The kingdom of God is not a matter of geography; it's a matter of the heart Living With a Kingdom Mindset: 1. The Kingdom of God was the central issue of Jesus' ministry • Matthew 4:17 “From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” • Matthew 4:23 “Jesus went throughout Galilee . . . preaching the good news of the kingdom.” • Luke 4:43 “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God . . . for that is why I was sent.” • Luke 17:21 “The kingdom of God is in your midst.” • John 18:36-37 “My kingdom is not of this world . . . my kingdom is from another place . . . You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” Jesus came to establish a new society on earth. This society would be made up of men and women who are fully dedicated to doing the will of God. 2. The Kingdom of God is the only thing that will last forever If you decide to live by earthly values, you will receive an earthly reward. If you decide to live by kingdom values, you will receive a kingdom reward. The difference is this. Living by earthly values produces earthly rewards that pay off quicker and disappear faster; living by kingdom values produces kingdom rewards. They don’t usually come as quickly, but they last forever. 3. The Kingdom of God gives meaning to all of history Praying “Your kingdom comes” links us with the faithful of all ages who have surveyed the wreckage of a fallen world and concluded that there must be something better than this. “Your kingdom come” is the central petition of the Lord’s Prayer. You are praying that God’s whole program for human history might succeed and that Satan’s counter-kingdom might be destroyed. 4. The Kingdom of God gives purpose to earthly life If you ever decide to make the kingdom of God the first priority in your life, you may not become a missionary, but you will become fundamentally different from the world around you. Ways to pray, "Your Kingdom come." • For Your Life: You enter the kingdom by asking the Lord Jesus to become King in your life. So, we must ask a crucial question. Are you in the kingdom of God? The answer must always be yes or no. You enter the kingdom through simple faith in King Jesus. But-and note this carefully!-you enter individually and personally. No one else can enter for you. It requires a definite decision on your part. Without that definite decision, you will not even “see” the kingdom of God (John 3:5). So, we begin there. Are you in the kingdom of God? If the answer is yes, then you pray a prayer like this every day: “Lord Jesus, may your kingdom come in my life today. May your values predominate my thinking and my decision-making. May your cause in the world be advanced by the things I say and do. Help me to do your will all through this day.” There’s no magic in that prayer, but properly understood, it is a revolutionary way to pray. Make no mistake. If you mean those words, God will take you up on your offer to become a “kingdom person.” Don’t pray like this if you intend to stay the way you are. • For Your Family That means praying for your wife, your husband and your children that they too would become kingdom people. This includes praying for your extended family and even for the spouses that your children and grandchildren will one day marry. • For Your Church The church is to be a model of that “great society” God is building. Even the best church will fall far short of the ideal. But why not pray for your pastor, for the staff, for deacons, and for your community group, that they will be completely committed to kingdom values? Pray for the congregation, that men and women would set aside their own agendas. Differences of opinion are good and healthy, but sometimes we can get so fixated on our own ideas, that we destroy the unity of the Spirit in our desire to get our own plans implemented. Pray that your church will become an attractive community of kingdom people-an outpost of light in an ever-darkening world. • For Your World It’s true that the kingdom will never come until the King himself returns to the earth. Yet the kingdom of God “comes” in a spiritual sense as men and women surrender their lives to King Jesus. So we are praying “May your kingdom come in hearts and lives today and may the King himself quickly return.” While you are at it, pray for the kingdom to come in your community, your state, your nation, and finally throughout the world. Kingdom prayer: “Lord change the world. Begin, I pray, with me.”