Scripture
Boldly and without hindrance he preached the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ. Acts 28:31

Observation
The books of Luke and Acts are a two volume set of the gospel and the sequel. Luke shows what Jesus lived and taught while Acts shows what his followers did with it. It is fitting then that the first message of Jesus about the kingdom of God in Luke 3 is exactly what Paul is preaching 33 years later in Rome.

How does that message compare with the common message about Jesus today? Contemporary evangelistic preaching focuses on the promise of heaven after death and the forgiveness of sins in this life while we wait for heaven. Jesus, and then Paul, taught that the kingdom has come now, today, here on earth. Heaven has come to the earth as evidenced by miracles that change our mundane world. Jesus, God come down to become man, is the door into this amazing world of kingdom power. We are invited to follow Jesus as apprentices, to learn to do the works of the kingdom with him. Then we extend the kingdom, by living out the kingdom of God wherever we go. And in the end, God brings apprentices like that to be forever with him in heaven.

Application
I want my preaching about the kingdom to sound like Jesus’ messages. I want to “ravish” people with a vision of the kingdom of God at work now, as Dallas Willard says. I want Jesus to be central in all that I speak.

Prayer
Father, there are ruts in my thinking and in my speaking that constantly need to be re-examined with the truth of Scripture. Take me back to the primary sources and let my message sound like Jesus’ today. Amen.