Where are my keys? Have you ever said that? When you don’t have your keys, everything stops until you find them. Because you can’t go anywhere till you do. I could give you a new car, even the car of your dreams, but it would be useless to you without the key. This week we’re going to start going over some of the the keys to the Kingdom and how you can use them to get where God wants you to go. John 10:7-10. “7 So Jesus said to them again, “Truly, truly I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All those who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came so that they would have life, and have it abundantly.” 2 times in this passage Jesus said I am the door. Last week we talked about what was behind that door and what it would cost. Jesus is the door to entering a spiritually abundant life, but we have to use the keys to access it. Most Christians only ever use the one key we know about. It’s the key of salvation. We enter the kingdom of abundant life through the gate of Jesus, and now we are standing just inside. Our relationship with the King, our Father God, is not developed at the gate. Let me use another metaphor for the Kingdom. It’s like a house.
Most of us don’t live in the house God gave us, we just visit the foyer once a week for an hour on Sunday. And that is why we don’t have an abundant life. Our life doesn’t look like what the Bible says it should, because we never get past the foyer. We are content to let the pastor describe what it’s like further in. When you first enter someone’s home are you ready to tell them your life story and get real about your struggles and problems right there in the foyer with everyone else? No, of course not. That level of relationship develops over time...in the kitchen normally. You’ve got to move deeper into the house to experience everything that is available for you to enjoy. That’s where the other kingdom keys come into play. The doors that are deeper in the house are locked. Fortunately, God has made the keys available to us...but you have to look for them. These are the mysteries of the kingdom. Once you decide to explore the rest of the house, you walk down a hallway and there you see a door labeled “financial freedom” and there is a key hanging by the door knob. That key is labeled “Generosity - 2 Corinthians 9”. In order to enter the room of “financial freedom”, you have to use the key of 2 Corinthians 9. That’s where you will find the principle of “The more you sow, the greater your harvest.” Let’s see how that key works for just a minute. Paul was talking to the church in Corinth about giving financially to the beliebers in Jerusalem who were in need. 2 Corinthians 9:6 “Remember this—a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop. But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop.”
This principle is the same in the natural as it is in the spiritual. A farmer won’t have a large harvest if he only plants a few seeds. If you plant one seed, you’ll get one seed’s worth of harvest, but if you plant 50 seeds, you’ll have 50 times the amount of harvest. We have to understand it from a Kingdom perspective. The Apostle Paul is being very clear here, by saying that if you don’t give much you shouldn’t expect much in return, but if you give generously, you can expect a generous return. Here’s what that return looks like. 2 Corinthians 9:7-8 “7 Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.” God’s grace allows for financial freedom, but is not just about having what you need, but also having the ability to share with others in your good work. Remember the Kingdom operating system is based on doing what the King wants. And He wants you to be so financially free that you can give freely to others. And that is started by being generous...not stingy. Remember the kingdom’s operating system is the opposite of the world’s system, which says financial freedom is accomplished by keeping everything for yourself. Luke 12:16-21 “16 And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, 17 and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ 18 And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my
goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’ 20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ 21 So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.” Do you see how the key works? Storing up for yourself is who God calls a fool. Being rich towards God is the key. Are you generous with all that God has blessed you to oversee, or are you storing it all up for yourself? Are you relying on your bank account to take care of you or have you surrendered it to God and allowing Him to provide for you? All the keys of the kingdom are found in God’s Word. They will allow you to walk freely into any room in His house of abundant life. If you are not actively reading God’s word, no wonder you’re stuck in the foyer of His house. If you don’t use the kingdom keys, the doors will remain locked to you. Let’s walk further down the hall, because the more of these doors you can open, the more abundant your life will be. Are you feeling discouraged? Have your circumstances beaten you down into sadness? Are you carrying the weight of your current situation? There is a door labeled “Joy & Encouragement”. And the key hanging beside it, is labeled “Praise - Isaiah 61:3”
Isaiah 61:3 “3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.” The way to have joy and encouragement in a difficult situation is by praising the King. Praise turns our focus away from our circumstances and turns it to the one who can turn it around. I know it sounds crazy, but that’s because the world’s system has trained you to think that your sad situation requires a sad sound. But this Kingdom key requires a sound of praise! If you want to be free from the spirit of heaviness, you put on the garment of praise! I don’t mean just being in the room while others are singing songs. I mean really bringing Him a sacrifice of praise. Hebrews 13:15 “Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.” What is the fruit of your lips? Are you praising God or cursing men? What does praise look like? Psalm 100:1-2 “1 Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. 2 Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.” Psalm 150. “1 Praise the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens. 2 Praise him for his acts of
power; praise him for his surpassing greatness. 3 Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre, 4 praise him with timbrel and dancing, praise him with the strings and pipe, 5 praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals. 6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord.” These Psalms describe a very loud praise party. The verses say: “shout to the Lord joyfully” and “Let everything that has breath praise the lord.” Clearly we are to praise God out loud and everyone is to be involved. You have to actually open your mouth and actively bring a sacrifice of praise to the King. The fruit from your lips that you are supposed to bring to the King is praise! Praise is the key that turns mourning into joy. As we explore one last key today lets look at a completely unrealistic hypothetical situation. What if you told your child specifically not to do a thing, but then they did it anyway and now they are in trouble. I know that sounds crazy and it would never happen in real life, but just go with it for a minute. Would you rather A: They spend their own money to buy you a present to try and make up for disobeying your instructions? or B: That they had just obeyed what you told them not to do, so they wouldn’t have gotten into trouble in the first place? 1 Samuel 15:22 “Samuel said, “Has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices As in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams.” Obedience is better than sacrifice.
The sacrifice your child would offer to make up for their disobedience does not carry the same weight as actually obeying your instructions in the beginning. If we obey to begin with, a sacrifice will not be necessary. When Adam disobeyed God, he created the need for a sacrifice to cover his sin. Without his disobedience there would have been no need for Jesus to come as the sacrifice to cover our sin. Now obviously you know it’s not just kids that have trouble with this. We, as God’s children also find ourselves asking why we need to obey, and God simply says “it’s for your own benefit.” There was a song we used to sing in church when I was growing up. They lyrics were “Trust and obey, for there’s no other way, to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey”. I get that now. Obedience is a very big deal...and this is why. God, as the King, built this world with laws concerning how it should operate and we should trust that He knows what’s best for us and obey them. But how do we know that we can trust the Kings laws are truly for our benefit? Because His reputation is on the line if His laws are not true. If the world can operate just fine outside of God’s laws, then His laws are not true. For instance, God created fish and built into them a law that says fish must be in the water to survive. It’s the opposite for dogs. It’s a law that dogs must live on the land to survive. You don’t see a fish trying to live is life out of the water or a dog trying to live under the water. If that were possible, it would
break the laws that God put in place and His reputation would be in jeopardy. Based on the way God designed the fish, it is perfectly suited to live under water and the dog is perfectly designed to live on the land. But what happens if the fish decides that he would rather live where the dog does because he feels that God’s law is restricting his freedom to live wherever he wants. If the fish breaks the law God put in place and tries to live outside of the water, he dies. Because he was not designed for that life. That’s the result of breaking the law of the king...you destroy your own life. It’s the price you pay for living by your own laws and not by the ones your designer and creator made...for your benefit. The king put the law in place for the protection of the fish, because he was designed to function perfectly in his proper environment. As long as the fish obeys the law and stays in the water, he will be successful living his best life. And that’s what you see in nature. Everything operates the way God designed it to function. As far as I know, there is only one exception to that in all of creation. PEOPLE People are the only ones in all of creation that God has a problem with, when it comes to abandoning His laws for our own made up laws. We are living in a time right now where people have abandoned God’s design and laws for their own. They insist that God’s laws
are too restrictive on their individual rights. They have made up their own constitution and live by their own rules. This will eventually kill them, because God, the creator knows what you were designed to be. If God made you a man, then you are to live as a man if you want to be successful. Anything else is very dangerous. You don’t get to throw away God’s design and medically alter yourself to please the desires of your flesh and expect everything to work out great. When our life goes sideways, we want to blame God, but maybe it’s us or other people close to us not living by the laws God built into us for how we should function. If someone is pushing you beyond your limits or using you for the wrong purpose, you have to remove yourself before you break. His laws are there not only for your protection, but for your success. When you function the way God intended, you will be successful, because that is the law He built into you. God’s laws are for our benefit. Our rebellion and disobedience against God’s laws are killing us. I’ll say it again...Obedience is a very big deal. What door does the key of obedience open? Obedience is the Key to Prosper and Success Joshua 1:8 “8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. ”
Your obedience to “do” God’s word will make your way prosperous and successful. Remember, your obedience is for your benefit. You can’t listen to enough sermons or read enough theology books to create the successful life that God wants for you. Information is good, but it’s not enough. You have to meditate on God’s word so you will know how to do what it says. These are very practical keys that you can use to change the direction of your life. Use them to access the abundant life that Jesus said He came to give you. You do not have to live in debt, depressed and unsuccessful. To open the door of financial freedom, generosity is the key. To open the door of joy and encouragement, praise is the key. To open the door of prosperity and success, obedience is the key
Are you ready to start using God’s keys?
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