A Kingdom With No End

10/01/24 • 2 min

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It was once said that the sun never set on the British Empire. The island nation had expanded its reach around the world for hundreds of years, and the Union Jack flew over many countries. But as happens with earthly kingdoms, the sun did set. Today, the British are back to being basically just that island nation.

The Bible talks about a kingdom that will have no end. What do we mean when we talk about that Kingdom? The Kingdom of God. The concept is found in the New Testament and refers to the entrance of God into the world again, through His Son, Jesus. They will be fully established at the end of history when God reconciles all things to Himself, and opens a glorious eternity for believers. Christians are invited to participate in making sure the Kingdom of God is heavily populated. We do this not in our own strength, but through the power of the Holy Spirit.

For 300 years, the Roman Empire tried to kill Christianity, but by the end of the first century, there were 500,000 Christians throughout the empire. By the Middle Ages, with all its terrors and plagues and wars, the Kingdom of God had increased to 50 million. And today, even in oppressed areas like China, Christianity is experiencing explosive growth. Worldwide there are 2.2 billion Christians.

When times are tough, people turn to the living God. And as we’ve discussed, God invites us to participate in building His kingdom. We have daily opportunities to talk freely about what Jesus Christ has done for us.

Talk about a purpose-driven life—making your life count for something eternal. Share the Good News so much that when eternity comes, you’ll have no regrets.

Revelation 21:23 says, “The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it. For the glory of God gives it light and the Lamb is its lamp,” and that is a kingdom that will never sit in twilight.

Let’s pray.

Father, you are always adding to your kingdom, drawing people to you. Thank you that we can participate with you by sharing our faith in all the diversity of our days. In Jesus’ name, amen.

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Talk about a purpose-driven life—making your life count for something eternal. Share the Good News so much that when eternity comes, you’ll have no regrets.

Let’s pray.

Father, you are always adding to your kingdom, drawing people to you. Thank you that we can participate with you by sharing our faith in all the diversity of our days. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Change your shirt, and you can change the world! Save 15% Off your entire purchase of faith-based apparel + gifts at Kerusso.com with code KDD15.

Previous Episode

Nothing Is More Important

A trait most of us share is a tendency to do things our own way, and possibly ignore helpful suggestions that might enhance our efforts. In business, it’s easy to see how this could waste time and produce counterproductive results. In other areas of life, the impact of going our own way has much bigger implications.

As people of faith, we believe nothing is more important than sharing the gospel. Too many times though, we obsess over the process and perfecting the marketing. Yet two New Testament stories give us the perfect blueprint for effectively sharing our faith.

In the first from the Gospel of Luke, Jesus tells a group of fishermen to head out to deep water and lower their nets. They did exactly as He said, even though the night before they had caught nothing. Peter did as he was told, and when they brought up the nets, the hall was so great the nets began to break.

In the second fishing miracle from the book of John, Jesus appeared to the disciples after His resurrection. The situation was similar to the first: a previous night of fishing yielded not much. Calling to them from the shore, Jesus told them very specifically to lower their nets over the right side of the boat, and they would catch some fish. And once again, the nets began to break.

Have you noticed the common denominator when it comes to sharing the gospel? This is what Jesus meant, of course, by telling them that He would make them fishers of men. Fishing was something these men understood very, very well. It is when we are obedient to the Lord that good things happen, and obedience is key.

We don’t have to be able to speak like Billy Graham. Most of us don’t have some amazing, unusual gift of talent, but we can have an obedient spirit, and a willing heart. It is then we lose our fear of engaging others. We no longer focus on having a little memorized pitch ready. We just believe God.

It also becomes obvious that after we obey the call to share the gospel, we’re not responsible for the rest of a person’s life. To put it a way a fisherman could relate to: we catch ’em, God cleans ’em. Just be willing. Be available. If you do that, results could be identical to those Galilean fishermen 2000 years ago. God will use the obedient person to do great things. Let’s pray.

Lord, our efforts for you sometimes fall short. There could be many reasons, but where the problem lies with us, help us to have hearts open to your direction. It’s in you that we find the desires of our hearts. We pray that we are obedient to your calling to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with anyone we encounter. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Change your shirt, and you can change the world! Save 15% Off your entire purchase of faith-based apparel + gifts at Kerusso.com with code KDD15.

Next Episode

A Witness in the World

Sweat was pouring off Peter as he moved to protect Jesus. As Roman soldiers held the one who had been labeled a heretic, Peter drew a sword and cut off a soldier’s ear. And he was stunned when Jesus told him to put the sword away. You see, Jesus knew infinitely more than Peter or anyone else. He knew the end from the beginning, and He knew He had an agenda to see through to the end. Peter couldn’t see that, and impulsively He moved to change the facts on the ground.

And that’s so typical of us as humans. The authentic Christian wants to do something to fix things or change the world. The theologian, Francis Schaeffer, wrote a whole book titled, How Should We Then Live, on the role of a Christian in the modern world. And there are arguments over whether America is still a Christian nation or whether postmodernism has won the day.

But what does the Bible say about being a witness in the world?

Romans 12:2 says, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Notice it doesn’t say engage. We’re in fact told not to become like the world in all its anti-God stuff. Yet we also know one of the last things Jesus said to His disciples before he ascended into heaven was that we should go into all the world and make disciples. The Apostle Paul made an interesting observation in 1 Corinthians 9. He said that he was free from conformity to the world. It had nothing he coveted. But that he chose to be a servant to all, so that his example might win some to Christ.

In Hebrews 13, we’re told to practice hospitality. And this echoes many Old Testament passages, too. The idea is a believer is to be an example of what life with God looks like in hopes it will draw unbelievers. And this must be done with sincerity, though, especially in our jaded modern culture. First Corinthians 10 tells us, whatever we do, do it for the glory of God alone.

To sum up, the Bible tells us to absolutely live in this world and be appealing to people. But to do all this while holding onto our convictions. Balancing being a gospel witness, while also being seen as personable is the approach for our modern world.

Let’s pray.

Father God, you’ve given us direction for all that we do. Help us to continually have a burden for the lost and to always remember we’re to be salt and light for a hurting world. It’s in Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

Change your shirt, and you can change the world! Save 15% Off your entire purchase of faith-based apparel + gifts at Kerusso.com with code KDD15.

Kerusso Daily Devotional - A Kingdom With No End

Transcript

Speaker 100:00:00.721

It was once said that the sun never set on the British Empire .

Speaker 100:00:05.881

The island nation had expanded its reach around the world for hundreds of years and the Union Jack flew over many countries . But , as happens with earthly kingdoms , the sun did set . Today , the British are back to being basically just that island nation .

Speak