Peter says, you are a chosen generation. You are a royal priesthood. Many believers tend to think we're sinners, and see ourselves in terms of our past or our failures, but God says you are an offspring, that God has chosen you, put His DNA spiritually into you and now you are the offspring of God in the earth. He says you are a royal priesthood. In other words you have royalty in you. You are the offspring of a king. Notice how kings operate, how kings speak, they carry themselves in a noble way. They act in a way often different to what ordinary people do. Why is that? Because they know who they are and they know how they're to operate in the earth.
Please now open your Bible with me and let's have a look in Mark, Chapter 4. I shared a message a week or so ago - can't remember when, it seems a long time - but about kings dream. You are a king. If inside you you understand who you are, then one of the things you realise is your need to have dreams about your future and about your direction. I love the idea of Bill having a bucket list. Isn't that fantastic, a bucket list and it'll be so many trips to China and so many people saved, now preaching and of course casting out demons next year. You realise that? ... [Laughter] ... Put that on your bucket list too, casting out demons and praying for the sick and healing them. You've only got one year to get ready for it. It'll be fantastic.
So I want to speak today, let kings arise. We sang a song earlier on, Rise Up and there was a theme flowing through our songs at the beginning about rising up. In the Book of Peter, Peter describes us like this. He says you are a chosen generation. You are a royal priesthood. Many believers don't know who they are. We tend to think we're sinners and we tend to see ourselves in terms of our past or our failures, but God says you are an offspring, that God has chosen you, put His DNA spiritually into you and now you are the offspring of God in the earth. He says you are a royal priesthood. In other words you have royalty in you. You are the offspring of a king and I don't know about you but when you notice how kings operate, how kings speak, they carry themselves in a noble way. They act in a way often different to what ordinary people do. Why is that? Because they know who they are and they know how they're to operate in the earth.
The Bible says that you and I are a priest. That means we have access by faith into the presence of God, to pray and to see, to hear from God, to access His wisdom. But we're also a king and I want to share today a message called let kings arise. I'm going to follow this theme for a little while, but we're going to have a look here in this passage about kings in training. In the Book of Revelation which is a revelation of Jesus Christ there's a number of things the Bible says, but one of the things, they see Him coming and He's clothed in white riding a horse and His name is King of Kings. He's a king and He has many kings under His kingship. You need to see yourself as a king under the kingship of Jesus Christ, called to advance the kingdom. If your Christian life is about just coming to church and hanging on and not doing too many bad things you've missed the point completely. That is not what Jesus came to do.
He came to speak a message about a kingdom that was advanced through miracles and signs and wonders, a kingdom that brings hope to people. He wanted us to be born into that kingdom and then extend that kingdom. I want to share with you something that's actually really incredibly practical. I'm going to take it out of one of the stories of Jesus of something He did. In Verse 35; On the same day about even when even had come Jesus said to them "Let us cross over to the other side." Now when they'd left the multitude they took Him along in their boat as He was. And other little boats were also with Him. And there was a great storm arose and the waves beat into the boat, and it was filling up and looked like it was going to capsize I guess. But He was in the stern and He was asleep on a pillow. Imagine sleeping through a storm, you've got to be really tired or really at peace. They woke Him up and said "Teacher, don't You care we're about to die?" He arose, He rose up. He rebuked the wind and He spoke to the sea, "Peace, be still!" And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. And He said to them, "Why are you so fearful? How is it you have no faith?" Notice that - no faith. No faith. Your lack of faith is revealed in how you respond to the storms of life. And so they feared exceedingly and said "Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!"