Living out the Kingdom - Thurs 17 May 2007

We have all seen glimpses of the kingdom and God may have used you to demonstrate the kingdom. But often our experience is other than that recorded in the gospels. But it seems to me that we cannot escape the command of Jesus to preach the kingdom and heal the sick. Not in any pretentious way, but as a very natural part of what it means to be a Christian disciple.

I recently heard the story of a church where its members are encouraged to pray for the healing of people they meet in their everyday lives and its impact on the local community as story we spreading around of people healed in the local shopping centre.

On hearing some of the stories one person asked the minister of the church about their “outreach to shoppers”. The minister’s reply was simply this:

“We don’t have an outreach to shoppers; we just have members who go shopping”.

We are called to live out the kingdom – to be naturally supernatural. As we shop, work, play, etc there will be natural opportunities to pray for healing and then share something of our faith. What would it look like if the kingdom of God came to the Clock Towers – the truth is it does every time a Christian enters it!

I want to live out the kingdom and one way I am going to do it is this. If you tell me you are sick or someone you know is sick and I don't pray for healing right there and then challenge me for failing to live the kingdom - you'll be doing me a favour!

How will you respond to the challenge to live out the kingdom today?