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Rule Determines Realm

Mark 12:13-15
Later they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians\\xa0to Jesus to catch him\\xa0in his words.\\xa0They came to him and said, \\u201cTeacher, we know that you are a man of integrity. You aren\\u2019t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right to pay the imperial tax\\xa0to Caesar or not?\\xa0Should we pay or shouldn\\u2019t we?\\u201d But Jesus knew their hypocrisy.\\xa0\\u201cWhy are you trying to trap me?\\u201d\\xa0

Romans 16:17
But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance.

The political theater is playing out in front of us and it\\u2019s a twisted game of seducing your allegiance

There is a difference between placing your vote and placing your hope

Nationalism: ideology based on the idea that the individual\\u2019s loyalty and devotion to the nation surpasses other individual or group interests

1 Peter 2:11
Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul.

1 Peter 2:9
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God\\u2019s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

Believers "must cultivate the mindset of exiles. What this does mainly is sober us up and wake us up so that we don\'t drift with the world\\u201d -John Piper

Jeremiah 17:5 NLT
This is what the Lord says: \\u201cCursed are those who put their trust in mere humans who rely on human strength and turn their hearts away from the Lord.

1 Samuel 8:3
But his sons\\xa0did not follow his ways. They turned aside\\xa0after dishonest gain and accepted bribes\\xa0and perverted\\xa0justice.

1 Samuel 8:4,5
So all the elders\\xa0of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah.\\xa0They said to him, \\u201cYou are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king\\xa0to lead\\xa0us, such as all the other nations\\xa0have.\\u201d

1 Samuel 8:6-8
But when they said, \\u201cGive us a king\\xa0to lead us,\\u201d this displeased\\xa0Samuel; so he prayed to the\\xa0Lord.\\xa0And the\\xa0Lord\\xa0told him: \\u201cListen\\xa0to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected,\\xa0but they have rejected me as their king.\\xa0As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking\\xa0me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you.\\u201d

1 Samuel 8:19,20
But the people refused\\xa0to listen to Samuel. \\u201cNo!\\u201d they said. \\u201cWe want\\xa0a king\\xa0over us.\\xa0Then we will be like all the other nations,\\xa0with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.\\u201d

Luke 9:20 NLT
Then he asked them,\\xa0\\u201cBut who do you say I am?\\u201d Peter replied, \\u201cYou are the Messiah\\xa0sent from God!\\u201d

Luke 9:21
Jesus warned his disciples not to tell anyone who he was.

Luke 9:22 NLT
\\u201cThe Son of Man\\xa0must suffer many terrible things,\\u201d\\xa0he said.\\xa0\\u201cHe will be rejected by the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He will be killed, but on the third day he will be raised from the dead.\\u201d

John 18:36
Jesus said, \\u201cMy\\xa0kingdom\\xa0is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my\\xa0kingdom\\xa0is from another place.\\u201d

You can legislate morality but you cannot legislate heart transformation

1 John 3:4
\\u2026sin is\\xa0lawlessness.

We need to be a Kingdom activator more than a political activist








Romans 8:9
You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you.

John 16:8,9
When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment:\\xa0about sin,\\xa0because people do not believe in me

John 16:13 But when he, the\\xa0Spirit\\xa0of\\xa0truth, comes, he will guide you into all the\\xa0truth.
Questions:

1. In whom are you putting your hope, your trust? Are you putting it in Jesus, in a leader, in a system, in yourself, etc?

2. Read 1 Samuel 8:3-22. What was the heart stance of the people? In what were they putting their hope? How did Samuel respond? How did God respond? What was the result?
How do we sit in that same heart stance today? In what area of your life are you asking for a king?