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).

Click on image above to access our Church Year Calendar

YOUR KINGDOM COME
Pastoral Resources | 2025-26 Themes At-A-Glance

Baptism of the Lord: The Kings Anointing, Matt. 3:13-17
The baptism of Jesus reveals Jesus as God’s Messiah and King. His mission is built on his submission to his Father and the anointing of the Spirit, not through dominance and control but by identifying with the lowly and righteousness. Though he never sinned and was superior to us all, Jesus voluntarily stood in solidarity with sinners, yielding to a baptism of repentance to “fulfill all righteousness,” modeling the perfect obedience that God requires. The Trinity responded to this commissioning: opened heavens, descending Spirit, and the declaring Father confirming that Jesus’ path of humble identification would be the path in how God’s Kingdom would break into the world. We follow Jesus’ example by embracing God’s righteousness not as a badge of superiority but as a pattern of humble submission and service, identifying with those who need grace and are living under the Spirit’s empowerment as beloved children of the Father.

Our Focus Today
The Messiah’s Purposeful Journey, Matt. 3:13
Jesus intentionally traveled from Galilee to the Jordan to present himself to John for baptism, showing that his baptism was not merely a chance encounter but a deliberate act to announce and fulfill his Messianic calling.

Invocation
Father God, who sent your Son on a deliberate journey from Galilee to the Jordan, awaken in me a new intentionality and purpose that marked Jesus’ obedience to your will. Lord Jesus, you traveled miles to embrace the humble posture of submission before John, now give me the courage to leave behind what is comfortable and familiar whenever your calling requires it of me. Holy Spirit, who hovered over the waters at creation and descended upon Jesus at the Jordan, guide my steps toward the places where you are actively bringing about new creation and redemption, and use me there. 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.
Monday: Exodus 37-38

Psalms and Proverb for Today
These Scriptures allow us to read through the Psalms and Proverbs each month.
Monday: Psalm 12, 42, 72, 102, 132 and Proverbs 12

The Messiah’s Purposeful Journey, Matt. 3:13
Jesus intentionally traveled from Galilee to the Jordan to present himself to John for baptism, showing that his baptism was not merely a chance encounter but a deliberate act to announce and fulfill his Messianic calling.

Reflection
Jesus’ purposeful journey from Galilee to John shows us that genuine discipleship requires intentional movement toward God’s calling, even when it involves traveling from familiar territory into places of humble submission and public identification with God’s redemptive work. Jesus’ destination was specific, not just any river or engagement with just any preacher, but to the Jordan and with John. Obedience to God’s will is practical and concrete, and it requires us to discern where God is actively working and to position ourselves in that specific place with deliberate purpose. Let us examine whether our Christian lives are marked by this kind of specific obedience, or whether we have settled into routine or passive spirituality that waits for God’s purposes to come to us rather than actively seeking them out. We are called to our own costly journeys of obedience that will align us with God’s Kingdom mission and work. 

Engaging God’s Word Today
In what areas of your life have you been waiting passively for God’s will to become clear, when what is needed is for you to take a deliberate journey toward the places and people through whom God is already at work?

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
Father, help me to go forth as one of Jesus’ disciples who follow his pattern of purposeful movement toward your redemptive work in the world. Help me to recognize where you are calling me to journey, and travel there with me with the same resolute obedience that brought Jesus from Galilee to the Jordan. And may the God who orders the steps of the righteous direct my paths, strengthen my resolve, and meet me with his presence and power as I position myself to humbly follow his unfolding purposes. Amen. 

Scripture Memory for this season
Isaiah 9:6-7 (ESV): The Prophet’s Vision of the Messianic King: Isaiah’s Testimony
⁶ For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
⁷ Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

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 season of Advent)
• Get Your Pretense On, Dr. Don Davis (during season of Christmas)
• Destined for the Throne, Paul Billheimer (during seasons of Epiphany, 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: Get Your Pretense On

“THERE’S PLENTY GOOD ROOM”
When I was a young boy, I used to love to go to church with my family. It was an amazing experience for me – all the sights, sounds, and sympathies of a poor black congregation left an indelible imprint on the consciousness of a little kid like me. I can remember seeing grown people weep and march and moan and sing. I still remember Mr. Foster, the official prayer warrior of our congregation, a rotund, deep-voiced, gentle man whom the pastor would call forward to the altar, who will echo in our little room supplications in Jesus’s name for the small yet zealous assembly. I remember Miss Jenkins on the piano, a tall slender lady with musical genius, who played the piano like a Motown Liberace and couldn’t read a note of sheet music. I still can hear in my memory the eight member choir whose “pipes” were so robust they could blow your hair back, even if you were sitting in the nether regions of that little church house. Amazing services, lasting most of the day, all amazing, all different, all anointed.

One of the songs our little church sang was a rousing chorus to welcome newly repented sinners into our fold, or to make pleas to those who were on the boundaries of salvation, anxiously deciding whether to join our happy few or not. The song was called Plenty Good Room, and the chorus said this:

There’s plenty good room, plenty good room, plenty good room in my Father’s Kingdom, yes, There’s plenty good room, plenty good room – choose your seat, and sit down! These simple words were sung over and over and over again, while the preacher made his impassioned pleas to those in attendance to hear the voice of Jesus calling to them, quit fighting his invitation, and come into the fold of salvation and grace. He would beg, and exhort, and cheer, and call out, always ensuring the audience that the Kingdom of God was never full, that there was plenty good room for him or her in the church, and all they needed to do is to respond with faith to God’s call. They simply needed to “choose their seat, and sit down!”

~ Davis, Don. Get Your Pretense On! Living as a Citizen and Ambassador of the Kingdom of God. TUMI Press, Wichita, KS, 2018. Electronic Edition. Location 676.

On Eagles Wings Prayer Focus: A Long Time Comin‘
The Time is Fulfilled: The Fall of Humankind and the Curse Overturned, Mark 1:14-15 (cf. Gen 3:1-15)

Visit our Church App for more information: Scan the QR Code below (if you have difficulty loading the app, click here for instructions how to get the app on your iPhone or Android)