3. Comparative Greatness

4. Characteristics of the Kingdom of God

a. Freedom from Natural Evil

Mark 4:39-41

And [Jesus] awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm… And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

b. Freedom from Moral Evil

Matt 12:28

But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

5. Citizenship in the Kingdom of God

John 3:3

Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.