Our series during Ordinary time will explore the revelation of God’s Kingdom through his Son. We will look specifically how the incarnation—the ministry, passion, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ—reveals the long-promised Kingdom of God breaking into human history demonstrating God’s love, destroying the powers that ravaged creation, and displaying the Messiah’s promise (to continue reading this essay, click on image above).
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YOUR KINGDOM COME
Pastoral Resources | 2025-26 Themes At-A-Glance
Week 1: ANTICIPATION: The Mountain of the Lord, Isaiah 2:1-5
Isaiah’s vision of the mountain of the Lord reveals that God’s ultimate purpose for humanity is the coming of his kingdom rule, bringing the peace that only his divine wisdom and justice can produce. When nations finally submit to the Lord’s instruction and authority, the systemic violence that has characterized human history gives way to the Lord’s reconciliation, transformation, and flourishing. The promise of the Kingdom is the hope that the Lord will bring about lasting peace when all is submitted to his righteous rule. This prophetic promise calls us to anticipate the coming of Christ, seeking in the meantime to display God’s instruction for the conflicts in our own lives and communities, operating by his wisdom and justice rather than the patterns of power and retaliation that mark the world’s way of resolving differences. As Advent people living between the first and second comings of Christ, let us embody this coming reality now by becoming agents of reconciliation who direct others to the rule of Messiah Jesus, the Prince of Peace, the only one who can bring lasting peace to humankind.
Our Focus Today
First week of Advent: All Nations Streaming to Zion, Isaiah 2:2-3
The coming Kingdom will witness an unprecedented show of the nations and many peoples flowing to the mountain of the Lord for wisdom, and justice.
Invocation
Lord God, as I meditate on your vision of nations streaming toward your mountain, stir within me a fresh hunger for your instruction and a renewed desire to walk in your paths rather than my own. Make my testimony so compelling because of your teaching that others are drawn to ask about the source of our wisdom, creating in my life that magnetic quality that invites rather than coerces, attracts rather than repels. Open my heart to receive your word, live it out, and become a living testimony to the beauty and power of your ways that will one day draw all peoples toward your house. Amen.
Gloria Patri
Glory be to the Father,
And to the Son and to the Holy Spirit:
As it was in the beginning,
Is now, and ever shall be,
World without end. Amen, amen.
Chronological Scripture Readings for Today
These Scriptures allow us to read through the entire Bible in one year in chronological order.
Tuesday: Gen. 7-10; 1 Chron. 1.5-23
Psalms and Proverb for Today
These Scriptures allow us to read through the Psalms and Proverbs each month.
Tuesday: Psalm 2, 32, 62, 92, 122 and Proverbs 2
First week of Advent: All Nations Streaming to Zion, Isaiah 2:2-3
The coming Kingdom will witness an unprecedented show of the nations and many peoples flowing to the mountain of the Lord for wisdom, and justice.
Reflection
The vision of nations streaming to Zion show how the kingdom of God works through attraction rather than coercion, drawing peoples to God’s rule by his irresistible beauty and the wisdom of divine rule. The kingdom will not govern through force or manipulation, but by the loveliness and wonder of God’s peace and goodness. We never need to bear witness of the Kingdom relying on cultural dominance, political power, or aggression. We are disciples of Jesus, called to embody the ways and paths of the Kingdom in such a manner that others are drawn to ask about the source of our wisdom and righteousness. Our conduct, character, and relationships can woo people to the Gospel of the Kingdom, directing them to God’s rule, his “mountain.”
Engaging God’s Word Today
Does your Christian witness reflect the magnetic attraction of God’s instruction versus the coercive strategies of the world? How might you need to shift from trying to shame or dominate others toward inviting them to “come and see” the transformative wisdom that flows from walking in God’s paths?
Nicene Creed
We believe in one God, The Father Almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible.
We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Begotten Son of God,
Begotten of the Father before all ages,
God from God, Light from Light, True God from True God,
Begotten not created, of the same essence as the Father,
through Whom all things were made.
Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven
and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary and became human.
Who for us too, was crucified under Pontius Pilate, suffered and was buried.
The third day He rose again according to the Scriptures, ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and His kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and life-giver,
Who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
Who together with the Father and Son is worshiped and glorified.
Who spoke by the prophets.
We believe in one holy, catholic, and apostolic church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sin,
and we look for the resurrection of the dead
and the life of the age to come. Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory for ever. Amen.
Doxology
Praise God from whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him all creatures here below;
Praise Him above ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen.
Benediction
Thank you, God, that I have tasted the instruction that flows from your heart, and you have touched my life through its power and grace. Help me to embody more the ways and paths I have learned, and to show in my relationships, justice, and reconciled living that embracing your wisdom is worth traveling toward. Thank you for your Holy Spirit, who will carry me along as I bear witness to you of others, and help me always to point beyond myself to your Son, the source of all true teaching and transformation. Amen.
Scripture Memory for this season
Mark 1:14-15 (ESV): The Time is Fulfilled, The Fall of Humankind and the Curse Overturned
14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
Scripture Engagement
As disciples of Jesus, the Churches of Christ the King strongly seek to engage the Scriptures to discover the centrality of Christ and his Kingdom in the prophetic and apostolic writings. You will find a rich treasure of resources on engaging Scripture at the Center for Scripture Engagement of Taylor University.
Books We Are Reading this Church Year, and When
• The Most Amazing Story Ever Told, Dr. Don Davis (during seasons of Advent and Christmas)
• Kingdom of God, Rev. Terry Cornett and Dr. Don Davis (during season of Epiphany)
• Destined for the Throne, Paul Billheimer (during seasons of Lent, Holy Week, and Resurrection)
• The Presence of the Future, George Eldon Ladd (during seasons of Ascension and Coming of Holy Spirit)
• Kingdom, Church and World, Howard Snyder (during seasons of Headship and Harvest)
• The Gospel of the Kingdom, George Eldon Ladd (during the seasons of Hope and Remembering the Saints, Exalting the King)
Book Reading Reflection: The Most Amazing Story Ever Told
(Reading “The Most Amazing Story Ever Told” during seasons of Advent and Christmas)
The Scriptures lay out for all to see the divinely authorized Story of the triune God – in his wondrous acts in creation, his people Israel, the Incarnation, and the Church. God the Father Almighty is the divine author of the Story, Jesus of Nazareth is the Story’s hero, the Holy Spirit is the Story’s narrator and producer, and the Bible is its script and record. This Story represents the Church’s essential biblical faith. God tells and narrates this Story in the Bible, and as we read it we come to understand that Story as God’s divinely authorized narration of his wondrous work of salvation. Moreover, the Church of God is the Story’s protector and guardian. As we walk by faith in the Son of God we prove ourselves to be the Story’s living, present-day continuation – amazingly, God’s community becomes the place where God’s kingdom reign is seen and experienced.
This great Story of God’s love and life becomes, then, our master narrative through which we see the world, and by which we fulfill our mission. In the Church’s theology, she reflects on the Story’s truth and glory, and in her worship, she sings, preaches, and reenacts the milestones of the Story. Through her Gospel and baptism, the Church shares the Story with the lost. When new converts repent and believe in Jesus, they are incorporated into God’s great family, a community where these new believers learn the rules of our faith and walk in the ways of the Nazarene. In their repentance and baptism they embrace an entirely new identity as new characters in the Story of God in Jesus. To join the family is simultaneously to embrace the Story.
~ Davis, Don, The Most Amazing Story Ever Told. TUMI Press, Wichita, KS, 2011. Amazon Electronic Edition, 2020, Location 82
On Eagles Wings Prayer Focus: A Long Time Comin‘
Arrival: The Birth of Christ, Matt. 1:18-25
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