What Difference Does the Reality of the Kingdom Make in My Life? | God Gets What He’s After

by Alan Smith

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Genesis 1:26–28

For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, As the waters cover the sea.
Habakkuk 2:14

Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away …  And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.  Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.”
Revelation 21:1, 4–5

In 1998, I moved to Wichita Falls to plant a church. We labored for a year, and in the end, we had to close it down and move home. As I reflect on that experience, I can easily recall many great things God did through that season—not least of which were some of the precious relationships built. But in the end, I must acknowledge that I did not accomplish what I set out to do. All of us have disappointments like that, but as believers, we are encouraged in our firm expectation that in the end, God will ultimately achieve His purposes. We may lose a battle now and then, but the final victory is secure.

When God created this world, He also had an objective. This objective is described in narrative in Genesis 1 and 2. God set out to have a planet full of people who looked like Him, were filled with His life and exercising His authority as His representative on the earth. This goal is poetically expressed in places like Habakkuk 2:14. God’s glory will cover all the earth.

The ultimate impact of the reality of God’s kingdom is that in the end, God will accomplish all He has purposed. He will get what He’s after. If you envision eternity with clouds, halos and harps, you may consider reshaping your expectation based on what the Bible says. In the end, heaven and earth become the same place. In the end, the earth is full of His glory. In the end, earth is full of people who look like God, are filled with His life and are exercising His authority on the earth as His representatives. God wins.

1. How have you imagined what eternity will be like?

2. How is the biblical picture of eternity different from what you might have thought?

3. How might hope, anchored in the sure reality that God ultimately gets what He is after, change the way you view present difficulties and challenges?

4. What would it be like if you began to live now in light of that future reality?

What Difference Does the Reality of the Kingdom Make in My Life? | I Become an Agent of New Creation in My Family, Church and Community

by Alan Smith

So He said to them, “When you pray, say … Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
Luke 11:2

Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
1 Corinthians 3:16

My first paying job in ministry was as a janitor for the church I grew up in. I will never forget what happened one day while I was helping my supervisor do a minor building repair. He told me which screwdriver I should use for the job, but I thought one flat-head was like another, so I just grabbed one. I should have used the one he told me to use—the one insulated to prevent electrical shock. It was a “shocking” lesson. Some materials are designed to be conduits!

God is looking for conduits—places where the heavenly realm and the earthly realm intersect and overlap. He is very interested in heaven invading earth. The temple was like that. It was a building with a special room behind a veil. The room behind that veil was unlike any other room. God lived there. God, who is Spirit and lives in the heavenly realm, dwelt behind that veil on the earth. Behind that veil in the temple, heaven and earth intersected and overlapped. Behind that veil, heaven and earth were the same place.

In Christ, we have become His temple, a temple made without hands. Like the temple of old, our bodies are earthly dwelling places where, behind the veil, God lives. We are now the place where heaven and earth intersect and overlap. We are the conduits through which heaven can invade earth. That is exactly what Jesus has instructed us to ask Him–for heaven to invade earth, for His will to be done on earth as in heaven. God wants to affect our families, churches and communities with the reality and the authority of His kingdom. He wants to do it through you. You are His conduit.

1. How does being a conduit of the kingdom change how you view yourself?

2. How might the kingdom of God invading through you actually work to change things within you?

3. If your family, church and community began to look more like heaven because of God’s kingdom invasion in your life, how would those environments be different than they are now?

What difference Will the Reality of the Kingdom Make in My Life? | Old Things Will Pass Away and New Things Will Come

by Alan Smith

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
2 Corinthians 5:17

For a long time, the land of Canaan belonged to God’s people, but they didn’t live there. There were no Jewish farms, vineyards, settlements or cities. There was just the promise from God given to patriarchs long ago. The land was theirs. They did not possess it, but it nevertheless belonged to them. The book of Joshua details the long process of laying hold and taking possession of that which was theirs all along. Inheritance comes from the promise. Possession comes from faith and obedience.

We also have an inheritance that comes from the promise. In Christ, all old things pass away and everything is made new—this is the land that belongs to us in Christ. Many believers who recognize they are not living in this land make the mistake of questioning the validity of the promise. Yet the promise remains. Our inheritance of new creation lies before us to possess through faith and obedience.

The long process of the Israelites conquering Canaan’s former occupants and settling in the land illustrates for us the process of discipleship. When we first believed in Christ, something brand-new was given to us—the very life and nature of Jesus himself. His life and nature provide us with all we need to displace all old things that still occupy but do not belong. Like the children of Israel, these old things are not displaced all at once, but gradually, in a process of faith and obedience whereby we respond to God’s presence and voice. In His power, we lay hold of all the new creation He has fully provided for us in Christ. As we experience life within His kingdom in this manner, we can truly begin to experience the falling away of the old things, and we can possess the inheritance that belongs to us through the promise.

1. What ways have you questioned the promise because did not match your experience?

2. How do you relate the old things in your life to the giants who occupied the land God had promised His people?

3. How does the truth—that we lay hold of our inheritance by faith and obedience—change the way you view and apply 2 Corinthians 5:17 in your life?

4. How will your life be different once you take possession of your inheritance?

What Difference Does the Reality of the Kingdom Make in My Life? | I Am Not at the Mercy of My Past, My Limitations or My Circumstances

by Alan Smith

I, the Lord, have called You in righteousness, and will hold Your hand; I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people, as a light to the Gentiles, to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the prison, those who sit in darkness from the prison house. I am the Lord, that is My name; And My glory I will not give to another, nor My praise to carved images. Behold, the former things have come to pass, And new things I declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them.
Isaiah 42:6–9

A lot rides on your credit score—home ownership, employment, insurance coverage … the list could go on for a while. The basic concept of a credit score is that the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. Those who paid their bills yesterday are likely to pay their bills tomorrow.

Many things in our lives work like that. Present circumstances and current limitations are defined by that which has been. Many people feel trapped—defined by past mistakes and regrets; limited by decisions made and words spoken long ago; held captive by “would haves” and “could haves” and ‘should haves.” This is really the natural course of things. We get what we’ve got coming. What comes around goes around.

Isaiah 42 speaks of the coming Messiah seven centuries before Jesus’ birth. He is the one called in righteousness, the one who holds the hand of God, the one given as a covenant to the people and a light to the Gentiles. But when this Messiah comes, what will he do? What will the nature of his Messianic role be?

Isaiah lists two descriptors: He will open blind eyes and release prisoners. Those held captive by what they cannot see and do will be set free. No longer will God’s people be held captive to their past. Through the Messiah, God will declare a new thing that will displace the old. The blind will see. The prisoners will be released. God himself will step in and interrupt the natural flow of cause and effect. In the kingdom of God, I have access to a completely different reality. I can have a new start. I can be set free from my past into a brand-new kind of life, a brand-new way of seeing and a brand-new freedom from previous limitations and current circumstances.

1. In what areas of your life are you blind or imprisoned because of your past?

2. What would it look like if Jesus were to release you from that completely?

3. How might your outlook on the future be different if you were no longer defined by your past?

What Difference Does the Reality of the Kingdom Make in My Life? | He Does for Me What I Cannot Do for Myself

by Bob Hamp

Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.
Matthew 20:27–28

He walked into the office and waited his turn. The man he came to see had was a world-renowned dentist in great demand—known for his ability to repair and restore very difficult cases. When he was finally called into the treatment room and the exam was completed, the hygienist came in to give him the news. His mouth was in great shape. He had no cavities, and his gums were healthy; a simple cleaning was all he needed. His dental hygiene was great. But he left the office and never got to meet this renowned dentist. 

We all live with the weighty realization that we’ve been created to bring glory to God. Our lives are intended to glorify the One who created all things. All too often however, we shoulder the very burden that God intends to carry for us. In doing this, we glorify ourselves and not God. Showing Him our skills and strengths does not glorify Him. Bringing Him our needs and our weaknesses gives Him the opportunity to demonstrate His nature.

If God were a taskmaster, we would glorify Him by our work. If He were an employer, we would glorify Him by our service. God, however, introduces Himself as a father, a healer, a redeemer and one who binds up the brokenhearted. We glorify God by needing Him. We glorify Him by presenting openly to Him our need for healing and redemption. If you have taken care of all these things yourself, you may actually be glorifying yourself and not Him.

Jesus did not come searching for those who did a good job of managing their lives so that he could present them as trophies of man’s success to His Father. He came for the wounded, the brokenhearted, the captive and the blind. He can present people like this as trophies of His success and evidence of His goodness, rather than man’s capabilities.

1.  What is it you most want to present to God—your success stories or your needs?

2.  In what area have you been trying to do for God something that He may actually want to do for you?

3.  Have you ever known someone who seemed to have it all together who you later discovered was really struggling?

What Difference Does the Reality of the Kingdom Make in My Life? | I Become Who I Am

by Bob Hamp

So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
Genesis 1:27

We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.
Colossians 1:28–29

My friend was raised by his mother and never met his father. He was a jazz-guitar player with an intuitively brilliant mind in the area of technology and media. When God’s call came, Yuri made his way from the beaches and nightclubs of Hawaii to the mainland and got involved in the business of Christian media. Eventually, he found out that his real father wanted to meet him. In their brief visit, he began to learn who this man was and what his life had been about. He learned that his father was a jazz-guitar player with an intuitively brilliant mind in the area of technology and media. Although my friend grew up not knowing his father, there were key aspects of his father’s personality that were reflected in him. 

You were created in the image of God; the eternal and infinite God. Deposited in you is the seed of God’s image. Carried down through the generations of your family, God has deposited in you the unique and specific aspect of His nature that you were designed to carry. It is His plan to bring to life the seed He planted in you when He placed you in your mother’s womb. What this means is that when you return to God, you return to the source of who you are.

Out of the blue, Zaccheus, a greedy and self-centered man, stood up and declared the change in his life. He was going to give away his money to people he had stolen from. Suddenly he was selfless and generous. What happened? Jesus explained it, “The Son of Man came to seek and save that which was lost.” What was lost? The man that Zaccheus was created to be had been lost. Jesus found that man and restored him to who he was created to be.

God didn't come to earth to tell you to stop being yourself. He came to show you who you really are and then help you become that person. Life and history, what you think and how you feel, all these things may try to tell you who you are. Jesus knows exactly who you are. When you surrender to Jesus and allow Him to heal you, you become who you are. When the kingdom of God comes near, you become who you are … and God likes it.

1.  What do you wish were true about yourself?

2.  What do you wish were not true about yourself?

3.  Have you ever thought that God wished you were somebody else?