The year 1977 was a monumental year in my life.  I finished my college career and married my wife, Hope.  We moved to Memphis Tennessee to continue following Jesus by attending seminary.  These were big changes in my young Christian life.  During this busy year one of my memories happened on our honeymoon.  We were staying at Guntersville State Park in Guntersville Alabama.  The weather was stormy, so we decided on the indoor activity of taking in a movie.  The movie, Star Wars a New Hope, quickly became a classic as it spread hope around the world and this movie  series remains popular today some 45 years later.  It changed people’s outlook for generations to follow.

As I look back on this movie, I am reminded of a historical event which also brought hope into our world and has changed people’s outlook for the last 2000 years.  The event was the entrance of Jesus into our world and history.  He came bringing the Kingdom of Yahweh to earth.  He came bringing hope to the hopeless.  He came to change the perspective from which people viewed their lives thus changing their lives.  I want us to look at three aspects of the Kingdom of Yahweh’s arrival.

First, the reality of the Kingdom is a spiritual matter.  Since Yahweh is spirit and rules a spiritual realm, then His Kingdom’s coming to earth is spiritual in nature [Romans 14:16-18].  It is a Kingdom whose subjects are endowed with His Spirit and nature.  Through their faith in Jesus, they are established by His Spirit into His Kingdom.

As spiritual members of His Spiritual Kingdom our perspective on the things which pertain to life are greatly altered.  Through the transforming wisdom and faithful help of the Holy Spirit we begin to think like and live like Jesus did.  His Spirit is continually working His nature into a born-again believer’s life.  This changed nature corrects our life perspective from fact to faith and from self to others.  Some scripture which points to this change are, but not limited to, 2 Corinthians 4:17-18, 5:7, Romans 15:3, and Philippians 2:5-7.

And lastly the new hope of God’s Kingdom’s arrival is that it gives each born-again believer a renewed purpose in life.  This new hope is a matter of imitating Jesus’ life empowered by His Spirit.  Jesus proclaimed that He had come for the poor and hopeless [Luke 4:17-19].  He came for the needy to save them from their sins and provide a future for them with Himself.  By inserting His Spirit into the life of each born-again believer Jesus resides in their life as the Light of the world and thus also making His followers the light of the world [Matthew 5:14].  Born-again believes have the purpose of shining the darkness of the world.  They are to do the good works of their heavenly Father and as He leads and directs them to finish well.  They are to endure to the end for Him and His Kingdom [2 Thessalonians 1:11-12].

As born-again believers we have been saved and called into this new hope in Jesus.  Let us live out our lives with this new hope, new perspective, new attitude, and new purpose.  All of life is for His Kingdom.

For the Kingdom

Hugh Folds

Interim Pastor

Romans 14:17