God’s Kingdom isn’t just about theology and church. It isn’t just a quaint religious idea, or an obscure theological concept. It is about a whole new way of seeing our world and our place in it. When we grasp the full power of Kingdom-thinking and embrace a Kingdom agenda, it will transform every area of our lives including our thoughts, our actions, and our goals. In The Kingdom Agenda, Dr. Tony Evans offers the most comprehensive book he has ever written about what it means to live out the meaning of God’s Kingdom in every area of our lives. Dr. Tony Evans is the founder and senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, founder and president of The Urban Alternative, chaplain of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, and author of over 100 books, booklets & Bible studies. His radio broadcast, The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans, can be heard on more than 1,300 US outlets daily and in more than 130 countries.
did you know that there’s a key that
unlocks the door to life life as it was
meant to be lived an agenda an agenda
from your Creator and mind for living
life his way so that life becomes worth
living it’s called the kingdom agenda it
is the visible demonstration of a
comprehensive rule of God over every
area of life its life as the Creator
meant it to be now there are a lot of
agendas out there their racial agendas
and economic agendas and political
agendas and cultural agendas but then
there is the kingdom agenda the rule of
God now I don’t know what agenda you’re
on but if it’s not on the agenda of the
king and his kingdom it’s the wrong plan
and the wrong program I’m excited to be
able to share a divine perspective from
the King about his kingdom to its
subjects so that we can live like
experience life as the Creator intended
it to be
welcome to our time together discussing
a subject that I’d love to talk about
because it’s the philosophy and
worldview of my life and ministry called
the kingdom agenda
the story is told of a man who went to
visit a friend of his who lived on a
farm he came into the opening of the
farm and had to pass his friends barn
when he passed his friends Barney
noticed something and that is that
someone had been using the barn for
target practice there were 20 targets
with 20 bull’s eyes and then there was a
hole in the middle of each bullseye
there were no extraneous holes on the
barn so whoever was using this for
target practice was doing it perfectly
because every single shot in the target
in the bullseye perfect well he had
never seen marksmanship like that in all
of his life and so he drove and kept
going up to his friends house knocked on
the door his friend John came to the
door they greeted each other and he said
Matt John I just passed your bond and I
saw somebody’s been using it for target
practice and whoever it is their perfect
shot who in the world was that
well John kind of smiled and said uh
that was me I was that was my
marksmanship he said John when in the
world did you learn to shoot like that
how could you shoot so perfectly John
said well I shoot first and I draw a
picture of the target around the hole
look like he was on target it’s easy to
look like you’re on target when really
you may only know how to paint well you
may know how to camouflage it and make
it look much better than it really is
we’re living in a world today that’s off
target in every dimension that you look
you’re seeing things out of kilter
camouflaged but when you get right down
to it you look at lives falling apart
families falling apart when you look at
a culture falling apart you’re looking
at a land off target
there are many agendas out here today to
try to make things better if I were a
non-christian I’d be a secular
non-christian psychiatrist because then
I could charge people $300 an hour to
tell them why they need to come back
next week I can make a lot of money
because so many people are broken in so
many ways but in the midst of this chaos
and confusion there is another agenda
another approach another plan another
program by which life is to be lived and
by which life is to be viewed this
agenda the Bible calls the agenda of
God’s kingdom or what I simply call the
kingdom agenda the kingdom agenda is the
visible demonstration of the
comprehensive rule of God over every
area of life it is because God has been
marginalized he’s good for Sunday and
maybe Wednesday but he is not the
comprehensive overseer of all of life
that life is off-target we pledge
allegiance to the flag of the United
States of America and to the Republic
for which it stands we grew up with our
hands of our heart pledging allegiance
to a kingdom called America every day we
were reminded in school or at sporting
events that we belong to this kingdom
and that this event is a privilege of
being a resident or citizen of this
country well God is after
– the Pledge of Allegiance but to
another Kingdom a greater Kingdom an
eternal Kingdom one run by him in John
chapter 18 Jesus is before Pilate and
when he’s standing before Pilate he
makes a statement about the kingdom and
its agenda he says in verse 36 of John
18 My Kingdom is not of this world if my
kingdom of of this world and my servants
would be fighting so that I would not be
handed over to the Jews but as it is my
kingdom is not of this world
therefore Pilate said to him so you are
a king jesus answered you say correctly
that I am a king for this I have been
born and for this I have come into the
world to testify to the truth and
everyone who is of the truth hears my
voice hear Jesus prior to his
crucifixion serves notice – a
representative of the Roman government
that there is another kingdom of which
he rules and he is the king now to put
this kingdom in perspective we have to
understand how it came about and how it
works so let’s give a summary of why we
even need this agenda operating in
history before God ever created man he
created angels angels were created to be
visible expressions of his glory created
to do his will the Bible says that
mirrors of angels were created and chief
among them was an angel called Lucifer
Lucifer means The Shining one angels in
the Bible are called stars so if the
angels are the stars then Lucifer was
the sunshine it’s like a car dealership
you have all these new cars but then you
have the showroom model Lucifer was the
showroom model
Ezekiel 28 goes into this big
definition of how glorious he was in
fact he was so spectacular talks about
his pipes because he could sing that’s
why I hates worship so much to remind
him of his old job he was leading all
the angels in the worship and the
celebration and the obedience to God
Almighty but he developed what I like to
call a Pheo ego that’s a god complex he
looked into the mirror one day and said
now mirror mirror on the wall who’s the
fairest of us all evidently didn’t give
the mirror a chance to answer because he
thought he was and he sought out to
establish a rival kingdom in fact five
times in Isaiah 14 you read the words I
will I will I will I will I will and
each one was rebellion against God
by getting all the other angels to rebel
against the living and true God so
successful was his coup that the
scripture says one-third of the Angels
went and followed him now it’s hard to
hide a coup from an admission being and
so God uncovered his rebellion a trial
was held he was found guilty along with
the fallen angels with him of cosmic
treason we’re told about that in Luke
chapter 10 verse 18 because Luke 10:18
Jesus says I was there when Lucifer fell
from heaven like lightning now the
reason why that verse is important is
Jesus says he was there which means he
existed before his birth it’s also
important because it tells us what the
conclusion of the trial was and that he
was removed from his place in heaven it
is also important because Lucifer got a
name change it says I was there when
Satan fell from heaven like lightning
because God always changes your name the
Fichter character the Bible says that
hell was prepared for Satan and his
angels because of his rebellion eternal
separation for God was the sentence that
was passed but God decided that rather
than carry out the sentence right away
he would use the rebellion for his
greater glory and what God did was kick
Lucifer out to the third planet from the
Sun a place called Earth
that’s when you read your Bible the
Bible says in the beginning God created
in heaven the heavens of the earth and
the earth was without form and void the
hebrew word there’s Tohu i bow who would
that means garbage dump say when you
read the Bible that’s why God has got to
clean it up you’ve got to separate the
land from the water because it’s a swamp
the reason why it’s a garbage dump it’s
because garbage lives here Satan and his
angels were removed so God renovates the
earth and then comes up with a plan to
create a lesser creature a lower
creature a constitutionally inferior
creature a creature that can’t fly
around that doesn’t have angelic
intellect in fact Psalm 8
Hebrews 2 says that man was created a
little lower than the Angels that is
constitutionally inferior now why would
God do that to demonstrate what he could
do with less when less was dependent
upon him than what he could do with more
when more was in rebellion against him
it was to demonstrate his greater glory
and to advance his kingdom in history
but a major part of this is to
understand that in God’s plan he decided
to work through the lesser creature in
other words he wouldn’t skip man to
advance his kingdom he would work
through man but only as man was
submitted to him and so he puts in the
garden two trees the tree of life and
the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil and he tells man now if you want to
live life as I have chosen life to be
lived this is the tree for you
but if you want to do it on your own and
figure it out for yourself
the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil I’m going to give you the freedom
to eat from that tree but you’re going
to have to work this out yourself God
has a kingdom but only if he is king
when men try
figure it out for themselves eating from
the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil then we find ourselves off target
as we are in the world today Jesus said
that he is a king and that his kingdom
very important is not of this world it
comes from another realm now if you own
a home
we’ll call you a king or queen of your
castle that means that you have certain
guidelines rules regulations by which
you run the place where you live the
fact that I come over to your house and
tell you I don’t like where your
furniture is is irrelevant the fact that
I come over to and tell you I don’t like
the color paint on your walls well
that’s my problem because it’s your
house I can’t come and dictate to your
kingdom of which you are King I may make
suggestions and I may tell you what I
think but you get to make the final
decisions but some of us have teenagers
and we all have been teenagers so we
know what it is to have rebellion in the
kingdom we know what it is to have folk
in our kingdom wanting to create their
own rules we know what it is there are
folks in our kingdom wanting to set up
their own agenda and that automatically
brings about a clash because you can’t
have two kings in one kingdom what God
has done is he has set up a kingdom but
he’s wound up with rebellious teenagers
many of them Christians who want to
bring the world rules into his kingdom
and then want the King to okay them well
in the same way that a parent is to take
responsibility for the order in the
house God accepts and takes
responsibility for the order in his
kingdom Jesus makes a statement he says
my kingdom is not of this world now
don’t misunderstand that he doesn’t say
my kingdom is not in this world he says
my kingdom is not of this world it means
its source
where it comes from its Authority where
its information is derived from it’s not
from this world order and that’s why the
Bible says so much about worldliness
because worldliness is rebellion against
Kingdom s when we are operating by the
standards of this world and the Bible
says Satan is the god of this world like
rebellious teenagers in a house we’re in
conflict with the owner of the house and
we wonder why there’s not order in the
house he says my kingdom is not of this
world when you are on a cruise and the
ocean liner is in the water
you want the boat in the water but you
don’t want the water in the boat God
wants us in the world but he doesn’t
want the world in us so the question is
what does he mean when he says his
agenda his plan his program is not
derived from this world it means that he
wants to set up the governing guidelines
and regulations by how life is live the
word world or what we called worldliness
it’s simply that system headed by Satan
that wants to leave God out you are
worldly when God is no longer part of
the equation when you want to do your
own thing the Bible says let God be true
and every man a liar that when God and
men disagree man is wrong there are two
answers to every question God’s answer
and everybody else’s and everybody else
is wrong he has spoken and he has not
stuttered and he does not want to
compete with the world when we speak of
the world we have the world of politics
the world of sports the world of finance
but I talk about a location we’re
talking about an orientation that is
we’re talking about a theme of which
everything else surrounds that theme so
women’s the world of sports with a lot
of lenox the world of finance anything
having to do with money the world of
politics anything that has to do with
the political realm that becomes a world
when the Bible talks about the war
old in a negative way it is speaking
about a system that Satan is meticulous
about to get you to exclude God out of
the equation the reason why God’s
kingdom is not fixing what’s wrong in
our world is that the folks who want God
to fix it are simultaneously worldly and
since his kingdom is not of this world
but his kingdom is from another world
when you appeal to this world
contradicting that world you wind up
living a messed up world and so he says
it is source from another realm when a
scuba diver goes in the water and
they’re going to be there for an
extended length of time they have a tank
on their back that tank is filled with
oxygen oxygen is the life source for the
human scuba diver the scuba diver is now
swimming and existing in a foreign world
that world is not his or her home it is
there for them to function in for a
temporary period of time so in order for
them to survive in that world they need
sustenance from their world if they’re
going to make it in this world of water
if they try to live in that world
without the sustenance from their world
that world will kill them because there
is no provision in that world for their
world they need oxygen which the water
does not provide and so they put tanks
on their back because they clearly
understand if i’ma make it in this
foreign world
I need the life source from my real home
and the world in which I live if you
belong to Jesus Christ the Bible is
clear this world is not your home so in
order to function well in this world you
need a tank on your back from that world
in order to get the life source from
that world and
wanted to make it in this world and that
life sauce is the king and his kingdom
its agenda the problem is if you’re not
used to it and until you get used to it
because we spend time in this world we
may think this world is the real world
while we choke to death trying to
survive in it I don’t know how many of
you are fishermen or Fisher women if
that’s a word if you go out and you
catch fish and you you pull them out of
the water they flipping and flopping and
jumping and jerking their mouths are
opening and closing because they’re in a
foreign world and they’re trying to
survive in a world they were never made
for they were made for the water but
when you catch them and bring them out
they’re struggling to survive
because they’ve been put in a realm for
which they have not been created well
the reason why a lot of us are flipping
and flopping and jumping and jerking and
twisting and tweaking is because we are
functioning in a world we were never
made for once we belong to God’s kingdom
and are operating by his agenda the
kingdom agenda is the visible
demonstration of the comprehensive rule
of God over every area of life there is
to be no area of life for which God’s
viewpoint is not brought in and acted on
if we are to live like in this foreign
world based on the world that we really
belong to when I travel and I have go to
a hotel room I never operate out of my
out of the drawers or the packing places
in the room I I live out of my suitcase
and the reason I do that is because I
know this is not home so I don’t get so
comfortable there that I think I’m
living there I’m passing through because
this is a pass-through journey what
we’ve done is we’ve made this world our
home it’s agenda our perspective it’s
worldview our orientation we’ve made a
place home that is not the
basis for which we ought to be living
life and operating the Bible says that
when you come to Christ you switch
kingdoms you come from the kingdom of
darkness the kingdom that is rebellion
against God to the kingdom of light and
the kingdom of his dear son and if you
and I are going to see the victory power
provision that God is offering us we’re
going to have to operate according to
another agenda another plan another
program are tied to all of life not just
a portion of life because the kingdom
agenda is the comprehensive rule of God
that’s why he goes on to say in verse 37
I am king for this reason I have been
born and for this reason I have come
into the world to testify to the truth
to testify to the truth Satan is a liar
he’s a good one or as my mother used to
tell me you were born liar that means
from the beginning he only knows how to
lie and he can’t handle the truth the
truth is God’s view on any subject the
truth is the absolute standard by which
reality is measured the truth is a
transcends feelings it even transcends
facts if I have the flu you know it’s a
lot of flu going around and if I have
the flu and I think I have a cold but I
go to the doctor and the doctor says
well no you have the flu well I could
think it’s one thing when when the
professional checked it it could be
something else when what you think is
all that you use to govern where you are
you could be judging wrongly the
information or not have all the
information or not have the skill in
order to determine how things really are
he says my kingdom only operates in the
truth which is why Satan wants to get us
operating on a lie because they can get
us operating on a lie he can take us off
God’s a gym
and if he takes us off God’s agenda than
the thing that his kingdom is designed
to provide to us we don’t get because
God does not leave his kingdom to
satisfy our needs in this world he
invites us from this world into his
kingdom
my daughter Priscilla she had grown up
26 years in my home I had taken care of
her provided for her I had supported her
I had done everything then some
smooth-talking dude came and told her
that same old job I told her mother many
years earlier and she decided to switch
kingdoms she decided to leave the Evans
household and join the shire household
she switched kingdoms when she switched
kingdoms about a year later up here not
even a year a few months later she
called me wanting to borrow some money I
told her go ask your king if you’re
gonna switch kingdoms let your new king
take care of you we have switched
kingdoms yet the old king still wants to
run the show call the shots have the
bottom line of our lives so it is
absolutely critical that you understand
I understand that there is a conflict in
the kingdoms that God has this
comprehensive rule that if you want your
life and our world on target then God
must be recognized as the comprehensive
ruler of this kingdom there was a man
one day who was needing to pick up his
shoes from the shoe repair man and they
closed at 5 o’clock so he needed to get
there because it was just a couple of
minutes before 5:00 and it came there
were no cars on the parking lot so he
just knew he had gotten there too late
but he thought he’d get off the car and
go to the door and just kind of just in
case there would be somebody there but
there were no cars outside so he looked
at the window and knocked on the glass
and to his surprise and joy the
repairman was there came and opened the
door and let him in got him his shoes
and the gentleman before he left said
but
but I don’t see any car cars out here
and yet you’re still here how are you
going to get home the guy turned and he
pointed to some steps and he said I live
up there I just worked out here when you
have a kingdom mentality you live up
there even though you function down here
you are to have a heavenly perspective
with your feet firmly planted on the
ground in Super Bowl 43 when Pittsburgh
was making the run to with two minutes
left
in order to win Super Bowl 43 Santonio
Holmes was thrown a pass and he dropped
it now the clock is winding down
Roethlisberger goes back and he throws
another pass to Santonio Holmes who’s in
the end zone he reaches up to catch the
ball he keeps his feet planted on the
ground and it’s a touchdown
so the Pittsburgh Steelers won the game
in order for him to have won the game he
had to reach high but not leave the
ground if he would have caught the ball
but his feet not land in bounds it would
have been an incomplete path or if his
feet were on the ground but he didn’t
catch the ball it would have been an
incomplete pass in order for this thing
to work he had to reach high while
stepping low that’s what it means to
live for God’s kingdom it means I reach
high to get my data while keeping my
feet firmly planted on the ground here
on earth but I’m doing it from Heaven’s
perspectives not Earth’s world view it
is critical if we are going to see life
in the covenants of God our individual
lies our families our churches and even
our broader society and government
function like the Creator designed it to
we’re going to have to come back to his
agenda his plan his program his
perspective so that his rule that’s
kingdom means rule authority is from the
Greek word bacilli it has to do with
that which calls the shots unless God is
free to call the shots the
transformation we need in our lives will
not happen we live in a broken world but
until God is treated like God the king
is treated like the king
we will not see him pull together what
has been broken
you know the Queen of England is well
respected her name is held up high when
she travels people pull over out of
courtesy and respect the only problem
with the Queen of England that is that
while she has respect she has no power
she can’t make any decisions she can’t
write any laws they just nod wave and
treat her nice that’s how we do God in
his kingdom we we give him a little nod
we pull over to the side a little bit as
long as he doesn’t get to make any
decisions calling the shots run his
agenda in our lives the kingdom agenda
is the visible demonstration of the
comprehensive rule of God over every
area of life and when you and I begin to
operate in every sphere and lend our
influence to every sphere we touch the
world in which we live to understand and
operate from the rule of the king over
the rule of the enemy of the king then
we will begin to see God take methods
and turn them into miracles God takes
circumstances and reverse them in every
dimension of life in the Olympics you
have a lot of talent who show up from
all around the world these individuals
or teams are experts in whatever the
athletic competition happens to be they
know how to do what they do and they
know how to do it well after the race or
the competition of an event is over they
then take the podium for public
recognition of their achievements
in the center of the podium is the gold
medal winner this is the one who was the
best of the best he stands on the
platform he stands tall but they do not
then come up to her and ask her what’s
her favorite song what song would you
like us to play
what do you groove to that’s not what
they ask they automatically play the
song of the nation of which the gold
medalist is a part because even though
their individual talent won the gold
they belong to a bigger Kingdom and they
are there as representatives of that
Kingdom God wants us to all wear his
gold medal and the testimony of his son
Jesus Christ but not so that you can
play your own favorite song he wants us
to do it so that God is glorified and
his kingdom is expanded in history let’s
let God ring his song because we’re
standing on the podium giving him the
glory due his name because we’ve decided
to follow him and the kingdom agenda of
heaven about the kingdom agenda of this
world
you