Let Your Kingdom Come

What happens when the person sitting on the throne of your life... is you? In the second sermon of the Full Life and Prayer series, Pastor Josh unpacks Psalm 145 with raw vulnerability, exploring why prayer only truly begins when we step down from the throne and let God be king.

Your Kingdom Come — Not Mine

Pastor Josh picked up from last week's introduction to the Lord's Prayer and zeroed in on three words that change everything: "Your kingdom come." He started by drawing a sharp line between praying for what we want and praying for what God wants.

Sure, someone in the church prays for a boyfriend, a girlfriend, to get married. Pastor Josh didn't dismiss those prayers — they matter. But he pushed deeper. What does the Bible say marriage brings? Paul says it brings anxiety. God gave you what you desired, and now you're struggling. Why?

"We are not living 100% fully in the realized kingdom of God. Your life, your marriage life will be completely different in the kingdom of God."

The point isn't that marriage is bad or that desires are wrong. It's that no matter how wonderful the life we build, we're still people attached to a fallen, imperfect world. And that world — no matter how secure it feels — is temporary.

The Bird in the Building

To drive this home, Pastor Josh told a story that stuck. Years ago, he walked into the car park of a church building and spotted a bird that had built its nest inside the concrete structure. Food everywhere from church leftovers. No wind, no rain, no predators. The bird had hit the jackpot.

Then two months later, the building was scheduled for demolition.

"This poor bird had no idea what is to come. Everything they established... Sometimes, we are like the little birds attached to this fallen world without knowing it's soon to be destroyed."

The point landed hard: we build our kingdoms in structures that won't last. We want God to bless our kingdom. But Jesus says pray for God's kingdom — because our King is eternal, and His kingdom lasts forever.

Prayer That Crosses Generations

One of the most powerful moments came when Pastor Josh talked about generational prayer. Psalm 145 says, "One generation shall commend your works to another and shall declare your mighty acts." Prayer isn't just about getting answers in your lifetime.

He shared a story from a Korean talk show that moved him to tears. A father — an abusive man who had been raised by an abusive father — sat in front of the camera and confessed: "I don't know how to fix this. I don't know how to mend the relationship with my children." Then he turned to his son and said something extraordinary:

"It stops here. I am who I am because of my father. I don't want you to be the father like me. Let's finish here. And let your children grow up in a completely different place."

Pastor Josh said that's exactly the prayer we should bring before God. The generational curse — the patterns, the pain, the dysfunction — it stops here. You may not see the full answer in your lifetime. But your children, and their children, will.

"My prayer may not be answered in this generation, but my next generation will enjoy it. Generation after generation after the day will come — they will see the returning Jesus."

He pointed to his own family as evidence. His daughter leading worship. His son Nathan heading on a mission trip and saying, "Dad, I don't mind dying there." Pastor Josh laughed and said, "I'm so proud of that boy. Where did that come from? I don't know. But prayer is being answered — generation to generation."

Full Life in the King

Moving into Psalm 145:14-16, Pastor Josh shifted to what life under this King actually looks like. He read the verses aloud with the congregation:

"The Lord upholds all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down. The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season. You open your hand; you satisfy the desire of every living thing."

He got emotional. As a pastor, he sees people's daily battles — going to work feeling belittled, struggling to pay the mortgage, bowing under the weight of life. And God says: I know. I see you. And I will raise you up.

Then he pointed to Jesus' teaching about the birds and the flowers. Why did God create them? So we can trust Him. If God feeds the birds and clothes the flowers, how much more will He take care of you?

And Psalm 145:16 — "You open your hand; you satisfy the desire of every living thing." Pastor Josh paused and asked the church directly: What do you desire? What do you actually want? Before you put on the religious mask, come to God honestly.

A Pastor's Confession

In one of the most vulnerable stretches of the sermon, Pastor Josh opened up about his own dissatisfaction. His struggle with how he looks, how he performs on Sundays, his marriage, his finances.

"Every Sunday night is either heaven or hell. When I preach well, yeah, you should see me. But whenever I feel like I'm not preaching well, people falling asleep — man, I dig my ground and I want to die."

He admitted that for the longest time, he loved being in charge. He loved being the one with the solution, the pastor who flies between three cities, the one everyone needs. But that desire to control — mixed with genuine faithfulness — made him sick. Literally. His immune system reacted to the burden. He was ready to quit.

Then a woman in the church said something that changed everything. Over dinner, when he told her he was thinking of stepping down, she simply said: "Pastor, we don't need you that much. Why don't you take one week off a month?"

"There was such a freedom, liberation that came to me. She was basically saying: Pastor, come down from your throne. You're not that great. God is our King."

That one sentence began a two-year journey of stepping down from the throne he didn't realise he was sitting on.

Step Down From the Throne

This became the central challenge of the sermon. God's kingdom will not come to the place where you are on the throne. While you're sitting there, your prayer isn't really prayer — it's still the same hypocritical prayer Jesus warned about. You're not praying to God because He is great and loving. You're trying to control God.

Pastor Josh defined prayer with startling intensity:

"Prayer is the activity that you violently subject yourself, your will, before the Lord. Prayer is the choices you make violently every day — battling against your will."

That doesn't mean your will is always bad. But God wants you to know that His will is always good for you. Put down your will and say: God, let your will be done — on earth as it is in heaven. Your loneliness, your financial difficulty, your daily struggle — it matters to Him because it matters to you.

Challenge: Let Your Kingdom Come

Pastor Josh closed by inviting the church into prayer — not more knowledge, not more theology, but actual prayer. What concerns, dissatisfactions, and struggles are you carrying? What excuses and blame are keeping you on the throne?

Whether you think you're too smart, too strong, too well-off to need God — or whether you feel too broken, too weak, too far gone — the answer is the same. Step down. Pray. Let God be King.

"Can you come and be my King? King of my life. King of my work. King of my marriage, my family, my finances. Come, Lord. Let your kingdom come."

He left the church with one phrase to carry into the week — to turn to the person next to them and say it with a big smile: "Let God's kingdom come."

This is the second sermon in the Full Life and Prayer series. Next week, Pastor Josh will unpack what God's will actually looks like in practice. But it all starts here: stepping down from the throne, and trusting that the King who answers prayer knows exactly what you need.