Thoughts on the Kingdom

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Posted on: 
August 29, 2024

Hello, readers!

Just this morning, I was sitting with a local seeker discussing the Kingdom of God. My friend was trying to grasp this concrete yet elusive reality of God's reign on earth. And it was rough going. "Why?" he asked, "If I have worked hard to provide for my family and have prayed for financial success as I have sought the Kingdom, why are my dreams of financial security not being realized?"

For many long months, our team has been walking alongside this dear friend of ours, emphasizing the beauty of the Kingdom - a Kingdom that cannot be put in a box, a Kingdom that surpasses all other fakes that this world offers, a Kingdom that confounds the wise and yet is grasped by children, a Kingdom that works and thrives and grows through our obedience to King Jesus.

How does one do justice to such a Kingdom? Where does one even begin?

This was part of what I was wrestling with this morning as I sat with my friend. As I shared about the Kingdom, a startling, uncomfortable yet glorious reality dawned on me: in my sphere of influence, the Kingdom of God starts with me. I am the one who is empowered by the Spirit as I speak and as I act. The mystery of Christ in us through the Spirit cannot be pinned down and analyzed using the scientific method. It must be lived out in the real world of earth and bumps and bruises. This is not a one-and-done reality but a life-long habit.

Living in the Kingdom through the Spirit is missional, which Michael Frost describes as "both the announcement and the demonstration of the reign of God through Christ" (Surprise the World: The Five Habits of Highly Missional People, p.20). We announce and we demonstrate. Following Christ before a watching world is the grandest show-and-tell the world has ever seen.

Tod Bolsinger, in his book, It Takes a Church to Raise a Christian: How the Community of God Transforms Lives, p.34, makes the astounding statement: "There is no Jesus here but us, and we are being challenged by a world seeking for Jesus." Amen and amen.

May the beauty, truth, and goodness of this marvelous, global Kingdom transform our hearts and minds this week even as we seek the transformation of those around us.

— MN, Sungai team


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  • “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Romans 10:17
  • “Repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witness of these things.” Luke 24:47, 48
  • “Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations.” Matthew 28:19
  • “In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” Genesis 12:3
  • “That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the Gospel.” Ephesians 3:6
  • “That they all may be one; as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be one in Us; that the world may believe that You sent Me.” John 17:21
  • “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations’?” Mark 11:17
  • “Ask of me, and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance.” Psalm 2:8
  • “Behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes.” Revelation 7:9
  • “Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may run swiftly and be glorified.” 2 Thessalonians 3:1
  • “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” 2 Timothy 3:16
  • “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” Psalm 119:105
  • “As cold water to a weary soul, so is good news from a far country.” Proverbs 25:25
  • “More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.” Psalm 19:10
  • “All the ends of the world shall remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations shall worship before You.” Psalm 22:27
  • “Truly, as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD.” Numbers 14:21
  • “Declare His glory among the nations, His wonders among all peoples. For the LORD is great and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods.” Psalm 96:3, 4
  • “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.” Habakkuk 2:14
  • “That all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God; there is no other.” 1 Kings 8:60
  • “For from the rising of the sun, even to its going down, My name shall be great among the Gentiles; in every place incense shall be offered to My name, and a pure offering; for My name shall be great among the nations.” Malachi 1:11
  • “All nations whom You have made shall come and worship before You, O Lord, and shall glorify Your name.” Psalm 86:9
  • “For as the earth brings forth its bud, as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth, so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.” Isaiah 61:11
  • "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!" Psalm 46:10
  • "This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth." 1 Timothy 2:3, 4
  • "You are worthy. . .; for You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made us kings and priests to our God." Revelation 5:9, 10