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| The Kingdom of America |
The Premise
What do you think when you consider the term: kingdom. Chances are, your mind travels to a scene from Robin Hood or King Arthur. You think of Kings, Ladies, Knights & horses. Maybe you think of imperialism or some other form of modern expansion of influence.Ron Ward continued with part three of his message series analyzing the Lord's Prayer. This time, he focused on the little phrase, Thy Kingdom come & its implications for the Christian's life. These implications are truly revolutionary to today's sedentary Christian.
The Quotes
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| All for His glory |
All for His glory
The Lord's prayer is all about expressing your dependence & submission to God's will. The natural outcome of that attitude should bring glory to Christ's name & exalt Him in your own consciousness.I say exalted in your consciousness because He does not depend on your homage, though He requires it. In essence, He wants us to realize just how great He is. When we follow the design that He has laid out for us, we invariably bring honor to His name. At its base level, that is the goal of the Christian--to follow & imitate the lifestyle that Christ instituted.
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| Was Jesus a Republican? |
Was Jesus a Republican?
When discussing the way that God's kingdom comes, Ward pointed out that God's program was not a political agenda. It certainly is not a democracy (or republic or a capitalistic system). He also stated that, When Christians get political, they find themselves with strange bedfellows. We have certainly seen these effects with the Religious Right, a group that tried to legislate the kingdom of heaven. We now have drawn-out wars, gay marriage & legal abortions. Wait, what? God's kingdom is not about forcing a political agenda, it is about a change of heart. Until that change of heart comes about, we will not see the kingdom of heaven manifested in this world. |
| Heaven in the real world |
Heaven in the real world
Is the kingdom of heaven an inevitable fixture of eschatology, or is it something more immediate? Will God simply wipe out this earth in favor of something that has not experienced the fall? Clearly, this is the revolutionary part of the sermon. Thy kingdom come is an every-day event! Every single day, we should pray that thy kingdom come into our lives & bind ourselves to live our lives under his legislation. Are we not citizens of eternity? Why do we go about our lives as though we were citizens of America, or Russia, or the Netherlands, or Germany (all places where I know I have readership, thanks for reading!) when we should be children of a King. We should live in purity. We should exercise charity. We should be vectors of God's grace, like little viruses spreading Christendom throughout our little world.If I was ever certain about a thing that was God's will for my life, this would be that thing.