The Kingdom of GOD is Near

"The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever." ~ Revelation 11:15

Have we been preaching with the wrong focus?

It was a mind-blowing sermon this morning and it made me really look at the gospel in another way.

We started the series "The Magnificent Obsession" last week and it started off with the declaration that the message of the Bible/gospel is the message of the Kingdom of GOD, establishing the kingdom of GOD on earth. And the point is to "seek first the kingdom of GOD".

However, the underlying truth of establishing the kingdom of GOD on earth did not hit me so hard as it did today. Today's message was about boldness. The message today made me really re-look at the Bible in a new light and there is much deeper meaning. Preaching about the gospel is not just about preaching GOD's love. That's only part of the equation. It is about the kingdom of GOD. Preaching the kingdom of GOD brings about transformation, not just personal salvation. It means transforming not just yourself, but communities, society and nations; transforming the kingdom of the world & claiming it. GOD always looks at the nations (Exodus 4:22, Matthew 24:14, 28:18-20).

One of the most mind-blowing part was the issue about the rapture. Pastor made special reference to John 18:36. It makes reference to a kingdom "not of this world" but actually, in context, Pilates was actually asking for the source of Jesus's authority. However, it gives the impression that there is another place we will go to. Does that mean the kingdom of the world is not our business? That's not true as Jesus is meant to reign on earth and the kingdom of the world will become the kingdom of our Lord (Rev 11:15). And what do we pray in the Lord's prayer ?

"Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come,

your will be done

on earth as it is in heaven"

~ Matthew 6:9-10

So it is the conquer of the kingdom of the world which we must look at, bringing heaven on earth. (Ephesians 1:10, Revelation 11:15, Luke 17:21)

Another thought came to my mind actually: so is that the reason of Jesus's second coming - coming back to reign on this earth?

"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." ~ Matthew 4:17

"Let the little children come to me"

I was very moved with the message at service today. Although the message was more for fathers, but the focus was also on the children.

Malachi 4:6
" He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers..."

What really struck me was that many children are not coming into the their destiny through neglect, abuse, etc., resulting in bondage, and it is painful to see how all these can happen, even within a family. Worse still is the high abortion rate, where these children will never come into their destiny.

GOD, our Heavenly Father, treats every child as precious & blesses parents with the safekeeping of them, even as we are His children. But due to Man's selfish reasons, children suffer and are hindered in their path to fulfil their destiny. Children are our future. Didn't Jesus say in Luke 18:16:

"...Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these."

Ambitious?

Ever since I became a librarian, I think I've become ambitious. In the past, when i was an accountant, I didn't feel the same. It was just a job then. Now, I see my future (at least for now) ahead, as a career.

I'm not ambitious in the "competitive" way. It's more driven by passion for the holistic meaning of what I do or can do. I have visions of bigger plans, how big my work areas can be and what can be done...the big picture (well, right now is it more like mine?). I have passion for the profession, and the cultural aspect of it all. With passion, there's vision. My brain ticks and envisions "how much more can be done for this area", the future possibilities, the long run effect & results, or even the creation of something bigger than the current state. And these are really meaningful work that will benefit our society in the long run, benefit Singapore in the long run.

My ambitions are also driven by negative forces. The lack of power to carry out the vision, to put the meaning & passion into reality, to bring it across. It is also driven by disappointment, at how some management personnel don't seem to see the meaning of it all, have no passion at all (they don't seem to buy into the mission/vision that is set by the Board & holistic impact) and doing things for the sake of doing it only and approaching things in the wrong way or totally miss the point. This really demoralises those who are passionate, till they lose that passion and become "in the system" coz they are disillusioned and convinced that life won't change for the better.

I still recall the earlier days when I was really supportive & passionate about the importance of what I'm doing, of being a librarian, doing something that's benefitting the nation. Now, seeing management being not really in the library field and are not really interested/passionate nor buy into the mission and holistic vision, and in some cases incompetent, it's hard to keep "passionate" for long due to all these discouragement. I struggling real hard to keep the passion up and I hope I stand long.

Ambitious? In a way, but is more for the power to do the right & meaningful thing in & for the organisation, for the nation.