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The Kingdom of God is not a secondary theme in Scripture - it is at the heart of God’s eternal purposes for mankind and planet earth. In Part 2 of “Kingdom: From the Garden to the Throne,” we move from Part 1’s Old Testament revelation of the Kingdom, into the New Testament to see how the Kingdom became the central message of John the Baptizer and Jesus Christ. From the beginning of His ministry through His resurrection, and then after His resurrection, Jesus continually proclaimed and revealed the Kingdom as His priority. For His followers, the Kingdom is not merely a future destination, it is the reality we are called to seek first and live for now, and it is the primary message we are to share with the world.

In Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, we encounter one of the clearest commands in all of this most famous message from the King. The command comes in the form of a correction. Jesus calls all of His followers to put down their gavels and cease from operating as verdict-delivering judges against the lives of other people. The critical spirit is not imparted to us by the Holy Spirit. While Christians are called to declare the biblical truths concerning how God expects us all to live, there is a way that some believers operate which is nothing more than heartless judgmentalism. In this message, Jesus gives us both wisdom and warnings about our potential to live in this manner. Ultimately, Scripture reveals that there is only one final Judge. That judge is not me, nor is it you. We are set free through the words of Jesus to exit the lifestyle of evaluating, indicting, critiquing others. We are invited to love them in Spirit and in Truth.

God’s plan has always been bigger than the Church - it has forever been about His everlasting Kingdom. From Eden to Abraham, David, the prophets, Jesus as the Son of David, and ultimately the eternal throne of glory, Scripture tells one unfolding story: the immeasurable reign of God over all of creation through His King. This message traces that divine story from Genesis to Revelation and challenges us to see just how big God’s eternal purpose really is, and how it has always been about the Kingdom.

When the clock runs down and we find ourselves in the last days of our lives, we will be crossing the finish line that will have been defined by all of the countless choices we made during our lives. We ultimately arrive at the point of death in the place where we consistently aimed during our days of life. Taking nothing away from the sovereignty of God, the bottom-line truth about our lives is that we reap what we sow. Life is defined by our choices - what we did with what we were offered by God. In this portion of Jesus’ message on the hillside, He exposes one of the most familiar choices that all of us are faced with daily. Will we live our lives for the material world or the invisible world? Will we aim the trajectory of our lives for temporary treasures or eternal ones? We must answer this question while we are still living because the ultimate truth is that our own finish line does not actually occur when we die. We have an appointment after death with Jesus who will assess the full value of our lives and then dispense eternal rewards for us based on how we trusted and followed Him. It is in that place that we discover if we actually truly lived. In the end, we pick our own pathways.

Jesus never called us merely to attend church - He called us to live intentionally, proactively, and vibrantly as citizens of His Kingdom. In this message we confront the danger of comfortable, status-quo Christianity and the urgent need for genuine revival. But do we even have a clear grasp on what revival is according to Scripture? God is looking for people who will move beyond religious routine and become KINGDOM people - marked by holiness, boldness, supernatural power, love, and an unwavering commitment to the King and His purposes in our generation. The question is simple for you: Will you become one who will commit to it?

There is a certain season - sometimes a very long one! - wherein the believer is doing everything he/she knows to do…and the breakthroughs just don’t come. In fact, in these seasons of doing things God’s way without results, things can actually get worse. We are stretched, maxed out, seemingly going under. People become problematic, circumstances become more difficult, and doors of escape feel like they are double-bolted shut on us. We are not imagining things when this type of reality hits us, yet the Bible is not silent about these burdens and pains. Believe it or not, God allows and even ordains seasons like this in the lives of His own children. When we learn WHY, we find the treasure in the trials and no longer panic when these types of seasons arise in our lives. God has not gone anywhere. This message helps us be equipped to respond when blessed burdens and profitable pain are part of God’s design for our present season.

How in the world can something as beautiful as compassion, mercy, and sacrificial service ever become negative? We might believe those things could never be the wrong things, but there is an obscure account in the Old Testament that carries a subtle warning about this very thing. Obadiah was a high ranking servant to wicked King Ahab. He covertly protected and provided for 100 prophets of the Lord who had death sentences hanging over their heads. What began as Obadiah’s faithful courage somehow became his degrading fear. Hope turned to dread, and an initial act of courage was replaced with a powerful expectation of doom. Thankfully, God sent a voice of reassurance and realignment through Elijah who removed the situation from Obadiah’s trembling hand and took it into his own decisive, prophetic grip. When our care for others' safety and comfort becomes a climate of fear and anxiety for their wellbeing, we need a prophetic injection of courage to turn things around.

The Bible is filled with communication about how things will be towards the end of the age. Among these many characteristics, signs, and prophecies, one item often flies under the radar: professing Christians will abandon gathering together in large numbers. For all of us to refuse to become a part of these issues, we need to understand why it is important for Christians to remain relationally connected with each other, and why we need to maintain an active presence in a local assembly. It’s not legalistic church attendance, it’s about strength in numbers, shared resources, proper care for the Bride by the Bride, and refusing to walk away when the price climbs higher for being a follower of Jesus. Bottom line: God’s design for Christians to be together on purpose was never meant to fade away. We are actually called to double down on this priority the closer we get to the return of Christ.

The Prophet Elijah is a fascinating person in the Bible. His life was marked by boldness, obedience, extreme devotion to God…and also the shadows of despondency, depression, and self-pity. Can God use a person like that? He did…and He still does. This message highlights how a devoted life of faith in God can take us to extremes, and we sometimes have to come to the very end of ourselves before we can enter into the next chapter God has written for us. When Elijah, hit rock bottom in his faith journey, God let him. Then God met Elijah with some empowering words of hope, destiny and motivation for what was coming next.

You have likely never met a person that can honestly say that they delight in waiting. While it is true that, as we mature, we learn to patiently wait, nobody truly enjoys waiting for something they desire. We have an impulse in our soul that prefers to immediately receive what we long for. Part of becoming a maturing follower of Jesus is our learning how to cooperate with His practice of making us wait. King David’s life was marked by long, deep and sometimes painful years of waiting on God to bring to pass His plan for David’s life. In this message, we witness David’s breakthrough that was at least two decades in the making. That’s right: David waited at least twenty years for one day. Yet, when that particular day finally found David, he was so glad to reap the harvest of all those years of patiently waiting upon the Lord. We should expect the same in our own lives. Are you and I willing to wait as long as God determines for Him to bring to pass His plans for us?

In a world filled with competing voices, shifting ideas, and spiritual confusion, there is one message that has never changed: Jesus Christ is Lord of all. In this message, we journey through John 1:1–14 and encounter Jesus Christ as the eternal Son of God, the Creator and giver of life, the Light who overcomes darkness, and the Savior who came near to us full of amazing grace and eternal truth. Whether you have followed Jesus for years, are presently searching for answers, or simply need to be reminded of who He truly is, this message invites you to look again at the One who came so that we could know God and become His children. Come discover why, after 2,000 years, our hope, our salvation, and our message still remain Jesus.

More than likely, among your favorite songs during your lifetime, there is at least one that we might call a sad song. There is something about a painful, difficult season in the life of a songwriter that helps them put to music some words that find a way to connect with the hearts of others. The playlist in the Bible is the Book of Psalms. Among the 150 songs on that playlist are dozens of sad songs. King David penned Psalm 142 during one of the most bleak and difficult seasons of his life. Though he holds nothing back from sharing his despair, fear, and pain, David ultimately finds a renewed hope, purpose, and faith in God before the song ends. In this important part of King David’s roller-coaster life, we witness some important lessons from David’s low places that we must also learn. Do not waste your tough seasons! God will help you extract something beneficial from your own season in the cave.

The bible doesn’t ever mention alien beings from other planets or galaxies. It is silent. Yet, we are told in both Testaments, by Jesus Christ himself, and by multiple of the writing Apostles about interdimensional beings called demons, spirits, and fallen angels. What is what we call aliens are what the bible calls fallen angels, evil spirits, or demons? This message compares and contrasts what modern reports say about extraterrestrials and what the bible and ancient books teach about evil spirits and fallen angels. The parallels are too many to bypass consideration. We must all make up our minds because it seems that we are going to experience a collision wherein beliefs about aliens and beliefs about fallen angels force us to a final, perhaps eternal, decision.

David was living in between his initial call and anointing and the throne that had been promised to him. Saul was a wicked king, and he occupied the position that God had declared would belong to David. Everyone knew the favor had been removed from Saul and given to David, but God had not yet made a way for David to be promoted to king over the people. What do you do when God shows you favor and people resent it? Jealousy and envy come against Christians who walk in the anointing and favor of God. Sometimes it causes deep trouble in life. For those who want the favor of God on who they are and what they do, know ahead of time that it comes with a cost.

The scandals among famous Christian leaders have been recurring for a few decades. They always make the headlines. Many sincere believers have become embittered, skeptical, or even fearful of human leaders within local churches. The exposure season has legitimately cleansed the Church of many unfit leaders, yet the vast majority of Christian leaders are actually true to their God. These God-appointed leaders are often paying a price for the sins of the false leaders. True leaders are frequently dishonored, rebelled against, viewed with suspicion, and treated far beneath the biblical dignity which God places upon them in the positions He has given them. This message shifts the focus for a moment from leaders in the Church to those who are followers. How are you treating your leaders? Do your words, attitudes, and actions please God? Human authority in the Church has always existed, and so have God’s clear expectations for how we treat those in spiritual authority. It is time for all Christians, both leaders and followers, to do a thorough inventory of how they are operating in this vital area of Kingdom living.