Oh for a Kingdom!

by | Dec 2, 2009 | Just Life, Kingdom Living

I recently watched the second half of Return of the King with my kids and enjoyed every minute of it.  I love that movie and really anything from Tolkien and CS Lewis.  I’ll be honest; I can even be somewhat of a cry baby at times when it comes to this kind of genre.  Once I even held back the tears when I saw The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe in the theater back in Nor. Cal.  The whole imagery of Aslan representing Jesus and going to the Stone Table for Edmond just floored me because I knew the deeper meaning of what was going on.  So it is with the rest of Lewis’ writing and that of the Lord of the Rings.  Yes, it’s all fiction, but it conveys something deep, something that each of us secretly cries out for way down in the catacombs of our inmost being.  (more…)

Here we go . . . Part II.

by | Aug 19, 2009 | Kingdom Living

I’ve been rocked over how much Jesus spoke about the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven in the scriptures. We also see that type of thinking from the apostles as they shared the message of Christ around the Roman world. Paul likewise continued that theme throughout the New Testament. One of my favorite texts that illustrate this is in 2 Timothy 4:1 where Paul encourages the young preacher Timothy. Paul states. “In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word . . .”

The kingdom reality is just all over the place when you think about it. So what we find is that Christ came for more than just offering fire insurance, but something totally and completely “new and from above”. (Note John 3:3) A common misunderstanding about the Kingdom is that it is something that will be established when Jesus comes back. (more…)