The reason Jesus came to earth was to usher in the Kingdom of God – to show us what God’s Kingdom is like and to open the door for us. In short, Jesus was, and still is, a Kingdom builder. So – what can we learn about that important task from Him?   A Whole New Focus For the last couple of weeks on the program, we’ve been taking a look at what exactly it means to become a kingdom builder on this earth. You see, I’m convinced that God has a plan for your life, just as He has a plan for my life, and I strongly suspect the main focus of that plan is not to make ourselves wealthy and comfortable. I strongly suspect that God’s plan for me and His plan for you is not that we should get out there and build our own little empires, but rather, to roll our sleeves up and be about the business of building His kingdom. See, our empires, man-made empires are so vastly, profoundly different to God’s kingdom. We want to build things that we can see: A business; a reputation; success, that’s an empire. God wants to build a spiritual kingdom on this earth, that involves winning over the hearts of men and women and children with His love, through Jesus His Son. And I think that in this age of affluence and wealth, whether we’re partakers of that affluence and wealth or whether we simply aspire to it, it’s all too easy to get these two confused. Of course, there’s nothing new in that. People had it all confused back in Jesus’ day too. Jesus was out there talking about the kingdom of God coming, and the religious leaders who just quietly had been feathering their own little nests, making themselves wealthy and powerful at the expense of God’s people, well when they heard Jesus talking about the kingdom of God, the picture they had in their heads was the picture of a worldly empire: Their own despotic little empires; the empire of Rome, that was their world-view, and so this is what happened. Luke 17:20-21: Once Jesus was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, and He answered: ‘The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed, nor will they say ‘Look, here it is’ or ‘There it is’, for in fact, the kingdom of God is within you’. In other words, this is not a physical kingdom – a worldly empire like the Roman empire, which was at the forefront of people’s minds back then, but the kingdom of God is something else entirely. The kingdom of God lives in our hearts. It’s the relationship we have with Jesus. It’s all about the glad submission of our hearts to the will, and to the rule, and to the plan of God. And so that brings us back to the question that I asked a few minutes ago: Why are you on this earth? What’s the purpose that God has in mind for you? There are many who don’t have answers to those questions. Maybe you’re one of them. I want to introduce you to a couple of men, one young and one not-so-young, that God’s brought across my path recently. Let’s start with the not-so-young man. He’s in his early fifties, very much in the prime of his life; he’s about to build a new house and he’s very successful in his chosen field; works for a large, corporate organisation. I was asked to speak at a men’s breakfast at his church not so long ago. The organiser of the men’s breakfast was really disappointed that not as many people turned up as he’d expected. I smiled, because you know, I never worry about numbers; they belong to God. I had a sense that morning that God had something to do in people’s lives. It turns out that the theme that I was led to speak about, Psalm 139 (all about God’s purpose for our lives), really touched this man. It brought something to the surface that had been there for a while: God stirred him up. Despite all his apparent success, and by the way he’s also an elder in a very large and prominent church, this man had a feeling deep inside that God has something else for him: Some plan, some purpose, that hasn’t quite yet been revealed. I’m catching up with him shortly for a cup of coffee to talk about it. The second man, a younger man, a very successful author and speaker. He travels all over the world as a speaker and gets paid a bundle of money just to show up. Often you see him on the news at night on TV, being interviewed about this and that. He’s the emerging go-to guy in the media whenever something in his particular area of expertise pops up. I mean, this young guy has the world at his feet. He has talents and abilities that I will never have. He felt to seek me out after we met at a conference, and ask me if I could spend a little time each month mentoring him. Now the guy is full on for Jesus. He’s successful, everything’s going really well, and yet again something inside, prompted by the Spirit, told him there has to be more. As I sat having coffee with him, I know in my heart of hearts that God has the most amazing plan for this young man’s life, beyond anything that he can even imagine right now. Two men in the space of a couple of months come across my path, and just at a time when God was prompting me to write about becoming a kingdom builder. Coincidence? I don’t think so. I don’t believe in coincidences anymore. I remember almost twenty years ago when I’d given my life to the Lord, and it was the same pattern. My worldly empire was pretty successful, but my heart yearned for something. I couldn’t put my finger on it back then. I couldn’t have said to you: ‘You know, I think the Holy Spirit was starting to get me to step out on this journey to discover God’s call on my life’, but that’s exactly what it was, and I know that as I speak about this right now there are many, many people quietly nodding their heads. I know that God is touching people (maybe you) with this same realisation that no matter your circumstances, your age, what’s going on in your life, He has more for you. It may not be a change of job or career. For most people it isn’t. Maybe it does involve that; I don’t know, but if your heart longs to follow Jesus, if deep in your heart you want to be a kingdom builder (not just an empire builder) then perhaps, perhaps today’s a turning-point. Maybe today God’s speaking to you. Maybe today is the start of something new.   Jesus The Kingdom Builder The kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God, it’s a strange concept to you and me. You know, I’ve read a lot of my Bible, particularly the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John). It’s only in the gospel of Matthew that you find the term ‘The kingdom of heaven’ used. Mark, Luke and John record only that Jesus talked about the kingdom of God. At various times Jesus talks about the kingdom of heaven being here, and at other times as something that’s way off there in the future. Sometimes it’s something we enter into now; sometimes it’s something that we have to wait to enter into. It’s this idea of here already, but not quite. Have a listen to Matthew 3:2: Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near. Matthew 5:3: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And then at other times, He talks about the kingdom of heaven as being something in the future. Matthew 7:21: Not everyone who says to Me ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 8:11: I tell you, many will come from east and west, and will eat with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the heirs of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. But this whole kingdom-of-heaven/kingdom-of-God thing was and is a big deal for Jesus. Those two terms together are mentioned ninety-eight times in the New Testament, mostly by Jesus,...

Released on 14 Nov 2021