World

I’m amazed at how global life has become and what that all means for the Church and the Kingdom. One of the reasons why we planted a church in Nor. Cal and why we are investigating another plant in areas like North Central Dallas is because of the huge international make up of places like that. There are so many exciting things going on in the church international today that remind me of Revelation 7:9-12 where the apostle John saw a:

“great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. 10And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” 11All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12saying: “Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!”

Can all this be a reality? Can people from every ethnic, cultural, and economic background come together? You bet they can. In fact, that was God’s design all along. That’s the way it will be in heaven. That is the way it is all over the world at the foot of the cross.

For those of us who live in places like Nor. Cal, LA, or even Dallas, we can experience that today if we drop our personal ideas of “church” and purposefully come together under the banner of Christ alone. We can realize this divine vision when we reach out in sometimes uncomfortable ways to those who are different than us with the love of Christ.

We can also be encouraged to know that we are part of a much larger family that gathers publically and in secret all over the world today in the unity of Jesus. That’s the Kingdom that I’m a part of.

I found this video clip several months ago and I’m pretty sure that Matt was not thinking Kingdom thoughts when he made it, but I sure was. Check it out and then ask yourself what you can do to help build the Kingdom of God international. Have fun.