This theme of the nearness and accessibility of the kingdom of God was Jesus’ primary message: what it was, how it comes to us, and how we are to live as citizens of it. The kingdom of God is near to us, of course, because God has come to us in the flesh—in the person of Jesus of Nazareth—and because life in the way of Jesus is attainable for us all.

On Sunday, August 2, we will begin a sermon series in the Gospel of Matthew entitled, “Your Kingdom Come.” Our plan is to work our way through the entire book, with a couple of breaks here and there, discovering and rediscovering the life, teachings, and miracles of Jesus—and how all of it enables us to experience God’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.

For those who are interested, we will make available audio recordings of each chapter of Matthew on the “Gospel Readings” page on our website. You can listen to one a day, or simply listen to one chapter a week—perhaps several times each week. We also encourage you to sign up for our Scripture Emails (which come out six days a week) for reading and reflection as we prepare for worship each week.

Jesus’ proclamation of the presence of God’s kingdom and the call to repent may sound harsh to our ears. How we hear it, however, might change when we realize that, in the Greek, the word “repent” means to change one’s mind. It is to rethink, re-evaluate, and redirect our lives accordingly.

Yes, to repent is to “change our minds” about our sin, to turn and go toward God when we might have been running away from or rebelling against God. But it also means to choose to live in the way of Jesus and to live our lives as citizens of the kingdom of God.

Imagine what it would look like in your relationships and our community if each of us began to live this way more intentionally today.