[it] is to talk about the kingship of God. It is dynamic, all-embracing and on the move. God is the King and He has His palace and His throne room in heaven. He has His retainers, the angelic hosts. He has His subjects, the angels, humans and all other forms of life. He has His realm, the heavens and the earth. In His love, He gives us the freedom to choose for or against Him. In His justice, He judges us accordingly. Although we have chosen to revolt, He comes after us to rescue us, forgive us and restore us to Himself. One day, His perfect reign will be manifest throughout His transformed creation. On that day, the redeemed will worship and serve Him out of cleansed and glad hearts. For now, His rule - His kingdom - has broken in on us and is advancing throughout the earth.This is not "soft". This is not just some decision we make. This is not just about acts of kindness. This not about trying to live right. This is not about God just loves and loves us. Etc. Sure, it includes that but it is beyond that. It is reversing our service to the king of darkness and serving the King of Light!
The presence of the Kingdom is good news because it means that God's presence has returned and that Satan's kingdom is under siege. Sins are forgiven, the sick are healed, the demonized are delivered, the exiles come home, and the age to come is upon us.
People have asked me why I seem so hard on the Kingdom Experiment. The reason is not so much due to some error I have found (to be clear there has been some - not just a "style" difference) but more because it falls far short of communicating the full truth of the Kingdom of God. This is not something that can, should, or needs to be "dumbed down". Unfortunately so many churches across the globe do exactly that. It is far to common. It cannot be possible that they grasp the Kingdom and still do that. It is time that the ambassadors of the King get out into the world and start demonstrating and proclaiming the Kingdom as Jesus commanded.
In true Kingdom preaching, the imperative always follows the indicative. So Jesus also told people what they must do to receive the Kingdom: "Repent and believe the good news." To "repent" implies as change in course. We have gone away from God and so now we must reverse course and turn toward Him. Repentance also involves surrender and sorrow for our sins. But there is more. ... to "repent" means to surrender ones agenda for Jesus' agenda. It means to take on His Kingdom message and ministry.Jesus showed the way in Luke, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.”
We must repent by adopting Jesus' agenda for ministry as our own. I have to say, sadly myself included, that there are too many looking like what Scripture describes.
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