Bring Your Kingdom!
Pastor Steve McInroy
mac@trc.life
Three questions in light of Mark 4:30-41.
1. Do you believe the kingdom of God is advancing?
Mark 4:30 — And he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it?
Mark 4:31,32 — It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, 32 yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”
Matthew 11:12 (NLT) — And from the time John the Baptist began preaching until now, the Kingdom of Heaven has been forcefully advancing, and violent people are attacking it.
The picture you get in the Gospels as Jesus unfolds the teachings of the kingdom is that it is both present and it is still future. John Piper
Matthew 4:17 — From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Hebrews 12:28,29 — Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.
Mark 4:33,34 — With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it. 34 He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.
2. Do you treat Jesus like a man or as Lord of your life?
Mark 4:35,36— On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.”36 And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him.
Mark 4:37: And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling.
Mark 4:38 — But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”
1 Corinthians 15:47 — Adam, the first man, was made from the dust of the earth, while Christ, the second man, came from heaven.
3) Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?
Mark 4:39,40 — And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. 40 He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?”
Humans do not bring in God’s reign, build God’s kingdom, hasten its final consummation, or hinder its advance. Jesus’ preaching announces that God is in action and that one’s ultimate well-being is tied to what God is doing, not what they are doing. They can only receive it and enter it or reject it and be swept away in judgment. David Garland
Mark 4:41 — And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”
Psalm 145:11-13 — They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom and tell of your power, 12 to make known to the children of man your mighty deeds, and the glorious splendor of your kingdom. 13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures throughout all generations.