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Sunday, February 1, 2009
The Kingdom Calls
From that time Jesus began to tell people what God wanted.
This is what he said: "Change your hearts and lives, because
the kingdom of heaven is coming soon." Jesus was walking by
Lake Galilee. He saw two brothers, Simon (called Peter) and
Simon's brother Andrew. The two brothers were fishermen and
they were fishing in the lake with a net. Jesus said, "Come
follow me. I will make you a different kind of fishermen. You
will work to gather people, not fish." Simon and Andrew left
their nets and followed Jesus.
-- Matthew 4:17-20 (ERV)
KEY THOUGHT:
We have a tendency to think of kingdoms in terms of property or
geography. For Jesus, the Kingdom of God (or "Kingdom of Heaven" as
Matthew often puts it) is not about property or geography. Jesus taught
that the Kingdom was about submission to his reign in his disciples'
hearts and lives. His goal for them was to be like him in character and
obedience. They had to be ready to surrender to him anything that might
get in the way of his leadership in their lives. This kind of kingdom
requires conquest, but not a conquest of nations or territory. Instead,
it is the conquest of hearts. Peter and Andrew left all to follow him.
They wanted Jesus to rule their hearts. For us, there are still some
fundamental questions regarding the Kingdom and following Christ: "What
do I find most difficult to surrender to the Lordship of Christ? Where
do I start? What is that one thing that is most difficult?" I must let
him have rule over that one area -- and ultimately over every area. If
I will do this, he may very well give it back to me to use, only now it
will be for him, through us, by his power.
TODAY'S PRAYER:
O Lord God, I want Jesus to be Lord of my life. I want to follow him
and honor him in every way. Please gently show me the areas of my life
that I have not surrendered to his Lordship. I want you and your
Kingdom to be the consuming passion of my life. I want to live for you
so that I may be used by you to bless others. In the name of the Lord
Jesus I pray. Amen.
>> NEW: Phil's What Jesus Did devotional is now
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>> The WJD! web page has related scriptures and the
>> full text of today's key passage. Read it at:
http://www.heartlight.org/wjd/matthew/0201-wjd.html
>> For further study of today's passage, use our
>> online Bible study site: SearchGodsWord.org!
http://www.SearchGodsWord.org/desk/?query=Matthew+4:17-20&sr=1&t=erv
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