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A Kingdom of Service
Stories of a Kingdom Kyle Kauffman Stories of a Kingdom Kyle Kauffman

A Kingdom of Service

Kyle Kauffman

God saves us completely by grace. But he expects that His grace will lead us to be active participants in his Kingdom. God entrusts into our care all sorts of things: relationships, opportunities, and resources. And he expects us to steward what he has entrusted into our care for His glory. We are meant to look for the ways God has given us to love and serve others. And we are meant to see all the resources we have been given as resources that can be used to love and serve others. God promises that those who serve and steward well what he has given to them will be rewarded. And he warns that those who waste their lives will actually lose their lives for eternity. We must continually ask the question, “Is my life being lived to serve my King? Or is my life simply being lived to serve myself?” 

Matthew 25:14-30

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A Kingdom of Waiting
Stories of a Kingdom Kyle Kauffman Stories of a Kingdom Kyle Kauffman

A Kingdom of Waiting

Kyle Kauffman

If you expect something big and important is going to happen, you naturally watch for it and wait eagerly for it. Those who belong to God’s Kingdom are expecting Jesus to return. We believe that He is coming back again to dwell forever with the church. It can be easy to forget this as Jesus delays his return. But if we truly believe Jesus is returning and that his return will be glorious, then we are meant to watch and wait eagerly for his return. Our watching and waiting shows itself as we prepare ourselves for Jesus’ return and carry out what he has called us to do in the present.

Matthew 25:1-13

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A Kingdom of Superior Worth
Stories of a Kingdom Kyle Kauffman Stories of a Kingdom Kyle Kauffman

A Kingdom of Superior Worth

Kyle Kauffman

In two short valuables we are told that God’s Kingdom is so valuable it is worth sacrificing everything else in this life for. Which might lead us to ask, “What is it that makes God’s Kingdom so valuable?” And the answer to that question comes in the form of a person. Jesus is the great treasure of God’s Kingdom. This means belonging to and living in God’s Kingdom involves both trusting Jesus as savior and treasuring Jesus above all else in this world. And those who see Jesus as their greatest treasure are then willing to gladly sacrifice and give up everything else for his sake. This means that one of the most important parts of living in God’s Kingdom is to have our hearts and minds happy and satisfied in Jesus. Those who know the worth of Jesus are those who joyfully give up their lives and the things of this life to follow Jesus and make him known.

Matthew 13:44-46

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A Kingdom of Radical Forgiveness
Stories of a Kingdom Kyle Kauffman Stories of a Kingdom Kyle Kauffman

A Kingdom of Radical Forgiveness

Kyle Kauffman

God’s Kingdom is marked by radical forgiveness. Though we owe him a debt we could never pay, He fully and freely forgives us. And he now calls us to do the same with others. Our lives bear testimony to God’s great forgiveness by how we forgive and forbear with the sins of others. And yet so often we are like the servant in the parable who refuses to extend forgiveness as we hold grudges or try to make others ‘pay’ for the wrongs they’ve done to us. Jesus means for this parable to both shock us with the wonder of God’s forgiveness and shock us with how quickly our lives can fail to appreciate and reflect that forgiveness in how we relate to each other.

Matthew 18:21-35

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A Kingdom of Authority
Stories of a Kingdom Kyle Kauffman Stories of a Kingdom Kyle Kauffman

A Kingdom of Authority

Kyle Kauffman

To belong to God’s Kingdom means to see our lives and all we have as belonging to Him. He is the one who created us and is meant to rule over us. And yet often, we try to rule over our lives rather than submitting ourselves to His rule. We hold onto things as if they belong to us, rather than gladly entrusting them to His care. We refuse to do obey Him even after He patiently calls for our obedience. The greatest act of resistance is to reject God’s Son who came to give his life for us so that we might live our lives for Him. If we resist God’s rule and reject His sovereignty over our lives then God will pour out His judgment on us.

Luke 20:9-19

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A Kingdom of Shocking Grace
Stories of a Kingdom Brandon Fisher Stories of a Kingdom Brandon Fisher

A Kingdom of Shocking Grace

Brandon Fisher

God loves to give people what they don’t deserve in order to display His generosity. His Kingdom is a Kingdom of grace where he gives what he pleases to whom He pleases. We can be prone to believe that we deserve more than what we have been given. But those who live within God’s Kingdom are meant to see all they have been given as undeserved grace. This then enables us to live with joyful gratitude and rejoice in evidences of God’s grace to other people.

Matthew 20:1-16

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A Kingdom of Persistent Prayer
Stories of a Kingdom Kyle Kauffman Stories of a Kingdom Kyle Kauffman

A Kingdom of Persistent Prayer

Kyle Kauffman

Our lives in this world are full of mystery. We often cannot understand why God doesn’t always answer our prayers, especially when we perceive the thing we are praying for is a good thing. It’s easy for us to give up praying or to doubt God’s goodness. Jesus knew this would be the case. And so he told a parable that can encourage us to persist in praying. We find that one of the ways we display our faith is by continuing to pray and trusting God to do what is right. We find that God is pleased with us as we pester him in prayer. Because He is a God who loves to be “bothered” by his people.

Luke 18:1-8

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A Kingdom of Mercy NOT Merit
Stories of a Kingdom Kyle Kauffman Stories of a Kingdom Kyle Kauffman

A Kingdom of Mercy NOT Merit

Kyle Kauffman

We cannot save ourselves or prove ourselves worthy of God’s Kingdom. It’s only when we realize how unworthy we are that we are then prepared to receive God’s Kingdom as a gift. We are prone to think we can save ourselves because we believe our sin is not that bad and that we are actually pretty good. This is only heightened as we look around and compare ourselves to other people. It’s easy for us to start to think God loves us and will save us because we are better at keeping “the rules” then others. But God’s Kingdom is full of people who are “really big sinners,” because only “really big sinners” know how much they need mercy. Meanwhile there are a lot of “really good people” who never enter God’s Kingdom because their “goodness” keeps them from knowing how much they need mercy.

Luke 18:9-14

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Hearing the Words of the Kingdom
Stories of a Kingdom Joel Wood Stories of a Kingdom Joel Wood

Hearing the Words of the Kingdom

Joel Wood

God’s Word, and specifically the good news of the gospel, is what God uses to draw people into His Kingdom. But not all those who hear God’s Word respond to it in faith and believe. Jesus reveals the various responses people have to the message of the Kingdom in the story of the sower, or more accurately, the story of the soils. This surprising story calls out those who are hardened to the truth, shallow in their faith, or distracted by their world, leaving only one type of hearer who believes. . .whose heart is fertile and ready soil for the Gospel. The response reveals the heart and ultimately their relationship to God and His Kingdom. This story also presents an encouragement to all who proclaim Gods’ Word. We must remember the results lie outside of our control, but remain in the sovereign hands of the King who rules over the results of His Word, which far outweigh all our expectations. 

Matthew 13:1-9; 18-23

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Introduction to Stories of a Kingdom
Stories of a Kingdom Joel Wood Stories of a Kingdom Joel Wood

Introduction to Stories of a Kingdom

Joel Wood

Jesus was, and still is, the greatest teacher the world has ever known. While Jesus taught in many ways, one of the most specific and impacting was in using parables. Often, we think of Jesus parables as sermon illustrations or stories that merely helped people pay attention. Jesus stories were certainly captivating and they helped to illustrate truth, but there is more happening in Jesus’ parables than that. Jesus spoke in parables to reveal the secrets of God’s kingdom, to help us to understand what that Kingdom is like, what it means to belong to it, and how we are to live our everyday lives in light of it. More than that, Jesus also spoke in parables to reveal who was truly a part of God’s kingdom. In fact, the parables Jesus shared were purposely designed to reveal the condition of His hearers’ hearts and bring the gospel to bear on their lives. Using a simple story to convey a singular and powerful point about the Kingdom of God, Jesus’ parables either draw us in to a closer relationship with Him through repentance and faith, or push us away in confusion and rejection. Our response to them makes all the difference in our lives both for today and for eternity. 

Matthew 13:10-17

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