Spicy Coke and the Kingdom

He presented another parable to them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; and this is smaller than all other seeds, but when it is full grown, it is larger than the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.”
Matthew 13:31-32

My… “concern” is that you are not stirred or electrified by being in the Kingdom of God. By that I mean that you do not daily draw from the soul-nectar available to us because we are Spirit-filled people empowered to engage in victorious, Kingdom living.

For too many of us the invocation of Kingdom language is flaccid. Limp. Droopy. (Ha…what a word! Droopy.) Whereas being a part of the Kingdom should make you chest thump as if you are a part of the Houston Astros dynasty or some industry leading corporation. To be in the Kingdom of the living God is to be on the winning team in a creation wide, galactic struggle between light and darkness. It is to be intentionally engaged on Team Jesus.

Life in the Kingdom is not meh. It’s not flat beer or carbon-less Coke. You know there is something different about Coke at McDonald’s. I have heard that McDonald’s gets their Coke delivered in aluminum canisters. Their straws are noticeably bigger. If you know anything about Coke, you know McDonald’s Coke has a “liveliness” to it that others do not. When you drink it, you can feel the crackle trickle down your throat.

Life in the Kingdom can have that kind of Holy Spirit crackle in your soul. (What a bizarre connection – just go with it!)

Watch how the Kingdom of God affects Daniel in the book of Daniel as he stands before the leader of dominant world power of his day.

Daniel was a young teenager when he was ripped from his home in Israel and taken into Babylonian captivity by King Nebuchadnezzar. Babylon is roughly the same geographical location as present Iran and was, in the 6^th century BC, the dominant world power. No one jacked with Babylon.

As his story goes, Daniel was gifted by Yahweh with wisdom and insight. He is brought before Nebuchadnezzar and asked to interpret a dream. And if Daniel failed in his interpretation, Nebuchadnezzar would kill him. No pressure.

In the dream, Nebuchadnezzar saw a statue with a head of gold, breastplate of silver, belly and thighs of bronze, legs of iron, and feet of a clay/iron mix. Then a stone struck the statue reducing all the other materials to chaff which were blown away in the wind. Finally, the stone became a mountain that filled the world.

After Daniel prayed, Yahweh gave him the interpretation. Each of the five materials represented global powerhouse Kingdoms from Babylon to Rome. World dominating empires built by men that would succeed each other. Of the stone that decimated all the other materials, however, Daniel said something quite different. He interprets the stone this way in Daniel 2:44,

In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever.

Wow!

God was at work raising up a Kingdom that would topple every other kingdom. Daniel, a teenage young man, stood face-to-face with the King and declared that his kingdom would be rendered to dust by a God-established Kingdom. Not only would Babylon be destroyed but also Media/Persia, Greece, and Rome. The message was clear – no kingdom on earth would be able to stand against the Kingdom God was going to establish.

Can you imagine being a part of the Kingdom that crushes all other kingdoms? To be on that team? To be engaged in that reality where you know every day that you have a role to play in the global Kingdom movement of the living God?

Hahaha…ooops!

You. Already. Are.

When Jesus came, He came to fulfill Nebuchadnezzar’s dream! JESUS IS THE STONE THAT RENDERS ALL OTHERS TO WIND BLOWN CHAFF. Jesus blatantly, boldly, triumphantly declares in Mark 1:15, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the Gospel.” Boom. Jesus was/is God our Father’s Kingdom cornerstone. He came to re-establish our Father’s Kingdom on earth. He came to war against Satan and the opposing kingdom of darkness and every one of its manifestations.

Jesus did not just come to forgive you of your sins so that you would not cuss or have an anger problem.

UGH.

He came to deliver you out of darkness and into HIS KINGDOM. To be anointed with the Holy Spirit and adopted into our Father’s family. To be loved, freed, and healed. Then to be trained and empowered. And then to send you to the front lines of the war to LOVE other people in dramatic ways in which you get to experience the supernatural work of God to reach people through YOU.

But if you don’t understand the Kingdom, if you don’t invoke Kingdom language and truth, then you miss out on Kingdom LIFE.

Hey, Jesus gives us His prayer that we call The Lord’s Prayer. He certainly did not intend lifeless, flaccid, droopy recitation of some cute words. The Lord’s Prayer is a battle prayer of love, intimacy, and power that can be wielded daily with increasing dexterity. In the prayer our King teaches us to say, “Let Your Kingdom come!” That prayer line is supposed to be a daily rousing to the joy and wonder and honor and juice of being on Team Jesus. To winning. To victory. And to the miraculous significance YOUR life has for today’s work.

May the Holy Spirit rouse you to Kingdom living. If you have not read Matthew 13 in a while, spend some time there. If you have not read BRILLIANT, my book on the Lord’s Prayer that will help fill in your training on the Kingdom, buy it today.

Kingdom reality gave Daniel boldness to stand in the presence of a King. Kingdom reality shaped the ministry and fortitude of Jesus. Kingdom reality keeps my fire lit daily.

What can Kingdom reality do to you???

Holy Father, pour gasoline on the fire of your children’s understanding of Your Kingdom on earth. Use this blog, this post, as an igniter for anointing. Loosed the Holy Spirit in them until they have the mind of Christ about the Kingdom and their place on the front line!

Amen.

And amen!

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