Answering God’s Call as a Kingdom Citizen | Tony Evans Sermon
Dr. Tony Evans challenges Christians to embrace their true identity as Kingdom citizens, emphasizing how we as Christians are here to be the “salt and light” of the world, and we must work together to bring heaven’s influence into the culture around us. SUBSCRIBE: https://www.youtube.com/user/drtonyev… ▶ Never miss an episode of the Tony Evans Daily Broadcast by subscribing to the official channel: / @tonyevansdailybroadcast If you would like to download two encouraging, FREE full-length MP3s of Tony’s popular sermons: “The Sovereignty of God” and “How to Handle a Crisis,” you can do so by clicking on this link: https://share.hsforms.com/1atT9MJvXQN… If you would like to sign up for our daily devotional bringing you hope and inspiration, please go to this link: https://share.hsforms.com/1CkOLA910Sm… ▶ Do you know Jesus as your Savior? https://tonyevans.org/know-jesus-christ/ ▶ Stream Sermons: https://tonyevans.org/podcast/ ▶▶ Free Sermon App: https://subsplash.com/tonyevans/app/ ▶▶ DONATE: https://give.tonyevans.org/the-altern… ▶ Facebook: / drtonyevans ▶ Instagram: / drtonyevans ▶ Are you a preacher? Free sermon outlines: https://go.tonyevans.org/dr-tony-evan… Dr. Tony Evans is the founder and senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, founder and president of The Urban Alternative and author of over 100 books, booklets and Bible studies. The first African American to earn a doctorate of theology from Dallas Theological Seminary, he has been named one of the 12 Most Effective Preachers in the English-Speaking World by Baylor University. Dr. Evans holds the honor of writing and publishing the first full-Bible commentary and study Bible by an African American. His radio broadcast, The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans, can be heard on over 1,400 radio outlets daily and in more than 130 countries. Dr. Evans’ sermons are also streamed and downloaded over 20,000,000 times annually. #tonyevans #tonyevanssermon #KingdomCitizen
if you’re going to be a kingdom citizen
whose citizenship is in heaven who is a
visible verbal follower of Jesus Christ
bringing the concerns of heaven and
executing them in the culture you live
up there you just work down here that
I’m going to function as a citizen of
heaven and not just a citizen of this
country I’m going to take my stand with
Jesus Christ
[Applause]
[Music]
what we have
today is secularism
secularism
humanism and all forms of
idolatry that have invaded our culture
and our
world and God has called his people not
to sit on the
sidelines but to get in the
game this goes beyond a
candidate or a group of
candidates this has to do with the role
of Christians in the
culture no matter how you
voted whether you’re happy or sad about
which candidate won or
lost God is still calling you to be
Christian in fact he’s calling you to
something even
higher I love the way Philippians
chapter 3 verse 20 puts it
which says for our
citizenship is in
heaven so I want to talk to you about
now being a kingdom
citizen now that we can push all of the
bantering behind us it’s time for
Christians to decide that you’re going
to be Christian no matter whether your
party won your candidate
won it’s time now for there to be
Kingdom
citizens for your
citizenship is in
heaven Luke
16:16 Jesus says my father gave me a
kingdom and I give you a
kingdom because he caus his
followers to be Kingdom
citizens now what is a kingdom
citizen a kingdom citizen
is a visible
verbal follower of Christ who seeks to
bring the perspective of heaven and
deposit them into the concerns of the
culture let me say that again a kingdom
citizen is a citizen who visibly and
verbally follows Christ in such a
way that they draw down the concerns or
the perspec perspective of heaven and
injects them into the chaos the problem
the conflicts and the concerns of the
culture you see far too many
Christians are too Earthly minded that
they are no Heavenly
good they know more about politics than
they do about the
Lord they know more about political
parties than they know about the word of
God
and they will often argue like
secularists while naming the name of
Jesus Christ in fact if you bring up
what God thinks about a subject they’ll
get mad at you even though it can be
defended by the word of God because they
are so aligned with the culture that
they’ve lost sight that their
citizenship is not first
here I love the way 1 Peter 2:11 says
says you are aliens and strangers
that your
citizenship is not first on these
Shores now you are a resident here but
your ultimate Allegiance is to another
king another kingdom in another location
when you have a
passport it allows you to enter foreign
countries but you enter foreign
countries as a citizen of the
Homeland you don’t ENT foreign countries
as a citizen of that country unless
you’re trying to give up your
citizenship in the
Homeland far too many Christians have
surrendered their
passports some of surrendered their
passports to the Democratic party others
have surrendered their passports to the
Republican party some have surrendered
their passports to no party they just
surrendered their
passport no you are a citizen of Heaven
you belong to another kingdom he says
clearly vers 20 of Philippians 3 for our
citizenship is in
heaven now Paul is writing to the city
of
Philippi Philippi was located 800 miles
from the city of
Rome so what Paul does is he uses the
principle of
citizenship of Philippi to make a
principle to
Christians Philippians even though
you’re located 800 miles from
Rome your citizenship is in Rome in
terms of your Earthly Earthly
Allegiance so they were informed by
Roman Customs they were informed by
Roman laws they were informed by Roman
influence even though they were 800
miles from
Rome I know we are a long way from
heaven but our citizenship is to be
connected there you and I are to be
informed by Heaven’s Customs Heaven’s
laws just like Philippi was informed by
Caesar you and I are to be informed by
the
Lord and that’s why we have no full
Allegiance
here this is a time to lovingly and
responsibly take your stand for the Lord
Jesus
Christ to bring the values of heaven
where your C iens ship is
into the Earthly realm that’s why God
has left us here to influence our
surroundings as Salt and Light Matthew
513- 16 you are the salt of the earth
you are the light of the world you’re
not the salt of the Shaker you’re not
the light of the bulb your job is to
infiltrate every sphere of your
influence as a full-time disciple not a
part-time Christian
everybody ought to know where you stand
because you’re not an undecided voter
why because you have made your
declaration clear which kingdom you are
a part of as Colossians 1:13 says you’ve
been transferred out of the kingdom of
darkness into the kingdom of his dear
son you’re in another kingdom now you
are a resident here which means that
you’re not going to act like this is
defining you anymore
and you take your stand if somebody ask
you are you a Democrat you say which
issue are you talking about because
I’mma take that issue I’mma put it
against the word of God and then I’ll
tell you whether I’m a Democrat right
now somebody tells you you’re a
republican which issue you talking about
I’m gonna take the Bible look at the
Bible based on that issue and say well
I’m a republican right now why because
I’m a kingdom all the time I’m say I’m
247 Kingdom that’s why you must be a
kingdom independent and you must roll
forward now whether you are happy or sad
to day you must roll forward as a
representation of
Heaven why cuz government belongs to God
so he got something to say and what he’s
saying is since you are citizens of
Heaven why don’t you find out what I say
first why you going to everybody else
and every party and every candidate find
out what they think how they feel and
what they say and you never check with
me no we need some Kingdom citizens we
need some citizens who understand that
they are to think think Heavenly not
Earthly not not man’s Wisdom James 3
says there’s a wisdom that comes from
above then there’s a wisdom that comes
from demons and he calls that Earthly
wisdom did you know Earthly wisdom is
demonic thought whenever what you think
what you say what you hear that you
agree with that disagrees with what God
says don’t you know that you have just
become
demonized so we got a lot of demonized
Christians because James was writing to
Christians he’s they they say you’ve
been de
demonized secularized in fact you play
for the wrong team we got too many
Christians playing for the wrong team
because they’re agreeing with things
that God doesn’t agree on and that’s
true no matter who you identify with he
says you are now citizens of
Heaven you to get your instructions what
goes into your mind and informs your
decision is no longer Earth it’s it’s on
Earth it relates to Earth I I love I
love John
18 because in John
18 they asked Jesus a
question they asked Jesus are you a
king uh he says in verse 33 are you the
king of the Jews okay everybody talking
about you a king are you the king of the
Jews Jesus answers in verse 36 my
kingdom is not of this world if my
kingdom were of this world then my
servants would be fighting so if you out
there
fighting if you out there
inappropriately expressing how you uh
are
frustrated he said you’re not part of my
kingdom because my kingdom don’t doesn’t
roll like that or my servants would
fight so that I would not be handed over
to the Jews but as it is my kingdom is
not of this realm then he says in verse
37 you say correctly I am am a
king for this I have been born and for
this I have come into the world to
testify the to the truth everyone who’s
of the truth hears my voice you know why
we’re not hearing from Heaven because we
don’t want the truth he says my kingdom
is not of this world but I have come
into this world so he’s not talking
about Pie in the Sky Kingdom he’s
talking about a kingdom that starts up
there of that world but it comes down
here in this world so in this world we
should be talking and defending that
world so your first
question as a kingdom citizen what does
God say how does he feel what does he
think what does he want and if I don’t
know it I’m G find somebody who does
know it who can validate it by the word
of God and if the word of God
contradicts it then I have to reframe my
thinking because I’m no longer an
Earthling you’re full-time Citizen and
happen to be a resident down here so you
think as a resident you vote as a
resident you appeal to policies as a
resident because you now are a kingdom
citizen God has a problem he’s got too
many benedic HS yeah it
does we no longer need double-minded
Christians I love the way Gideon said it
in Judges chapter 8: 22 and 23 when they
call on gide and Gideon we want you to
be our political leader we want you to
lead us cuz cuz we need a great leader
get in and say you better check on the
Lord you need the Lord to to lead you
and the mess that our society is in our
culture is in our country is in and our
world is in when we look at one problem
after another problem after another
problem we better get the Lord back in
this and that’s the church’s job to
bring God back in it to do it with the
right spirit with the right attitude to
do it with legitimate Unity to do it
based on truth
but to do
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evans.org comes with a bonus sermon
series staying right with God do not be
caught off
guard until we kind of get that kind of
church that takes its stand because
we’re citizens of heaven and he says if
you’re a citizen of Heaven in
Philippians chapter
3 he says from which we also eagerly
wait for a
savior that is the Lord Jesus
Christ you hear
that he said look you you you going to
have to get Jesus in his proper proper
role here Jesus made it plain all
authority is given unto me in heaven and
on Earth Matthew chapter
28 16-20 he said look I’m in charge here
and now but Christians don’t believe
that we
believe the world’s in charge the
president is in charge the Congress is
in charge no no no
Jesus is in
charge remember God’s philosophy of
History Ephesians chapter
1:10 God’s goal is to summarize all
things all things he says ought to be
summarized in Jesus
Christ he he concludes verse 22 and 23
of Ephesians chapter 1 he is the head of
all things but he’s only been given to
the church so God is going to decide
what he does because in this country
he’s going to decide what he’s going to
do in any country based on what the
church
does so as you’ve heard me say many
times if we don’t fix the church house
we can forget the White House if we
don’t fix the church house we can forget
the house of
Congress why because God works through
the church to the principalities and the
powers and the authorities in the
culture Galatians 1:4 he has delivered
us from this present age you don’t have
a loyalty here you have a responsibility
here you are to be in the world but not
of the world but your ultimate loyalty
is not here you know
uh Spain had what was known as fifth
columnist let me tell you about fifth
columnist when they were going to invade
a
country a year before the
invasion they would send in people to
become of the
culture so doctors would become doctors
in the culture that would be invaded
sometime later lawyers would become
lawyers teachers would become teachers
families would set up shop in the
culture business people would set up
shop in the culture you see they would
they would set up shop in the
culture you know what they were they
were
sabots they invaded the culture but they
represented Spain so they were setting
things up for the big
invasion they were called fifth
columnist because Spain marched in four
columns but the fifth columnist who were
sent in early were to set things up for
the big Invasion that’s what’s gonna
happen when Jesus comes back but he has
some fifth columnist folk he set in
ahead of time you and me your family and
my family your church my church he sent
us in ahead of time and set it
up we we are we are his fifth columnist
who’ve been sent in to set things up for
the big Invasion when he comes to set up
his Earthly Kingdom called his
Millennial Reign you and I are here to
set it up are you setting it up or have
you become part of the culture and lost
sight of your true citizenship back in
Spain or in this case as part of the
Kingdom of
Heaven you you know I’m in cowboy
country and we got different kind of
fans you
know we got the Casual fan they watch
some games sometimes or parts of
games sometimes and if the game is not
going well they’ll turn off the
television because they’re fair weather
casual
fans but then you got committed fans I
mean they buy
tickets they they uh they’re going to
watch the game win or
lose because they’re they’re committed
to the Cowboys then you got
Fanatics these are the Fanatics you know
these are season ticket holders these
are come rain or shine they gonna defend
the Cowboys because they they all in all
the time they read the stats you know
they they do all the fan gaming they
they are all in cuz they didn’t
they didn’t become
fanatical that’s what God’s got he’s got
casual followers they go to church
maybe then you got some committed
ones these are the ones they they gonna
make Church most of the time they gonna
bring their Bibles and they have learned
Christian e to the max because there is
a level of
commitment but then then there’s those
are fanatical Christians these are
these are committed
disciples Jesus is all up in there it’s
Jesus in the morning Jesus at noon time
and Jesus when the Sun goes down when
life is good it’s
Jesus when life has collapsed it’s Jesus
during the good times they’re following
Jesus and when tears are rolling down
their face they’re following
Jesus because they don’t care what the
culture says about their team they don’t
care about what the culture says about
who they’re following they are going to
be
unmistakable followers of
Christ when it comes to taking your
stand in the culture you must understand
Jesus’s name is always on the
ballot you say but I don’t know who to
vote for Jesus’s name is not on the
ballot oh no wrong his name is always on
the ballot because remember you’re a
kingdom independent you’re a kingdom
citizen
so that means Jesus goes in with you and
you’re taking Jesus into consideration
not only when you vote but how you roll
after the vote is over and the decision
is made on who won and who didn’t win
because Jesus was on the ballot you only
GNA live for the kingdom anyway so
there’s no Jesus is not on the ballot
Your Allegiance is to him and your vote
for him must be
clear there is no undecided voter when
it comes to a Christian
oh I’m voting
Jesus that means I can go this way or
that way depending on what the issue is
cuz I have taken my stand with
him because I’m a radical follower of
Christ because my citizenship is not
here he says your citizenship is in
heaven and so
now what are you going to
do are you going to take your stand or
you going to play
Church you just going to go through the
motions am I just going to go through
the motions preach because it’s Sunday
I’m GNA take my stand and challenge the
flock to take their stand with the right
heart and the right Spirit but with
Clarity that this is God’s perspective
on whatever the issue happens to be and
that’s how we roll that’s what we do I
do it my life my family my church and my
civic duty that’s how I roll
so what are you going to do what am I
going to do what are we going to
do first of all you’re going to be
publicly known as a citizen of Heaven
you don’t mind you don’t mind saying in
the right way with the right heart my
first
Allegiance is to the Lord Jesus Christ
don’t even say God because that’s vague
let’s get specific
my first Allegiance is to the Lord Jesus
Christ now we know which God you’re
talking about the father of the Lord
Jesus Christ so you GNA be
Unapologetic about your commitment and
allegiance to what he says in verse 20
the Lord Jesus Christ because that will
get Jesus’s
attention then you’re not only gonna be
a good church goer you’re gonna be gauge
the
culture you’re got to bring a Christian
influence to the sphere of your
influence
you you you’re going to be concerned
about what the school is reading your
children and whether those books are
consistent with a Christian worldview or
whether they’re trying to force
unrighteousness down the throat of your
children you’re not g to back away from
that because you are a you you are a
Christian
parent and you are responsible for the
education of your child they’re on loan
to that school they don’t own them you
own them so you want to make sure that
it is consistent
with your world view and not in
competition or in conflict with it
you’re going to challenge The
evolutionary theory when it challenges
creation yeah you are you’re gonna make
sure that God is Not dismissed because
you represent another
kingdom you’re going to go to the City
Council
meetings you want to hear what’s
happening in your community and whether
there are unjust practices that are not
being addressed in your
community whether there’s evil
happenings that need to be
reversed you want to make sure that the
police are handling things in the right
way but that the citizens are also
responding in the right way because you
don’t play favorites you play
Kingdom so you take your stand as a
citizen of Heaven bringing it drawing it
down to
earth and you
vote based on the will and the word of
God you you you take your stand churches
don’t just preach Pie in the Sky sermons
as though they don’t have anything to do
with the with the world in which we live
you we challenge
people how not to be doctors but to be
God’s representative in the medical
field so the medical field sees what God
looks like when God helps hurting people
that lawyers are not just lawyers
they’re God’s representative in the bar
association so the bar association gets
to see what God looks like when God
tries a case that teachers are not just
teachers that God’s representative in
the educational Fields so the
educational field sees what God looks
like when God teaches a lesson where
business people are not just business
people but they’re God’s representative
in business so that the business World
sees what God looks like when God cuts a
deal when Housewives and homemakers are
not just Homemakers they’re God’s
representative in the home to make sure
that the home reflects the character of
God where men have defined their mhood
not by the culture but by What God Says
a man ought to be and the responsibility
of a man spiritually and how he ought to
lead his family and relate to his mate
and raise his children we are trying to
create Kingdom people who are citizens
of heaven and not mimics of the
culture when we do
that when we go that
way let’s get this
straight there’s no salvation in
politics we we we’ve been acting like
politics is the savior boy if we get the
right person in we’re going to be saved
you don’t get it we don’t get it
if God is not postured properly it
doesn’t matter who you elect it is the
absence or presence of God in an
environment that is why the more secular
you become the less God you will see the
less God you will see the more chaos you
will deal with so the church better
shake up wake up and get up
so that we can see what God can do if
Christ be not come through a church
where the citizens understand where our
true citizenship
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
Lies We Are visitors on Earth this is
not our final home we’re passing through
we have an
assignment as people who represent our
homeland of
Heaven in this location temporarily on
Earth and we will be measured by how
much of heaven we brought into
history so let’s not become so
comfortable on Earth that we forget this
is a temporary dwelling
location on
assignment from our homeland to fulfill
his purpose in history and as his
Representatives assigned by him to this
earth we are to be bringing his
governmental rule its principles
policies and influence to a world
desperately in need of the government of
Heaven to guide the politics of Earth
[Music]
he
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