Captured

 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Matthew 6:10

Recently, I heard evangelist James Robison say of Pastor Tony Evans, that he'd been "captured by the Kingdom." I began to think about what that looks like and means. What would it look like in me, in you, in His church, if our hearts and lives really were captured by the Kingdom? Would they resemble what they look like right now?

I think the church's worldview has been greatly affected by the values and views of the culture that surrounds it. That culture has had more effect upon the church than the church upon it. We look at the world with the eyes of the world, and not the eyes of the Kingdom. We reason about what we see with the mind of the world and not the mind of the Kingdom. We seek to relate to the world with the heart of the world and not the heart of the Kingdom. In many ways, we have become just another organization of the world trying to operate in that world. Jesus, when He stood before Pilate, said, "My Kingdom is not of this world." Pilate represented the values and viewpoint of the world system. Jesus rejected that system and saw everything in light of the Kingdom of heaven. Do we? Do you, and do I? At root, how affected and infected have we been by the decaying culture around us? A culture Jesus said was passing, is passing away? The church, you, me, all of us, need, like Evans, to be captured by the Kingdom. His Kingdom. We need to renounce the one that in so many ways has captured our hearts in its place.

Recently I read of an upcoming preaching conference to be led by one of the ministers in my denomination. In his profile, it gave an address for a blog he published his writings on. I only read a handful of them, and I don't mean to pass judgement upon him, but of the 4 or 5 I did look at, all of them dealt with social issues of the day, and one of them was even on his views and appreciation of folk singer Bob Dylan. I don't condemn him on this, and certainly the church needs to have a voice concerning the issues of the day, but the social issues are not where our voice is to be most loudly heard. It's in the spiritual realm that we must speak with the most force. We need to boldly and forcefully proclaim the message, the full message of the Kingdom. Heaven, hell, eternity, holiness, purity. His message of love, forgiveness, healing, and the consequences of rejecting that message. We need to proclaim the Three in One God; God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Without compromise, without fear, and without hesitation. We can only do so if our hearts and lives have been captured by His Kingdom.

For three years Jesus ministered to His disciples and His listeners, who were never really able to see what He spoke of from the perspective of the Kingdom. Their flesh always got in the way. They did not see and understand things in light of the throneroom of heaven, but from the view of the footstool of the earth. It took Pentecost, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit to change that. It will take another such move of His Spirit to do the same in us. That begins with the simple prayer of Matthew 6:10, "Your Kingdom come, Your will be done." If we will pray this with a hunger for it to be answered, a hunger that nothing but the fullness of His Kingdom will satisfy, I believe we will experience that fullness. The need is desperate. How desperate are we for that need to be met?

May the pulpits of our nation and world, and those who fill them, be captured by His Kingdom. May our churches, mine and yours, be captured by His Kingdom. May my heart, and yours, be captured by His Kingdom. There are two kingdoms to be found in this world, the Kingdom of heaven, and the kingdom of the world system. One of them will capture us, take hold of us, and direct our way. Which one has taken hold of you...and of me?

Blessings,

Pastor O