Thursday, September 20, 2012, Part 2
“In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come” (Matthew 6:9).
IDEA: The kingdom is where the king is.
PURPOSE: To help listeners grasp the dimensions of Christ’s kingdom.
Why are the bases on a professional baseball diamond 90 feet apart?
Why is water wet?
How do you feel when someone asks you to explain a concept that you should know and really don’t know?
I. What is the kingdom of heaven? Is it a place? Is it the same as heaven?
Listen to some passages from the Bible and help me explain them:
Mark 10:14-15 – “But when Jesus saw it, he was greatly displeased, and said to them, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God. Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.’ ”
Luke 10:9 – “And heal the sick who are there and say to them, ‘ The kingdom of God has come near you.’ ”
Romans 14:17 – “For the kingdom of God is not food and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”
1 Corinthians 4:20 – “For the kingdom of God is not in word but in power.”
Colossians 1:13-14 – “He delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins.”
When we pray the Lord’s Prayer, “Your kingdom come,” what are we praying for?
Is it the wish that somehow things might be better, that the impossible dream might actually take place?
It might seem at times that the forces of the Evil One are winning. But the kingdom has already broken through, and the victory over evil is already won. “Thy kingdom come” isn’t a vague wish, a pathetic hope that is unlikely to come to pass.
It is to affirm the work of Jesus Christ and to express a fervent longing for the final consummation of the reign of peace and love which Jesus inaugurated.
II. If we long for the time when all men and women will bow to our King, we should be willing ourselves to submit to His will.